Sermon details
- Scripture
- Colossians 2:13-15
- Speaker
- James Dean
- Date
- 7 April 2023
- Length
- 27 minutes
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The hope of the cross
Let us pray. Father, we come to you tonight to contemplate the cross, fully acknowledging that no amount of contemplation will help us to fully realize the depth of our sin. No amount of contemplation will help us to fully realize just how deep you had to go to save our wretched souls. But Father, we praise you and thank you tonight that still Jesus Christ hung on the cross to rescue us from our sin. Father, we thank you and we praise you tonight that for those of us who would believe this is not a debt that we had to pay, but you paid it for us. So Father, help us as we contemplate tonight and as we contemplate the resurrection on Sunday, to know more fully just how far you went to rescue your people. It's in your son's name that we pray, amen. Tonight we read from Colossians chapter two, verses 13 through 15. I apologize, I didn't get the page number for that. Colossians chapter two, verses 13 through 15.
and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
As we think about the cross on this Good Friday, we have to think about the horror of the cross. And we have to contemplate the suffering and the agony of which Christ went through. But let us not stay at the horror of the cross, my friends. But let us also think tonight about the hope of the cross for those of you who would believe, but also for those of you who do not believe. The warning of the cross that is given to you tonight within this scripture. many things in our lives of which are commonplace. But friends, I urge you tonight, do not let the cross of Christ be a commonplace thing to you. Consider those common things within your life. The drive that you took over to the church down JPJ or down JPA. What was the color of the car that you passed on the way here? What color shoes do you consider as you thought about coming to church tonight? What was the second lecture that you heard in your history class your freshman year of college? These can be common things and inconsequential things in our lives, and yet still there's many consequential things in our lives. The birth of a child, a tragedy, walking across that stage at commencement. And yet even for those most important events in our lives, we oftentimes forget the details and why those things were important. And so I urge you tonight, brothers and sisters, do not allow the cross of Christ to become a commonplace thing to you. Because the reality is that we miss oftentimes the minute details of what Christ did for us as he was led to the cross. Rather, brothers and sisters, on that very fateful night some 2,000 years ago, the cross of Christ was the hinge of history. It was high noon, and all of humanity, that everything before the cross flowed to it, and everything from the cross flows from it now. And our futures are predicated upon what we do with the cross of Christ. And that is where you are at tonight and where I am at tonight. What will we do with the death of Christ? And friends, don't forget too that the cross of Christ in that event, that happened. That just as you sit here tonight at Jefferson Park, there were people who gathered at the foot of the cross and witnessed that awesome and grisly crime. And if you lived 2,000 years ago today, you could have stood there too and witnessed it when the Son of God himself was slain before his own creation. So don't miss the tumult of that evening. Feel within yourselves from the Garden of Gethsemane to Golgotha that he hung and that he suffered and that he bled and that he sobbed in sorrow over your sin and over the impending death that he would bear for those who would believe. He prayed in agony, and he prayed that if there be any other way, please let that pass instead. But here we are tonight, remembering the cross of Christ, because there was no other way but for him to hang. And even as he was agonizing, and he was dragged through this night, he did not passively obey the will of the Father, but he actively went to the cross for you. He actively obeyed the plan of God that just like in Genesis three, when God promised that he would put enmity between the children of Eve and the serpent, and that one day he would crush the head of the serpent, this night he actively obeyed the father. when he was betrayed, unjustly tried, spit on, mocked, slapped, beat, announced innocent by the governor, and yet still traded for a murderer. Those who tried him weren't seekers of the truth, but they were seeking to defend themselves. And the irony of the crown of thorns upon the king of the universe's head, the irony of the sign that hung above him, the king of the Jews, this was the king of the world. That night was a display of the abuse of power. It was a display of the abuse of greed and fear. And on that night, even the high priest Caiaphas, he even proclaimed, ironically, that it was advised that it would be expedient for that one man, Jesus, to die, rather than for all the people of Israel to die. And yet he didn't know, as much as he was opposed to Jesus, how true his words really were. So in trying to subvert the plans of God, they helped them to come to pass. That from his trial and his arrest and his shameful robes and his trek to death bearing his own cross, on his way to yielding his own spirit to death when he declared, it is finished, this night was not happenstance. But as Acts 2 tells us, it was according to the definite plan and foreknowledge. of God, that Christ died for you. So the details of this night weren't commonplace. They weren't a run-of-the-mill thing like your drive to work, or the color of your shoes at the random time that you wake up or go to bed. No, it was at the cross outside of the holy city of Jerusalem that the sins of those who would believe were laid upon Christ. and driven out of your life forever. So on this fact, I ponder tonight and I ask this question, what does it mean for you? And what does it mean for you if you cannot say with surety that Christ died for you? It's beyond the horror of the cross, we see the hope of the cross and we see that first in verse 13.
and you who were dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him.
Friends, tonight we have to realize that in this scripture, as he's writing, Paul is writing to the Colossians, he's speaking to believers. Thus the hope and the promises herein are for the believer. And so if you're not a believer in faith, you're still dead in your trespasses and sins. You have not been relieved of those trespasses. And the fact is that those who are alive together with him, they have hope, but then there's everybody else. And you can be one of those people who have been saved from your trespasses, or you can be part of the everybody else who is still dead. That's spiritually dead. To be dead in your sin is to be decomposing. every moment of every day of your life, while you strive, and you toil, and you work, and you try to be a good husband or a good father, you try to be a good employee, you try to be a good human being, to be dead in your sin is to be decomposing every moment of your life, and you have no means or ability to make yourself alive. Just like the two thieves on the cross, you are more so in a precarious spot because at least they hung next to Jesus. Yet you cannot bring yourself back from the decay of sin. You stand a man or woman condemned. But God in this scripture made us alive together with him. And God can make you alive. as well. And from this scripture, we see through our union with Christ, his death on the cross was the death of your sin. And the resurrection on Sunday, that was the enlivening of your soul and something to truly celebrate. And then we see here further in the scripture,
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having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against you with its legal demands.
Have you ever had your debt canceled? maybe worked really hard to get it canceled, that in and of itself feels pretty good. But to have someone write off your debts, it's life-changing. It changes everything about the direction and course of where you will go and who you will be, and it feels freeing. Yet if you are a person who's ever been sued, you will know the agony of the feeling of being under the pressure all the time. I read an article this past week that since 1989, more than 3,300 people have been exonerated from their crimes in the US justice system. That's 3,300 people whose convictions were overturned because of some new evidence or something bringing to light that they were actually innocent. And it's estimated that more than 29,000 years of life were lost to wrongful convictions in our justice system. That's a lot of lost time. Friends, please know tonight that as we contemplate the death of Christ, that God does not administer imperfect and erroneous justice. We may live under a system with imperfect justice, but don't consider yourself as one of those who've been erroneously charged. God, we read in the scriptures, is a perfect judge. And he has written a perfect rap sheet of your sins against him. And he will not be proven wrong in that. He doesn't make mistakes in his records. No one in this room is actually innocent in and of themselves. How? How are they not actually innocent in and of themselves? Because they are only innocent in the death of Christ by canceling the record of debt that is held against us with its legal demands. God and Christ canceled that for those of us who believe. Friends, tonight, have you felt the burden of your sin? Have you felt the weight of your condemnation? Have you felt that before Christ, sin wasn't simply something that you do, but your trespasses were things about who you are? Scriptures tell us that we were rotten to the core, Christian. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. On that night, perfect justice was administered against the sinfulness of those who believe, but it wasn't administered against those who did the wrong, but against the perfect Christ. And how could one man atone for the sins of so many people? Brothers and sisters, we have an infinitely perfect Christ who is infinitely worthy and infinitely capable of covering all the sins ever committed by all of humanity. But our scripture doesn't stop there. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him or in the cross. What does this mean? Does this mean that He triumphed over your bad bosses or your bad government officials or the bullies who bullied you on the playground? No, He triumphed over something far more sinister than them. He triumphed over Satan, the one who would accuse you continually of your sinfulness in the cross. And He didn't do it with my help. He didn't do it with your help. He did it in his own power alone. And friends, this is the privilege of the cross. That your record of wrongs were nailed to the cross. That your sin was put to death and the life of Christ was imputed to you there in that moment. But even better, we see here that Christ triumphed over Satan. And he triumphed over all of Satan's ways in which he could deceive you, discourage you, pull you away. It was on this night that we think about tonight that the heaviest of blows was dealt to Satan himself. That on a night when Satan finally thought that he would have the triumph over the Son of God and put him to full humiliation, even in the death of Christ, Satan was defeated. And so as believers, we can relish in the victory of Christ over evil on the cross. And we can take hope knowing that we are not held in bondage to our sinfulness anymore. But conversely, If you don't trust and believe in the cross, you have nothing to relish in at all but the fear that you are still under the power of Satan who would deceive you. So what does this look like for the believer practically? And I think just think about the different segments in the church. I think about mothers who languish over their frustration that they have over their children all the time. and they wallow in just being frustrated that the kids don't do what I want them to do and I'm frustrated with me for feeling frustrated with them. But mothers, you don't have to languish because Christ languished for you on the cross and freed you from having to do those things. So now, instead of feeling hopeless, you can have hope in Christ and you can pray freely for your children whose debts haven't been canceled. And I think of a lot of men in the church, young men especially, who battle daily against their flesh, withering away in sexual sin, feeling miserable, feeling self-loathing. Some of you may be convinced at this point that you cannot not look. But brother, in the cross of Christ, he has triumphed over Satan, So the pool of things like sex and hormones and imagery that seems too powerful, you are free to say no to unholiness because he has triumphed over Satan. Young women, well, I don't know very many of those except for my wife. What do you struggle with, acceptance, pity, people pleasing, security, safety? Christ's triumph over your accuser in the cross. And what of those of us who are in covenant together here at Jefferson Park? What about those of us in the local church? Well, because of the cross of Christ, we can confess our sin freely to one another, knowing that we can seek help within the body. on a weekly basis, and that's why we pray from the pulpit on a weekly basis to confess our sins to God, because we know that in the cross of Christ that he has produced for us the hope that we don't have to languish in our sinfulness forever. And why should we do this? Because our sins have been forgiven and they don't bear place in the light. Husbands and wives, are you stuck in an endless cycle of bitterness? Are you grinding each other to dust as if your marriage was just a big, giant millstone? Well, friends, Christ can save your marriage. In freedom, your sin is forgiven. And you can have confidence and you can move towards your spouse with forgiveness because Christ has defeated Satan on the cross. Make no mistake, sin is a nefarious thing. And we can all succumb to its power, but we do not have to when we have Christ. I'm reminded of the words of Martin Lloyd-Jones when he said,
it is not enough to say that sin is a power that has independent existence. No, it is a mighty power, a terrible power. It has a fiendish quality, a malignity, which is truly terrifying.
But he nailed it to the cross. This is the power of the cross in the hands and feet of Jesus. And Christ's declaration preceding his death is, it is finished. And if you believe here tonight, friends, your sin is finished in you. And you can have hope in the cross. But the cross also offers for us a warning for the unbeliever. And if you sit here tonight and you're milling about in your mind whether or not you have actually trusted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, then you are truly in a precarious spot. Why was the death of Christ the plan of God the whole time? Friends, it's not the repulsive act of some selfish deity. The death of Christ is not the uncontrolled anger of a fickle God against your fickle crimes. No, the death of Christ is the righteous and just God's righteous reaction against your sinfulness, which is in contradiction to His holiness, which cannot be compared by anything else. And the cross of Christ is his punishment because we have not stood up to his right demands that in his presence be holy for he is holy. You do not go before a king dressed in rags. And unbeliever, you do not go before the creator of the universe dressed in your sin. The cross of Christ must save you. That's where you are. if you haven't put your faith in Christ. You're robed in your sinfulness and you cannot be in the presence of God. You're effectively dead in your trespasses and sins. And worse than that, you are in your sins. To reject Christ is tantamount to your own self-immolation. Every day that you continue in your sin is a day that you continue to be dead. Every day you continue in your sin is a day that you're inflamed with the punishment and consequence of not only your outward actions, friends, but your inward heart when you reject Christ. But I know what some of you may posit because you would posit what I posited before I believed, and that is that I don't feel dead. Or at least I don't seem as dead as that person or that person over there. Plenty of people seem more dead than me. please understand there is no such thing as more or less dead. Dead is dead. You who were dead in your trespasses and sins, the fact is you're guilty of forsaking your God and turning from his holy and right commands. If you're an unbeliever, you're an enemy of God. And scripture tells us God will pursue his enemies all the way into the darkness. And He will pursue you all the way into the darkness if you will continue to reject Him. As you stand against God, He stands more against you. And this is a novel idea. We don't wanna hear this in these days. We wanna be affirmed, accepted in everything that we do and in everything that we say. But if this sounds harsh, just go back to the songs that we just sang right before the sermon. If you're not in Christ, all the legal accusations of God against you stands on your shoulders, accusing you. And the verdict of guilt will render you an eternity to pay those off. Friends, you cannot please God. Your sin is more than the deeds you commit. Your sin is the cancer that consumes you. And yet, there's only one aggressive remedy for your cure. You can't be an A plus dad. You can't be the best employee. You can't do yoga. You can't seek success. You can't be excellent in your job. You can't be the best looking guy in the room. You can't be a phenomenal wife. You can't be a toxically positive person. Nothing can unseat you from your guilt but Christ. This, your sin, he set aside, nailing it to the cross. You may be guilty, but listen when I say that Jesus Christ on this Good Friday can bear your guilt for you. God can pour out his wrath on his son, and he did, to satisfy finally and forever the legal guilt that you are due to pay. It's the only way. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to the cross. Do you want to bear that weight of your sin forever? And when I say forever, I mean forever. You can't have it any other way. Can't be good enough. Can't be nice enough. Can't be charitable enough. I'm reminded of Samuel Rutherford, Scottish pastor. He said,
there are some who would have Christ cheap. They would have him without a cross, but the price will not come down.
The cross is the culmination of God's wrath against unbelief. Is it nothing to you? Have you sworn your allegiance to God who has reached out to save you? Or have you sworn your allegiance to the one who will continue to act in malice toward you day after day? Do you want to trust in Christ who died for you to free you?
and you who were dead and your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you that we would have rather languished in our sin. We would have rather wandered in the wilderness. We would have rather stayed in Egypt than to follow you, than to strive after holiness. But you intervened in the course of humanity. on this fateful night many years ago to rescue us through Christ, through his obedience, through his suffering. We praise you, and we come to you tonight relieved, full of humility, knowing that if it weren't for you, we would still be lost. And more than that, Father, we would be condemned. And so as we come upon this Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, we ask that you enliven our hearts with the hope that you have loved us more than we could ever fathom, and you have had the power over death and sin. It's in your son's name that we pray, amen.
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