The following sermon was preached at Grace Predatorian Church, a mission work of the Orthodox Predatorian Church and Covenant Predatorian Church in Mansfield, Ohio. For more information about Grace Predatorian Church and when we meet for worship and Bible study, log on to graceop.org or email us at graceopchurch at gmail.com. Dials on the combination and open to look my little mailbox and look in the letter But I knew there was a letter from Kaylin even before I could see it. I could smell it She always used to put perfume in it See and it was this wafting nice aroma that was a letter from Kaylin And why did I get the letter because she was telling me she was affirming to me all that we were apart and we were engaged while I was in college and we were waiting for me to graduate and that she loved me. And I knew that. But you see, she was affirming those things. And that's what God does with us when we meet with Him. We have all we need in Christ. But what He does, you see, is He affirms that. We hear those promises that we forget because of our sinfulness and because of the weight of the world and the corruption of our nature that we still struggle with. And we have all we need, but we come to God, and He meets with us, and we hear His Word, and we hear afresh and anew, and the aroma, that sweet aroma of His love, that perfume of His grace. You see, we partake of, as we again are renewed in that relationship. We don't need more. We just need to be reminded. We need to know. And that's why we come. And so by faith in Christ, believers already have all they need. They are, as Paul writes, complete. We are complete. And that's the point he wants to labor with us. Well, how is it that we're complete? Well, he tells us in a couple of ways in our text before us. The first one is that we are to continue in Christ. We are complete by continuing in Him. And Paul gives us three metaphors. Just as you receive Christ, notice past tense, you already have Him. So what? Walk in Him. That's the first metaphor. Walk. We are to remain or to live in Him. The Bible uses the imagery of walking as a way of life. What walking is all about is not the gait that you have, or your physical walking, but the way of life, that you walk along the way with God. And you think of Psalm 1. Blessed is he who does not walk in the way of the wicked. You don't live that kind of a life, but you've changed, you're on a different course. You walk with God. And so there's often the phraseology that so and so and so knew God and walked with God. And Abraham was one of those kinds of people. By faith, he walked with God and knew God. And so, even as Jesus comes in the New Testament, what does he do? What does his miracles do? He healed the lame. And it wasn't just, you see, that he was able to heal the legs of people and make them physically to walk, as great as that is, but what that was an example of was the effect of sin which makes us unable of our own to walk in the way of the Lord. That we're not able to, by ourselves, walk in God's ways. You know, if you go hiking, and you got to the woods it's always wise to take a compass because you can get lost that seems pretty obvious but I'm told that one of the reasons that we tend to get lost is because we don't walk straight you have one leg that's probably stronger than the other one just like you're right-handed or left-handed so you're right leg or left leg and what happens if you just walk In the woods, you will begin to walk in the circle because that one leg will power you more than the other one and you will not walk straight. It's a picture again of our own corruption. We don't walk straight. We need something to guide us, to hold us to the course. You see. And so, God calls us to walk with Him. And so, as Paul writes in Ephesians, the fifth chapter, there's a lot of parallel between the book of Ephesians and Colossians. He makes reference to walking in Christ by walking in love. by walking as children of light, and by walking in wisdom. We continue in Christ, you see, by walking with Him. We continue also, as he writes in the next metaphor, we are rooted in Him. It's an organic metaphor. He moves from our lifestyle to this idea of being alive and connected. It's being firmly established. The Old Testament used this word rooted as God putting Israel in the land and rooting them in the land, giving them a root, the deep roots. And they were the remnant that would come from the root. And even though the top was cut off or cut down by God's judgment, what? The root would produce a shoot that would spring up. And so we think of the rod of Jesse or the sprout. And so it is, as Jesus is referred to, that suffering servant in Isaiah 40-53 as that root of Jesse, the thing that remains. Have you noticed that? I've noticed that in my garden. That you put the vegetable plants in there, and you don't put the weeds in there, they're already there. And they grow up, and they'll take over the vegetable garden, as they are doing right now in mine. And you go out there and you're pulling on them roots and you're pulling on those plants and you're trying to get them out. Did you ever make the mistake and grab what you thought was the weed or nearby that happened to be wrapped around or nearby or even in the soil next to that pepper plant or that bean plant? How easily the bean plant comes out? But the root of the we is still in there. That shows us about sin. But the point here is that we are to be rooted and have those roots that go deep. We are to be in God, in Christ. We are to be rooted in His Word. And so Paul talks about believers being rooted in Christ and that being rooted in love. The love of God for us. And we can think of Jesus' analogy of Him being divine and we being the branches, this organic connection, this living union that we have with Him. So we continue in Christ as those who are rooted in Him, firmly grounded. And then Paul moves again to another metaphor which is different than the other two. He says that we are to be built. to be built up in him. It's a metaphor of a construction and often times refers to the foundation. The word again in the Old Testament is used in reference to the building of altars and the building of the cities of Israel. This construction of the visible kingdom of God expressed in the Old Testament. Jesus made use of the parable you may remember of the wise man and the foolish man. What did they do? They built their houses on a certain foundation. Depending upon how solid it was as to how well that house stood when the storms came. Paul refers to the building of believers on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles with what? Christ. Christ as the cornerstone in Ephesians 2. And being built together, being built up. As Peter reminds us that we are all living stones built together as a habitation for the Holy Spirit. So we're to remain in Christ by continuing in him and walking and rooted and built Paul reaffirms what he writes in the Ephesians you see using these metaphors to encourage continued constancy in Christ you have it but the issue is to remain in it to be constant in it as a way of life as a deep commitment and as a means by which believers are united together in a spiritual dwelling and So we are complete as we continue in Him. But then Paul moves to the next idea here and our being completed or filled up in Christ. He says in verses 11 and 12 that we are what? Circumcised in Christ. You are in Him, you also were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. What is going on here? Paul is going back again to the Old Testament and talking about a figure that prefigured and pointed to Jesus Christ. The completeness of Christ, you see, fulfills the figures and the promises of the old economy. The Old Testament signs and seals and pictures and all those kinds of things. And what Paul is arguing for us here is that circumcision is fulfilled in Christ. That what circumcision was picturing and looking forward to was Christ. Circumcision in the Old Testament was a picture of the necessary need to remove the flesh, a cutting off of the flesh. it isn't the actual flesh and certainly it was actual flesh at the time when it was performed but again it was a sign, it was a picture and it doesn't mean that somehow our fleshly bodies are what's evil and our spirits are right and good and so we need to be released of this body that's not what it's pictured at all because rather it's the fleshly nature the fallen man of that of sin and of course in the Old Testament circumcision was a picture that an Adam to whom we are joined and all this progeny are in sin and corrupted and there needs to be removal of sin and removal of this fleshly nature and to look forward to that son who would come, the son of promise. So the hope was, as it were, passed on from generation to generation, the sign, looking at hope of the one who would come and fulfill that promise of Genesis 3, 15, that the seed of the woman, but the woman, the son would come, that promised son would come. And so the circumcision looked forward to Christ who would come and take away this flesh. And so by the putting off of the small part of the body, the flesh, the Old Testament ceremony referred to this need of purification of the whole. the essence of man. So that's why in Deuteronomy chapter 10 and chapter 30 God says, be circumcised in your heart. Be circumcised in your heart. It wasn't that, you know, the heart isn't the seat of affections in the Old Testament. It's the center of your being. And the idea that your heart needed circumcised was the idea that your heart needed to be purified. The center of your being, you, the real you, the whole of you, needed to have the fleshly removed, the sinfulness removed, and the spiritual made right, and the center of your being put right with God, being purified. And so there was a picture in the Old Testament of this cutting off of the flesh, and looking forward to the promise of the Son to come. And so Paul writes then, that you've been circumcised in Christ. It's not his physical circumcision, but rather it's what he does. It's how he fulfills it. Circumcision is in Christ because the flesh you see is put off by Christ's death. In the flesh, as Paul writes here, in him you are also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands. There is the spiritual sense. Not a fleshly kind, but a spiritual one, the right one, the true one, by putting off the body of flesh. Jesus does that by his death and his resurrection. Circumcision is replaced by Christ's work. It is only a figure. writes in Romans the fourth chapter speaking of Abraham the father of the faithful who received the sign of what circumcision verse 11 Romans 4 11 he received the sign of circumcision the sign is a pointer he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of what the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised circumcision is a sign and a seal of righteousness by faith all that speaks of the work of Christ So Paul draws us, you see, into Christ and reminds us what we have in him is that we are circumcised. We have a true circumcision. That which was prefigured is now completed in Christ. And then he moves on to this meaning of circumcision when he says, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. Now what Paul is talking about here is our union with Christ. That is, Christ's death on the cross is objective. It's out there. He puts to death the sinful flesh. He pays the penalty. But how does that, some 2,000 years ago, get connected to me? Well, we know the means of faith. The instrumentality of faith joins us. But that joining is a union with Christ. So that, when God looks at us, He does not see us, but He sees Christ. And he sees our union with Christ. He sees we're one with Him by that fake means. And so Christ's death is our death. It's accredited to us, imputed to us as our death. The killing off of the flesh, the sinful nature. And His life, His resurrection is our life. Our resurrection. It's all about union. He argues that as much as circumcision prefigured purification, believers now are purified by their union with Christ, active in a passive obedience. And so here, as in Romans chapter 6, Paul does not argue the mode of baptism, but what it means. It means union. It means in him you were baptized, in him there is a unification, and that unification means his death is your death. and his life is your life. The believer is circumcised with the circumcision of Christ through his baptism, which is a sign of his righteousness in Christ, Romans 4. And this righteousness is gained by the death and the resurrection of Christ. Christ completes the work. He dies and undergoes the wrath of God, the condemnation, the law, the law of God for us. And he is raised again victorious. And those things have to become yours. Not just, I believe in them, that somehow they're out there as objective facts, I believe it happened, that they must be yours. You must be united to Christ. That's what baptism is all about. It's about union. It's about identification. You see, it's a much better sign than circumcision. Circumcision looked forward to the son of promise. It was all about an outward sign of the removal of the flesh. But it didn't accomplish it. So Christ comes and accomplishes it. He puts to death sinful flesh on the cross. That picture of purification is there perfected because now water is that sign not of burial. He didn't bury people in the water. He buried them in the ground. I have to be sure some people died at sea but most don't. You know what it is? It's a sign of being washed. So again, Paul arrived in Titus, but you've been washed. You've been regenerated by the washing of the Holy Spirit. There's this purification upright going on. So the baptisms of the Old Testament, the rites of washing, were all about being cleansed and being ignited as it were in the one who would do that work. We couldn't cleanse ourselves. We must be cleansed. It reminds me of when I was a child. I was running across the yard, my mom was talking to the neighbor, I think the phone had rung, and the phone was for her, and I was dashing across the yard, you know, and being clutch to me as I always was, I ended up on my knees, sprawled out with my hands like this. The problem is when you do that on gravel, it's a bit painful. And it opened up the palm of my hand. I still have a dark spot. where the skin laid open and all the gravel and grit got ground into my hand and I'm like, ahhh! My mom being the nurse that she is, grabs me by the hand and drags me, you know, back to the house. Gets the toothbrush out. I wasn't going to clean that dirt out of that wound, but she certainly was. Because it hurt. We don't clean our sin out. It hurts. But we are washed. We are passive in that God cleanses us. The work of Christ is for us. You see, that's what this is about. Believers are thereby united to Christ's death and burial and resurrection. The covenant behind all this is the sin. That's been our theme, you see. This is what God promised all along. Circumcision, look forward to it. You get the circumcision. The real circumcision. The Jews had the precursor, the sign. But you are circumcised in Christ. You get the real thing. You get the completed thing. The covenant of grace, which Christ fulfills. This is what's behind everything. This is what was promised. The benefits of the covenant of grace, pictured in the old economy, are fulfilled and realized in Christ. They are then signed and sealed to believers in Him. This is what Paul is saying. He is bringing all together. Circumcision is in Christ. You are circumcised in Christ. That is why we no longer have circumcision. You are now baptized. That is what replaces it. So, as we think then of where Paul's going, we are complete in Christ because we continue in Him. We're complete in Christ because we're circumcised, we're purified, we're united to Him. And then thirdly, there are consequences that flow out of this in verses 13 to 17. Note what he says. And you, who were dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, what? God made alive. All of us are dead. You're dead in your trespasses and sins, Ephesians chapter 2 again. But we're made alive. The believer's union with Christ brings this resurrection of life. And so in John chapter 5, John writes about the first and the second resurrection. The first resurrection is the resurrection of the spirit, of your soul being brought to life. The work of regeneration, that's the first resurrection. Those who are dead hear the voice of the Son of God and they are alive. And then the day will come when all those who are in the tombs will hear the voice of the Son of God and they shall be raised. And what is that? That's the second resurrection. That's the resurrection of the body. We come into life dead spiritually, but alive physically. And then, sooner or later, the body dies. And then we're really dead. But if you come to Christ, you were born dead spiritually, alive physically, but God raises you spiritually, and though the body dies, because you are alive in Christ, that body also will be raised. And so you have the resurrection power at work in you even now. So these Gentiles who are uncircumcised, separate from God, apart from the covenants, are now truly and really circumcised. And as believers are united, you see, together they are then fellow heirs, fellow citizens with those to whom the promises were made. That's what Paul writes in Ephesians chapter 2. He's taking down the dividing wall between the believing Jews and the believing Gentiles. And the Gentiles receive the true circumcision which was pictured in the old. And so these Gentiles who once were without the covenant, without hope, they are now what? Think of those words, fellow heirs, fellow citizens, members of the same household. So Paul writes in Galatians chapter 3, that if you are a believer in Christ, what? You are Abraham's offspring. You have all that Abraham had promised to him, and you are in the same covenant with him because you are his spiritual descendants by faith in Christ. And so the covenant is the same, those covenant promises, and that's why we baptize children. Not because we think that water saves them, but because again, God made the promises. We don't circumcise them. That's gone. But we baptize them because there's a picture of God's promise that he gave to Abraham and we are heirs to those very same promises that he will be a God to us and to our children after us. So Paul draws these two things together because you have a reality. We have a reality of what circumcision pictured. So we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. No, there's a union here in the covenant and the promises because we are fellow heirs, fellow citizens, members of the same household. We're made alive. So Paul says. So death and sin is now replaced by life in Christ. And God promises the same promises. He promised to work in our lives and the lives of our families and children. So the covenant is maintained. Secondly, if you note, as Paul continues in terms of the effect or consequences, he cancels the debt. He cancels the debt. The written charges and the debt is now removed. It's nailed to the cross. The effective work of Christ, the cross work of Christ is the atonement. He cancels the debt. Perhaps you've had that experience. Took out a loan on a car, a house, something. and you finally get the statement where it says paid in full on that great day when Christ returns and all stand before the judgment seat you and I and every human being ever living will stand before the judgment seat of Christ and the charges will be read out and they will be declared and then he will turn to the one on his right and say is there name written in the book of life An angel will scan down the list, find if your name is there, and if your name is there, he'll say, debt paid in full. And the king himself will say, charges dropped. Debt paid. This person is acquitted. And publicly you will be owned as the king's own son and daughter. You will be declared as one who was righteous in his sight. That's what will happen on the day of acquittal. You will be declared acquitted. The debt has been paid. Nothing else asked, nothing else required. Enter in to the promised rest. You see, will be the statement. Not because you did anything, but because of your union with Christ. That's what he says. The debt's been cancelled. This is the believer's substitute. It is Christ. He's paid it. Don't just wink at your sins. He says, it's paid. The debt is removed and cancelled. And then thirdly, there is the triumph. The triumph, the consequence is that Christ triumphs over His and our enemies. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them over them in Christ. The death and resurrection are signs, you see, of His triumph over the mortal enemies of believers. The enemy of believers, Satan, the accuser, is disarmed. He can't say, but, but, but, but, but, but. Because the legal requirements we've made. Unsatisfied. There will be nothing left to be done. He won't have any ground to which to make a charge. He can't say anything. Nothing can say anything against us because it's been paid in full. Christ has paid all that's required. There's nothing left to do. They're disarmed. They have no recourse. And he shames them. Because he triumphs over them because he paid it and he lives. And he will put to shame Satan and all of his rebellion and all of his suffering that he has caused in the world, and Christ will bring it to an end. And Christ's work being done in public, you see, brings him to disgrace by his suffering. That he who knew no sin became sin for us. That what? We might become the righteousness of God in Him. All this is so adequately summed up in verses that we so well know in Romans chapter 8 as we take these things to heart. That Christ is the substance of all the promises of God in the Old Testament and in the New. That He is the reality of all these things. But what are we told in Romans chapter 8 verses 31 to 39? Think of that. Think of that great day of acquittal that's coming. You are justified now, but it's not told now to the public. But on that great day when the charges are read, the king will say, acquitted. Think of that as you hear these words from God's own word. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how are we not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised? Who is at the right hand of God? Who indeed is interceding for us? who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Self-tribulation, distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long, we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, for I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else, and all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's the ground of our assurance. The work of Christ. We are circumcised in Him. This is what God has promised from the beginning of Scripture in the fall of man. You and I and all who are in Christ are united indivisibly with Him. And nothing separates us. Nothing. Nothing at all. And He's put to shame all those things and brings them to an end. And in Him all things are manifest and made right again. You see, we are complete in Christ. We have these things now. That's our hope. Not because we've done something, but because God has done it. Christ has done it. Fulfilled it to the utmost. Your cup is full and overflowing with all that you need. That's the great promise of the gospel. Other religions teach, if you do this and do that, and if you keep doing these things, you might, you might. But the Bible teaches, the gospel teaches, that if you are in Christ, you have You have it and nothing can separate you from that great love. nod their head, if they just go through the motions, if they just add a little religion to their lives, or whatever it might be, they might make it in God's sight. But they will be sorely disappointed. But if they have Christ, what does Paul tell us? Believers are complete in Him. May that be our testament that people would long for that, and hear those things, and desire those things, that God would put that desire in their hearts. May we proclaim that from the rooftops, May we understand what we possess, Jesus Christ, and all of his benefits to the glory of God who sent him. Let's pray. O Lord God, how we thank you again for your promises and scriptures that are unfolded before us. and all these signs of the Old Covenant that point to Him who fulfilled them all for us. Grant, O God, that we would understand that we are truly circumcised, united to Christ, and that there is nothing in all of creation that is able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. May that be the theme of our witness to all the world. May you draw many to come. Grant it, O Fathers, of the glory of Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen.