Let's begin reading in verse
eight of Colossians 2. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy, the love of wisdom, and vain deceit after
the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. Now he gives this warning because
there were those, and it was the religious Jews that were guilty of that. And notice
the reason he gives. Don't let anybody spool you now.
Don't let them fool you. Don't let them deceive you with
wise theological deductions or the traditions, the ceremonies,
the things that aren't scriptural that they had added, just like men are still doing
today. For in Christ dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead in a body. First of all, because of who
Christ is, you have no need of any of that. We don't love wisdom. We love
Christ, who is the wisdom of God, the big difference. And you are complete in him.
You don't need anything, not only because of who he is, but
because of what your need is, him. Only him. You're complete in him, which
is the head of all principality and power. And the reason that's
important now, the religious Jews were trying to deceive and
to give their words of wisdom. Everybody respected them and
looked up to them because they sounded real smart. You know,
they were scholars and all of that. But notice our text in
verse 11, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands in putting off of the body of the sins of
the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Why is he dealing
with that subject now? Because that's part of what the
religious Jews insisted upon, and circumcision represents the
keeping of the law. In the New Testament, when Paul
said, if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing,
he's saying if you keep the law in order to please God, if that's
your righteousness before God, your works, Christ will profit
you nothing. You're on your own before God,
and that's not a good place to be. So that's why you see the context,
that's why this particular subject is coming up. In whom also you
are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. Don't let
them constrain you to conform to some legal thing in order
to please God. That's not how you are accepted
with God. That's not how sinners are saved,
by you doing something. and putting off the body of the
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Now circumcision in
the Old Testament was the sign of God's covenant with the Jews.
It was instituted, if you want to jot this down and read it
later, in Genesis 17, 9 through 14. And the purpose for it is
plainly stated there and here in this verse. is a symbol of
the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh. Like much
Old Testament ceremony, it was an outward picture or sad, or
as the scripture there in Genesis 17 calls it, a token, an outward
token of something that God does on the inside. It's something
that, it's a work of, It's the circumcision not made with hands
that was pointed to by this Old Testament ceremony or law keeping. It's a symbol again of the putting
off of the body of the sins of the flesh. Like all Old Testament
ordinances, the physical act itself didn't put off any sins. Just as the blood of bulls and
goats could never take away one sin. then why were they offered? Why did God ordain that? To show
forth Christ who does take away sin. There's God's lamb that
takes away sin. And so the circumcision was a
symbol, an outward symbol of that which takes place in the
heart. The physical conformance to that
could never take away one's sin. And like the spilling of bull
blood and goat blood, the ordinance of circumcision pictures what
Christ accomplished on Calvary. Our sins were put away by him
and his sin-cleansing blood on the cross. So circumcision, everything,
all of the Old Testament law was a schoolmaster to bring us
to Christ. It's important to note that Paul
is writing this to uncircumcised Gentiles, according to the flesh,
and he's telling them that they are circumcised. And now what
he said, you also are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, the circumcision of Christ, as he calls it at the last part
of the verse, which is that of the heart. He's telling uncircumcised
people, you're circumcised in the way that matters. In Genesis
17, it speaks of it being the token of the covenant that God
made with Israel. So what does, that have to do
with the putting away of the body of the sins of the flesh,
what does that have to do with? Does the covenant itself, the
covenant that that's a token of, does it say anything about
putting away sins? In Hebrews 10, look at it with
me please, Hebrews chapter 10. Again, now remember, our subject
is the token of the covenant. What covenant? Hebrews chapter
10. Verse 11. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool, for by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, for after that he had said before, this is the
covenant that I will make with him after those days, saith the
Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds
will I write them, and their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more. What does circumcision have to
do with? The putting away of the body of the sins of the flesh.
It's a token of the covenant that regards that, the putting
away of sins. Your sins and iniquities will
I remember no more. Now where remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin. And so you see what
it signified and why. And remember now that Paul is
warning these Gentile believers concerning religious lovers of
wisdom and religious authorities, principalities and powers. This
is why circumcision is an issue here because the religious Jews
look down on these Gentiles and considered them to be illegitimate
unless they submitted to physical circumcision. Turn with me please,
Paul dealt with this in Galatians 6.12, look at that with me please. Galatians 6.12. This is why Paul
is bringing this up here in the context of warning them against
these Jewish religious lovers of wisdom and big shot authority,
priests and high priests and today it would be cardinals and
popes and whatever you want to call them. Look at it, Galatians
6, 12. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. Why? Because that was considered the
outward sign. They're trying to, just like
today, they're trying to put numbers on the board. We had
this many of this today and that many of that. Decisions for the
Lord, keeping of the law. They made a decision for the
Lord. They did something for God. Well, hallelujah. I wonder
if God will do anything for them. Not that way he won't, not with
you coming before him with what you've done for him. They constrain
you to be servant only lest they should suffer persecution for
the cross of Christ. If they preach that Christ, if
they preach what Paul did, you are complete in him. You're circumcised with that
circumcision not made with hands, the circumcision of Christ. Christ
putting away the body of your sins of your flesh. Not just
an outward token of it. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law. That was part of the Old Testament
law. If you're going to be under that law, you've got to keep
it perfectly. You've got to be perfectly conformed to that law
in thought, word, and deed, and motive. in your heart, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh, that they might tack up another
statistic. Say, look how many got saved
today by our ministry. That's the context in which we
have this glorious word from the apostle. But God forbid that
I should glory in anything man does, in anything you do, I do,
or anybody else does. God forbid that I should glory
save in what Christ did, the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you see that? That's our text. Beware of it. Beware of it. There ain't nothing
but works and grace. And that's works. by whom the world is crucified
unto me. This stinking, dead, godless
world we have no use for. Yes, if the Lord puts sinners
in our path that we can speak to of his glories, of his forgiveness,
of his mercies, we want to do that. But we're talking about
the fashion of this world. the philosophy of this world,
the religion, most of all, of this wretched world. Dead to
me and me to it, and so be it. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, You say,
well, I've kept the law. I've done what I'm supposed to
do. I'm circumcised, or I've walked an aisle, or whatever
you wanna call it, doing something for God. That doesn't avail anything
with God. He needs perfect obedience, perfect
righteousness, which you don't have. Christ must be your righteousness
if you're gonna have acceptance with God. nor uncircumcision. You say,
well, I know better than that. I'm not gonna be conformed to
the outward law. Christ fulfilled that. I understand
that doctrine. That won't avail you anything
either. You know what does avail before God? A new creation. God's got to create you over
again. That don't happen down here,
y'all. That don't happen down here, that happens in here. And all that happens down here
and up here and all that is just a distraction. Unless somebody stands up and
points you to Christ, just as simply and clearly and plainly
as John the Baptist did. There's God's son, he takes sin
away. He's the one that did something
about it. He's God's precious, spotless, eternal lamb. And as
many as walk according to this rule, you see what he's saying? He's doing the same thing here
in Galatians 6 as he's doing in our text. He's saying, if
you walk according to this rule, if you don't trust your circumcision
or your uncircumcision but Christ only, then peace be upon you. I don't care what the Pharisees
say. They're gonna try to constrain you to keep the law. Peace, the
peace of God be on you if you walk according to this rule,
that Christ is my righteousness before God, and nothing I've
ever done or ever will do. And mercy, mercy, that's what
needs to be on people that don't keep the law. And that's everybody, but not
everybody knows it. Mercy upon them and only Israel
of God. That's who they are. They're
God's elect The circumcision of Christ referred
to in our verse is not the physical act but the spiritual circumcision
of which Christ is the author The physical act being a token
Having being having had have been a token of what Christ actually
accomplished on Calvary It's not a token of anything now except
for the fact that you're self-righteous. Under the Old Testament law,
it was a token of Christ's accomplishment on Calvary, the putting away
of the body of the sins of my flesh. All believers are in on that,
Jew or Gentile. Just as Gentiles are referred
to as included in the Israel of God All spiritual things that
pertain to that the Gentiles are in Christ Turn with me to
Romans chapter 2, please verse 25 Romans chapter 2 Verse 25, for circumcision verily
profiteth. He's being facetious here. If
you keep the law, you see what he's saying? Your
circumcision is a great thing as long as you've done all of
the law perfectly before God, which nobody ever has. Then yeah,
it's a wonderful thing. But if you be a breaker of the
law, and you are, your circumcision is made uncircumcision. The body
of the sins of your flesh is not put away. Not by that, not
by that outward act. Therefore, if the uncircumcision,
that is the Gentiles, keep the righteousness of the law, and
again, this is hypothetical. Nobody keeps the righteousness
of the law, nobody. all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. But he's saying, if they could,
though you call them the uncircumcised, but if they could keep the law,
their uncircumcision would be counted for circumcision. And shall not uncircumcision,
which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge you who by the
letter and circumcision does transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly in the flesh, neither is that
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew,
which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart. It was
a token, look in there in Genesis 17, it was a token of what God
does for sinners when he saves them in Christ. in the spirit and not in the
letter. And the letter of that is fulfilled.
Christ has put away the body of the sins of our flesh with
his precious blood, whose praise is not of men, but of God. It's
not look what I've done to conform to the law. It's look what God
did when he sent his son to be my savior. Turn with me to one of the most
glorious passages of scripture in all the world. Acts chapter
15. Look at this with me. Acts chapter 15 verse 1. What
a wonderful Think about our text now, our
subject, when we read verses one through 11 of Acts 15. And certain men, which came down
from Judea, taught the brethren and said, except ye be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you can't be saved. You see why Paul's
addressing this? When therefore Paul and Barnabas
had no small dissension and disputation with them, I guess so, And they
determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should
go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. Well, you need to go to talk
to the authorities and get straightened out about this. So they went.
And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through
Phinehas and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles,
and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they
were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and
of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that
God had done with them. But there rose up certain of
the sect of the Pharisees, which believed, saying that it was
needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law
of Moses." Talking about the Gentiles, he said, God has turned
to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are saved just like
we are. He's poured out his spirit on
them in the preaching of the gospel. And they said, well,
they need to be circumcised. If they're gonna be saved like
us, they're gonna have to be circumcised. Verse six, and the
apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and
said unto them, men and brethren, you know how that a good while
ago, God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth
should hear the word of the gospel and believe. God decided to do
something. He decided to save sinners by
the preaching of the gospel. He wasn't waiting on you to decide
anything. And God, which knoweth the hearts,
bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did
unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith. Faith in Christ. Now therefore,
why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples,
which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? You're
putting, by constraining them to be circumcised, you're putting
the yoke of the law on them. Nobody can bear that yoke. But
we believe, ah, this is so wonderful. We believe, by God's grace, we
believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we
shall be saved. Even as they. If anybody's gonna
be saved, it's not because you constrain them to do something
or they decide they need to do something. It's not gonna be
by anything they do. It's gonna be by the grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Us or them. Isn't that beautiful? Then all the multitude kept silence. and gave audience to Parmas and
Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among
the Gentiles by the end. Oh, God saves us by his grace.
Don't let anybody spoil you through the love of wisdom, the crossing
of T's and the dotting of I's of doctrinal statements. God
uses this doctrinal statement to save sinners, right? You can write all you want to
about it, but this is our doctrine right here, right here. This passage is not wonderful
because it means we don't have to be circumcised. This passage
is wonderful because it means we're saved freely by Christ
and what he did. And none of it depends on us
or what we do. That's glorious. God loves us
freely in Christ. And look at verse 12, lo and
behold, we're gonna talk about baptism. Y'all know how long
I've been in this study? Buried with him in baptism, wherein
also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God who hath raised him. from the dead. Here we are in this verse on
this day. And Miss Jackie, I've been talking
with her for months, I guess, about her being baptized. And
because she lives so far away, she's not able to be here, but
every now and then. And she happened to come today
and find out we're ready to baptize somebody. It just happens to
be her and my son. Paul uses another token here.
He's talking about the token of circumcision. Now he speaks
of another token that is now in effect in the church that
is similar in order to show and emphasize the meaning of the
token and not the tokens themselves. Baptism like circumcision cannot
take you, it can't wash your sins away. It's just water. But it shows forth him who did
take away your sins. It shows his death until he comes.
It shows forth in the words of the verse, the operation of God.
who raised Christ from the dead. You see that in the verse? Through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Christ from
the dead. That's what it shows for, what
God did. Don't trust your works and decisions
or your religion or any of it. Trust what God did. Trust Christ
and the precious blood of Christ. Baptism itself is not us being
raised from the dead spiritually, but it is us identifying with
Him who was raised, identifying with Him in His death and His
resurrection, declaring Him to be our life and our hope, declaring
Him to be our resurrection. We're raised with Him, buried
with Him in baptism, also risen with Him because heroes we rise,
not because we do this, We're just picturing it with this.
It's a token, a symbol, a picture. Circumcision was the token under
the Old Testament and was administered to babies as a general sign in
Israel of God's covenant with them. Now listen carefully to
me. It was administered to babies. Eight days old, you were to be
circumcised under Old Testament Jewish law, God's law. And it
was done so as a general sign in Israel of God's covenant with
them. But we just read a minute ago
that he is a Jew, which is one inwardly, not outwardly. The
Jews as a nation were a token, a picture of God's Israel, his
elect, those in Christ. And so that token The covenant
was a token of that that God's chosen people now. He's made
a covenant with his chosen people Baptism is a sign a token of
the same thing But that covenant is not made with the whole world It's not just to be done to babies
and in general because then what baby couldn't be wouldn't be
certain it's not a token to everybody it's a token only that's unique
only to believers in christ the token of the covenant was
unique to jews then showing that God's elect alone are sanctified
by Christ. It's unique to believers now
for the same reason. Only those who believe with all
of their heart on the Son of God may be baptized in his name. Acts 8, 36 and 37. That's not
debatable. People are gonna debate it anyway,
but it's not debatable. You can't just go around baptizing
every baby in the world. God's covenant's not to the whole
world. It's to those that believe. Verse 13 in our text, and you,
being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, still using the symbol of
baptism, raised from a watery grave, picturing the raised from
the dead. Have He quickened together, given
life together with Christ, having forgiven you all trespass. You see what that has to do with
baptism? The putting away. He's forgiven us all of our sins. He's washed us from our sins.
Not in here, but we get in here to picture that, just like we
eat the bread and the wine to picture His body and His blood,
His person, His work. Christ is all. That's what we
say when we get in here. And when we eat that, and that's what they were saying
back then when they did that. Now Paul goes from the tokens
in verse 13 to what they are tokens of more fully. You being
dead in your sins, not just buried back here, but dead in your sins. and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, the body of the sins of your flesh being upon you. And yet he's raised you together
with Christ, having forgiven you of all of those sins. That's
what we show forth in baptism. We were dead because the wages
of sin is death. And we are alive, we live, are
quickened because sin is put away by virtue of Christ paying
all of the penalty for our sins by the offering of himself one
time for us. That's another coincidence today.
I didn't ask Bob to read that. I love the word forgiven. Having
forgiven you all trespass. the truth of the forgiveness
of sins. I think, by God's grace, I think
I understand something of the truth of justification, that
it means we never sinned. In Christ, we never sinned. Christ
represents us as us. We never sinned in him. That's
a glorious truth in Christ's justification. That must be true. if we're gonna be saved, but
since we see ourselves justified in Christ, are we to go back
through the scriptures and cross out the words forgiven and forgiveness?
Oh no. Forgiveness reminds us of how
much we owe. Forgiveness reminds us of what
Christ saved us from. Forgiveness speaks of the great
boundless capacity of God's love for us. Romans 5, 8, God commendeth his
love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. I love the truth that we have
no sin in Christ. We never sin. In him, he's our
righteousness. But isn't this a glorious truth
too? In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Verse 14, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way. What a beautiful picture this
is. What happened to it? He nailed it to his cross. Don't let anyone constrain you
to be circumcised for whom Christ has died, or to walk an aisle,
or to keep a day. Any religious observance of any
kind The handwriting of the ordinances
of God's law are blotted out with regard to their condemnation
of us. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Some religious people make baptism
the replacement for circumcision so they can baptize their babies
in utter determination to put their own necks back under the
yoke of the law. Why else would you do that? Now
that Christ is our righteousness. Why on earth would God change
it? Why would he do that if we're yet under the law? What's wrong
with circumcision then? Baptism is not the new circumcision
because, bless God, we're not under the law but under grace. The law was and is contrary to
us. That's what our text says. The
very definition of the law must include this, against us. Now, why do I say that? Well, why do you think there's
a law against having other gods? There's just one reason, because
you're an idolater and I am too. We'll worship everything but
God, apart from His grace. Why is there a law against stealing?
Because we're thieves. So you see why I say the definition
of the law, integral to that definition is this, it's against
us. That's what our text says. The
handwriting of ordinances was against us. was past tense because
now in Christ, we've perfectly kept God's law. Why is there a law against killing?
Our feet are swift to shed blood. The law and its condemnation
of us is taken out of the way. Not God's law, his law is not
done away with, but it's condemnation of us with regard to condemning
us before God. It's taken out of the way. It's
in the way by nature. It's in the way of us being brought
to God because of our sin. But the Lord Jesus suffered the
just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. That handwriting
of ordinances being blotted out of the way. Christ having kept the law for
us, and then as the spotless, sinless law-keeping in thought,
word, deed, and motive, with all of his heart, he died on
Calvary as the sacrifice for our sins. And now God's accusing,
judging, condemning, sentencing to eternal death, handwriting
against us, is no longer in the way. It's nailed to the cross
of our Savior. What a beautiful picture. What
a glorious picture of salvation that is, because my Redeemer's
hands were pierced, you see, on that cross. And when they were, all of God's
wrath against me was drained away. Just as his precious blood flowed
down, the chains of the law that bound me awaiting execution fell
away, as the bloody sweat that fell away from his brow. As his last breath on this earth
for that time left his body, every accusation of sin against
me fell silent. Let those who love wisdom and
boast in their own intellect also fall silent. Let those who
are proud in their earthly authority and insist on being themselves
the arbiters of truth shut their wretched mouths and behold that
Christ is all. Keep your new revelations to
yourself, away with your ologies and isms, down with your haughty
judgments of others. Christ has died for me. I want to close with just a closer
look at Galatians 6.13, where we read a while ago. If you'd
turn there with me, please. Just Galatians 6.13. Galatians
6.13. for neither they themselves who
are circumcised, the ones that are constraining you to live
the Christian life or whatever you want to call it. You've got
to do this. God's done all he can do, but
you've got to do this, whatever this is. They don't please God either. But desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh, but God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision,
but a new creation. And as many as walk according
to this rule, peace on them. That's how you have peace with
God, not by being circumcised, not by keeping the law, not by,
ordinances and constraints of religion, peace and mercy upon the Israel
of God. And look what he says in verse
17, from henceforth, let no man trouble me. Don't bother me about
that anymore. Don't tell me what I need to
do to be saved. Don't talk to me about that. Don't argue with
me. Don't come up with your, you
love wisdom. So I'm sure you've got a reason
why I need to do something to please God. The devil's real
subtle about that. Paul's saying here, I don't wanna
hear it anymore. For I bear in my body the marks
of the Lord Jesus. That word marks is stigma. That's
the actual Greek word, stigma. I bear the stigma of Christ. You know what a stigma was? It
was a mark put on a slave. to identify who his master is. Don't talk to me about works.
Don't talk to me about circumcision. Don't talk to me about walking
an aisle. Don't talk to me about repeating a pre-written prayer.
Don't talk to me about anything except Christ and what he did
on Calvary. I'm his servant. I'm his bond
slave by his grace. And I'll hear no objections,
no arguments, no so-called wisdom or insights apart from or contrary
to him. Amen.