It's a pleasure to be with you this morning. I know you're wondering why am I on crutches. It's because I broke my foot on Thursday night and everybody's asking me, what happened? How did you do that? And somebody's like, you've got to make up a great story. I'm like, I'm not going to get up there and lie in front of everybody. I'm just going to tell them the truth. Like Brian Hawkins was like, tell them it was a skateboarding accident, that we were skateboarding together. The truth is it was a shark attack, and you should see the shark. It's amazing, actually. It's shark week, and I was like, oh, I got out there, and I killed it. Actually, this is how I explained this to the pastors on Friday afternoon, similar to how I told my family, too. It went like this. This is my text message. We have a pastor's group text, actually. We send a lot of prayer requests for you guys over that all the time, day and night. Hello guys, I broke my foot last night, no weight bearing, podiatrist first of the week, possible surgery, we'll need a stool on the stage, thanks for praying, no need to respond. That's how men communicate, isn't it? I'm like, that's just so insightful. And then this was some of the responses that came, even though no response. Brad, ouch, sorry to hear that, praying for your recovery, this is not a response. Rocky, PC, what a bummer, just recovered from a flat tire myself. You'll heal up before you know it, sir, praying for you. Jeremy, you did a graveside service and a memorial service standing on that? You're the Chuck Norris of pastors. Weston, you've got to stand on your good leg. Sheesh, wussy, there's your response. I was like, yeah, you gotta just love that, don't you? Yeah. He's not here this weekend. Just kidding, I thought that was great. The truth is, you guys, this morning, we're coming to, I think, one of the best verses in the whole Bible, and it's found in Colossians chapter two, verse 13, and it says this, and you who were dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, heaven, forgiving us of all of our trespasses. Did you catch that phrase? In fact, I've titled the message today, Alive in Christ. that God has made us alive in Christ. The theological term for that is regeneration. It's a term you have to know. You must embrace that term. It is central to the Christian faith. For so many, honestly, I think Christianity is really more about outward religious conformity. and not a supernatural transformation of the heart. But true Christianity is just that. It's actually God changing us from the inside out. In fact, listen to Titus chapter three, verse five. It's from the King James Version. It's where we get this word regeneration. It says this, he saved us not because of the works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. So modern translations use the word rebirth or to be reborn. You might remember Nicodemus. Remember Nicodemus, the teacher who came to Jesus at night, kind of discussing eternal life, and I think he was probably a little bit afraid to openly come seek Jesus, but what I love about Jesus, you can seek Jesus anytime, and he'll meet you there if you're seeking him, even if it's in the dark. And so in John chapter three, Jesus says to him, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. You might remember Nicodemus' response. He goes, okay, I want to go to heaven. I want eternal life. How do I get back up in my mother's womb? That's not a very appealing thought, is it? And Jesus goes, no, no, no. Those things that are born of flesh are flesh, but those things born of the Spirit are spirit. What he's saying is that you have to be born a second time. You have to be born again. You have to be regenerated. That begins a spiritual life. And so you have a physical birthday. You know your birthday. What's your spiritual birthday? I know there's some people in the room that think, well, I don't remember the exact day. That doesn't make you not a Christian. The point though is, many of you do know that day you gave your life to Christ, but the point of that is, is there's a definite point in time where you were born physically, and there's definitely a point in time where you're reborn spiritually if you're a follower of Jesus. And if you haven't been reborn spiritually, you need to be. I don't even care how long you've come to this church. I don't care if you're an elder here or a pastor here. It's really about being born again, being born anew. Listen to John chapter one, verses 12 to 13. But to all who did receive him and who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. What we see there is is we actually have nothing to do with our regeneration. It's the act of God on my heart. I was dead and he makes me alive. You really had nothing to do with your physical birth, did you? You didn't choose the day you would be born. You didn't choose your name. Some of you probably wish you could have. You didn't choose who your parents would be. You had nothing to do with that. You just showed up, which was very kind of you to do. My daughter Brianna, she's so funny because she was born in Simi Valley and we moved here nine days later. And if you still ask her today, where are you from? Simi Valley. I'm like, that's so snobby of you. There's a lady at church over the years, I've made fun of Trona a little bit. I love Trona, by the way, but I've just made fun of it, you know, because if you've ever been there, it smells like sulfur. Amberlee probably remembers cross-country races there, you just kind of could barely breathe, and I would make fun of Trona, and one time, one of the ladies at church, she still goes to church here, she might even be here this morning, she goes, you know, I was born there. I'm like, I'm so sorry. I'll never say that again. So I just did, but nonetheless. Ephesians chapter two verses one and then verses three to five, listen to this, and you were dead in the trespasses and sins. So here's what I want you to catch really quick. I don't think most people get this. Death is not annihilation, death is separation. So what makes death so hard, I did a graveside service on Friday, and what makes death so hard is the separation from that person. Now that man who was a godly, wonderful, Man, we celebrated his life. I mean, this guy was a remarkable man. In fact, you know what Mike Johns was known for? In his earlier years of ministry, he got saved when he was 33. He used to fill up a van with kids coming to church and bring them to church, like he has a little bus ministry going. And then what he would do is when the van got too crowded, this is in the 70s, he took the seats out of the van so they could just pile in. Can you imagine doing that today? I've told you before, my mom couldn't drive when I was a kid, and Mrs. Canale was always our ride, but her car was a two-door Ford Courier, and so all the kids would just sit in the back with no camper shelf. That's how we'd get around town. It was so fun. We're missing out on a lot of fun in these days, that's for sure, in the name of safety, but whatever. But this man, just such a godly man, and you stand there with his casket, served in the U.S. Navy, his casket's right behind me, and that looks like a grim moment, like he's in that casket, but I remind the family, he's not in that casket. He lives to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord. But even those who don't know Christ, even those who don't know Christ never cease to exist. They just experience eternal death, which is eternal separation from God. But here's what I want you to catch. Because God is spirit and we were dead spiritually, we had no relationship with him. So for us to not be separated from God anymore, we had to be born spiritually. For us to relate to one another, we had to be born physically, and we have to be alive physically. So to be born spiritually means now you can connect with a God who is spirit, the God of the universe. And so listen to the rest of this verse. But God, I love that. So we were dead, but God, and I love that Ryan, My son spoke at his high school graduation four years ago in this room, and he got to this verse, he spoke on Ephesians 2, one through nine, and he goes, that's a really big but. I'm like, buddy, I don't know if you're supposed to say that at your high school graduation, but nonetheless, you mean one T, right? But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he has loved us, do you see God's motivation for causing you to be reborn? He wanted a relationship with you, and the only way to do that was for you to be born spiritually. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, that's what makes it so remarkable, made us alive, literally quickened us. We were born again. We were regenerated together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. You had nothing to do with it. In fact, listen to 2 Corinthians chapter five, verse 17. Therefore, if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Christianity is not behavior modification. It's supernatural transformation. is God causing you and I to be reborn. Hey, some of you in this room, while I no doubt you got saved when you were adults, you'd be like, man, church was so boring to me, the word of God meant nothing to me, and then one day I gave my life to Christ and it all just opened up. And suddenly I'm like, oh, that's called a relationship with God. And I wanna ask you this morning, have you been born again? I'm not asking if you go to church. I'm not asking if you said a prayer when you were seven. Have you been born again? Now, just as we are born physically and we're babies and we need to be cared for, we have bottles and people that change our diapers, the same thing's true spiritually. In fact, look at 1 Peter 2, verse two. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation. I love this because it's another picture like when you're born again you're born a baby just like you are born spiritually. Now what's not pretty is when we don't grow to maturity where we're born but we stay in that infant state and so we have to move from drinking the milk to eventually eating solid food, right? And so we should, we're never critical. If you're a brand new believer, you're kind of new in your faith and you're kind of like, wow, yeah, just start drinking the milk and you'll grow and you'll be ready for solid food. It will come. But can I remind you of this, it's not a pretty thing. Like last night, Brianna and Jake dedicated their two kids, and if you haven't been able to do baby dedications in a while, we'll do two at a time, it's okay. If you need to do some catching up, three at a time are fine too. We're having specials right now, two for one. So we went out to eat after, and there's babies all around that family, right? And her sister-in-law was there, there's kids everywhere. It's just not a pretty thing, right? It's okay for those little babies to drink their bottle, but it's another thing if I sat at Panera last night drinking from a bottle, and you walked by, you're like, what is going on with our pastor? And so we grow. It's an indication that we were born. Now here's what I do want you to catch today. That you're only born twice once. I know that seems a little bit crazy. But the day that you're reborn, God's spirit comes and dwells in you and you're regenerated. You don't, okay, so you're only born physically once. You don't have six different birthdays. I mean, well, some of you try to pull that off. Why not? But you have one birthday, you have one spiritual birthday too, and it doesn't matter so much if you remember it or don't remember it, what matters is have you been reborn? Do you have a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ? Well, that takes us to our passage in Colossians chapter two. This is where Paul's going to lead us, and as we go through it, I'll give you a little bit of background. The first thing we see in our passage is this, verse one, Colossians two, is Paul's agonizing efforts, his agonizing efforts. Look what he says in verse one. For I want you to know, How great a struggle, literally the word there's a, it's an athletic term, it literally sounds like agony in the Greek. I've strained, like an athlete straining for the finish line. I've strained that I would, and he says, I struggle, I have for you, and for those at Laodicea, that was a city about 10 miles away, and for all who have seen me, not seen me face to face. He's just going, man, I labor, I struggle. He's actually in prison at the time of writing this letter. He goes, man, I agonize over you, even though I've never met you. First thing I would say from that is this, is spiritual leadership requires agonizing effort. And that's not just on the part of pastors. It is on the part of pastors. There's no place for lazy shepherds. And that goes for moms, that goes for grandmas, that goes for grandpas, that goes for dads. You're influencing somebody. Don't be lazy in your efforts. Go all out. Now the other thing I notice about this too is that sometimes we have responsibility for people that we've never met. Isn't that interesting? He goes, I've never actually met you. He actually had never been to Colossae. He'd never actually been to Laodicea. but it's because of the ministry of Epaphras, a pastor that went on from under Paul's ministry, and he's so committed to Epaphras, and he's committed to that work, and he's hearing these reports, he's agonizing over fellow believers that he's never met before. That's why we send mission teams to the Czech Republic. That's why we're so connected in the Philippines. That's why all over the world. Some people that you've never met, some that I've never met. but we'll do anything for them because they're our brothers and sisters in Christ. We so want them to grow spiritually. John Kitchen says this, my responsibility may extend further than my eyesight. Do you remember last week, I talked, do you remember what I talked about last week? The pro-life sermon that I gave? See, I think there's a principle here for that too. Like, we care for the unborn, who we can't see, and yet we will advocate for them. We'll defend them. and their moms, and people maybe we don't even know. Some people are like, why do you care? Well, because we have a love for humanity because God does. We have a love for people. It's an expression of God's love for you. That's why. And so it's not out of sight, out of mind. It can't be, especially in the spiritual realm. We care what God's doing over in other parts of the world. That's why we care about missions. We care about people we've never met. That was the Apostle Paul. I was so blessed this last week, because I met with a couple of sets of parents just over parenting kinds of questions, and their heart, they were agonizing over their kids. Loving them, man. And I said, what do you want for your kids? And they said, we just want Jesus for our kids. That's all we want for our kids. And I loved that because they weren't saying, we want our kids to be attorneys and doctors. And hey, your kids may do that, but that doesn't really matter. It won't matter what your kids did for a career a hundred years from now. Because none of us will be on this planet 100 years from now. What will matter is, are they with Christ? Did they spend their life serving Him? That's what leads to our second point, is Paul's ultimate aim. What's our ultimate aim? It says this, that their hearts may be encouraged, I love that, strengthened, encouraged. being knit together in love to reach all the riches of the full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ. What does he say? He says, I pray that your hearts would be encouraged, that you'd be knit together in love, and that you would pursue Christ together. Because Christianity's not a solo sport. It's not racquetball. It's not. Christianity's more like baseball, of course. You know what I mean? It's like the best sport in the world. Christianity's like soccer. That is so hard for me to say. Some of you love, it's a team sport. You can't win it on, you don't play it on your own. I like 2 Timothy chapter two verse 22. Pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace along with those who call out on the Lord out of a pure heart. And that's what he's saying right here. One man said this, division and discouragement, check this out, are fertile ground for deception. They are. When we get divided from one another and then our hearts get discouraged, we're more open to being deceived. And that's ultimately what Paul is so worried about for these believers. He goes, man, I want you to know you're so full of Christ that you won't fall for anything less than Christ, that you won't settle for anything less than Christ. Division in the church, division against brothers and sisters in Christ, the discouragement that comes as a result, it causes us to be more vulnerable to Satan's deception. You're gonna see that in just a moment. So look at it in verse three, what it says about Christ. Look at this passage. In whom, speaking of Christ, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You know what that tells me? Jesus is all that I need. I would say to you this way. If the devil can't make you bad, if he can't make you compromise morally, he will make you busy, or even worse, he will make you bored with Jesus. There are so many philosophies that are centered around Christ but that are not Christ. There are so many Christian books that are written, it's Jesus plus you need this, Jesus and you do this. And what I'm here to say to you today is it's Jesus, only Jesus. Jesus is all that you need. Jesus is the fullness of God. Bodily deity dwells within Christ. He is God in the flesh. He's all that you need. The fullness, you catch it again, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You don't know what to do in life? Pursue Jesus. You don't know your meaning in life? Pursue Jesus. He holds all of it there. It's been deposited there. That's the well you must drink from if you really want the wisdom and knowledge of God. Let's not get bored with Jesus. In the 1990s, there was a church movement that started called the Church Growth Movement. It was a seeker-sensitive movement, and the idea was is, you know, if we just water Jesus down a little bit, just water this down, then we can draw people in, and then we'll give them the real Jesus. First of all, in retail terms, that's called bait and switch. It's against the law to do that. I think it's actually against the spiritual law to do it. There's nothing wrong with being winsome and kind and loving and showing the love of Christ before you even speak the love of Christ. That's not what I'm saying. But what they were intentionally doing is watering down. And they would even use this term, it's good to give a sermonette. In other words, it's just like a little homily, a little encouraging word and weave in a verse. And I'm like, that's crazy because sermonettes will create Christianettes. and the next generation will be a compromised church. And that's the generation we're living in today. We're experiencing the fruit of that today. And my answer would be, just give them Jesus. That's my job, and then you get to decide if he's enough for you or not. What Paul's saying is, he's more than enough for all of us. And then look at verses four to eight. We see Paul's passionate admonition. An admonition is counsel, a warning, something to be avoided. He's going, don't be fooled by anybody that's gonna sell you anything less than Jesus. Verse four, I say this in order that No one may delude you with plausible arguments. In other words, arguments, believable arguments, things that you'd be vulnerable to believe. Like, don't be deceived because it seems on the surface to be, oh, that's a good worldview, that's a good philosophy. It reminds me of our senior citizens, right? Senior citizens are more vulnerable, which I'm starting to feel more like one every day. Senior citizens are more vulnerable to deception. That's why people target them. They'll call them on the phone and they'll say, hey, we've got, in fact, there was a man in our church years ago, I won't use his name, but this man, sweetest man ever, and he came to my office one day and he goes, I think I have a problem. I said, what's your problem? He says, I sent $25,000 to some guy in Canada that said if I sent him $25,000, he'd send me $100,000 back. I'm like, yeah, you have a problem. We try to help them. There's another lady at our church who a lot of you would know, she's gone to be with the Lord now, but she had a wonderful husband, godly man. In fact, this guy put gas in her car their whole 60 year marriage. She never put gas in a car. It's remarkable. Two couples came up to me after last night after church and they said, my husband the same way. And they're just the happiest people. I'm like, I think I know the secret to a happy marriage. Fill your wife's car with gas. For those of you who drive electric vehicles, you're doomed. Because you can't put gas in her car. Well, you plug it in. Just kidding. But this man was so godly, when he passed away, and then somehow word got to us that some guy had come around selling her a new floor for her garage. You know, your garage is, you need to get a new concrete floor in your garage that she never went in. She's vulnerable because he's gone, so she signed up for it, for a $25,000 or $30,000 garage floor. So in that moment, I went and got an attorney, and we met in my office. And the attorney and her and her family, and I said, we're gonna go after this guy. And you know the great news? Man, I love that. The great news is that that money was returned. It should have been, but yeah, I'm gonna fight. There's a story I read of a pastor who was fighting something that was going in next to a school that was incredibly inappropriate, and actually, he fought it so far that it went to court, and the defense attorney was attacking him in court, and he said something like, aren't you a pastor? Aren't you a shepherd? Aren't you supposed to be tending to your flock? Why don't you spend time with your flock? What are you doing these kinds of things? And he said, well, right now, I'm fighting a wolf. That's what I'm doing as a shepherd. And here's what I want you to get, Paul fights wolves. And by the way, men, women in the room, dads, it is your job to fight for truth in your home. It's a battle, that's what the apostle Paul's doing. He's going, I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. Verse five, for though I'm absent in the body, yet I am with you in spirit, I love you. I'm rejoicing to see your good order. That's a military term, that you're keeping things in order theologically in the firmness of your faith in Christ. You see what he's pulling for? He's not pulling for himself. You say, well then why did he bother telling them that he was agonizing over them? There is a place where a leader has to explain this is what I'm doing for you so they'll know you're motivated by love and self-sacrifice and not for yourself. There is a place to do that. I'm reluctant to say that because Proverbs makes it clear that your own lips shouldn't bring you praise. It should be another man's lips. So you shouldn't be walking around always singing your praises, but your people that you're leading have to know because they're more prone to do what you say and to follow you if they know that you love them. So Paul's going, man, I love you, I would love to be with you, I'm with you in spirit, I agonize over you, I pray for you, but I'm so glad to hear so far that you're keeping things in order, that you're firm in your faith, and then verse six, check this out, therefore, as you see Christ Jesus is the Lord, so walk in him. Part of what came out of the 90s seeker-sensitive movement was we started to say, well, you can be saved by Jesus, but Jesus really isn't your Lord. He doesn't have to be your Lord. So in other words, you can have salvation, but just keep walking and living however you wanna live. Which is weird to me, because Romans 10, nine, the most concise salvation verse in the whole Bible, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you'll be saved. You catch the first part of that? Confess without Jesus as Lord? You're stepping off the throne of your own life, and you're saying, Jesus, take the throne. Now sometimes I try to crawl back up there. I get it. But there is this surrender that precedes salvation. Jesus, you're Lord, you're master. I recognize, so he goes, as you receive Christ as Lord, continue on in him. In other words, keep walking with Jesus, serving him as your Lord. Verse seven, I love this. He gives some really good word pictures. Rooted and built up in love. Rooted is an agricultural term. It's the idea of a tree that has deep roots. And where do those deep roots go into? Into Christ. It's really hard to remove a tree that has deep roots. I just planted an olive tree in our front yard this last week, and right now, if I wanted to rip that out, I could, because it's not, the roots haven't penetrated the soil yet. It'd be easy to just lift that out. In a couple years, that's gonna be really hard. A couple years ago, I had a tree in my front yard that I wanted to get rid of, and my son-in-law, Jake, who's the farmer and can get anything done, I just said, Jake, can you help me get that tree out? And he's, sure, so I get a shovel and a pickaxe, and he goes, we're not gonna need that. That's gonna take forever if we do it that way. This tree had been there for years. He backed his truck up on my front lawn. He put a rope around the tree, secured it, and he just started driving. And that thing was pulling against, I mean, even this huge Ford truck, it's still having a hard time. Like, all the horsepower in that truck, and it just like slowly starts coming out. It's like, and he's just spinning out like whatever. I'm like, oh, I'm gonna need a new lawn, but whatever. It didn't really go that bad. And that tree just came right out. But the idea is the tree was firmly rooted. Are you? Firmly rooted trees don't blow over easy in the storms of suffering or theological storms. There is theological heresy coming out of so many different places right now, even within the church. In books, People are like, oh, we just discovered this. There's people that are going, oh, we realize now how we had it all wrong all those years. No, the church didn't have it wrong all those years. You're wrong, and you were not deeply rooted. You're just being blown over. You know, if I say a tree has the desert lean, what do I mean by that? You know what I mean by that. Drive by the city park, go down the 14. It's all leaning toward the east. Some of you might be deeply rooted with a lean. The outside pressure of the world, the philosophy of the world might be leaning in on you. What I'm trying to say is stand up straight. That's what Paul's saying. Stand up, be rooted in Christ. And I love this. Built up, that's an architectural term. That's like a building that has a good foundation, not easily blown over. In him and established in the faith. There it is. Just as you were taught abounding in thanksgiving. That's another word picture. That's the picture of a river that's overflowing its banks. And what we see is this, is thanksgiving is absolutely something that will preserve and care for your soul. You could say it this way, gratitude is a great guardian of the soul. What is he saying to be thankful for? Be thankful for your salvation as we rehearse what we have in Christ. Sometimes I'm like, man, I want more in life, or I'd like to have this, or I'd like to have that. I might feel envious of somebody else. I'm like, oh, I hate that I lost that. And then I just go back and I go, wait a minute, I was a sinner who was dead, my sins are completely forgiven, I've been made alive in Christ, the Holy Spirit dwells in me, I have the promise of heaven, to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord, I don't need anything more. And I could live with a lot less if I've got Jesus. That's what he's saying. If you're feeling discouraged today, maybe what you need to do is rehearse again what Jesus did for you. Maybe even right now as you're sitting there, what has Christ done? Well then look at verse eight, here it is. This all is under that section of this warning, this admonition, don't be led astray. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. Empty deceit there means hollow. It's like, you know at Easter time when you're a kid and your mom might get you that Easter bunny, the chocolate Easter bunny, and you're so excited and you're a kid, your first time, and you bite into it and you're thinking, man, that's a bunch of chocolate, and you bite into it and it just crumbles because it's hollow. That's what he's saying here. Like, oh, it looks good on the surface, but it's empty inside. I would say to you, if I was going to identify that in our culture today, it would be a couple of things. It would be that you can find satisfaction outside of a relationship with God. That you can find joy for your soul. You don't need God. We live in a world that doesn't need God. I'll tell you this, though, too. I think equally dangerous is that you can find sanctification or holiness or salvation through your good works. And that's really nothing new. But the empty, hollow deception of the world is, if we're all just kind to each other, it's all gonna turn out good. We don't need truth. You can't even be kind to one another if you don't know what truth is, because how would you even know how to be kind? What does kindness even mean? There's a God of kindness, there's a spirit of kindness, and I wanna be kind, but it's the truth in love. Okay, check this out, he goes, according to the elemental spirits of the world, I think he's talking about actually evil spirits, Satan is the God of this age, and not according to Christ. In verse nine, for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. So here's what we've moved from. We now move from this idea of like, be warned, be admonished, to Paul's appropriate appeal of Christ's work. He's now gonna shift, he's gonna go, okay, instead of focusing on the danger of being deceived, now I'm gonna point you to, know how to know you're being deceived. The way you can tell counterfeit money is by knowing what real money looks like. And he goes, here's the real deal. Here's what he says. He's gonna give us three things. He's gonna say, he's gonna remind them of Christ's occupation. In them, he's gonna remind them of the crucifixion that's happened in them because when Christ died, they died, and the resurrection that's happened in them because when Christ rose, they too rose spiritually. So check this out. I'll cover this quickly. Verse nine, for in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily. So Jesus is God in the flesh. And here's the amazing part of the verse, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. Christ lives in you. He's In Christ is the fullness of deity dwells, and now Christ dwells in me through his Holy Spirit. I'm as full as I'm ever going to be. On Father's Day, my family, they were so sweet. They made way too much food. Like, all day, steak and potatoes and desserts and all that, it was just the sweetest thing. And we got done, I was just like, I was going to bust open. You know that feeling of like, I can't eat another bite. It got so bad, I looked at my four daughters, I'm like, would you be willing to take a walk around the block with me? Like, I gotta do something, I'm going to explode. And we had the sweetest walk around the block with these four delightful young ladies who I love with all my heart, all four of them. And what the Apostle Paul is saying, do you realize how full you are in Christ, and you're looking for something outside of him? That's what's going on. These false teachers are going, yes, it's Christ, plus you need to have this certain mystical experience with Christ, and we've learned these secret mysteries, and that's kind of the beginning of Gnosticism. Others are legalists, and they're saying, yes, it's Christ, but you also have to be circumcised, you have to follow all the Jewish customs and all the Jewish laws, you gotta add all of this, and it's like, no, no, he's like, Christ is the fullness of deity bodily and Christ dwells in your body. What else do you need? And then look at this, verse 11. Now he speaks of the circumcision that's happened which really represents our the crucifixion we died with Christ in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands so it's a reference to old testament circumcision that was the mark that you were a member of the covenant the promise to Abraham but what he's saying here is that Jesus supernaturally has circumcised your heart men and women when you came to him he cut away the old flesh that's been cut away from you, you've been crucified with Christ. Look at verse 12, having been buried with him in baptism. I love that picture. Like, I've buried a lot of people, so to speak. Like, right? There's a guy at our church, I think he's just moved, I know he's moving, I said goodbye to him, I think he's probably already moved, but he was a mortician. Really wonderful man. I always say thank you for the work that you do. That's a hard job. I've talked about how do you handle that? We need you. Man, that's hard. And one time he came into my office and he goes, Pastor Chris, I go, what? He goes, you have great veins. I looked at him, I really said this, look, this happened just like this. You know, my veins kind of do pop out of my forehead, I've got great ones in my arms. I've actually never had an IV before, but I hear that whenever people see me, they're like, oh, that would be good. I think I'm probably gonna figure that out soon. And he goes, I go, are you sizing me up to embalm me by any chance? And he goes, yeah, totally. I'm like, wow, you'd be so easy. I'm like, oh. Did you know a pastor who's done a lot of baptisms has done a lot of burials, and I'm not talking about at a graveside. I'm talking about in a baptistry. See, that's what that is. It's such a great picture. Buried with Christ. risen with him to newness of life. Here's what that means. In my rebellion and in my sin, I had offended and betrayed a holy God. And what comes with that is the consequence for that sin, which is his judgment. And when Jesus died on that cross through faith in him, it's as if I died on that cross with Christ, and so now my sins are forgiven, the judgment has been rendered, the payment has been made, I've been buried with Christ. That old man is now dead and rendered ineffective, inoperative, and now I'm risen with him to newness of life. That's what we celebrate when we celebrate baptism. That's why everybody always applauds at the end, like, ah, this is a great day. That's an outward demonstration of an inward transformation. Look at verse 12 again. Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God. So the same energy, that's the word there, that was used to bring Jesus back from the dead was at work within you when you were regenerated. Who raised him from the dead, verse 13, and here it is, this is our key verse today, and you. And by the way, I just wanna say, and you, and you, this is such good news, were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with him, having forgiven all our trespasses. It just even gets better, look at verse 14. By canceling the record of debt, so you had a big mortgage, God canceled it, that stood against us and its legal demands, this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. Not only did he nail the penalty for our sins to the cross, but what he nailed was even just the requirement of the law to the cross. He did. That's what this is talking about, actually. Remember when Jesus died, they put a sign over his head, King of the Jews? The reason they did that is it was common when a criminal would be crucified in Rome that they would put the charges against them. And so what Pilate's doing there is he's saying, here's the charge, he's King of the Jews. But that's not typical, what they would usually, but here's the charges, this is the law, this is why he's being crucified, this is the law he broke. Here's what I want you to see. Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law on your behalf. You're no longer under law, you're under grace. So not only the penalty, but also the power of the law is rendered powerless against you. Can't condemn you anymore. So now we operate, you say, well then why don't I just do whatever I want? I'm saved, I'll just do what I want. And Romans six, speaking in the same way, speaking of baptism, Paul just goes, God forbid, no. No, because now you have the spirit living in you. Now you operate under what? Why do I want to obey? Out of love. I'm so taken aback by this grace. Verse 15, he disarmed. the rulers and the authorities, he's speaking here in the spiritual realm, the demonic forces, the spiritual forces of evil, and put them to open shame. Okay, this is so powerful. What they used to do in Rome is a Roman general, when he would go conquer an enemy, he would walk through that town, the generals of the opposing army, and shame them. Basically, he'd be pulling them behind his horse and just showing, you are defeated. Okay, you know what it would be like in today's terms? Imagine this, it would be like Zelensky somehow, Ukraine pulls out a victory in this war, however you see all that, I know how I see it, and Putin is conquered, and he goes and he grabs Putin, and he actually drags Putin through all of Russia saying, I am, I just did this, I've conquered him. Here's what Jesus does. He came to destroy the work of the devil. The devil hates you, he's a liar, he's a murderer, he's been from the beginning. Jesus comes and disarms all of those spiritual forces that were armed against you, and he goes, you know what, I'm gonna drag them through, I'm gonna put on display, I'm gonna have a parade celebrating my victory over them. That's what he's saying. Look at the end of verse 15. By triumphing over them in him. And so, they're powerless. Listen to 2 Peter 1 verse 4. Did you catch that? You're a partaker of the divine nature. So the water in baptism's like a grave. The old self is buried there. The water then, as you come up out of that water and you take your first breath, it's a picture of your rebirth. You've been regenerated. You now are alive spiritually, so you have a relationship with God. And it answers a lot of questions for us. One of the big questions, one of the big lies of society today is this phrase, well, I was just born that way. And you guys, that's not just one segment of our population. That's kind of the, I'm just being who I am. And what I would say to my brothers and sisters in Christ is just be who you are in Christ. Listen to what Randy Smith says. He says, this is actually a quote, so many are excusing their sins saying they were born that way. That's why we need to heed the words of Jesus Christ and be born again. How have you been born again? What's the new you? It's the new you. So Jesus took the criminal charges against us, nailed them to the cross. Well, I just have two concluding thoughts. This glorious passage, Alive in Christ. Number one, David Platt says this, being a Christian involves leaving behind superficial religion for supernatural regeneration. There's a part of me, I'm always concerned, There's people who could come to church as a superficial religious activity, even do good things, check their boxes, put in their tithe, I'll serve. You're like, I served in children's ministry, certainly I'm gonna get into heaven. Even that won't get you there. I served at Grace Resource Center, that won't get you there. You don't need more good works, you need to embrace God's good work. You need to surrender to that. So I just say to ask you again today, have you been born again? Have you experienced that supernatural regeneration? I say that to people watching online right now. Do you really know him? Does he know you? Have you been born again spiritually so that you have a spiritual relationship with God? William Farley says this, new birth is known by its fruits, not by a decision. Here's what I mean by that. Okay, so I planted an olive tree in my front yard, and I asked the guy, I always shop at discount places, so this is a discount nursery that I found, and it was really cheap, and so I asked the guy, sometimes you also get what you pay for, so I asked the guy, I said, is this a fruit-bearing tree? Because I didn't want a fruit-bearing tree in my front yard. And this was his response, I don't think so. I said, I'd like to know so, you know what I mean? But I'm so cheap, because it was twice as much anywhere else, so I'm so cheap, and he goes, well look, there's no fruit on it yet, it's pretty big. So I planted it. We're gonna find out if it's a fruit-bearing tree with time. A couple of guys from church came over, helped me dig that hole and plant that tree on Monday. And it was so funny, they go, is this a fruit-bearing tree? And I said, well, I don't think so. The guy said he wasn't, and he said there's nothing growing. He goes, well, the tree's not big enough yet to actually, you wouldn't even know yet the size of this tree. I'm like, well, it'll be fun for us to find out, won't it? You might be over here helping me take that tree out? How do we know that we've really been born again? Is there the fruit of the Spirit in your life? Doesn't mean you're perfect. It's direction, not perfection. But I gotta tell you this. There's no more important question to ask yourself than that. Have I been born again? It's interesting with Nicodemus, because Nicodemus, some people are like, well, did he get saved? What's interesting is when Jesus is crucified, he's one of the ones who went to claim his body. He was willing to be associated with Christ. I think he was born again. I think he changed. What's changed in your life? I'm not asking you what you changed in your life. What has God changed in your life? Do you have a hunger and a heart for the things of God? Do you want just more of Jesus? Do you know him? This pastor agonizes over that question. And for those that you do know him, the only thing your pastors want at this church is for you to know him more and more. and more, let me pray. Thank you, Lord, for your word. Alive in Christ, that brings such peace to my heart, joy to our lives. Father, I do pray for your protection. I pray for your protection over young people who are headed off to college. where there will be the philosophy of the world pressing in around them. I pray that they would go there secure knowing that they're full in Christ, that Jesus has all the wisdom and knowledge, he made it all, he knows it all, that they can depend on him. Father, I pray that you would not help us to settle for cheap substitutes. I pray your discernment as we grow in maturity that we would be able to see the lies that are being thrown at us all the time, that are really generated from the pit of hell, Lord, would you just protect your people as we grow closer to you. Lord, help us to do that as a team effort, as a group, to in a united way rejoice in what we have in Christ and help us to seek a deeper understanding and a relationship with him. We honor Christ today. He is worthy. I pray in Christ's name, amen.