JESUS: SUFFICIENT OVER DEATH, DEBT, AND DEMONS - Col. 2: 8-15.
I. Introduction: “The Most Holy Tablet” (Tablet to the Christians).
A. Written by Baha u llah.
1. It basically says, “Do not reject Baha u llah because he is God’s latest Messenger to mankind.
2. The idea is: God has revealed Himself to humanity through a series of divine Messengers: Abraham, Krishna, Zoroaster, Moses, Buddha, Jesus and Muhammad.
3. Each of these Messengers were a “step” in God’s plan to teach humanity about God and for cultivating the spiritual, intellectual, and moral capacities of the human race for the purpose of unifying humanity into a single unified family.
4. This “step by step” process is called “progressive revelation.”
5. Baha u llah is the latest “step” in the process; all that the previous Messengers have taught about God is summed up in the teachings of Baha u llah.
6. His followers are found in almost every country in the world.
B: The Point: People Are Still Teaching That Jesus Isn’t Good Enough.
1. In spite of what God says about Him and what God proved about Him.
2. They do not deny Jesus, they dethrone Him.
C. The Question:
1. Is Jesus enough? Is He all you need to be right with God? Do you need someone more?
2. Do we need to embrace the philosophies and doctrines of men “just to be on the safe side?”
II. WHAT THE APOSTLE PAUL SAYS: VS. 8-15.
A. “See to it that no one takes you captive”; vs. 8.
1. These words indicate that these Christians were free from all man made requirements, traditions, philosophies, and ideologies.
2. But, Paul says, “if you buy into these philosophies, deceptions, and traditions of men, then you have become captive again.”
3. “Don’t let that happen to you!’
B. “For in Him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form; vs. 9.
1. Baha u llah says that God has parceled Himself out in the different Messengers.
2. The apostle Paul says, “God doesn’t parcel Himself out in anyone, God put it ALL in Christ.
C. “…and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority”; vs. 10.
1. In Christ you have ALL you need.
2. No one, not Baha u llah, Joseph Smith, Moses, or Abraham has sovereignty over Christ.
3. You do not need all these human philosophies and traditions; you do not need all these latter day, self-proclaimed Messengers; Christ is sufficient for ALL you need.
III. THREE THINGS THAT PAUL SAYS CHRIST IS SUFFICIENT TO DEAL WITH.
A. “Death”
Col 2:13 And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
1. The “death” that Paul is dealing with in this verse is simply: separation from God.
a. God told Adam and Eve, “When you sin, you die!”; when they sinned they were driven from the presence of God…they were separated from God.
b. Isaiah 59: 2: “But your iniquities have made separation between you and your God.”
c. Ephesians 2: 1: “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…”
d. Luke 15: “Your brother was dead and has come to life.”
e. This is true of us; as soon as we sin we are separated from God.
f. And, Ephesians 2: 3 says that because we are “dead” or “separated from God”, we are subject to the wrath of God.
g. 2 Thess. 1:9 says that those who do not “know God will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”
2. But, Paul says in vs. 13:
And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,
a. God, through Christ, has given us the answer to “being separated from God.”
b. The scholars and intellects thought you needed rituals, charms, and spiritual beings to be restored back to God.
c. The apostle Paul says, “God, through Christ, has forgiven ALL our transgressions which caused us to be separated from God and has made us alive!”
3. When did this happen? When did you overcome death?
Col 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
a. At baptism you were made alive!
b. Many today, in their human reasoning, want to deny baptism and leave it out.
c. But remember what Paul says in vs. 8: “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit.”
d. Don’t give in to their human reason; instead obey God and be made alive with Christ, at baptism.
B. The “Debt”
Col 2:14 Jesus has “canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”
1. In vs. 13, Paul says that through Christ “all our transgressions have been forgiven.”
2. All of our sins accrued to be a mountain of debt.
3. Sin demands a payment; we owe a debt we cannot pay.
4. Jesus not only obtained forgiveness for our sins, but He has cancelled the certificate of debt.
5. Hebrews 8: 12: “I will remember their sins no more.”
6. This is why we don’t need any one or anything more than Christ.
C. The “Demons”
Col 2:15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
1. The terms used in this verse are all military and the idea is one of complete victory.
2. “He has disarmed the rulers and authorities” – Chapter 1: 16 indicates that Paul is speaking of strong, powerful forces, both “visible and invisible”; forces that obviously stood against Christ and tried to destroy Him as well as all men.
3. This verse says that Jesus has completely disarmed those forces that held power over us when we were dead in our sins.
4. “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out.”
a. When Jesus went to the cross, Satan thought he had won; surely Jesus would curse God and die.
b. But Christ died without sin and Satan and all his legions were publicly displayed as nothing but losers.
c. Satan is defeated every time by Jesus; when Jesus was an infant, when Jesus was in the wilderness, when Jesus was crucified.
d. And, unless we are “taken captive once again by the philosophies and empty deceptions of men”, Satan has no hold on us.
e. Jesus is enough…He is all we need.
Conclusion: Everything that is against us, sin, death, the certificate of debt, and Satan and his hosts, Christ has dealt with. And, He dealt with them once and for all at the cross. If Christ was good enough in the days of Paul, he is good enough today…and we do not need Baha u llah. Christ has done so much for us…what are you doing for Him.