Now this text, this passage starts
with the premise of us being dead with Christ. And so we need
to talk about that before we can understand any of it. This idea of being dead with
Christ Of course another way of for
Paul to say what he's been saying Christ is all and being dead
with him particularly We know what it means to be dead But
look what we're dead from the elements of the world. That's
what that word is the elements of the world and because we are dead with Christ from this world's
philosophy, from the fashion of this world, from the thinking
of this world, what this world calls truth, we are not subject to the ordinances
of the world. So to understand more of what
it is to be dead with Christ, turn please with me to Romans
chapter six. Verse one, Romans six one. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? In other words, since
we're not under the law, but under grace, then are we to go about sinning? Because the more we sin, the
more grace must be bestowed upon us. God forbid, how shall we
that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, Even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
So you see how these words death and life pertain to the law and
our walk. Shall we continue in sin? Sin
is the breaking of the law. And so that's the sense in which
we're said to be dead with Christ in our text. And here, look at
verse five. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. Now, does that mean that we're
not sinful anymore? In a sense. And I know that's
shocking for you to hear me say that, but hear me out here. And
as we read through this, look at verse seven, for he that is
dead is freed from sin. Do you feel freed from sin? Well,
in one sense, no, we live with it. Our sin is ever before us
yet. but to be freed from sin means
this. If we're dead in Christ, we were
dead to God and alive unto sin, but now we're dead to sin and
alive unto God. And to be dead to sin just means
that sin shall no more have dominion over. It doesn't reign over us.
We don't serve sin because being dead in Christ, dead to the law,
the law has no claim on us. We're not under the law. So when
we break the law, well, that law has no power over us. It
has no condemnation of us, though we have broken it, and we do
break it. But the law is not in effect
upon us. If it is, we're goners. It's
just not in effect on us. And Paul deals with this. You
can say that, well, we'll just go do what we want then. Yeah,
believers do what they want. What they want to do is honor
Christ, who freely forgave them their sin. But understand, being dead to
sin, you're freed from sin. You could take that to mean we
don't sin, you'd be wrong. But we don't sin in the sense
that the law cannot condemn us for that sin. It just can't. Not now, not ever. The law is
not in effect upon us. We are not under the law. We're
under grace. Christ was made under the law. Made of a woman, made under the
law. And he died for our sins according to the scriptures.
And he perfectly honored and kept God's law. for us, as us,
in our place. And so the law just doesn't have
any power over us anymore, at all. So of course we sin in a
sense, but in another beautiful, wonderful sense, we're freed
from sin. We're freed from sin. I cannot
sin in the sight of God. Does that mean he's just ignorant
of the bad stuff I did? No, it means his law has been
perfectly satisfied for me. And no sin is laid to my charge,
none. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. That's hard to get through our
heads. It's too wonderful to even really grasp but it's the
truth, freed from sin, free from the law. Now, if we be dead with
Christ, verse eight, we believe that we shall also live with
him. There's another side to it, isn't it? Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
once unto sin, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. That's
us too. Likewise, likewise, just like
Christ as he is, so are we in this world. And this is one beautiful
particular that that applies to. Likewise, reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We can't die either because he
can't. He died once unto sin. We died with him. We're dead
to sin and we're alive unto God just like he is in him. Now while when our texts speaks
of the elements or rudiments of the world, Why then are we
talking about being dead to sin and not dead to the world? Our
text says world, but our text also says ordinances. It's because of that word ordinances. We're talking about being dead
to sin, dead to the law. This word ordinances that we
are not subject to anymore, It includes a couple of things,
and it's clear from the context. I'm not making any of this up.
Very clear here that it means a couple of things. It means
the Old Testament law. We are not subject to that anymore.
And this touch not, taste not, handle not, and before in the
context here, you're talking about other things that religion
imposes upon people. Not subject to that anymore.
We are not subject to that. Christ has fulfilled the law
and we are not subject to the Old Testament ordinances. The religious Jews of Paul's
day still enforced that Old Testament law and did
so as essential to man's righteousness with God. And that was their
error. Now this word also, though, includes
a body of decrees that we know existed and does exist that is
devised and imposed by the Jewish religious leaders, which they
added to God's law and presented to the people as necessary to
be observed. In other words, just like all
religion, they made up a bunch of stuff in addition to the actual
law of God and said, you've gotta do this too. Every religion does
it. Every one. Whatever basis in fact that they
use, whether it's the writings of somebody named John Smith.
That sounds like somebody checking into a hotel for nefarious reasons. I mean, that just sounds made
up, doesn't it? John Smith, let's go, let's... Whatever, what I'm saying is
whatever basis in fact they use, it's always a bunch of stuff
added to it. Well, logically based on this,
there's this, this, and this. The Baptists do the same thing.
The Catholics are utterly notorious for it. And the Jews, notorious. So it included all of that, the
ordinances of this world, the ordinances of the world. It's
the Old Testament law that God did ordain, but it's fulfilled
in Christ. It never had any other purpose
but as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And these are called the elements
of the world here, as well as the ordinances, these ordinances,
because the world's religion is a large element of the world
whose fashion passeth away. We're not subject to the ordinances
of the world and its religion because the actual law of God
was honored and fulfilled by Christ for us, and it was only
ever there to point us to Christ. And the commandments and doctrines
of men, verse 22, see that? Are anti-Christ. They're anti-Christ. So we are
not subject unto them. That's important. All the religious
tomfoolery that people have made up and all of the Old Testament
stuff that they've dredged up and would put you under the bondage
of the law, as Paul put it, it's all anti-Christ. Looking to Christ does away with
all of that. We are not We're not only not
subject to it, we're not to be subject to it. We're not to be
subject to it. Notice the world that Paul is
talking about in Galatians 6.12. Listen to this. This is a verse
that we're familiar with. What does he mean by world there?
Same thing as he does in our text. Look at it. Galatians 6,
12. As many as desire to make a fair
show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised. Who is
that? That was the Jewish religion. Nobody else constrained anybody
to be circumcised. That was the Pharisees and the
Sadducees and the high priests and all the religious Jews. They
constrain you to be circumcised only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. To say that Christ was
the point of all of that and that it's not to be done anymore,
it's fulfilled by him, was offensive to the religious Jews. And so
they didn't dare say that, though they knew that was right in their
heads. And those today that know in
their heads that it's God's elect in grace that sinners are saved,
they dare not talk about that. Nobody wants to hear that. They
want to hear how it's all up to them. I got a man to admit
it to me one time. And I know it's true of most
of them. They know better. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, 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. You see that? It's religion. The world he's
talking about in our text is religion. It's the religious
world. The ordinances that they made
up and the ones that they have perverted from the word of God,
we're not subject to them. We're not to be subject to them
because Christ is our all. And so why is a good question?
Why are you subject to these things? Along with the exhortation
in verses 16 through 19, look at that again. Remember this
exhortation in verses 16 through 19 of our text there in Colossians
2. Listen to it again. "'Let no
man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of
an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days, which
are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.'"
You see that? Don't worship the shadow. Don't
be distracted by the shadows. They all take you back to the
source of the shadow, which is Christ. He's the One. that we stand before in, accepted
with God. We're not accepted with God by
doing these other things, by chasing these shadows. And let
no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping
of angels, intruding into those things which he had not seen,
vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind and not holding the head. not laying hold of, and remember
it literally means to not let go of, not, not letting go of
Christ. Which all the body by joints
and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together
increaseth with the increase of God. Only by Christ do we
live and grow and know God. And so along with that exhortation,
this question, why is so powerful? Why, as the living in the world,
are you subject to these ordinances of the world? Don't let them constrain you
to be circumcised. Don't let them tell you that
you can only eat certain things on certain days. Look at the
examples he gives in addition to what we just read in verse
21. Touch not, taste not. handle
not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments
and doctrines of men." That's all that is. These things mentioned
are examples of how the Jewish religion was all about exterior
things. Touch not, taste not, handle
not. It's all about exterior things,
and it's the reason for what our Lord taught them and rebuked
them for in Matthew 23, 25. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees. You hypocrites. This is the Son
of God. How would you like for the Son
of God to sit there and call you out? You're a hypocrite. Woe unto you. For you may clean the outside
of the cup. You wouldn't touch certain things
if your life depended on it. You wouldn't eat certain things
at certain times. You may clean the outside of
the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion
and excess. And that always pops into my
mind now when I see that word extortion. Remember when the
Pharisee prayed and the publican prayed? Remember the Pharisee
specifically mentioned, we don't extort anybody. That's how, what they say they're
not doing, that's what they're doing. Thou blind Pharisee. Blind, hypocrite,
woe unto you! Cleanse first that which is within
the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean
also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you are like unto whited
sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within
full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness. Even so,
you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, But within, you're
full of hypocrisy and iniquity. It's not just pretending to be
something you're not. It's evil. Iniquity. And our text says that
all of these things are to perish with the using. You remember
what the Lord said, Matthew 15, 10 through 20. It's not the outside. It's not what goes into the body.
It's what comes out of the body. That defiles a man, what comes
out of the heart. And listen to this account of
it in Mark 7, 18. He said unto them, are you also without understanding? Do ye not perceive that whatsoever
thing from without entereth into the man? It can't defile you.
Why not? Because it entereth not into
his heart. This whole thing of acceptance
with God is a heart issue. This whole thing of sin and salvation
is a heart matter. And those things have nothing
to do with the heart. Your heart's not closer to God
if you walk from back there to down here. But goeth into the belly and
into the drought, purging all meats. And he said, that which
cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. It's what's in your
heart. What does not touching certain
things, not tasting or handling certain things have to do with
your heart? Does the holy God care whether
you eat bacon or not? Really? What does that have to
do with your heart? All of those actual ordinances
as God ordained them or for the purpose of pointing sinners to
Christ. And the ones that man ordained
are void anyway. The ones that pointed us to Christ
are fulfilled by Him. And now we are not under that
law, but under His grace. Think about this with me again,
of the horrible propensity of man to teach and command whatever
they please. The commandments and doctrines
of men, Paul calls them here. The Jews were guilty of this,
but is any religion without guilt in this? What's purgatory? What is that? Show me that in
the Bible. What does walking in hell have
to do with your soul? What does eating beef on Friday
have to do with your soul? Saying the sinner's prayer? What
does that do? What does that have to do with
your heart? You're just repeating words that somebody else wrote.
Why is there such a thing as religious clothing? If you can
ever look at somebody and say that person's religious, what's
the point of that? Did not our Lord strictly forbid
that? Alcohol strictly forbidden when
the Lord's very table includes wine. Paying of a tithe? Where do you see that now? Paul
wrote a whole lot about giving in the New Testament. I don't
see anything about paying a tithe in the New Testament, do you?
He wrote about giving a lot. Never mentioned it, best I can
tell, a tithe. Religion makes stuff up. That's what Paul is saying. And
he says, we're not subject to that. And it's not a suggestion.
The honor of Christ is the consideration in this. Verse 22, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom. 23, verse 23. These things have indeed a show
of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting of the
body. Like our Lord said, you appear righteous on the outside, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
What does that mean? That's interesting in this context,
isn't it? Now, this religious stuff, it
appears very legitimate on the outside. To religious sinners
who don't know Christ, it does. It's repulsive if you know that
Lord Jesus will worship. He mentions will
worship. Those two words are one in the
Greek, and they mean this. Voluntary Arbitrary and The word arbitrary means
this based on whim or personal preference That's what they call
worship It's based on their own fleshly whims and personal preference
and That describes the whole of religion
apart from Christ. God says it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
But man's personal preference is that God not violate man's
free will. Oh no. That's an abomination. That's an abomination. God says with men it is impossible. He said that in answer to the
question, who can be saved? With men it's impossible, but
religious man's personal preference is that salvation is up to them. God says that he chose some sinners
and not others in love. before they were ever born or
had done any good or evil. Why do you think it says that?
But man's personal preference is that God can't do that now
without looking ahead in time to see what man is going to do,
what the sinner is going to do. It deliberately says before they
had done anything. Why did God specifically say
that His electing love was without regard to anything a man does
if He chose sinners on the basis of what they did? Christ plainly stated that He
laid down His life for His sheep. And He says to some, they're
listening to Him when He said that. He said to them, I lay
down my life for my sheep, and then he told them, you are not
my sheep. And those who are his sheep,
for whom he shed his precious blood, they shall never perish. Man's personal preference though,
is that being deemed unfair, We will declare that Christ died
in order to save everybody. He didn't do it. He failed it,
didn't it? But at least it's fair. Perhaps the greatest blasphemy
ever told? The Lord Jesus Christ God's precious
only begotten well-beloved son gave himself for the sins of
his chosen beloved sheep, and not one of them shall ever perish.
He died to redeem his elect, and he redeemed his elect. Notice this now, we'll worship
and false humility. Notice what he calls it in verse
18. Let no man begal you of your
reward in a voluntary humility. There that word is again, voluntary. Planned ahead, not natural. And neglecting of the body. Paul
said there's no honor in any of that. There's no honor. There's not an ounce of honor in any of that.
None of that has anything to do with honoring God. None of
it. God doesn't care whether you
do any of that or don't do any of that. Does not care. Except
he'll damn you for it if you're doing it for a righteousness
for him. But you know what it does do? Look at the last part of the
verse. Here's what it does do. It don't satisfy God, but it'll
satisfy you if you're religious and Christless. You see the context of what satisfying
the flesh is? Doing these religious deeds satisfies
only those who do them. With regard to their sin, they're
satisfied because look what I've done. Look what I've done. Isn't that what the Pharisee
said? Many wonderful works. Here I come because of my many
wonderful works. I've done some terrible things,
but I've counted a lot of beads, too. What honor is there in that?
That don't satisfy God. It may satisfy you. And it does. They count enough beads, they
think, well, I've done some bad stuff, but it's all taken care
of. You see the meaning of that phrase
now in the context here, the satisfying of the flesh. I'm selfish, corrupt, proud,
evil, self-righteous, perverted and depraved, but I went to confession
this week, or I walked down to the front and rededicated my
life, or I haven't missed Sunday school
in over a year. That's gotta count for something. that may satisfy your flesh with
regard to your sin, but you're not the one who needs to be satisfied
about that. And God is only satisfied with
the precious blood of his son. You are not redeemed with corruptible
things. but with the precious blood of
Christ as of a lamb without blemish, without spot. You think you have life, many
think they have life in their religious obedience, but they
will not come to Christ that they might have life. And in the spirit of Paul's exhortation
here, let's ask God to keep us. from our natural self-righteous
whims when it comes to our worship and faith in Christ. We're so
prone to that. And may we always look to and
hope in and trust and commit ourselves to Christ alone. Who
cares what this world thinks? We're a cult to them or some
weird sect. That's fine. That's fine by me. We are crucified into this world
and this world into us. You remember why Paul said that?
Because of Christ and what he did. This world is dead to me
and I into this world. Thank God for that.