Well, the third application is we're all convicted debtors to God and the rule of law that reigned in the Roman Empire surrounded the New Testament. I want you to think about the fact that even though we see a lot of persecution of believers, they still did it legally. They passed laws and then they persecuted him. It wasn't mob rule. Now sometimes, you know, little mobs gathered and, you know, roughed up the Apostle Paul. But when they brought them in to the magistrate, that's when the rule of law clicked in. And so each time a person was convicted of a crime, number one, the law courts that convicted them also produced a certificate of debt. Their debt to society, we still use that in America. You ever heard someone saying I paid my debt to society when they're released from prison? That is an old Roman term. They actually had a debt when they did anything, when they stole, when they were someone that had caused an insurrection or harmed or broken any law, they were considered a debtor to the Roman society. They were in debt and there was some kind of payment that needed to be made. And so what they did is, they actually wrote on a legal form, a certificate of debt, what they did and what the penalty was that they owed. And so the punishment they had to be paid before the criminal would be free was on this certificate. Now, why am I telling you all this? Because the convicted criminal or debtor would have to sign the certificate and acknowledge the debt, or the punishment for the crime was rightfully his. When the Apostle Paul came in, if you remember, they were ready to whip him for causing an insurrection, and they wanted him to sign this thing, and he says, wait a minute, can you do this to me? When I'm a Roman citizen, you have not had someone come and represent me and have me say yes, that what I'm charged with is true. And he said, it's not true what they're charging me with. And they backed off because of the rule of law. That he had to actually, as a citizen, be presented with his guilt and sign it. This was in everybody's mind. And so this certificate of debt, was then nailed to the door of the cell where they were imprisoned. There was no one that was in prison without knowing why they were there. If you walk through the jails of the Roman Empire, you would just look on the door and you would see why they were in there. A deserter from the army, a rabble rouser, some kind that did an insurrection. That's why Barabbas, it rattled off everything Barabbas had done. How did they know that? Because it was on his prison door. this certificate of his debt to society, his murder, his insurrection. If it was a capital crime, that certificate was nailed to the cross. So just think of that. When you think about the New Testament account, it wasn't just Jesus that they made a little plaque to put over his cross. We think that, you know, and in all the movies we do, it's only Jesus that has anything over his head. They all had a certificate. They all had what they were guilty of. They all had this same setup. It's just the gospel writers emphasize Christ. And until their sentence was completed and the crimes were paid for, each one of them had that outstanding debt that was reminding them of what they did. Well, biblically, We are all convicted debtors to God. And that phrase, if you look down at verse 14 of Colossians 2, it says, what did God do with that? Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us. That's the whole legal record of all of our sins. All of our sins, and when you and I were saved, all of our sins passed. For me, I was born in 56, heard the gospel with my heart in 62. So all my sins at that instant were six years of past sins. From 1956 to 62, he wiped out the past. Then he wiped out the present, that was what I was doing at that moment, and at that instant I received Christ. He wiped out the handwriting of ordinances all the way to the last day of my life. That's why we have to remember that if Jesus has forgiven us of even one sin, he's forgiven us of all. because if you notice what it says in verse 14, he blotted out, see what it says, the handwriting of ordinances or requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, it's the record of all of our sins, and he took it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Most of the Roman world historians say that the person that was being crucified dragged the piece of the cross that they were gonna be nailed to, usually the upright part was in the ground. Most often, it wasn't a four by four like in the movies, it was actually a tree. Peter says that several times, that Jesus was crucified on a tree, a tree growing in the ground that they just trimmed the limbs off of. And you carried the cross piece, and you would carry it on your shoulder or drag it, but as you went to the cross, Most people being crucified had hung around their neck that piece of paper that tells why they were getting crucified. Jesus Christ only said, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. But if you could see Christ the way God the Father saw him, he had around his neck my list of sins, because God was treating Christ on the cross like he'd committed all of my sins. And he had around his neck the list of your sins. You understand that? That Jesus Christ, look back at verse 14, he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances or requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, that were crying out, saying, God, punish those. How? By nailing them to the cross. the handwriting that was against us. Doesn't that make Paul's imagery here in Colossians 2.14 just leap off the page? Can't you see the sign over Christ's head? That's how our redemption should touch our hearts. That's why the early church celebrated so frequently. They wanted to never lose sight of the fact that God took all their sins past, present, and future, and put them on Christ, and treated Jesus like he committed every sin I ever committed. It's an amazing thought. That's the legal imagery of Colossians 2. And Jesus took each of those certificates of debt upon himself as he hung on the cross. And that's what the doctrine of redemption means. The doctrine of redemption is that believers' sins were all put onto Christ's account. They were nailed to his cross as he paid the penalty in their place for them all, and therefore he satisfied the just wrath of God. Do you see in verse 14 that the requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, an offense against God cannot be left unpaid. God does not sweep it under the carpet. He doesn't say, oh, just forget it. You ever had someone say, you know, you owe them, they go, oh, just forget it. God says, I can't forget. I can be satisfied, my justice satisfied, but only in one way. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us, blots out, forever removes. the record of our sins. I would love for you to think about Jesus as he dragged that cross piece toward the place of execution. And think about your and my life of sin is what was dragging him down. That's what made him sweat great drops of blood. That's what was crushing him from Gethsemane onward. The weight of the sin of the world was on him. And that's why when we come to communion, we celebrate our Redeemer. Our Redeemer is one who didn't just die on the cross. He died on the cross in our place. And God treated him on the cross for six hours. as if he had committed every sin that we've ever committed. And that's only half of redemption. You know what the other half is? Not only did Jesus get treated like he committed our sins, he says, Now treat those whose sins I forgive as if they lived my perfect life. That's what grace is all about. God treats us at Christ's expense with the riches of his love. That's the doctrine of redemption.