Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

“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, 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. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:11-17)

We can never obey the Law perfectly. Salvation cannot be obtained through our obedience. So what we could never obtain through our own works, God does for us now. God removes our sin from us so that we are a new person in Christ.

Baptism symbolizes something spiritual. It symbolizes Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. It symbolizes our own spiritual new birth. Our new birth comes by faith in the work of God. Baptism symbolizes the realization that we cannot please God, and that only Christ can save us.

We can only be born again if we realize that we were dead. The grace of God only matters to us with the knowledge of our sinfulness. But our death is now in the past. We were dead, but now we are alive!

God made us alive with Christ. When God raised Jesus from the dead, He raised us, too. We look forward to a future resurrection. When we trust in Jesus, we identify with His resurrection and we are raised to live as new creations now.

Not only does God forgive our sin, but He makes it impossible for anything to condemn us. The Law no longer condemns us. It was nailed to the cross along with our sin. The Law now gives us reason to praise God. Neither can Satan and his demons condemn us. They want to make us feel guilty for our sin to the point that we don’t feel loved by God. But Satan and his demons have no power over Christians. Not even God condemns us. He has every right to judge us. But our sin has been paid for by Christ.

If God no longer judges you, why let others? The things in verse 16 are things that have specific requirements in the Old Testament. People could observe you and say, “You need to do it like this, because that’s what the Law says to do.” But the Law pointed to the need for Christ, and Christ has already come. Our objective now is to remain in Christ.

This doesn’t mean we should cast off all moral laws and live however we want. We’re free now to strive to glorify Christ not because we’re afraid of the consequence if we don’t, but because we’re alive in Him!