Complete in Christ C

Jesus Christ, by His complete work, He freed men from sin, its power and consequences, gave them new life, so new and so vital and so liberated that it can be described only by the term Resurrection Life. When Steve Jobs was 13, he confronted his pastor with a picture of two starving children on the cover of Time magazine. He then declared that he wanted nothing to do with a God who would allow such an atrocity, and he never went back to church.

Now what if you had a child like Steve Jobs? How would you show him that God is far more loving and kind and gracious than you or I could ever imagine? John MacArthur gives you a great place to start today on Grace To You as he looks at God's all-sufficient and amazing forgiveness. It's part of John's study on the blessings of salvation, titled Complete in Christ. Turn to the book of Colossians and here's John.

Now let's look at Colossians 2.10. Colossians 2.10 says, And you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power. You're complete in Him. You have been made complete.

Now what does that mean? You say, Well, what do you mean, John, when you say complete? Complete what? What is the definition of that completeness? Well, Paul can't just say it either, so he's got to preach the sermon on it just like I would. He's got to explain it, so he does in the next verses. And he shows you three ways in which you are complete.

These are just basic, beautiful things. Three ways, three kinds of completeness, three aspects to our completeness. Number one, complete salvation. Number two, complete forgiveness.

And number three, complete victory. Complete salvation, verses 11 and 12. Complete forgiveness, verses 13 and 14. Complete victory, verse 15. How are we complete, Paul? Number one, your salvation is complete. Verse 11, In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. In putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God who has raised Him from the dead.

Second, in what way is our completion in Christ seen here? Complete salvation. Secondly, complete forgiveness.

This is so great, I love it. Complete forgiveness. I don't know about you, but probably the most exciting doctrine in all the Bible is forgiveness to me. I mean, let's face it, knowing what I know, if I felt guilty all the time for my sins and felt like they weren't forgiven, I'd be a basket case. Complete forgiveness.

This approach is the same reality from another aspect. The first one emphasized the completeness of salvation apart from ritual, and this emphasizes the completeness of forgiveness apart from any work. Look at verse 13. And you, being dead in your sins, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, has He made alive, together with Him, having forgiven you, most of your trespasses. All, all, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. Jesus Christ, by His complete work, He freed men from sin, its power and consequences, gave them new life, so new and so vital and so liberated that it can be described only by the term resurrection life. And even to the Gentiles, He gave it apart from any ceremony, like circumcision. Say, this is fantastic.

You mean it's possible for somebody to be completely restored to God, completely given a new heart and a new nature, to have a complete new relationship with God, eternal life? How? How? Watch this. Beautiful.

Watch this. Verse 9, two little words. In Him.

Are you ready? Verse 10, two little words. In Him.

See Him? Verse 11, two little words. In whom? Verse 12, two little words. With Him. Verse 13, two little words. With Him.

How do you get all this? By being what? In Christ.

That's the key. He puts yourself in the hands of Christ, you receive Him by faith, and it all becomes yours. And then He says, here's the first major benefit. The end of verse 13. Having forgiven you all trespasses. Past tense, folks.

It's already been done. People ask me this all the time. John, how many of our sins have been forgiven? What's the answer?

All of them. Having forgiven all trespasses. That's miraculous. And I'll tell you, I agree with Psalm 32, 1, it says, Happy is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is removed or covered. That's a happy man, isn't it? That's happy to be forgiven.

I like it. I don't like to be guilty about things. I'm so happy I'm forgiven.

And if I thought there were two sins that weren't forgiven, I'd be a miserable wreck. You know what I like? I like Isaiah 1 18. This is what it says.

You remember this one? Come now. Let's reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. How much forgiveness is there there?

Total. White as snow, as wool. Isaiah 1 18. Isaiah 55 7 is a good thought on that. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord. And he will have mercy upon him, listen, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

That's great. Listen to Acts 13 38. Again the completeness of forgiveness, Acts 13 38. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins...the forgiveness of sins. This is Paul preaching. And listen to verse 39. And by him...listen to this, I love it...all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the Law of Moses.

All that believe, that's simple enough, are justified from what? All things. Fantastic. Total complete forgiveness. Instant. The moment you believe God forgave the sins, you have committed and were to commit.

I love this. Acts 10 43. To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believes and does penance...no...whosoever believes in him shall receive forgiveness of sins. You receive forgiveness for believing. Say what about confessing? No, for believing, confessing does not relate to forgiveness, it relates to acknowledging your sin and repenting of it. Forgiveness is already a settled matter. Hebrews 8 10 is good, for this is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel after those days says the Lord, I will put my laws in their mind, write them in their hearts. I will be to them a God and they shall be to me a people. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, No, the Lord for all shall know me from the least to the greatest, for I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I what? Remember how long?

No more. I am always amazed at the fact that there are many Christians who continue to remember what God has forgotten. I used to call it a God complex. Listen, the highest court in the universe is God. And if God has forgiven me, the only thing that would justify my holding myself guilty for sin is if I am a higher authority than God. If I'm not, then I might as well forgive myself. What are the characteristics of God's forgiveness? Do you ever think about that?

What are the characteristics? Let me just fire these at you quick. First of all, it's gracious. God's forgiveness is gracious. You didn't earn it.

You didn't earn His forgiveness. It is a gift of grace. Romans 3.24, being justified freely by His what?

Grace. Justified freely by His grace. Titus 3.4, after the kindness and love of God our Savior, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Justified verse 7, by His grace. God's forgiveness is gracious. Secondly, it is complete, absolutely complete.

Something missing. Ephesians 1.7, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, listen to me, according to the riches of His grace. You say, how much forgiveness is there equal to the riches of His grace? You want to know how much forgiveness you have? Figure out how much grace He's got.

I'll help you. Where sin abounds, grace does what? Much more about. So however much sin you've piled up, He's got a lot more grace. Complete forgiveness. 1 John 2.12, my little children, I write unto you, because your sins are forgiven for His name's sake. Thirdly, God's forgiveness is not only gracious and complete, it's eager.

You don't have the idea of God up there saying, oh boy, why did I ever get into this? Now I've got to keep forgiving these people. Psalm 86.5 says He is ready to forgive. He is eager to forgive. Second Corinthians 5.19, to wit that God was in the world, God was in Christ, I should say, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Here's God. And He says, I want to reconcile you and I don't want to hold your sin against you. I want to forgive your sin. And so He says He committed to us the word of reconciliation and sent us out as ambassadors to tell everybody that God's just waiting to do this.

Isn't that fantastic? He's just up there waiting to do it. Gracious, complete, eager. Fourth, God's forgiveness is certain. You can count on it, absolutely certain.

No questions, no doubts. In Acts 26, 18, Paul says God sent Him to preach Christ, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in me. In other words, it's based on His promise. It's based on God's promise. Paul says, as I have seen these things and as I heard Christ and as He told me what to do and promised to do it, I go out to preach. Verse 25, he said, I am not mad, noble, festous, but speak the words of truth and soberness. God has said it and I preach it. It's certain based on His promise.

And I would add, fifthly, it's unequaled. If you're looking for forgiveness, try God. You'll never find any other kind like it.

I love this. Who, remember this one, Micah 7, 18, who is a God like thee who pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? Have you ever known a God like that?

The pagans have never invented one. Who is a God like that who pardons so much? Further, the forgiveness of God is not only gracious, complete, eager, certain, unequaled, but it is motivating. Say what do you mean motivating, John? Ephesians 4 32 helps us on that.

This is what it says. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted doing what? Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake, what? Has forgiven you.

Listen to me. If God has not totally forgiven us, that principle gets all messed up. He says forgive totally and completely as God has forgiven you.

Listen, be clear on this. Forgiveness is total, complete, forever for the Christian. There's no such thing as unforgiven sin in the life of a Christian.

It is all forgiven. Now let's look at verse 14, this marvelous verse. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances against us, contrary to us, He took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.

I want you to look at two words here that will give you the picture here, two Greek words in which the whole idea hinges. Number one, the handwriting which was against us was blotted out. The word is kiragraphon, literally autograph. Blotting out the autograph.

The technical use of this word is interesting. It was a handwritten note of a debtor acknowledging his indebtedness. You know what it literally was an IOU, I, John MacArthur, O-U, $500 signed John MacArthur. That is a kiragraphon, a handwriting.

You know what happens? A signed confession of debt. Your sin and mine piled up a debt to God, right? We owed God for that, we had to pay. And it is against us, notice it, against us.

It was against us. In other words, it would destroy us. It would condemn us. We couldn't pay it. It is a self-confessed recognition of those debts. So when you're willing to go up there and sign it and say it's true, I will sign my name on that line.

This is true, these are my debts. It's the minute that you sign it and confess it that God blots it out. Let me take you to the second word, we'll put it together. It says, that which was against us was contrary to us, He took it out of the way. Eventually He wiped it off, like erasing a blackboard. This is the forgiveness of God. The day you walked up to God and signed your confession is the day He erased it, totally. And what were you confessing? Sin.

Let's give you the idea of this. The substance on which ancient documents was written was a papyrus. The papyrus was a kind of paper made of the bulrush. There was another thing that was used, vellum, which was made from an animal's hide.

And both were fairly expensive and wouldn't be wasted. And since no ancient ink had any acid into it, the ink never bit into the papyrus or the vellum anyway, but it lay on the surface. If nobody fussed with it, it would remain there because it didn't bite into the surface, it had no acid. And sometimes a scribe, in order to preserve his paper, and because he didn't have too much money, would simply take a sponge and wipe the ink off the papyrus or the vellum and use it again.

And that's exactly what he's saying. When you received Jesus Christ and you walked up and signed your confession, that's when God nailed it to His cross, paid the penalty and wiped it clean. It's a great thought, isn't it? So God, by our faith in Christ, took that indictment, nailed it to the cross. We signed it and He erased it. You know what's left?

Not one trace. And He remembers it, what? No more. Complete forgiveness. Oh, the wonder of that kind of grace, fantastic. Lastly, complete salvation, complete forgiveness, third complete victory, verse 15. In having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. He's saying to those Colossians, for goodness sake, don't piddle around with those eons and intermediary spirits. They were all decimated at the cross. When He died, He spoiled principalities and powers.

He made a public demonstration over them, triumphing over them. Where was it that Jesus bruised the head of Satan? At the cross.

Where was it that He broke His power? At the cross. Where was it that He took away the power of death at the cross? Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14, for as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. His dominion was broken at the cross. As Christ was suspended on the cross, no doubt the demons were having a carnival. Seeing Him bound hand and foot to the wood in apparent weakness and defeat, they imagined He was their victim. But how wrong they were, He mastered them even in death. And 1 Peter 3, 18 says, when His body went into the grave, His Spirit went into the place where the demons were bound and it says He proclaimed His victory over them right there to their faces in that place. Read 1 Peter 3, 18, Christ descended and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, who are they?

Bound demons. He proclaimed His triumph and they were disabled and they were dethroned. So the cross and the resurrection is the answer in the heresy beguiling the minds of those living in the Lycus Valley. There's no point in paying tribute to principalities or powers that have been vanquished by Jesus. What a victory. But for the gospel, beloved, man is a puppet in the hands of fate.

G.H.C. McGregor says this, listen, we are still conscious that apart from the victory of Christ, man is a helpless victim in a hostile cosmos. It is little comfort to us that the inexorable fate which was once expressed in terms of the influence of the stars conceived as personal demons is now expressed in terms of psychological or physical or economic determinism. We still ask how a man is to triumph over an evil heredity or how can he be free and victorious in a world of rigid law and scientific necessity. We still suffer from astronomical intimidation, terror at the insignificance of man and the vastness of the material universe encompassing him, end quote. And man has this fear of being crushed sooner or later by an intimidating universe and cosmos that he can't explain. And there's only one message of hope that comes firing through and it is this, Jesus Christ crucified, Jesus Christ risen as Lord of all and the forces of the universe are subject to Him as its Creator and its conqueror. They in that day feared the demons and they feared the angels and they feared the stars and because of Jesus Christ we fear nothing.

What a confidence. The death of Christ was a transformation. The death of Christ was a pardon and the death of Christ was a triumph and that makes for a complete salvation.

Lord thank you again for what you've done. No wonder Paul said, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ. Father for this complete salvation we give you praise and thanks from the deepest part of our hearts. Thank you for what you've done in us because of Christ. May our thanks be manifest not just in our thought, not just in our word but in our acts. May we live thankful lives.

Let me say this in closing, we'll close in just a minute. I know that there are some who've never come to the completeness that Christ offers. You don't know what it is to be complete in Christ. You don't know what it is to have complete salvation, forgiveness and triumph over Satan and all of this terrible fear and intimidation that man in our universe knows. You don't know what it is to have peace in the midst of the storm of life but you'd like to know. I can promise you that you can come to Jesus Christ and He'll not only give you what you're looking for but more than you ever dreamed. What have you to lose in trying? If the desire of your heart is to know Jesus Christ, why don't you just whisper that to God and say, God, I don't know all about this but if it's true I want to know.

If it's true I want to know and Jesus said if you seek me and really will to do the Father's will you'll know of the truth and the truth shall set you free. We thank you for what you're doing in all of our hearts. Thank you for the great sense of gratitude that I feel inside for what you've done for me in this wonderful salvation, help me to speak it to others, to be that ambassador, to proclaim the eagerness of your forgiving spirit. Take us from this place, Father, this week to with open hearts and open mouths and open minds be your servants in this world that so desperately needs you and will praise you for what you're going to do in Christ's name, amen. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur.

Thanks for being with us. Along with teaching on this radio station, John serves as Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. He's titled his current study on the innumerable blessings of salvation complete in Christ. John, that was an encouraging message and particularly what we saw about God's eagerness to forgive us. Our sinful flesh may tempt us to believe that God is just waiting for us to do something wrong so that he can punish us, but the fact is we worship a God who is for us.

It's an amazing truth. It is and it goes back to the Old Testament. Who is a pardoning God like you? This was just not true of false gods, false deities.

They were harsh, they were unbending, they were indifferent. That is the basic way satanic false deities are designed to threaten and to frighten their adherents and thus pull them into line so that Satan can accomplish his purposes. But what made the God of the Bible, the only true and living God, stand apart from all other gods was his love. In the Old Testament, it was his chesed, his loving kindness, his mercy, his grace. And that's why the prophet said, who is a pardoning God like you? And we even hear God early on in the Pentateuch saying that he forgives, that he's a God who forgives.

He's a God who is merciful and compassionate and full of forgiveness and that's the true representation of the true and living God. In fact, God finds glory in his forgiveness. When people ask the question, why did God allow sin in the world?

Which is a common question, you know, if God could have stopped it, why did he let it happen? And the big answer, the simple answer is this, God allowed for sin so that he could demonstrate forgiveness. In other words, forgiveness is so true to the character of God that he wanted to put it on display before the holy angels forever and before the redeemed saints forever. So he even allowed in the world sin for the purpose of displaying his love and mercy and grace and compassion and kindness and forgiveness. So it matters greatly to God that he put himself on display that way. You see that in the worship of heaven in the book of Revelation where heaven is celebrating the wondrous work of God in the cross of Christ where God's forgiveness was made possible through the death of his son.

So God is a God of forgiveness and we're finding that out in our series currently. And I do want to remind you of the new study guide on the series titled Complete in Christ. This study guide is designed to enrich your understanding of these profound truths. So get a copy of the study guide and you'll find that that will happen in your life as you go through it faithfully.

Yes. Thanks, John. And friend, this really is a resource that can make a profound difference in your life. And not just in your life alone, it makes a great curriculum for your midweek Bible study group or to use one-on-one with someone you're discipling. Pick up a copy or a few copies of the Complete in Christ study guide today. Call us here at 800-55-grace or you can also place your order at our website, gty.org. The Complete in Christ study guide will help you answer questions like, how can I draw strength from the Lord? How can I be sure that my salvation is real? And how can I better love my church? To place your order, call 800-55-grace or go to our website, gty.org.

Now something important to keep in mind. Every day this broadcast is heard on a thousand stations here in the U.S. and a thousand more in the Spanish-speaking world and by countless people online. The support of listeners like you helps make this far-reaching ministry possible. If you'd like to partner with us, mail your tax-deductible donation to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. You can also donate when you call us at 800-55-grace or you can donate at the website, gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, reminding you to watch Grace to You television this Sunday. Also, be here tomorrow when John looks at how you can defend the gospel when it's attacked. Miss the next 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time on Grace to You.