Death and Its Sentence Abolished

Death and Its Sentence Abolished

(No. 2605)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 15, 1899.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 14, 1883.

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
has He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which
was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
Cross." Colossians 2:13,14.

IT tends to excite gratitude in our hearts if we remember what the Lord
has done for us. It is not wrong for us to think of all that we still
need from God, but it would be exceedingly ungrateful if we were to
forget what we have already received. By far the greater part of
salvation is already ours and though, in some respects, we have not yet
attained, neither are already perfect, yet in other respects we are
complete in Christ Jesus. If we are truly believers in Christ, we are
already saved–we are not merely in a salvable state, but we have
really obtained salvation. In Christ we are delivered from the curse of
the Law of God and we have an eternal inheritance already secured to
us. I must not dwell on that blessed theme. I only mention it, in
passing, to remind you that it encourages our gratitude if we remember
what the Lord has done for us.

It also stimulates us to hope for more blessings in the future. It puts
a keener edge upon our prayers and helps us to plead with greater
confidence, for we feel that, inasmuch as God has already given us so
much and done so much for us, He will perfect that which concerns us,
and will not forget the work of His own hands. The remembrance of what
the Lord has done for us is also quite sure to inflame our love. We
cannot be cold-hearted if we continue to remember God's goodness to us.
We must be glad in the Lord and, with that gladness, there must come
fervent love to Him who has worked all these things on our behalf and
brought us into the blessed estate of those who are saved in the Lord
with an everlasting salvation!

This morning, [Sermon #1744, Volume 39–Where the "If Lies"] I talked
to those who were seeking the Savior. They had their turn, then, so now
I am going to speak to those who have found the Lord. Ah, dear Friends,
how precious He is to you! I want you to see what He has done for
you–what God the everlasting Father has done for you through Jesus
Christ His Son–that you may come and sit at His feet in adoring love
and feel your hearts burn within you as you meditate upon the riches of
His amazing Grace. Our text speaks of two things which God has done for
us through Christ Jesus. First, there is the removal of the death
within us: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, has He quickened together with Christ, having forgiven you
all trespasses." The second thing is the removal of the handwriting
which was against us. This we have in the 14th verse. "Blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to
us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross."

Before I come to the subject of my discourse, I want every child of God
whom I am addressing to feel, "The preacher's talk is to be about me
and about what Christ has done for me," for, remember, dear Friends,
that the work of Christ is as distinctly on behalf of each Believer as
if he were the only object of Divine Love in the whole universe! And
while it is true that Christ's work concerns all His people–and it is
a very great comfort that it is so–yet it is also true that it
concerns each one of His people and it is all the property of each one.
I want you, just now, to eat your own morsel, to claim your own portion
and to take home to your own heart what God has given to you by a
Covenant of salt, and so given it to you that it can never be taken
from you!

I. First, then, the Lord has done this for all of us who believe in
Him–HE HAS REMOVED OUR INWARD SPIRITUAL DEATH.

Turn to the text to see what this death was. "You being dead in your
sins." We were all, then–the regenerate as well as the rest of
mankind–"dead in trespasses and sins." What kind of death was this?
Certainly it was not physical death. We lived, moved and had our being.
We exercised our wills and did as we pleased in our enmity and
opposition to God. The Lord does not treat men as if they were sticks
and stones, nor does He ever regard them as such. They are alive, and
when they sin, they sin most sadly of their own accord.

Neither was our death a mental death, for the ungodly can think as well
as others, and they have all the powers of reason unless, indeed, they
have dulled and destroyed them by certain forms of sin which produce
that result. Alas, there are some of the most acute minds in the world
that are not reconciled to God. The men are alive enough as to their
minds, yet they are truly said to be dead! I could almost wish, for
some people, that it wasa mental death rather than the kind of death
they have, since now the quickness of their intellect only helps them
to increase their guilt and to multiply the reasons for their
condemnation.

And yet again, as it is not a physical death, nor a mental death, so
neither is it a moraldeath. Man is not so dead that he sins without
guilt, or lives without responsibility. No man who remains out of
Christ is without guilt on that account. He who continues an unbeliever
may not say that he cannot help it–it is his fault and his sin that he
does not believe. Indeed, our Lord told His disciples that the
Comforter would convince the world of sin for this very
reason–"Because," He said, "they believe not on Me." To Nicodemus, our
Lord also said, "For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believes
on Him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already,
because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God." O dear Hearers, if I could believe that you were mere machines,
or that you had drifted along the stream of time like some stray timber
on a Canadian river. If I believed that you could not in any way help
yourselves, but were the mere creatures of your circumstances, then I
might be comfortable concerning you, for you would be exempt from
criminality. But it is not so–you are men and women living before the
living God and you are responsible to Him for your actions and your
words–and even for the thoughts and imaginations of your heart! For
every rejection of His Gospel you will have to give account at the Last
Great Day. And if you remain out of Christ, that account will seal your
doom forever.

The kind of death here spoken of is spiritual'death–death as to higher
things than can be grasped by the hands, or seen with the eyes, or
comprehended by the natural mind. Only the spiritual man knows what
spiritual things are, for they have to be spiritually discerned. You
would not think of teaching a horse the wonders of astronomy because
there is no mind in the horse that could learn that science! Neither
can we, of ourselves, teach spiritual things to our fellow men,
because, until they are born again, born from above, they do not
possess the faculty with which they can grasp spiritual things. Our
Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is
flesh"–and therefore can only lay hold of the things that are fleshly.
"And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit"–and until a man is
born of the Spirit, he is without the faculty of understanding and
enjoying spiritual things.

As far as spiritual things are concerned, man's understanding is dead.
He can comprehend the highest and most wonderful of sciences, but he
cannot–or, what is tantamount to it, he will not–understand the
things of God. He turns on his heels and says, "I cannot make out what
you mean." No, we know that you cannot, and we are not surprised at
your lack of apprehension, for it is just what the Bible leads us to
expect. We even find those who consider themselves to be learned
divines rejecting the Gospel and saying that it is not consistent with
their philosophy. We never thought that it was–and we never imagined
that they could receive the Gospel until they are converted and become
as little children. The great reason why men reject the Gospel is
because they are not born again. Because they have not received the
life of God into their souls. If they had, they would understand it so
as to delight in it. But the understanding, spiritually, is under a
cloud of night which the Word of God calls "death."

So also is the human will dead to spiritual things. When a person is
literally dead, he cannot will to come to life. Neither does any man
ever will to come to Christ till the Spirit of God gives him that will,
for his natural will is exerted in quite another direction, as our Lord
said to the Jews, "You will not come to Me that you might have life."
The will is a slave, it is held in chains, it is set on mischief and
resolved not to subject itself to the will of the Most High. Not
morally, nor mentally, but spiritually, the will of man is dead!

So, too, is it true of the affections that they are dead to spiritual
things. Men, in their unregenerate state, will not love that which is
good. Alas, they will not love Christ. He is altogether lovely, yet
unrenewed men see nothing in Him that they should love. Holiness,
purity, the will of God–all these things are worthy of being loved,
yet men do not love them. No, they love the very opposite until the
Grace of God comes and quickens them.

Now, Brothers and Sisters, is not all this a true description of what
we were before the Spirit of God begin to deal with us in His
regenerating power? Were we not dead to all spiritual things? Some of
you used to come to the House of God, but you were here just as so many
corpses might have been. You used to visit where there were Christian
people, but you could not understand what they said about their
experience. You had no enjoyment in their joys, neither did you sorrow
in their sorrows. There was a deep gulf between you and them–and the
secret was that you were natural men and they were spiritualmen! You
loved not the things which they loved, even as they took no delight in
the things which charmed you, for you were in a condition of spiritual
death.

Consider, next, dear Friends, what that spiritual death involved. The
text puts it thus–"You being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh."

First, we were dead in sin. No, I quoted the text wrongly, for we were
dead in our sins–the word is in the plural. They were our own sins,
not the sins of our fate or destiny, or of our circumstances and
surroundings, but our own sins. We willingly committed them. As the
result of our death to everything that was holy, good and spiritual, we
sinned and we took pleasure in sin. We repeated our old sins and we
devised and invented new sins! They were, with an emphasis, our sins,
our own actual, real, personal sins!

These sins were very varied according to our condition and temperament.
Some went after one sin, others after another. Some were quiet and
gentle sinners, so that many persons thought that they were holy.
Others were noisy outrageous sinners who were a nuisance to the parish
in which they lived. Some were sinners under some sort of fear, but
they would have sinned more if they had dared to do so. Others had cast
off all fear, both of God and man, and plunged headlong into rioting,
wantonness and all manner of unmentionable crimes. All these sins were
accompaniments of spiritual death–they were just what winding-sheets
are to dead men. There, then, is the picture of what we were and of
what the unregenerate are–"dead in trespasses and sins"–lying there
wrapped in the cerements of sin. We were surrounded, covered with sin,
getting ready in that condition to soon be carried out to the eternal
burial, to the place "where their worm dies not, and where the fire is
not quenched." That is how I was by nature! That is how you were,
Brothers and Sisters, who are now alive unto God. You may, perhaps,
have seen an Egyptian mummy, bound from head to foot with the wrappings
appertaining to death–so it was with you. Your sins were about your
head, your heart, your hands, your feet! Sins surrounded you
everywhere–and there you lay, as the text says–"dead in your sins."

Now let us see how we were delivered. And as we lay our hands on our
hearts and think of what God has done for us, let us prepare to bless
and magnify His name. "You, being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, has He quickened"–He has made you to
live–"you has He quickened together with Him." God, by His Grace, has
made you to live in Christ. Do you not feel the difference between what
you were and what you now are? Can you imagine what a change there
would be if a dead man who had been lying in his grave clothes could
suddenly sit upright, or rise out of the shell in which the undertaker
had placed him? What a contrast between the state of death and the
state of life! That is a very faint figure of the difference between
what we now are and what we used to be. Do you not realize it, Brothers
and Sisters? The things you once despised, you now value. And the
things you then passed by with a sneer, you would now live for and die
for! You used to hear about these things and it often seemed dull work
to listen to a sermon. But now there is music in it from the first word
to the last. That Bible of yours used to be like an old will to you,
and old wills are very dry reading, but now you have found the record
of a great legacy left to yourself and, oh, it is blessed work to read
the will now–you could sit and study it all day long!

Praying, also, used to be hard work. You managed to mutter, in a dead
way, a few dead words, but prayer is now quite another thing with
you–your whole spirit is alive when you draw near to God in
supplication. In fact, you are a changed man altogether! I suppose that
if you were to meet your old self, he would hardly know you, for you
are so greatly altered. I daresay he would say to you, "Come, old
fellow, let us go to the theater, or turn into this beer-shop, or let
us go home and find some way of amusing ourselves." You would reply,
"No, Sir. I cut your acquaintance a long time ago and I do not mean to
have anything to do with you, so you may go about your business as soon
as you like. I am not what I was, for I have been crucified with
Christ–and I am dead, and my life is hid with Christ in God." There
was one of the old saints who used to keep company with a woman in his
ungodly days, and when he was converted, she met him in the street, and
said to him, "Austin, you know me." "Well," he said, "yes, I do. But I
am not Austin any longer. At least I am not the person that I used to
be." Oh, it is a blessed thing when we can feel that we are not what we
once were! True, we are not yet what we want to be and we are not what
we shall be, but we are not what we used to be–and we shall never
again be what we used to be! The Grace of God will prevent that, now
that we have been quickened.

But how are we quickened? Paul says that God has quickened us together
with Christ. And by this he means, first, that we have been quickened
mystically by Christ's Resurrection. That morning when Christ Jesus
rose from the dead, all His people rose in Him! The sun was not yet up,
but the Prince of Life and Glory had lingered long enough in the
sepul-cher, so, awaking into life through Divine power, He began to
unwrap Himself from the cerements of the tomb. He laid the napkin by
itself for your use and mine, that we may wipe our eyes when our dear
friends are taken away. But He took the grave clothes and put them
together, that He might leave the house ready furnished against the
time when we should be carried there–our last bed being thus supplied
by Him with all the furniture we shall need when our time comes to
sleep in it. Then He waited a while till the sheriffs officer came down
to set the hostage free, for the angel descended from Heaven, the stone
was rolled away and Jesus breathed the sweet morning air again. He that
had been dead arose and left the tomb, no more to die! And, in that
hour, everyone who is in Him was virtually made to rise. The
resurrection of all whom He represented was guaranteed by His
Resurrection, as He said to His disciples, "Because I live, you shall
live also." That is the result of the mystical union between Christ and
His people.

But, as a matter of fact, and practically, you and I began to live,
spiritually, when we became united to Christ by faith. Do you remember
that glad hour when you first believed in Him, trusted Him, put your
soul into His hands? Ah, then it was that you began to really live! Oh,
what a difference that saving faith makes in us! In our Savior's
parable about the two builders, there is one expression that seems to
me very significant. Luke's account of it runs thus– "Whoever comes to
Me, and hears My sayings, and does them, I will show you to whom he is
like: he is like a man which built an house, and dug deep, and laid the
foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream bent
vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded
upon a rock. But he that hears, and does not, is like a man that
without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the
stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of
that house was great."

Did you notice, as I quoted the words, that in the second instance
Christ left out all about coming to Him? Yet that coming to Him is the
essential thing. If you come to Him and hear His Words, and do them,
you will have a rock for the foundation of your eternal building, and
it will stand any storm that may beat upon it. But if you do not come
to Christ, even though you hear His Words, that hearing can be of no
permanent profit to you. Indeed, it will really increase your
condemnation! It is the coming to Him, the getting into union with Him
which settles and decides the all-important point in connection with
our new life. So, then, it was when we became one with Christ by an act
of living faith that we were quickened, blessed be His holy name
forever and ever! If we do, indeed, possess this new life, let us show
it! Let us prove, by our conduct and conversation, that we are no
longer numbered among the dead, that we have risen with Christ and
cannot go back to the tomb! We will have nothing to do with
whitewashing the outside of our old sepulcher. We have left the outside
and the inside, too, and now we live unto God and have done forever
with the old state of death. I have set forth all too feebly the great
work of God in removing the death that was within us, but if you feel
that my words are true concerning you, your heart will beat high with
devout thanksgiving to the quickening Spirit who has worked this great
miracle in you!

II. Now I come, secondly, to notice the great deed of Christ in THE
REMOVAL OF THE HANDWRITING THAT WAS AGAINST US.

Consider, dear Friends, what this handwriting was. When a man has some
charge or insinuation against him merely whispered about and floating
in the air, he hardly knows what it is. And, perhaps, if he is a
sensible man, he does not care much what it is, but he lets it fly
about till it flies away. But when he has an accusation made against
him in black and white–when there is a handwriting against him, a
charge written down and laid before the court, an indictment upon which
he is to be tried–that is a most serious matter. Handwriting,
especially in legal matters, is generally more accurate than mere
speech, and there is, against every ungodly man, something written with
the finger of God which he cannot deny, for it is absolutely true.
Handwriting also abides. The old Latin proverb says, "Litera scripta
manet," that which is written remains. Be very careful as to what you
put into black and white because it may be brought against you many
years after you have written it–when you may think very differently
concerning it. There is, against every unconverted man, a handwriting
which will remain and which will be brought up against him at the great
Day of Judgment. It is not a mere baseless rumor floating about, but
something tangible which will last and which cannot be removed except
by the almighty power of God.

What is meant, in our text, by "he handwriting of ordinances that was
against us"? I cannot give all the meaning in a word, but, does it not
mean, first, that the moral law, which we have broken, has written out
a curse against us? Each of the Ten Commandments has, as it were,
united with the rest to draw up an indictment against us. The First
Commandment says, "He has broken me." The Second cries, "He has broken
me." The Third, "He has broken me," and the whole 10 together have laid
the same charge against each one of us! That is the handwriting of the
Law of God condemning every man of woman born while he remains in a
state of nature. The Jews, you remember, came under another law–the
Ceremonial Law. Did that Ceremonial Law draw up an indictment against
them? Was it not intended to rid them of sin? I answer, No! There was a
lamb slain every morning and that sacrifice must have reminded at least
some of them that a perpetual atonement was provided, but, as with an
undertone of thunder, it also reminded them all that such an atonement
was still needed, that, after a thousand years of the offering of
lambs, sacrifices were still required! There was ordained a Day of
Atonement with specially solemn ceremonies, but what did that day say
to the Jews? That an atonement was provided? No, but that an atonement
was still needed, for, as soon as ever that year was up, the atonement
had not been made and they must have another Day of Atonement!

The Apostle Paul expressly says, "But in those sacrifices there is a
remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that
the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins." There was a
perpetual remembrance of sin in every one of the offerings under the
Ceremonial Law. I need not stay to speak of them in detail, but they
were intended– the most of them, at any rate–to continually remind
men that sin was not washed away. Thus all the ceremonies drew up a
handwriting and said to the Jews, and to us, too, "You need an
atonement by blood. You are guilty and there is no hope of your ever
coming to God except by a sacrifice which these rams and bullocks
represent, but the place of which they cannot possibly fill."

Then there is another "handwriting of ordinances that was against us."
I think there is written across the very face of Nature the great Truth
of God that man has sinned. Sin has so marred the world which God made
perfect that none can go through it without feeling inconvenience and
often sorrow and pain. There are some men who pass through the world as
though it were a burning fiery furnace threatening their destruction.
Why howls the blast upon the sea and dashes the galleon upon the rocks?
Why have we earthquake, tornado, cyclone, and the like? Why, because
man is a sinner! And there is a handwriting in the very ordinances of
Nature written, as it were, mystically upon the wall, as it was at
Belshaz-zar's feast–and this is what it says, "You are weighed in the
balances, and are found lacking." There is also another handwriting to
the same effect–for God's works always sing the same tune–that is,
the handwriting of conscience within the heart. Conscience writes, "You
have sinned. You have done the things which you ought not to have done,
and you have left undone the things which you ought to have done." And
if conscience is permitted to write in its own bold and, it sets down
this terrible message, "You are lost, ruined and undone! The wrath of
God has gone out against you." This is "the handwriting of ordinances"
which is in every part of God's creation, though, alas, many are unable
or unwilling to read it!

Now let us ask, concerning this "handwriting of ordinances," what is to
become of it? It will certainly be impossible for us to answer it, for
"all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." There may be some
men here who know of little pieces of handwriting that have cost them a
great deal of trouble. A so-called friend came to see you–it would
have been a good thing for you if it had been your worst enemy, for you
might have been more on your guard against him. Your friend wanted just
a little help for a time–he could not meet a certain liability just
then, so he asked you merely to put your name on the back of a piece of
paper. You would never see that document again–he would be quite able
to meet it in three months–there was really no risk in the matter. The
plausible man said, "You have only to put your name there. You will
never be called upon in the least degree. I have plenty of money and
have only to call it in when I need any, so it will be all right." You
were persuaded by him and, like a fool, put your name at the back of
his bill. You knew that you had not the money guaranteed by that paper,
yet you promised to pay it! You did not believe that text in the Bible
which tells you that, "He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for
it; and he that hates suretyship is sure."

I do not know when that bill will come due. Perhaps it will be next
week, but I know that you are feeling uncommonly uncomfortable about it
as you sit there in your pew–and well you may! You say that you will
never do such a thing again–it is not likely that you will have the
opportunity to do so, but you will find that it is sufficient to have
that one piece of handwriting against you–your own handwriting, too!
It will be brought home to you sooner or later, you will see it again!
Do not comfort yourself with the foolish idea that you will get off
Scot free, for you will not. Such a case as that rarely or never
occurs. You have given the bond and the man who holds it will, like
Shylock, demand his pound of flesh! And the worst of it is that the
bond is one of your own making and you voluntarily incurred the debt. I
wish I could tell you how to get clear of it, but I am glad that I can
tell you how to get free from a worse bond even than that–one into
which you have entered through your sin–the bond of your own
indebtedness to the infinite Justice of God for all your rebellions
against His Law, all your breaches of His Divine Covenant! You have
sinned against Him and it is all down in black and white in the
handwriting that is against you.

Now listen, dear Friends. The Lord Jesus Christ has done this for all
of us who are believers in Him. First, He has taken that handwriting
and He has blotted it out, as our text says, "blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us." The Greek original has
the meaning of smearing over or expunging the handwriting so as to make
it illegible as a document to be produced against us. With His own
atoning blood, the Lord Jesus Christ has discharged all our debt! As
believers in Him, there is nothing whatever due from us to the justice
of Almighty God, for Christ has paid it all. We cannot, therefore, be
punished for our sin, for that would be unjust, since God will not and
cannot punish, first the Substitute, and then the sinners for whom that
Substitute bled and died. God's justice cannot demand the payment
twice–

"First my bleeding Surety's hand, And then again at mine."

Christ became the Surety of all who believe in Him and He was made to
smart for it. But, by the carrying out of His suretyship, He discharged
all your liabilities at the bar of God if you are a Believer and,
therefore, He smeared over, expunged, erased, obliterated the
handwriting of ordinances that was against you–and it can never again
be laid to your charge. This was the Truth that inspired that brave
challenge of the Apostle Paul, "Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect?"

Christ has done something more than this for us. Look at the text
again–"blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way." First it is
blotted out. Then it is taken away, lest the blotting out should not
prevent it from being read–for you can sometimes trace through an
erasure what was written there, and you say, "Oh, yes, I see what the
entry was–'So-and-so, so many pounds in debt.'" Yes, but Christ says,
"You need not worry yourselves about that handwriting, for I will take
it away." So He removes the document, itself, out of sight! It lay in
the court against you, but Christ first obliterated it and then took
the accusation itself–the indictment, the charge upon which you were
to be tried–and put it out of the way!

Perhaps someone says, "But, possibly, after all, He may bring the
accusation up again. He may only have hidden it for a while and laid it
by that He may bring it out against me some other day. And when it is
produced, some expert will examine it with his glass and through all
the blotting he will make out the original charge and say, 'This man
was guilty of such-and-such crimes.'" "No," says Christ, "He shall not
do that, for I will let you see where I put the handwriting. I will
take it quite out of the way, but I will fasten it up where you can see
it"–"nailing it to His Cross." Ah, that is glorious! Just as Christ
was fastened to the tree by those dreadful Roman nails, so has He
nailed up all the sins of His people! And all that could be laid to
their charge! I have heard that they used to drive a nail through the
Bank of England notes when they were cashed–a hole was made right
through the center and they could never be used again. And our blessed
Lord has driven the nails right through the accusation that was against
His people–and there you can see the handwriting hanging up upon His
Cross!

First He blotted it out. Then He took it out of the way and, finally,
He nailed it up to His Cross and there it still is, its accusing and
condemning power forever gone! Now, child of God, sit down and say to
yourself, "As to all the sins I have ever committed, whatever they may
have been, inasmuch as I believe in Jesus, the record is crossed out
and, consequently, the very parchment upon which it was written (to use
that figure) has been taken out of the way. And of that I may be quite
sure that an end has been made of it, once and for all–my Lord has
nailed it, as a crucified thing which He has put to death with Himself
upon the tree of Sacrifice, and now it has no power to alarm or annoy
me."

What better way can there be of abolishing a debt than by paying it?
And Christ has paid your debts and mine. What better way can there be
of putting an end to sin than by bearing the punishment which was due
to sin? The punishment which was due to sin was for us to lie forever
under the wrath of God, but, owing to the majesty of Christ's Divine
Person, the suffering which He endured upon the Cross was accepted as
an equivalent for all that suffering which we deserved to endure
forever! All the wrath due to Christ's people was condensed into that
one cup of which He began to drink in Gethsemane. As He put His lips to
it, and tasted it, so terrible was it that it covered Him with a bloody
sweat! But He never ceased to drink until He turned the chalice upside
down and not one black drop was found lingering there. At that one
tremendous draught of love, the Lord had drunk damnation dry for all
His people! And "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus." How could there be any when Christ endured it
all?

O Beloved Friends, go in thought to Calvary, and with joyful hearts
trust in the Crucified! The great transaction is done, and done
forever! He has blotted out the handwriting that was against you and
put it away, "nailing it to His Cross." All this is true of everyone
who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, trust yourself with Him,
now, and my text shall be true of you at this moment and true forever!
"You, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has
He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which
was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His
Cross." God bless you all, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.

HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK–307, 430, 406.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: COLOSSIANS 2:6-23; 3:1-3.

Colossians 2:6. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk you in Him. That is, keep on as you began. Christ was enough
for you when, as poor, guilty sinners, you came and trusted Him, so
keep on trusting Him in the same way as you did at the first. Do not
try to live by feeling, after having lived by faith. Do not begin to
live upon outward forms and ceremonies after having found salvation by
Grace through faith. "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the
Lord, so walk you in Him."

7. Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as you
have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Christians are
to make progress in the heavenward road, but they are not to have any
other foundation for their faith than they had at the beginning of
their Christian career. We are still to stand fast as we stood at the
first. We are to be rooted, grounded, "established in the faith,"
keeping to the old Truth of God that saved our souls, and laying hold
upon the same Savior with greater tenacity every hour of our lives. We
are not to be like chaff driven before the wind–forever moving–but to
be like the cedars of Lebanon, firmly rooted and withstanding the
heaviest storms.

8. Beware lest any man spoil you. Or, "rob you."

8. Through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men,
after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ Cleave to
Christ, Beloved! Go no further than He leads you and turn not away from
Him either to the right hand or to the left. In Him are contained all
the riches of Grace and all the treasures of knowledge. If you would
become truly wise, seek to know more of the wisdom of God in Christ
Jesus.

9, 10. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And
you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and
power You have everything in Christ that you ought to need. You are
fully furnished, completely supplied and equipped for all future
service. You need not go to Christ for the supply of some of your needs
and then go elsewhere for the supply of other needs, but, "you are
complete in Him."

11. In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ Anything good that there was in Judaism, you
have secured to you in Christ.

Whatever there was of blessing and privilege in the Covenant mark in
the flesh of those whom God made to be His people in the olden time,
you have handed on to you by the death of Christ.

12-15. Buried with Him in Baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him
through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the
dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, has He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all
trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to
His Cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show
of them openly, triumphing over them in it The Lord Jesus Christ has
done everything for His people–fought their battle, won their victory
and, on their behalf, celebrated the triumph in the streets of Heaven,
"leading captivity captive." What more, then, do we need? Surely Christ
is enough for us!

16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect
of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. Do not put
yourself under the bondage of any rules and regulations that may be
made by men. If you choose to do anything, or to abstain from something
else because you judge it to be right and beneficial, do so. Christ is
your only Ruler and Leader–and if He does not command anything, let it
not matter to you who does command it.

17. Which are a shadow of things to come. All this regard for meats,
drinks, holy days and new moons is but a shadow–what is the great
substance that is all-important?

17, 18. But the body is of Christ Let no man beguile you of your reward
in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels. Do not be beguiled
by those who tell you that you ought to pay reverence to angels, saints
and I know not what besides. One day is called St. Matthew's and
another is St. Michael's. And one, I suppose, is St. Judas's day–there
are all sorts of supposed saints, some of whom are never mentioned in
the Bible and about whom nobody ought to care at all! "Let no man
beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of
angels."

18-20. Intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from which all the
body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit
together, increases with the increase of God. Therefore if you are dead
with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in
the world, are you subject to ordinances?Such ordinances as these–

21, 22. (Touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with
the using) after the commandments and doctrines of men? I have actually
seen this text quoted as though it stood as a matter of
teaching–"Touch not; taste not; handle not"–whereas the Apostle here
means, "Why are you subject to such ordinances of men when Christ has
set you free from them all? If, with a view to the good of your fellow
men, you choose not to touch, or taste, or handle, you will act very
wisely. But, as far as your own conscience is concerned, do not submit
to any merely human regulations as to your manner of life."

23. Which things have, indeed, a show of wisdom in wiil worship, and
humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the
satisfying of the flesh.

Colossians 3:1 If you then are risen with Christ Leave all these
outward rituals, formalities and ordinances of men.

1-3. Seek those things which are above, where Christ sits at the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the
earth. For you are dead, andyour life is hid with Christ in God.