In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 2:13-15 and Paul’s explanation of Christ’s salvation work made personal to believers so that they need no supplement to or substitute for Christ. Specifically, Paul presents three wondrous aspects of Christ’s salvific work:
1. Christ’s complete forgiveness of all our sins (v. 13b)
2. Christ’s complete obliteration of our I.O.U. (v. 14)
3. Christ’s complete conquest of our enemy (v. 15)
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Summary
We are reminded of the gravity of sin and the magnificent work Christ accomplished to set us free from its penalty, power, and record. Colossians 2:13-15 reveals three wonders of Christ’s saving work: complete forgiveness, the obliteration of our debt before God, and total conquest over our spiritual enemy.
Key Lessons:
- Sin is not merely a social problem but a theological one — we are born sinners, and every sin is recorded by God with perfect accuracy.
- Christ completely canceled our certificate of debt — the legal record of our violations against God’s law — wiping it away so thoroughly that no evidence remains to condemn us.
- Jesus nailed our IOU to the cross, paying a debt we could never pay ourselves, crediting us with his own righteousness before the Father.
- At the resurrection, Christ publicly disarmed and triumphed over Satan and all spiritual rulers, stripping them of power over those who believe.
Application: We are called to resist Satan’s lies that the cross was insufficient and to meditate on what Christ has fully accomplished — forgiveness, removal of the written record against us, and victory over the enemy — so that we walk in assurance and joy rather than doubt or defeat.
Discussion Questions:
- How does understanding sin as a theological reality (something we *are*) rather than a social one change the way you view your need for Christ?
- When Satan tempts you to doubt your salvation or feel condemned, how can the truth of Colossians 2:14 serve as a specific, concrete answer?
- What does it mean practically to “bask” in the truths of Christ’s completed work this week, and what might that look like in your daily life?
Scripture Focus: Colossians 2:13-15 — the central passage revealing Christ’s forgiveness, cancellation of our debt, and conquest of spiritual enemies; Revelation 20:12 — the Great White Throne judgment and the Book of Life, showing the stakes of sin and the security of those in Christ.
Outline
- Introduction
- The Problem of Sin
- Three Wonders of Christ’s Saving Work
- Wonder 2: Christ Obliterates Our IOU
- The Certificate of Debt
- Jesus Canceled the Debt
- Jesus Removed the Record Against Us
- Jesus Nailed It to the Cross
- Satan’s Tactics Against the Gospel
- Wonder 3: Christ’s Complete Conquest of Our Enemy
- The Book of Life
- Conclusion: Walk in Victory
Introduction
Okay, this morning we’re taking our Bibles and we’re looking at Colossians 2.
But I also like to have you put your finger in Revelation 20, the passage that was read this morning. We’re going to be looking at it a little bit, but as you’re turning there, let me pray.
Lord, this morning we do want to rejoice in our Redeemer. We do want to lift your name up, Lord, especially because of what you accomplished on our behalf. Lord, we could have never done what you have done.
And Lord, we come this morning with thankful hearts, with grateful hearts, with hearts that are humbled, knowing that we would have never deserved what you’ve given us. It’s all your mercy and your compassion and your grace to us.
I pray those very things would be something we think about all the time, that they would even be used to transform us as your people into the people you want us to be. This morning, Lord, we lift up your name, open your word to us today, and bless us with it. In Christ’s name I pray, amen.
We’re looking at Colossians 2. We’re going to be looking at verse 13, the middle of verse 13, to verse 15.
The Problem of Sin
But before I get there, since the day sin entered into the world, everyone descended from Adam has been born sinful, including you and me. Sin has caused the problem. It causes guilt, and it causes a crooked twist in the fabric of human existence.
Man has taken what the creator has given to us as good and twisted it into something evil. The dilemma of uncertainty still exists about this subject of sin. The human race has always dealt with sin and evil inadequately.
Sin and evil are evident in all social classes, at all intellectual levels, and in every place humans call home. Historically, it has been proven that in the past, all approaches do not deal correctly with evil and sin, nor properly explain man’s predicament.
For example, if sin and evil are just a matter of ignorance, people would say, “Well, let’s just educate them.” Or if it’s just an unwholesome environment, let’s just change the environment. Or if only they need a role model, that’s supplied to them. But that’s not the solution.
“Sin is not a social concept, it is a theological concept.”
Sin Is a Theological Reality
Theologian James Packard said something very significant concerning how one looks at sin. He said, “Sin is not a social concept, it is a theological concept.” What he meant is that sin is not something that happens to us because of our surroundings and social settings. It is something we are.
All humans are born sinners and will sin no matter what surroundings or social settings they find themselves in. When humans sin, they are missing the mark of God’s righteous standard. At the same time, they are hitting something else, namely unrighteousness.
That’s why the Old Testament and the New Testament words include the idea of rebellion and wickedness and selfishness and disobedience and lawlessness when referring to the sin of man. Sin is a violation of a set standard and a violation against the one who set the standard. You and I have drastically fallen short of that standard every time, all the time.
It’s not that all humans are as bad as they could be, but that all humans have the potential for the worst of sin. Consequently, our sin-dominated life puts ourselves up against God. Man has a sinful nature, a bad heart, because of Adam’s sin, and he passed that down to us.
“Sin is a violation of a set standard and a violation against the one who set the standard.”
We now have a bad record because we will commit our own acts of sin. In fact, in the Old Testament, humans being sinful and sinning so often, there was actually a sacrifice that was to be offered by a person who didn’t realize they sinned initially but realized it sometime in the future.
It was a sacrifice made by someone who sometimes later realized they sinned unintentionally. In fact, it says in Leviticus 4:2, “Speak to the sons of Israel saying, if a person sins unintentionally in any of these things which the Lord has commanded not to be done and commits any sin.”
What were they supposed to do? The worshiper was to bring his animal to the entrance of the tent of meeting. The worshiper was to lay their hands on the head of the animal, and then the worshiper stated at that point why they brought the sacrifice—in other words, what sin they committed. Then the worshiper would kill it, and the priest would make atonement for him.
How many unintentional sins do we have in our life, or sins that we simply forgot we did? Is God going to overlook those? Does it ever get into his diary?
We commonly have a wrong idea of sin. We would readily agree that a robber or a murderer or a gangster or an adulterer or a drug user or a drunkard, to name a few, are sinners. But since most of us are respectable citizens, in our heart of hearts we think that sin has not very much to do with us.
Generally we do not take sin as seriously as we should. Yet sin is what separates us from God. It will keep us from his holy presence, and if not forgiven and removed by God himself, it will send us to the Lake of Fire.
“Sin is what separates us from God. It will keep us from his holy presence.”
God’s Perfect Record of Sin
Now with that in mind, let’s look quickly at Revelation 20, because it gives us a vivid picture of God’s evaluation and judgment on sin and sinners. You and I are not very good record keepers when it comes to our sins of words, of thoughts, of deeds and actions.
But there is someone who does impeccable record-keeping. Who may that be? That may be our Lord God himself. All people will be judged according to the perfect record of God’s.
In this passage of scripture there are two record books mentioned. Divine records of people’s life history will be available for inspection. This means that the record of each human being has been kept in God’s books.
If you notice in verse 12, it says: “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds.”
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds.”
The Books of Revelation 20
So there are two kinds of books. The first book is the book of man’s works. This record book contains the deeds of people who have died in their sins—they did not die in Christ, they died in their sins.
It’s a record of the people’s deeds that God has kept: memories, forgotten violations of the conscience, sin acts, motives, character, thoughts, and words. Scripture makes consistent reference to a register of human actions.
Like we see in Psalm 56, it says, “You have taken account of my wanderings.” And then in Psalm 56 it says, “Record my lament, list my tears on your scroll. Are they not in your record?” And then Matthew 12:37 says, “By your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.”
So in Revelation 20:12, God will reach back into a person’s life to retrieve buried memories and forgotten desires, and will bring these to an accurate and utterly faithful assessment at the bar of divine justice. The works of people are all written down. Secret sins are brought to judgment, and God knows your secret sins. He’s not blind to them.
“God will retrieve buried memories and bring them to an accurate and utterly faithful assessment at the bar of divine justice.”
All of them are recorded and will one day be read openly. Your skeletons will come out of your closets. Also uncommitted sins—sins that never got to be committed but were thought of—so there will be sins of the heart that will be brought to judgment.
God knows what is perfectly in the heart, and according to written evidence, the sentence upon each rests upon written evidence. It has been said that every person who goes to the Lake of Fire makes his own way and pays their own ticket. They are only receiving the proper wages, getting what is their due, for the wages of sin is death. You get paid for sin.
“Every person who goes to the Lake of Fire makes his own way — they are only receiving the proper wages of sin.”
Now I’ll come back to the second book at the end. But why did I actually look at this passage in Revelation? Turn back to Colossians.
Because in this next passage in Colossians, highlights are given of aspects of Christ’s salvific work on our behalf, which is quite personal to us, to each one of us. The reason why is because sin is personal. It belongs to us, it’s connected to us, and it is recorded in God’s books.
Now what do I mean? Well, we all have a large debt, and the large debt has accumulated because of our many, many, many sins: sins remembered, sins ignored, sins forgotten. And sin will cost people more than they want or are able to pay.
The entire human race has sold out to the devil in spiritual bankruptcy, and we have nothing to pay except in eternity in the Lake of Fire. Now I don’t know about you, but that’s a dismal report, isn’t it? If I said amen and we all went home, it won’t be going so well this week.
“Sin will cost people more than they want or are able to pay.”
Three Wonders of Christ’s Saving Work
But thank the Lord, that’s not it in our passage this morning. Our passage this morning is actually the wonder of God that our minds can bask in this week.
Three aspects of Christ’s salvific work.
Wonder 1: Complete Forgiveness of All Our Sins
And the first aspect is this, which I’ll just mention briefly: Christ’s complete forgiveness of all our sins. I want to say that this includes all our sins—past, present, and even sins that we are yet to commit. Notice what it says in Colossians 2:13.
It says, “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions.” Back in chapter 1, verse 14, it tells us there: “In whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.”
This theme of forgiveness has been an important one theologically and for the Christian, because redemption and forgiveness go hand in hand. The word translated forgiveness really does mean to send away or to cancel a debt.
The heavenly Father through Christ not only set us free and transferred us into a new kingdom, but he also canceled every sin debt so that we cannot be enslaved by them again.
“The heavenly Father through Christ canceled every sin debt so that we cannot be enslaved by them again.”
Satan can’t make any indictments against us anymore. The next couple of passages actually flesh this out and show what forgiveness really is.
Our Condition Before Christ
You and me once walked around in the condition of deadness because we were without Christ. Ultimately, dead means to be ignorant of God, that people don’t know God. That’s why they’re dead.
The Gospel of John 17:3 says, “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ who you have sent.” Not to know God is actually death. It was Martin Lloyd Jones who says, “Life that is non-Christian is living death.”
Several words are used to show our deadness. The word transgression is used and the word sin. Paul speaks of sin as a power that holds humanity under its sway and leads them unto death.
But this word transgression, or trespass, means to slip or fall. If anybody ever read—and if you didn’t you should—the message by Jonathan Edwards, an old message called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” his text was Deuteronomy 32:35. The theme is about slipping.
Deuteronomy 32:35 says, “Vengeance is mine and retribution, in due time their foot will slip, for the day of their calamity is near and the impending things are hastening upon them.” You and me can’t walk through this world without slipping, and that means sinning, transgressing against God.
That’s what we kept doing, and we’re going to keep doing it, less now because we’re Christians. We keep falling away from the true and the right path.
In our passage it says, “the uncircumcision of your flesh.” From last time, that means a sinner is still in their sin without Christ. Sin again is from the word hamartia, which is a shooting word and an archery word. It literally means to miss.
A person shoots an arrow at the target and the arrow misses. They never get it into the bullseye. Sin is a failure to hit the target of God’s standard of righteousness.
Who has hit that target perfectly? No one, not you, not me. Only Christ has perfectly met the standard of God’s righteousness.
“Only Christ has perfectly met the standard of God’s righteousness.”
Wonder 2: Christ Obliterates Our IOU
Yes, if Christ is Lord and savior, he has forgiven you completely, all every one of your sins. Secondly, the second wonder to bask in is that Christ completely obliterates your IOU.
Now look at Colossians 2:14. It says, “Having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.”
This passage of scripture is loaded with good stuff. An IOU is a document that acknowledges the existence of a debt. An IOU is often viewed as an informal written agreement rather than a legal binding commitment, and an IOU is always signed by the debtor.
Now let’s just say you and I met at a diner, a New Jersey diner, which I know you’d like to eat at. I do too, that’s why I don’t like going to other states—they have no diners. Where are the diners? I like diners, I do.
We met at a diner and I went there for the purpose of borrowing money from you. So I took a napkin and I wrote on it the amount that I owed you, would owe you, and signed it. Now that can be a legitimate IOU.
So if I invite you to a diner, maybe that’s what’s going to happen. But I’m not going to do that. The sense is that I am a slave to you until the debt is paid in full.
“The sense is that I am a slave to you until the debt is paid in full.”
The Certificate of Debt
However, the certificate of debt in our passage of scripture is a legally binding debt. The reason why is because it’s connected to the law of God. It’s the Apostle Paul who uses this term consisting of decrees, which are legal demands.
Decrees are legal demands—in other words, a commandment or regulation that is posted. He uses this noun in one other place and refers it to the Mosaic law. Now in Colossians 2:14, notice it says decrees are against us; it’s hostile to us.
Now that doesn’t sound very good, but it is what happens when we break God’s law. The record of charges for breaking God’s law is put up against us as hostile toward us. The good function of the law rightly reveals our just condemnation before God.
The handwriting—and I’m stressing the handwriting—that is against us is the debt of sin that serves to convict us before God. We have an IOU that we owe to God. Every sin we ever committed has to be paid for.
Now concerning sin, people are at different places. You and I have probably fallen into one of these categories. Some are out and out in sin, meaning they’re sold completely to the devil. Whatever vice enslaved them, they were happy to give themselves to it.
Others are up and out, for they are self-righteous and they think they are fine. They have no need of someone to save them, no need of a savior. Some are in and out—in and out of churches but outside of Christ—hoping that their religion and good works will ensure they will be all right with God.
Still others are downing up, meaning they have turned over a new leaf in their life. They have joined a recovery group and believe in a higher power and feel they are doing better than they ever have. Yet they are still without Christ, still under the condemnation of all their sins of commission and omission.
Maybe they even say, “Now I’m reformed”—not reformed theologian, reformed in their sin. But they still have an IOU unpaid. They have a legal demand to pay that is against them. To say “I will reform” will not remove the debt.
No debtor dares to tell his creditor, “Hey, listen, forget about that. Forget the debt. I’ll do better in the future.” A debt gives the creditor power over the debtor, just like Proverbs tells us: the rich rules over the poor and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
But thanks be to God, the law of God also functions to do something else—not just to show us we’re sinners. It prepares us for the good news of the cross and points us to the Savior Jesus Christ. That is why he is the only way to God.
“The law of God prepares us for the good news of the cross and points us to the Savior Jesus Christ.”
Jesus Canceled the Debt
Because I want you to notice in our text how Jesus obliterates our IOU, which we could have never paid. And what’s the first thing we see in verse 14? The first thing is that Jesus canceled out our certificate of debt.
It says, “having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us.” See, this word here, “canceled out,” is the word that means to wipe away a written record or to erase it. The word basically meant to expunge something by erasing or scraping off or washing it with water.
In ancient times, scribes would use wax writing tablets to record debts owed. When the debt was paid in full, the writing tablet was smoothed out and the record was blotted out forever. You paid the debt, I don’t see anything, you don’t owe anything.
Now if you want to take your Bibles, I recommend you do. There are a few passages in Isaiah that show this concept and principle has always been in the fabric of God’s people. Look at Isaiah 43:25 and Isaiah 44:22.
But I want you to notice the subject of these verses is God himself. It says in Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions.” And why does he do it? For his own namesake he does it.
And then it says, “and I will not remember your sins.” Isn’t that a good thing, that God will not remember your sins? That means it was smoothed out, you don’t see anything anymore, because of what he has done.
Isaiah 43:25: “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions… and I will not remember your sins.”
Then over to Isaiah 44:22, it says, “I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud, and your sins like a heavy mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” In other words, as God removes the cloudiness and the inability to see something and moves it away, we realize that God is the one who wipes away sin. He’s the one who could take care of it.
And then the same kind of thought comes to the New Testament in Acts 3:19. Remember, Acts is that historical book where the gospels come to people and people are getting saved. And what does he say to the Jews who understand and have heard this passage before?
What does he say to them when they realize that Jesus Christ died on the cross and they’re the ones who nailed him there? Look what it says in Acts 3:19: “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
So in other words, Jesus cancels and wipes out sin debts. The record of your sin has been smoothed out for those who know Christ. Thank you, what I owe God has been paid in full.
Jesus Removed the Record Against Us
If you’re still unconvinced about what the Lord has done, look back at Colossians 2:14. Because it is loaded with the second thing: Jesus not only canceled out the certificate of our debt, but also he removed the written record against us. The emphasis being on that which the Lord has done, he removes it.
And notice what it says: he has taken it out of the way. That’s what it should say in your Bible. Actually, the term used in the phrase “out of the way” is actually the phrase “out of the middle”—that’s the accurate way, that’s from the Greek.
In other words, the certificate of debt that stood in the middle between us and God, this barrier, has been taken out of the way. Jesus set it aside. And scripture uses a perfect tense and tells us that the action completed in the past has a settled condition now in the present.
That this written record that stood against us, that was hostile to us, that came between you and God, Jesus removed that. So those in Christ, right now, presently, the record of your sins have been canceled and removed.
And this further means that the record of our failures against the law of God is erased, wiped clean, so that no evidence of its previous existence can be tracked down in order to be brought up against us for condemnation.
“The record of our failures against the law of God is erased so that no evidence can be tracked down to bring up against us for condemnation.”
It’s not there anymore. So you and me now are in a state of not being condemned. We are in a state of being made clean, and we are in a state now of having the righteousness of Christ on our account.
Our clean slate has been wiped clean, and everything there, the written, documented against us, that was hostile to us, has now been settled. The IOU is paid for. And what does God the Father see? He sees the righteousness of Christ on our account.
Jesus Nailed It to the Cross
Now you say, well okay, how does he do it? Look back at verse 14 of chapter 2, because we see clearly the means by which Jesus accomplished such a wonderful act on behalf of his children. It says this: having nailed it to the cross.
See, the third thing is that Jesus nailed it to the cross for us. He canceled our debt and certificate of debt, removed the written record against us, and nailed it to the cross.
He nailed it forever to the cross, that the cross of Calvary in which he won the victory. That all the failure of keeping the law of Moses was taken away from the Old Testament godly by the death of Christ on the cross. Even all the sin of the New Testament saints is also nailed to the cross.
That Jesus paid our debt. The nails that pierced his hands and feet and fastened him to the cross were the nails whereby God also used to nail our sins, and your sins and my sins, to that cross. So we Christians are set free from the debt of sin that really served to convict us before God. It’s no longer there, it’s gone.
“The nails that pierced his hands and feet were the nails God used to nail our sins to that cross.”
So when sinners are acted upon by the power of God and see that they are lost and under God’s wrath and in trouble with God, only then will they see their need of the cross. And only then will they desire to receive Jesus as their own Lord and savior.
They will no longer settle on their own righteousness but another’s righteousness, that is the righteousness that comes to them from the perfect Son of God, Jesus Christ.
That the penalty for our sins were accounted to him, and Christ’s perfect righteousness was credited to us, so that we become, as it says in Corinthians, the righteousness of God in him. So our victory over sin, over evil, over evil spirits and death, come from Jesus, who suffered injustice for our salvation.
That Jesus satisfied the justice of the Father and was vindicated by his resurrection, in that the Father accepted that offering that Jesus gave for sin, for the unjust, the just for the unjust. And that means that we are vindicated by God and we are on the victory side of things.
That means therefore, when a Christian is being persecuted for their faith in Christ alone, or for their obedience of doing what is right, or for their refusal to participate in the sins of others and society, we can find comfort and contentment in the middle of our troubled days. Reflecting thoughtfully on the ultimate vindication and victory that we have in the finished, final, complete work of Christ.
Satan’s Tactics Against the Gospel
That Jesus’ sacrifice was so perfect, so final, so sufficient, that it gave to all who believe a permanent justification and a continuous position before God that will be enjoyed now and forever. But remember the context of Colossians, and what is that? There’s an enemy against us.
The enemy uses false teaching and false teachers that desire to confuse Christians on this very point, and get them to think that somehow the cross of Christ was not enough, it was not sufficient, and that there are things that we need to do in order to help God save us and to help God keep us saved.
That’s why this is what it says next in Colossians, which I’m not going to cover this morning, but I do want to read it. Look at Colossians 2:20, because it exposes Satan’s tactics.
Notice what it says in verse 20: “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees?” There’s that word, decrees. All right, that’s Satan’s decrees, such as do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.
Verse 22 says, “which all refer to things destined to perish with their use, in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men.” These are matters which have, to be sure, an appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value against fleshly indulgences.
That’s how Satan works. He convinces you it’s not enough, the cross, that Jesus didn’t pay it all for you, that you should go on doubting whether you’re really saved. That’s what he does.
When he does, he tries to enslave you again. He tries to bring you back, and the Bible is saying to the Colossians and to us, don’t let them do that. Why? Because of what I just told you about Jesus, that his salvation to us is so complete there’s nothing to see anymore on your account.
“Satan convinces you the cross wasn’t enough — that Jesus didn’t pay it all, that you should doubt whether you’re really saved.”
It’s clean, it’s washed away, it’s wiped away, it’s smoothed out, it’s clean. Don’t let him re-populate that tablet.
Wonder 3: Christ’s Complete Conquest of Our Enemy
Now you say, well, what has Christ done for us concerning this enemy? Well, look back at Colossians 2:15. Here’s the third thing: Christ’s complete conquest of our enemy.
That’s what he did, he defeated him completely. That Satan’s dark domain is mentioned from the standpoint of the victor, Jesus Christ, who stripped him of the victory at the resurrection. Look at verse 15: when he had disarmed the rulers and authorities.
What a disarmed ruler is, is a defeated ruler. In the Garden of Eden, God promised that the devil would bruise the savior’s heel, and this he did when Jesus died. But prophecy also tells us that the savior would bruise the enemy’s head, and this is what Christ accomplished when he rose from the grave.
And Satan realized he lost. Because of the resurrection, it declared that Jesus is the victor and proved he is God. That Satan at that point lost everything.
“Christ bruised the enemy’s head when he rose from the grave. Satan realized he lost.”
The Defeat and Public Humiliation of Satan
And then notice in Colossians 2:15, he made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. That Jesus made a public triumph over the forces of evil and stripped the devil of his power over the souls of the saints.
There is no need for us to be defeated in sin or by sin. Sin is no longer able to threaten those who believe in Christ. He has nothing to say, he’s been shut up by God, he’s been shut out by God, and he’s just under God’s condemnation now.
The Bible says he has a short time before the end comes for him. In other words, you are no longer his possession, he has no right to you at all. Christ has all rights to you, you are his possession and protected by him, and have eternal security because of him.
Just as conquerors in olden times would take the prisoners and chain them to the chariot, and the chariot was made to go through the streets, and the person who lost the battle would run alongside in public humiliation. So Christ doomed the devil to the Lake of Fire, where he will be in the lowest department under God’s wrath forever.
“You are no longer his possession. Christ has all rights to you — you are protected by him and have eternal security.”
The Book of Life
I said I would come back to the second book at the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20. Those who trust Christ alone for eternal salvation escape the wages of sin. They get instead the gift of eternal life.
Remember, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The other book that will be opened in the judgment is the Book of Life. This is the final humiliation, the final condemnation, the final blow for every sinner at that terrible judgment before Jesus on the great white throne.
What is the purpose of this book? The second book is God’s final answer to every plea of a sinner. When the Book of Life is closed, the mercy of God is gone forever concerning those being judged.
In Revelation 20:12, the middle of the verse, it says this: “Another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.” The Book of Life is not a record of the deeds of people. The Book of Life is the record of the names of people.
The Book of Life only comes into discussion to show that the names of these dead are not written there. It contains the names of all who have true spiritual life. It is a book that uniquely belongs to the Lamb of God and is related to his death.
As it says in Revelation 13:8, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who has been slain.”
Your name must be written in this book in order for you to enter the heavenly city. Revelation 21:27 says this:
Revelation 21:27: “Nothing unclean shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
In the ancient world it was built really on the roll of citizens. You couldn’t come into the city unless your name was on the roll. If your name wasn’t on the roll, you would come in possibly as a visitor and then would have to leave again.
Those who are written in it are citizens of heaven, God’s special people. Rejoice today in the wonder of what God has done, because your name is on the right roll, because you are joyfully assured of your salvation.
Like it says in Luke, “Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” Why are they recorded there? Because you have no IOU.
Jesus made it smooth and wiped out your debt and removed it out of the way. Now you have access to God. He did that by nailing it to a cross, which he will never have to do again, because it was an eternal sacrifice done once for all, as it says in Hebrews.
Never again. Sins forgiven, your name written down in heaven. What a thought.
“Your name is recorded in heaven because you have no IOU. Jesus wiped out your debt and removed it out of the way.”
Conclusion: Walk in Victory
That is a possessor of eternal life, a partaker of the divine nature, born of God, passed out of condemnation into everlasting life. What a blessed state, to be saved, to be delivered from the wrath of God. And I pray your salvation would never be commonplace, but every time you think of how God saved you, you would experience fullness of joy.
Let your mind this week bask on these truths, let them come to your mind often. Satan is not done with you in the sense of tempting you and distracting you and trying to delude you, trying to get you to sin again like you once did. He will bring old people into your life that you thought were forever gone, and now they’re there with the same vices. They haven’t changed one bit.
They’re not saved, they won’t listen to your message of salvation, but they want to drag you down. He has got all kinds of employees to drag us down. But you cannot listen to them.
Why? The truth. You have Colossians to go back to, to say, “This is what my Lord has done on my behalf. He’s accomplished it for me.” Go talk to him. He doesn’t want to talk to him, so I pray this week you take these truths, think about them, and let them encourage your heart.
“Every time you think of how God saved you, you would experience fullness of joy.”
Let’s pray. Today, Lord, thank you this morning for the goodness of your word, the clarity of the word of God. Thank you, Lord, that we know in the word of God what you have done, and I pray, Lord, that we would listen to nobody else, that no one can convince us otherwise.
And Lord, that we cannot be tempted to think that somehow your sacrifice on the cross was not complete, that something has to be added to it and included with it. I pray, Lord, that we this week would think about and meditate upon these truths.
That, Lord, you have completely forgiven us, you have completely removed the written debt against us, you have completely destroyed our enemies. And we know, Lord, your plan is not done yet concerning him. But Lord, I pray as we live each day, you would allow us to walk in the victory of knowing Christ as our Lord and savior.
And I pray this in Christ’s name, amen. Let’s stand together.