Col No.17 The Cross

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lambs. Serve the Lord with gladness. And the Lord Jesus would be glad if you'd have your Bible version of Colossians 3. A new lecture in the new international version of the Bible.

You remember that you get some of the laws. You can read about them. I say, here is a deposit.

I delight in that. And if you were to obey this law, in what way it would become a very tarry, take you eventually from this earth into the heavenly places itself. It would transcribe what the law was.

This law written with the finger of God. But we discover in this particular picture, not only what the law is. And here the argument seems strange.

We read that this is in the original language. It refers to a token of predicament. So you present, and they give you the petrol.

And all seems to be very surly. Ordinary savings bank. But the time will come a month or so later, when they'll send you a document of your indebtedness.

Or 30% interest charge, in one sense. So the analogy is not. But the apostle here is bringing out in verse to the law as the handwriting of ordinances that was against it.

But you may say, this law, was it not originally given by God? Therefore wasn't it a good thing? And no way did the apostle ever say that the law was a bad thing. But what he says is this. The problem with the law is that when you break it, it is incapable of coming to your rescue and forgiving you.

The law itself, the law of God, it exposes sin. It tells you what sin is. But when you have done the law, instead of being a hell, it becomes your accuser.

It becomes your avenger. So the apostle says this law, this law of ordinances, this law, yes, which is divinely inspired, has turned against us in this we have no power to inject into those who receive the law so that they could keep it. And that is the base fault.

The Bible tells us here it is the law of God. It also tells us what the code did to us. It is against us.

It comes unto us. It cries out. This comes out very clearly in the book.

Not only what the code did to us, but what Jesus did to us. Jesus did on our behalf in respect to the law, which was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, mailing it to his cross. Three things Jesus did for us in respect.

He punctured it through. It was against us. Remember back in my infant school, I had the privilege of being the blackboard monitor.

Not that I excelled in lessons, just in height. I was the only one who could reach to this. So it was my duty to clean for this day.

Completely clean so that it was ready for the next. Now this is the idea. The law, he is a sinner.

And that sin which he has committed requires the judgment of God. Hear me reverently. He takes his eraser and he wipes that.

What Jesus does to the code is this. Wipes it out. He pushes it aside.

It's become a stumbling block. It's an obstacle. I can't go into the Holy of Holies.

Because the law has it. So Jesus comes along. He pushes away.

Law breaking has accumulated. And Jesus makes it possible for me to enter into the presence of God. He wipes the code out.

He pushes it aside. He punctures it through. He took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

There was a custom in the Orient when a debt had to be settled either by payment or forgiveness. The creditor would take the canceled bond and he would nail it to the door of the person who had actually owed money. So that all who passed by could see that the debt had been discharged.

The bond had been canceled. And here is the Lord Jesus. He's at the end of his life's ministry.

He's put down his wonderful teaching. He's not only proclaimed the gospel but in his own body he has illustrated the gospel. And now he does the one thing which is absolutely necessary for the completion of his life's work.

He carries his cross to the top of Calvary. And then he is nailed. But in one sense we're not just seeing the nailing to the cross of the body of Jesus.

We're seeing the debt that you and I have incurred because we have broken the law of God. We're seeing it placed on that cross. It's being punctured.

It's being nailed to the cross. So that all can see that those who make their way to the foot of Calvary have had their sins forgiven. There's a bond there but across the bond is the word canceled.

Jesus has come into the world and he has canceled a code. He has looked at the law of God and seen the problems that attended us as a result of that law and he's wiped it out. The sin that we've committed.

He's pushed it aside. He's punctured it through. So the fulfillment of the Old Testament scripture which says, I, even I, am he that blotteth out all your transgressions.

Now of course that's not to say that the Old Testament law no longer has any place in the life governing the lifestyle of the Christian. What is really taught by the apostle Paul here is this. That the law viewed as an instrument of condemnation that has been dealt with.

There is therefore now no condemnation through those who are in Christ Jesus. The law which it had been kept would have been as a very chariot as I say that would have taken us to heaven. It turned round in its effect and it exploded after him and it became like that airplane which crashed into the United States unable to take its human cargo to their destination breaking them on the ground that Jesus has come into the world and he has made it possible for men and women to be reconciled to God apart from a mere law keeping.

And then he instilled them with his spirit so that in evangelical obedience as opposed to a rigid meticulous attempt at keeping a law people will live to the praise and to the honor and to the glory of God. So as far as the cross is concerned the apostle Paul here spells out its significance it cancels the code it shows us what the code was itself what the code did to us and it also reveals what Jesus has done to the code he who has wiped it out he who has pushed it aside he who has punctured it through. But more than this the apostle in the 15th verse goes on to speak of the defeat of the devil which the cross and the death of Jesus has brought about and having for himself palaces and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over it.

This picture is that of a Roman general who strips his foes and leaves them as captives behind his chariot in the victory procession. We see a picture of many people who have been overcome as a result of the bravery of the Roman commander and from them have been taken their arms and their ornaments and their dress and they parade behind their victor as those who have been despoiled and enslaved. Now then that is what Jesus has done for us on the cross he has cancelled the code and he has defeated the devil and so Paul makes reference to the spoiling and also to the spectacle having spoiled principalities and powers again and again you remember in the ministry of Jesus the devil came across his past and endeavoured to attack the Christ.

Often he tried to deflect him from achieving his father's purpose. You remember how in the days of the temptations though the devil was put to flight by the word of God being quoted from the saviour nonetheless Mark's gospel makes it very clear or rather Luke's gospel makes it clear that the devil would come back again and renew his assault. In the 16th chapter of Matthew he uses one of Jesus' closest colleagues and Jesus has to say as she detends him get thee behind me Satan.

Always and ever the devil was making repeated assaults against the Lord Jesus and then in the final hour Jesus felt the power of darkness and he made reference to this in Luke's gospel and also in John 12 31 the final conflict began in Gethsemane and was to be concluded at Calvary. Jesus the son of God locked in a struggle with Lucifer the son of the morning and one by one as that struggle as that divine opponent of the devil wrestled with Lucifer so the powers of the latter were stripped expelled from him that which he had despoiled that which he had taken that was not rightfully his Jesus gained back the devil who had taken man from God and held him by the power of a law which man had broken Jesus makes it possible for such men to be released from the bondage the Egypt of their iniquity the devil who had held men captive by ignorance has that power stripped from him as by the superior power of Christ the illumination of the gospel which he brought men respond to the salvation that there is in and through the carpenter from Nazareth so the Lord Jesus despoils the devil on the cross quintupletism powers Jesus makes an attack against them and then having despoiled them he displays them publicly the spoiling becomes a spectacle and the spectacle is on view for all he made a show of them openly so that men and women who come to the cross of Calvary can realize indeed that Jesus is a mighty victor his work was not done just in the corner it was a work which is to be proclaimed around the globe he who has spoiled satan wants all to see the spectacle of the defeat of the enemy so that men and women who stand before his cross can confess their sins and enter into his triumph and they are able to shout who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect they are able to say I am persuaded that neither life nor death nor principalities nor power nor any creature is able to keep me from the power of God from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus these people who have benefited by what Jesus has achieved on the cross can look into death itself and say oh death where is your things oh grave where is your victory and all this I argue has come about because of what Jesus has done he has cancelled the code he has defeated the devil he has made it possible for the likes of you and me to be reunited with the Father God in other words in these two verses you have got explained to you again the whole operation of spiritual circumcision it comes about not by some physical cut of a human anatomy rather it's the response of men and women to the cross work of Jesus here is the operation of God and if it was within the providence of God to allow the Saviour to go to the cross and on the third day to raise him in the power of an endless life so he would bring men and women who respond to his gospel to that Roman divot to the top of Calvary hill and he'll say look there look up into the eyes of my son see his silhouette see that blood which courses down his body and when you're looking realise this that the handwriting of ordinances which was against you has been wiped away the sin which impeded your access into the holiest place of all has been pushed on one side the bill which you were indebted to pay has been punctured and has been placed on that cross and the very power of Satan has been defeated by the Lord who has spoiled all principalities and all powers who have made an open show of them and triumphed over them in it come to that cross and confess your sins and acknowledge who Jesus is and know that spiritual circumcision in your own life which will make you a new creature by Christ Jesus so the apostle underpins the argument of the eleventh to the thirteenth verses by the fourteenth and fifteenth taking us to the cross Amen and Father we bless you that that handwriting of ordinances meant for our good which turned to our disadvantage because of our rebellion we bless you that it's been wiped clean by Jesus Christ we thank you that the obstacle of our sin has been pushed away we thank you that the bill has been punctured through those nails which went through the body of our Saviour and we bless you that as a result of this so many of us here can say it is well with our soul now Father make the message of the cross influence our lives and the way that we conduct ourselves during this week and may the message of the cross continue to have significance for us as in a moment or so we take this bread and wine in remembrance of our courageous Redeemer Amen