Paul's epistle to the Colossians
is a tremendous epistle in which he sets forth the position of
the believer in Christ, seated as it were in the heavens, raised
up above this world, dead to this world, crucified in Christ,
risen with Christ, a heavenly creature. the whole vision, the
whole picture we see in Colossians is of the believer in Christ
seated on high in glory and all the exhortation and encouragement
for the believer is to view himself and to walk through this world
in the light of that fact as he have therefore received Christ
Jesus the Lord from heaven From God, by mercy, by grace, so walk
ye in him. You've received Christ freely
by grace, then your walk is freely by grace. With your view by faith
of Christ seated in glory above, walk in before him in the heavens,
not bound by this world, the rudiments of this world or the
commandments and the doctrines of men which they raise up in
this world to bring believers down to the level of carnal men
in religion. Every chapter in this epistle,
every verse is rich with the Gospel of Christ. Many a message
could be preached on each verse. But in chapter 2, We read these
encouragements. I would that ye knew what great
conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as
many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts
might be comforted, be knit together in love, and unto all riches
of the full assurance of understanding. to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge And in these few verses, Paul shows
us the difference between those who have been brought to faith
and those who are still in the darkness. Because those who've
been brought to faith have had revealed unto them all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge which are found in Christ. because these treasures and this
wisdom which they're brought to see and know and have are
a mystery which is hid from the wise and the prudent in this
world which are hid from those who dwell in the darkness. He
prays that they should be comforted, knit together in love, unto all
the riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. And if you know not God, if you've
heard of Him in the Scriptures, or heard of Him in the Gospel,
but don't know Him, He remains a mystery to you. There is a
mystery of God and a mystery of the Father and a mystery of
Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge which are found in Him and His Gospel are hid from
you. They're hid from us by nature.
We do not know. We can hear about them. We can
know about them. We can know the name of Jesus. We can know who he is. We can
know the record from the scriptures of who he is and what he did
and what he came to do upon the cross. we can hear about his
death, we can hear about his burial, we can hear about his
resurrection, we can hear about his ascension, we can hear about
his gospel, we can hear about his preaching of that gospel
from on high, we can hear about the kingdom of God, we can hear
about the salvation of sinners, we can know about sin, we can
know about righteousness, we can know various things which
are right and various things which are wrong. We can even
live a life in which we go and we read the Scriptures and we
pretend to pray and we go to worship and we try to model our
life upon the morals that we see laid forth in the Scriptures.
We try to live by the Ten Commandments, we try to live by the exhortations
in the New Testament, we try to love our neighbour as ourselves.
We strive with all our being to walk before God as we think
we should, and yet, God himself and his son remains a mystery
to us. Men can come and ask us what
we think of Christ, what we know of Christ, and we can give a
good answer. We know things. We can profess things. And yet
deep down, We know that we do not know Him. God is a mystery to us. The Father
is a mystery to us and Christ is a mystery to us. The treasures
of wisdom and knowledge in Christ are hid from us. And if they're hid from us, then
we remain in the darkness and the wrath of God from heaven
on high, burns against us, waiting for that day when it will rain
down in judgment, just as it did upon the wicked in the days
of Noah. Noah and his house were saved
in an ark, a picture of Jesus Christ. They were hid within
their Saviour, and the judgment could not come upon them because
it came upon Him in their place. But all the wicked who had laughed
and who had scorned Noah, who had derided Noah, who had said
unto Noah, what are you doing building your ark, Noah? What
are you doing wasting your life in your worship of God? Where
is your God, Noah? What is he doing? They sneered, they jeered, they
laughed, they mocked him. And yet year after year, Noah
quietly went about his business, continuing to build this ark. Not because of anything that
he could do in his own strength as it were but because God had
warned him and God had said build this ark and Noah believed God
he believed what God warned him of he believed that in building
this ark that there would be salvation he believed what the
ark represented he believed that if God said
build an ark to the saving of your house, then God would save
him. So Noah, despite all the persecution,
all the ridicule, all the mockery around him, quietly went and
built, quietly worshipped his God, quietly served his God. Because Noah knew the mystery
of God, the mystery of the Father, the mystery of Christ. the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge have been revealed unto him. Now Paul
reminds the Colossians of these facts, because he says in verse
four, at this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing
words. For though I be absent in the
flesh, yet am I with you in the Spirit, joying and beholding
your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye
have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith
as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Continue
to walk before God. in faith knowing that he has
had mercy upon you in grace he saved you he plucked you out
of oblivion he opened your blind eyes he caused you to see that
which was hidden from you and that which remains hidden from
others He revealed His mystery unto you. He's taken you out
of this world and brought you into a new world. A new earth,
a new heavens wherein dwelleth righteousness. He's delivered
you. So what before Him in the light
of this? Rooted and built up in Him. and established in the faith,
as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. You're
built up in Christ, Christ alone, in his gospel, established in
the faith. Beware, therefore, lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. The great danger that the Colossians
faced, the great danger that believers today face, is that
all around them as they, like Noah as it were,
build their ark. All around them are voices and
opinions and people who come alongside them and say, what
are you doing Noah? What are you doing? Don't do
this, do that. Don't go there, go here. Follow
this and follow that. Don't do this, don't do that.
Do this and do that. There's a million voices coming
unto them, trying to lead them astray. And the voices are very persuasive. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit. After the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. They will come and they will
talk about this issue and that issue and this practice and that
practice and this ritual and that ritual. this day and that
day, this belief and that belief. And they will come with their
arguments and with their explanations and with their background and
they will be very, very persuasive. But what stands out in everything
that they say is a lack of Christ and His gospel. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy, and vain deceit, after the tradition of
men, and after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. These people can come and they
can say so much that sounds so right, even to a believer, but
they don't preach Christ and his gospel. They come and they
wag the finger at this thing and that thing, this sin and
that sin, this practice and that practice. They say, O Colossians,
come this way. O Colossians, follow the law
of God. O Colossians, practice this. O Colossians, do this. And everything they say may sound
so right, but they don't preach Christ. They don't preach Christ. And not after Christ, Paul says. They spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit, the traditions of men and the rudiments of the
world, but not Christ. they don't preach Christ and
yet in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality
and power in him also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hand in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ buried with him in baptism
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God who have raised him from the dead you're completing
Christ and you've been baptized into Christ You've been circumcised
with Christ. You've put off the body of the
sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Then what are you
doing listening to these foolish deceivers who come alongside
and teach you how to live the Christian life, teach you what
to do, teach you how to walk, teach you what practices to follow,
as though somehow you will be avoiding sin and walking in righteousness,
when the reality is that you are complete in Christ. You are already completely righteous
in your Saviour Jesus Christ. You have already put off the
body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
You're without sin. in Christ through his death you
are now today without sin and you are completing him you are
completely righteous then what are you doing listening to these
deceivers who pretend to be guiding you by advising you on how to
turn from this sin and how to walk right in this manner, when
in reality you're already there. You've already circumcised the
body of the sins of the flesh. You're already completely righteous
in Christ your Saviour. You cannot improve upon the righteousness
you have in Him. And you cannot blot out one more
sin that has not already been blotted out by Christ's blood.
You've already been forgiven of every sin and every transgression. You're complete in Christ. What
you should be doing is simply looking and resting in Him. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. There was a day when
God spake unto you in His Gospel and said, Thou art mine, I have
forgiven thee. When the Spirit of God came unto
you in the Gospel and quickened you unto life, and at that moment
you ceased to be a sinner, At that moment all your sins were
blotted out in your experience. Having been previously blotted
out at the cross in time in Christ himself but there's a moment
when the Spirit comes and takes the shed blood of Christ and
sprinkles it upon your heart and you live. You're given faith,
you believe. and you're forgiven of all your
transgressions and the righteousness of God is imputed unto you. And from that moment on, having
received Christ by faith, having been quickened unto life by the
Spirit of God, from that moment on you continued to walk in the
light of that. At that moment your eyes were
opened to behold the mystery of God. At that moment your eyes
were opened to see Christ and Him crucified. to see yourself
crucified with the Saviour, to see His blood washing over you
and cleansing you from all sins, to see yourself saved with a
mighty salvation in Jesus Christ. That's how you're saved and that's
how you walk. How do you walk, one says, looking
unto Jesus. Looking unto Jesus, the offer
and finisher of our faith. Looking unto Jesus. That's how
you were saved, you looked. He was lifted up as the serpent,
as the brazen serpent was lifted up by Moses and the people looked
and were cured of their sins. You are saved by looking unto
Jesus and you walk through this world from the day you are saved
to the day you go into eternity the same way. Whether you're
a believer of one day, One week, one year, 10 years, 30 years,
40 years, a lifetime. Every day your walk is to look
by the gospel and to Christ at the cross and to see your sins
blotted out by that blood. And there is no turning from
any sin, except you look and see that sin blotted out by the
blood of Christ. There is no walking in righteousness,
except the gospel presents Christ before your gaze. And by faith
you're brought by the Spirit of God to see Him, to see those
treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are hid from the world,
but revealed unto babes in Christ. to see the mystery of God in
Jesus Christ as he laid down his life for sinners. That is
our walk, to have that picture, have that view, have that sight
of Christ upon the cross constantly presented to us and constantly
being reminded that all of our sins have been taken away. The body of the sins of the flesh
has been cut off. circumcised, we're no longer
sinners, we are righteous in Jesus Christ and if we're no
longer sinners, no man, no man or woman upon the face of this
earth can come to a believer and wag a finger at a believer
and say why are you doing this and why are you doing that. as
though there's some fault in them. If they know that they
are gods, if they know that they are Christ, a believer will see
his fellow believer and see them in Christ, washed in the blood,
perfect in Christ. And his exhortation to his fellow
believer will be, look unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
faith. How do you encourage one another
How do we encourage one another in the church? How do believers
encourage one another? How do they exhort one another?
How do they rebuke one another? By pointing unto Christ and His
Gospel. There's no need for any other
exhortation. Every exhortation you read in
the New Testament is given to the end that the gospel has free
course to be preached that believers may be able to hear and believe
in Jesus Christ, to see him crucified. All Paul's concern in every single
epistle is to take away the objections of men and the obstructions of
men which come and lead believers away from the simplicity of salvation
in Christ and to ensure that they will hear and believe in
Him. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. And yet all around
the believer are those swarming bees, as it were, those swarming
forces of men, religious and irreligious, who are striving
to make the believer turn and look another way. And that's
all it's about. Rather than looking to Christ
and resting in Christ, they'll say, but you should be doing
this. And you should be thinking about this and you should be
going here and you should be doing this. And they'll turn
the believer away from Christ to themselves. To look at where
they're going. To look at how they're walking.
To try not to go this way and to try to go that way. To turn
from this thing and to turn to that thing. They're beguiling. They spoil
us through their philosophy, their vain deceit, the traditions
of men, the rudiments of the world. But Paul constantly reminds
us we're dead in Christ, we're risen in Christ, we're dead to
this world, we're dead to sin, we've been crucified. Verse 13,
he says, and you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, have he quickened together with him, having forgiven
you all trespasses. That's where he found you, believer. And that's where you are, unbeliever. By nature we are all dead in
our sins and the uncircumcision of our flesh. We're all alike. We're all lost in sin, wicked
and wretched, all as bad as one another, all dead in sins. blind to the truth. We hear the
voices of every single man in this world telling us this and
telling us that but we never hear the voice of Jesus Christ
because we shut our ears to him. Dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh. Your flesh blocks out the sound
of the truth. As it were, you have a heart
which is evil, which is covered with thick flesh and no truth,
no sound of the truth, no light of the truth can penetrate it. It's covered over, it's hard. And when the truth comes, when
the gospel comes, it comes unto you and it washes over you. It washes over us by nature. We hear but we don't hear. We see but we don't see. We read but we don't understand. We're lost. And the only thing that can save
us is the voice of Jesus Christ in the Gospel. But Paul could
write unto these Colossians who like everyone else had been dead
in their sins and the uncircumcision of their flesh he can write unto
them and he can say of them that Christ have quickened you together
with him having forgiven you all trespasses. He's quickened
you together with him having forgiven you all trespasses.
He's quickened you, he's brought you to life. He came unto you
in the Gospel and he said, look unto my Son. God came and said,
look unto Christ and live. And by the power of God in the
Gospel, these Colossians heard and they saw and they lived. The Gospel came in power. And
that which held them fast in the ground, that which held them
fast in the grave, that which held them down dead in their
sins was broken. The fetters that held them down
were broken. The chains which held them in
the cell were broken and the door burst forth and they were
led out into the light. It was broken and they heard
and they saw. God came unto them in power and
caused them to hear and to believe. and he forgave them of all their
trespasses. They were there lost in their
sins and they saw their trespasses and they were reminded of their
sins by so many around them. Like Job, when he was brought
into trouble and his so-called friend said, well, you must have
done this, Job, and you must have done that, Job. Why are
you in the state you're in, Job? Well, it must be because of this
and that. There are so many in this world who are ready to show
us our failings. We see them ourselves, perhaps,
but there is no lack of those around us who are happy to show
us where we fall down. And we may, when we come to hear
the truth, say, well I'd love to be saved but I'm full of trespasses,
I'm full of sin, I've done so much wrong, I'm too far off,
how could I ever be saved? But when the Gospel comes, God
comes by His Spirit and says unto the lost soul, that I've
quickened you together with Christ and I have forgiven you all your
trespasses. past, present and future. I have laid them upon Jesus Christ. I've laid them upon the Son.
He's borne them all and he's taken them all to the tree and
he's been crucified upon that tree. The wrath of God has been
poured out upon him and he's drunk the cup of God's wrath
to its dregs. He's paid the price for all your
sins. He has 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. Christ not only took the sins
of his people and bore the judgment, but he took the judgment against
them. He took the handwriting of ordinances
that condemned them. He took the law of God. and he took every command of
God that they had broken and he nailed those commandments
to the cross which were contrary to them which were against the
people which were against these poor sinners he took those commandments
and nailed them to the cross and took those very commandments
away because he paid the price of them They should have loved
God with all their hearts and they did not love God with all
their hearts but he took that commandment and he took it out
of the way. They should not have murdered,
yet they murdered Christ in their heart every day and yet he took
the command away. They should not have stolen,
yet they stole God's time. Yet they stole the food that
God gave them. Yet they stole the water that
God gave them. Yet they stole the riches that
God gave them. Yet they stole every blessing
God had sent their way in nature. And they robbed God of them.
They robbed Him of His time. They robbed Him of His glory.
They never worshipped Him as God. They went their own way
despising God. And the command of God rang out
against them. Thou shalt not steal. And yet Christ, for his people,
took that command which they were so guilty of breaking and
nailed it to his cross and he took their sins and the commandment
away. so that they would never see
their sins again and they would never see the commandment again. It had no more to say unto them
because they had no sins, they never break those commandments
as believers, they are righteous in Christ. It has no more to
say to them. Now this fact may astonish some
religious people who claim to follow Jesus Christ. It may astonish
them that the law of God has been nailed to the cross and
taken out of the way. But it's the truth. We are righteous
in Christ. We have the righteousness of
God by the faith of Jesus Christ in him. We have been washed of
every sin by his blood, forgiven of every trespass. The law has
no more to say. What is it correcting? what is it correcting you say
yes but as a believer you still sin yes and those sins which
I commit today as a believer have already been paid by Christ
at the cross in him I am righteous God saw our sins, past, present
and future, and laid every one upon His Son. He nailed the commandments
which found those sins out to the cross, and He took those
sins and the commandments out of sight. And having delivered us from
them, from the sin which break the commandments, from the commandments
which stirred up the sin of the flesh within, having delivered
us from them, having delivered us from the flesh, having delivered
us from all that was wicked within us, we stand as righteous, Sons
of God, in Jesus Christ, the other side of death, the other
side of the grave, out of the reach of the law, out of its
jurisdiction, in another world, in another place, in eternity
in Christ, we stand as it were in Him. And all we're called
to do is to look unto Christ, to look unto the Saviour and
believe on Him. Having spoiled principalities
and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. Christ, when He went to the cross
and took the sins of His people and took the commandments of
the law and nailed them to the cross and took it all out of
the way, triumphed over the accuser of the Brethren. He triumphed
over Satan and he triumphed over every accuser of the Brethren.
Everyone that comes in Satan's shoes and wags a finger and says
you shouldn't do this and you shouldn't do that. Christ stands
in triumph. and says these are mine and they
are perfect and you have nothing in there nothing to point a finger
at nothing to accuse them of they are perfect what are you
wasting your time with what are you wasting your time over rebuking
these who I have washed perfectly in my blood they are perfect
you have nothing to accuse them of If you are so open to some
sin that you can see, then look within yourself. But you've nothing
to accuse another of my sheep with. Nothing whatsoever. And Christ triumphed over the
accuser, and he triumphed over everyone that stands in the accuser's
shoes. Profess in believer or not. If your idea of walking before
God is to wag a finger at other believers and point out the moats
in their eyes when you can't see the beams in your own, then
you have to seriously wonder where you stand before Almighty
God. because that's not the walk of a believer. A believer knows
that he's been forgiven of a multitude of sins and he forgives his brethren
as he himself has been forgiven. And his desire is to show his
brethren the saviour and his blood that washed him clean. Whenever he finds a brother Whenever
he sees a brother fall or a sister fall, he points them unto Jesus
Christ and his blood. As Paul points us there, to Christ
at the cross, to the handwriting of ordinances which were contrary
to us, which he took out of the way, nailing it to his cross.
to the forgiveness of all our trespasses because of his shed
blood, to the fact that he has spoiled all principalities and
powers, he's made a show of them openly, he's triumphed over Satan
and every enemy of the people of God. He's triumphed, he's
victorious and he says to his people, let no man therefore
judge you. 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, which are a shadow of things
to come, but the body is of Christ. You're risen in Christ, you're
righteous in him, you've been washed in his blood, then let
no man judge you. Let no man tell you what you
should eat or not eat. Let no man tell you what you
should drink or not drink. Let no man tell you what holy
days you should keep or what holy days you shouldn't keep.
Let no man judge you of the new moon or of the Sabbath. Let no
man tell you whether you should or should not keep a Sabbath.
These things were all a shadow. The Sabbath day in the old covenant
was a shadow of the rest, a picture of the rest which is eternal
in Christ. Now you've got the reality. Every
day is a Sabbath in Christ. then let no man judge you of
whether you walk in the Sabbath or not. Or whether you should
keep this day or not. Or whether you should eat or
drink this or not. They're all pictures. All the
pictures in the Old Covenant. All the pictures in the Old Testament.
Every verse you can point to in the Scriptures which you relate
to these things. They're all pictures of Christ. He goes on, let no man beguile
you of your reward, involuntary humility and worshiping of angels,
intruding into those things which he have not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all
the body by joints and bands have in nourishment ministered,
and knit together increaseth with the increase of God. What
is Paul saying here? He's saying don't let someone
come unto you. Speaking of spiritual things,
high-minded things, presenting things unto you that seem so
right. and so wise which perhaps you
have not read about or you have not looked into. Don't be beguiled
by them, don't be fooled by them that because they come with their
greater learning and their greater wisdom that somehow they know
things that you don't. Because when they come with these
things and they fail to preach Christ, when they fail to hold
the head, Christ, from which all the body by joints and bands
have nourishment ministered and are knit together, when they
fail to preach Him, when they want to spend their time telling
you about other things, but they don't preach Him, don't listen
to them. They're not worth an hour of
your time. They may sound wise. They may
sound like they've looked into this issue and that issue. They
may sound like they're well instructed. They may sound like they have
compared scripture with scripture and they are exhorting you and
they are presenting exposition from this passage and that passage.
They may sound like they have greater wisdom and you may easily
be taken in by them. But if they're not preaching
Christ and His gospel, if they're not preaching the cross, if they're
not preaching the free and sovereign grace of God, if their ministry,
if their time is not spent preaching and exalting Christ, then close
your ears to them. because they know not what they
talk about. They're puffed up in their fleshly
minds, speaking of things that they don't even know about. They
read about them, they can point you to this thing and that thing,
but they don't know the reality. Because if they knew the reality
of that which is true, they'd never beguile you with these
things. They never seek to bring you
into bondage. They never wag a finger at you.
They never bring you into judgment because they see you as a brother
like them. They see you as a sinner like
them that's washed in the blood of Christ. Wherefore, if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world, why as though living
in the world are you subject to ordinances? Why do you listen
to these people that come along and say, Touch not. Taste not. Handle not. Don't touch that thing. Don't
taste that thing. Don't handle that thing. Don't
celebrate this. Don't celebrate that. Don't remember
this. Don't remember that. Don't eat
this. Don't eat that. Don't go there.
Don't go here. Which all are to perish with
the using, after the commandments and doctrines of men. Oh how
many there are which come into the churches and pretend to be
servants of God, and pretend to be preaching the truth, whose
message is a message of touch not, taste not, handle not. They bring the commandments and
the doctrines of men to bring the children of God, Christ's
people, under bondage. They come and say, but the law
says this and you should do that. But this passage says this and
we think you should avoid this and do that. They bring you in
bondage because their gaze is set upon this world and upon
your relationship to worldly things and worldly concepts. So all their occupation is with
how you dress and how you live and what you eat and what you
drink and where you go and what you do. And they don't preach Christ
and his gospel. And the thing about what they
say, as Paul concludes, is that these things that they speak
of have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship. These doctrines
and commandments of men, they have a show of wisdom in will-worship
and humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honour to
the satisfying of the flesh. You see, they come along, these
people come along, and what they exhort and what they say sounds
so good They say, but you should turn away from this. And those
things are right to turn away from. We should turn away from
this sin and that sin. We should turn away from this.
We should devote our time to the worship of God. We should
spend more time in prayer. We should spend more time in
Bible reading. We should spend more time in
worship. We should spend more time giving
to the poor. We should spend more time in
this and that. All that they say sounds so right
and sounds so good. They neglect the flesh, they
neglect the body, they have a humility. These people sound so devout. They're so reverent. They've
given up so much for the service of their God. They're so religious. Oh, how great they appear. So
when they come and they exhort you to do all that they're doing
and more, it's easy to be beguiled by them. They bring their commandments
and their doctrines of how we should be. Well, we should turn
from this and we should turn from that. Well, how can I question
what they say? What they're saying is right.
But they don't preach Christ. The gospel is not yay and nay. It's not about what you do or
don't do in this world. It's not about your striving
to live a certain way. It's not about your efforts to
pray and make yourself willing to pray and how to pray. It's not about how much time
you read the Bible or how much time you spend in the worship
service. It's not about your efforts. those things flow from a heart
that overflows with love and gratitude towards God. Paul rejoiced
at what he saw as the work of God by grace in these Colossians. He rejoiced For though I be absent
in the flesh, he said, yet am I with you in the Spirit, joying
and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith
in Christ. He saw their love for Christ. He saw their love for the Gospel
and he rejoiced in it. And where there is love for Christ
and where there is love for his gospel, a people will turn from
those things which are distractions and those things which weigh
them down in this world and they will freely, without having to
be told, do that which is right before God. Yet there are those who spend
all their time pointing and exhorting what you should do, and where
you should be, and how you should live, and they never truly preach
Christ. But Paul's message constantly
is Christ and him crucified. We're dead with him. We're dead
with Christ and risen with Christ. We were crucified with Christ
and we rose again with Christ because our sins put him to death. Our trespasses, our iniquity
as believers put Christ to death. And having died, He rose again
and quickened us unto life together with Him, having forgiven us
all our trespasses. The matter of our sin has been
settled. When He died, we died. When He was crucified, our sins
were judged in Him once and for all forevermore. They are not
there to be brought before us again. They are not there to
be dwelt on. The answer to every transgression,
the answer to every fall, the answer to our unbelief, the answer
to every doubt, the answer to every stumbling as a believer
is to look unto Jesus and His blood and to see our sins washed
away and forgiven. Any who points you to what you
should or shouldn't do points you to go off in your own strength
by your own ability to try to do something about it and all
that happens is you come under bondage and you strive to do
something and even if you manage to do it you're puffed up by
pride. All you do is you sin more. They
come with their commandments and doctrines like they come
with the law of God and all it does is kill. All it does is
kill. You may wonder why Paul speaks
so strongly against those at Galatia who came in at Galatia
and tried to put the believers back under the law. You may wonder
why we speak so strongly against these who would come with their
commandments and doctrines of men. You may wonder why, when
what they say seems so right, we speak so strongly against
them. Because it doesn't matter what
they say, by directing their commandments and doctrines towards
the walk of a believer and not pointing the believer to Christ
and His grace, they bring the believer into condemnation. They
kill. There's no life in their ministry,
there's no life in their exhortations, there's no life in their guidance. It kills and it slays, it's murderous. It's murderous. Touch not, taste
not, handle not. It's murderous. It may beguile, it may deceive,
but it's sent by an accuser. The accuser of the Brethren who
is happy to lead any soul he can to accuse any child of God
he can find. He brings them from this side
and he brings them from that side and he causes them to rebuke
and to condemn and to point out this and point out that and never
to bring comfort in the gospel of grace. and yet Paul brushes
it all aside and Paul says look unto Jesus. You were dead in
your trespasses, you were dead in your sins, you were dead in
the uncircumcision of your flesh, you were there, you were guilty
but you're not guilty anymore. He have quickened you together
with Christ, having forgiven all your trespasses, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and He took it out of the way, nailing it to
His cross. He's spoiled principalities and
powers. He's made a show of them openly,
triumphing over them in it. He's taken it all away. He's
taken all your sin away. He's taken every ground of accusation
away. There is no one believer that
can point a finger at you, that they can't point right back at
themselves. There is no one that can find
fault when your sins have been blotted out by the blood of Christ. And oh what hope, oh what comfort
there is to know as a believer that once you've heard the gospel
of Christ. Once you've been quickened unto
life, once God has put faith in your heart to believe, once
you've looked and seen your Saviour crucified for you, once you've
seen your sins washed away in His blood, you are perfect, you
are righteous, and you will never be taken away from Him. You'll never be taken out of
His side. You're hidden Him as you're hidden
in an ark. You're hidden Him, you're wed
to Him, you're His brides. He loved you and He gave Himself
for you. He will never leave you nor forsake
you. He will lead you safely into
that refuge to come. He will lead you safely into
heaven's shores. He will bring you perfectly unto
the Father and no man can find any fault. Because everything
that you did, every sin that you committed, every trespass
you made, everything that you've done which is against God has
already been taken away. You have been forgiven all your
trespasses. therefore if you be dead with
Christ from the rudiments of the world why as though living
in the world why as though living in the world you're not living
in the world you're in Christ Yes, your flesh is here. Yes,
you're passing through. As Abraham in tents passed through,
sojourned in this wilderness. Yes, you're passing through.
But your life is above in Christ. You're not living in the world.
And you're not subject to the ordinances of men. You're not
subject to touch, not taste, not handle, not which all are
to perish with the using. after the commandments and the
doctrines of men. You're not under their rule.
You're not subject to these things. You're not in this world. You're
risen out of it. You're alive in Christ above. You're just passing through.
We are complete in Christ. Complete. We lack nothing. We fail in nothing. We are righteous
in Christ forevermore. Praise God. Amen.