Episode Transcript
[00:00:05] Let's pray together.
[00:00:07] Our heavenly Father, as we hear your word, as we sing it and pray it and confess it, Lord, you are moving in our hearts and revealing and reminding the truths of your promises, the sureness of them, the steadfast love on which you pour out from generation to generation.
[00:00:29] How glorious it is that saints long ago spoke of eternal life, protection in you and refuge. And today we speak of the same because of the sureness of your promises to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, and to us, all of us looking together to that singular promise. And Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all things in his burial, death, resurrection, ascension, and will bring all things into their consummated glory when he returns again.
[00:01:03] Lord, we ask that as we come now to your word, that you would help us to believe, to see, to trust, that you would expose the sins in our hearts and do your work of sanctification. Lord, we ask that those who do not yet know you would. We put their faith in you and forever live. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:28] Well, please remain standing, and let's turn first in God's word to Matthew 28.
[00:01:35] And then I'll turn to one of our primary passages for this morning's sermon in Colossians. But first, Matthew 28.
[00:01:45] I'll be reading verses one through ten now. After the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb, and behold, there was a great earthquake. For the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow.
[00:02:24] And for fear of him, the guards trembled and became like dead men.
[00:02:29] But the angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
[00:02:38] He is not here, for he has risen. As he said, come see the place where he lay.
[00:02:46] Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead. And behold, he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him. See, I have told you so. They departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, greetings. And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.
[00:03:22] Let's now turn to God's word in Colossians and one of the New Testament letters after the gospels, and then some of the longer of Paul's letters, Romans, and one and two Corinthians. Then you have three, four short letters, Colossians being the last of that little set.
[00:03:46] So, Colossians, chapter two.
[00:03:59] So because we have a baptism today, I'm going to focus on verses eleven and especially twelve.
[00:04:07] But to give some context here, I'm going to read right now and then talk a little later about some other verses. But right now let's look at verses six through 15. Here are these words from Colossians, chapter 2615.
[00:04:23] Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving, 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.
[00:04:51] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority. 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.
[00:05:37] 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.
[00:05:50] Amen. Please be seated.
[00:06:17] So some of the things that are going on in these passages are really simple and really clear.
[00:06:25] We hear about the resurrection from the dead.
[00:06:28] We hear about newness of life. We hear about the glories of our savior in whom the fullness of deity dwells.
[00:06:38] There are also complicated things and sometimes confusing things, partly because Paul is pulling together in a really tight space, lots and lots and lots of different ideas and things.
[00:06:56] We have the whole ministry of Christ in this world, his death, his burial, his resurrection. We have his work for us, his ongoing work for us, his ascension, his intercession. We have hopes of the coming future. On top of that, we have sacraments mentioned like baptism.
[00:07:16] On top of that, we have Old Testament signs like circumcision mentioned. We have all of these things coming together in a really tight and close way.
[00:07:29] And if you're very familiar with the Old Testament. If you're familiar with these themes and all of these ideas and the ministry of Jesus, then perhaps these passages have a kind of crystallizing effect, a way of summarizing and bringing things together in a way that is sharp and focused.
[00:07:49] If you're unfamiliar with these things, perhaps it has a kind of jolting feeling. It feels like you're jumping from one thing to another to another, and it's hard to hold it all together.
[00:08:03] What I'd like to do this morning is unpack some of that, unpack some of these things and then hopefully pull them together at the end and talk about some practical implications of what Paul is saying, particularly as we think about the resurrection of our Lord as it's tied with baptism.
[00:08:28] One thing that we might say to begin with, a way to kind of hold all of this together and think about what we're doing, is you could think about the New Testament as something like a gift that is being unwrapped.
[00:08:42] Now, if you knew that there was a gift that's being promised, if you knew what the essence of the gift was, then when you come to the unwrapping of it, there's all this history, right?
[00:08:55] Perhaps mom and dad promised you something, that on your 16th birthday you would get this special thing you can fill, fill in whatever the blank is, the special thing that you're going to get. And so then when it comes to your 16th birthday, the day has arrived and you get the present and you're opening up, and then you get to see the final realization of what that is.
[00:09:18] Now imagine, for example, that you have been adopted into a family that practices this, this practice of on your 16th birthday, you get something special, but you were just adopted maybe three months before your 16th birthday. And there's been a lot that's been going on, and people haven't told you everything that was about to happen. And then at the last minute, you get this present and you're like, what's this? And you unwrap it. And then in that moment, you're told, hey, there's kind of a history behind this and a tradition, and you get it tied back together.
[00:09:53] The New Testament's kind of like that. It's this unwrapping, this revealing of a promise that was made long, long ago.
[00:10:02] This helps make sense of the psalms that we read and sang earlier, this hope that of the future and of life and of protection in the Lord. How is it that we can sing those same songs from the old Testament and know that our hearts are joined with theirs?
[00:10:22] To know that we're not singing two different things.
[00:10:26] Well, it's because of the connection between these promises, the revelation of Christ and all that is happening and what has come before.
[00:10:37] That's why Paul can talk about circumcision and baptism kind of in the same context. He can hold these things together because there's this unity of the Lord and his work throughout history.
[00:10:53] The Lord, you remember, made a promise to Abraham a long, long time ago. Lots of kids in Christian Sunday schools sing today. Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you. So let's all praise the Lord. Right arm, Father. Right.
[00:11:18] Why do we sing this? Because the scriptures testify to it over and over and over again that we, as Christians, even as gentile believers in Christ, can count Abraham the father of Israel, the father of Jacob, the father of Isaac, and the whole people. We can count him as our father because he believed in the same promises that we believe in. He was given those same promises, and not just to Abraham, but to his children as well. Let me read to you just one place in Romans, for example, Romans chapter four, where Paul speaks to this in romans 411 through 13. After a lot of discussion about Abraham and how the Lord worked in his life, we come to Romans chapter 411 13, and we read this.
[00:12:16] He, Abraham, received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised. The Jews who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
[00:12:59] Now, Paul's saying a lot there, but the essence of it is this. Before Abraham was circumcised, he believed the Lord, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham was considered righteous not because of all the things that he did, but because of his faith, because of what he believed. Abraham was considered righteous not because circumcision was applied, because he believed even before he was circumcised. And in all of this, God had a purpose. What does the scripture say to make him the father of all who believe? Both Jews who have been circumcised and gentiles who haven't been circumcised. He would be the father of all of the faithful, an example and more of how of the faith that we exercise in the promise that is given, that promise that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 17 and other places as well. That promise comes with a command, a command to circumcise his sons.
[00:14:19] And that command, as we see, that command for circumcision was a command that was not about family identity or national identity primarily, but it was about the covenant that God had made. It was a sign and seal of the covenant, of the promise that God had made. In other words, God made a promise, and then he attached to that promise a visible, physical, in this case, bloody sign, to impress on them and the people of the world the reality of what he had said, and in some ways to use that promise, or, sorry, use that sign to bring about his will.
[00:15:06] We know this from acts seven. For example, when Stephen calls it the covenant of circumcision, he attaches God's promise and covenant to Abraham, to circumcision. In this way they are intimately related.
[00:15:24] Well, what does circumcision point to? It points to the newness of heart, the removal of defilement, the removal of the flesh. It's not merely an outward sign, but it points to an inward reality, or at least it ought to.
[00:15:42] So Paul, for example, in romans two, chapter two, verses 28 through 29, says this, for no one is a jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
[00:16:00] But a jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart. That is what he says in verse 29. Circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God.
[00:16:18] So the Lord promises this promise to Abraham and to his children after him. The Lord promises that all those who put their faith in him will be saved under the salvation that he promises in Abraham and is ultimately revealed in Christ.
[00:16:38] That promise is attached to that promise is the sign, the sign of circumcision, which is given not only to Abraham but also to his children while they are still infants.
[00:16:52] So then we come to the New Testament and we ask, does the New Testament revoke that sign of the inclusion to infants?
[00:17:03] Does the New Testament say no longer are infants to be included in the household, the visible household of God?
[00:17:13] The answer is no, of course.
[00:17:16] The New Testament does not revoke that. The new testament does not change the inclusion of the children of believers.
[00:17:25] Now, does this mean that the children of believers are automatically get a ticket into heaven because they are baptized?
[00:17:37] The answer is no, because how is it that Abraham was saved through faith? Right. He was saved through faith. How is it that anyone is saved? It is through faith. When we go back to colossians and consider what Paul says here about circumcision and baptism, he points again to this aspect. He says that in verses eleven in him you were also 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.
[00:18:23] Through faith? Faith in what? In the powerful working of God who raised Jesus from the dead.
[00:18:33] Keep tracking with me. As we think about the Old Testament, as we think about the sign, as we think about the inclusion of that, we recognize that although God commands the sign to be given to all of Abraham's sons, expanded in the New Testament to be given to both boys and girls, we do not say that our children are automatically included or automatically saved just because of their baptism. We know this not only from the scriptures, but from experience. People who are baptized as infants, as teenagers, people who are baptized as adults, turn away from the faith. Right? This happens.
[00:19:19] This happens. They turn away not having believed the promises that are signified in their baptisms.
[00:19:30] They see and recognize in their own and in the other and in the work, and then in the promises that are made in scriptures, what is offered to them? And like Esau, they reject it.
[00:19:43] Why the disconnect? Why the disconnect between who we baptize and who believes?
[00:19:51] Well, it happens. The disconnect there is because we offer the sign and we baptize people not based on our knowledge of the secret knowledge of God, or how God will work in the hearts of men, but based on his revealed commands.
[00:20:14] In other words, when we go to baptize someone, we don't look to see and have absolute determination who can know what's in the heart of a person, whether they're ultimately saved or not, or what God is doing in their lives. That's not how we decide on baptism.
[00:20:31] We don't baptize based on the secret knowledge of God, but on his revealed commands.
[00:20:38] And the revealed commands are to baptize believers and their children, trusting that God will use this as a means of grace.
[00:20:48] One interesting proof of this that John Murray, systematic theologian at Westminster, now passed for a while.
[00:20:58] He points out that Ishmael was circumcised even though, and even before Abraham, Abraham knew that it would be Isaac that would be chosen.
[00:21:14] And yet he baptized Ishmael why? Even though he knew God's plan, he still. I'm sorry. He still circumcised Ishmael. Why? Because he did it on the basis of God's commands, not on the basis of some secret knowledge of God's future plans.
[00:21:32] Similarly, Rebecca, even before Jacob and Esau were born, knew that Jacob would be the chosen one and that Esau would be rejected. And yet both children were circumcised.
[00:21:48] Knowing things, even knowing things, which we usually don't, even when we know things about God's plan, does not revoke God's commands.
[00:21:59] And that's why we go and we baptize our children and also adult believers who put their faith in the Lord, because we believe and trust in what God has given us to do, believing that it's not arbitrary, but that he uses these things for our good and for his glory.
[00:22:22] In addition to applying this sign to believers and their children, we also teach them and teach ourselves what? The meaning of these things, the way in which it points to Christ, to his burial, to his death, his resurrection. And we call them and we call ourselves every day, like the psalm said at the beginning of our service, bless the Lord, o my soul. We talk to ourselves and we talk to each other, and we say, put your faith in the promises of God, the promises that have been made from long ago and continue today.
[00:23:01] Let's turn now as we see the unity of the scriptures. Let's turn to think about exactly what is signified there in our baptisms.
[00:23:11] Baptism signifies our union with Christ.
[00:23:16] Baptism signifies our union with him in his death, in his burial, and in his resurrection.
[00:23:24] Consider again what Paul says in verse eleven.
[00:23:30] First he says, in him, you were circumcised already. That's interesting. Right?
[00:23:36] He points to this. But to be clear, he says, a circumcision made without hands, but one that's in the heart, as he spoke of in Romans.
[00:23:46] How did this happen? What kind of putting off of the fleshly nature is he talking about?
[00:23:54] By the circumcision of Christ.
[00:23:58] Here it does refer to Christ's physical circumcision, receiving the sign that was commanded to Abraham, but more than that, to the work of the cross, the work of the cross to which these things pointed.
[00:24:13] Paul connects that circumcision of Christ, the way in which he put off the body of flesh in which he died to sin.
[00:24:22] He connects that to his work on the cross and his burial and his resurrection. In verse twelve, he says, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him, through the powerful working of God in verse 13, you were dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh. That's how Paul defines it. That's how Paul wants us to understand it. He wants us to understand that before Christ, we were dead. Dead how? In our sins. Dead in our trespasses. Dead in the fact that the flesh had not yet been removed, had not yet been cut off. That defilement was still there, and we were not yet belonging to the Lord.
[00:25:10] But what happened? What do these sacraments point to? What do these signs point to? He tells us. He tells us in verse 14, canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
[00:25:30] How many of you have ever had a debt cancelled?
[00:25:35] How many of you have had done a sin, committed a sin, maybe, against someone else, and the person said, forget about it. It's all forgiven. Let's just move on. I never want you to bring it up again. I don't hold it against you.
[00:25:54] That freeing feeling, the knowledge that no longer do you face, one, a punishment, but two, that there's reconciliation between you and the person that you have offended.
[00:26:09] Well, when God cancels the record of debt that stands against us with its legal demands, he's canceling a debt that we owe him when he reconciles us to himself. We now have a happy relationship. With whom? With God.
[00:26:30] It doesn't get any better than that.
[00:26:33] It doesn't get any better than knowing that you are free and happy and blessed with the maker of the universe, the one who can supply and provide you with all things, and the one who will no longer punish you for your sins, but instead will reward you for the righteousness of Christ that he freely credits to your account.
[00:27:03] He looks at you, he considers his son, and says, you, my son, my daughter, are free to dwell forever on Mount Zion, my holy hill. You are free to dwell forever in the kingdom of God, heaven itself, and all of these things.
[00:27:23] And how did he do this?
[00:27:26] He set aside this record of debt that was against you by nailing it to the cross.
[00:27:35] And of course, we know what this means.
[00:27:38] We think about Jesus, who was nailed to the cross.
[00:27:45] Our record of debt is canceled because God himself came into this world, took on human flesh, became our representative, and then was crucified on our behalf.
[00:28:04] The record of debt is canceled because Christ finished it, as we heard earlier once and for all.
[00:28:14] Now, if this wasn't enough, and of course, more could be said, but Paul adds one more wonderful, wonderful piece of information.
[00:28:25] Not only does he set aside the record of debt that stands against us with its legal demands. By nailing it to the cross, he disarms the rulers and authorities and puts them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
[00:28:46] In Hebrews, Paul, the author of Hebrews, in Hebrews, the Lord speaks to us, and he says that the devil in this world sort of wields death as a weapon, as an instrument of fear.
[00:29:09] He controls us and he enslaves us with the knowledge that we will die and that we will die for our sins.
[00:29:20] Now, in many ways, this is not a lie, right?
[00:29:24] We are accountable for our sins. But he takes that. And instead of, as Jesus does, pointing us to himself and pointing us to the cross, the devil comes to us with all our accusations of guilt and defilement. And he says things like, ignore it, escape it, drown it out, cover it up, run away from it, sweep it under the rug.
[00:29:50] Or he says things like, you can fix this, you can earn this, you can atone for yourself if you do enough good works, if you work hard enough, if you fix your mistakes, if you grow, if you grow, if you grow, then God will be happy with you. He points us to despair. He points us to works. He distracts us with all kinds of things, anything he can do to keep us enslaved to our sin, to keep us separated from God.
[00:30:20] And of course, he does these actions in all kinds of various ways, not only in our own hearts, but through activity in the world, including using governments and rulers and authorities of all kinds, both visible and invisible, to achieve these ends.
[00:30:40] The apex of all of these things that he does was in the crucifixion of God, first trying to destroy Jesus when he was first born, through Herod, who was afraid and committed this great atrocity and killing all of these babies. And then throughout his life, people trying to kill Jesus and eventually succeeding, succeeding through injustice, manipulation, betrayal, lies, all kinds of evils, the way he works.
[00:31:18] When Jesus died, Peter denied. People went into hiding. They ran away. They were afraid of the jews. They were afraid of the rulers. They were afraid of what was going to happen. Everything seemed to be lost.
[00:31:40] But what actually happened on the cross is that Jesus took that apparent power and a power which was truly exercised in various ways throughout the world, a blinding of the nations. And he disarmed them.
[00:31:59] He defanged the serpent. He took the sting out of death.
[00:32:07] He made him weak and powerless. And in doing so, not only helps us, but shames them.
[00:32:21] He puts them to open shame, all the boasting of the world, the boasting of the devil, all the cockiness and the strutting and the walking around and the promises that are given the time, all the promises that constantly come at us about potential wisdom and power through money and fame and personal work and all of these things.
[00:32:50] It's all put to shame how?
[00:32:54] Through the work of Christ on the cross and the proof of his success.
[00:33:00] When he rose from the dead.
[00:33:04] He rose from the dead. He didn't just take away their weapons. He triumphed over them. God triumphed over them in Christ.
[00:33:16] He brings then to people all over the world a vision of true reality, a hope in heaven, a newness of life. He takes souls that were enslaved to sin, enslaved to the evil one.
[00:33:37] He takes bodies that were destined for hell, corruption, separation, alienation, all kinds of terrible things.
[00:33:48] And to the first, he gives freedom, and to the second he gives life.
[00:33:55] And he binds them together in the resurrection so that we can have freedom in life forever and ever.
[00:34:02] He unites us even now, even our bodies, even now to the body of Christ.
[00:34:12] These are the implications of what he did on the cross.
[00:34:18] This is what he did. And this is what circumcision and baptism point to our union with Christ through faith in him and through faith alone, with the promise that when we put our faith in him, we have the things that he promises, the canceling of our debt, reconciliation with God, no more fear over the evil ones and victory over them in him.
[00:34:54] So what are some applications of all of this?
[00:34:58] One is a question that we ought to ask our hearts.
[00:35:02] Are we holding fast to the world and to the things of this world?
[00:35:07] Are we captive to the world and its anxieties and its pleasures and its demands?
[00:35:14] Are we all about do, do, earn, earn, earn, earn?
[00:35:20] Or are we about trust, faith, dependence, and resting in him?
[00:35:28] Are we giving ourselves over to the world and its priorities and its desires in order to be numbed, in order to feel loved, in order to experience joy?
[00:35:41] Or are we taking the time to consider and remember our baptisms and what the Lord has promised to us in Christ?
[00:35:52] As little ones are baptized in the name of the Lord, we ought to consider these things and the way in which we receive the power of God.
[00:36:05] As we see the name of the Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit put on children, there's a special testimony there and a reminder that our salvation is not by our strength, our salvation is not by our power, our earning potential, our ability.
[00:36:29] Our salvation comes through his cleansing, his work, his renewal.
[00:36:37] As we see a children baptized, we ought to consider ourselves as a child, think back to yourself as a child for a moment. This is a useful exercise in perhaps getting a little more pity for yourself.
[00:36:56] Imagine yourself as a child, as a little boy, as a little girl, as a baby, even long time ago, and ask this would you want that child to be taken captive by the things of this world, or would you want to protect him, protect her through faith.
[00:37:15] What I'm asking you to do is to give care to your souls and give that care to the Lord.
[00:37:26] Paul begins this whole section in this way, or he talks about this earlier in the chapter, and then later on when he comes to verse 16, for example, he says, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink, with regard to a festival or new moon or Sabbath. These are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you. Insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind and holding fast and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body is nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.
[00:38:20] The world calls to us.
[00:38:25] We ought not listen to it.
[00:38:28] Instead, we should do what Paul calls us to do. In chapter three, verse twelve, he says, if you are in Christ, put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.
[00:38:45] And he goes on and on listing all these other virtues and wondrous things. He calls us to love. He calls us to let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body.
[00:39:01] We are called to grow in Christ and grow through faith in him, instead of letting our hearts being taken captive by the world and its demands and its empty promises, having appearance of good religion and holiness, but ultimately ending in vanity and ruin.
[00:39:21] Instead, we are to look to Jesus Christ our savior, to hear and to believe what he has done and to trust him.
[00:39:31] And as Paul began our section in verse six, two six, he says, as you received Christ the Lord, so walk in him. We receive the Lord by faith, and so we walk in him by faith, knowing that he has given to us the power of life, even over death, because he was buried, crucified, dead, buried and risen for us.
[00:39:59] Let's pray.
[00:40:01] Our heavenly Father, we thank you for these promises, promises made long ago to Abraham, promises made even before that to Adam and to Eve, a promise that one would come and crush the head of the serpent. One would come and ruin the evil one who sought to break apart the bonds between the Lord and his anointed people.
[00:40:28] Lord, we ask that you would help us not to fear death, to. Not to fear the evil one, not to fear our sins. Because we believe that our sins are forgiven, that the record of debt has been canceled, and that we have triumph over Satan through Christ's work on the cross, strengthen our confidence in him and help us to grow in this faith at the very beginning of our journey, when you regenerate us and all the way through to the end, when you call us out of the earth and bring us and give to us new and glorified bodies like the glorified body of our savior.
[00:41:15] Lord, you promised to us so many wonderful and good things. We ask that you would help us not to have doubt in them, but to look to your power and your wisdom and your grace, to look to Christ's work in this world and on the cross, the proof of the resurrection in time and space, and to be assured.
[00:41:39] Help our minds not to wander, help our hearts not to doubt. And as we are growing in Christ, Lord, we ask that you would strengthen us in him putting to death the old sinful man and bringing to life and putting on the things of righteousness.
[00:42:03] Lord, you promise us in your word that those who hear of the gospel of Jesus and put our faith in you in him, that our hope is secured for us in heaven. This is the word of truth that we have heard. This is the word that is bearing fruit and growing in us in all the world. This is the word that will save us.
[00:42:26] Make it clear to us. Help us to trust it. Trust it and let us live forever in him. Jesus, the word of God, the resurrected savior, our savior. Amen.
[00:42:44] Brothers.
