The Story: Redemption

Who need hope for the future? those who need freedom from the past. And may this morning be that kind of morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. All right, if you would take your Bibles, turn to. Uh Colossians. Chapter 2 with me. Colossians chapter 2.

We are continuing a series in The Story. If you're our guest, my name is Brian, and I'm the lead pastor here. We've been doing a series called The Story. for this is our fifth of six weeks in this. And we're thinking through the various Large components of the meta-narrative that we get to tie ourselves off to.

And I mentioned to you that one of my deep concerns coming back from my own sabbatical was that people often. are disoriented because In the attempt to survive the grind, in the attempt to make it. through your week, through your day. Through the stresses and the anxieties and the frustrations and agitations, all the things that war against you. It's easy.

to get your head down and just slug forward slowly but surely one foot in front of the other And there's victory in some ways in that. But it can become debilitating if you become unmoored from a larger story. Or if you buy into another story. And so we've looked at creation, we've looked at fall in a couple of weeks, and we've looked, and this morning we're going to look at this idea of redemption. And think about how we kind of anchor our story in that.

So, as we do, I just share a couple of things as we start. When I was 20 years old and 21, I cut my teeth in ministry, in a very hard ministry. And now, almost 30 years into ministry, I look back. And my heart goes out to my brother Chris Crosswhite. He and his family attend here.

He's the director of the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake City. He does a great job, by the way, leading that ministry. Fantastic. And it's a great ministry. A lot of our discipleship groups have plugged in and done ministry down there.

But rescue ministry is hard. And it's hard because you are grinding on a daily basis in an environment where success is Not seen a lot. It is some. but it is rarely seen, and it's difficult. Men and women end up in that context.

because something broke in their story. And they were unable. to find a way to take that broken story and root it into a grander narrative. Or they bought into another narrative and they began to live according to that lesser story one way or another. The second summer that I worked at this rescue mission, it was kind of a hillbilly rescue mission in West Virginia, in Fairmont, West Virginia.

It's an old coal city of about 20,000, 25,000 people. But the mission was well populated. And people came from all over in the Northeast, really, and ended up there in weird ways. but there was a guy that I met, his name was John Rittenhouse. And John had come from out in the little peninsula in the far eastern portion of Maryland, Salisbury, Maryland.

He had been in ministry. He had pastored at one point. He had a beautiful voice, and his family traveled and did kind of old school gospel singing all around churches. But his marriage fell apart, and he found himself literally drowning at the bottom of a bottle. And he ends up in Fairmont, West Virginia at a rescue mission.

And I met him, and I watched God just begin a work of taking this guy who once had his story rooted in redemption. and had become a little unmoored. Had gotten a little low. That life had come upon him and he had happened to life in some negative ways. It wasn't all just passive.

There was some activity on his part, to be sure. But none the less, He found himself in his Hillbilly mission. And I watched God begin to piece a story back together. I watched him begin to find What it was to begin to anchor just that on that slide, just that line. of anchoring his story up to redemption.

And I watched years and stayed in touch with him. I saw years subsequent to that. He ended up leading a branch of the mission. And At his memorial, people could tell stories about how God used him to rescue them. from the bottom of a bottle.

How God used him. to rescue them. from the streets, how God used him. to begin to piece back portions of their family. And it was an amazing story.

And you know what? It didn't happen. John wasn't a young man. John was in the twilight of his life when I met him. And God just granted him a bunch of more years.

And gave him a vision in the twilight of his life that he could piece back, that all the years that the locust has stolen, that God could bring it back. You might be a believer here. Uh and the l life has Just infringed. You might not even realize. You might not even realize that the hollowness here The frustration.

The agitation. is in part because you've just been buying into a lesser story. Don Miller wrote a book years ago called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, and he tells this short little chapter, and he tells a story about a friend of his, his name was Jason. And his friend's thirteen-year-old daughter was getting involved in drugs at 13. And she had a boyfriend and the boyfriend was just an absolute nut job jerkwad.

And The guy was disrespectful, and yet she was intoxicated with him. And Don at the time was a single guy and he sits down with his friends Ja Jason and Jason starts telling him about his concerns about His daughter. And Don just kind of blurts out something off the cuff, but it sort of stuck in this guy, Jason's head. He said, It sounds like she is living. in an absolutely terrible story.

In This guy Jason began to think about that. What's that what does that mean? She's living in a terrible story.

Now, I'm not recommending the solution that he did necessarily for your lives if you find yourself in a terrible story, but. There is something remarkable in it. He thought, if she's living in a terrible story, I'm her father, I need to create a better story for our family.

So he found a non-profit. And he, uh, without talking to his wife, not recommended by the way. Committed $25,000 to build an orphanage in Mexico. And he came back and he told the whole family. Twenty-five grand I've committed for us and we don't have it.

How are we going to get it? to build an orphanage. What he found subsequent to that is that His daughter ends up creating some kind of this was back in the days of like MySpace, if you remember that. Creates a MySpace page to be able to advertise it to her friends, gets captivated by it. And all of a sudden she ends up breaking up with her boyfriend.

And He had his daughter back. As he created Created a different kind of narrative. And I want to read you: this is the last. sentence of this little short chapter. This guy, Jason, was talking again with Don after seeing his daughter break up with her boyfriend.

Get captured by a greater story. Begin to think about redemption. Think now about giving her life and service as a young woman. They mentioned the boyfriend, and they both agreed that the boyfriend was a jerk. And then this guy, Jason, says, talking about the relationship, but that's done now.

Jason said, shaking his head. And then he says this line, I just want you to think about it. No girl who plays the role of a hero dates a guy who uses her. She knows who she is. She just forgot for a little while.

I'm not saying you're the hero of your own story, because you're not. Jesus is the hero of your story. But It's possible you've forgotten. How your story is supposed to be identified. And whether you're in the twilight.

Like my friend John, who's gone to be with the Lord. or whether you're in the early days like that thirteen year old girl. Your story can get recaptured. And that's what I want to think about with you this morning. as we turn and look at Colossians chapter 2.

As we do it, We're going to think in terms of four anchor points of redemption. That you can tie yourself off to. And look, there's a lot of texts about redemption in the New Testament. But I chose this text for a specific reason because it is. About story.

That's why I chose it.

So what I'd like you to do first is look with me in chapter one. Because if we're jumping in the middle of Colossians, you should be aware of the point of Colossians. And the point of Colossians is really crystallized in verse 26 and 27, but it's in the middle of a run-on sentence, so it's weird to just jump into it, 26 and 27.

So start with me in verse 24, all right?

Now Paul says, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. And in my flesh, I'm filling up what's lacking. In Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body that is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me. For use. Just stop there.

I'm called to this church. I'm going to suffer to bring it a message. That's what I'm called to do.

Okay. To make, end of verse 25, the word of God fully known. Comma. What about the Word of God is He to disclose? Is He to exeget?

Is He to open up to them? What is it that He sees His mission is to them? And this crystallizes for us. what he's getting at in this letter. The mystery hidden for ages.

in generations, but now revealed to his saints to them God chose to make known. How great among the Gentiles are the riches Of the glory of this mystery.

Now look at the next phrase. You see it? Which is Christ In you. The hope of glory. It's not Just the revelation, and I don't mean just in any condescending way, the revelation of Jesus Christ is utterly glorious.

It's the hinge of human history, but he takes it and it goes next level. My job, he says, is to bring to you and unveil a mystery. It's been hidden for a while. Shadowy forms, prophetic texts, looking forward, covenants, all finding their yes. As 2 Corinthians 1.20 says, promises in Christ.

But that Magnanimous, amazing thought that Jesus comes to redeem you. Tucked away in you. In you. The hope of glory. That that story Could not just be external.

But it becomes the kind of thing that begins to rewrite the fabric of the narrative of your inner life in every single property. Christ in you, the hope of glory, he says. That's what I want to unveil to you. Him we proclaim. Verse 28, warning everyone, teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Now I want you to jump to our text, which is begins in verse eight.

Okay. C To it. See to it if this mystery Of Christ in you is the hope of glory. Then he says, there's an imperatival idea, there's something you gotta do. See to it.

That no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. According to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Here's another way of saying that. Make sure nobody tells you another story. That you go, ho, ho, ho, ho, That'll work.

Make sure you curate. Your intake. Make sure you curate. The contours of your relationships. Make sure you curate the use of your time.

In such a way. That you don't get swept up by another narrative because there's a bunch of them out there. A bunch of 'em. Here's our first anchor point. You need to anchor to the singularity of Christ.

The singularity of Christ. Which keeps you from being kidnapped. That's what the word means, captive. It means to take by spear. Like you would take an opposing army and make them your slave.

People, the stories that are waiting to take you. captive. And sometimes they don't come to you with a spear.

Sometimes they come to like a nerf gun. Like it's all fun.

Sometimes they come to you smooth.

Sometimes they come to you. Deceptive. And you need to be attuned. Stories waiting to take captive.

Now, let me make a couple of points of explanation here. It says Philosophy. But I don't want you to misunderstand what the text is indicating. Paul is not being critical of like Greek philosophy at large as though, yeah, that's why you shouldn't read Plato or Aristotle. That's not what he's doing.

He's talking particularly about a specific philosophy. In fact, the next phrase and empty deceit that phrase is intended as an explanatory gloss for the specific philosophy that they're buying into. Years ago, here in this valley, I confronted a false teacher in a public setting. It was awkward, to say the least. But as I confronted them in front of their congregation.

Mostly. It wasn't all their congregation, but most of the audience was. I mention That Uh the word philosophy. What I didn't know is that that particular teacher had used the word philosophy and always spoke negatively of it, like like the any any reference to philosophy was a negative thing, right? A negative thing, a negative thing.

What this individual didn't understand is he was being swept away and leading his congregation away. by a philosophy that was rooted in empty deceit. And when I said the word philosophy, everybody started to laugh. And I thought, what in the world? And they went, ooh, literally, they went, ooh.

Like I'd use the bad word. in this place. And when I found that out, I did look at the individual and I said, you actually would do really well to have a rudimentary course in philosophy. It'd help your logic a tremendous amount so you wouldn't lead these people astray. Philosophy's not bad.

But you need to be attuned. to how rational ideas How moods of the moment How faux wisdom How the latest, greatest, and innovative whatever comes along and begins to lead you.

Now there's a very specific kind of philosophy that's going on here. And it's interesting, there's a little, and I don't know for sure that this is the case, but N.T. Wright in a commentary made a super interesting observation. I just want to highlight it. The word for captive, all right, the word for captive.

Sounds a lot like it's almost rhymes with the word for synagogue. It almost rhymes with the word for synagogue. And It it begs a question if Paul might be almost playing off of something here. a little bit Because The heresy, and lots of scholars have spilled lots of ink thinking about what's known as the Colossian heresy. But this Colossian heresy was something that they were buying into.

that is touched on at various points throughout this letter. and he's deeply concerned that this story is captivating them.

So a scholar, F. F. Bruce, who was a great twentieth century Greek scholar. I think he gives a great summary. Of what the Colossian heresy was, and I think for.

from the description itself it really shows two lesser stories. That we often can buy into in different ways in our present culture.

So, I want to share with you a little bit of a lengthy quote, but it's worth it. Bruce says, basically, their teaching seems to have been Jewish. This appears from the part played in it by legal ordinances, circumcision, food regulations, the Sabbath new moon, and other prescriptions of the Jewish calendar. But it was not the more straightforward Judaism against which the churches of Galatia had to be put on their guard. That Judaism was probably introduced into the Galatian churches by emissaries from Judea.

So in other words, the Galatian heresy probably came from people from Jerusalem who came and said, Yeah, Jesus, yeah, but Jesus plus. And he's saying, instead, this heresy looks like it was local. It brewed in a kind of pagan context, he goes on. The Colossian heresy was more probably a Phrygian, that means a a local entity there in Colossae. A development in which a local variety of Judaism had been fused with a philosophy of non-Jewish origin, an early and simple form.

of Gnosticism. All this was presented as a form of advanced teaching for a spiritual elite. The Christians of Colossi were urged to go in for this progressive wisdom and knowledge, to explore the deeper mysteries. by a series of successive initiations until they attain perfection. Christian baptism was but a preliminary initiation.

Those who wish to proceed farther along the path of truth must put off all material elements by pursuing an ascetic regimen until at last they became citizens of the spiritual world, the realm of light. I want you to think about two aspects of what's described. On the one side is a story. That is rooted in human effort and human tradition, a works-based story. We've got.

Tons of them. Our own culture here is no stranger to religious works-based structures. America is no stranger to religious works-based structures. The history of the world is no stranger to that.

So there's something in us that feels like we have this self-actualization capacity, we have to work and achieve something. That's one side of it. But there's another. There's also this intoxication, and boy, is it present today in the day of podcasts. In the day of the latest, greatest thing that you can learn at your fingertips.

There's this kind of higher knowledge, higher life story. that we get into. This You are going to learn something. that no one else knows. We can teach you things, hacks in your life, ways of doing your life that would open up unbelievable opportunities to you and new vistas to you.

And sometimes they're laden, sometimes they inner work, right? You know of any religious systems rooted in law? and yet have initiation rites and processes of mystery? Where you now actualize yourself? These stories where I get to become the better version of me.

And I get to own some of that, so darn it. I start feeling good about myself. And I can sit on Stuart Smalley's couch on Saturday Night Live and we're good enough and we're smart enough and doggone it. I like me. We might even say.

I can become the better me. These Colossians were tempted out of a Jewish Gentile. Jewish Gnostic merger. To buy into aspects of a story that appeal. to the capacity to sort of own your own space and make your own way.

And Paul is trying to raise a banner and say, it's a lesser story. Don't buy into it. Don't listen to it. Don't get veered off the gospel. Even when they say, Jesus.

And then they just Put Jesus in the oven and Bake him to a crisp. With just a little bit of extra texture, just a little something more, just a little added spice for you to make him a little more tasty to your present palate. Don't buy it. Don't buy it. You have to go back.

to the old, old, timeless. Story. Look at the description in your text. See to it that no one takes captive by philosophy and empty seat according to human tradition. Right?

That's that works-based piece. And according to the Elemental spirits Of the world. The word spirits is a little, in my opinion, unfortunate in the translation. Probably better said something like the elemental. Principles.

Of the world. And the term can range in what it refers to. It sometimes would be used to refer to just those ancient, like, Earth, wind, fire, kind of those basic elements. It could be used to refer to. Demonic entities could be used to refer to pagan, different pagan influences, worldly influence.

Probably, in truth, it's a bit of a combination of all of that. The creation of a kind of system that is birthed from the zeitgeist of the age.

So? You can think about the zeitgeist of the present age. And what are the elements? The word that's used there used for like ABCs, the basic elements. building blocks.

Right? Ah, why goodness sakes An expressive idealism. that we live in today. An anti authoritarianism, a hermeneutics of suspicion? We live in this air that is so ready for something that will just be so tailored to me and take me to the next level and let me leave behind all the things that are holding me back in my self-actualized potential.

The basic elements of This world. He says, don't be captive. Yeah. Don't be captive to that. skip down at the end of Versailles.

It says and there's a comma, you see, up there after empty deceit. And a comma after world, and it's sort of rejoining the thought about captivity. And it says, and not according to Christ. What does that mean? It means you are to be captive.

You are to be kidnapped. You are to be taken over. You're not supposed to be independent. You are supposed to be taken by the end of a spear. You are supposed to be led away into what?

Slavery to Christ. Which has this amazing Eternal Completely oxymoronic paradox that you're a slave and at the same time utterly free. Given a new capacity to do things you never could do before. Romans 6, 17 and 18, but thanks be to God. That you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin.

See that? become slaves of righteousness. Same verse. Free to s be a slave. Free.

to serve, liberated to be constrained on mission. Romans 6, 22, but now that you've been set free from sin and have become slaves to God. The fruit you get leads to sanctification. And its end is eternal life.

So. You anchor yourself. Singularly. to Christ who has kidnapped you. Kidnapped you.

Don't you loose those chains? and run toward a lesser story to be bound in a way that will destroy your life. Secondly. The sufficiency. This is the second anchor point.

You tie yourself off to the sufficiency of Christ. Which resources you for every single thing you need. Look at verse 9. For in him, this is a famous verse about the deity. of Jesus.

Four In him. The whole Fullness of deity. Dwells. Bodily. And you've been filled in him.

Who is the head of all rule and authority? There's a play on words here. Fullness and filled coming from the same root. element, right? The verb is plurao, the noun pleroma.

has all the fullness Of deity. And now you Right? have a fullness or have been filled In Him. There's a difference in it's noteworthy to note in Greek. Uh Theatas Or Theodis.

One has a little iota in the middle, and that word means divine, or like in an attributive sense, like a divine core. quality. A divine quality. In Greek Orthodoxy, it's where the doctrine of theosis comes. comes from.

That's not the term that's used here. Four. Fullness in verse 9. It's theates. Which is a way of speaking not about an attributive.

Property, but to speak about an essential or ontological or property that is of his being, that is, he has the fullness. of God entirely.

So immediately Couple of truths that you've got to note, right? The first one is that Jesus, this one that now we're supposed to be captivated by a greater story, is God enfleshed. But he presses in verse 10 to point out that it goes another step further. It's Christ. In you.

That is the hope of glory. That's what he's getting at. And the in you is that all that Jesus brings to the table. He doesn't leave any of it off. He doesn't leave any of it unavailable.

To you as a Christian. That all the peace that Christ can bring. That all the gracious power power that he can bring. Available. To bring resolution to the dynamics of your life, that all of that is available to you simply, not because you get some second blessing, not because you got to come forward so somebody can whack you on the head and you can shake and quake.

Because you're a Christian. As you sit in your seat. As you drive out of the parking lot. As you go to work on Monday. As you sit with the family.

As you feel the stress, as you feel the weight, all the resources of Christ are available. To you. Problem is I get caught up with other stories. I get thinking about all these other things. I get thinking about all the things that are coming around.

I start buying in to lesser narratives instead of letting. All of the available resources of Christ seep their way down into my life.

Now I have responsibility in that. You have responsibility. The responsibility I have is that all that's available. And I have to access that.

So we're not saying that this idea, this religious idea, that everything's been done for you in such a way that you don't happen to anything in your life. No, no, all the resources of Christ are available to you, but you need to access them. But here's what I want you to note. You don't need Life Enhancing Resources. External to the narrative of Christ and his gospel.

You don't. It's all there. To say it's not is to say What I need is Jesus. Hmm, plus. Jesus.

Plus. You don't need Jesus plus anything. You need him. He is all. You need.

We're going to study the book of Ephesians. coming up in a few weeks. I love this verse, and we'll spend a bunch of time thinking deeper about these resources. But he begins, Paul does, to the Ephesians, and there's a lot of parallels between Ephesians and Colossians. He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every Spiritual.

Blessing. in the heavenly places. In the heavenly realms, In the spiritual realm, in the spiritual dimension that's not out there somewhere, you take a rocket ship to it and is not in future time, but instead is parallel to the dimension of existence you're in right now. He says, listen. Those resources are all available to you.

If you'd like 'em. And he'll list a bunch of them. And we'll get to those. For now, I just need you to know. Don't buy the siren song that you need Jesus plus anything.

It's him alone. 2 Timothy 1, 9 through 10, Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me as prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us, called us to a holy calling, a set-apart calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. Grace meaning the power of God at work in their life. Look at it, which He gave us in Christ Jesus. Before The ages.

began. we were given everything to this holy calling that we need. It's the answer to Augustine's prayer. Oh God, give what you command. You want me to walk in holiness.

Okay, y y he already gave it to you. It's available. All the resources. I mentioned 2 Corinthians 1:20 for you earlier. For all the promises of God find their yes in him.

That's why it's through him that we utter our amen. to God for His glory. The sufficiency of Christ, you anchor off to that. Look in verse 11, number 3. Third anchor point.

You tie off. to solidarity with Christ, union with Christ. that makes you a recipient. of his redemption. You understand what it means for you when you said I believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ. What did that mean? For you. Look at verse 11. In Him.

And we have to make no, that's the solidarity. In him. Christ in you. The hope of glory In him. Your life, Paul will say.

is hidden With Christ in God.

So it's Christ in God. And it's hidden. with him All the protection. all the resources in him You also you were circumcised. with a circumcision made without hands.

But What in the world does that even mean? I mean, you you don't go to a pizza place and they go, I made the pizza without hands. But what does that mean? It's a term that's used Three times in the New Testament. Uh To make it with hands, chiro, your hand, chiropoetas is the Greek word, to make with hand.

So in Greek, when you want to say something that is not made, you put what's called an alpha privative in front. Like when we speak in English, we might say something is unimportant. Right. Unbelievable. That's what the alpha privative does.

So ah chiropoetas. Used three times. It's used in Mark. in reference to like the spiritual Temple. I'm going to build a temple not made with hands.

It's used in 2 Corinthians of you receiving a body. Right? A body one day that is not, it talks about a tent, but it's referring to your body, not made with hands, a spiritual body. It's not the kind of body. that's tactile in that way in the same way.

And here. It's used. Not With hands.

So here you have these Jewish Gnostics. Or Gentiles who were buying into tenants of a Jewish Gnosticism, and they're in the church. And they're saying, yeah, it's it's Jesus, guys, but there's some other things you ought to know, and you you ought to think about being circumcised, you know, because that will be the kind of thing. Matter is bad, by the way. That's what the Gnostics taught, right?

Matters bad. And if you get circumcised, it'll be like a symbolic release. Whereby you're saying, I'm not bound by this body, I'm released to the ways of higher knowledge. that could be available to me. And Paul's saying, Listen.

You you need a circumcision, but not that kind of circumcision. What you need is a circumcision not by the hands of men. A changing, a marking, a transformation that takes place only at God's behest. By putting off The body of the flesh. By the circumcision of Christ.

So the circumcision made without hands is accomplished by The circumcision of Christ? I think it's saying to us that this circumcision. This circumcision, not made by hands, is what happened to you when. You were transformed. By Jesus.

When you were marked by Jesus, what did you put away? You put away the body of the flesh. He's not talking here about you put away the physical body. But you put away the baser urges Of your nature. Maybe a way of thinking about that is your residual.

Fallenness, right? Remember, we talked about the fall. and how it jacked with every one of us and screwed us all up. Redemption comes along. And it is like a palimpsest.

You know what a palimpsest is? A polympsist is when you have an old document that had writing on it. And you scrub out some of that writing and then you write over top of it something new. on that old document. Redemption is writing something new.

It's writing a new story. For you. It's writing over the fallen narrative. It doesn't mean that there's no marks of that fallen narrative any longer. But it means that it's no longer the dominant element in the document.

It no longer is that which tells the story. It's no longer that you don't have two dogs warring within you. The NIV, if you have an NIV, and I love the NIV, but it doesn't do well in translating the word sarks sometimes in the New Testament. And sometimes it translates it as sin nature. And when it does it, I don't like it because it makes it sound like I've got this new nature in Christ and I've got this old nature and sometimes I act awesome and sometimes I act like a nut job.

And then people say, well, whatever dog you feed, that's the one you're going to serve.

So you feed your flesh and all of a sudden you got a Rottweiler or a Pitbull over here. And then you got this happy chihuahua over here for Jesus and you're feeding him. And they're kind of going back and forth. That's a horrible vision of the spiritual life. You're not sitting in neutral as though you've got this.

bifurcated personality and sometimes you hear no I can't have that. I'm not sure if I can do it. You're a new creation in Christ. Old things have passed away. Behold.

A couple of things became new. Is that what it says? Everything became new. What that means then is when you walk in the flesh, you're living outside of your identity. You living back in the old document.

You're not letting the new script Sh no story. be written over top of it. Right. That's why Paul's theology gets summed up in a phrase. I'm telling you, if Paul's theology is spiritual life, be who you are.

That's who you are.

Now act like it.

Now act like it.

You have been He says, you got this. You don't have to live in a lesser story. You've been circumcised by the circumcision of Christ. He came and he marked your life forever. Transformed you.

You don't need to buy in. any more look at verse Having been, and I think verse 12 actually is giving us a little explication or explanation. Uh oh. Coming back and telling us a little bit more about this circumcision of Christ. Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised.

With him. Through faith in the powerful working of God, Who raised him? Yeah. But dead.

Now baptism isn't what saves you. But don't minimize it. Baptism Has one piece that is symbolic, and then it has another piece that really is dynamic.

Something really does happen. The symbolic piece is that act is proclaiming a spiritual reality that really happened in your life. Really happened. Where you were transformed, where you were changed, where all things were made new, and you're celebrating that in this context. And dynamically, this context, the local church is saying, as you come out of the water, yes, we receive you as one of us, fully identified, separate from the world, raised with Christ.

It's this passive Verb, raised with him, and it has this sense in which it's like a snapshot. You can take a look at it. That's what the Greek Arist tense is telling us. It's like a snapshot. You can take a look at it.

It's happened. You've been raised with Christ. You're not waiting for that. You have it now, what does that mean? That means that one day I will be in glory.

You'll be in glory. And we'll fellowship with the risen Christ. And we will have that fellowship unhindered. We will sip of the wine of his delight forever. But to say you're raised with Christ means that you get to take a little bit of that and pull it on back.

Into now. That it isn't all Down the road, and it's all trudging, suffering, one foot and the other. Same old, same old. You get to pull that back in. Deep, you're like.

Uh do you Are you enjoying your life? Like, here's something to think about. Jesus would really like you to. He would. He would really like you to enjoy your life.

He would really like you. to find that your life is hidden. In Him in God in such a way that you find him to be so utterly joyful. that that pours into your marriage. I mean, just that the reason isn't her.

And she might be great. And the reason isn't him. And he might be a stud. The reason isn't the kids. The reason isn't your parents.

The reason is it's your job, and maybe they're all great. But rather Your hope is so rooted, your joy is so rooted in him, you've been so changed and so transformed that you can't help but let joy spill out into these things.

So now you do the reverse diagnostic.

Well CSI on the soul. And you walk. from the things that are lacking, and you go back and you recognize it's not the thing. It isn't her. It isn't him.

It isn't them. It isn't dumb. It isn't the boss. It isn't I'm not making the money. It's something with me and Jesus.

And one of us has provided all that's necessary for the other. Wait a minute. Brian, it feels like you're using this in a manipulative way to say that I've got a me problem. To quote the great theologian Jim J. Bullock from the 80s Hollywood Square: Circle gets the square, you got it.

100%. Because he's given me. everything available. I gotta come back.

Now I get it back to square one, which is square two, three, four, ad infinitum. It's all the same. You heard me say it before. We'll say it a thousand times in the life of this church. It's The gospel is 101, 201, 301, 401, 501, infinity 01.

You never outrun it. You just rehearse it. And you get back to it. Finally. Salvation This is the fourth thing you tie yourself off on, right?

The singularity of Christ, sufficiency of Christ, solidarity with Jesus. Salvation. Through the cross of Christ that liberates us for true life. To really live. Look at verse 13.

And you. Who were dead in your trespasses The fall. Rehearsing it. And the uncircumcision of your flesh. You were lost.

Bunch of Gentiles out there. You were lost. God made alive. together with him. Sit together with him.

In Him, in Him, together with Him. Your identity is rooted in Him. You don't get to get away from Jesus as a Christian. You get to hide yourself in Him repeatedly. It's all wrapped up in Him.

Let me just put up three C's for you here. It's ta this this little section talks about our condition, our canceling, and His conquering, and we'll go quick. But this condition, you were dead, now you're made alive. How so? Look, it's through the canceling.

God made alive together with him. How? Having, similar to when it says in verse 12, having been, it's explaining what's taken place. How did I go from death to life?

Well, having forgiven us all our trespasses, how did that happen? By this cancellation idea. By cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. He's saying you did have a real problem and it was legal. Because the justice of God can't take a day off.

It's part of his character. And so the justice of God had to come to bear, and you violated, I violated, you violate, I violate, you will violate, I will violate. The demands of God's commandments. That's just another way of saying the legal demands of his law. I'll do it.

And I will not be able to cut the mustard. I'll not be able to stand innocent before the judge. And so I'm caught. I'm trying. There are legal demands here, and that puts me in a situation of an IOU.

Right. Probably not the best situation to be in in light of if you're sitting before an eternal judge and you have a big stacked up IOU. But it's saying that Jesus comes. And he cancels it. The word for cancel here.

Is this idea of he, he thinks about a whiteboard? That's the best way you can think about it today. He comes and he goes, shh. He blots it out, he wipes it away. He wipes it away.

Imagine if you were to take a ledger and just light right, you could everything you've done wrong in your whole life. You'd still be riding, by the way. You'd have carpal tunnel with multiple surgeries. And now He wipes it away. Five times that word's used in the New Testament.

Two times it's used. Of him wiping away tears. One time it's used of getting your name blotted out of the book of life. And then it's used also in Acts 3:19. Listen to Acts 3:19.

Repent, therefore, and turn back. that your sins may be blotted out. He's literally giving a word picture. Of a record of debt a ledger that has your transgressions that are on it. And he comes and he says, Let's But What happens tomorrow when you sin?

This is where Romans 3, 23 and 24 come in. Right. You've fallen short of the glory of God, but you are being justified freely by his grace. Both are continuous ideas. I keep falling short of the glory of God.

I hate that. But he keeps justifying me freely by his grace. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It's this polymcist idea again.

And then he starts writing, you're righteous. He starts writing, you're set apart to me. He starts writing, you're my beloved. He starts writing. that you are his.

He starts writing that in him You're hidden. He starts writing that your hope. is in him Over all that was wiped Away. Cancels the debt. This he Set aside, this word in Greek means to take from the middle.

It's between God and I, my dead. And he shh. Removes it.

So that now we can connect.

So that now we can have sweet fellowship. It's no longer between me. And God in verse fifteen.

Well, at the end of fourteen, actually. He set it aside. You see, nailing it to the cross. I think that might even be, it's certainly visual in terms of Jesus being nailed to the cross and the act of crucifixion sets me free because he is this great propitiation, this great sacrifice of atonement, this great one who endures the wrath of God and takes on my punishment. That's utterly true, but I think there might be a little wink here.

Remember, Jesus has tapped above him. A statement, the king of the Jews, it's almost like he's saying, you know, it's almost like your whole record of debt got stuck on a cross up behind him. Just as a little reminder. That you were made completely new. You're a new creation in Christ.

Verse fifteen. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing. over them in him and we conclude here. I'm redeemed. By the blood of the Lamb.

Amen? But tomorrow morning This afternoon?

Next week. The devil is out. to destroy me. And he's out to destroy you. That verse, verse 15.

Tells me.

something really important. Do you remember if you were here when we talked about the fall? And I emphasize to you that one of the great Weapons. of Satan in the fall is the exposing of your shame. Do you remember that?

This shame. This verse comes along in that palimpsest sense of rewriting on top of that old piece of the fall. and flips the script on shame. and turns shame From you. And flips it on your great enemy, the devil, who will bear it.

For eternity. He flips it.

Now he's the one.

Now, the spiritual forces that try to entice you and pull you away, they're the ones that end up being shamed for eternity because of the triumph. of Christ on the cross. Disarm It it can mean different things. It can mean, you know, like an arm uh like like the the uh an army taking over another army and taking off their armor, literally. It also though is a word, interestingly, it's used for a king, a royal figure.

Somebody who thinks they're all that in a bag of chips, being defrocked. Having the royal vestments taken off. And then triumphing is this ancient picture of what happens when they would conquer somebody. They'd march them down the town square.

Okay. In shame. And it was intended as an open shaming of their enemies. And he's saying, This is what God does and did at the cross. He set the The agenda.

for the defeat of your enemy.

So you don't have to live in slavery anymore. You don't have to live in fear. In Isaiah 53. We read about a suffering servant who came. And the suffering servant who dies paradoxically liberates.

The next chapter. In Isaiah, Isaiah 54, I want to show you three verses in Isaiah 54 in conclusion. Here are the first two. He tells people who are anticipating the great ultimate victory that this suffering servant would yield. For Zion.

He says Fear not. For you'll not be ashamed. Be not confounded. For you'll not be disgraced. For you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you'll remember no more.

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. The God of the whole earth. The God of the whole earth, he is called. And then watch, just a few verses later. No weapon that's fashioned against you shall succeed.

And you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord. Don't get that twisted. That doesn't mean somebody calls you out and you go, don't you talk to me? No weapon formed against me will stand.

It's not what it's talking about. What it's talking about is that ultimately, at the end of all things, One person gets the final say. on your life. And that is the one in whom your hope is, who has given you every resource imaginable. And the judgments.

The statements. The weaponizations of the Evil One, the tongues that rise against you. We'll have no say and you'll be vindicated. Because of Christ. Friend.

If you've if you've just been swept up in a lesser story. Good. Get yourself back. into redemption. It doesn't matter if you're 13 or if you're 63.

Get yourself back there. Because if you anchor to that. You don't it's You don't need anything more. than that because all is yes in Christ. Father, I pray your blessing on us.

I pray your joy for us. I pray that you'll anchor us to a beautiful redemption story. That does cause us to be absolutely captive to you, Lord Jesus, kidnapped.