Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind. Now having just stated so plainly
that looking to Christ alone is salvation, us looking unto
him by faith That's how God saves sinners. He gives us faith in
his son, and we look to him alone. You are complete in him. Don't
let any man deceive you regarding things that you need to do in
order to please God. Christ pleases God and only Christ,
and our faith unites us to him who is alone our righteousness.
He's plainly stated that, and so he reiterates here, let no
man beguile you. And if you look up this phrase
in the original, beguile you of your reward. That phrase literally means somebody
falsely ruling against you in a race or a contest. And of course
that happens all the time for whatever reason, for selfish
reasons of gain, maybe the fix is in, whatever. You win, you're
on the path to victory and you win, you've already won the victory
in Christ, but they rule against you anyway for their own ulterior
motives. It's a reference to the Olympic
Games. Don't let anybody beguile you
of your reward. Christ is our reward. And he gives us the victory. And don't let anybody spoil that.
In your mind and heart, he gives us this exhortation to resist
and to see false religion for what it is. It's deception. It's respect of persons. Reject it for what it is the
error and the blasphemy that it is Now we're the clear winner
in your complete in Christ. You've already won the victory.
He gives the victory But they rule against for nefarious reasons.
They disqualify you dishonestly by their false gospel now as
believers we press toward the mark and for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And Paul is simply saying,
don't let anybody do or say anything that will take you off that course. That's victory in advance. To be running for Christ, you've
already won. The deciding of that race is
not in question if Christ is your object. Like Paul said,
we press, we don't count ourselves to have apprehended in this life,
but we press toward the mark that we might lay hold of Him
who has laid hold of us. We're already saved by Him, but
we sure do wanna be with Him. We sure do wanna be like Him.
We sure do wanna follow Him and feel His presence and favor and
blessing upon us continually. We don't wanna meet here without
Him being present. We don't wanna walk through this
world without Him holding us up. 1 Corinthians 9.24, know ye not
that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the
prize. Now this is a comparison, this
is a parable, this is an illustration. Again, the Olympic Games. A lot of people running, only
one wins. And what does that make everybody
running do? They wanna be that one. So he said run like that
run that way like your soul depended on it So run that you may obtain Clear picture Don't anybody don't let anybody
defraud you of your prize But wait Chris it says in Romans
chapter 9 it is not of him that run us I That's also true. You're not
saved because you run. You run because you're saved.
The victory's already won by Christ. Salvation is of God that
showeth mercy indeed. We're given the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ, but those who are victorious in Christ,
they run to him because he's all of our life, all of our desire. all of our salvation and all
of our desire. Now we're given a thorough description
here in this one verse of those who would put stumbling blocks
in your way and falsely defraud you of certain victory by their
judgment. They're not gonna really be able
to do anything about it because Christ giveth us the victory. We're given the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ. But they would, they would hinder
you. They would pervert the clear
gospel that you've believed. They would put a stumbling block
in your way. And it's their judgment that
you are not the winner here. Paul says, don't have any regard
for their judgments. Who cares what they say? Their
judgment's against you. And here's what those who would
do this are like. Here's what they're like. They
have a voluntary humility. Does that ring any bells? Remember when in school when
they taught you about voluntary and involuntary actions? I remember
that because I thought it was very interesting. I didn't think
a whole lot in school was interesting and I guess it was, late elementary
school or maybe early middle school. Probably elementary school
we were taught this. Voluntary and involuntary, they
had us write down examples of each right after explaining to
us what it meant. Involuntary actions are things
like running or snapping your fingers. You know, that's not
just going to happen automatically. You got to think about it. I'm
going to snap my finger. Involuntary actions were things like your
heart beating or breathing is done involuntarily, although
you can take control of your breathing, right? I always thought
that was interesting. There's gray area in there. We don't sit there and think,
well, I better breathe today. We do that involuntarily, but
you can also sit there and think about it and go, I'm gonna hold
my breath, and then I'm gonna start breathing. So there's clearly
gray areas. But we learned early about that
voluntary acts as humility. It's just the way a person is
or is not. It should not be voluntary. It
truly can't be voluntary. You shouldn't have to think about
true humility is not voluntary. There is a voluntary humility,
but that's false humility. You shouldn't have to think about
being humble. If you do, you're probably not. That's literally what our text
refers to now, a willful humility, one that's planned out in advance.
That's what that word voluntary means. Well, I better say the
right thing. I can't say that. That sounds
a little braggadocious there. I better not say it that way.
I'll be careful. I'll say the things people want
to hear so that they'll think I'm humble. That's a voluntary
humility, not natural, forced, a willful humility. Is that religious
people or what? That's so ingrained in our nature. Talking about being humble, you
know, think about the, and I can't even say the word Pope. It's
like saying the word vomit. I hate the word vomit. I'm not
gonna say, it's probably the last time you'll ever hear me
say vomit. I hate that word. I threw up. I didn't vomit. That's disgusting. The word Pope is like that to
me. Can you even stand to think about that idiot? It literally
is disgusting to me. to even think about that. He
talks about being humble. We ought to be humble. And we
ought to deprive ourselves of this and that. And he goes around
letting people kiss his ring at the same time. What an abomination
that is. All of false religion is that
way. They boast of humility. Think what a contradiction in
terms that is. boasting of humility. And we
do that by nature. They say things, well, I'm just
an old sinner, you know, saved by grace. And they don't often
add what they truly think, which is that what they mean by grace,
when they say, well, I'm just an old sinner saved by grace,
what they mean by grace is that God gave him a chance, but salvation
was up to them. that God couldn't violate their
free will. They're so high and mighty in
their freeness of will that God can't even touch that. Voluntary humility. By the power of their own free
will, they stand before you whole. Remember, listen to what Simon
said in Acts 4.10, be it known unto you all, and to the people,
all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." Can you
put anybody in the dust greater than that? Not only did you have
nothing to do with this, this is by the will of Jesus Christ
that this man stands before you whole, but you crucified him.
You're the problem, not just not the solution. It's much worse
than that. But not these corrupt judges
in our text. They stand there before you whole
by their own will. And then he says this, worshiping
of angels. Now this was the idolatry du
jour of that time. and the worshiping of angels.
And it's just representative of all idolatry. Anybody worshiping
anybody. So-called saints and apostles,
statues, worshiping Mary, religious articles and trinkets that are
bowed down and kissed and made symbols of. Remember that in
all these things that he's condemning here. Remember this, that there's another
way of saying all of them in the next verse. There's another
way, you can call it, you can point out idolatry, you can point
out their bragging on their own will,
their false humility, all these specific things, but another
way of saying them in the next verse is this, not Christ. That's
important. Now this comes from man's great
desire to worship themselves, the worshiping of angels. Think
about that. They worship that which serves
and caters to and is agreeable with them, not God. We're not
gonna have this man to reign over us, but an angel now, an
angel will worship the angels instead, because angels do so
much for us. They cater to, they're agreeable,
they guard us, they keep us from dashing our foot against a stone.
The scripture says they defend us, they serve us, but they don't
reign over us. Nobody ever thinks an angel's
on the throne of glory. That's why we like them so much. That's why men worship them,
because they're really worshiping themselves. Angels are just flying
around to make sure you don't mess up. I like that idea, hey. Of course, those who worship
angels as such are wrong about them. Angels have but one desire, and
that's to worship and serve God. Not you. If an angel does something
for you, that's God doing something for you. Moses gave you not that bread,
and neither did an angel. They're perceived to be the servants
of men, but truly they are the perfect servants of God and only
God. True believers indeed benefit
from angels, from their service of God, but it's by his grace. And by that grace, we never worship
anybody but him. An angel won't let you worship
him, will they? The angel said, don't you do
it, see that thou do it not. Worship God. I'll tell you this, A preacher
won't let you worship him either. A believer won't let you worship
him. Anybody that knows God will not
permit it. Don't call me reverend. Don't
dare do that. Let's worship God together. He
alone is to be revered. He's to be had in reverence of
all them that are about him. And then it says this, they intrude
into things that they have not seen. Boy, just like God is not to
their liking, so that they refuse to worship him, angels are a
much better substitute for God in the matter of worship. Let's
get all excited about angels. because they won't try to dictate
to us what's right and wrong. Angels don't presume to be sovereign. They don't presume to decide
to just put us in hell if that's what they want to do. Oh no. But just like God, they won't
worship God because they don't like him. God's word also is
not to their liking. And so what do they do? They intrude into other things.
They add to the scriptures or take away according to what pleases
them. They embellish, they add their
logic. So it says right there, and so
it just stands to reason. Oh, who's reasoning? Who's reasoning? That's why I've told you, I've
heard people say, well, I've given this a lot of thought,
and here's what this says. That's not what preachers do. I've got to wait on God to reveal
something to me. But the power of my logical reasoning
is not what I want to present to you. We spend our time not giving
it a lot of thought. We spend our time trying to find
out what God said from his word. That's revealed to us. You know
how what God said is revealed to us? By what God said. Not
by me giving it a lot of thought. I've given it a lot of thought.
Are you gonna trust that? That don't cut it for me. What giving it a lot of thought
will do is cause you to go beyond what the scripture says and start
making stuff up. You don't look at it as being
made up. You look at it as just being simply logical. That's intruding into things
you haven't seen. When God shows you something,
when you've seen it, you don't have to think about it. You don't
have to think about what I'm gonna say about that. I'm gonna
say what God said, that's what I'm gonna say. Now when you think
about it for purposes of delighting in it, but not for purposes of
figuring out what God said. You gotta figure it out. It wasn't
revealed to you or the person who told you it. And so many things are said that
are not revealed. Stop. Look at the glorious things
that God has revealed to us concerning his son in this book. Why would
you wanna go past that? Past that is darkness. Beyond
the light is darkness. They expand upon things that
are not revealed unto them, things that are not contained in the
word of God. We only know what God reveals to us. He reveals it to us by study,
by looking into the word, But not by sitting there thinking,
you know, I wonder what that means. Oh, I figured it out.
No, you didn't. God either showed it to you in
your word or you don't know it. Don't pretend to know it. We only know what God reveals
to us. He reveals it to us. To presume
to know anything else is the next phrase in our verse. To
be vainly puffed up in their fleshly mind. To be vainly puffed up in their
fleshly mind. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory. You know what that word means?
Boast. Don't let me boast in anything
but Christ and what he did. Who do we think we are? Who do we think we are? If we even enter into the realm
of argument and debate, you know what we're saying? I'm smarter
than you. If God just flat out showed you something, why would
you want to argue about it? God showed it to me. It's plain
as day. He revealed it in his word. Why
would I want to argue with somebody about that? It's degrading to
the word of God. It's dishonoring to the God who
speaks and is to be believed. Not debated over. If you wanna
debate, go somewhere else. If you wanna know what God said,
let's find out. Let's hear from God. Let's look
at it. Let's read it. Are we supposed to trust a man's
logic or intellect? Don't be taken off course, Paul
is saying here, by foolish, Audacious claims and falsehoods that are
contrary to scripture. Or even if they're not contrary
to scripture, if they're not expressly according to scripture,
abandon them, avoid them, don't waste your time on them. And here's what sums it all up
in verse 19, not holding the head. All of the aforementioned
problems, dangers, evil, things to be avoided, ignored, and rejected,
all of them have one thing in common. They are not. They are not something. How many
times in scripture have we seen this? And there's Christ and there's
not Christ. You can call the not Christ,
you can distinguish between not Christs and call one this and
one that, but it's not Christ. That's the problem with it. To take hold of, to seize. That's our word, holding. To
hold fast. And this is literally in the
definition. You look this up in Strong's. To take hold of, to seize, to
hold fast, to not let go. To not let go. Anything you do
in the worship and service of God, That is not you wrapping
your arms around the Lord Jesus Christ and hanging on like your
very soul depended on it. It's false religion. Any of it. All of it. Doesn't matter what you call
it. If you let go of him for one
second, you'll be puffed up. If you let go of him for one
second, you'll be making up stuff that God didn't say because it
sounds logical or seems good to you. One second. If you let go of him for one
second, you'll be worshiping something else before you even
know you're doing it. And understand that you only
hold fast. I say you holding on to him is
critical and key, and it is. But understand this, you only
hold fast unto him because he has hold of you. His holding you is the cause
of you holding on to him. But don't let go. Don't you let
go. Notice that you can't be any
of these other things. According to this text, you can't
be puffed up, you can't worship idols, you can't do any of that,
but one way, you let go of Christ. You see that? That's the only
way to do any of that. To not hold the Son of God. That's what happened now, when
you get puffed up, when you get selfish or self-righteous, you
start condemning others, you start thinking, well, that makes
sense, but it doesn't say it, you know, but it makes sense. You've looked away. You've drifted. Check your grip. Check your grip it doesn't mean
he's let go of you, but check your grip See here in this verse that our
spiritual health and progress Growth and grace and knowledge
of our Savior our functions of being joined to Christ He's called
the head capital H head for a reason The clear illustration here of
the body, the church, and the head, Christ, is used here again. You are a headless body. You
are a branch cut off, spiritually speaking, apart from Christ.
We must lay hold of him. We must be found in him. The head, him being the head
means you're governed by Christ, you're directed by Christ, you're
controlled by Christ, you move at his will, and without him,
you can do nothing. He is the vine and we are the
branches. Just another illustration of
the same truth. He is vital. He's vital to salvation. He's
vital to service. He's vital to truth. We'll start
believing, we'll start making stuff up. Without him, you literally can
do nothing. And if you ever start wondering,
look at this verse again. We're gonna close early this
morning. But 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. Are you on your own when it comes
to gaining knowledge and just learning things about the gospel? Or are you increased with the increase of
God? Are you growing from Levi himself? Are you a member of his body
and therefore nourished by virtue of that, of being in him and
him in you, connected to him, united to him by faith and by
the power of his grace. And notice that he gets all the
glory, he's the head. He is vital to everything we need, to everything
we do, to everything we are. What are we if we're not the body and he
the head? Dead, we're dead. If you're ever wondering about
something, And this is the endeavor of our lives is
to learn of him, to learn what he said, to learn his gospel,
to learn who he is. Paul said that I may know him.
Don't you know him, Paul? Well, I sure want to. I want to. I sure do want to. Only those that know him want
to know him. That's what makes us want to
know him, the fact that we know him. If you're ever wondering about
something, you're unclear on something, you're thinking about,
I wonder, I don't quite understand it. Think of it this way. I think this will help. I know
from the word that it will. Think of it this way. What in
this matter, what pertaining to this question glorifies Christ? If you can find out what glorifies
Christ, you've arrived at the truth. Brother Jack used to always say,
we have one rule. In this chair, we just have one
rule. If it glorifies God, it's the truth. If it glorifies man,
it's a lie. Not holding the head, Every error,
every disaster, damnation itself is defined by
that. Not grasping, seizing, laying
hold of, and never letting go of God's Son. Every passage of scripture we
look at in this book says the same thing. If we don't preach Christ, we
haven't preached. If we don't love Christ, we haven't
loved. You mark it down. You call it
what you want to. If we don't know Christ, we know
nothing. If we're not in Christ, we can
do nothing. If we don't have Christ, we have
not life, we have nothing. If the Son of God has died for
you, what are you gonna add to that? Is that enough? Is it enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me? And if Christ is all, as our
text clearly states that he is, to whom shall you go? Let's pray.