Death, Life and Pardon
Chad Johnson
September 11, 2009

“And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.” Colossians 2:13

There are three things I want us to see in these verses. We have before us death, life and pardon. We will look at them in this order.

I.) We were dead in our sin – There are some religious groups who say a man has some type of spiritual life in him, but the Bible says we are dead in our sins. Spiritually we are dead and have no life. Paul said in Romans 7:9 that he was alive without the law. What he is referring to is alive in his own mind. Paul was a devout man, a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was so religious, but he was only alive in his own prideful mind. Once the law of God showed him his state, he then faced his dead condition. The human race was plunged into spiritual death and sin by the first Adam. Mankind began to die in Genesis 3:6 when Adam partook of the forbidden fruit. The moment Adam ate the fruit he began to die both physically and spiritually. God knew man would sin and disobey His word. God had a plan to redeem man back to Himself. Jesus Christ was a Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The human race was plunged into death by one and we can be given eternal life by one, Jesus Christ. If the spirit of God does not convict us of our sin we will continue in our sins. Without the drawing power of God, we would have continued on our sinful and dead way.

II.) The life that came by Jesus Christ – The word quicken here means to restore to life, to revive. We are quickened together with Jesus Christ the moment we repent of our sin and place our faith in Him. The spirit of God quickened us and made us alive to our sinful state before God. Jesus came to give us an abundant life. Sin does not seem what it really is until God shows us the horror of our sin. The man who is quickened has a great love for the Savior who brought him out of that horrible pit. Oh bless the Lord, oh my soul! We that have been quickened live for Christ out of a holy gratitude for His great mercy. Life can only come through the shed of blood and substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

III.) The great pardon – The Bible says we have been forgiven all our trespasses. If we think of our sin and how horrible it is we should stand amazed at our great pardon. Pardon means to be rescued, to remove an offense and consider the person not guilty. That is exactly what has happened to the redeemed. We now stand guiltless before Holy God. I have been cleared and I am now a free man. Oh how we should rejoice and raise our hands to the One who gave us this great pardon. We were sentenced, because of our sin, to burn in the lake of fire, but bless His holy name, we have been pardoned. This pardon is not a partial one; it includes all our sins. We are totally saved and have received the gift of eternal life. I am so glad that I can never be dead again spiritually. May you today see your deadness and receive life and pardon from the righteous judge, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.