Colossians 2:13-15

Colossians 2:13-15  When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.  He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.  And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Paul wanted the church to understand if the written code had not been canceled by God, believers would still bear the heavy weight of sin; but Christ's atoning sacrifice for the sins of all mankind did away with that code and all its regulations.  The former covenant was annulled; he [Jesus] took it away, nailing it to the cross.  As sons and daughters of the Lord, we no longer gauge our spirituality based on right or wrong, good or bad, success or failure.  We who are IN CHRIST through his cleansing blood are no closer to God when we are  successful in keeping the law than we are when we are failures at keeping the law.  Most of us find this impossible to believe because we think living righteously according to the Law is what pleases God.  Today's scripture says, God made you alive with Christ when you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature.  Christ fulfilled God's plan and finished the work that made us righteous and holy when it was impossible to please God through our flesh.  The Spirit made us alive when we placed our hope, desire, and faith in Jesus, the Son of God, as THE CHRIST, THE SAVIOR, THE MESSIAH, LORD OF ALL.  He did all of this when we were so filthy in sin and so lost God could not even look upon us.  God cannot look upon sin without passing judgment.  Paul wrote to the Romans, You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  (Romans 5:6-8)  Praise God!  At the cross, Christ, the perfect Lamb of God took our place before the judgment seat of God.  Jesus willingly separated himself from the godhead to face a cruel death without defending himself, knowing He faced eternity in the grave if God saw fit not to raise him from the dead.  But God said, He would not allow his Holy One to face the decay of the grave; therefore, He resurrected Christ victoriously to a new life of holiness to sit at his right hand making intercession for us forever without the taint of sin.  We who are IN CHRIST were also raised with him to share in his sinless state.  

When Christ went to the grave and arose through the power of the Holy Spirit, He disarmed the powers and authorities of this world and the ethereal world.  He brought the high places low and low places high.  He made the path smooth and straight to heaven, for IN HIM there are no written codes and regulations that any power or authority whether the demons from hell or wicked people on this earth can use to condemn us.  Christ came into the  world not to condemn us but to save us from the sins that so easily beset us and the final corruption of the flesh, which is death.  IN CHRIST WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD.  Christ made a public spectacle of all powers and authorities by showing them to be weak because without the law these powers have no bullets to shoot down God's heaven-bound children.  We stand fast in the freedom wherein Christ has made us free, clad in the full armor of God.  We do not stand in our own righteousness or human abilities because in Christ we have the Holy Spirit guiding us all the way.  The Spirit comforts us, directs us away from a life committed to the flesh, and uses us to fulfill the perfect will of the Father.  The Spirit says, "Go out in the name of the Lord: feed the hungry, pray for the sick, visit the lonely, comfort the suffering, encourage the downhearted.  Share what you have received and be blessed."  As the newborn in Christ, we rejoice in afflictions and hardships, knowing these trials and temptations come to make us strong in the power of Christ's might.  We comfort one another with the comfort we receive.  We draw closer together as the body of Christ, encouraging each other in the Spirit to do good deeds in Jesus' name that we might grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord.  We do not lift up ourselves.  As we lift Jesus high, we come to know him, finding peace, freedom, life everlasting.  We see what Paul described: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  (2Corinthians 5:17-19)  

Will the flesh sin as we live this journey of faith?  Yes, sometimes we wander, but the old nature IS DEAD.  He died at Calvary when he was crucified with Christ.  Our job is to agree with God's work in us.  He has made us holy and righteous, perfect through the cross, so we might enter into the holy place with confidence as the Word says many times.  We no longer carry the guilt and shame of sin.  Instead of cringing in fear or running away to hide from God, we thank him for his loving kindness and tender mercies.  We repent when we know we have willfully gone astray, and we praise God for delivering us from sin and lavishing us with his grace.  Since we are no longer captives in bondage to sin, we proclaim our freedom.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true:  “Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)   When we see ourselves righteous IN CHRIST, we will have victory over the works of the flesh.  No husband who really loves his wife as he loves himself will betray her.  Believers who love God as God has loved us will not betray him by making him an open show to the world as if He were of no affect in our lives.  When we sin, we sorrow and seek forgiveness from the Lover of our souls; but we will not let that sin harm our relationship, for we know God will never leave us or forsake us.  This kind of love demands reciprocation, loyalty, devotion.  Who can resist the steadfast love of God that never changes?  No one who has an ear to hear his voice!  If we truly know how much God loves us, how much he has done for us, how much He longs to fellowship with us in close communion; if we see him snatching us from the pit of Hell; we will surely dedicate our lives  and our allegiance to him with a passion that cannot be broken by any power on the earth or from the spirit realm.  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."  (John 8:34-36)  As children of God, may we use that freedom from sin and death to bring glory to our lovely, all-powerful Savior, the Good Shepherd of the sheep.  Amen!