Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians chapter two. Colossians chapter two. I have
something this morning that I believe is a very important lesson for
all of us. I believe this is something that
may be eye opening to some. I believe this may be very relieving
to some. And I pray that the Lord will
make it a blessing to us. But we're going to pick up this
morning with verse 16, Colossians 2 verse 16, which says, let no
man, therefore, Therefore, because of what was
just said, let no man therefore judge you. What he had just said
was the groundwork. It was the, the foundation and
it was the reason for what he is about to say. So let's read
what he just said again and be reminded of it before we move
on. Look with me at verse 6, Colossians 2 verse 6. He said,
as you have therefore received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk
ye in him. Walk means live, live in him. Rooted and built up in him. and established in the faith
as you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware,
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after
the tradition of men." He said, beware of the tradition of men. It's everywhere. And sometimes
it's hard to tell what's of God and what's of man, the way that
man has himself convinced. I'm bringing God's Word to you,
but it's not. It's the Word of man. He said
in verse 8, after the rudiments of the world,
and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him, which is
the head of all principality and power. in whom in Christ
also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ." That means he was cut off for his
people. Verse 12, 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, and
you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you
all trespasses, 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 His cross. and having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it," or in himself. Verse 16, he said, "'Let no man
therefore judge you.'" Why? Because Christ was judged for
you. Christ was judged by God Almighty
for you. God Almighty has already judged. Therefore, who is man? God has judged. Who is man? Who is sinful man to think that
he has the right to judge a child of God who Christ has already
been judged for? As though the judgment of Christ
was not enough. Well, I think I'm going to have
to judge you too, because the judgment of God on Christ was
not enough. That's what they're saying when
they, when they judge. Look with me at Romans eight. Romans 8 verse 1 says, There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, that means by a
sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh, but after the spirit. That means those who walk looking
to Christ, believing on Christ. Verse 31 says, what shall we
then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Paul told the Colossians,
therefore, let no man, let no sinful, self-righteous, pride-filled
man judge you. It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even right now at the right hand of
God. That means seated on the throne. making intercession for you.
All right. Now go with me back to Colossians
two, Colossians two, verse 16 says, 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. He's saying, let no man judge
you either way. Either way, and the reason is
because it's not the issue. That's the reason. It is not
the issue. Don't allow yourself to be put under the judgment
of another man. Men love to judge other men. They love to build whole religions
on it. And he said, don't allow yourself
to be put under the judgment of another man and don't put
another man under your judgment. If God has not given a commandment
on it one way or the other. Now if God has given a commandment
on it, then God is the judge. If God says it is this way, then
God is the judge. Man's not the judge, that's God's
judgment. But if God has not given a commandment on it one
way or the other, then stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made you free. Verse 16 says, let no man therefore
judge you in meat. If you want to eat something,
eat it. Our Lord said, nothing that goes
into the mouth can defile you. If you don't want to eat something,
don't eat it. Either way though, either way. From the standpoint of salvation,
men love to make everything an issue of salvation. They love
to turn everything into an issue of salvation. From the standpoint
of salvation, let no men judge you in it and don't judge another
in it. And I'll give you an illustration,
all right? This is a real life scenario. You know, the Jews
were not allowed to eat pork and such on and so forth. Here's
a real life scenario. Years ago, I had a retail store
in Rocky Mount, Virginia. And there was a religious organization
in town, a place of false religion. It was a house of lies and they
were raising money for their church by selling $5 spaghetti
plates. Well, it was a day of regular
day of the week. It was around lunchtime. A regular
customer of mine walked into my store with a to-go box of
one of these spaghetti dinners and said, here, I bought this
for you. The church down there is raising
money. They're trying to do whatever it is they were trying to do.
And this person did not attend that church. This is just what
they thought was the right thing to do. You know, you support
their fundraising efforts. So they bought this spaghetti
dinner and said, I bought this for you. And I took it. And while
I was registering everything, the first thing that came into
my mind was, I'm not eating this. The money that bought this is
going to idol worship. It was literally a place of idol
worship. And then I thought about what
the apostle Paul said in first Corinthians eight. If you turn
with me over to first Corinthians chapter eight. First Corinthians 8 verse 4,
it says, As concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that
are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is
nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are
called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, and there be gods
many and lords many, but to us there is but one God the Father,
of whom are all things, and we in him. And one Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom are all things, and we by him. How be it there is not
in every man that knowledge. For some with conscience of the
idol unto this hour, eat it as a thing offered unto an idol,
and their conscience being weak is defiled. Verse eight says,
but meat commendeth us not to God. For neither if we eat are
we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse. What he's saying is don't give
it a second thought. It doesn't mean anything. He
doesn't mean anything. He goes on to say, unless it's
going to offend a young, new in the faith brother who does
not yet understand this. IT'S JUST NOT WORTH DOING IT
IF IT'S GOING TO OFFEND A BROTHER, SOMEONE WHO CLAIMS THE FAITH
OF CHRIST. BUT AS FOR OUR OWN CONSCIENCE
CONCERNING IT, HE SAID IN 1 CORINTHIANS 10, IF YOU LOOK AT 1 CORINTHIANS
10 VERSE 25, WHATSOEVER IS SOLD IN THE SHAMBLES, that eat, asking
no question for conscience' sake, for the earth is the Lord's,
and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not
bid you to a feast, and you be disposed to go, whatsoever is
set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience' sake."
Again, he goes on to say, if it's gonna offend a weak brother
though, it's not worth doing it, verse 28. But if any man
say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat
not. For his sake that showed it,
and for conscience' sake, for the earth is the Lord's, and
the fullness thereof. Conscience I say not thine own
but of the other, for why is my liberty judged of another
man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker,
why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? Whether
therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to
the glory of God. There's a difference in a man
judging you because he's self-righteous. And a man being confused and
worried about, what are we doing here? Because he doesn't understand
yet. He's weak in the faith and he doesn't understand that. The
Lord will give us discretion on that difference. And I needed
that discretion with my spaghetti dinner. All right, I was sitting
here holding this dinner, and this lady made no profession
of faith. She didn't attend anywhere. Knew
nothing of spiritual things, and I thought, if I offend this
person right now over a silly plate of spaghetti, I may never
have the opportunity to witness Christ to her, witness the gospel
to her. This may be one of God's elect chosen from the foundation
of the world. It's not worth offending. to
someone who just does not know. So I ate the spaghetti. There
is one God in heaven and earth and everything belongs to him.
Those were his tomatoes in that sauce. His wheat made those noodles. And what Paul is saying is, if
Christ has set you free from the bondage of the law, then
don't let any man put you back under it. Oh, you can't eat that
now. That was offered to idols. There are do's and don'ts that
apply to the child of God. This is important right here.
There are do's and don'ts that apply to the child of God, but
they are all in response to, and they are all motivated by
love and thanks to God for the Liberty. the freedom that has
been secured for us in Christ. All right, so with that being
said, go back to our text, Colossians 2 verse 16. It says, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or in drink. This will be shocking to some,
but if you are of legal age and would like to have a glass of
wine, have a glass of wine. If you do not want to have a
glass of wine, don't have a glass of wine. Somewhere along the
way, false religion got it in its mind that drinking wine is
a sin. It is not. It's not. The scripture is clear about
moderation. The scripture clearly tells us
not to be drunks. But our Lord said, nothing that
goes into the mouth can defile you. The defiling comes from
within, it comes out. And Paul told Timothy for his
stomach's sake to drink a little wine instead of water. Our Lord
made wine and he never committed a sin. Our Lord drank wine and
He never committed a sin. The Pharisees called Him a wine-bibber. They said, look at Him sitting
there with that table of sinners having a glass of wine with them. Judging Him, that's what they
were doing. Now somebody is going to say, yep, that may be so. What you're saying right now
may be so, but if you tell people that, If you notify people of
their liberty, all you're going to do is encourage them to sin. Man does not have to have encouragement
to sin. Man is sinning already. The greatest
sin of all of it is that self-righteousness that says, I'm better than you.
Oh, you do that? I'm better than you. Paul said,
be careful. But be careful. Verse 16, let
no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect
of in holy day. In today's language, the word
holiday comes from holy day. We have a few holidays throughout
the year that mankind associates with religion. None of them are
associated with the gospel. None of them. None of them. There are some who literally
worship Easter and they worship Christmas because they think
it has religious significance. They don't. They don't. Easter means something that we
will go into at another time. We have before, we will again.
I'm not going to take the time to go into Christmas and those
kinds of things. We will at some point. But all Easter is, And
again, there's gonna be so many people who hear this and they'll
be shocked by this. I don't mean to have shock value. I just mean
to tell the truth of the matter. All Easter is is an excuse for
kids to find eggs. That's all it is. And all Christmas
is is an excuse to exchange gifts. If during those two times, masses
of people all over the world want to dwell on the birth of
our Lord and Savior and the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, I think
that's wonderful. I'm all for it. If that's what
everybody wants to dwell on, let's dwell on it. But our worship
is not confined to a day. It does not revolve around a
day. It revolves around a person. And I don't need a holiday to
worship Him for those reasons. At the same point in time, I
don't have to shun the holidays. Some feel like, well, if I'm
gonna be a proper child of God, I have to shun all of this pagan
stuff. I don't have to shun the holidays
to try to prove to everybody that I love and respect and fear
and worship my Lord. These holidays have nothing to
do with our worship of Christ. They're just holidays. If you
want to hide eggs, hide eggs. If you don't want to hide eggs,
don't hide eggs. I get asked questions like this a lot. If
you want to put a tree up and decorate it with ornaments, put
a tree up and decorate it with ornaments. If you don't, don't. Verse 16, he said, let no man
therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an
holy day or of the new moon. The Jews had all these sacrifices
and feasts and ordinances and Christ put all of them away by
the sacrifice of himself. He blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances by nailing everything to his cross. And Paul said,
let no man judge you if you don't observe the new moon. All these different ordinances
and things that man thinks you ought to be observing. Like,
the end of verse 16 says, the Sabbath days. That's still one that man loves
to judge over. Oh, you can't do that, it's the
Sabbath. No, no, no, we don't do that, it's the Sabbath. I
checked the aquatic center schedule at the YMCA. On Sunday, it is
open from 12 noon to 6 p.m. That does not interfere with
our worship times. If you would like to take your
children swimming, take your children swimming. And if you
don't want to take your children swimming, don't take your children
swimming. All right, this is silly. We're
being silly with all this stuff, but man gets silly with it. And here's the point that we're
getting at. We must understand this. If we
get hung up on these things, we are going to miss Christ. That's the danger. If we get
hung up on these things, if we try to make an issue a spiritual
saving issue, Out of things that are not the issue, we're gonna
miss the issue. We're going to. Verse 17 says,
all these things are just a shadow of things to come. The body is
of Christ. Christ is the issue. He is the
only issue. He is our meat. He is our drink.
He's our Sabbath. He's our Sabbath. Well, now the
scripture says you're supposed to be resting on the Sabbath.
We are. We are. Christ is our Sabbath. If the only thing that we see
in the Sabbath is a law concerning a particular day of the week,
we have missed Christ, our Sabbath. Christ, our rest. We don't get
it, if that's all we see, we don't see, we're blind. We miss
the point of it all. Somebody could come in here and
say, well, you don't even have an altar. You're gonna worship
God without an altar? Oh, we have an altar. It's just
not in the form of a wooden table. Christ is our altar. Man gets so hung up on things
and days and rituals and ceremonies, and in the process, he misses
Christ. Which is what all of those things
are pointing to. All of it. Verse 18. I'm going to be very
quick. Verse 18. Let no man beguile you of your
reward. Let no man trick you into following
him. Don't let a man shame you into
following him because he has put on a fake. A voluntary humility
in worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath
not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. Verse 19 says,
and not holding the head. You see that capital H? That's
Christ. Not holding up, lifting up, looking
to, worshiping Christ. from which all the body by joints
and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together,
increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore, if you be
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living
in the world are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste
not, handle not. That's what men stand up in pulpits
and tell people now. If you want to be saved, you
better touch not, taste not, handle not. You better keep an eye on your
holiness. You better progress in your own sanctification. Paul
said, don't let any man tell you that. Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our holiness. Verse
20, wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you
subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which
all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines
of man. He's saying man made all that
up, not God. That's a judgment of man, not
God. Verse 23, he said, all it is is a show. It's just a religious
show, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship
and humility and neglecting of the body. But he said, it's not
in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. It's not going
to do anything for any one soul. The only thing that can do anything
for a man or a woman's soul is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the issue. Back in verse
9, we read it. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. Now let me close with these words. There are many things that would
be good for a believer to observe and not observe. There are many things that would
be good for a believer to touch not and taste not and handle
not. But the moment that we start
looking to our observing of that for assurance in salvation, we've
missed Christ. We have missed Christ, and if
we miss Christ, it doesn't matter what we observe or don't observe,
we missed it all. If we miss Him, we missed it
all. And I'm gonna be done, but Romans
10 says, Paul said, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. I want them to
be saved. He said, I bear record that they have a zeal of God.
They mean well, they mean well, but it's not according to knowledge,
knowledge of what God has said for they going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. He is the end of the law. That's
why Paul said, therefore, let no man judge you, for your righteous
standing before God, you're complete in Christ. You're complete. That's
a good place to be. He said, stay right there, complete
in Christ. Okay, you're dismissed.