I was thinking this week that
if you tell a man or a woman, any sinner for that matter, that
all you have to do to be saved, to have your sin put away, is
to believe on, trust in, and be solely dependent upon Jesus
Christ Most will tell you, or at least think to themselves,
there must be more to it than that. Surely there's something
that I must do in order to be saved. The gospel is the one
thing that is not too good to be true. Yet it's instilled in
every man and woman by nature who's confronted with and convicted
of their sin to ask, what must I do to be saved? And the answer
is very simple, really. There's nothing that you can
do to be saved. Salvation is something that God
must do for you. Salvation is of the Lord. How many times have we said that?
Salvation is God's gift of grace and mercy to you. And salvation
is found in one place and one place only. in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Bible is God's Word and it
exposes the differences between the true and the false, between
right and wrong, between the flesh and the spirit. It exposes
the differences between works and grace, between the saved
and the lost, and between man and God. This morning I could
turn you to most any place in scripture to show you these differences,
but I don't suppose there's any clearer place than in the book
of Colossians, beginning in chapter two. Would you please turn there
with me? Colossians chapter two, I'll
give you a moment to get there in your Bible. Here in Colossians chapter two,
Paul tells us in verse one, that he desired the church at Colossae
to know something about the great conflict he had for them. If
you have a marginal Bible, you can see that the word conflict
there means fear. It means care and concern. Paul had great concern for them. He feared for their spiritual
wellbeing. You know, great concern and care
is something that God gives to all his true pastors. The word
pastor, as you know, actually means a shepherd. A shepherd
is one who cares for the sheep. The word shepherd used as a verb
means to tend, to guide and direct the sheep. Now, according to
verse two, Paul desired that their hearts might be comforted.
He says, being knit together in love, and that they would
experience the full assurance of understanding. What understanding
is he talking about? The understanding of what? Well,
he tells us here in verse two. He says, to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, who
both with the Holy Spirit are God. You know, God consists of
three persons. For there are three that bear
record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Word being
Christ, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one, one God
and three persons. Verse three, read it with me,
in whom? In God, in Christ, who is God,
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. You see,
it's in Jesus Christ, whom are hid all the mysteries and all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. How many? All of them. All the
wisdom and knowledge concerning God, who He is. What he's done
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why the Lord Jesus is
our message. And in verse four, Paul says,
and this I say, or I tell you this, lest or in case any man
should be beguile you. That word means deceive. If any
man should deceive you with what? Enticing words, with persuasive
language. You know, religion can be very
persuasive, even relentless. And it's all with enticing words
of man's wisdom, not in demonstration of the spirit of God and power,
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2. Now look at verse eight. Paul
says, beware, take heed, lest any man spoil you. Now that word
spoil means to ruin, to wreck, destroy, make a mess of you. How? How can man do that? Well,
he tells us right here in verse eight, through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the tradition of man, after the rudiments of
the world and not after Christ. The word philosophy The definition
is a theory, an attitude held by a person or organization that
acts as a guiding light for behavior. As I read that definition, I
thought to myself, That's exactly what modern day religion has
become. Religion has made the gospel
to be nothing more than man's philosophies, man's values, man's
principles, man's convictions, thoughts, even man's wisdom and
not God's. Paul adds another reason for
this. He calls it vain deceit. That term Vain deceit simply
means that men and women are deceived by their own vanity,
having such a high opinion of self and such a low opinion of
God. And again, verse eight, we see
that this is done after the tradition of man. That's speaking of all
their Jewish traditions, their ordinances and their ceremonies. Now, these things were done,
Paul says, after the rudiments or the arrangements and the opinions
of the world, and not after Christ. And this is where men and women
go wrong. And it's here that they go wrong
real quick. They listen to man and not to
God. They follow the world and not
Christ. They heed man's principles. They cling to man's values and
man's opinions, but have no interest at all in what God says. And
that's why they miss salvation. They miss salvation because they
miss Christ. The beloved John wrote, he that
hath the Son hath life. and he that hath not the Son
hath not life. And you know, it's just really
that simple. How do I know that salvation
is only in Christ? Look at verse nine in our text.
For in him, the Lord Jesus dwelleth all the fullest of the Godhead
bodily. Our Lord plainly said, this is
life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, John 17 three. and all
anyone will ever know of God and of his redemption is going
to be found in Christ alone. For in him, in Christ, dwells
all the fullness of God. If you've seen Christ, then you've
seen God. And if you know Christ, then
you know God. If you're trusting in Christ,
then you're trusting in God. And if you know God and Jesus
Christ, whom he had sent, then you have life eternal. Now look at verse 10, and ye
are complete in him. In who? In Christ, which is the
head of all principality and power. You know, the Lord said
that very thing himself in Matthew chapter 28, verse 18. He said,
all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Now the
word complete in verse 10 means much more than just having all
the appropriate parts. It means much more than being
finished or concluded. The word actually means to be
perfect. I love thinking about that. We
are perfect in Christ. He is perfect and our being in
Him makes us perfect. And this is not speaking of what
we shall be, it's what we are right now. In Christ, we are
perfect. No, not in ourselves, but in
Him. There's nothing that we need
to add. Not one single solitary thing. We're complete, perfect
in the Lord Jesus. Now verse 11 says, in whom, again,
that being in Christ, also ye are circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands. Now this is not speaking of the
circumcision God commanded Abraham and all the Jewish males to keep. This is talking about the circumcision
that God does in and on a believer's heart. The circumcision made
with hands was just a picture of the circumcision of the heart
that God will perform on all who believe and trust in Christ.
The circumcision instituted by God in the book of Genesis was
a token. It was a token of the covenant,
the promise of God's blessings to his people. It was a sign
by which Israel was distinguished from all other nations. The circumcision
of the Old Testament is a picture of spiritual regeneration. The circumcision of the heart
being cut off from the power of sin. And that's what Paul
is telling us in Romans chapter two, verses 28 and 29, he wrote,
for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, 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, in the
spirit, and not in the letter, the letter of the law, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. Now it's no longer necessary
to circumcise the flesh for spiritual reasons. Outward circumcision
only pictured what God would do for us in the spirit and on
the heart. And that's what I want us to
see this morning. All these ordinances, these ceremonies,
these rules, These requirements, these sacrifices that the law
demanded only pictured what Christ would do and fulfill for us after
He came. Verse 11 tells us that. It says,
we are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands and putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ. You see, it's by the circumcision
of the heart. that God has cut away from our
hearts the desire we once had for sin. Paul said in another
place that sin no longer has dominion over us. Why? Because
we're no longer under the law but under grace. Romans 6 14.
The child of God in, by, and through their substitution in
Christ died with him. And verse 11 tells us that we
were buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised
him from the dead. Now, what is Paul talking about
here? This is what he's talking about. He's talking about a baptism
of which our water baptism is a picture and a representation
of. Now, being in Christ, we died
with him. That's very important. Paul said
in Romans 6, 3, that we were baptized into his death. You
see, being in Christ, the believer has died with him and was buried
with him. And Christ died for our sins
and was buried, and being in him, we're buried too, buried
with him. And when Christ rose from the
grave, we rose with him, and all our sins were left behind. And it's by faith that we see
ourselves crucified, buried, and risen with the Lord Jesus.
And our sins have been put away by His perfect sacrifice. Verse
13 says, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath He, Christ, quickened. That word means made
alive. And we've been made alive together
with Him and he's forgiven you all trespasses. Now hear me on
this. God raised Christ from the dead. God's justice demanded it. Why? Because God's justice, the same
holy justice that can by no means clear the guilty would not allow
the holy judge to punish the innocent. Verse 14, lets us know
the very thing that I want us to see this morning. Oh, if we
could just get ahold of this, there's such freedom. Look at
verse 14, Christ blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to the cross. What's he talking about
here? Well, he's talking about the
ceremonial law, all ordinances, all the Old Testament sacrifices,
the Old Testament priesthood, the Old Testament holy days,
the Old Testament ceremonies. Christ blotted them out. He took
them away. He nailed them to the cross. Every washing the ceremonial
law required of Israel was to remind them that they were unclean. Every sacrifice, every bull,
every goat, every heifer, every turtle dove, they sacrificed,
declared to them that they were the ones who should have been
sacrificed. Every atonement. was a remembrance
of sin. Hold your place here in Colossians
2 and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 10. Hold your place.
We'll come back to Colossians 2, but look at Hebrews chapter
10 with me. Hebrews chapter 10. Look at verse three. But in those
sacrifices, Speaking of the Old Testament sacrifices, there is
a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it's not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he, when Christ cometh into the world, he said,
sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not. Now listen, God wouldn't
have those Old Testament sacrifices and offerings anymore. You know
why? because Christ had come into
the world. Christ had come into the world
to shed his blood for his people. He said, sacrifice and offering
God wouldn't have, but a body thou hast prepared me. And burnt
offerings and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, this is the Lord
Jesus speaking. Then said I, lo, I come. God came in the person of his
son, friends. He says, lo, I come in the volume
of the book. It's written of me to do thy
will, O God. Above when he said sacrifice
and offering and burn offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest
not. neither hath pleasure therein,
which are offered by the law." He's talking there about the
Old Testament sacrifices that the law required. Look at verse
nine. And then said he, lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that
he may establish the second. Now, when it says that God taketh
away the first, what's he talking about? Well, He's talking about
the ceremonial law. He's talking about all those
things that pictured and typified and shadowed the Lord Jesus.
He took away all those first things that He may do what? Establish
the second. And that's talking about the
sacrifice of Christ. Christ in Him crucified. Oh,
the gospel is so simple. Men and women make it hard. And
it's hard for men and women to believe, impossible actually,
apart from the revelation of God. But it's not hard to understand. God takes away the first, all
the ceremonies, all the ordinances, all the sacrifices, all the washings,
all of them. Why? That he may establish the
second. That being the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ, which perfects His people forever. All the things
called first were just pictures, types, and shadows of good things
to come. But Jesus Christ is that good
thing which was to come, and He's come, my friends. The first
Adam failed. The second Adam restored all
that we lost in the first. The first paradise, the Garden
of Eden, was destroyed, but the second paradise, heaven, is to
come. The first covenant, the covenant
of works, by it man failed. But the second covenant, the
covenant of grace in Christ, gives us life. The first heaven
and earth will pass away. God will make a new heaven and
earth. And our first birth is natural, but our second birth
is spiritual. Our first body will corrupt.
It will decay, and it'll rot. But our second body shall be
raised incorruptible. This pattern goes throughout
the whole Bible. God removes the first. Why? Because it was temporary, so
that God might establish perfectly and permanently the second, and
that is Christ. So back in Colossians chapter
two, and again, look at verse 14 with me. Again, we see that
all these ordinances, sacrifices, ceremonies were against us. They were contrary to us because
we couldn't perform them not perfectly as God required. We owed a debt that we couldn't
pay. And the law doesn't offer anything
in our defense. You see, the holy law of God
requires holy justice. The law of God is unbendable. God's justice is uncompromising
and it's inflexible. But thank God that he's blotted
it out. That's good news. That's real
good news. And because God has blotted out
the handwriting of ordinances that were against us, the ceremonial
law can show no debt against us and require no penalty or
payment from us. Why? Our Lord's taken it away.
He's nailed it to his cross. The law has no claim on Christ
and no claim on any believing child of God. The question is,
do you believe? Now, I just love verse 15. Look
at it with me. And having spoiled, it's talking
about what our Lord did, and having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. When a Roman emperor won a victory
and conquered his foes, it was his custom to ride through the
streets of Rome in an open chariot. And behind him would be the captive
kings and his generals and his warriors, stripped of their armor,
put in slaves' clothes with their hands chained behind their backs. And they walked behind the emperor's
chariot, exposed in public shame and disgrace. That's what Christ
has done. He's disarmed all the principalities
and powers which were against us. Our Lord has defeated Satan,
sin, hell, and death. And He made a bold display and
a public example of them on His cross. And being in Christ, He
set the captive free. You see, we're not in bondage
to any law, any ceremony, or curse. The cancellation of all
those things is due to the cross. It always goes back to the cross. There's no more sacrifice of
animals because of the cross. There's no more keeping of these
rituals because of the cross. That's where Christ nailed them.
Now pay close attention to verse 16. It says, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of the holy day
or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days. Since we are complete
in Christ, since we're purified, cleansed, made perfect in Him,
what we do and don't do has nothing to do with our salvation. And
I know many think statements like that give men and women
a license to sin. I've got news for you. Sinners
don't need a license to sin. Sin is what they are. But the
gospel is this. Only what Christ has done for
us in love, mercy, and grace will ever save us. I will interject
this. The child of God doesn't continue
in sin. The grace may abound. We don't
use our liberty in Christ to live like rebels, but it's not
what goes into our mouth that defiles us. It's what comes out
of it, out of the abundance of our hearts. No man can command
of us what Christ has not commanded. And that goes also for religion. Today, religious men and women
in error are still demanding some things from the sinner in
order for them to be saved. They say you have to make a decision. When was the last time a dead
man decided anything? They say that you have to exercise
your will. Does a dead man or woman have
a will? They say that you have to say
a prayer, that you have to walk down front and accept Jesus. Make Jesus your Lord. Give Jesus
your heart. I'm telling you, it's nothing
more than rituals and ceremonies. And what verse 17 is saying is
this, the Old Testament ceremonies, circumcision, feast days, sacrifices,
were but shadows, pictures, patterns, and symbols of Christ and His
redemptive work. They were temporary. and only
in effect until Christ came. Beloved, Christ has come, and
He's the truth, the body, and the substance of all those things
pictured and shadowed. And for us to continue in them
is to say that Christ, the fulfillment, has not come. To continue in
those things is to say that His coming was not effectual. And
it's the same with what religion choirs of sinners today. Our
salvation is not by us choosing him. Our salvation comes by him
choosing us. And our redemption is not in
our love for Jesus. Our redemption is in Christ's
love for us. And Christ didn't love us when
we loved Him. He loved us before the foundation
of the world, before we had done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God, according to His electing love and mercy and grace might
stand. And stand it does, not of works,
but of Him that called, Romans 9, 11. Religion says that salvation
is accomplished by refraining to do things that they regard
as sin. But that's not what God says.
Verse 20 asks this question. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are you subject to ordinances? If we died with
Christ by our union with Him, if we were buried and rose with
Him, and in Him have justification, have pardon, have redemption,
the putting away of sin, then in Christ all the ordinances
and types were fulfilled, and we're free from those requirements. And here again is my point. If
in Christ we are redeemed from the curse and condemnation of
the law, why? Would we want to return to those
things? Verse 21, touch not, taste not,
handle not, which are all to perish with the using after the
commandments and doctrines of men, not of God. To touch, taste,
or handle what the law says to be unclean cannot defile us any
more than abstaining from those things can save us or commend
us to God. Why? Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. All the things
that the ceremonial law required according to verse 23 are a show
of man's wisdom. Do you see that? And it's a show
of man's wisdom and will worship. The worship of man's will. There
is will worship and then there is real worship. Will worship
is nothing more than a show of humility, but not true humility
at all. Will worship gives the appearance
of devotion to Christ and consecration to God, but it's nothing more
than the worship of man's will. Men and women like to appear
to be pious and humble, but it's of no spiritual value. God looks
on the heart. God knows all things. Oh, we
can fool one another, but we can't fool God. and it brings
no honor to God. It's only an indulgence of the
flesh and it's a false concept of righteousness. It's will worship. But what is real worship? Well,
read on Colossians 3 verse one. If ye then be risen with Christ,
Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for you're dead." Again, we see
dead to this world, dead to the law, and neither can require
anything of you or from me. And our life is hid where? With
Christ in God. And here's the reason for real
worship. Verse four, when Christ who is our life. Oh, don't miss
that. He is our life. When he shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Oh, the Lord
Jesus is the believer's life. He's our everything. Not that
the Lord needed to, but he's earned the right to be our everything. He loved us and he gave himself
for us. And friends, he's coming again.
And it's then that we will also appear with him. But that's not
all. will appear with Christ Jesus
in a glorified body, as glorious and as perfect as He Himself
is. And when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is, perfect, holy,
just, and righteous. How glorious is that?