Colossians 2, look with me at
the beginning of verse 6. It says, As you have therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Received. It says received. It does not
say accept. Nowhere in this book does it
say that. Accept Jesus as your personal Savior. It does not
say that. Modern evangelists, so-called
false preachers, all say that. He doesn't say that in God's
Word. To say, won't you accept him, is to imply that he's an
offer. the offer put out there for men
to do with as they plead. No, sir. Christ offered himself
to God, not man. And this is something that God
accepted. And it does say, though, that
his people are accepted in the beloved, Ephesians 1.6. But nowhere
does it say, well, won't you accept him? The word received
means something bestowed upon you, like a gift. And did not John say a man can
receive nothing except it be given him from above? As many
as received him, John 1.12, to them gave he the right and the
power to become the sons of God. Why did they receive him? Verse
13 says they were born of God, not of the will of the flesh.
Not of blood, not of the will of flesh, not of the will of
man, but of God. And as many as received Him,
they received Him, they believed Him, because He gave them the
grace to believe Him. That's why. It's a gift. Salvation
is not an offer to us, but an act upon us. Salvation is not
an offer to us, but an act upon us, in us, a gift to us, a work
for us, and a work in us. Salvation is of the Lord. Even
faith is not of yourself. It's a gift of God. Why do we
say this? Because it's so. Why do we say
this? Because to God be the glory,
great things He hath done. Does that need to be said every
time? Yes, especially today when so many are saying the exact
opposite. As ye have therefore received
Christ, how did we receive him? Those who have received him,
those who do bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, those who do believe
Those who do repent toward God and believe the Lord, how in the beginning, how did
they come? How did they receive Him? As
an unworthy sinner. As an unworthy sinner. Needing
Him. Not coming to do God a favor.
to add to his church, because a church can't be church without
you. Yes, it can. But no, they receive him, they
come as unworthy sinners, needing his mercy and his grace,
needing Jesus Christ to be there all and in all. All right? As
you have received him, keep walking like that. To this man will I
look, he that is poor and of a contrite heart, and trembleth
at my word." Not argue with it, not cavil with it, not backtalk
it, but tremble at my word. This is the man, God says, I
will look to with favor. Walk in him. There's so much,
so many verses here that say in him. I could go back, well,
do it. Says in verse 2, in Christ, the
saints in Christ. Verse 4, your faith in Christ
Jesus. Verse 14, in whom we have redemption. Verse 16, by him. Verse 16, by
him, for him. Verse 17, by him. Verse 18, in
all things he might have the preeminence. Verse 19, in him.
Verse 20, by him. Verse 20, by him. Verse 22, in
the body of his flesh. Verse 28, the last line, in Christ
Jesus. Chapter 2, verse 3, in whom. Verse 5, your faith in Christ. Salvation is in those two words,
to be found in him. In him. covered, robed in His righteousness,
under His blood, in Him, accepted in the Beloved. Not yourself
accepted in Him. That's salvation. Rooted, verse
7, as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord. The Lord. We heard, well, I heard
it on on tape this week. My pastor preached a message,
an old one, and he said so many people talk about Jesus as their
Savior and then later on make Him Lord. That's not possible. Number one, you don't make Him
Lord. God made Him Lord. Psalm 2 says that. Holy King
on my holy hill of Zion. God made this same Jesus whom
you've crucified both Lord. We don't make Him Lord. We just
find out He is. And we bow to Him and believe
Him. God reveals that to us. We don't
make Him Lord. He is Lord. We don't make the
Creator Creator. He is the Creator. We don't make
Him sovereign. He is sovereign. We've got to
let Him be God. Are you kidding? Let God be God? then he's not God. Right? If the creature must let God
do something, he's not God. He's no more powerful than us. He must let us do things, right? Not God. He's the God in whose
hands our breath is and all our ways. We ask Him, will you let
me? Breathe, will you let me? Live, will you let me into your
kingdom? Will you?" He worked up all things
after the counsel of His will to the praise of the glory of
His Christ. Rooted, built up in that, verse
7. Rooted and built up in Him. Rooted, grounded, settled. We bought an old iron fence off
somebody, a decorative fence we might put around our garden,
but this fence was on their property. It had been there, I guess, for
a hundred years or more. You can't believe how hard that
was to get up, because the roots of trees and shrubs and all that
had just attached themselves to that fence and would not let
go. I had to dig, I had to take the
axe to the root of the matter to get it out. And rooted means
lay hold. Hold fast and not let go. Rooted, grounded, settled, like
Martin Luther once said, here I stand, I'm not moving. Where, Martin? On Christ the
solid rock. Rooted, grounded, settled in
Him. Built up. Built up. If we're
rooted in Him, we will be built up. Verse 7, built up in Him. Growing in grace and the knowledge
of Him. Verse 7, established in the faith. Established in the faith. Does not Ephesians 4 say there's
One Lord and one faith. So many say, and there's a popular
so-called ecumenical movement out there. There's even a place
out on 122 that calls itself by that name. Ecumenical, so
forth. Presbyterian, whatever. Everybody get together. We all
believe the same thing anyway. No, we don't. One Lord. One faith. One faith. The faith. Scripture says, of God's elect.
The faith once delivered to the saint. Not offered, delivered
to the saint. Given to them. The faith. Not
a faith. There are not many faiths. We
all have many faiths and we all get together. No, sir. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One hope of your calling. One
faith. The faith. The faith. Established in the faith. What
is the faith? It's not a what, it's a who. That salvation is in Jesus Christ. Period. By Him, for Him, unto
Him, His glory. That's the faith. It's the object,
the faith. Rooted and built up in Him. Established
in the... Is that established in your hearts
and mind? That salvation's in Jesus Christ. As you have been taught, verse
7, As you have been taught. Our children are taught from
an early age. What? What? What do we teach our children?
The fear of the Lord. Number one. That's the beginning
of wisdom. That's the first thing. We preach a holy God. The fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Our children don't
run around saying, Oh my God. They've been taught to fear His
name. Haven't they? Their parents did. Those who
know God, fear God. They worship God as God. That's how we've been taught.
That's how I was taught. I was raised in the fear and
the admonition of the Lord, as Scripture says. Fear. It's a
good thing. Who's taught this? Our Lord said
in John 6.45, they shall all be taught of God. Who? That's
taken from Isaiah 59. All thy children, all of God's
children, shall be taught of the Lord. They're all taught. All of them are taught by the
Lord, to fear him, to look to him, to believe him, to trust
him, that he is salvation. as you've been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. If you believe, if you believe this, the truth
that is hated by most. And it is. Our Lord said to his
disciples, you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake,
for my glory's sake, for my honor's sake, for my work's sake. You shall be hated by all men
for my name's sake. Blessed are you, he said, it
meant persecute you and revile you and say all manner of evil
falsely against you for my name's sake. Blessed are you. So did
that to the prophets before you. How blessed. We ought to be so
thankful if we believe the truth. The truth. The truth. Abounding
therein. Give thanks. Oh, give thanks. Not only that salvation is in
Christ, completely in Christ. Give thanks. Not only for that,
but that you believe it. Give thanks. Salvation is not
in the law. Salvation is not by works. Give
thanks if you know that. Give thanks that salvation is
not left up to you. Give thanks that you're not left
to yourself to save yourself. Oh, abounding therein in thanksgiving. Give thanks for freedom from
the law. We've seen that hymn. Oh, happy
condition! The Lord Jesus Christ hath bled,
and there is remission. Cursed by the law, bruised by
the fall, Christ hath redeemed us once for all. Give thanks. Abound in thanksgiving. Now verse 8, he says, rooted
and built up in him established. Verse 8, beware lest any man
spoil you. Spoil you. Beware of men. Our
Lord said that to his disciples before he sent them out. He said,
Beware of men. Beware of men. Beware. Peter wrote that in 2 Peter 3
several times. Beware. Beware of men. Because men are whom Satan uses. His ministers, Scripture says,
are transformed into ministers of righteousness. They say all
the right things, they look right and so forth. Beware lest any
man spoil you. Spoil you. The word spoil there
means make a gain of you, like someone who would go in a country
and take it captive and take the spoils, take for themselves
the riches and so forth. Well, our Lord, when He went
in that temple that day that was fundraising, He went into Temple, it was supposed
to be a house of prayer and a house of worship, dedicated and devoted
to one thing, the worship of God, setting forth of Jesus Christ. He went in that place and they
were buying and selling, you know, having a spaghetti dinner.
He plaited a whip and cleaned it out. He said, you've made
a merchandise of men's souls. It's all about numbers. It's
all about money. That's what he said. And he platted
a whip and he cleaned the house. He said, My house shall be called
a house of prayer, a house of worship. One thing is done here,
the worship of God in the house of God. Men spoil, spoil others, spoil
them, make merchandise of them for money, for a big, you know,
big buildings and so forth, and holdings, holdings. Look what
all we're doing. God's glory is not in it. It's
not for God's glory. It's not truly for the salvation
of souls. It's for numbers. It's for money. Money. Right? You see it. It's very plain. It's very clear.
How do they do that? Verse 7. Verse 8. Through philosophy and vain deceit. at the tradition of men, at the
rudiments, the elements of the world, and not after Christ's
tradition. Look at Mark chapter 7 with me. Go over to Mark chapter 7. Philosophy is human reasoning.
Philosophy is human rationale. Philosophy is what man thinks. A lot of philosophy classes.
If you went to college, you probably had a class in philosophy. You
know what God's Word says about it? In 1 Corinthians 1, it's
foolishness. They begin all wrong. They begin
with man, that man is something special. That man has this quality
in him that God needs him and God must save him. It's all wrong. Man is dead in trespass and sin. That's what the Bible says, and
those who he had quickened know that. Know that. Philosophy of
the world, vain reasoning, rationale, vain deceit. What's vain deceit? Lies. That's what vain deceit
is, lies. And how men make spoil the people
are with human reasoning and rationale. human philosophy and
telling lies. And people, our Lord said, they
love to have it so. The truth convicts. The truth
breaks. The truth hurts. The truth offends man's wisdom,
man's pride, man's glory. The truth is the only thing that
saves. The truth. But lies, they don't
make us feel good. Lies tell us what we want to
hear. Don't. When you go to a doctor,
you don't go there. If you're really sick, you don't
go there wanting him to just mask over the problem, do you? Especially if you're dying of
something, do you want him to just prescribe some medicine
to make you feel good? Or do you want him to tell you
what the problem is and if you've got a fatal disease, You want
to cut it out, don't you? Cut it out. A man's got a fatal disease,
it's called sin. There's only one way for it to
be gotten out. Christ Jesus. We're going to
see that in a moment. Here in Mark chapter 7, in the text it
says, After the tradition, they use
the tradition of men, the elements of the world, not after Christ.
Here's what our Lord said that they do. He said it four times,
four times. Mark 7. Look at it. He was talking to these Pharisees
who believed that unless you washed thoroughly before you
ate, unless you went through all of these things. The Pharisees
and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to
the tradition of the elders, that eat bread with unwashing
hand? And he said, Well, hath Isaiah the prophet prophesied
of you hypocrites, actors, playing religion, as it is written, This
people honoureth thee with their lips, but their hearts are far
from them. In vain, look at it, verse 7,
in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. You know, when somebody says,
it says in the Bible, you know what it says in the Bible, and
they say something, you say, where does it say that? That's
what we ought to, every time, where does it say that? Chapter
and verse, please. Chapter and verse. Don't take anybody's word
for it. Now you know what it says in
the Bible. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. No, it doesn't
say that anywhere in the Bible. It doesn't say that. People just fall for it. Teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. Look at it. Our Lord said in
verse 8, laying aside the commandment of God. and hold the tradition of men.
This is what Jesus Christ said that they do. That's, you know,
here's the Word of God. That doesn't matter. It's what
we believe here. I actually heard a man, a group
of men examining a young preacher friend of ours one time. Actually
said this. He was talking about God's electing
grace, the truth, preaching it, and they were interviewing him. They needed a pastor, and they
said to him, what you're saying, it's not a matter. I'm quoting
verbatim. This was a Baptist, Southern
Baptist group in Alabama. The Bible Belt. They said, it's
not a matter of whether it's in the Bible or not. It's not
in our church constitution. They said that. Our Lord said they would say
that. And they keep saying it. In verse 9 he says, For well
you reject the commandment of God to keep your tradition. Look at verse 13. Making the
word of God of none effect through your Tradition. Four times he
said that. Four times. My, my. My, my. Go back to our text.
Verse 8. So he says, Beware. Beware. They do these things after the
philosophy and vein, deceit, or lies of men, tradition of
men, after the rudiments or the elements, flesh, ceremonies,
Symbols, ordinances, holy water, holy land, holy garment, holy
this, holy that, there's nothing holy about any of it. That land over in Jerusalem is
dirt like Franklin County dirt. The water that they sprinkle
on people is just water. Water. All manner of microorganisms
in it. Unholy. It's unholy to God. And
not after Christ, he said. Not after Christ. If it's not
pointing to Jesus Christ, if it's not concerning him, his salvation,
what he did on Calvary's tree, what he did to establish a righteousness,
it will damn you if you believe it. It will damn you. Not after
Christ. Man's religion, man's tradition
is just that. Man's. Man. In Christ, verse
9, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, this
is not only saying that Christ is God. In Him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. Not only is this saying that
Jesus Christ is equal with the Father, that He is God. Not only
saying that, but it's also saying that as God, He is all we need
to know and all we need to follow. That Jesus Christ is all the
law we need. That's what he's going to go
on to say. And you're complete in him. The disciples were glad
for this. They were ordinary fishermen
and all that. Sinners, publicans and sinners is what they were.
The Lord came along and found them. chose them, called them,
changed them, and began to instruct them and teach them and guide
them. Well, these Pharisees, you know, these holy fellows
were wearing all the garb and all that. They looked down at
these fishermen and said, they don't keep the law. They're not
keeping the law. We do. The law, it looks on the
heart. And our Lord said, the law is
spiritual. And men think they keep the law
on the outside and they can look good to us, but Jesus Christ
looked right through them on their heart and He said, you're
full of extortion and etc. You're like a whited grave, He
said. That's what He said. You look good to men, but on
the inside you're full of corruption. That's what He said to them,
these law keepers. And His disciples behind Him
who didn't know the law, they were looking to Him. They were
completely dependent on him. And by his knowledge of the law,
by him keeping the law, they're going to be justified. To defend
in one point is to be guilty of all the law. It doesn't even
matter if we're sincere. That's what Paul said in Romans
10. He said, I have a zeal for God. It's not according to knowledge,
though. They're going about to establish their own righteousness.
God won't accept that. It's not good enough. It doesn't
matter how sincere they are. That's what he said in Romans
10. That's what God said. He said, Romans 10, verse 4,
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
who believes in him. And that's why Paul went on and
on and on and on in Galatians and Romans to say, you that desire
to be under the law, don't you hear it? It's a curse. The law
can't save us. He says, you're complete in him.
I've got to quit right here. I want to go on and on. But it
says, you are complete in Him. Those in Him, those that trust
in Him, those that are found in Him, those that have been
put in Him by God the Father, you are complete in Him. He's
the head. He's the head of all principality
and power. The Pharisees said to the disciples,
they said to the Lord, you can't do that. He came in and cleaned
that temple. And they said, who gave you the
authority to do that? They didn't understand it. This
is His temple. This is His temple. They're trespassing. They're defiling His temple.
He's doing things properly. This is His temple. He's ordered
it. He came in. It's His temple.
They're the ones that need permission to be there. By whose authority
do they? He's the head of all principalities
and power. Let no man spoil you. Let no
man dictate to you. This is freedom. Oh, the blessed
freedom we have in Jesus Christ. Somebody get a hold of that.
That we don't answer to a Pope. We answer to much higher than
that. We go up straight to the top, the authority, the head
of all principalities and powers. Who told you you could do that?
He did. Who told you you could say that?
He did. Go straight to the top, Stephen.
Straight to the authority. The authority, head of all principalities
and powers. And you're complete in Him. Oh, my. Preacher years ago, what's your
body of divinity? What's your body of divinity?
He said, Colossians 2, 9. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In Him. What's your church constitution? Him. Him. All that He said and
did is what we believe and what we trust. You're complete. That's
all you need. We've been saying it for years.
Jesus Christ is all the religion you need. Because he's the only
salvation there is. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name given among men under
heaven whereby we must be saved. No high priest but him. No Savior
but him. No Lord but him. No righteousness
but him. No judge but him. He's it. And those of you that are in
him, complete. Accepted. Completed. Don't need
anything or anyone else. Ain't that good news? That's
good news. That's good news. Okay.