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You may turn in your Bibles to 
Colossians chapter 2, Colossians chapter 2. We're finishing up 
the section. Specifically, we're looking at 
verses 13 to 15 tonight. We've taken a bit of time because 
last week we wanted to look at covenant theology and how it 
related to the ordinances of circumcision and baptism as well. It's good for us to understand 
this section of Paul's argument, because that is the foundation 
of the basis upon which we are protected from falling prey to 
false teaching. Remember, and I remember in verse 
sixteen, he would go on to say so that no one judge you in food 
or in drink. You give them specific cautions 
concerning the heresy that affected the churches in Colossae. So 
we must in order to be on guard against false teaching, we must 
firmly be firmly rooted and grounded in the truth of God's holy word. That's why we have spent a little 
more time going through this section. I'll just pick up reading 
in verse six to verse fifteen. As you therefore have received 
Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in 
him and established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding 
in it with thanksgiving. Beware, lest anyone cheat you 
through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition 
of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and 
not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness 
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, who is the 
head of all principality and power. In Him you are also circumcised, 
with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body 
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. buried 
with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him 
through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the 
dead and you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision 
of your flesh. He is made alive together with 
him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out 
the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was 
contrary to us. And he has taken it out of the 
way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities 
and powers. He made a public spectacle of 
them, triumphing over them in it. Well, as we saw last week, 
the Apostle Paul is cautioning the people in the church to be 
on guard against the heresy, against the tendencies, the wicked 
tendencies of false teachers who would come in and try and 
trip them up. And the nature of the particular 
heresy was basically adding something to faith. Faith in Christ is 
what the Bible says. is what God uses to save us. In other words, we are saved 
by grace through faith. Nothing else. There's no other 
thing that we can add to that. We don't supplement it. We don't 
finish it. We don't meet Jesus sort of halfway. He saves us to the uttermost. 
And in Colossae, it seems as if some were coming and saying, 
faith is good, but you must also engage in these particulars as 
well. So, a good defense is a thoroughly 
biblical Christology, to quote John MacArthur. That's what Paul 
is doing here. He speaks of the fact that Christ 
is God, in verse 9, for in him dwells all the fullness of the 
Godhead. bodily, and then he speaks of 
Christ being sufficient. We don't need anything added 
to. We have everything in Christ 
because he says in verse 10 and you are complete in him who is 
the head of all principality and power. And then he goes on 
to detail or highlight or illustrate or fill in what it means to have 
completion or fullness in Jesus Christ. And in verses 11 and 
12, he speaks of circumcision. It is not physical circumcision 
there. It is spiritual or regeneration. God making us alive in Jesus 
Christ. We remember that physical, physical 
circumcision and baptism both point to that same reality of 
regeneration or being born again. So Paul says that in Christ we 
have received this circumcision in Christ. We have been buried 
with him in baptism and we have been raised with him through 
faith in the working of God. And then in verses 13 to 15, 
Paul details how we participate or benefit in the redemptive 
act of God. Jesus Christ is the one who is 
primarily in view in verses 11 and 12, verses 13 and 15. God becomes the subject of the 
verbs. Notice that in verse 13, you 
being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your 
flesh, he has made alive together with him. God has made alive 
together with Christ. God is now the subject of each 
of these verbs. That means he's doing the action. That's why I'm saying these are 
the part of the blessings, the gracious redemption that is provided 
by God, the various acts, the various facets of that redemptive 
work of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And the first thing 
that he mentions there, again, is regeneration. Now, kids, regeneration 
means to generate again. You've heard in John chapter 
three, there was a man by the name of Nicodemus. Hopefully 
all you kids have heard this. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night 
and he said to Jesus, teacher, we know that you have been sent 
by God. And Jesus cuts right to the quick. And he says, truly, truly, I 
say to you, unless one is born again, he shall not see the kingdom 
of God. Regeneration is just the theological 
term for being born again. It's being born anew, being born 
literally from above. God causing us to be alive. That's the first redemptive act 
of God that Paul directs our attention to in verse 13. The act of regeneration. This is absolutely crucial. If you are not regenerate, if 
you are not born again, you are not a Christian. We have this 
idea that is common in North America. If somebody is a professing 
Christian, we call him a Christian. If he's really fanatical, we 
call him a born-again Christian. Well, there's no such thing as 
a non-born-again Christian. In order to be a Christian, a 
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, God has to first make you alive. God has to resurrect you because 
we are all spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. That's 
what Paul says. He highlights the former state 
of his audience. Notice in verse 13 and you being 
dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, 
total depravity and total inability. We saw this this morning in our 
study of the confession. Paul has already pointed this 
out to his audience here in Colossae in chapter 1 at verse 21. Notice 
here, he says, And you who once were alienated and enemies in 
your mind by wicked works, yet now he is reconciled in the body 
of his flesh through death. The same idea is present here. 
And sin and wickedness and depravity and evil always, or very often 
in the Bible, serve as the background for the powerful work of God. 
In fact, when you look at various portions in the scripture, it 
highlights the sinfulness of man because that ultimately highlights 
the grace and the glory of God who saved man out of that predicament. In other words, if we were to 
say God is gracious and that he saved this upright and holy 
guy, we'd say, well, what's really gracious and good about that? 
But when we see that there is none holy, there is none upright. All we like sheep have gone astray 
to do to sin to us is to like do sport for a fool. Another 
one in Proverbs 10, Genesis six, Genesis eight, all these places 
where God says that the heart of man, the thoughts of man, 
the imagination of man is only evil continually. We'll set in 
that context when we see the glorious work of Christ and the 
gracious activity of God. We must marvel and praise and 
worship when we see what he has saved us from when we see how 
low we were, how dead we were, how messed up we were. This is 
the backdrop and it frames the grace and mercy of our great 
God. Most high you beating dead in 
your trespasses. Turn to Ephesians two for a moment. 
In Ephesians 2, a letter that has many parallels with Colossians. In Ephesians 2, at verse 1, he 
said, And you who were dead in your trespasses and sins, in 
which you once walked according to the course of this world, 
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit 
who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also 
we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling 
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature 
children of wrath, just as the others. That's man before God 
saves him. Man is lifeless, man is helpless, 
and man is hopeless apart from God saving mercy. And this, again, 
in a context to show us that our sufficiency, our completeness, 
is in Jesus Christ, because this is what we were and this is what 
we've been made by His grace and for His glory. Paul says, 
and you being dead in your trespasses. And then he says to these Gentiles 
in Colossae. And then he says in verse 13, 
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, probably a reference to 
the fact that they were Gentiles. Paul does the same thing again 
in Ephesians 2. You can turn there again to 11 and 12, Ephesians 
chapter 2, 11 and 12. Therefore, remember that you 
once Gentiles in the flesh were called uncircumcision by what 
is called the circumcision by what is called the circumcision 
made in the flesh by hands that at that time you are without 
Christ being aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers 
from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God 
in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you 
who once were far off, have been brought near by the blood of 
Christ. Paul is using that same language in this particular instance. This was your state. This was 
your condition. This is how you conducted yourself. You were helpless, hopeless and 
lifeless. And God made you alive. If God 
made you alive, you don't need heretics, you don't need false 
teaching, you don't need asceticism, you don't need mysticism, you 
certainly don't need legalism. That's the foundation of his 
argument. In light of the fact that God and Christ have done 
all these things for you, you can beware, you can be on guard, 
and you don't have to fall prey to what these men are peddling. 
And the same thing is true today. The very same thing is true today. When men come to you and they 
say faith in Christ is good, your faithfulness, however, is 
better because it keeps you in that covenant with the Lord. 
That is wrong. It is God in Christ who has secured 
our salvation. It is not our contribution. As 
I said this morning, This is something we cannot err on because 
Paul will not have it that a sinner redeemed will ever share the 
spotlight with God. It cannot be the case. It is 
God who made us alive together with him. And then he speaks 
of that second blessing, not second blessing in the Wesleyan 
mindset of the charismatic. Sorry about that. Unfortunate 
choice of words. Second chronological blessing 
in this passage. There's one redemptive act, God 
saving us, but that redemptive act has many facets. It's like 
when the young guy proposes to the young woman and he gives 
her a ring and that ring has a diamond and that diamond has 
various facets to it so that she holds it up in the light 
and she can move it all around and see various nuances of the 
beauty of that diamond. There's one glorious salvation 
that God has wrought. There's various facets or various 
angles or various beautiful displays that we as God's people are to 
survey for our encouragement and as this text promotes for 
our protection. And that second thing that he 
mentions is the forgiveness of sins. Notice in verse 13 at the 
end, having forgiven you all trespasses. Having forgiven you 
all trespasses, God graciously forgives based on the finished 
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an emphasis throughout 
Holy Scripture. The psalmist in Psalm 103 praises 
God because he has removed our transgressions. As far as the 
East is from the West, so the Lord has taken away our iniquity. In Isaiah 43, Isaiah 43, verse 
25, Isaiah 43, verse 25, God makes this declaration. I, even 
I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not 
remember your sins. Isn't that great? That's what 
we need. So when these heretics come and 
say, well, you know, it's good that you believed in Christ. 
However, you might want to consider not eating this, or not going 
here, or not doing that. As if to say, by doing or not 
doing those things, we can have better standing with the Lord. He blots out all our transgressions. He wiped them out. Micah, the 
prophet, the name Micah, means who is a God like you? My brother John mentioned this 
text in our study of the confession this morning. So I want to turn 
there. Micah chapter seven. The name, as I said, is a is 
a play on the question that he asks, who is a God like you? And this is what the prophet 
Micah says in Micah chapter seven. Verse eighteen, who is a God 
like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression 
of the remnant of his heritage. He does not retain his anger 
forever because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion 
on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into 
the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob 
and mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn to our fathers from 
days of old. That is beautiful. You will cast 
all our sins into the depths of the sea. Paul emphasizes that 
very same truth in Colossians 2.15 or 2.13. Having forgiven 
you all trespasses, every single one. We're not in a deal with 
Jesus to deal with our sin. You know, we meet him halfway 
or we meet him. We just twenty five percent. 
And then he takes care of the rest. That's your gospel, you're 
going to hell. There's one means one way of 
salvation, it is by grace through faith in Christ. Look on to me, 
Jehovah said in the prophet Isaiah, look unto me, all you ends of 
the earth, for I am God and there is no other. You look to Christ 
and you will have your sin canceled, your sin forgiven, your sin removed. You will be able to sing with 
joy and thanksgiving. My sin. Oh, the bliss of this 
glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the 
whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise 
the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh, my soul. That particular hymn has a special 
place in my heart. I've been a Christian for not 
not too long. And one of the first times I 
went to the Reformed Baptist Church there in Palmdale, I stood 
next to an old brother, older brother, and we were singing 
that song and he had this seraphic look on his face. I'll never 
forget it. Seraphic meaning seraph like like an angel. Godly brother 
singing this hymn unto the Lord. It was just amazing. And I've 
always thought if I ever die in the midst of singing, I'd 
like it to be something like that song with my brothers and 
sisters as we're belting it forth unto the Lord. What a wonderful 
way to be translated, wouldn't it? Especially singing something 
like 599. The bride is not her garment, 
but her dear bridegroom's face. What a time to drop dead. Wouldn't 
it be great? Watch me drop dead right here. 
That'd be amazing, wouldn't it? Be something to blog about. The forgiveness of sins. I hope 
you don't ever get tired of this. You know, when I hold up that 
gospel jewel and I look at those various facets, I love that. 
I look at this forgiveness one a lot. Because I have a lot to 
be forgiven of. Hopefully you'll look at it a 
lot because you have a lot to be forgiven of. We saw this morning 
when David traces depravity, he traces it back to his mother's 
womb. He says in Psalm 58, verse three, 
the wicked go estranged from the womb, speaking lies as soon 
as they are born. If we were to trace the career 
of a sinner throughout the scripture, it begins as soon as that sinner 
comes to be in conception. David is not saying the act of 
his mother was sin. David is saying that the very 
moment of conception, when David was, he was a sinner in Adam 
all die. And as a result, we sin in accordance 
with our nature. We trace his history, we trace 
sin, and we see it in that place. You don't ever have to teach 
a little baby to say no. You don't ever have to teach 
a child to assert their independence. You don't ever have to instruct 
a little one on those types of things. Why? Because it's part 
of their nature. You have to continually remind 
them to share their toys. Why? Because they're selfish 
wretches. Oh, don't say that about our 
precious little babies. That's what the Bible says. I 
mean, it doesn't get any more hardcore. The wicked go estranged 
from the womb, speaking lies as soon as they are born. I shared 
before, I thought it was fitting this morning, but I saved it 
for tonight. That time R.C. Sproul was on the radio and he's 
talking about total depravity. He's talking about how bad sinners 
are. Then he mentioned John Calvin. He said John Calvin likened little 
babies to rats. He likened little babies to rats. 
You know, you're waiting. Wow, that's hard. How could you 
do that? John Calvin likening babies, talking about them in 
their sin nature. And then R.C. Sproul says, I think Calvin is 
wrong. OK, he's going to make it nicer. And he says Calvin 
is wrong because sinners are where our babies are worse than 
rats. Horror of horrors. What's the idea? Rats, rats. They do what God made them to 
do. They eat trash, they smell, they bite, they run around, they 
get into your stuff. That's their nature. They don't 
sin. Babies sin. Sinners sin. One man has spoken of babies 
as vipers and diapers. Now, don't take all this. Butler's 
got a real ax to grind against kids. No, I love kids. We don't 
understand this about our kids. We're going to preach the gospel 
to them. We're going to urge on them. Repentance and faith. 
We're going to tell them what the gospel is all about. The 
glorious thought here, though, is that God has forgiven us all 
our trespasses. He goes on thirdly to mention 
the cancellation of indebtedness. He says in verse fourteen, having 
wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against 
us, which was contrary to us. Before we get into this handwriting 
of requirements, the verb having wiped out means to wash over. It means the word was used for 
wiping out the memory of an experience or for canceling a vote, annulling 
a law or canceling a charge or debt. It was also used for washing 
out the writing on a papyrus. Beautiful work, just like what 
we saw in Isaiah 43. I blot out your transgressions. That's what Paul says God does 
through the cross. Verse fourteen, having wiped 
out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was 
contrary to us. Now, this handwriting of requirements 
is a bit of a difficult phrase. We do know or we can at least 
deduce that it has to do somehow with God's law because there 
are two qualifying statements. Notice. the handwriting of requirement 
that was against us, which was contrary to us. What is that? Somehow it's the law. Is it the 
entirety of Moses law or is it just the ceremonial aspect of 
Moses law? I tend to think it's the entirety 
that what we have here is that when Christ went to the cross, 
it was as if God took that list of charges against us and nailed 
it up there with him. That MacArthur has has referred 
to that custom. When a man was put to death, 
you'd write down his charges and you'd put it up there with 
with him in his in his execution. We see a similar thing with Jesus. 
This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. That was the charge against 
him. So they nailed it up there, whether 
all that is in view or not. The idea, I believe, is that 
everything we were indebted to God for was nailed to the cross 
and blotted out. It was paid in full when Christ 
in John 19 30 said it is finished. He used a term that was often 
employed in commerce. It is finished, have the idea 
of paying a debt, paying a bill, stamping it out, dealing with 
it once and for all. And that is what I believe is 
in view here. And of course, the place of execution 
or should we say the place of cancellation of this debt is 
the cross. That's what Paul says very clearly 
at the end of verse 14. And he has taken it out of the 
way, having nailed it to the cross. Again, God is the subject 
of the verbs here. God is the one who sent the Son 
to the cross. God is the one who is sovereign. 
God had predetermined this. God was God was orchestrating 
this entire transaction for the salvation of his elect. There was no antithesis, no paradox, 
no contradiction between the persons of the Godhead. They're 
working in perfect unity, in blessed unity for the salvation 
of the elect of God. Douglas Moose said in causing 
Jesus to be nailed to the cross, God has provided for the full 
cancellation of the debt of obedience that we had incurred. Christ 
took upon himself the penalty that we were under because of 
our disobedience. And is death fully satisfied? God's necessary demand for due 
punishment of that disobedience. Excellent, beautiful and absolutely 
consistent with the exegesis of the passage. And then fourthly 
and finally, God has disarmed the opposition. Notice what he 
says in verse 15, having disarmed principalities and powers. One 
of the things that we have noticed as we've worked our way thus 
far through this book, is this emphasis on principalities and 
powers. The heretics, I think, were coming 
and saying, look, you need to appeal to these intermediaries. 
You need to appeal to the principalities and powers. You need to be going 
to these angels. See, Christ is good, but you 
need all these other supernatural beings as well. In our day, they 
might say you need to wear crystals or you need to chant. You need 
to empty your mind. You need to pray to angels or 
pray to Mary, pray to saints. See, Jesus is good, but there's 
a lot of other things that you can and should do in order to 
really be fulfilled. But see what Paul is saying here. Not only are we not to appeal 
the principalities and powers, but Christ is actually or God 
is actually disarmed the bad ones. He has disarmed principalities 
and powers. And when we look at things prior 
to the cross, the devil exercised quite a bit of sway. I realize 
he still roams about as a lion seeking whom he may devour. I 
understand that. But prior to the cross, the devil 
exercised far more influence. It is at the cross, according 
to the New Testament, that Jesus bound the strong man. It is at 
the cross that he was disarmed, not sent away forever. That'll 
happen at the second coming. But he has had the fury or the 
power, the ability removed to a large degree. Earlier, his 
reign was a reign of darkness in the gospel. Jesus calls his 
hour, the hour of darkness, principalities and powers. Believers must contend 
with Satan devises schemes and traps. He appointed demonic underlings 
to oversee his interests among the nations. He is the father 
to many children. He inspires false religions. 
He promotes, according to Revelation 13, worship of the beast. So all these power aspects of 
the kingdom of darkness at the cross, he has been disarmed. That is what Paul is teaching. 
That is what the rest of the New Testament corroborates. John 
12, 31 and 32. John twelve thirty one and thirty 
two already alluded to Jesus binding the strong man that comes 
from Matthew twelve when Jesus cast out a demon and they accused 
him of doing so by Beelzebub and Jesus teaches there that 
he is the one who binds the strong man. Well, here in John 12, verse 
30, says this voice did not come because of me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world. 
Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted 
up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. This, he said, 
signifying by what death he would die. Now, the ruler of this world 
will be cast out. That's what Paul says in Colossians 
2, 15. This is what John says in 1 John 
3, 8. 1 John 3, 8. One of the reasons why Jesus 
came into this world. Of course, it was to save us 
from our sins, to bring forgiveness, to bring justification, to bring 
that freedom and liberty that the gospel holds out to us. But it was also to deal with 
the power aspects of Satan's kingdom. 1 John 3, 8, He who 
sins is of the devil, for the devil is sin from the beginning. 
For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested. The first 
coming of Christ, not his second. He's talking about when he was 
manifested in his earthly ministry, connected with his death, that 
he might destroy the works of the devil. And then Hebrews chapter 
2 repeats essentially the same thing. Hebrews chapter 2, 17. 
I'll pick up in verse 14. In as much, then, as the children 
have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in 
the same, that through death he might destroy him who had 
the power of death. That is the devil. It's actually 
that verse, verse 14, that he might destroy him who had the 
power of death. That is the devil. So Paul says 
in Colossians 2, not only do you not need these intermediaries, 
but God has disarmed them. They don't maintain the power 
that they had at one time. Daniel 10 and 11 is a very interesting 
portion of Scripture that highlights something of these principalities 
and powers, spiritual beings actually exercising some some 
rule within the nations themselves. Very kind of odd and Strange 
and all that sort of thing for us to sort of enter into, but 
the Bible says that according to Colossians 215, these other 
passages at the cross, God has disarmed this opposition. And 
the next statement that he makes is beautiful. He said he made 
us a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it. This isn't just that it happened. But instead, he takes the defeated 
ones and he displays them for all to see. And I think if we 
were to spot a movement here, if there was a larger theological 
movement at the cross, at the death, the opposition is disarmed 
at the ascension that public display is given. Well, John 
writes about this in Revelation chapter twelve. It is at the 
ascension that Michael and his angels wage war and they cast 
the devil out and it's laid out there for us in Revelation twelve. 
A bit of a, again, something that that we're not fully wrapping 
our minds around. But the idea is, is that Christ 
is one. Christ has reigned. Christ has 
ruled. And Christ has made a display 
of his enemies triumphing over them. Bruce said, but now they 
are dethroned and incapacitated, and the shameful tree has become 
the victor's triumphal chariot before which his captives are 
driven in humiliating procession, the involuntary and impotent 
confessors of his superior might. John Calvin said, For there is 
no tribunal so magnificent, no throne so stately, no show of 
triumph so distinguished, no chariot so elevated as is the 
cross on which Christ has subdued death and the devil, the prince 
of death, nay more, has utterly trodden them under his feet. And then Raymond says it is the 
fact that God's own people are transgressors of his law that 
has ever been the sole ground of Satan's accusations against 
them. But when Christ paid the penalty 
for their sins, God disarmed him of that ground and triumphed 
over Satan's kingdom. Thereby, praise God for these 
benefits that we enjoy by virtue of God's grace through our Lord 
Jesus Christ. it is on that ground that we 
are to stand and just real practically you may not be out fighting heretics 
you may not have to go and. defend justification by faith 
before Roman Catholics and before new perspective on perspective 
on Paul Geiser or federal vision guys or anything. You may not 
have to go into the lion's den to argue for the validity of 
the truthfulness of the exegetical foundation justification by faith, 
but each and every day you and I battle to one degree or other. 
Each and every day there are doubts. Maybe not each and every 
day. I'm overgeneralizing, but very 
often we are beset with doubts and struggles and difficulties. 
Where do we go for comfort? I submit you go to Colossians 
2. Don't go to your daytime or to 
see how much Bible you read. Don't go to your daytime or to 
see how many hours you put in the prayer closet. Our comfortable dependence on 
God ought to be grounded in our justification. Having been justified 
by faith, Paul says in Romans 5.1, Therefore, let us have peace 
with God. justification, God's redemptive 
act, what he's done for us to afford the soul of the believer. 
Great comfort, great encouragement and great strength. When you 
look at what you do, of course, you're going to be discouraged 
because you'll always fall short. You cannot work enough. You cannot 
toil enough. This morning I referenced 403 
as a great hymn that you ought to put into your minds and into 
your hearts. Listen to what. I'm sorry it 
was Bonar, Horatius Bonar that wrote this. Not what my hands 
have done can save my guilty soul. Not what my toiling flesh 
is born can make my spirit whole. Not what I feel or do can give 
me peace with God. Not all my prayers and sighs 
can bear my awful load. You see that? He cannot look 
to his performance for comfort. I guarantee you, when you struggle, 
you look at your performance. That is the nature of man. That is what we do, and I think 
what Paul wants us to do, what the rest of the Bible wants us 
to do is to look to Christ, to look to Jesus, to look to precious 
blood, to look to these great redemptive acts or these facets 
of God's redemptive act. We were dead. God made us alive. 
He has forgiven all of our trespasses. He has wiped out the handwriting 
of requirements that was against us. He has taken it out of the 
way. He has nailed it to the cross. He has disarmed principalities 
and powers. He made a public spectacle of 
them, triumphing over them in it. I think, not I think, but 
when we say, I believe, we have comfort. We have stability. I fear so often, brethren, we 
are tossed to and fro because we are not grounded in these 
great acts of God. That'll be my conviction until 
the day I die, unless I'm proven otherwise. Then when it comes 
to matters of assurance, when it comes to matters of service, 
that when it comes to matters of just basic normative Christianity, 
if we do not understand what God has done for us in Jesus 
Christ, we will be crippled in each of those areas. Crippled. Do you realize that the normative 
is what God calls us to? We saw this on Wednesday night. 
It's interesting. Paul tells Titus, here's the Bible study 
I want you to have with people. I want the older men to be temperate. 
I want them to be sound in mind and faith and love. I want them 
to be serious, I want them to be worthy of respect, reverent 
men. I want the older women to be 
like that too, temperate. I want them to be self-controlled, and 
I want them to be teachers. I want them to get the younger 
women and tell them, you need to love your man. It's good instruction. You need to love your children. 
You need to keep your house clean. You need to make pies. You need 
to be discreet. You need to be chaste. You need 
to be good. Now, you may say, where does it say make pies? 
I'm just filling in. You might think I have some fascination. 
I really want a pie. I don't want a pie, actually. 
It's just shorthand in my mind for being a homemaker. And then 
when you tell the young man the self-control. What's he going 
to tell the servants? Work hard. Don't steal. Adorn 
the doctrine of the gospel. Do you realize that that's what 
Christianity is about? He didn't say, I want you to 
gather everybody together and I want them to all be missionaries 
and leave the island of Crete and go take Greece for Jesus. Whether you or I like it or not, 
the most of us are called to normal day in, day out Christianity. We're probably not called to 
be Spurgeons. We're probably not called to 
be Edwards. We're probably not called to be Elizabeth Elliott. 
We're probably not called to be all these heroes of the faith. That's OK. So long as we are 
being temperate, self-controlled, godly, righteous, holy and making 
pies as we understand our position in Jesus Christ. It is normative, 
mostly, that the Bible speaks to with reference to the Church 
of Jesus Christ. We have everything we could ever 
need in the Lord of Glory. We have been privileged and blessed 
beyond all measure. If all that we had in the Bible 
was right here, there is enough there in the language of Don 
Mars to bless our socks off until Jesus comes again. She sent me an email and said 
she visited a black reformed Baptist church in Atlanta. She 
said, brother, I had my socks blast off. It's great. So when she comes back, she won't 
have any socks. She left them in Atlanta. And 
then, of course, this passage fortifies, strengthens and helps 
us and inoculates us against the heresy for them that was 
rampant in Colossae, for us that is rampant in Chilliwack, in 
Canada and in North America. We need to take a spiritual inventory 
each and every day of what we possess in Jesus. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for the 
scriptures. We thank you for these blessings that Paul enumerates 
here. Thank you for regeneration and 
for the forgiveness of our trespasses. We thank you that you have nailed 
this this handwriting of requirements to the cross. And we thank you 
so much, God, that you have disarmed the opposition and that you have 
granted us grace and blessing and everything that we need. 
We pray that you would go with each one of us now and watch 
over us and protect us. And we ask through Christ our 
Lord. Amen.