Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

We live in a culture of cancellation.

However, this culture is not the kind of cancellation that is godly.

People are oftentimes canceled in our culture for having a Biblical view of things such as abortion, Biblical views on sexuality, or their rejection of universalism.

This cancel culture is attempting to squeeze out the conservative evangelical views in our society.

It is an outright attack on the Word of God and the people of God.

However, not all canceling is a bad thing.

Today we are going to talk about some cancellations that God has done for us that have led to an ability to live a new life in Christ.

Join me as we read the good side of cancellation today.

Join me as we read God’s Word:

Let us pray.

Prayer

Today we are going to discuss three ways new life is available for you:

I. New Life is Available for You Because Of… A Cancelled Duty (11-13)

In these three verses we see the word circumcision three times and uncircumcision once.

So it is important for us to understand what that was before we move forward.

Circumcision was a sign of the Abrahamic Old Covenant.

It was a ritual act in which the foreskin of male children was removed 8 days after birth.

This covenant was introduced to Abraham in Genesis 17:10-14.

This act was required even further once the law was given to Moses in order to participate in the Passover and to be considered a part of God’s covenantal community.

This physical ritual was given to remind the people of Abraham and later the people of Israel (Abraham’s grandson Jacob’s 12 sons and their lineage) of two things.

The act of removing the foreskin was to symbolize casting off the sin of the flesh.

And the act of circumcision also served as an outward sign that a man was right with God.

He was to be raised in a godly family and he was to be known as one of the people of God in covenantal community.

Yet God always cared more about the heart than religious rituals.

In fact Abraham was said to be saved by faith even while he was uncircumcised:

You see, circumcision was not given to provide salvation but to be an outward sign that his family was chosen by God.

These understandings are very important regarding circumcision because we see Paul move forward to compare it to baptism as we will see in a bit.

In verse 11 we see that our circumcision under the New Covenant is not one with hands - it is one made without hands.

Yet it symbolizes what circumcision symbolized.

It symbolizes putting off the body of flesh.

The important distinction between circumcision and baptism is the fact that one is based on the action and work of man and the other is based on the act of God.

Man was to do the ritual of circumcision and perform it.

It was a part of the works-based Old Covenant that relied on obedience of man and following of the law.

Of course there was grace involved as well but the main drive was obedience to the law.

Baptism, however, is a sign of what Jesus has done on the cross.

Verse 11 refers to our circumcision as one made without hands - meaning it isn’t done by our works.

Baptism is a sign of what Jesus did on the cross.

He has saved and sealed us for salvation in Him!

Believers in Christ are sealed with the Holy Spirit and saved by the blood of Christ through faith in Him alone for their salvation.

And baptism symbolizes that this salvation has already occured.

Let’s look forward at the next two verses as well:

If you have wondered why we say that you have been buried with Christ and raised with Christ when we perform baptisms - here is why.

We identify with the death and burial of Christ by being submerged under the water.

That is why we practice immersion baptism.

Not only does the Greek word here, baptismos (bap-tiz-mose) mean plunging experience, washing, or immersion, but we also see here that immersion symbolizes being buried with Christ much better as well.

One is placed under the water in an environment that would bring death if one stayed there.

In another beautiful symbolic view - the very thing that could bring death is used by God to symbolize the new life that has been given!

The water symbolizes the washing of our sins by the blood of Christ.

Likewise, the very thing that was to bring death to Christ - namely the cross - is what washed our sins clean!

While being brought up out of the water, we identify with Christ’s resurrection.

We have been made new - we have been born again.

The old is gone and dead and the new has come.

Paul is quick to relay that this is all the work of God and not of man.

We have new life because of a canceled duty.

The works of the law and the rite of circumcision is no longer needed now.

Christ has done all of the work on the cross.

We now are saved by grace through faith and not be works:

And moving to verse 13 Paul continues:

God has forgiven us all of our trespasses.

Again, this is all because of Christ’s work on the cross.

Brothers and sisters, if you have not obeyed Christ by following in believers baptism after placing your trust in Jesus Christ, I would love to talk with you further about how to follow Christ in obedience in baptism.

Baptism is the first act of obedience for the believer after salvation.

A few examples of this:

There are many more examples as well but what we see is a common theme.

They believed and they were baptized.

That is the succession we see in Scripture.

I pray that if you have not believed and then were baptized - that you seriously consider following Christ through this act of obedience to Him.

This act of obedience is also said to be through faith in verse 12:

Colossians 2:12 (ESV)

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

(emphasis mine)

This is why we do not acknowledge infant baptism as a Biblically supported form of baptism.

Although baptism is a sign that one is a part of the New Covenant and does have some comparison to the Old Covenant sign of circumcision - the New Covenant requires faith in Jesus Christ and salvation before the sign of salvation is given.

Unlike the Old Covenant which was based on being in the Abrahamic lineage through Israel - the New Covenant is open to all no matter what nationality.

And instead of the ritual being done only in males such as is seen in the old covenant ritual of circumcision - males and females are to be baptized.

Finally, the Bible teaches that baptism is not a suggestion - it is a command of God.

We are commanded to make disciples and then baptize them.

We should follow this same example in our own lives!

How can we encourage obedience in others when we are not obedient ourselves?

And we see in John 14:15

Be faithful brothers and sisters.

I know this was a lot of information.

If you have further questions on this please don’t hesitate to reach out.

I want to help you walk through obedience to Christ through this important step of faith in the life of a believer.

Also remember - my manuscripts are posted online if you need to read through them for further study and reading.

Next we see that..

Scripture References: Genesis 17:10-14, Romans 4:11, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 2:41 Acts 8:12, Acts 16:31-33, Acts 8:36-38, John 14:15

II.

New Life is Available for You Because Of… A Cancelled Debt (14)

I want us to focus in on the middle of this verse for a moment.

We get to phrase - “the record of debt.”

This phrase is actually one Greek word that means a certificate of indebtedness or an account of debts.

This record of debts is our condemnation by the law.

Clearly we are condemned by the law because we do not measure up.

The legal demands that we see mentioned after this refer to the punishment that is required because of our sins and debts.

The legal demand for sin is death.

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

23 For the wages of sin is death...

Brothers and sisters, this is a terrifying section of Scripture when taken by itself.