When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses;
3 sermons cite this verse
… 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. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. We will return to this verse in a moment, so keep that page in your Bible open, but you can look and see there in verse 13 that the sign in the old covenant of circumcision, which will stay important next week, and the sign in the new covenant of baptism marks out your being connected with Christ, together with him. More specifically, our catechism dives into this truth that the washing of water is important, not just because that's what Christians have always done, but because that water as it is sprinkled or as it is poured is a picture of a spiritual cleansing, the cleansing that marks out your entrance, people of God, into a heavenly family. Just like brand-newborn babies need to be taken and they need to be cleaned up before they can be laid in the embrace of their loving mother's arms and eventually taken home from the hospital. So Jesus Christ washed us of our natural filth so we could be brought into his family. We heard an extended form this morning from Romans chapter 3 about that natural filth. We don't need to delve too much into it tonight, but …
… in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus we see similar passage in Colossians 2 verses 13 through 14 But catch this, even when we were dead in our sins, God being rich in mercy because of his great love for us made us alive together with Christ. for instance that great doctrine of the believers union with Christ that hangs all over these truths regarding our salvation we have been chosen in Christ and we have been raised to new life in Christ moreover Paul says in verse 6 that God raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. In his commentary on Ephesians, Sinclair Ferguson points to this remarkable reality of being raised up from spiritual death to be seated with Christ. And he points to where Christ is. Where is Christ now? he is ascended he is enthroned he is seated in the place of victory in the place of honor in the place of reigning and where are we? …
… alive. Colossians 2.13, He made you alive. Spiritual resurrection. He has the power for that, and He has the authority for that. But the issue that I want to focus on just briefly is not that spiritual resurrection, but rather what follows that spiritual resurrection in the future, and that is the physical resurrection. Look at verse 27. The Father not only gave the Son also to have life in Himself, but He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. He's the Son of God because it takes God to give life. He's the Son of Man because it takes one who is a man to sit in judgment on men, lest men think they were judged by an unfair judge. Christ, who is in all points tempted like as we are, will be the judge of all men. He gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. So He is the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life, He said. …