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The Top 5 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die // Reason 2: To Cancel the Legal Demands of the Law Against Us // Romans 5:7-8

Mary Ellen Ermis March 26, 2023 sermons, cityrise, houston, Roger Patterson, romans, The Top 5 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die, West U Baptist,

The following is a manuscript of the sermon presented by Senior Pastor Dr. Roger Patterson on Sunday, March 26, 2023 at our West U Baptist campus. To view the sermon in full, check out the link below.

Mark your calendar for November 17, 2023. Go ahead and take out your phone and open your iCal app and put this on the calendar. Nov. 17 is Guinness World Record Day. It’s a day to mark the significant and crazy accomplishments of ways that humans are fascinating creatures. On this day we will celebrate people like:

  • George Scholey from England – he holds the GWR for the Most Rubik’s cubes solved while riding a skateboard – 500 in 40 minutes. 
  • Nicolas Montes de Oca from Mexico – He holds the longest single-arm handstand– 1 minute 11 seconds
  • Lee Redmond from the USALongest fingernails – 28 feet, 4 inches long (if added up) – 1970-2008 (30 years to grow them out). Weird, I know…

There’s also another person in the GBWR that holds an odd record. It’s a record we don’t celebrate, and hopefully no one aims to dethrone him.

His name is Tommy Johns from Australia. Not to be confused with the MLB Pitcher, Tommy John.  Tommy Johns holds the world record for most arrests.

  • His first arrest was in 1957 and
  • his final arrest was in 1988.
  • Between this time, he was arrested 3000 times for various crimes. Quite the record.

// TODAY //

Why did Jesus come to die? Because, like Tommy Johns, we all have a RECORD. The common human situation – every man, every woman, every child, everyone has a record.

And what we are going to see is that Jesus came to die to cancel the legal demands of the law against us.

Let’s read Colossians 2:13-15 together.

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.

Let’s hone in for a moment on verse 14 for just a second so that we can further establish why Jesus came to die.

Colossians 2:14

…by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

Jesus came to cancel the legal demands of the law against us. 

Now, let’s back up and understand what this means for us.

In English, we read 79 words, but they powerfully present three pivotal truths related to Christ’s completed work on the cross and the empty tomb.

Here is the first of these truths.

In canceling the Legal Demands of the Law…

  1. We move from Death to Life.

I. Death to Life

Here’s Paul – why did Jesus come to die? Because we all have a record. Notice what he says first in vs. 13: “You.” He says You… who is this you?

Look back at the salutation of the letter –

Colossians 1:2

“To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.”

 So – he is saying, you saints! This is a reference back to last week, but something has happened in the lives of this audience Paul is writing to…They’ve moved from Sinners to Saints because God sent Jesus, and he died and rose again, and they believe this.

Paul says God sent Jesus die to because:

  1. We were dead. Look at verse 13.

Colossians 2:13a

 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh…

 And you, who were dead in your trespasses. This word means “lifeless” or “destitute of life.” Because of our trespasses – our missing of the mark, our inability to get it right in life.

  1. We were uncircumcised. Again, verse 13.

This is a little foreign to us. Circumcision means to cut…A little strange, but nonetheless, really important. Circumcision started with Abraham back in Genesis 17 – go and read this at some point this week…

  1. I like what Ligon Duncan says about the meaning of circumcision:

Ligon Duncan says, “God gave Abraham and his descendants the mark of circumcision as a physical reminder that they were cut out from the world, that is, set apart to serve the one, true Lord.”[1]

[1] https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/circumcision-heart 

  1. Paul says to us all…not only were we dead because of our sin/trespasses, but we were also uncircumcised in our flesh

John Piper says, “We were unbelieving, blind, rebellious.”

Look at what David says about Goliath when he hears his roars and threats to God’s people in 1 Samuel 17:26..

1 Samuel 17:26

 And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 

  1. He calls Goliath this “uncircumcised Philistine,” meaning someone outside of the covenant and against God. Paul says, yeah, that was us. We used to be “uncut.”

But the Good News is that we have moved from Death to Life.

Look at it in verse 13.

Colossians 2:13b

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him…

You were dead, but God made you alive! Isn’t that good?

God made us alive! We did not. Others did not.

  • Our good deeds didn’t help us out.
  • Our church attendance,
  • our giving record,
  • our spirituality,
  • our bible memorization –
  • all that is good!

But none of any effort we put forth made us alive. God did it.

Colossians 1:12-14 says, the Father

“has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. [The Father] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and [the Father] has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” And in 1:21 – “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.”

  1. All of this is the work of God, not any of our own works.

Piper says, “It is folly to think that our good deeds may one day outweigh our bad deeds.”[2]

[2] 50 Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die, John Piper, pg. 32

God Made You Alive in Christ!

When you gave your life to Jesus, you moved from death to life!

But that’s not all.

You also moved from being in debt, to being forgiven.

That’s point number 2 today.

In canceling the Legal Demands of the Law…

  1. We move from Death to Life.
  2. We move from Debt to Forgiveness.

II. Debt to Forgiveness

If you google National Debt Calculator, you will see a very large number growing by the thousands before your eyes. It is at about $32 trillion dollars, which translates to about $250,000 per taxpayer.

Yet Paul speaks of a greater debt still in v.14.

Colossians 2:14

…by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

Paul says, listen, the bad news is that:

  • we were dead,
  • we were uncut/uncircumcised,
  • and we also had a record of sin debt that stood against us that piled up. We had a record.

Every transgression, every trespass, every sin exposed before God…nothing hidden. All out in the open to God.

And in the courtroom of heaven, charges were filed against us.

There’s a great parable in Matthew 18 that unpacks this idea of debt for us. Listen to Jesus telling this story in Matthew 18:21-26:

Matthew 18:21-26

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.  24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’

  • Peter is wondering how much forgiveness he should grant…like there’s a limit, right? Jesus says, let me tell you a story.

A servant was in debt to his king by 10,000 talents. A talent was a day’s wage. In today’s economy 10,000 talents would be 60 million denarii. So, his debt was 60 million days. Jesus’ point to Peter, and us, is this is a ridiculous amount of debt – really an unpayable debt. Hopeless.

And as you and I stand before a perfect, Holy God – this is us. When I stare in the mirror of the 10 commandments, I shudder. I can’t breathe.

  • Until…I remember the good news.

Watch this…Paul then says I have good news for you to remember!

God has forgiven us all of our trespasses. Vs. 13. All.

Colossians 2:13

 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, 

I love that word in this verse. All.

  • Past regrets,
  • past failures,
  • those things that haunt us,
  • gnaw at us,
  • hurt us,
  • grieve us,
  • warp us.

Those have been forgiven.

Do you have trespasses/sin today that keeps making a comeback into your memory? Here’s what God says – it’s gone. I’ve forgiven you.

If you are not yet a Christian, your sin isn’t forgiven. It’s still counted against you, because you haven’t trusted Christ work on the cross to forgive your sin. So, we would urge you to receive Christ today.

But if you are a Christian, you’re new. That’s in the past, and it’s forgiven. You stand in a position of forgiveness. This is the Amazing Grace of God.

You see, as it says in verse 14, God has canceled our record of sin debt. – vs. 14 –

The world, if you have noticed lately…it cancels people. There is no, zero, nada, GRACE in our world. There is no grace present in our cancel culture.

But notice what the Heavenly Father canceled for us in Jesus Christ.

Colossians 2:14

…by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

Remarkably, He hasn’t canceled us. He could have!. But he has cancelled that motion rightly filed against us in the courtroom of heaven. Gone.

  1. How? This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Colossians 2:14

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

John Piper says, “Parchment was not nailed to the cross. Christ was. So, Christ became my damning record of bad deeds. He endured my damnation.”[3]

[3] Ibid., 33

It’s such good news to remember as we prepare for the Lord’s Supper together this morning.  

But, we would be remiss if we didn’t make sure we touched on this last amazing truth about why Jesus came to die.

In canceling the Legal Demands of the Law…

  1. We move from Death to Life.
  2. We move from Debt to Forgiveness.
  3. We move from Defeat to Victory.

It’s so good…we move from…

III. Defeat to Victory

The wording of these three verses is so poetic that some scholars believe that this was an early praise hymn. The truths in these three verses are astounding:
JESUS DELIVERS US FROM DEATH, FROM DEBT, AND FROM DEFEAT!

Colossians 2:15

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

God disarmed the rulers and authorities.

Though Satan bruised Christ’s heel, He crushed Satan’s head (Gen 3:15).

Christ fully disarmed all authorities. He conquered their greatest weapon- death and His victory is complete.

Back to Jesus’ story in Matthew 18 – Look at verse 27 –

Matthew 18:27

And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

The servant could never pay the 60 Million Denarii, the 60 Million Days…so what did he do? He simply fell on his knees, implored the master for mercy and patience…Notice he didn’t even ask the master to forgive the debt, he just asked for patience and mercy.  What did the master do? His heart was to not only grant the requested patience, but to give radical mercy and forgive the entire debt altogether. That’s our King. That’s our God. That’s exactly why God sent Jesus to die.

Marshall, Texas, May of ’22. Wiley College President and CEO Herman Felton stands up at the graduation ceremony and begins to address the graduating class of 2022. He says these words: “If you have a balance, you had a balance. You no longer have a balance. You are debt free! You do not owe the college a penny.” What happened next? All the students went crazy! Can you imagine the scene? An anonymous donor paid off each student loan balance. What a gift to those young men and women.

Church, what a gift God has given to you and to me, to everyone who will look to Jesus. He canceled the Legal demands of the Law against us. He donated his life and his blood, and in turn we get life.

How will you respond to him?