Okay, back again for the fourth
time into Colossians chapter 2. This is a powerful passage
of scripture, of gospel scripture, and yet it is so little understood
and practiced in our day. This whole book, the Bible, is
the word of God to his people. I remember a Jehovah's Witness
said to me years ago on the doorstep, when I mentioned something about
Ephesians, and he said, oh, you shouldn't read Ephesians, it's
not for you, it's just for the 144,000. Well, in a sense, you
know, what he said was right. In a sense, the whole of the
scripture is God's message to his people. He's 144,000 in the
world, that's what it is. And what is that message that
God gives in this book? It is that you, my people, are
qualified for the kingdom of God, not by what you do or what
you are, but by what Christ alone has done, what you are in union
with him. Now you say, well surely not
the Old Testament. Oh yes. The Old Testament revealed exactly
that in pictures, in shadows, in types. And the New Testament
reveals it explicitly, fulfilled. All those Old Testament pictures
fulfilled in the reality which is the Lord Jesus Christ. By
all he is and all he has done, As God made man, you who believe
are made as righteous as God. Religion hates that thought,
but it's what the gospel tells us. It's what God tells us in
his word. By what Christ has done, you believer, trusting
in Christ alone, are made as righteous as God. You're made
unblameable in the sight of his justice. Do you know the scripture
says, and it's true, we must all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ to receive that which we've done. And oh, we
shake and tremble, but in Christ you stand unblameable. The sins
of Judah and of Israel shall be sought and they shall not
be found for he has taken them out of the way. Your sins are
forgiven. You are clothed with the garments
of salvation. You are certain to inherit eternal
bliss. Sinners as we are in the flesh,
what Paul in Romans chapter 7 calls wretched men, oh wretched man
that I am, wretched men in the flesh, alienated from God, unable
ever to do right and always forever, when I want to do right I do
wrong and when I don't want to do wrong it's the very thing
that I do. And we ask, as he asked at the
end of Romans chapter 7, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? Because this flesh is a body
of death. It deserves death. It is appointed
to man to die once. In the day that you eat thereof,
you shall surely die. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? I thank God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believing, trusting, resting
in the salvation from sin that he has accomplished, all of God's
elect multitude are, what have we read in this chapter, over
and over again, we are complete in him. That means that there
is nothing lacking. Look at it again with me, verse
11, verse 11, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. There were those who
were troubling the Colossians. Epaphras had brought the report
to Paul when he was in his house arrest in Rome, that yes, they're
doing well, but there are these coming in telling them that they
have to be circumcised. They have to obey the Jewish
rites and ceremonies for Christ to be, for them to get the full
experience of God. But Paul tells them, you are
circumcised? with the circumcision made without
hands in putting off the body of the sins of this flesh. How?
By the circumcision of Christ. What does that mean? We saw it
last week. The death of Christ on the cross, in the death of
Christ on the cross, and his people's death with him, for
we are crucified with Christ. That's where the sins of the
flesh, the sins of the flesh would bar us from the kingdom
of God, would bar us from the presence of God, for nothing
that defiles shall enter in. but he has taken it out of the
way. He has dealt with it. Him is the true cutting off of
the sins of the flesh. It's that death on the cross,
and verse 12, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are
risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who has
raised him from the dead. The death for sin demanded by
the justice of God Justice of God demands the soul that sins
it shall die. It is accomplished for the multitude
that he loved before time by his death on the cross, as is
the newness of life required for communion with God. We're
not only crucified with Christ, but we're raised with him to
newness of life, to commune with God in his resurrection. He accomplished
it all and his people in union with him, in legal union. in
actual union with Him. And the sins, verse 13, the sins
that separate from God are all forgiven. What, swept under the
carpet? No! Justly removed. They're justly paid for. They're
not there. The justice of God, the charge
sheet is blank. Who shall bring anything to the
charge of God's elect? Christ has died. He's dealt with
it all. And verse 14, all that legal
requirements, all the handwriting of ordinances, the law that would
condemn us, he took it away. He nailed it to his cross. On
his cross it was taken away. Satan was there disarmed. And
so Peter, in the Council of Jerusalem in Acts chapter 15, When Judaizers
were trying to lay a burden of legal requirements upon the new
believing Gentile believers, Peter the Apostle said, come
on, you know that we Jews, we couldn't keep this law, so why
are we going to put that burden on them? It's been dealt with
in Christ, he's taken it away. Satan, verse 15, Satan and the
powers of hell are defeated eternally. Satan and the powers of hell
are defeated eternally. So what more do you need? This
is the theme of Colossians chapter 2. We are complete in Christ. What more do you need? Your assurance for eternity is
in Christ. Where do you look to know whether
you're accepted with God? You look to Christ. You don't
look to you, yourself, anything you do, anything that you might
be. It's all in Him. What more do you need? You'd
say the answer's obvious if you read the scriptures. You don't
need anything more. You are complete in Him. But
religion? and an awful lot of it calling
itself Christianity, will tell you that you need more, that
you need very, very much more. And that's what these last verses
of chapter two are about, because religion will try to enslave
you. Religion will try to put you
in a yoke of bondage. The title of this message is
don't let religion enslave you because it's out there and it's
desperate to do this. Verse 16, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or
of the new moon or of the Sabbath days. Religion will tell you
that your standing with God, your acceptability to God, your
qualification for eternity, and if not just that, then your qualification
for extra rewards, extra well done, you know, have an extra
crown, have an extra jewel in your crown, is all affected by
what you eat, and what you drink, by special holy feasts that you
observe or you don't observe, by seasons that you mark, by
the keeping of Sabbaths. Not only the seventh-day Sabbath,
but the Sabbaths throughout the year, or the Jubilee Sabbaths.
They say you've got to keep all of these things. Weren't all
Old Testament legal requirements for acceptance with God? The
law was given for acceptance. Do this and live, is what it
says. Yes, but look, verse 17, which are a shadow of things
to come, but the body is of Christ. They were shadows cast by a real
body to come. I'm standing by a corner on a
sunny day, and I see a shadow approaching on the ground. I
see the shadow of a man on the ground. That isn't the man. That
isn't the reality, that's just the shadow of the man. I know
a man is coming around the corner, for I see the shadow before he
appears. The appearance of the real man
fulfills what the shadow prefigured. When he comes around the corner,
oh yes, that's what the shadow was telling me was coming, a
real man. So for example, the food laws of the Old Testament,
the clean and the unclean animals specified in the law. What were
they all about? They were showing that God separates,
makes holy, his people. Old Testament Israel, symbolically,
was made holy, separated from all other peoples. But look what
happened in Acts chapter 10. In Acts chapter 10 and verse
9, Peter, the apostle, this is Christ,
has gone back to glory, but Peter gets to a place on his journey. Verse nine, on the morrow, as
they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter
went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour. And
he became, the sixth hour is midday, and he became very hungry
and would have eaten. But while they made ready, he
fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel
descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet, knit at the
four corners, and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner
of four-footed beasts of the earth, wild beasts, and creeping
things, and fowls of the air, clean animals and unclean animals
according to the Old Testament definition. And there came a
voice to him, rise Peter, you're hungry, kill and eat. But Peter
said, not so Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is
common or unclean. I've never eaten anything that
the Old Testament law of Moses forbade me to eat. I'm a good
Jew, I never did that. And the voice spake unto him
again the second time, what God has cleansed That call not thou
common. This was done three times, and
the vessel was received up again into heaven, and it was all because
Peter was being sent to those that according to the Jews were
unclean. He was being sent to the Gentiles,
to a Roman called Cornelius, and they believed the gospel,
and they believed in the same way. It was exactly the same
as that. In Christ, whereas there had
been that separation symbolically, in Christ Gentiles are counted
as the Israel of God. In Romans 14 and verse 17, What
are all these external things about? Do they have any relationship
to the kingdom of God? Verse 17 of Romans 14, the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink. It doesn't depend on the things
you eat or the things you drink, but it's righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost. So Colossians 2 and verse 16
says, let no man judge you. Let no man judge you. Don't let
any man judge you for what you eat or what you drink. Of course,
there are stipulations in Scripture. It doesn't mean we just throw
all restraint away. It says quite clearly regarding
drink, regarding alcoholic drink, regarding wine, be not drunk
with wine wherein it is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
But let no man tell you that your standing with God is determined
by the food you eat or that which you drink, or in observing holy
days, or in observing seasons, or in observing Sabbaths. We
do not As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, in these days,
since he's returned to glory, since he fulfilled all of the
laws, we do not keep a day as the Sabbath. Sabbath means rest. We don't keep it. Why do we not
keep it? For Christ is our Sabbath. Christ is our rest from works
of righteousness. In Christ we stop striving to
make ourselves righteous by what we do. And so Hebrews chapter
4 and verse 9 says this, There remaineth therefore a rest to
the people of God. That rest is in Christ. For he
that is entered into his rest He also has ceased from his own
works, as God did from his. We don't labor to be right with
God, for in Christ we are right with God. What must we do, as
the Jews of Jesus in John chapter six, to do the works of God,
the works that God will accept, the works that please God? And
he gave one answer, and that's the answer. Believe on him whom
he has sent. Rest in Him. Sabbath in Him. Because that's what Sabbath means.
Rest in Him. You are complete in Him. and
in him alone. You need nothing else. If you
are complete, there is nothing lacking. If you are complete,
how can you add anything to it? It is complete. Those Old Testament
ceremonies, those days, etc., they typified in pictures aspects
of Christ to come. He has now come. He has come. He has fulfilled all. He was
our schoolmaster, it says in Galatians chapter 3 verse 24.
He was our schoolmaster to Christ. He was that disciplinarian which
made us flee to Christ to be released from that disciplinarian
structure. He is the, could it be clearer
than this? Romans 10 verse 4. He is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. How
do I get right with God? How do I get sanctified with
God? How do I please God? How do I make myself more holy
and more fitting for a reward in heaven? How do I do all of
this? Oh, well, you must keep this, and you must avoid that,
and you must do more of this, and you mustn't do that, etc.,
etc. They've not read. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Yes, the legalists,
the Judaizers as it was then, they have a zeal after God, but
it isn't according to the knowledge of this word. The knowledge of
this word is this, that Christ has ended, for he has fulfilled
it all. He cried on the cross, it is
finished. That is why he cried that. Our
righteous standing with God in no way depends on our works of
law-keeping in the flesh. Religion says keep Sunday as
a Sabbath day. And we've been in situations
where it has been a legalistic Sabbath. There were rules of
austerity and deprivation for this day. You know, you couldn't
switch the television on. You could go for a walk, but
you mustn't go more than about a quarter of a mile. You could
eat, obviously you have to eat, but don't do the washing up today.
And so on and so forth. I was remembering a fridge that
we had until it broke down a few years ago. It had a Sabbath mode
on it, so that on Sundays, you set it, and on Sundays, you know
like when you open the door of your fridge, the lights come
on? Well, if it was in Sabbath mode, its lights wouldn't come
on, so that it kept the Sabbath day. They will tell you all of
these things. What does the Gospel say? Gospel
is good news. That's bad news. Gospel is good
news. What does the Gospel say? The
Gospel says, rest in Christ. Find all that you need in Him. So you might say, well, what
is Sunday then? Well, it's the Lord's day. Let's
just spend a minute, just look at one or two things. Acts chapter
20 and verse seven. Upon the first day of the week,
when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached
unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his
speech until midnight. In fact, he went on so long that
a young man fell asleep on a windowsill high up and fell down and was
nearly killed. But this is the point. The first day of the week
is Sunday. The first day of the week is
Sunday. On that day, it became the habit. It was the day that
Christ rose from the dead. It became the habit for the disciples,
for the believers, to meet together. Why? To bring bread together,
to hear preaching. Paul preached to them. It was,
you need something to form a habit amongst a community of people,
and they used that to come together. Look at, well, you don't need
to look at it, but 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 2 tells
them to assemble on the first day of the week to collect of
their gifts, of their resources, to give gifts for the relief
of other believers who are suffering hardship. It became a custom, it became
a pattern. The Apostle John, it says in
Revelation chapter 1, it says he was in the Spirit on the Lord's
day. So doesn't that make it like
a Sabbath day? No, it's just a question of convenience
and of habit. It's the day the Lord rose from
the dead. It's a good day for us, if we can, to meet together
for the breaking of bread, for the hearing of the preaching,
for gathering together of our resources, for helping others
in need. But, you know, I really do believe
that any day that fits with the society in which we operate would
be good if it's convenient for most people to get together.
So, for example, if there's a group of Christians, and you would
feel very sorry for them, but living in an Islamic society,
Friday's the day that society shuts down. So wouldn't Friday
be a sensible day for them to meet together? That's the whole
point of it. Don't let the Lord's Day Observance
Society judge you for thinking like that. Because what this
clearly says here is not in Sabbath days. Don't let any man judge
you over these things, over Sabbath days. Don't. We do not keep a
day as a Sabbath day. Secondly, religion will try to
hide Christ from you. That's what they do. They try
to hide Christ from you. Verse 18. Let no man beguile
you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels,
intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, from which
all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered
and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. The
believer's reward in heaven is Christ. God said to Abraham,
And it was Christ the Word that was speaking. Abraham, I am your
exceeding great reward. What is the reward of the believer
in heaven? It is God. It is intimate communion
with God. It is our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is to be there in heaven with him. Let no man beguile you of
that reward, of seeing him. What did Christ pray? That they
be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, that we
may behold his glory and commune with him intimately for eternity. But religion tries to beguile
you, to trick you away from him. Oh, you're too sinful to come
direct to God in Christ. And branches of so-called Christian
religion will tell you that you need Mary. You better not come
direct. You need Mary to intercede for you. Come via Mary. Pray
to Mary. Oh, you need a Pope. You need
a Pope or a priest. Let's not be too... Let's not
be too proud of our distance from that sort of thing. There
are plenty of places, evangelical Christian places, that revere
the preacher in the same sort of way. Oh, you need a preacher
to come to God. Ah, what about a building? We've
only got a small meeting room in a community center. Oh, you
need a holy building. You need a holy building with
stained glass windows and icons and a sense that God is there. You know, you go in there and
you sense the ancient stones and all of this sort of thing.
Ah, you're very sinful in this world. You're very easily tempted.
I know what we need. We need monasteries. We need
some monasteries to shut out the world's temptations. Anybody
that ever thought that shutting yourself away in a monastery
would strip you of the flesh's temptations to sin knows very,
very little about the sinfulness of sin and of the weakness of
the flesh. And let's not, again, be too
pointing of the finger, because there's an awful lot of evangelical
Christianity that reveres its place of worship, that talks
about its sanctuary. You have a meeting and at the
end of the meeting the little children are running around,
oh don't run around in the sanctuary, it's a holier place than it.
No it's not, it's just a building. It keeps the rain off our heads
and keeps us warm so that we can meet together in relative
comfort. No, no, none of those things.
They all block the view to Christ. Not holding the head from which
all the body by joints and bands having nourishment. ministered
and knit together increases with the increase of God. They'll
tell you that your style of dress matters so much. I am increasingly
convinced, others might disagree with me, but I am increasingly
convinced that the tenor of scripture regarding the clothes that we
wear is to maintain decency, right? We're not, we're not,
what's the word, not non-decent, you know, we're not indecent.
We clearly avoid the provocation to lust. That's quite clear.
The scriptures are quite clear. We do nothing to draw attention
to self. We do nothing to make us stand
out as different from others. as Peter says regarding women
and their demeanour in 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 3. He says it's
the inward character of grace that's the important thing, not
the clothes and the pearls and the adornments that you cover
yourself with, not outward attention seeking. So when it comes to
religious garb, ministers wearing dog collars, Priests, so-called,
wearing robes and mitres on their heads. Oh, mustn't wear a colourful
tie, wear a black tie. Oh, you take it to extremes. This is it. Think about it. Take
it to its extreme. What about the Amish peoples
in North America? They believe that there is an
absolutely objective, unchangeable standard of clothing that was
common around the late 1700s, early 1800s. And that if you
dress differently to that, you are offending God. Where do they
get that from? There are people that would say
that to stand here to preach, if I'm not dressed in the way
that Charles Spurgeon would have dressed in his day, that's...
How can that possibly be deduced from the scriptures? Decency
is the thing, just decency. We don't take it to extreme.
When you take it to extreme, you end up with women being required
to dress like Islamic women are required to dress. You see, religion
tries to put things like this between you and Christ. Not holding
the head, missing the head. Christ is the head of his body. Christ is the one who holds his
body, the church, together. He is the root that we must be
joined to. We must be joined to him. He
is the vine, we are the branches. He is the root stock, we are
the branches. The sap of the vine must come from him to his
people. And we have direct access to
him. Don't let anyone block your view
with a fleshly, physical religion with all of its constraints.
So then, religion will try to hide Christ from you, and religion
will insist that life with God. is in works, verses 20 to 23. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances after the commandments
and doctrines of men? And he's put in brackets, what
does he mean? Touch not, don't touch this,
don't taste this, don't handle this. They're all rules perishing
with the using. Why are you subject to ordinances
after the commandments and doctrines of men? They have an appearance,
a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility and neglecting of
the body, but not in any honor to satisfying of the flesh. We're
dead with Christ from the rudiments of this world. We're dead with
Christ from law-based religion. Wherefore, my brethren, it says
in Romans 7 verse 4, he's making the case there about a woman
being married to a man, but when the man dies, she's free to marry
someone else. And he says, wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law, to which you were married,
to which you were subject. How? By the body of Christ, when
he died and you died with him. What was the purpose of that?
That you should be married to another, even to him who is raised
from the dead, to Christ. That we should bring forth fruit
unto God. It's the love of Christ, not
law, that constrains his people. Religion will insist on a list
of commands, of rules, touch not, taste not, handle not, all
after the traditions, the commandments of men. What was their purpose? It's to look good before other
religious men and women. To look good, to look acceptable
to them, to look wise, to look humble. to look austere but accomplishing
nothing regarding standing with God. Why does it accomplish nothing? Because that is all bound up
in Christ. What is He made of God to His
people? It says, 1 Corinthians 1.30,
He, Christ, is made of God unto us wisdom from God. Do we not
need wisdom from God? Christ is made unto us wisdom
from God. Do we not need righteousness
to be accepted with God? He is made unto us righteousness
from God. And sanctification, oh, isn't
that something we do ourselves? So many say that. No, he is our
sanctification. You just can't find it in scripture.
Christ is the sanctifying, the reason his people are sanctified.
By his one offering, he sanctified forever his people. And we are
made redemption. The price for our sins is paid
for in him and in him alone. We need the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God for life. And where do we find it? In the
face of Jesus Christ. Your citizenship of God's eternal
kingdom is based entirely on your union with Christ from before
the beginning of time. In his death, he satisfied justice
for his people. In his resurrection, he guarantees
the resurrection of his people at the last day. In this life,
in you now, he lives. I know I quote it every week.
But here we go again, Galatians 2 verse 20, I am crucified with,
believer, you, me, believers, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of Jesus Christ, who loved me
and gave himself for me. I live by everything he did,
not by my faith in Christ, that's the means I apprehended. I live
by the faith of Jesus Christ, what he did. is the believer's
rule of life. Do you not believe the Mosaic
law is the believer's rule of life? No, I do not. Why not?
Because Christ is the believer's rule of life, not the Mosaic
law. He fulfilled it. He is the end of it. He abrogated
it all. He ended, he ended, and it's
very relevant politically today, he ended the theocracy of national
Israel forever. He ended it, he ended it. The
modern state of Israel politically is an absolute disaster. But
he ended it, and don't worry, I'm not taking sides, I'm not
saying who ought to do what to whom. What I'm saying is that
Christ ended the theocracy of national Israel forever. His
kingdom is that of the Israel of God from every tribe and every
tongue and every kindred. All of his Israel, all of them,
are complete in him. They lack nothing. They're obligated
to do nothing to alter their relationship with God. They are
free in Christ. You know, he was speaking to
the Jews in John chapter 8. And he said, you know, about
his word, he said, you shall know the truth. In Christ and
in his word, you shall know the truth. And the truth shall make
you free. And then a few verses later he
says, if the sun therefore shall make you free, you shall be free
indeed. The sun shall make you free and
you shall be free indeed. Free indeed. So can we live as
we please? That's what they say, can we
live as we please? Are you not promoting antinomianism
to live exactly as you please? What we know is this, nothing
we do changes our eternal relationship with God. But living in the light
of accomplished redemption, living by the faith of Jesus Christ
who loved me and gave himself for me, That living in that knowledge
and that light powerfully affects how we live and the people that
we are. So Paul goes on to say how in
the next chapter, chapter three, he goes on to say that having
died with Christ to sin, your life is hid with Christ in God.
and how that's worked out practically. There it is in chapter 3, verse
3. Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. And
he goes on to give examples, which, God willing, we'll look
at next time. Okay.