Date of Sermon Delivery : 7. 11. 2021

Place of sermon Delivery : Delhi, India

Sunday Worship Service

Speaker : Jatin Bisht

Title - The victory of the cross

Bible – Colossians 2:13-15 

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. 

13. उसने तुम्हें भी, जो अपने अपराधों और अपने शरीर की खतनारहित दशा में मुर्दा थे, उसके साथ जिलाया, और हमारे सब अपराधों को क्षमाकिया, 

14. और विधियों का वह लेख जो हमारे नाम पर और हमारे विरोध में था मिटा डाला, और उसे क्रूस पर कीलों से जड़कर सामने से हटा दिया है।

15.और उसने प्रधानताओं और अधिकारों को ऊपर से उतारकर उनका खुल्‍लमखुल्‍ला तमाशा बनाया और क्रूस के द्वारा उन पर जय–जयकार कीध्वनि सुनाई।

 

Good morning people of God. 

Once again, I welcome you in the fellowship of God 

It is a great privilege for me to stand in the midst of you with the living word of God, I thank the lord that he is still using me God and And it is my wish that as long as there is strength in my body, the Lord will use me.

Last week was the festival session in our country, and I could able to find everywhere there was light, but more than that I could able to give thank to Jesus who died for me to bring me into light, and that light has not yet turned into darkness and I am still in that light. 

And this True light which brightness day by day in me

Today we will see bible Colossians.

Paul wrote Letter of Colossians while in prison, around 60 A.D, to the small city of Colossae. Today this city is known as a turkey. Paul wrote to warn against the false teaching and to encourage the believers in their growth toward Christian maturity.

So, I want to take your attention to Colossians 2:13-15 Let’s read together 

 

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. 

May God bless us by reading his word. 

Let’s pray 

Thank you, Lord, for this new day. Thank you for your words and blessing. Lord, we surrender ourselves into your hand and ask your help that we may not take lightly the subject of the cross, and one who was crucified on that cross. Cover us all with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, we pray. 

Amen

You are victorious the reason you are victorious is because he is victorious.

But what do you think, does victory come easily? 

No 

Ask the athlete or ask our Indian cricket team which is standing on the top. 

Hey how easy for you to stand on the top?

Maybe they will also say it is not easy to remain on the top always.

Ask presentation giver how much easy for you to present anything? 

Maybe he will tell you how many nights he did not sleep well to prepare an effective speech.

I want to tell you one thing, victory takes a sacrifice of some value.

Victory is very-very expensive. 

Therefore, the cross of Jesus Christ is also so important for us.

And when we speak the power of the cross, we are not speaking about the wooden structure that was used, that wooden structure in itself had no power.

So, speaking about the power of the cross it has to be something more than the wooden structure. Therefore, what brings power to the cross is the one upon whom it was crucified.

 

Last week when I was reading our quiet time bible, there was written Israel had forgotten their forefather God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they went after other gods.

I want to encourage you this morning, do not to forget the blood that was shed on that cross by the great ransom. And no one makes a greater sacrifice than blood, nor will there be anyone able to do in the coming days.

I think most of us know that Jesus died for them into a cross, we are listening to it maybe some of you have been listening to this for 10 years, 5 years, or 3 years. 

Therefore, I want to ask you a question 

What difference does the cross make in our lives? 

What does the cross do for us?

 

Paul says in verse 13, we are alive in Christ. 

Beginning of verse 13, he describes the Human race as dead, you were dead in your sin.

If you are sick, you have a hope that you could get better, you could recover but if you are dead, it is like you are dead, you are gone, it is over now.

If you are talking about the physical dead, that means you are talking about the fact that your inner man/spirit has been separate from your physical body, therefore there is no life in that body. 

But here Paul used the word dead for spiritual deadness. And those who are spiritually dead, cannot interact with the things of the spirit, they cannot interact with the creator, they cannot interact with Jesus Christ. 

They found that they are not devoted to God. And the reason here Paul says because of our trespasses. In the NIV bible word “Sin” is used instead of trespasses.

Trespasses mean entering someone's land without permission, and if we have crossed the line then the action will be taken against us. 

In the same way, trespass means to go beyond the boundaries that God has set.

God has set boundaries and when we cross those boundaries, he says you have trespassed. When God sets boundaries for us, it does not mean that he wants to crush us, but he set a boundary for blessing.

We as human beings cross those boundaries and the result is trespasses. 

In the time of the early church, there was a controversy between Jews and Gentiles. Jews had a sign (circumcision) of the covenant, but gentiles did not have that sign, therefore there was a controversy that Gentile are not God’s people 

Here Paul reminds us that what Jews and Gentile were doing that does not matter, but the power of the cross has broken all barrios. We were dead in our trespasses, but we were made alive together with Christ.

 

Dear brothers and sisters, once we had old life, that is the dead life, that is sinful life that is separated from God, do not forget that who we were, if we forgot who we were then we will forget the value of Christ. 

Once we were dead but now, we are alive with Christ.

When we are alive in Christ our life is very different than when we were dead in our sins.

So, truth number one the victory of the cross made us alive with Jesus Christ. 

 

 

Second truth is, the victory of the cross forgave us of our all sins (13,14)

Having forgiven us all our trespasses, the victory of the cross forgave my ALL SINS. 

This is a small sin/mistake, I will forgive you for this, but I will never forgive you for these big sins, we do this 

But When God forgives our trespasses, he does not forgive our partial sins, but He forgives all of our sins. 

When Christ died on the cross, he died for sins that were past, present, and future. 

Let’s see verse 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 

If we have any debt then it is very difficult to sleep, but if the debtor says to us, I do not want debt maybe we feel relaxed and thankful to that debtor. 

Here Paul says that the canceling of the record of our debt, our debt has been blotted out/paid off.

If we have debt today, there are legal demands upon us, and if we fail to pay that debt, we will declare bankruptcy, and our debtor will come and take everything we have, to satisfy the debt. even we have to pay some penalty and get some punishment. 

In the same way, there are legal demands that come with our sin debt, and our legal demands of sin must be satisfied. Someone had to pay the penalty that the law demanded. Someone had to receive the condemnation for man’s sin and someone did, someone paid our debt of sins, and that someone was JESUS CHRIST 

When he was nailed to the cross, the legal demand was nailed to the cross with him.

He took our punishment upon himself, he took our legal demand upon himself, therefore the law can now no longer condemn us.

Jesus Christ not only blotted out our legal demands, but he set aside, (Hata Diya)

Right now, between you and me is this pulpit, it stands between us, so set aside means that we would pick it up and set it aside so that nothing between me and you.

Paul says Christ not only forgives us and cancels our debt but he set aside that which stood between us.

My dear brothers and sisters Christ paid the debt on the cross, he stood in our place. 

So that his holiness, his righteousness, his love, his peace, his joy, grace, and mercy would be credited in our account. 

On that day when Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross, our sin was nailed to the cross.

In Corinthians 5:21 Paul says “for our sake he made him be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 

I want we may think about it, Jesus became a sinner because he did not, but in his perfect holy life, he went through the pain and laid himself down on the cross. On that day, crucifixion was the most torturous punishment, death on the cross never comes early, but it comes slowly. 

Even the enemy was joyful to see this all event, but in reality, that was the work of God, nailed was put in his hand and feet for my sins and our sins. 

That was our sins nailed to the cross on that day. 

The gospel has broken down all barriers and now no more need for the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. 

Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law and he fulfilled it.

He tore down the veil (Curtain) and gave us free access into the presence of God. 

I am thankful to God that not only I am alive in Christ but I am forgiven in Christ.

 

The third truth, the victory of the cross, gave us victory. (15)

15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 

Paul simply means that those authorities nailed him on the cross, they thought, they have removed Jesus Christ, but God himself showed them that you cannot and will not win the victory against God.

Jesus not only break religious barriers, traditional barriers, but he broke the spiritual barriers too. 

God break down the spiritual barriers, disarmed those rulers and authorities and said 

Paul says in  1 Corinthians 15: 55 “O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 

57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ

 

Dear believer’s 

The only victory we have in this life is in Christ and Christ alone. 

You will not find victory in your own plan apart from God.

You will not find victory in your relationship apart from God. 

You will not find financial victory or success apart from God.

And more than that, you will never find a spiritual victory apart from God.

1 Corinthians 15:58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

I know Sometimes life becomes a struggle, sometimes this Christian life also looks like a struggle but because we have victory in Jesus Christ, therefore, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

So how we will apply it? 

Do not live with this lie that the cross is just a story, but the cross has some power behind it because of Jesus Christ. Live in the reality of what God has done through Jesus Christ, stop trying to do on your own, stop trying to use your own power. Rest in the power of Christ because the GOODNEWS of the gospel is that you have been made alive in Christ, 

You have been forgiven in Christ

And you have victory in Christ 

Let’s live in that way. 

May God bless you by hearing God's word. Amen