Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world and not according to Christ. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. In him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. And now verse 13, which is the beginning of the text for the sermon. And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Amen. Many of you, like my wife, this past weekend, you've spent a lot of time shopping. Black Friday, I believe, is the busiest day for shoppers. And I believe the estimation is $90 billion were spent in just buying gifts and such. And if you are like my wife, you've also spent a fair amount of time trying to find the best deals. You look through the newspaper, you look through the internet, look for coupons, you find out where a particular item that you're interested in might be being sold, not just for cheap, but the cheapest. And a lot of time, at least with some people, a lot of time is spent on trying to find the best deals. If you're like my wife, again, you've probably, to some degree, doubted that you did find the best deal. Maybe you think, well, I probably should have gone to Target instead of Walmart for that item, or maybe Macy's instead of JCPenney's, or maybe I didn't get all the coupons that I could have gotten a hold of, and I just missed out. Maybe I didn't get the best deal. Now, in the grand scheme of things, this doubt that you may have concerning shopping isn't really that big of a deal. But doubting other things can be. especially if those things are spiritual, especially if the doubt pertains to your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ or perhaps just in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Perhaps you are here this morning and you doubt what the Bible says about Christ and about your need for him and of salvation. Perhaps you're wondering, well, why are the Roman Catholics Why are they lost? Why don't they have the true gospel? What's so wrong with the Mormons? What's so bad about being just a standard American mainstream humanist, believing in nothing and everything? Well, this doubt is exactly what the church in Colossae faced. Exactly what Paul is addressing in the whole epistle, really. This epistle is meant to exalt the greatness and the sufficiency of Christ for salvation. And he, specifically in this part of chapter two, is telling them, listen, if you go after anything else other than Christ, if you add to Christ the pure gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're cheating yourself. Beware, verse eight, beware lest anyone cheat you. And they're facing primarily three things. Philosophy, they're facing just good old tradition of men, and they're also facing a Jewish false teaching saying, hey, we need to go back to those Old Testament ceremonies. We need Moses as well. That's what they're facing. And to that end, to push back on that false idea, Paul is saying, listen, Christ is better. He's the best deal in town. He's far better. He is God. And because he's God, he's full of God, he completes you. You're full. That's what he says in verses nine and 10. In verses 11 and 12, you recall, I covered these two weeks ago. He gives a particular aspect of that salvation. He says, listen, in Christ, you've been spiritually made alive. You've been regenerated. And what I'd like to do, and it's because Paul does this, verses 13 through 15, he completes that thought. He gives four more reasons why Christ is better. If you have your outline, it's a fairly long lesson. Here's the lesson for verses 13 through 15. Christ is far better than all his competitors because he has overcome man's depravity. He has released man's debts. He's abrogated Moses' ceremonies and he's removed Satan's dominance. This is what Paul's saying. Again, Christ is far better than all his competitors because he has overcome man's depravity. He's released man's debts. He's abrogated Moses' ceremonies and he's removed Satan's dominance. First, look with me at verse 13. First, he's overcome man's depravity. Verse 13 says, And you, being dead, and your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him. Now Paul's repeating something of verses 11 and 12. He's given you spiritual life. He's quickened you. He's made you alive. But the emphasis of verse 13 is what he had to do to overcome that, or what he overcame to give you life. He brings, by way of emphasis, really what man is apart from God's grace. What's man like? Man just sick? No, man's dead. He's dead. You, yes, even you, you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. Now there's two ways in which they're dead. I've shared this with you before, I find it helpful. We're sinners. Not because we sin. We sin because we are sinners. It's the difference. There's something wrong with us. So what Paul's saying is, in one sense, you're dead because you actually commit trespasses, actual transgressions. He says being dead in your trespasses. But it's more than that. It's the uncircumcision of your flesh. And what does that mean? Well, he's referring to our corrupt nature. Uncircumcision can mean, have an ethnic idea, well, they're uncircumcised, they're Gentiles. But spiritual, the significance of circumcision, as we've seen in verses 11 and 12, and I'll remind you of that, Deuteronomy chapter 30. Circumcision refers to, among other things, it indicates spiritual life. So in Deuteronomy 30, verse six, Moses says, and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul that you may live. Man's problem is that he's spiritually uncircumcised. He doesn't love God with his heart. He doesn't love God with his heart. And what God's gonna do is he's going to circumcise your heart. He's going to give you spiritual life. He's going to change that corruption, that uncircumcision of your flesh. Man, Man comes from a fallen stock. We come from a sick and dead, a herd, if you will, because of Adam's sin. And this is what Christ is going to overcome. Now, Ephesians chapter two is a place where we see this idea. Ephesians chapter two, he talks about, in verse one, and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. But it's not just that you sin, it's that you are a sinner. Verse three, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature, by nature, children of wrath, just as the others. There's something wrong with our nature. We're dead. Now one thing to point out from this verse, it's wrong to speak of man's ability to embrace Jesus Christ on his own. It's wrong to talk about man's free will in that sense. Man has a free will. And he wills freely. only evil continually. Genesis 6, 5, the Lord looked down from heaven. He saw all the sons of men, that every thought of their heart was only evil continually. Man does have a free will, but because he's dead, spiritually dead, he cannot will good. He cannot embrace Jesus Christ apart from God's grace. And what's interesting, and this is what I want you to think about, I mean, why is Christ better? Now you, many of you have grown up in the church. Many of you have been taught the Bible from your youth. But even you, you were dead. You were dead spiritually, coming out of the womb. And it's because of God's love, it's because of Christ's power that you're alive. I was reading a Facebook post yesterday from a pastor in Fresno. It really encouraged me because it reminded me of all that I have to be thankful for. He said in his post something to the effect of, God forgive me for maximizing my difficulties, the bad things in my life, and minimizing my blessings. We have so much to be thankful for, so much to worship God because Christ has made us alive. God in Christ has made us alive. Who here wants to embrace and show affection for a corpse? It's silly to even think about. But that's exactly what God did. That's exactly what God did when he saved you. And this is something you need to keep in mind as you go through your week. If you're like me, then you can find reasons to grumble, to complain. Listen, Paul's exhortation to the Thessalonians is not in vain. In everything, give thanks. For this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. You're not dead. Christ has overcome your deadness. This is part of why he's so glorious, and why he's so precious to us, and why he's so much better, because he makes us alive. Secondly, look at the end of verse 13, and also going into the first part of verse 14. Christ is better because he has released man's debts. He's overcome man's depravity and he's released man's debts. Starting a new thought, Paul says, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. Having forgiven you all trespasses. What does it mean to forgive? What does it mean for God to forgive sinners? Well, the word in this context means that God releases our debts. He releases the obligation we have to pay for our sin. Now, what's the wages of sin? The wages of sin, the price, the payment, the debt is death. One place where we see this meaning for forgiveness is in Matthew 18. I'll read a few verses to you. It's a parable. Matthew 18, verse 23. What is forgiveness? Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And he had begun to settle accounts. One was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. So the concept of owing is clearly here. Verse 25. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold with his wife and children and all that he had and that payment be made. Notice what happens here, verse 26. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all. Then the master of that servant, and here's the point, was moved with compassion, released him, forgave him the debt. You no longer have to pay it. It's gone, it's done. Now in the case of Christ, the releasing of debts also comes with the payment of the price. Christ, by his death, paid the price. That's at the end of verse 14, having nailed it to the cross. So the forgiveness of sins is the doing away with your obligation to pay for your sin, which is your own death. Notice a little bit more about this concept. Verse 14, the concept that I just described to you that's bound up in the word forgive is further elaborated in verse 14. I'm going to, under my third point, explain to you how verse 14 has more, there's more going on there than just the forgiveness of sins, just the releasing of debts. Let me first show you that. How has this forgiveness of trespasses occurred? verse 15, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us. Now this is one of those verses in the Bible that if you have an ESV, or a New American Standard, or NIV, there's different ways of translating. Not because we're not sure what's here in the Greek, but it's just difficult to translate. And I find it useful to point you to the New American Standard. The New American Standard, if you go back to verse 14 of the New King James, One way of understanding this is to see it this way. Having wiped out the handwriting that was against us. So on one hand, you have the handwriting. On the other hand, you have the requirements. The handwriting that was against us, he's wiped away. So here's the idea. What happens when you go to a bank and you take out a loan? And for different reasons, you don't have the ability to take out this loan. The bank won't give it to you. You need someone to co-sign with you. So you have your father or someone else, and they co-sign with you. They sign the paper saying, listen, I'm writing my name down. I will pay this if this person can't. Well, of course, what happens is you can't pay the loan. Well, what happens if that other person comes in And they pay it. They're the guarantee. They're the surety. The Bible talks about Christ being our surety in Hebrews 7.22. That's what he's done. By his death, he's paid it. He's wiped away your name. He's wiped away your name from the account of debts. That's exactly what he's saying here. It's that handwriting, that handwriting that was against us, that handwriting that pointed to us and condemned us and said, you're a sinner, that you're liable to death. He's taken it away. And he's taken it away freely, gratuitously. There's nothing that you've had to do. If you go back to that parable that I read, the servant just pleaded for compassion. And he said, you don't have to do anything. It's free. Have you been justified freely by his grace? through the redemption that is found in Christ Jesus. It's gratuitous and it's entire. This is important. And as we draw near to the end of this point, I want you to think about this. There's a little word in verse 13 at the end there. It's really important. I want you to think about it. Having forgiven you all trespasses. Having forgiven you all trespasses, not just some, Not just most, but all of them. Those sins that you've committed with your hands, in your mind, that you would never want anyone to know about. The sins that you're most embarrassed about. Even those sins, he's wiped away. He's wiped away. You're forgiven. Do you walk about, do you live your life with a sense of guilt? with the sense that if you were to die, God would judge you. John Bunyan, you may have heard of his name, he's a Puritan, and he gives his testimony. Part of his testimony was that for years, for years, he walked around knowing that if he was to die, he'd go to hell. He's a sinner. And he lived that way. He had no peace of conscience. He seemed to have no hope. He was a dirty, rotten sinner who had stolen things and had mistreated people and all kinds of stuff. Do you feel that way? Do you, even with a certain knowledge of Christ and even having been baptized and been in this church for a long time, do you live your life as if you've not been forgiven? I remember, I've had that same type of feeling. In the army, you have to have a good uniform. You walk around, everyone sees your uniform, and I remember there's times where I would have a deficiency, maybe even like something's wrong, and I would be, I would walk around like, oh, someone's gonna notice. Like, I just felt uneasy. You felt that way. Listen, Christ Jesus forgives all of your sins. If you confess your sins, You confess your sins. He's faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. That's the heart of the gospel. Confess your sins, turn to God. Because of Christ, God will forgive you all of your sins. What hope, what hope we have in Christ Jesus. Peace, peace of conscience is a real thing. And it comes only through Christ. And this is one of the ways in which Christ demonstrates himself to be so much better. Much better. There's hope for murderers. There's hope for idolaters, adulterers. Because of Christ. Because of Christ. He's released man's debts. Thirdly, he has abrogated Moses' ceremonies. And I want to Bring this out to you in verse 14 as well. I've told you that the handwriting is one idea. If you look at your New King James, verse 14, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements. Well, of requirements is another idea and some translations like the New American Standard divides this. The King James translates the word requirements as ordinances. There's two ideas going on in verse 14. On one hand, Christ, by his death on the cross, having nailed it to the cross, he's wiped away our debts. The other thing he's done is all those requirements, those ordinances, the mosaic ceremonies, Moses' ceremonies, that ceremonial wall, he's taken it out of the way. So we can understand verse 14 as this. having wiped out the handwriting, which was against us, which condemned us, with regard to the requirements, which was contrary to us, which was burdensome, okay, the ceremonial law was burdensome, that he has taken it out of the way. It's abrogated. All those ceremonies, those clean and unclean laws, sprinkling, okay, the festivals they would have in Jerusalem, all these different ceremonial laws, Many of them having to do directly with worship. They've been abrogated because Christ has fulfilled them through his once and for all sacrifice. He has fulfilled them. Ephesians chapter two. One of the things that we need to keep in mind, if Christ had not come, if Christ had not been who he is and what he has done, then we would be separated from God. We're Gentiles. I'm a Gentile. Ethnically, right? I mean, Christ has brought us near. He's brought us near. We would have to worship in Jerusalem. We'd be second class citizens at best. Now there were ways in which Gentiles could participate in the means of grace, okay? But they were second class citizens. There was a middle wall of separation. We read that in Ephesians chapter two, verse 14. He broke it down. There's an allusion there to the court of the Gentiles in the temple. What would happen if a Gentile crossed that line and went into the inner part of the temple? There's a sign that said this, no foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. This is a sign that was on the temple. No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure. Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death. We are worshiping God right now. Christ is with us. We're not in Jerusalem. You see what's going on here? He's brought us near. We have access as Gentiles to God. We are not second class citizens. All those who are of the faith of Abraham and their children are God's people. My kids, especially the youngest ones, they're very funny because they will go into the playroom and if mom's in the kitchen or if she's in her room doing things, teaching school or something like that, they will take their toys out of the playroom, a room that's dedicated to playing with toys, nice carpet, and they'll go to where she is. Because they just want to be. They want to be with her. And God's people want to be with God. They want to be in his presence. And because of Christ's death, he's abrogated Moses' ceremonies and he's brought us near. We no longer have to worship in Jerusalem. We're not second class citizens. This is why he's so much better than all his competitors. Lastly, look with me at verse 15. He has removed Satan's dominance. He's removed Satan's dominance. I'll explain what I mean by that. Verse 15 says, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. When I say that Christ has removed Satan's dominance, I don't mean to say that Satan has no power, that Satan has no power to tempt you, to influence you. to draw you away, to cause you to bring reproach to Christ's name through sin. That's very much true. He does. He's still the ruler of this world. He's still the prince of the power of the air. He still has power. Ephesians chapter six, we're told to stand firm, to be strong in the Lord, to stand firm against his wiles. But what has happened through the death of Christ and the pouring out of his spirit is that Satan's dominance has been removed. He's no longer your master. Now I want you to think about something. There's two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of Christ, and there's the kingdom of Satan. There's two citizens. There's citizens of Christ's kingdom, and there's citizens of Satan's kingdom. You're either controlled directly by the power of the Holy Spirit, or you are either controlled by the power of the devil. That's just a fact. That's a fact. By the death of Christ, he's disarmed the principalities and powers Perhaps I need to remind you that principalities and powers is a reference to the devil and his demons. We read about that in Ephesians chapter two, or rather Ephesians chapter six. Verse 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age. The devil and his demons, they're the rulers of this age. Paul calls the devil the god of this age, who's blinded the minds of people. Paul describes the devil as one who's taken captive unbelievers to do his will, to do his will. Now, the devil and his wiles and his deceit does not manifest this, you know, people don't walk around with horns on their forehead. If someone's not a believer, if someone's not united to Christ by the Spirit, they're under the control of the devil. One place where we see that clearly is in Mark chapter five, and I preached on this several months ago, the demon possessed man in the country of the Gadarenes. You remember that story? For different reasons, the devil manifested his control over this man. I wanna read this, just a few verses to you. I want you to think about the deliverance of Christ. Mark chapter five, verse one, I'll read a few verses here. Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when they had come out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. Okay, he was demon possessed. What does Christ do? What does Christ do? come out from him, unclean spirit. The man's cleansed. The man's delivered from this power. That's what Christ does. Part of the redemption, part of the saving work of Christ is he's delivered you from the dominion of darkness. He's disarmed Satan. The very thing, it's ironic, verse 15's ironic. The very thing that you would think would be his downfall, his death on the cross, that itself, triumphing over them in it. That act, the death of Christ on the cross, is how he defeated them. In the language here, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them. It's figurative, it's referring to what the Roman armies would often do as they would parade through the cities on their chariots, on their horses, carrying their captives behind them in chains, making a public spectacle of them. It's just an allusion to that idea. Christ has removed Satan's dominance upon you. And this is glorious, glorious news. We stay alert. We stay sober-minded. We pray. We don't take temptation lightly. But we've been delivered. We've been delivered from Satan's power. He cannot make you sin. He cannot overcome you. And he doesn't have control of your mind. He doesn't have control of your affections, over your will. He does with what he wants with those who are outside of the kingdom of Christ. It's a dreadful thing. It's a dreadful thing. Christ has delivered us from him. He's removed Satan's dominance. This is why Christ is far better. He has overcome man's depravity. He's released a man's debts. He's abrogated Moses' ceremonies and removed Satan's dominance. Do you think that Christ Is this good? Do you see how wonderful Christ is? In 1803, one of the worst, most lopsided business transactions went down. In 1803, France sold America 828,000 square miles for $15 million, losing on a purchase. Recall that part of American history. It quickly went down as one of the most, just the best deals. I could go into the figures, but I'm gonna just refrain from that. It was just a steal. What a deal. Listen, if you turn aside from Christ, if you turn aside from Christ, you're cheating yourself. You're doing something worse than the French. Christ is everything. He's the pearl of great price. If you have Christ, you have strength over your sin. You have the forgiveness of sins. You've been delivered. He's everything. He's the best deal in town. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we lift up our hearts to you and we give you thanks for your son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for the forgiveness that we have in him, the deliverance that we have in him. We thank you for the closeness that we have to you through him. Father, we bless your name. We bless your name for overcoming our spiritual death through your son. Father, we ask that Anyone here who is hopeless, who's burdened with their sin, would turn to the Lord Jesus. Father, we pray that anyone here who's thinking they can turn to Christ on their own free will, by their own power of their own decision, would reject their pride and come to you seeking your mercy. Father, we ask that you would give us a true sense, a renewed sense of how wonderful Christ is and how good you are to us through him. Help us to know that Christ truly is the best. For we ask in his name, amen.