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**Be Quickened - Colossians 2:13-14**And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;God did three works of salvation through Christ in saving us.We, Paul says, we were in a state of death, “being dead.” Dead in our sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, the immorality of our body. Being in that state of death, 1) God quickened us with Jesus Christ. This word quickened is another compound word, two word joined together to give a new word. The two words are συνάγω synagō; which means together and our word synergy comes from it. Also, the word ζωοποιέω zōopoieō; which means to make alive. Quickened together, made alive with and through Christ.In order to make us alive, God had to remove that which was keeping us that state of living death. (Did you ever think of the lost as being zombies? Well, spiritually speaking, we all were, animated, moving but lacking the real life that can only come from God.) But we have been given spiritual life by 2) God’s forgiveness of our trespasses. Here is a word I wasn’t prepared for. I thought it was just another word for sin, but it says more than just that. This word is παράπτωμα paraptōma; another para word that Colossians is full of. It literal means a side-slip, a simple lapse or deviation. It could even be an unintentional error or transgression. We may not have realized it was sin, or intended to sin but it was sin and we committed it, but God forgave us.Then Paul gives us a legal description of how our guilt was dealt with through forgiveness. He says that God blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. Those accusations, sins, trespasses and bills of debt were taken out of the way and nailed to the cross of Jesus. Ordinances is the word δόγμα, dogma, this word is used of the laws and decrees of the Roman law, or the rules of the Old Testament Law of given to Moses. In the Roman culture of Paul’s time there was a handwritten note that was signed by someone who owed money to another. It was like an IOU. A person under the Law of the Old Testament every time they broke the law was signing IOU upon IOU until he amassed a debt he could never pay.Paul gives us a picture here of the crucifixion of Christ but brought into the focus, the line of sight of our own eyes. Just as Pilate had nailed the accusation of the Jews “King of the Jews” over the head of Jesus, God nailed the IOUs of all laws that we were guilty of to the cross of His own Son. As Jesus bled and died upon that cruel cross, his blood blotted out my debt. It blotted out my guilt. All that could be seen from that time forward would be the blood of Christ covering my sin.**Be Alive In Christ**Paul is telling the Colossians and us that we are alive in Christ and that life can only be found in Jesus Christ.We see this same theme running through Paul’s other prison epistle of Ephesians 2:1-6 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, (isn’t that a wonderful phrase) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:Under Roman law if you were in debt and couldn’t pay it, the man you owed could claim your life and make you his slave. But when a man paid off his debt, he was free. He then would take the ordinance of his debt, now paid in full and he would nail it over the door of his house, so that all who passed by would know that the debt was paid and the person living in this house was free. This is the picture Paul knew the Colossians, would understand. A true illustration of what God did through His Son Jesus Christ. He made them alive and he made them free.The hymn says, He Paid A Debt He Did Not Owe,I Owed A Debt I Could Not Pay,I Needed Someone To Wash My Sins Away;And Now I Sing A Brand New Song,Amazing Grace All Day Long,Christ Jesus Paid A Debt, That I Could Never Pay.