Spiritual maturity is built on unseen, below-the-ground foundations rooted in the absolute lordship and sufficiency of Jesus plus nothing and minus nothing. Through His sacrificial work on the cross, Christ has permanently cancelled every legal debt and disarmed all spiritual authorities to secure complete forgiveness and freedom.
Jesus is enough: Jesus plus nothing, Jesus minus nothing. We're called to grow up in Christ, receiving Him as Lord, putting down deep roots and living secure in the fullness, forgiveness and freedom He won at the cross.
Key points
Receive Him as Lord, then follow through. Lord means owner and boss of our time, words, relationships and finances, and faith can't be built on one hour a week.
Build foundations under the ground. The storm will come. What holds is unseen prayer, repentance and service, as Annie's quiet faith through cancer shows.
You're full in Christ. All the fullness of the Deity lives in Him, so don't let fads, philosophies or the search for acceptance take you captive.
Christ's torn flesh is our circumcision. Because His sinless flesh was torn, we are never cut off from God, and we carry the title of son or daughter.
You're free. The written code against us is nailed to the cross, and Jesus has disarmed every power.
Key scriptures
Colossians 2:6–7: receiving Christ as Lord, rooted and built up
Matthew 7:24–27: building on a firm foundation
Hebrews 5:12: milk instead of solid food
Colossians 2:8: hollow and deceptive philosophy
Colossians 2:9–10: our fullness in Christ
Colossians 2:11–12: the circumcision done by Christ
Colossians 2:13–15: sins forgiven, powers disarmed
Colossians 2:16, 18: don't let anyone condemn or disqualify you
Takeaways
Submit one area of your life to Jesus as Lord this week.
Build daily, unseen habits of prayer, repentance and service.
Write down the sins you keep carrying and thank God they're nailed to the cross.
Colossians is a book about Jesus, and the heart of this message is that Jesus is enough. It's Jesus plus nothing, Jesus minus nothing. When we put Christ in the middle, our world stops spinning, and we are given a faith that can stand on its own when the storms of life hit.
The call is to grow up in Christ: to receive Him as Lord, to put down roots that go deep under the ground, and to live secure in the fullness, forgiveness and freedom He has already won for us at the cross.
Key scriptures
Colossians 2:6: receiving Christ Jesus as Lord and continuing to live in Him
Colossians 2:7: rooted, built up and strengthened in the faith
Matthew 7:24–27: the wise man who builds his house on a firm foundation
Hebrews 5:12: still drinking milk when we should be eating solid food
Colossians 2:8: don't be taken captive by hollow and deceptive philosophy
Colossians 2:9–10: the fullness of the Deity in Christ, and our fullness in Him
Colossians 2:11–12: the circumcision done by Christ
Colossians 2:13–15: sins forgiven, the written code cancelled, the powers disarmed
Colossians 2:16, 18: don't let anyone condemn or disqualify you
Follow
We don't give our lives to Christ; Christ gives His life to us. We receive Him, and we receive Him as Lord. In the book of Acts, "Saviour" appears twice and "Lord" 99 times. It's easy to receive the One who saves us, but Lord means owner and boss: in charge of our time, words, emotions, thoughts, actions, relationships and finances.
"Too many loose words flying around Christian tables."
Having received Him, we must follow through and keep walking in Him:
Show progress, commitment and growth
Don't just cruise around
Remember that faith can't be built on one hour a week
Rory shared that his marriage of 33 years would never have survived meeting for an hour a week. Faith is the same: a 50-year journey of sacrifice, servitude, learning and growing, not a shortcut to the pastor for prayer.
Foundations
Roots grow under the ground, but so much of our Christianity is above the ground, trying to impress people with our buildings, our worship teams and our platforms. Unless our faith is rooted underneath, we won't stand in trouble.
When the storm comes
Jesus said the storm will come, not might come. Like the Nepalese floods that swept houses and bridges away, crisis won't arrive as a drizzle. What holds is the foundation built when no one was watching: praying, repenting, serving, getting up early and making meals late at night.
Annie's story
Rory spoke of his friends Dennis and Annie. After 40 years of work, Annie buried her dad and, in the first months of retirement, was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Her life has not fallen apart. Years earlier she had quietly given a bonus, meant for a holiday, to help build the church. Her faith stands because it was built underground.
"Build something that's under the ground."
Community is a blessing, but it is an add-on. Healing is in Christ, and even without community we can still stand. When we grieve, we don't mourn like the world; God comforts us, and like David, we stand up and keep worshipping.
Fullness
We are warned not to be taken captive, condemned or disqualified. There is always a new fad: adding traditions to Christ, or ideas like "come to Christ and get rich". Human philosophies such as feminism, chauvinism and racism become ideologies that fight with Christ. Preach Christ, and division falls away.
In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives, and we have been given fullness in Him. You can't make a full thing fuller.
"Psychology is not the healer. Christ is the healer."
Our acceptance doesn't come from success, possessions, good seats, compliments, trendy clothes or even our failures. Christ is the head over every power and authority, including every government, party and election. The enemy can't be against us in any way that has power.
"You're not rejected, you're full in Christ."
Forgiveness
Circumcision is the cutting off of flesh, and our sinful nature cut us off from God. Jesus wasn't circumcised in some sterile theatre. He was whipped, and His sinless flesh was torn off into the dirt of the ground. In that bloodied flesh we find our circumcision, so that we are never cut off from God.
So when someone unfollows us, or a husband leaves, we don't have to live with the label. We carry the title of son or daughter, bought with the blood and flesh of Christ.
Freedom
God cancelled the written code that stood against us and nailed it to the cross. Every sin, shortcoming and broken law is too heavy for us to carry. The sins that keep us awake at night are nailed there.
Having disarmed the powers, Jesus made a public spectacle of them. There's no need to bind and loose; Jesus did it at the cross.
"He's got no power over your life."
Takeaways
Submit an area of your life (words, finances, relationships) to Jesus as Lord this week.
Build daily, unseen habits of prayer, repentance and service.
Notice where you look for acceptance outside Christ and bring it back to Him.
When opposition comes, take Colossians 2 and declare that Christ is head over every power.
Write down the sins you keep carrying and thank God they are nailed to the cross.
Reflect and discuss
What's the difference between receiving Jesus as Saviour and receiving Him as Lord? Which comes easier to you?
How much of your faith is above the ground, and how much is rooted underneath?
What "plus" are you tempted to add to Christ: success, appearance, attention or something else?
How does the picture of Christ's torn flesh change the way you see rejection or loss?
Which part of Annie's story speaks to what you're facing right now?
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Thank you so much for everybody who pointed out that I'm wearing all black. I really appreciate it that you're so deeply interested in my dress code. Thank you so much. Dress yourself.
The Bible says, "Love your enemies." So I decided I'd love my enemies. I sat next to a parent of an All Black yesterday at the... Actually, first of all, I met people on coffee duty here in the BRQ yesterday. They're like, "What are you doing in the BRQ?" I think, "What are you doing in the BRQ?" He said, "I'm on duty at coffee at church tomorrow." I said, "So am I. I'm preaching tomorrow in the BRQ."
And then I had this parent sitting next to me in a short-sleeve shirt, and he started shivering. And I had a green jacket on. I thought, "I wonder. I wonder." I said, "Sir, you look very cold." He said, "I'm flipping cold."
I said, "I'd love to give you my green jacket, 'cause I've got a thermal." And he said, "I don't think I'll really wear green." I said, "Tell me when you're really cold." And about five minutes later, he said he was a fellow. I took my jacket off, and I sat next to an All Black parent in a green jacket yesterday. So I thought I'd honour him with my black jacket today.
It's great to see you. We're in Colossians. We're carrying on there, and we're in Colossians chapter 2. It's an amazing book about Jesus. About Jesus. And so we love to add things to Jesus and subtract things from Jesus, but the Bible is just about Jesus.
And when you put Jesus in the middle, your world stops spinning around. And the reality is the whole world is spinning around now. But if you put Jesus in the middle, you can actually stop your world from spinning. It's Jesus plus nothing, Jesus minus nothing. Not Jesus plus queuing up for prayer from the pastor, it's just Jesus.
And so we kind of stopped this personal prayer because we want you to deepen your life with Christ. Amen? And so we're going to just speak a few things today. One of them is follow. The second one is foundations, the third one is fullness, the fourth one is forgiveness. And the fifth one is freedom.
Follow, foundations, fullness, forgiveness and freedom. So if you don't remember anything that I say, just remember these five words. Go through the text in Colossians and let it become part of you. We are not here to entertain you. I'm amazed how few people bring notebooks.
We are not here to entertain you. We are here to train you in the ways of God so that you will grow up. The Bible says by now you should be eating solid food, but you're still drinking milk like babies. We need to grow up in Christ so that we can have a faith that can stand on its own. Amen.
So my very dear friends who always sit behind me, they're not here today. Their names are Dennis and Annie Son Magan. A beautiful couple. And when I arrived in Pretoria, Dennis came to me and he said, "We will look after you. Me and my family will look after you." It was just the most amazing.
And from that day he sat behind me and he sort of prays so I can hear him praying during the service. He's praying for me and he's crying out to God for me. And I hear him just say, "Oh God, bless Rory. Oh Lord God, give him words. Oh Lord God, keep him safe. Oh Lord God." And he does the same for Stephen.
And he helps Stephen with his microphone. I hate people touching me. So when I put my microphone on, Dennis at my side to help me, I said, "Dennis, please. Bro, I've done this for years." And he helps Stephen sometimes 'cause Stephen hasn't told him he doesn't like being touched either.
But Annie's worked for 40 years. She's worked from a young girl. She grew up in a poor family. Worked for 40 years. Buried her dad two weeks ago. And last week, after 40 years of working, she had some pain in her stomach and has been diagnosed with bladder cancer.
You know, her life has not fallen apart. Right now, she's in hospital watching us online. And I want to say to you, Annie, you make Jesus attractive to me. You make serving God attractive to me, because you could have thrown your toys out the cot and said, "I've worked for so long, for so many, for so... And now, all of a sudden, as I retire, this thing hits me." But she's saying, "God, will you help me through this?"
And she's there for 10 days until an infection comes down. Then they have to go into her bladder and remove a growth from her bladder. And as we're talking, I see her faith is standing. And it's not dependent on other people coming around and propping up. She has a dependent faith.
Then she has a husband. Then she has a son and a daughter, a daughter-in-law and a daughter that connects. And then she has a group of friends. Then she's got her home group. Then she's got her... But she's actually standing. Amen?
And so people are going through all sorts of stuff. The healing is in Christ. And then, as an add-on, we get the community. But if there's no community, you can still stand. The community is just an added blessing. Amen?
So let's have a look at this. In Colossians 2:6, Stephen's been preaching on it in the last few weeks. "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord." Say received. And Stephen's been preaching we don't give our lives to Christ, Christ gives his life to us. Say this, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord.
In the book of Acts, the word Saviour appears two times. In the book of Acts, the word Lord appears 99 times. Two times, 99 times. Lord is your owner, your boss. Just as you have received Jesus Christ as? Not Saviour. Not Saviour, not the one who saves me.
Because it's easy to receive the one who saved me. Just as you've received Jesus Christ as Lord. As my boss. As the one in charge of my time, my words, my emotions, my thoughts, my actions, my relationships, my finances.
And so people receive him as Saviour and when their lives start falling apart, they start throwing their toys at the guy, saying... No, he must be your Lord. Just as you have received Jesus Christ as Lord. That means he takes over your life. He becomes the boss of your life. He becomes the boss of your conversation.
Too many loose words flying around Christian tables. Too many loose actions flying around Christian businesses. He must be my Lord. Just as you have received him as Lord, continue to live in him.
Follow through, guys. Follow through. Last week people got saved. You should be one week down your journey with Christ. Follow through. Continue to walk in him. Show progress. Show commitment. Show growth. Don't just cruise around.
You know, friends, if I met with my wife for 45 minutes or an hour every week, we would not have survived 33 years of marriage. We have been through child raising. We've been through illness. We've been through death. We've been through business issues. You name it, we've been through it. And you can't build it on one hour a week. Can't build it.
And you can't build your faith on one hour a week. You can't build it by... It's a beautiful building. It's great people. Unbelievable worship leaders. I mean, how beautiful is that girl leading worship? The rose between the thorns.
But you've got these unbelievably gifted people. You've got a white worship leader, black worship leader. You saw a black guy baptise a white guy, and a white guy baptise a black guy. And you look and you think, "This is unbelievable." But it's not sustainable if you are not yourself journeying in Christ.
And so we are bypassing the process and saying, "We just want the shortcut to the pastor who can pray for me so that I can feel better." No, you have committed to a 50-year journey of sacrifice, servitude, learning, growing. So after 40 years of busting your guts and building your family up, when cancer hits you in the second month of retirement after losing your dad in the first month of retirement, your life doesn't fall apart.
And I say to you again, I'm preaching as an honour to your faith that is standing in the midst of the most unbelievably difficult time. I'm preaching to you in hospital. I'm talking to you, Dennis, and to Annie. To tell you, you're going through your own issues.
Rooted. Say rooted. And built up. Say rooted. And built up. Where are the roots? Above the ground or below the ground? They've got to be below the ground. So much Christianity's above the ground.
Check me, china. Check our building, china. Check our people, china. Not there because that's the rain. Check how many came out, china. Look how hot our worship team is, china. Look where I'm going for Jesus. Look where I am in the nation.
So much of our Christianity is above the ground. Trying to impress people. Unless you have a Christianity that is rooted underneath the ground, you will not stand in trouble.
Rooted and built... Say built up. Friends, you know that... Did you see the Nepalese floods? We look at the Nepalese floods, we think when crisis hits us, it's going to hit us like a little drizzle that we've got outside here.
It says, "If you hear these words of mine and you put them into practice, it will be like a man who builds his house on the... on the..." under the ground. "When the storm comes," not if the storm comes, when the storm comes, "and beats..." Say beats.
I saw some people standing on the verandas in the pool with the mud all around them, just one floor away from sweeping them all away. And the only thing that they could have put their faith in was the foundation of the man who built that house. And other houses just went. Bridges, gone.
And we think, "Oh, this little pitter-patter the enemy's going to come against us." It's going to come like a Nepalese flood that's going to smash us. And we have to know that underneath the ground we've got foundations that can stand when rocks and ice and plunging water...
I'm talking to young people. So that when you're 60... I've seen people lose their faith at 60. I've seen people lose their marriages after 35, 40 years because when the flood comes, woof.
And they haven't spent time communing, praying, crying, repenting, asking for forgiveness, serving, getting up early, making meals late at night, praying when everybody's sleeping. They haven't spent time. When the flood comes... I watched that stuff wash away. And I thought, "God, please, please don't let that happen to 3Ci people. Please God, let us teach them in such a way that their faith can sustain the storm." You with me?
Some of you hotshots, and I don't care what you think about me, but you're so busy building your careers above the ground that you're not spending time with what is not important, cannot be seen, what is unbelievably costly, what is deep in the ground.
Built up in him. Say built up in him. Strengthened in the faith, strong. I look at Annie Son Magan and I think Annie must have been standing there with her house, it's all decorated, her cars are paid off, her house is paid off.
I remember Annie... This is not to lose her reward, but I remember she got a bonus. She worked for the government, but she got a bonus. And she was about to take her husband on a holiday with the bonus and she came to me and said, "Rory, I feel..." This is not to lose... She never told anyone. She said, "I feel that this bonus must go into this building."
And in the foundations of this building is the bonus of Annie Son Magan. And as this flood of the poor proportions, bah, has hit her house, she just stands.
My friends, I'm appealing to you. I'm appealing to you. Build something that's under the ground. Build something that's under the ground, so we can take the test. Financial, relational, emotional, physical.
When somebody dies, we don't mourn like the world mourns. We don't throw our toys out the cot. We grieve, we mourn, and then God comforts us. And then one day, like David did, you just stand up and you keep worshipping him.
How we doing? Yeah, this is like a snotklap with a hand around you. It's like you put your hand in, you go bah, but don't fall. And part of you thinks, "Ah, I don't want to be here." Like, you need to be here. You need to be here. 'Cause a storm's going to smack you. You need to stand.
See to it that no one takes you captive. You see that? See to it that no one takes you captive. A little bit later, you can put the three things up, in verse 16 it says, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you or condemn you." And in verse 18 it says, "Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you."
So don't let anyone take you captive. Don't let anyone condemn you, and don't let anyone disqualify you. And the church is full of all of those things.
I don't know if you've ever watched that movie Taken. Have you watched the movie Taken? When that young girl goes overseas with her friend to France, and she gets kidnapped. That's exactly the word. Don't let anybody kidnap you.
I love it. And that little girl gets kidnapped, and Liam Neeson stands up there and says, "Let my daughter go. I have a very specialist set of skills. I will find you. I will hunt you down, and I will kill you."
And when I see that, I think, "If anybody takes anybody in 3Ci captive, I will find you. I have a very specific set of skills. I will hunt you down." And Jesus died for you, and ransomed you from your kidnapping.
Now, let's go one back. Verse 7. "Rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught." Say, "As you were taught." I know some of you are fighting with me now, but just rather say this, "Thank you, Lord God, for Stephen and Rory and Chad and Wendy for teaching us a faith that can stand under pressure."
As you were taught. Not just how God's going to make you rich. "Hey, Jehovah Jireh, my provider." Bollocks.
"See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." Friends, there's always a fad. There's always new teaching.
There are two things that are happening here in Colossae. One of them is people want to take on Jewish traditions to add to Christianity, and the other one, they say Christianity is actually not quite complete, so let's add a few other things. Like, come to Christ and get rich. Some of you will never be rich.
Come to Christ and... You don't need... And we have these human philosophies that are going. Feminism is a human philosophy. It's not in the Bible. Chauvinism is a human philosophy. It's not in the Bible. Racism.
And these philosophies take us, and philosophies become ideologies, and then they start fighting with Christ. No, friends, Christ is enough. If you preach Christ, black men will baptise white men and white men will baptise black men without us having to deal with all this stuff.
And people say you are... I can tell you this, friends. One of the most amazing young preachers in this country has just written a book. His church has exploded. He's on the circuit all over the world. He's just launched his book and he chose to launch it in this church this week.
He could have launched it anywhere in the country and he chose to come here. And when he stood up, he says, "Here is where I found hope that South Africa can actually work." All these philosophies... and there's always the latest ideas. We have nothing fancy except Christ. Nothing. You with me?
Okay, let's read this whole thing then. "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature," not with a circumcision done by Dr Sakkie Snyman in a lab.
Hey, Dr Sakkie Snyman, lekker. What do you specialise in? Circumcision. And we're going to put you in a nice, beautiful, sterile laboratory or theatre. And we're going to do a nice, clean, with a nice, sharp knife, circumcision.
And all the men go, "Hey, no." And all the women say, "You don't know what childbirth's like, my darling." So we'll talk about it a little bit, okay?
Say, "I've been given fullness in Christ." The answer to everything in the world is Christ. Listen carefully, my friends. You have been given fullness in Christ. Say, "Fullness."
You cannot take a full thing and make it fuller. We have fullness in Christ. We don't have three-quarters in Christ. We have fullness in Christ. He is the healer. Psychology is not the healer. Christ is the healer.
Christ the Lamb, Christ the King, Christ the Saviour, Christ the Lord, Christ the Lover, Christ the Forgiver, Christ the... He is the healing. And because we have a poor Christology, we have queues of people lining up. And people falling apart, and psychologists' rooms absolutely full, because we cannot accept that Christ is enough.
And so we add a little bit. And so our self-acceptance has a little bit of failure, and a little bit of success, and a little bit of material possession. Say, "I'm blessed in Christ, and I've got a good job." No, you're blessed in Christ or you're not blessed in Christ. It is not linked to your materialism.
But somehow in our minds, we think this is what successful Christianity looks like. Successful Christianity looks like a man or woman who put 100% trust for their future, their wellbeing, their identity, their acceptance in Christ. And don't come to me and say, "I feel rejected." You're not rejected, you're full in Christ. And you have to get your mind to start believing that.
I sat in that stadium yesterday, 89,000 people, and I thought... immediately we're thinking, "Who's got the good seats and who's got the bad seats?" And life is like that, hey? And we think if we can get to the front row, we can get up to the pulpit, then the acceptance is a little better. No.
In Christ. Say, "In Christ." I have fullness. Say, "I have fullness." No add. Say that, "No add." No subtract. Then don't look at somebody who's successful and think that he's better off than you. Not true.
And then we take a little bit of failure because we need attention, because actually we're feeling sorry for ourselves. So we take a little bit of the failure. "I lost my marriage, and so I'm the..." And we take a little bit of... and we draw attention from people. Friends, you're not meant to gather attention from human beings. You're not meant to. You're meant to be secure in Christ.
It's wonderful to tell my wife, "You look so absolutely beautiful." But if she expects her beautifulness to come from my words, she is going to be deeply disappointed. Because it's exhausting. I'm going to have to tell her every day, "You look beautiful, you look beautiful." Is it wrong to do that? No, but it's also not right. Her beauty comes in Christ.
And then I see pastors who say to their wives... There's a pastor in this country who will not let his wife appear before him until she has got up before him, showered before him, and done her make-up and hair, and then she says hello to him. And I think that guy is going to see his backside. Because he doesn't understand the fullness of Christ.
Excuse me, my friends, but I'm telling you, friends, we are building Christ plus a little bit of this, Christ plus a little bit of look nice, Christ plus the latest kit. I've watched the circuit. I've been preaching at conferences the last three or four weeks all around the country, and I come in my jeans and my tekkies, and I don't give a hoot.
And I tell you, I see these guys just get up. Gucci tekkies, True Religion jeans, looking sharper and sharper. Is it wrong to dress nicely? No, of course it's not, but that's not my acceptance. I don't want to look trendy for Christ. I just want to preach Christ.
I want to preach Christ. So that it's accessible to the guy who comes in an overall and thinks, "Must I wear cool clothes to be cool?" No, you can come in an overall, sir. And if you're selling pies, then come in your pie clothes.
But when you walk in here, know this, you have the fullness of Christ. The whole Deity, the whole of the Father, the whole of the Son and the whole of the Spirit live in that Deity, and he says, "It's yours." Say, "I'm full in Christ."
Who is the head? Let's go back to verse 10. "Who is the head over every power and authority?" Say, "Who is the head over every power and authority?" He is the head over every power and authority.
And people come to me and say, "The devil is dementing me. The devil is tormenting me. The enemy is against me." He can't be. He is the head of every power and authority. Get your theology right.
So when you feel like there's opposition, and people reject you, and you feel opposition, you take Colossians 2 and say, "My Saviour, of whom I have the fullness, is in charge of every head and authority in the world." There's no power, no principality.
They say, "Our government are making stupid decisions." He's the head of our government. He's the boss of the ANC. He's the boss of the DA. He's the boss of the EFF. He's above everything that's happening in the municipal elections right now.
There's spirits, and there's evil, and there's backbiting, and there's money flowing, and there's... And he's still the head over every authority in this nation. Are you with me? You say, "This is strong, Rory." I know it's strong, because we have to grow up.
And so when a little stream hits you, don't throw your toys out the cot and say, "Rory, will you pray for me?" Take Colossians 2 and say, "My King, who is fully resident in my body, is head..." And we go from one spiritual warfare conference to the next, claiming and binding and loosing rubbish.
You don't have to bind and loose anything. Jesus bound it at the cross. The enemy has got no power over your life. He whimpers and he makes a noise, but he's got no power over your life.
You don't have to fast and pray and do all that stuff. It's good to fast and pray, but you don't have to fast and pray. You just got to believe he's done. He's enough. You with me?
"In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature," not with a circumcision done by Dr Sakkie Snyman, "but with the circumcision done by Christ." What is circumcision? I mean, it's in the Bible. What is it? It is the cutting off of a little piece of flesh. Thank God I can't remember. And putting it in a bowl. And there's blood and there's flesh.
And the Bible says that our hearts have got that little piece of flesh over them. A foreskin on our heart. And we need that little piece of flesh cut off so that our hearts will be circumcised. So say cut off.
So we are cut off from Christ because we're sinners. And because of our sinful nature, which is the flesh. Say the flesh. That was just a representation. That little foreskin is a representation of our flesh. Our flesh, the Bible says, is evil. And it says our flesh, because of the sinfulness, is cut off from Christ.
So Jesus never went into a theatre with Dr Sakkie Snyman for some kind of nasty little operation. Jesus got whipped with a cat-o'-nine-tails that went into his body, wrapped around his body, and pulled the sinless flesh of Christ off his body and into the dirt of the ground. And the circumcision of Christ is found in the dirt of the ground where your and my flesh lives. And in that flesh, that bloodied flesh on the ground, I find my circumcision.
Not some neat kind of... I am a sinful man. I'm a sinful man. And one day I realised that my Saviour was circumcised not like that. And those little pieces, not in some kind of sterile... those pieces of bloody flesh becomes my circumcision. So that I don't get cut off from God.
I'm going to just sit and say, if Jesus went through that so that you're not cut off, when somebody unfollows you on Facebook, don't let your life fall apart. Or when your husband leaves you, by the flesh, for another piece of flesh that is younger, you will find healing in the flesh that's on the ground. So that you will not live with the label of divorce, but you'll understand the title of daughter that got bought for you with the blood and flesh of Christ.
"Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead." Let me just finish the scripture. "When you were dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all of our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations." Say cancelled. "The written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over the cross."
I would say at times you walk around... Say to you, just take two hours to write all your sins on a piece of paper and then take another five hours to write the Ten Commandments down and every single one of the thousands of laws that were written against you, which you can't keep because all of us are sinful. Write them all on a piece of paper. I'm just going to take the next two days to come and collect it from all of you. Then we're going to put a big cross up here and we're going to nail it to the cross.
And you're going to walk out, you're free. Cancelled. Cancelled. Nailed it to the cross. Every sin, every shortcoming, every stupid conversation, every law that you've broken, I'm going to pick it up from you.
Say, "Please give it to me, sir. You can't carry it. It's far too heavy. It's going to knock you over. Give it to me." "Please give it to me, ma'am. It's far too heavy for you." I want to teach you in the way that the scripture teaches.
Please give it to me so that you don't worry at night and the devil comes and he says, "Oh, you... but you..." Please give it to me, ma'am. Please can you give it to me? Please can you give it to me, girl? Let me show you what Jesus did. He nailed it to the cross.
And look what it says. The last verse. "And having disarmed..." Say disarmed. "Disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over the cross." And people come and say, "The devil is against me." He's been disarmed.
He took his gun away. He took his knife away. He took his sword away. He took the hand grenades away, and now he's got a chain around his neck, and chained, and he's walking behind in triumphal procession around Jesus. He's got no power over your life.
And every sin that you ever committed, and the worst sins that keep you awake at night, where you toss and turn, "I wish I hadn't done that," it's nailed to the cross.
Follow through with your faith. Find the foundation under the ground. Live in the fullness of Christ. Know that all your sins have been forgiven. And finally, you're free from the written code and all the rubbish. It's been nailed to the cross in Jesus' name. Amen.
