Made Alive

In Colossians 2:11-14, Paul takes the entire weight of salvation off our shoulders and puts it where it has always belonged — on God. God made you alive. God forgave. God erased the debt. God nailed it to the cross. This is the beauty of the gospel message. Once we open our hearts to the gospel, our rescue is all about God. Jesus is enough for your salvation. Today, I want to show you three ways these verses prove it.

1. The Diagnosis We Need to Hear

   1. Colossians 2:13 - And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,

   2. Being spiritually dead is not measuring how bad you are compared to other people.

   3. Salvation is a rescue for the ruined. The first step is to admit we need to be rescued.

2. The Rescue We Could Never Perform

   1. Circumcision

      1. A circumcision not done with hands. Paul calls it putting off the body of the flesh.

      2. When does this happen? Colossians 2:12a: when you were buried with him in baptism, …

   2. Raised to Life

      1. Colossians 2:12b: in which you were also raised with him …

      2. Who does the raising? Colossians 2:12c: through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

   3. See also Titus 3:5:

      1. … not by works we had done but according to His mercy.

      2. …through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

      3. God is the one doing the saving. Baptism is the moment you confess before God and others as to how helpless you are without Him.

   4. It is all based on faith: you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God…

   5. Colossians 1:13: He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.

3. The Debt That is Erased

   1. Colossians 2:14: He erased the certificate of debt… i.e., a handwritten IOU. There’s a ledger.

   2. Colossians 2:14: the certificate was against us and opposed to us.

   3. What God did with it: Colossians 2:14: He erased the certificate of debt,

   4. A real debt doesn’t vanish. Someone always pays. Colossians 2:14: He …and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

   5. See also Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21: He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

   6. Complete forgiveness: …, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.

4. As We Close…

   1. The gospel is an invitation to stop. To lay down the impossible job of saving yourself and trusting in the one who makes it possible.

   2. Your part is to surrender — turning to Him in trust and allowing Him to do only what He can do.

   3. Remember: Christ alone. Christ is enough. Will you open your hands and receive what He will do for you?