Romans 1:16

Colossians 2:13–15

1.  The Gospel has the power to bring life to the dead.

“When you were dead in your sins… God made you alive with Christ”.

-         Paul begins with our condition.  We are separated from God and spiritually dead.  Sin is not just a bad thing we do, not just an obstacle between God and us, no it is spiritual death. Because of that we don’t just need resuscitation we need resurrection!

2.  The Gospel has the power to forgive all our sins

“He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness”

Our Debt

• Every sin is a spiritual debt — a legal record that stood against us.

• The “charge” (Greek: cheirographon) refers to a written IOU, a debt we could never repay.

b. God’s Grace

• Jesus “canceled” our debt — the term means “to wipe out completely.”

• How? “He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”

• Every accusation, every shameful act, every failure was placed on Him.

3.  The Gospel has the power to triumph over evil

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross”.

a. The Defeat of Darkness

• “Powers and authorities” refers to demonic forces, spiritual rulers, and systems opposed to God.

• At the cross, it looked like Jesus was defeated — but in truth, the enemy was disarmed.

b. The Victory of the Cross

• In Roman times, a victorious general paraded his conquered enemies in public.

• Paul says Jesus did that spiritually — He turned the cross, an instrument of shame, into a throne of victory.