Colossians chapter 2. The name of the message is False
Worship and Humility. So False Worship and False Humility. False worship and humility. Colossians
2. Our verse will be verse 18, but
I'd like to read from verse 13-19 so we get the context of the
verse. Colossians 2, verses 13-19. And you, being the Colossian
believers, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath he quickened together with him. Heaven forgiving
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 heaven spoiled
principalities and powers he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or the new moon,
or the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but
the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility in worshiping of angels, intruding
through those things which he hath not seen, vainly propped
up by his fleshy mind, and not holding the head, from which
all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered
and knit together, increases with the increase of God. So
last week we looked at verses 16 and 17 which state, "...let
no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect
of an holy day, or of a new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which
are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ." And
last week we looked and saw how as a result of verses 13-15 where
we have the forgiveness of sins and the handwriting of ordinances
against us has been blotted out, and that this was all accomplished
at Calvary's cross where our Lord and Savior triumphed over
His enemies and over our enemies. So as a result of God's amazing
grace in verses 13 and 15, verses 16 and 17, we looked at how we're
not to allow men, not to allow false teachers, yoke us back
under the law, or yoke us back under things that we have to
do. And that's all that is, that's just bondage, that these false
preachers just try to yoke you up and try to get you under bondage,
try to enslave you and then chain you. And the false teachers,
they would judge us Little do they know, though,
the liberty that we have in Christ. And so Paul's telling you, don't
let these false teachers yoke you under bondage. Don't let
them judge you. And we're going to see that again
tonight. It's a vein that he continues to. So the false teachers,
look at verse 16. The false teachers were judging
the Colossian believers. And remember, these are Gentile
believers. They're not Jewish believers. They're Gentiles,
like you and I. So they've not been under the
law. They've not been under the strict
regulations and rules that the Jews had to follow. It's totally
foreign to them. Totally foreign to them. So Paul
tells the Colossian believers, don't let the false teachers
judge you in what you eat or drink. Don't let it happen. And
don't let them tell you you have to keep certain days in order
to be saved. Because that's what the false teachers were doing
too. You've got to observe these certain days. And Paul's saying
don't. Don't let them yoke you under
that. Don't let them yoke you under that. They say whether
you have to be saved or whether you have a deeper walk with the
Lord if you do these things. Paul's saying no. You're complete
in Christ. You're complete in Him. or on
a respective and holy day of a new moon or of the Sabbath
day, so even the keeping of Saturdays, keeping certain days, don't let
people yoke you. Christ is our Sabbath. Christ
is our rest. Not a day. Would it be any different
if we met on Tuesday night instead of Wednesday? No. No. No, because we're meeting
to worship the Lord, right? It doesn't matter what day, we're
meeting to worship Him. And this is what Paul's bringing
up. We're not Sabbatarians. In verse
17, verse 17 just nails down Paul's rebuttal to the false
teachers. who say you have to keep certain days, or you have
to do certain drinks, things that they did in the Old Testament,
pointing back to the ceremonial law, and things like that. Verse 17 is an absolute rebuttal
to the false teachers. And Paul's saying those ordinances,
they were but shadows. Christ is a substance. Look at
verse 17, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body
is of Christ. They were pointing to Christ.
They were pointing to the one who's the substance. And I mentioned this last week,
sometimes when we see someone's shadow, don't we, before we actually
see them. If we're around a corner and
they come around, they're walking towards us, sometimes we see
their shadow before we see them. That's what those, all those
Old Testament sacrifices, all those feast days were but a shadow.
And Christ is the substance. He's the substance. So tonight
we'll be looking at verse 18. Verse 18 deals with the subject
of angel worship, which seems to be, from what the commentators
I've been reading, seems to be just one, just one of the characteristics
of the Colossian heresy. And like I say, there was quite
a mix going on there. You had the Gnostics, you had
the Judaizers, you got the angel worship, you got all this different
stuff going on. So they're, as I said really
early in the study, it's almost like there was a three-pronged
attack on the Colossian church just in that, just in angel worship
and in Gnosticism, the Gnostics and then the Judaizers. And boy,
you see, they face the same thing we do. And we'll see that later
on. We face the same things even
in our day. Nothing new, Solomon said unto his son. There's nothing
new. The enemy just wraps up these
errors in a different envelope. That's all. But they're the same.
The core is the same. The core is the same. So tonight we'll be looking at
this. Look at verse 18. And this is being promoted by
the false teachers. 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 fleshy mind." So they're talking about a false teacher
here. And Paul says, let no man beguile you of your reward. Let
no man beguile you of your reward. So Paul's here saying to the
Colossians, and to us too, remember, we're reading this thousands
of years later, but this is written for our instruction too. And
that's what we always got to remember. The Holy Spirit had
Paul pen these words for us, as well as the Colossians. It's
amazing when you think about it. And it does cross time. It crosses social and economic
things, because it's the word of God. It's supernatural. This is a spiritual book. which
speaks about Christ. It transcends time. It transcends
time. So Paul is here saying to the
Colossians and us, don't let anyone judge you or tell you
that since you're not following my rules, the false teacher says,
well, if you don't follow my rules and my regulations, then
you're not saved. If you don't fulfill all the
checklists in my box, then you're not saved. Even if we agree on doctrine. That's awful. That's awful. But we wouldn't agree on doctrine
with these false teachers. But there's some who would agree
with us on doctrine, but because we don't fill their little checklist,
they'd say, well, we're not going to go there. What? But the gospel is being preached.
Is that not what's most important? Oh my. Oh my. So Paul says to the Colossians,
don't let anyone judge you or tell you that since you're not
following my rules or my regulations that you're not saved. Hendrickson
comments this, don't let them tell you you're not in the race. Don't let them tell you you're
not in the race. So what, when these false teachers or even
people who proclaim such things as I said, when they tell us that we're
not saved, we're not preaching the gospel, when they proclaim
the unfitness for us, what should be our response,
beloved? When we're not following their
rules or their commandments or their checklists, our response should be verse
10. I love verse 10. I live in verse
10. See, if you don't too, look at
this. In G, Paul's writing to the Colossian believers. are complete in Him, who is the
head of all principalities and powers. That takes care of the
angel worship too. But think of this. So a false teacher comes up and
says, well, you're not saved because you do this and you don't
do that. And your response and my response should be, I'm complete
in Christ. I had a guy last week across
the road. He was talking and popping off.
And I said, go home and read Colossians 2.10. That's my answer. I'm complete in Christ. I don't
care what anyone says. What comfort for us as believers?
I'm not going to follow your checklist. No, because I'm complete
in Christ. My, oh my, beloved. What great
comfort for us as believers. What great comfort. You know,
and God instructs us in his word, doesn't he? I get convicted when
I'm reading the word about things I should do and things I shouldn't
do. And sometimes I think, well, how can I think like that? I'm
complete in Christ. All my sins are forgiven. This
is what's most important. And the Holy Spirit corrects
me. Doesn't He with you too? You get corrected. And no one
has to, no one even knows. But you and the Holy Spirit,
you're being corrected while you're reading the Word, or hearing
the Gospel message, and bling, right between the eyes. I've
got it many times. You know, I'm complete in Christ,
beloved. And if you're a believer, you're
complete. And complete means filled to the brim in the Greek.
Remember, it's absolutely complete. There's nothing to be added.
Nothing. That's why our words of our Savior,
and I know I hit on this almost every sermon, but it is finished. It's complete. And if it's complete
by Christ, and I'm in Christ, then I'm complete in Christ.
And remember who's writing this. Beloved, remember who's writing
this epistle. This is Paul, a Pharisee of Pharisees. One who at one time had such
strict adherence to the law. The very one who said, I count
it all done. That I may win Christ. And he
pens to these Colossian believers by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
We must remember that too. Ye are complete in him. What an indictment to the false
teachers, eh? With simple words. Simple words
that a child could understand, right? But people trip over and stumble
over Christ, don't they? Oh my. Complete in Christ. What a wonderful
rest for the believer. Let the world rail. Let them
rail. Let people say what they want.
I'm complete in Christ. Let people say what they want
about me, about you. Let them say it. I'm complete in Christ, in Him. Let the heathen rage. I'm complete
in Christ. Let the legalists freak out if
he wants to. I'm complete in Christ. Walk
away knowing if you're a believer, I'm complete in Christ. Now some folks say, they say,
well if you teach like that though, we've went over this. People
just go crazy. No they won't. The love of Christ
constrains us. Why? This is the difference between
grace and religion. And it's a gap so wide, it's
incredible. Grace, grace, marvelous grace. And what a happy condition for
the believer. If we just leave with this tonight,
what a happy condition. I am complete in Christ. He said, I'm a sinner. I was
talking with a fellow today. And we were talking on the phone,
called and asked some questions. And I don't know, maybe he'll
come this weekend, he said, but hopefully the Lord will, and
he will. But I said, look, I'm saved, but I'm still a sinner,
but I'm complete in Him. I struggle every day. Repentance
is not a one-time thing. I'm still repenting. Still coming
to Christ on a daily basis. Still see my need for Him because
He's shown me on a daily basis. And I'm completing Him. That's
my rest. That's what I told them. My rest
isn't in what I can do because I can never please God in my
doings. But, oh, I rest in the One who did it all for me and
all for you if you believe. And we're completing him. Oh,
what a happy condition for the boy. We could just stop there,
couldn't we? Oh my, my. Our text continues,
though. It says, in a voluntary humility.
Now, religious folks delight in humility. I know, because
I was a religious person, and I did. I delighted in the false
humility that, oh my. But sincere humility is precious,
beloved. It's precious. It's precious. But the humility I've spoken
of here in our verse, this is a boastful, proud humility. This is a humility which is not
humility at all. It's a cloak for pride. It's
a cloak for pride. It's a disguise for pride. And look at how verse 23 in our
chapter, go down to verse 23, This exposes this false humility
spoken of right here. For what it is, beloved, it's
will-worship. Look at this. Which things have
indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility. And neglecting of the body, not
in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. It's a false humility. It's a sham. It's a big show.
It's just a big show. That's all it is. But if God
saved you, you'd be humble, but you won't even know it. You'd
be meek, but you won't even know it. Because what's the one thing
the Lord does for us? One of the many things. But what
is the one thing that he does for every single one of us? He
puts us in the dust, doesn't he? When we learn the gospel,
when he reveals it to us, and we learn that we're sinners,
oh my. Right? We are. And we really
don't get back up out of the dust. Like Scott Richardson says,
I love old Scott Richardson, we make our headquarters in the
dust. That's where we stay. And the gospel just keeps us
there, doesn't it? But oh, what a Savior. Oh, what
a Savior. What a Redeemer. And again, we're complete. I'm
going to keep hammering that nail. We're complete in Him.
We're absolutely complete in Christ. We're complete in Him. So let's go back to our text
in verse 18. It says, Let no man beguile you
of your reward in a voluntary humility in worshiping of angels,
intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshy mind. So it says, in a voluntary humility. We looked at that. That's a false
humility. It's a cloak for pride, for self-righteousness. And then
it says, in worshiping of angels. Now, these men back then and
false preachers in every generation attempt to beguile, and the Greek
is defraud. We'll look a little bit more
into what the Greek is there. But it's to defraud God's children
of our reward, our prize, which is Christ. Our reward is Christ. He's our exceeding reward. People
get all lit up about crowns. Just look to Christ. He's our
reward. My goodness. My goodness. That's what's most important.
That's what's most important is Christ. In a voluntary humility,
in other words, they willingly put on a mask of false humility
as we looked at. Now, a quick note where it says,
let no man beguile you there. Let no man beguile you. Beguile
there speaks of one that tries to make you think that they're
a judge, or in the Greek, the umpire in spiritual matters.
So a judge, they try to beguile you to make you think that they're
a judge in spiritual matters. And the Greek definition is actually
this, to decide as umpire against someone. So we all know we can
use that word in baseball. When the umpire says the guy's
out, it's done. There's no fighting it. Now the
guy might get mad and toss his bat and walk away, but there's
no, it's done. So do you see how these guys
were setting themselves up as an authority? What they said
goes, and if you didn't follow what they say, you didn't check
all their boxes, you're not saved. Now that's a dangerous place
to be. That's a dangerous place to be. These men are setting themselves
up as the final authority. And then the underlying Greek
definition again is to defraud or beguile of the prize of victory.
And we know that Christ is our reward. He's our exceeding reward.
And then metaphor is to deprive of salvation. So it gets right
to the core. They were actually saying people
aren't saved if they're not listening to what they say. So we see why
Paul was so adamantly against what they were teaching. Now
these false teachers declare God's children as unworthy of
our reward in Christ. And we are unworthy in ourselves,
right? But we're completing Christ.
But they say, no, no, no, no, you're not because you don't
fall these days and you don't drink and eat what we tell you
to eat and drink. You see the yoking? What bondage? It's all about control, beloved.
It's all about power. So they would attempt to disqualify
us because we do not keep the law of Moses, or we do not follow
what they put up to be their standard for salvation. They
try to insist that we get involved in things contrary to the doctrines
of the Holy Scriptures, right? Yoking, trying to yoke you under
what they say, like the worshipping of angels, which we see here.
But don't be fooled, beloved. Don't be fooled, beloved of God. They come in a thousand different
faces. This is why we must hear the gospel, because then we know,
whoa, that's wrong. Remember what I told you, what
Norm Wells told me about bank tellers, right? They study the
real, they know the counterfeit. They don't have to study the
false. They study the real. We study the real every week,
beloved. And we know what the counterfeit is then, don't we?
No, that's wrong when someone says, well, you've got to keep
the law of Moses. No, Christ fulfilled it all for
me. He kept it. I'm complete in Him. I'm complete
in Him. And sometimes they come with
that which sounds right from the scriptures, and they boldly
proclaim, if you don't believe exactly like them, then you're
lost. Again, my response is, I am complete
in Christ. I don't care what you say, because
the scripture says I'm complete in Christ. Measure my doctrine
by what I preach. Every grace preacher will tell
you this. We don't preach ourselves. We preach Christ and Him crucified. Oh my. And God's people, is that
not all you want to hear? You want to hear nothing else.
You want me to tell you how to live a better Christian life
because I don't even know how to do that. I just trust in Christ. I wake
up every day, I'm trusting in Christ. I'll have another day
on this earth, I'm going to rest in my Savior. And I have to remind
myself, I'm a preacher and I've got to remind myself all the
time. Wayne, just rest in Christ. Something will come up, just
rest in Christ. Just trust in Him. Just remember,
keep looking back at all the times He's delivered you. And
He's going to take us home, Wayne. He keeps us. We can't keep ourselves,
but He keeps us. And I'm completely in Christ.
I'm going to rest in that. What comfort and rest for my
soul to know. And I pray that if you can't
say the same, I pray that God would make you well and give
you grace to flee to Christ that you would be able to say, I'm
completing Christ. I'm completing Him. So we're
to be aware and beware of the false teachers and preachers who will try to beguile you or
defraud you, acting as a judge or umpire in spiritual matters,
insisting on self-abasement by you, by something you do, or trying to beguile you of your
reward in Christ. And our reward is that He's finished
it all, right? He's done it all. That's our
rest. That's our hope. If Christ hasn't
done it all, I'm lost. But Scripture declares He's done
it all. He's our rest, isn't He? He's
our rest. He's our rest. Let's go back
to our text here. It says, Let no man beguile you
of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels.
So the false teachers were trying to defraud the Colossian believers
and sit in judgment of them, and Paul's already warned them
about this earlier in the chapter. Now think of this, in light of
verses 17 and 16, 16 and 17. So think of this, the false teachers
were trying to defraud the Colossian believers, right, bedial them,
and they sat in judgment of them. because they would not abstain
from certain meats, because they would not abstain from certain
drinks. And remember, they're trying to yoke them under the
Mosaic laws. These are Gentiles. They've never
ever had anything to do with this stuff. But see, the false
teachers, they don't care about that. They're trying to make
them conform to what they believe. What they believe. And they also, We're trying to get them to observe
certain times and days. And the Colossian believers would
not worship the angels, would they? Paul's telling them here,
don't. Let no man begot you of your
word in a voluntary humility in worshiping of angels. Don't
let it happen. Because the error that was being
taught was that there was a hierarchy of angels. that there was a hierarchy
of angels which led up to God. And they were to be worshipped.
And they placed Christ as just one of those angels, one of those
mediators. See, they were saying, well,
there's all these different mediators. There's only one mediator. There's
only one. And he ain't an angel. He's the
Lord. He's God incarnate in the flesh. So the false teachers
The false teachers were teaching this, and hence we've seen all
through our study, haven't we, that Paul is setting forth Christ.
Now we see why even more. He's setting forth Christ in
contrast to what these false teachers are preaching and teaching.
And he's putting forth, so far we've seen him put forth the
supremacy of Christ, haven't we? The supremacy of Christ. And we saw that all through chapter
one. If you review chapter one all
through there, the supremacy of Christ, he's absolutely supreme. No one even comes close to him.
And then he's also, now in chapter two, what I've noticed is he's
putting forth the all-sufficiency of Christ. Hence that you're
completing him. You don't need anything else.
Nothing else. There's only one mediator, as
I said, and that's Christ. So the false teachers are putting
angels as mediators between God and man. And some commentators
state that this supposed voluntary humility was stated because the
false teachers in their error supposed themselves to be too
insignificant to approach God. Which again, that's why Paul
says it's a false humility. Oh, I'm not worthy. But we all
know we're not worthy. Every believer knows he's not
worthy. I don't get what I deserve. But they were doing it in a false
sense, showing their supposed piety. Well, Henderson comments on this
portion of scripture. Perhaps the false teacher was
trying to create the impression that he considered himself too
insignificant to approach God directly, hence sought to contact
deity through the mediation of angels and therefore worship
them. Now, angel worship, as I read more about this, was an
era that plagued the early church. It was said by one early church
father, it is not right for Christians to abandon the church of God
and go away to invoke angels. So again, we see there's nothing
new under the sun, right? Nothing new under the sun. Think
of this today. Brother, you were saved by the
Catholic Church. Think of this. The Catholic Church
just replaced angels for dead saints. They actually tell you they're
mediators. I remember when I was in there,
they just lie. They tell you Mary's a co-redeemer and a co-mediator.
That's just a lie. That's a lie from the pit of
hell, beloved. There's only one mediator between God and man.
So again, we see there's nothing new under the sun, though, that
this same error that's being promoted is still going on today. Spurgeon
comments on this verse. Do not be beguiled by those who
tell you that you ought to pay reverence to angels and saints.
And he said, and I know not what besides. One day is called St.
Matthew's, and another is St. Michael's, and the one, I suppose,
is St. Judas' Day. There are all sorts
of supposed saints, some of whom are never mentioned in the Bible,
and about whom nobody ought to care at all. And he says, let
no man beguile you of your warden of voluntary humility and worshiping
of angels. Nothing new under the sun, beloved.
It's still going on today. My mom, I pray the Lord to show
her the truth. She spins rosary beads all the
time. It's like, Mom, Mary's a sinner just like, now she was
highly favored. Highly favored of God. But she's
a sinner just like you and I. She needed to be saved. And the
Lord saved her, didn't he? The Lord granted her faith. Just pray the Lord will give
her eyes to see Christ. Now, we who believe know that
we have one meteor, don't we? Turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy
2.5. And I know I haven't had us turn around a whole lot. And
put your finger in John chapter 3. We who believe know that there's
one mediator. We have one mediator between God and man. This is
the verse that shook me when I was in Catholicism that someone
showed me. And it shook me to the core. I had never read the Bible, and
when I saw this, I was told, why do you even go to a priest?
And it was right there, and I wasn't even saved. And I was like, well,
hold on. The Bible says that. Look what it says in 1 Timothy
2, verses 5 and 6. And we who have been born again
by the Holy Spirit of God and taught the things of Christ,
we believe this, because Scripture declares it. For there is one
God, there's only one God, and one mediator between God and
man. There goes the priest. There's no need to go to a man.
There's only one mediator. And it's not some guy in a black
thing walking around. No. It's Christ Jesus our Lord. And He's seated at the right
hand of the Father right now. And He's our mediator. Between
God and man. So He is the only mediator between
God and sinners. The only one. The man Christ
Jesus. God became a man. Fully God and
fully man, who gave himself a ransom for all. Now some people take
that and run with that and say, see that? Christ died for everybody. No, Christ died for all his people.
All. Everyone he gave himself a ransom
for is the all. His people. We know that. Because
he said he came to save his people from their sins. To be testified
in due time. So there is one true mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, the one who is
both God and man, the one who is the Redeemer of His people,
the one who is the all-sufficient Savior of His people, the one
who right now, right now, rules and reigns supreme in heaven.
He's a king. He's a king. He's upon the throne.
And He rules, beloved. He rules over all, seen and unseen.
Seen and unseen. And His name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's consider the latter part
of the verse now. In verse 18 it says, "...let
no man beguile you of your reward in the voluntary humility and
worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath
not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind." So Paul here
continues to speak about the false teachers. "...intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshy mind." Now, the gospel preacher, turn if you would to
John chapter 3, we'll be here. Now, the gospel preacher and
teacher, we teach what we know. We teach what we've experienced. Christ saved my soul. Therefore,
I proclaim salvations of the Lord. It wasn't anything I did. Therefore, I preach, I'm complete
in Him. It doesn't have anything to do
with, you know, He keeps me, He preserves me. It's all a work
of God. I've experienced it. Just like
I can't tell you, Brother Newell, about my hometown unless I live
there. But I've lived there, so I can
tell you about it. But if I'd never moved to Oregon,
I couldn't tell you about Oregon. But I've lived there, so I can
tell you about it. See, I can't tell you about somewhere where
I've never been. And there's a bunch of preachers out there
trying to tell people about somewhere they've never been. Someone they've
never known. First time I heard Brother Henry
say that, I was like, oh my goodness, isn't that so true? Isn't that
true? We cannot tell you about somewhere
we've never been. Turn if you would again to John
chapter 3. So the gospel preacher and teacher teaches what they
know, what we've experienced. And look what the Lord told Nicodemus
here. John chapter 3 verses 9 to 15. Nicodemus answered and said
unto him, How can these things be? The Lord just told me you
must be born again. Jesus answered and said unto him, Look at this. Art thou a master of Israel?
And knowest not these things? He's a teacher highly esteemed
in Israel. He reads the Bible, he teaches
the Bible, the Old Testament, not the New, because they only
had the Old then. And he doesn't even know what the Lord's talking about. He has no clue. Art thou a master of Israel,
and knowest not these things? Verily, look at this, look at
verse 11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do
know. We speak that we do know and
testify that we have seen what we've seen, what we know and
what we've seen. And you receive not our witness. They didn't receive the witness
because they didn't know Christ. If I have told you earthly things
and you believe not, how shall you believe? if I tell you of
heavenly things. And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, being Christ, even
the Son of Man which is in him. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. What happened, now think of this,
people use John 3, 16 all the time, right? But think of this,
here's the gospel right here in 14 and 15, right here. 16
is the result of 13 and 14, look at this. And as Moses lifted
up the serpent and the wilderness, well Christ must be lifted up,
right? He was lifted up on the cross. Even so must the Son of
Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have eternal life. What happened to all those who'd
been bitten and they looked? They lived, didn't they? Yeah,
that's us. That's a picture of you and I.
We looked at Christ. What happened to all those who
didn't look when that serpent was raised up? Yeah, they all
perished. My, oh my. Grace, grace, marvelous
grace. But I can't speak about something
that I don't know. And think of that in our verse. Remember the Lord said what we
see? Vainly puffed up by his fleshy
mind. So in verse 10 of John chapter
3, Christ chided Nicodemus for his ignorance of divine truth.
He's a master of Israel, as I said. He's a master of Israel. And
Christ reveals the cause of his ignorance is that he does not
know Christ, and he does not receive the things of Christ.
Turn, if you would, to John chapter 5. Just a couple chapters over. John chapter 5. And then put
your finger in 1 Corinthians. I didn't have us move around.
See, now I've got us all going all over. But we're almost done. We're almost done, beloved. So now we know that the reason
a man does not know the things of God is because he receives
not God's witness, right? We saw that when the Lord was
talking to Nicodemus. Look at John 5, verses 40-44.
And look at this. And ye will not come to me that
ye might have love. I receive not honor from men.
Verse 41. But I know you. Now, he knows
them. He knows them better than they
know themselves. He's God incarnate in the flesh. But I know you
that ye have not the love of God in you. I am come in my Father's
name and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his
name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe which receive
honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from
God only? These false teachers in our text,
now tie that in with what we just read. Tie that in with,
and I'll read our verse before we go to 1 Corinthians. Let no
man beguile you of your reward in the voluntary humility and
worship of angels, intruding into those things which he hath
not seen. He's not seen the things of Christ.
Vainly puffed up by his fleshy mind. So the false teachers in our
text, they did not know Christ. They did not believe his word.
And they stumble around in darkness and in ignorance. They're the
blind leading the blind. Just like the Lord said. They're
the blind leading the blind. They're in darkness, right? We
were in darkness, weren't we? What do you do in the darkness?
I don't like the dark. I'll be honest with you. I don't
like the dark. I like light. And the older I get, the more
I like the light. One of the worst things, and
Vicki will tell you, I drive her crazy, I keep my light on
beside the bed. She's shaking. I keep my light
beside the bed on all night sometimes. Because I just like to have a
light on. Because the worst thing for me is getting up in the middle
of the night and stubbing my toe on something I didn't see
or stepping on something I didn't see. And oh man, it happened
to all of us, didn't it? But I just like to have a light
on. I don't know why. And I wasn't like that until I got older. But I stumbled around the darkness
of religion for a long, long time, a long time, until the Lord revealed himself.
So these false teachers, they stumble in darkness and ignorance.
Again, they're the blind leading the blind. Let's look at the
latter part of our text again. It says, "...intruding into those
things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshy
mind." So Christ is not being revealed to the false teacher.
And the false teacher does not have the mind of Christ. So therefore
he's puffed up. He's vainly puffed up. in their
fleshy mind, and they have such a sinful, high opinion of themselves,
I know I was there. When I was in religion, I told
you all that I was... I know what that Pharisee was
like when he said, well, I'm not like that publican over there.
My gosh, the Lord delivered me from that, beloved. I'm so thankful.
I'm so thankful that now I'm the publican saying God be merciful
to me, the sinner. But I... Religious folks can get so puffed
up. And I speak from experience.
You're so puffed up so easy. And you get a high opinion of
yourself. What happens when the Lord saves us? You even walk
right down in the dust, right? So the false teacher's all puffed
up and has a high opinion of himself. And this moves him to
teach things that aren't even written in the Word of God. His visions are imaginary. You
hear all these false teachers on TV saying they've seen stuff.
Yeah, they saw stuff. It's all demonic, beloved. It's
not from God. They say they know the things
of God and His teaching, but it all comes from a fleshy mind.
It all comes from an unregenerate mind. And they're the blind leading
the blind, beloved. They've not been taught of God.
Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians, chapter 2. This will be the last
scripture we'll look at here. And then we'll close. 1 Corinthians,
chapter 2, verses 12 to 16. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God. That
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Now we wouldn't know unless he taught us. Which things also
we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which
the Holy Ghost teaches. Comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. Now, the false teacher, he's
a natural man. Look at what verse 14 says. But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
They won't receive them. Why? For they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them. See,
look at that verse. What do free willers say about
that? Neither can he know them. He can't know them because they
are spiritually discerned. They must be revealed. Christ is a revelation. The Holy
Spirit reveals Christ to us. I've used this picture many times
because I think it's one of the most fitting pictures in scripture.
Joseph's brothers had no clue who he was. But remember, he
revealed himself to them. And then they all wept. But they didn't know. They didn't
know who he was. Oh, and he revealed himself.
It's the same with us. Christ must reveal himself, and
he does it through the preaching of the gospel. This is why it's
vital, again, absolutely vital that we proclaim Christ. Every
time a man gets up in the pulpit or teaches Sunday school, or
Sister Ruth, even when you're teaching Sunday school, you point
the kids to Christ. I preach and point you all to
Christ. That's what we do. There's nothing else, no one
else, who can save us. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath
known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him that we have
the mind of Christ? Do you see the opposite of what
go back to our text in Colossians 2.18? Let no man beguile you
of your reward in a voluntary humility in worship and of angels,
intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshy mind. He does not have the mind of
Christ at all. So let us always be aware of
this, that a false teacher has one thing he wants to accomplish,
and that is to lead us away from Christ. That is to lead us away
from Christ and to follow him. That's what false teachers want.
They want to lead us away from Christ and follow him. Beware,
beloved of God, of any man who promotes his way or the highway.
Beware of that. Beware of that. When it comes
to spiritual matters, we must cling to Christ. We must cling
to Christ Jesus, who the scriptures proclaim that we are absolutely
complete. So again, if a false teacher
comes up, I'm complete in Christ. So we've also looked at tonight
that we are not to be led astray by false teachers and false professors
who say you must follow how they believe. They sit in judgment
of us. No. No, I'm complete in Christ. Do
you see how Christ is the answer to all the errors? It's always
Christ. We also looked at how false preachers
have a false humility, and how they're puffed up by things that
are contrary to the Scriptures, such as what we've seen here,
angel worship, and even their vain imaginations, things they
drum up in their own imaginations. Beloved of God, let us keep our
eye of faith upon Christ. in whom we are complete, in whom
we have forgiveness of all our sins, all of them. How? By the shedding of His precious
blood. And let us heed what Scripture proclaims in Philippians 2.14,
to press toward, to press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God in Christ Jesus. And our prayer is, may
God give us the strength to do that. May He give us the strength
to do that in the grace. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
come before Thy throne again with just thankful hearts. Thankful hearts that we are complete
in You, Lord Jesus. That there is nothing we can
do on our own to merit our salvation, but our salvation is completely
in You. It's absolutely nothing we do.
We are simply receivers of Your grace. receivers of your goodness
towards us in Christ Jesus. We don't deserve it, we don't
merit it, but all we marvel that you give it to us. And may we
tell others about the wonderful things that you've done for us.
In Jesus' name, Amen.