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Colossians 5 – Disarmed, Displayed, & Defeated
Christ is Supreme! How supreme?
Well in 3 short verses Jesus Disarms, Displays, & Defeats the enemy! In 3 little verse Jesus defeats Death, Debt & Devils.
Greetings in the name of Jesus. Hello and welcome to Redemption Church. We are here in Plano Tx and we welcome all of our facebook live streamers, podcasters, & Youtubers. And of course welcome to all of you good looking people in the room.
We are back studying the book of Colossians. Please turn with me in your Bibles and Bible Apps to Colossians 2.
Colossians
Last week we were blessed to have Vitaly Kissel with us from Maykop, Russia. Thank you for having a heart to support the work of God here and abroad.
Let’s look at Colossians chapter 2 beginning with verse 13.
Outline
Jesus overcomes Death, Debt, & Devils V 13-15
The last few weeks we have been going verse by verse through an entire book of the Bible. There is a lot to be gained this way. We gain a better understanding of the context and we pick up on a theme within the writing.
The theme thus far could be narrowed down to the words – Christ is Supreme.
Christ is Supreme
Colossians 2:13 (NIV2011) When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
Colossians 2:14 (NIV2011) having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:15 (NIV2011) And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Christ is Supreme
Let’s clap our hands for the word of God.
Colossians 2:13 (NIV2011) When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
This comes right after Paul teaching us about the spiritual circumcision. We discussed that last week. Paul links that spiritual circumcision to your conversion experience.. to baptism and faith.
Now here Paul is talking about that time you were dead. Do you remember when you were dead?
There was a time when you were dead in your sin. You were not alive. You may have been breathing but you were not alive. You may have been animated but you were the walking dead.
You see people every day that are dead. Do you realize that? You get into heated arguments with dead people. That doesn’t sound too smart right?! Think about that next time..
“When you were dead…”
How were we dead? …IN OUR SINS and in the UNCIRCUMCISION of our flesh. The flesh represents that desire for sin and for self. The flesh does not desire God. The flesh does not desire to suffer in loving service for others. Circumcision represents the idea that God has removed that fleshly desire and given you a new life giving desire.
Is Paul talking about physical circumcision here? Is Paul talking about rules and ordinances from Old Testament context?
We know Paul is talking about spiritual circumcision not done by human hands. His answer in V13 for uncircumcision is not to go and be physically circumcised… what does it say?
You were not made alive through making uncircumcised circumcised… No! God made you alive WITH CHRIST! You are not made alive through religious tradition, but in Christ.
He forgave all of our sins. The Supreme one… The head over all things… The Fullness of Deity… the First born of all creation… Jesus Christ, God almighty has forgiven you of all your sins.
Colossians 2:14 (NIV2011) having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
The King James version says “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances..”
The handwriting of ordinance is an ancient form of a contract and the Blotting out means that it is washed away and erased. Imagine a legal contract standing against you and condemning you and in every legal sense you are guilty.
But Jesus canceled it… Jesus blotted it out… Erased, and cleaned the contract against you. Jesus has taken it away and now where do we find the contract?
Jesus Christ nailed it to the cross?
If you were at Calvary nearly 2000 years ago, it looked like Roman Soldiers were nailing the hands and feet of Jesus to the cross. But Paul is telling us that Jesus was nailing your condemnation & guilt to the cross.
What saves us from our legal problems is not a heightened adherence to legality, but the cross.
If you are feeling guilt and condemnation, then you need to visit the cross. Jesus has nailed everything that stands against us and condemns us.
Colossians 2:15 (NIV2011) And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
This is a powerful scripture. This is a great example of Paul progressing ideas. Earlier in this chapter Paul referenced similar ideas.
Colossians 2:8 (NIV2011) See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
The word for captive actually means to spoil… to steal a treasure. See to it no one carries you off.. that no one steals you. You are the treasure of heaven. Do not be stolen away by hollow and deceptive philosophies.
Now jump back to Colossians 2:15
Colossians 2:15 (NIV2011) And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
And having disarmed… in the Greek this means to despoil… to reclaim a stolen treasure.
Jesus Christ, through the cross, has despoiled the enemy. The enemy stole you, but God treasured you so much that He has reclaimed you through the cross.
Do you know how valuable you are?
There is an enemy that is willing to do anything to steal you.
There is a God who is willing to do anything to reclaim you.
There is a supernatural conflict centered on you. You are that valuable.
YOU ARE A TREASURE!
Colossians 2:15 (NIV2011) And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
The Powers and Authorities are a call back to Colossians 2:10.
Colossians 2:10 (NIV2011) and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.
Jesus is the head of all powers (ARCHE) AND authorities (EXOUSIA).
There are powers & authorites other than Jesus in this world. We talked about the Arche powers last week as beginning powers. It ties in with the idea of elemental forces of this world in Col 2:8.
These powers are demonic in nature and anti-Christ. BUT JESUS IS HEAD OVER THEM.
Jesus has disarmed them and reclaimed you, His treasure. The enemy is disarmed.
Then Jesus makes a public spectacle of the enemy. The Greek means to “expose one to disgrace.”
Our Jesus was stripped of his clothes. He was beaten. He was ridiculed and forced to carry a cross down the streets of the city.
The powers & authorities thought they were making a public spectacle of Jesus. They thought that they were making Jesus a disgrace. But here Paul reveals the truth. Jesus, through His love for us shown on the cross, has made a public spectacle of the enemy.
The enemy is disarmed. And now the enemy is displayed.
The idea of a court Jester or a fool is at work here. Before the king would arrive to honor and adoration, they would send out a buffoon who would walk out before the king and make the crowd laugh. The role of Jester was a disgraced position who would act like a public spectacle.
The Jester was not to be compared to the King. This is what made it funny. The King represented someone of honor, power, and authority. The King represented a protector and a provider. When expecting a king to walk through the door, and instead a buffoon would walk in, the crowd would roar in laughter because there was no comparison.
Our enemy said this…
Isaiah 14:14 (NIV2011) I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
It is ok to laugh at your enemy. It is funny to compare Satan to God. It is like the jester compared to the King.
The enemy is a buffoon. Satan is not to be compared to God our King. Our great King has disarmed the powers, put them to an open shame, and has also defeated them.
Colossians 2:15 (NIV2011) And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
It says “Triumphing over them by the cross.”
The enemy is disarmed, displayed, and defeated through the cross.
3 nails, 2 beams of wood, and the 1 willing heart of our savior is all it took to bring down the powers once and for all.
How do you defeat the enemy?
Is religion how you defeat the enemy? No.
Is good works in the community how you defeat the enemy? No.
Is the ability to memorize praise songs and Bible verses how you defeat the enemy? No.
The enemy was undefeated until the cross. Every man & woman born would eventually die and be buried in a grave. But Jesus is supreme…
Jesus rose from the dead with the keys. Jesus rose from the dead with all power in his hands. Jesus was dead but is now alive forever. And now we defeat the enemy because we are raised to life in Jesus.
The enemy is disarmed, displayed, and defeated through the cross.
When was the last time you approached the cross of Jesus?
We are about to spend some time talking to God. I think we ought to approach His cross today. I think we need to thank Him for the cross. We need allow him to nail all our guilt & sin to the cross.
In these 3 verses Paul tells us that Jesus defeated death, debt & the devil
Jesus defeats Death, Debt, & Devils
You were dead but God made you alive in Jesus.
You were condemned in legal indebtedness… but Jesus took it away and nailed it to the cross.
You were a stolen treasure… the enemy stole you, but Jesus disarmed him and reclaimed you.
This is all true. Do we live like this is true?