I titled this, and Mike mentioned
it in his prayer, Free, Free in Christ. Paul is going to point
out that in Christ we have all we need, and we need not go back
to the beggarly elements of this world, ceremonies, types, and
pictures. Christ finished those types and
those pictures. He fulfilled them. They are gone,
and in Him we have all that we need, and we need nothing else. Oh, that God would teach us that.
We need nothing but Him, because in Him we have it all. Now, Paul
in verse 9 told the Colossians and us of the completeness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, In Him dwelleth all
the fullness. of the Godhead bodily, and then
he tells of our completeness in him, in verse 10, ye are complete
in him, that they were circumcised with the circumcision of Christ.
That circumcision of the heart, which is spiritual regeneration,
is what he's speaking of. That's what circumcision of the
heart is. It's regeneration. And that we were buried with
him in baptism, that is, we died in Christ. When He died on that
cross, we died in Him. That was very real. Very real. Our sins were put away by the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we are now risen with Him
through the faith of the operation of God. We died with Him. We were buried with Him. And
we're risen with Him. What more can you want? What
more? And then we start here in verse
13. And you, you Colossians, you believers at Hurricane Road
Grace Church, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, hath he quickened, given life to, hath he quickened
together with him. Everything God has done, doing,
and will do with his church is in direct connection to his Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Having forgiven, that's past
tense, having forgiven, you all trespasses. You being dead, that
is born dead to God, without God, this is the way we were.
The only life that you and I had was fleshly. It was not the life
of God. A worm has life. But not my life. It doesn't have my life. And
worm cannot communicate with me. Not at all. It cannot know
me. It cannot even think intelligently
upon me. A worm cannot even think intelligently
upon me. And the natural mind cannot commune
with God. It cannot think, listen, it cannot
think on that level. You know, one of the things I've
learned in business, going out there to shop over the years,
that people can only operate at the level they can think at.
That's all you can, you can only operate on the level you can
think at. I told a man one time, we were speaking about business,
and I was talking about millions, you know, I was talking two or
three million dollars, you know, that I had to deal with. He said, I can't even think on
that level. I thought, well. I didn't dawn on it at the time,
but I realize now, you can't go there if you can't think there.
You cannot think on that level, you can't work there. Now listen,
the human mind, the natural mind cannot think on that level that
God is. My thoughts, he said, are higher
than your thoughts. My ways are higher than your
ways. We can't even begin to touch
that level where God dwells. His knowledge is infinite. His
wisdom is infinite. Ours is extremely limited. I've learned that as I get older,
how limited my knowledge is, my intelligence is, my wisdom
is. It's very limited. But God is infinite. It's infinite. So I can't even think on that
level unless God himself He gives me a nature, a new mind, and
we're going to look at this over in chapter 3. We're going to
stay in Colossians. He says, set your affection,
that is your mind, on things above. The natural man, the natural
man, natural woman, cannot set their mind, their affection on
things above because it's above. They can't think on that level.
But God gives his children, his sheep, when he saves them, a
new mind, a new nature. And you can begin to think on
another level, spiritual, that you could not think of before.
God must give us his life in order for us to commune with
him. The Scripture says that God is to be worshipped in spirit
and in truth. And for us to do that, we must
be what? Born of the Spirit. Because the
Scripture says that which is born of the Spirit is what? It's
not natural. The natural realm does not deal
with God. It's the spirit. It's the spiritual
realm, and it's that spirit that's born of God. That which is born
of the spirit is spirit. That's why we must be born of
the spirit in order to be able to worship God in spirit and
in truth. Man does not have, by nature,
the spiritual nature of God. But when we're born again, what
does Peter say? Peter says we are made partakers
of the divine nature. And now we can worship God. Now
we can commune. Think about this. Now we can
commune with God. What if I took a worm and I was
able to give it my nature? What if I was able to give it
my intelligence? What if I was able to do that? Then it could
communicate with me. That's what happens in the new
birth. That's what happens. That's what he says here, but
you were dead. He says you were dead in trespasses
and sins. That's the way you came into
this world. That was your life. But God, he says, has quickened.
He has given us life together with Christ. He raised us in
Christ. Have him forgiven you. Have him
forgiven us. All trespasses. There can be none that's not
forgiven. in order for us to communicate
and worship and commune with God. It all has to be gone. All sins, all barriers have to
be done away with. And we'll see this here as we
go, how Christ has taken away all barriers. There's no barriers
now. There's no barriers. Our salvation in Christ is so
complete that we need nothing It is so complete that God can
bring us into his presence and have fellowship with us. Now listen, here's the removing
of the barriers. In verse 14, he says, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and he took it out of the way. How did he do
that? nailing it to his cross. That's how he did it. The whole
law of God was against us, not for us. The soul that sinneth
shall surely die. And every soul that's come into
this world except for the man Christ Jesus has sinned. We sinned in Adam and we sin
ourselves. And therefore, he says, that
soul shall surely die. The scripture says, there is
not a just man on earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Not,
he said, there's not one. But the law that was against
us and was contrary to us, listen, it was taken out of the way.
It was taken out of the way when Christ was nailed to the cross
and the wrath of God was taken out on him. He satisfied justice. He satisfied God's offended law. And now it's satisfied and there's
no barriers. No barrier. He satisfied every
jot and tittle of the law that was against us. Someday we will fully appreciate
that. Someday we will. And this is
why we dare not glory in anything or anyone save the cross of Christ. And that's not talking about
a piece of wood. That's talking about our suffering Lord. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, you see, he satisfied the law that was contrary to
us. He took it out of the way. And
then he dealt with the principalities and powers. He dealt with everything
that was against us, everything that was against us, he dealt
with it and took it out of the way. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. The greatest victory ever won
was when Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification. That's the greatest victory ever
won. I could not reckon up in order
the spoils that have come out of Christ and Him crucified.
This is why Paul said we preach nothing else but Christ and Him
crucified. He told those Corinthians, I
don't want to know anything among you except Christ and Him crucified. Because it is through Christ
and Him crucified that we have all these blessings. That we
can stand before God. That we can pray. Mike, you prayed
this morning. God hears our prayers through
Christ crucified. He hears our prayers. All the
blessings come to us through the crucified Son of God. John,
when he went to the third heaven, he said, I saw a lamb as it stood
in the midst of the throne. as it had been slain. Even there, his greatest glory
was Christ crucified. Even there. He has absolutely
disarmed Satan. Satan is nothing more than a
pit bull on a chain. He's not all powerful. I heard a man on the radio preaching
the other day, and he was talking about Satan being everywhere. Satan is not. God, the God is
everywhere. Satan is not. Now, there are
evil spirits, but now Satan is a, he's a, he's a created spirit. He's not, he's not like God omnipresent. God is omnipresent, but Satan's
not. He's not that way. It's starting
to give Satan way too much power. That's giving him way too much
recognition. He's nothing more than God's pit bull on a chain. He can only do what God allows
him to do for the good of his elect. Everything he does, everything
God allows Satan to do, I'm telling you, it's for the good of his
body. That's right. You look at Job. Now his three
friends, his three friends looked at Job and said, Job, man, you
must have messed up. You must have done something
bad. But God allowed that to happen. He allowed that to happen
for two reasons. One, to prove that Job was his
servant. To prove Job's faith. And for
us. For us. And then he said he made a show
of them openly. He led captivity. Captive! I'm glad of that. Because that
includes me. I was captive. I was a captive
to the law. I was a captive to Satan, I was a captive to this
old nature I was born with, and he led captivity. Captive. Now I'm his captive. Did not
Paul? How many times did Paul call
himself the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ? I'm his captive
now. I'm his. He has spoiled our enemies,
triumphing over them in it. Christ himself is our victory. He's our victory. Now seeing
that he is so, that in Christ you are complete, he blotted
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, he spoiled
principalities and powers. Now listen, let no man, Paul
says no man, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink
or in respect of an holy day or the new moon or the Sabbath
days. Don't let any man, here's the short version. Do not let
any man sit in judgment on your liberty in Christ. Christ has
set you free. Now, if Christ has set me free,
if He has set you free, then don't let anyone bring you
back under the bondage of touch not, taste not, handle not, don't
do this, don't do that. I tell you what, you could turn
a child of God loose. He'll be directed. He's indwelt
by the Holy Spirit. Now, he's to be instructed like
we instruct these children. That's what you're doing this
morning. You're being instructed. If you could do it, if every
believer in here could do it, you would live without sin, wouldn't
you? You'd live without sin. You'd not think another wrong
thought. You would not do another wrong deed. And that's because
there's a new nature and you're indwelled by the Spirit of God. And you don't have to put chains
and rules and commandments and structures to try to keep people
in line. The law was made for the unrighteous. There is no law that could guide
a people Like love. You give me somebody that truly
loves me. I mean, loves me. You don't have
to put rules and regulations on that person to help me, to
do things for me, you know, to check on me, da-da-da. Love will
do it. Love will do it. So he says,
don't let anybody bring you back under these things. Whom the
Son sets free, he's free indeed. free from all the ceremonies
and the rules, and in order to be saved, he's free from those
things. God is my judge, God is my justifier,
and not any man. Now, he says here, which things are
a shadow of things to come. But the bodies of Christ, all
the types, were but shadows. That's all they were. They were
but shadows. They were never the real thing. The body, listen,
the body of these types, of these shadows, is Christ. It's Christ. And they are fulfilled
in Him. If we are never turned to Him,
we'll never understand the types and the pictures and the shadows.
In fact, oh my, thirty years ago, Before I had heard the gospel,
I was having a conversation with a young man. We went to school
together. And he was telling me, he said, the people in the
Old Testament were saved by the offering of the blood of the
lambs and the goats and da, da, da. And he said, but we are now
saved by the blood of Christ. That man had never turned to
Christ. He never knew the gospel. That's why he never understood
the types and the shadows and the pictures. If we never see
him, we'll never understand them. We'll never understand why God
gave them and how they pointed to him if we never come to know
him. Christ is the key of knowledge.
He's the key that unlocks this book. He's the key that unlocks
all the mystery of the gospel. When we come to know Him, take
my yoke upon you and learn of me. When you learn of me, you'll
understand these things. But if you never learn of me,
if you never come to know me, you'll never understand these
things. You'll rest the Scriptures to your own destruction. That's
exactly what will happen. When we come to know Christ,
we come to know and understand all the types and the shadows. You know, looking at a real person
can sure clear up a fuzzy picture, can't it? You've seen a photograph
of someone that's kind of fuzzy, not real, real clear, and then
you see the person. You know, big difference, isn't
it? Big difference. Now, let no man beguile you,
that is, seduce, cheat, or charm you of your reward, your prize,
and involuntary humility and worshiping of angels intruding
into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind. Our reward, our prize, is to
be found in him." That's it. Paul said all will be found in
him over in Philippians chapter 3. Don't let anyone or anything
step between you and the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't do it. Don't let anyone
introduce commands and traditions in place of Christ or Christ
plus these things. He said, don't do it. You say,
well, we wouldn't do that. You know, they did that. They didn't have, but we've got
the whole written Word of God. You'd be surprised what we'd
do if God would withdraw his hand a little bit. Just a little bit. And beware
of self Beware of a false self-imposed humility. That's what he's talking
about in that verse. Beware of a false self-imposed
humility and not that true humility which comes from God. And you don't have to whip that
one up. It comes when God shows you who you are and who He is. And that's when you learn true
And these false preachers, he said, are introducing, but they're
intruding into a realm that they know nothing about, puffed up
by their pride and conceit. They read a commentary, and now
they know it all. They're just puffed up. And not
holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands
having nourishment ministered and knit together increases with
the increased of God. Not honoring, listen here, and
not holding the head, that's not honoring the head. Who is
the head? The Lord Jesus Christ. Not honoring
the head which is Christ, He's the head of the body, the church,
and from Him we receive all spiritual nourishment and strength. He's
divine. We are the branches. And the body, listen, the body
does not need what the head does not supply. Whatever Christ supplies is all
I need. It's all I need. We don't need
to have any other objects for worship or any other mediators
to help us. We need him. We need him and
he's enough. And the increase that the church
has comes through him, comes through him, our head. Wherefore, wherefore, verse 20,
wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ, now he's speaking of
another dead. First he says, you being dead
in trespasses and sins, but God has quickened you. But now if
you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, you
see, you were dead to God at first, but now you've been made
alive. Now you're dead to the world.
In other words, the world has nothing for you. This world's
not our home. This is a journey. We are on
our journey home. We are pilgrims here. This is
not a fairy tale, this is real. We are just pilgrims here. I
mean, you'd think all people would recognize something about
this by the fact that everyone dies. Everyone has to die. We have to die, meet God, judgment,
eternity. And we're just pilgrims here.
Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of
the world, why, though living in the world, are ye subject
to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are
to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines
of men," not God, but of men. Did you notice here how negative
a false gospel is? Not, not, not. Touch not, taste
not, handle not. That's the evidence of a false
gospel. Not, not, not. Here's what he's
saying. If we had died in Christ of these
things and seen that he is the fulfillment of all the ceremonial
shadows, then why would you subject yourselves to these things again? He said, well, that wouldn't happen.
Well, it did to the Galatians. Paul had to correct the Galatians
over this. Christ has set us free. Free in Christ. Free from touch-not, free from
taste-not, free from handle-not. We're free from that. Life and
salvation is not in these perishing things. It's not in what I do,
what I touch not, taste not, handle not. Life's not in that. Life is not in these perishing
things. Life is in life, who is Christ. He is the life. If you have him, you have life.
That's what he said. Which things indeed, and I'll wind this up
here, which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship
and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to
the satisfaction of the flesh. These practices have a show of
outward wisdom, that's what it's saying. It has some show of outward
wisdom, not godly wisdom, but just outward wisdom. And this
will worship is nothing more than self-imposed laws and ceremonies. that promote a false humility. That's all it does. It doesn't promote a true humility.
And neglecting of the body, not satisfying it. We're not told
to neglect the body. I live in this body. You know,
I live in a house over on Customer Street. I take care of that house.
I put a new roof on here about three or four years ago. If I
don't do, if I don't take care of it, it's going to fall down
around my ears. It's just going to fall down. I take care of
this body. Why don't they neglect the body?
They would neglect the body to kind of show some kind of false
humility. That true humility, true humility. You know how that really comes
out? It doesn't come out neglecting
this body. He comes out preferring one another, preferring you before
I prefer myself. Looking upon you is better than
me. Truly. I said, well, I'm supposed to
do that. No, you truly do it. Preferring one another and taking
care of one another and loving one another. That's how it really
shows itself. That's how it comes out. And
he said, don't let any man And this is the lesson. Don't
let any man fool or beguile you into thinking that you need more
than the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul is saying to
these Colossians. Don't let anyone fool you. You know, Paul said, take heed,
let him that thinketh he standeth, lest he fall. Because we can
fall. If the Lord lets, you know. And
He allows us, you know, look what He let David do. Look what
He let David fall into. Solomon, you know. He lets us
fall at times to remind us who we are. You see, He remembers
our frame that is dust. You and I are the ones who have
the problem not remembering that. We forget that what we're made
of is dust. This body is dust. The body goes back to the dust.
The spirit goes back to God who gave it, Scripture says. So don't
let anybody fool you into thinking you need more than Christ. We
do not need ceremonies. We do not need traditions. We don't need these things. We
need Him. We need Him. Now, what we do
here, when we meet together on the first day of the week, we
do this because, you know, the Lord told us. He set aside to
meet together, for His church to meet together. And it was
up on the first day of the week. But what we're doing right here
is not a tradition, it's worship. It's worship. That's what we're
doing. Meeting here to worship the Lord Jesus Christ, to give
unto Him the honor and the glory that's due unto His name. That's
what we're here for this morning. Not because it's Sunday and it's
time to go to church. It's a time that the family can gather together
and worship their Father. That's what we're doing.