Being Filled In Christ Means Everything
Colossians 2:10-15
(Children's Sheet for Sermon Interaction is at bottom. Notes are throughout sermon)Pastor Kerry Kinchen, Bridgeway Bible Church
Colossians 2:10-15. Colossians 2:10-15. This morning we are going to look at some of what God has done, and what God is doing, in saving people. It all culminates in God's work in us. It all has to do with Christ. There are many trails in the territory of how God identifies us in Christ that we can explore. Paul the apostle, in his epistles, goes down so many paths of explanation. In our Colossian passage this morning, he hits it from a variety of angles. Paul moves into our passage with a warning to the Colossian Christians--Make sure that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the traditions of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. Christ, and the riches in Him, needs to be our focus. Think about Christ; think about the riches that God wants us to mine out of Him, as we continue reading starting in verse 9,
"9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 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 from the dead. 13 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, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him." Colossians 2:9-15 ESV and NASB
Join with me in preparing our hearts to learn, from God's word, in this sermon titled,
Being Filled In Christ Means Everything
[prayer]
In your Christianity, what you do is important, but what you do is not nearly as important as what God has done, and is doing, in you. Without God's work in us, then everything is merely us. And if that is the case, then we are lost. This is why Christ is the focus. You and I simply experience the blessing that is in Him. This morning we are going to explore this rich passage to glean 5 important truths that are vital for us to learn in respect to the expansive blessing of what it means to be filled in Christ.
/1/
The first thing I want us to glean is the starting point of the magnitude of what this means. It is the very lofty fact of our amazing, and unique, union with the One and only God.
"9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Paul has a kind of design of writing here where he brings out a point in a literary pattern. Paul has expressed some of this point earlier in a similar pattern form in a hymn in chapter 1, where he explained that Christ,
"is the image of the invisible God, ... all things have been created through Him and for Him." Colossians 1:15-16
Then Paul goes right to speaking of the body of Christ aspect,
"18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell," Colossians 1:18-19
Paul's point in our text follows the same sense as before. The point is that because Jesus the Messiah embodies the fullness of God, all who are in Him, (as the body), have been made full. We are empty when we are outside of Him. We are filled up when we are in Him. I think it is important for us to recognize that when Paul talks about Christ as God here, Paul uses the noun form of the Greek word full. Paul is saying that this is Christ's state of being. Jesus is 100% man, and 100% God. What Paul says next is that what all Christians have in Christ is the verb form of the same Greek word. What this means is that we have been made full in Christ who is fully God. It is where being in Christ means everything because we are filled up with God's righteousness in Him, where we are joint heirs who inherit all the spiritual blessings in Him, and we are the body in Him. Paul is sharing good things of the good news (the gospel). Salvation means that you have attained full completion and perfection in your spiritual state in Christ; and the big point, which Paul made earlier, is that my fullness, and your fullness, is all contingent upon Christ being God. Now to really get this, where we understand this verb of being filled, we need to go back to where Jesus explained these things to His disciples. It had not happened yet, because Christ had not yet been rejected, betrayed, crucified, and risen, to fulfill the prophecies. But the revelation was given. Jesus told the disciples, the night He was arrested, that this special relationship was going to happen. In John 14, Jesus said something to the disciples that must have left them awe struck. He told them that when they see Him, then they have seen the Father-God. Think about how shocking this revelation must have been. These were men who have worshipped Yahweh their whole lives. They are familiar with having the priestly system of mediation between God and men. Now they are casually looking at Jesus while He teaches, and He says, what you see is Yahweh. And then Jesus just keeps on talking. He explains the salvation relationship that will come about in the future, where being in Him means everything, but He says it in different terms. He says something else that is just as amazing a revelation as the fact that He is God. Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit, Who is also God, as the third Person of Himself as the One God (as what we in our tiny minds call Trinity), is going to be given to them in a unique way from the Father. The relationship is going to be more than a meeting. It is our relationship too. It is more than a meeting that the disciples had with the God of the universe while gazing at Jesus. Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit,
"... will be in you" John 14:17
Wow. A few verses later, Jesus says,
"20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." John 14:20
The Holy Spirit within us, is what brings about the reality of God the Father and Son with, through, and "in" His people as the body. This is the great necessity of salvation, which is why the doctrine of the deity of Christ is so important. This does not mean that you are Christ, but it means that He is Himself in you. So, when we look at what Paul is saying in our Colossians passage, we see that we are fellow heirs according to the God-man who is the Firstborn Heir according to promise. You have an intimate relationship that is much deeper than a detached us over here, and Him over there, relationship. Adam didn't have this in the garden when he heard the sound of Yahweh walking in the garden in the cool of the day, Genesis 3:8. The disciples didn't have it yet while walking with Jesus. Noah, on through Abraham and Moses, down through David, didn't have this--even with the priestly system. Then even later in the the days of Christ's arrival, the Jews didn't have this. The lost people of Colossae didn't have this with all their false religions. The false religions of our day have absolutely nothing to do with this. God came incarnate as man, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah 23 where the prophecy resounds throughout the generations;
"5 Behold, the days are coming," declares Yahweh, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely And do justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell securely; And this is His name by which He will be called, 'Yahweh our righteousness.'" Jeremiah 23:5-6
@1 The prophecies said Jesus would come and be called the ____________________ our righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
Jesus Christ is called "Yahweh our righteousness" where all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form, and you and me and all the body of Christ have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. Being in the head of the body, where Christ is in you the hope of glory Colossians 1:27, is what makes you the righteousness of God. It is the illuminating truth that shines in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where God says that He made Christ who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. It is what gives us our life, where Paul says later in Colossians 3:4 that Christ is our life. We can not be the righteousness required, and we can not be the life we need in salvation, on our own. This is why being in Christ means everything.
/2/
The second thing I want us to glean in respect to recognizing that being filled in Christ is everything, is that we have been circumcised spiritually in Christ,
"11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ," Colossians 2:11
@2 In salvation, God cuts away our Old self through Christ, putting it _________ forever, and fills us up with Him spiritually. (Colossians 2:10-11)
Paul, like always, is bringing attention to the fact that truly amazing things happen to us "in" Christ. Notice the reference again, where Paul says "in Him," and then that amazing miracle action that happened to you in the past that you didn't realize happened until God revealed the insight,
"in Him ... you were circumcised."
That past point in time when this happened to you, is the point of the surgical operation that saved you from everlasting deadness. This is a spiritual circumcision that God does to all of the elect in Himself as Christ when we are saved. It is not made with hands. It is made with Christ. Christ is the focus. When we consider this fascinating description of God's work applied to us, we consider the focus. Think about Jesus, once again, back in His pre-cross ministry. Think about when the firstborn heir was a baby. When Jesus was an infant during His pre-cross Old Covenant ministry, He was actually circumcised according to two covenants. He was circumcised according to the sign of the faith-covenant that God made with Abraham. He was also circumcised according to fulfilling the Mosaic Law covenant made with Israel on Mount Sinai. Every Jewish boy was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth according to Levitcus 12:2-3. Physical circumcision is the actual cutting away of the foreskin from males. This was the outward sign of the earlier Abrahamic covenant of Genesis 17. It signified that the males belonged to the elect covenant nation. But, this particular circumcision that is applied to us inwardly, made without hands, that we have because we have been filled in Him, is so much more. Jesus was not only actually circumcised as a baby on the eighth day, but He actually is the living fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant where circumcision started. Jesus is the sign and seal of our faith, by becoming our spiritual circumcision for us forever in Himself. He does this for all the males He elects, but unlike the physical circumcision, which could only apply as an outward sign to males, this spiritual circumcision without hands, is an inward sign that is applied to all females God elects too. Filled up, the body of Christ church receives the spiritual circumcision of the New Covenant. The graphic language that Paul is using here is meant to quicken our imaginations to see just how dramatic this spiritual action is. It is the necessity. In salvation your old sinful "body of the flesh," must be put off. The Greek word for "putting off" (apekdusei) is a double compound word. It describes two things that happen to the sin saturated body of the old flesh: It is the removing your old person of the flesh, and then it is the casting away that worthless old person forever in your everlasting salvation. The imagery is like cutting away the foreskin that represents your old identity of the sinful flesh of the body of Adam, and then completely trashing it. This is necessary for your salvation, because for you to remain in the flesh, is to be identified as being in the body of Adam, which is to be in the body of sin, (Romans 5:12-14, and 1 Corinthians 15, Acts 17:26). The whole world is in the body of sin, existing solely in the flesh, covered completely by the foreskin of sinfulness. In this state, the whole world exists under condemnation. This is why Paul explains in Romans 8 that,
"there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1
God sent
"His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." Romans 8:3-4
The vital point is summed up when he says;
"8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God." Romans 8:8
In other words, those who are not in Christ can even spin their religious wheels every single day trying to please something that they call god, but all their relentless activity is only pleasing their own religious flesh;
"9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you." Romans 8:8-9
Now this can get confusing, but it doesn't really need to be. In salvation, you still have human nature. This should be easy to understand. Paul never says that your human nature is eradicated. Human nature is what sins. Christ's nature never sins, but you do. Paul says that we have Christ's nature. He is the circumcised Messiah living in us spiritually by grace through faith. That is what Paul means coming into Romans 8, when he says,
"But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness." Romans 7:9-10
What the Spirit wants us to understand from Colossians and Romans is that a certain aspect of the bad part of our humanness still exists right now.
@3 If Christ is in you, though the body is _____________ because of sin, yet your ________________ is alive forever because of righteousness. (Romans 7:9-10)
We are talking about our earthly condition. This is why you sin, though you are the righteousness of God in Christ. This is why you sin even though you don't want to. Your earthly body is dead because of sin, but your spirit is alive. In fact, you have been crucified to the old man spiritually. The old man has been cut away, and cast away. You are in Christ, and you are seated at the Father's right hand in Him. But the point is that both your body and your spirit exist right now in your brief time on earth. So, what is going on is that in your humanness, you have been freed from sin's ownership, dominance and judgment through spiritual crucifixion, spiritual burial, and spiritual circumcision, with a spiritual casting aside of all that old stuff. Sin no longer enslaves you and dominates you as a master that you must obey. But nevertheless, you are not yet completely freed from the effects of sin's presence. This is why you find that at times, you still sin. You hate sin, because the Spirit causes you to hate sin. You don't want to sin, but sometimes you do anyway, and when you do, you are walking according to the ways of the dead flesh that was crucified and cast away,
"16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
The desire of the crucified flesh is the old way;
17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. '18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.'" Galatians 5:16-18
This is why you sin. Everyone who is saved still has flesh, which is the body, and the body is dead because of sin, Romans 7:10. There are two desires set against each other so that you may not consistently do the things that the Spirit convicts you to do, and likewise, you do not always sin when you are tempted to sin. It is the tension of our condition until we leave this world behind to rest in perfection in our glorified state after we die. You are led by the Spirit, because everyone who is saved is led by the Spirit. If we were not led by the Spirit, then we would be under the Old Covenant Law. But it is impossible for saved people to be under the Old Covenant Law. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law in salvation, Galatians 3:13. Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness for all who believe, Romans 10:4. But the point is that all Christians experience this kind of ongoing bitterness where we taste sin in our mouths and can't seem to get rid of its foul bitter flavor. We sin, pretending that sin is sweet, but knowing it really isn't, and wonder why we even struggled through the whole process in the first place. We know the Spirit convicts us, and empowers us, and so we loathe sin. But, we wonder what odd aspect of our being has us doing what is completely contrary to our new spiritual nature, and the will of the One we love and serve according to the Spirit's empowering. There is a minority out there who live in a deception of religious pride who think that they have quit sinning, but the very fact that they believe this only demonstrates how wicked they really are. The fact of the matter is that in Christ, you can choose not to sin, and that is Christ's command to you, but sometimes you act as if the bitterness is really sweetness, and you end up sinning. The main point is that in salvation, you have God's sign and seal of righteousness on you, and in you, whether you do sinful things or not. Our,
"circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit," Romans 2:29
So, in being circumcised with Christ, your old man has been cut away, but this is a spiritual heart action. It is an inward sign and seal. The spiritually lost man is gone, and dead, but you still have real flesh and body in the meantime. You still have the same brain with the same thoughts haunting you--needing to be taken captive, and renewed by the washing of the word. So, at times, this earthly remnant of Adam still sins when you decide not to follow the leading of the Spirit, and you disobey your Master. And even though God does not want you to sin, and even though, in your condition, sin can still be accomplished by you, you are saved by what? By grace! You are still once saved in eternal spiritual salvation, just like the first day that you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Let me ask you some questions:
"When a baby is born, does the baby make a decision to get circumcised?"
The answer, is "no."
"On the eighth day, when Mosaic Law circumcision was to take place, could the male baby grab a knife, and then go to work surgically removing his own foreskin?"
The answer is "no."
Now, listen to me--this is the point that Paul is making. Just as Jewish parents circumcise their infants on the eighth day with no help from the baby, and no seeking an okay from the baby in the process, God is the one who does this whole process to us, for us, in His Son. This is the point concerning God's sovereignty in saving and keeping those whom He elects. There is another question we can consider along these lines,
"When a baby gets circumcised, is he capable of getting his foreskin and grafting it back on again?"
Again, the answer is "no."
Once the foreskin is cut away and discarded, the child does not go out and find it and put it back on again. So, here is the point: What this means for being once saved in eternal spiritual salvation, is that Christ's circumcision is not something you can undo. The reason is because the circumcised lost flesh has been put away forever.
/3/
The third thing I want us to glean in respect to recognizing that being filled in Christ is everything, is that when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, God buried us with Christ in a spiritual baptism. God then raised us with Christ, making us alive together with Christ, with the life of Christ,
"12 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 from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him,
@4 In salvation, God makes us ______________ spiritually from being dead in our trespasses. God makes us this together with Christ Jesus. (Colossians 2:13)
As we look at this third principle, we must recognize that this passage of scripture has been wrongly used by people to assert that you must be water baptized to be saved. But, this passage is not saying such a thing at all. In the same manner that physical circumcision was not Paul's point in the previous verse, in verse 11, water baptism is not Paul's point in this following verse. The fact of the matter is that both verses are speaking of spiritual realities. The circumcision mentioned in the previous verse was not a circumcision made with hands, which means it was not a physical circumcision, but is one wrought by the work of the Spirit. In the same manner, the baptism mentioned here in the same point is not a physical baptism but is a spiritual baptism wrought by the same Spirit. All of these things are Paul's description of your Spiritual salvation process that only occurs in Christ. Think about this:
When a non-circumcised male gets saved, he doesn't wake up the next morning and find out that his foreskin has miraculously disappeared.
The same goes for this baptism here. Paul says,
"12 having been buried with him ..."
When we are buried with Christ we don't suddenly find ourselves physically in a grave, or tomb, do we?
The burial with Him in baptism is language that is describing the ultimate immersive cleansing rite that continues on, in which you were also raised up alive "with" Him through faith. This spiritual reality is the essence of Galatians 2:20 , and we find that Paul makes the same statement in Romans. He asks;
"3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through [that] baptism ["into" Christ Jesus] into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection," Romans 6:3-5.
Paul says that our baptism, is "into" Christ Jesus Himself. Then notice that Paul says it is "into" something else. He says it is into His death. This baptism is not into water. Water baptism misses the point because the point is spiritual--not physical. Our baptism, into Christ, is a uniting with Him in the likeness of His death, verses 4 and 5. Once we understand that the Greek word for baptism (which is baptizo), has many different applications, then this makes even more sense. This word, baptizo, can mean "dipped," or "immersed," or it may mean "dipping out." The Greeks used baptizo to mean "washing" or "cleansing." Much of the time, baptizo was a cleansing practice; like when the Pharisees ceremonially baptized, or washed their hands and utensils before eating as we see the word used in Luke 11:38, and Mark 7:3-4. The point is that this is a dynamic word. Jesus said that His suffering was a baptism He must undergo in Luke 12:50. Paul says the Israelites leaving Egypt;
"... were all baptized into Moses;" 1 Corinthians 10:2
Just like in Colossians, and Romans, Paul often talked about being baptized into Christ. He says,
"26 ... you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Galatians 3:26-27
It is spiritual. Our baptism covering is not water. It is Christ who is our clothing.
"13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12:13
Being baptized into Christ; clothed with Christ; baptized into one body by the Spirit, are all descriptions of what God does to us spiritually. These things are not what we do for him physically. And this is the point of what we are gleaning in respect to being filled in Christ. All of this is what God does to you. Once you were dead in your trespasses and sins, but you were living death, (like an Adamic zombie) and so God crucified you with Christ. Then God buried you, by His miraculous work, with Christ. Then God raised you up with Christ, making you spiritually alive together with Christ, with the spiritual life of Christ sustaining, and empowering you.
/4/
This leads to the fourth thing I want us to glean in respect to recognizing that being filled in Christ is everything,
"having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross."
In the parallel epistle, Paul wrote,
"14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace," Ephesians 2:14-15
This fourth principle is that all the saved have already been completely forgiven in The New Covenant where the decrees against them were done away on the cross. This is a foundation of the New Covenant, and is one of the key points of Paul's New Covenant theology. The Law of Moses, which was an actual covenant that God made with His elect people, has been superseded by the New Covenant. The Old Covenant as the Ten Commandments representing the whole Mosaic law (cf. Exodus 34:27-28), was,
"the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones," 2 Corinthians 3:7
Do you realize that there are multitudes of Christians who don't know that 2 Corinthians 3:7 really means what it says? They don't know what Paul says next--that the ten commandments engraved on stones, was a
"ministry of condemnation" 2 Corinthians 3:9
But, you see, all the legal demands against us has been met in Christ on the cross, and in His triumphant resurrection as conquering King of kings and Lord of lords. He is our Sabbath rest forever. This is why Paul says here in this same place, that the gospel of the New Covenant is,
"the ministry of the Spirit" 2 Corinthians 3:8
which is
"the ministry of righteousness" 2 Corinthians 3:9
This is the ministry of the New Covenant in Christ's blood, where through the
"'New Covenant,' He has made the first ...
[Old covenant engraved on stones]
... obsolete" Hebrews 8:13
Two items could be seen nailed to that rough bloody piece of wood that day two thousand years ago when Christ was crucified. The broken God-man, Jesus, was nailed there. And above His head was nailed a sign that said,
"The King of The Jews."
But, something else was nailed there too. It was part of the mystery of the riches that are in Christ. Just like circumcision is spiritual, and just like baptism is spiritual, something was nailed to that cross spiritually. It has to do with the work that God did with the Law and its debt requirement of perfection that forced Old Covenant people to always owe but yet they could never pay. God nailed it to the cross of sacrifice, in Messiah Himself, Who is the King of the Jews. Christ did not come to abolish the Mosaic Law, but to fulfill it in Himself Matthew 5:17. On the cross, as the fulfillment, He canceled out the debt, contained in ordinances against the elect, completely. This cancels out the legal decrees of the Mosaic Law against New Covenant people, Ephesians 2:15. This cancels out the hostility; because it has been taken out of the way in Christ the Covenant, Isaiah 42:6, 49:6-8, Who is the fulfillment Who fills us. This is what Paul is getting at before he says that we were baptized into Christ in Galatians 3:27. He says in Galatians 3:19 that the Law was added to God's covenant people down through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because of transgressions, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. The Seed came. Messiah is that Seed. Messiah is that Seed that hung on the cross. He is the living Seed that resurrected. Messiah is that living Seed planted within both the elect from among Jews, and Gentiles, by grace through faith. This is what it means to be Saved in Christ where being filled in Him means everything.
/5/
This brings us to the fifth and final thing I want us to glean in respect to recognizing that being filled in Christ is everything,
"15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him."
Basically the nugget here to glean is that Christ is the eternal victor, and so because of this, you and I are victors in Him. I want to bring your attention to something here at the end of verse 15, so look at the text. In the Greek, neither "Him," "Christ," "cross," or "it," is there at the end of verse 15. Some translations will put that God triumphed over rulers and authorities through "Christ;" some, through "Him;" some translations have "cross," and some will just put, "it." The ESV has "in Him," which is what I am quoting. They are trying to fill in from the context what they think brought the triumph. It's just that the Greek can point to any of the antecedent things. My opinion on this is that I think that Paul is talking about both Christ through the cross together, and Christ through His resurrection too. It is all of it. If you will notice, the whole contextual subject indicates that this is referring to what all have accomplished together as the whole package. You cannot have the wonderful sacrificial covenant of the sacrificial cross without Christ as the sacrifice, and you cannot have a Christ existing in this particular work, without the cross. And none of it is a victory without the resurrection. When we think again about that earthly sign nailed above Jesus, "The King of The Jews," we are thinking about Christ's majesty being proclaimed by men. This is true (even if they were only trying to mock Him); but in Paul's point, Christ's majesty proclaimed by Himself is His whole work of His sacrifice and resurrection, where in it, He triumphed over sin and death. Jesus as the King, triumphed over hostile powers, rulers and authorities. These rulers and powers are world forces of darkness according to Ephesians 6:12 that all who are not saved are defeated by (and as) in every moment of existence. The Greek verb here for "disarmed," expresses to us the image of an enemy being stripped of his weapons and armor and put on public display as the defeated loser. All this language was familiar in the Roman world of that time. Triumphant generals would usually lead in a parade of victory over their enemies. The conqueror would ride at the front in his chariot, leading his troops through the streets. Behind the winners would be a defeated enemy and shamed group of disarmed kings, officers, and soldiers. They were displayed as the spoils of battle. Christ is the conquering Commander. The powers and authorities are the defeated and disarmed enemy displayed as the spoils of battle before the entire universe. To those who lack understanding, the cross appears to be merely an instrument of execution. To the sinful and blinded, it was the symbol of Christ's defeat. But Paul reveals the glorious reality of the cross. The cross and the opened tomb both represent Christ's parade of chariots in victory over sin. It is the initiation of the New Covenant in His blood, spilled from the wounds of his triumphant battle, and then healed by His own power in His resurrection to rule and reign at the right hand of the Father until every last enemy is abolished in the eschatological future. This is our salvation, where,
"14 ... thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphant procession," 2 Corinthians 2:14
So, because He is the victor in His fullness, we are always, always, always, victors in being filled in Him. Aren't all these things wonderful? I urge you to be remembering the very lofty fact of your amazing, and unique union with the One and only God. By God's hand, you have been filled in Christ. Be thinking about the second principle we have gleaned. You have been spiritually circumcised in Christ. The old you is gone forever. The new you is who you are right now; this morning, when you leave here, tomorrow, and forever. Remember how important the third thing is. When we were dead in our trespasses and sins, God buried us with Christ in a spiritual baptism. God then raised us with Christ, making us alive together with Christ, with the life of Christ. This life goes on forever. I urge you to let the Holy Spirit bathe your mind with that cleansing fourth principle; You have already been completely forgiven in The New Covenant. All legal decrees against God's New Covenant elect were done away with on the cross. This is a foundation of the New Covenant, and is one of the key points of Paul's New Covenant Theology. Finally abide in the victory. Christ is the eternal winner, and so because of this, you and I are winners forever in Him. You are complete in Christ. This is what it means when we consider that to be filled with Him means everything. Amen.
@1 The prophecies said Jesus would come and be called the ____________________ our righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
@2 In salvation, God cuts away our Old self through Christ, putting it _________ forever, and fills us up with Him spiritually. (Colossians 2:10-11)
@3 If Christ is in you, though the body is _________ because of sin, yet your ________________ is alive forever because of righteousness. (Romans 7:9-10)
@4 In salvation, God makes us ______________ spiritually from being dead in our trespasses. God makes us this together with Christ Jesus. (Colossians 2:13)
