Well last week we were looking
in Colossians chapter one at verse twenty seven Christ in
you the hope of glory and we saw that if you're a Christian
according to the biblical understanding of being a Christian you have
the life of God in your soul and as you live this life and
as the years go by we progress towards the end life's end, and
not just the end full stop, but eternal glory, by virtue of that
life of God in your soul. But it isn't a smooth passage. Not at all. It's not a smooth
passage. storms arise of all sorts, hazards lurk, worldly
distractions beckon and entice. Now what Paul shows us in Colossians
chapter 2 is what elsewhere in the scripture, in Hebrews chapter
6, 19, and you know I believe that that was Paul that wrote
that as well, it's what he describes as the anchor of the soul. which keeps us fixed safely. You know what they do with a
ship when the storm's coming? Find a harbour in the lee of
the wind with some shelter and drop the anchor. And have you
seen those anchors? We went to see the SS Great Britain
down at Bristol a few weeks ago and there you've got some splendid
examples of anchors. You'd struggle to fit some of
them in this room. Huge great things. Very, very heavy. The
idea, they go down on that chain, that strong, strong chain, and
they wedge themselves on something on the seabed, and the storm
blows, and the waves come, and it tries to blow the ship away,
but it's anchored. It's firmly anchored. You know
the hymn, we have an anchor that keeps the soul steadfast and
sure as the billows roll. This anchor, keeps the soul fixed
safely through life storms and hazards and Paul says in verse
6 of Colossians 2 as he have therefore received Christ Jesus
the Lord in the same way that you believed on him to salvation
So walk ye in Him. So live your life, your journey
through the rest of your life to the time when you're taken
to glory, when you're taken from this life. So walk ye in Him. Live life in Christ. Because,
as he shows in this chapter, although he doesn't use the word
anchor, this is what he means, Christ is the anchor of the believer's
soul. Christ is the anchor, whatever
the storms that arise, the hazards that lurk, the worldly distractions,
Christ. An understanding of Christ. not
just a head understanding, a heart understanding. Christ in the
heart, understanding and knowing him, the life of God in the soul,
he is the anchor. Now I want to look at aspects
of the anchor, which is Christ, that Paul describes in Colossians
chapter 2, which keeps us from being moved by the storms that
would take us away. and shows us how to walk in him. As we've received him, so walk
in him. Now, you might think that this
is a bit academic, but it isn't. It's very, very real. Because
the dangers are being taken away. You might have a blissful time. The experience of God's saints,
of God's believing people, is periods where it almost seems
like you could just reach into heaven, you're just so conscious
of the presence of God and there are other times when the ceiling
just seems black and dark and solid and there's no way through
and it's such a struggle to pray and it's such a struggle and
how are you not going to be kept? You see the distractions are
such that history is littered with the record of those that
have been taken away. Did you notice in verse one that
Paul has this great concern, this great conflict of mind about
these Colossians, who he knows are believers, and also look
who else he includes with them, they're fairly close neighbours,
the people at Laodicea, you know this is all in what today is
western Turkey, this is all in that area of Ephesus and Bodrum
and around that area of Turkey, you know the kind of the touristy
places on the Aegean Sea, this is where all these places are.
Laodicea you see, Laodicea there were believers there, there was
a church at Laodicea and Paul's got a concern for them and he
wants them, he wants the people at Laodicea to read this message
as well. Do you know when we get to Revelation chapter 3 There's
a letter there, one of the seven letters to the churches in chapters
two and three, the last one of them is to the Laodiceans. And
the Laodiceans believed they were Christians. And they believed
that they were rich Christians. They believed that they had need
of nothing. They believed that they'd got
it, they'd swallowed the map of this thing. And Jesus says
to them, the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ says through
the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos, He says, you say,
I am rich and have need of nothing. He said, I'm telling you, you
are poor and blind and poverty stricken. You have nothing. Because
why? Because they'd lost, well, like
the Ephesians, they'd lost their first love of Christ. They'd
strayed away from him. They were not walking in him.
They were steeped in their religion and their tradition that they
were totally trusting in. Is that not the case with so
much, the majority that calls itself Christianity? You can
go to churches within a ten-mile radius of here, I'm telling you.
You could write Laodicea above the door, because that's it.
They think they're rich and have need of nothing, and they don't
realize they're poor and blind and naked, and they must come
to Christ and buy from him eye salve that they might see. What
do you buy with? Nothing. What does it say in
Isaiah? Buy without money and without price. Without money
and without price. That's the gospel. So let's have
a look at some of these things. I've done them as three contrasts.
The first one is the state of understanding versus the state
of being beguiled, tricked. You know? Understanding or beguiled. Understanding with your wits
about you or gullible, being duped. You know, the salesman
comes to the door and sounds so convincing and absolutely,
you know, just got the perfect bargain for you that you didn't
realize you needed until that very moment. And so many people
just gullibly swallow it hook, line and sinker, don't they?
They just take the bait. He reels them in, he reels them in, he's
made his sail. Nice and easy. Understanding versus beguile.
Then the second one, rooted versus spoiled. Rooted versus spoiled. And thirdly, triumphant versus
deluded. This is the anchor which is Christ.
Understanding. Look at verse two. that their
hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, unto all
riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement
of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ." This
is mutual comfort of believers, one for another, in understanding
the gospel. And that understanding leads
to the riches a full assurance. It's nice to feel rich, isn't
it? It's nice. I tell you, having
been in both the situation of having a little bit of money
and having no money whatsoever, I'm sure that having no money
whatsoever was a good lesson and I had to learn things in
that state that I couldn't learn any other way, but I tell you
which one is the more pleasant experience to be in. It's a lot
nicer not to be in poverty and in want riches of full assurance. But this isn't understanding
just in the head. You know, there are those who
just spend their lives, you know, like perpetual students, forever
pursuing yet another academic qualification and filling their
heads with letters and so on and so forth. It does nothing
for them. It just bumps up, it just puffs
up the mind. But this is understanding which
affects the heart and the affections. The understanding of the Gospel
is a heart thing. It's not just a mind thing. You
don't get it in a Bible college. You don't get it by studying
theology. You get it when the Spirit of
God works in your heart. and shows you the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Oh that I might know him says Paul in Philippians chapter 3.
Oh that I might know him. Oh what do you want to be when
you come to the end of your life Paul? Oh that I might be found
in Christ not having my own righteousness. Not having my own reputation,
my own qualification, which is from law works. No, don't want
that. Everything I did as a Pharisee I count as dung and rubbish and
worthless. No, I want to be found in Him.
The riches of full assurance. Understanding applied to the
heart. How does it work out? It's confidence. Confidence. Have you got confidence when
it comes to passing into eternal glory? Let's say you're taken.
with an illness that's going to take you and you know we know
we're all going to be taken at some stage however young we are
but you know you know oh there it is the doctors told me I've
got X long to live but do you have confidence that come that
day for you know it's appointed to man to die once Hebrews 9
27 it's appointed to man to die once and then the judgment and
as I repeatedly tell you it is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God and our God is a consuming fire and
although false evangelicalism says God loves you and has a
wonderful plan for your life you know the scripture says God
is angry with the wicked every day God is angry it's a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God but if you
have the full assurance of faith if you have the riches of full
assurance you know when I come to stand there I'm found with
my name written in the Lamb's book of life You know that when
it comes to stand there, I'm declared justified. Let him go
free. Let him go free. What does that
text say? Let him go free in Job. Let him go free. Release
him from going down to the pit. Why? I have found a ransom. What was the ransom that God
found? What was the ransom that paid the price of the release
of the captive? It was the blood of Christ. For
the blood of Christ that infinite perfect human blood but perfect
without sin was shed for the sins of his people to pay the
laws price for the sins of his people and therefore I'm justified
if I'm in him I'm justified how do I know because he was delivered
up for my transgressions and raised from the dead God vindicate
yes it's paid the price he cried it is finished and he raised
him from the dead proving that I'm justified in his sight, and
I'm sanctified and I'm set apart in him. It's not dependent on
what I do. It's not dependent on my faith.
You read the article in the bulletin, it's a good article, I don't
know where it came from, it was somebody, JJ West, I found it in somebody
else's bulletin. But this thing about, oh, if
only they would believe, and if only this, that, and the other,
do you know, that's heresy, that's not the teaching of scripture.
God calls his people. It's not dependent on my faith. If I am right with God, it is
entirely of God's doing. And that removes all fear, for
perfect love casts out fear. It's an acknowledging of the
work of God, of the Father in electing grace, of Christ in
redeeming love, and implicitly of the Spirit in regenerating
power. because of verse three you see
it's understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of
the Father and of Christ in whom the Godhead in whom are hid all
the treasures of wisdom and knowledge they're all in the Godhead but
how is the Godhead manifested to us sinners here? only in Christ
by his Spirit what is the role of the Spirit of God there are
those that go there are those that that major on the Spirit
of God do you know scripturally The work of the Spirit of God
is one thing and one thing alone, and that's to glorify Christ.
The work of the Spirit of God is not to speak of himself. The
work of the Spirit of God is to turn the eyes of believing
sinners on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is right. When the charismatics
tell us, oh, you must have the Spirit, I tell you, if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. All believers
have got the Spirit of God. You're not a believer without
the Spirit of God. But I tell you what, your focus is where
God points your attention. looking unto Jesus. As you walk,
looking not unto the Holy Spirit, looking unto Jesus. It's the
Holy Spirit that enables you to look unto Jesus. Verse three,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What
are these treasures? Can I just say simply? You know,
these great issues of life and death. Who am I? Who are we?
Why are we here? Why are we what we are? This
is the height of divine philosophy, not earthly philosophy. It's
the comfort of understanding eternal truths. It's centered
entirely in God as he's manifested in Christ. And as I've already
said, Philippians 3.10, Paul says, that I may know him. That's
the height of knowing Christ, that I may know him. For Colossians
3.11, if you just look across the page, There's neither one,
it doesn't matter what you are, Greek, Jew, circumcision, uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, Bond, or Freak, because this is the thing,
Christ is all and in all. In him we see the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
What an anchor of the soul that is, to know Christ. Whatever
storm comes, through life, even to death. How do you think the
martyrs you know, 400 years ago, being burned for their faith.
How do you think the martyrs coped? How do you think they
handled it? The reason is this, that Christ
was there, they were looking to Christ. Whatever the storm,
even in the most severe storm, they were looking to Christ.
I know, I think I quoted this last week, didn't I, 2 Timothy
1.12, Paul says, I know whom I have believed. I know who,
not I know what I have believed, I know whom I have believed.
It's one thing to know what doctrine, it's another thing to know whom
the person of Christ. I know whom I have believed and
I'm persuaded, convinced that he is able to keep that which
I've committed unto him against that day of judgment. What have
I committed unto him? My soul, my immortal soul, my sinful soul. I've committed it unto him. to
justify it, to take me to glory. Now contrast that. Contrast that
understanding and the riches of it. Verse four. And this I
say lest, in case, any man should beguile you with enticing words. Any man should entice. What's
this any man? Well, he's specifically talking,
as the scriptures do, again and again about false teachers. In
the Old Testament it was false prophets, they must be tested.
In the New Testament it's false teachers who come in, in all
sorts of different guises. God has told us that that's the
case. This is what we're going to have. Scripture abounds with
warnings. They're the instruments of Satan
to take saints away from Christ alone. Enticing words. Enticing,
beguiling, tricking. You know, when you go and see
the magician perform his tricks, you are enticed with what he
does. You are beguiled, you are fooled, you are deluded by what
he says. understanding versus delusion.
What are these enticing words come from this any man, these
false teachers? They come as angels of light.
In 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 Paul is speaking about such people.
He says in verse 13, for such are false apostles, deceitful
workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
They make out there the apostles of Christ. And no marvel, don't
be surprised, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel
of light. He looks like an angel of light.
He comes and he appears to people like an angel of light. Therefore,
it is no great thing if his ministers, because that's whose they are,
Satan's ministers, also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness.
The ministers of righteousness that you work, and not the righteousness
which Christ has worked, whose end shall be according to their
works. They're destined for judgment.
Religion all around us, and much of it called Christianity, uses
the words of true faith very often, but teaches the doctrine
of devils. And what's the doctrine of devils?
Even though it uses the words that sound like Christ and the
gospel, It's no accomplished redemption in Christ alone. Effectively,
they deny the doctrine of Christ. It's so subtle. You've got to
be so careful. You've got to be so aware. Our
trust is in Christ alone. Not in anything that we do. Not
even in my believing. Oh, well, I've got my faith.
No, no, no, no, no. Where are you looking now? You
know? Why are you alive? You know, I could ask you, Michael,
why are you alive? Oh, because I was born 20 years
ago. No, that's not the reason you're
alive. I'll tell you the reason you're alive. You're breathing
now. You're living and breathing now. You know, you're conscious
now. That's the thing. It's not that
you were, it's not that you made a decision. It's not that you
walked out to the front in some great convention or whatever
it might be it's that now you're looking to Christ and walking
in Him. That's what denies the gospel
of grace, the doctrine of devils, that there's no accomplished
redemption in Christ alone. It denies the doctrine of Christ. How many are deluded by the enticing
words of false teachers? How do you know them? They deny
the doctrine of Christ. Secondly, let's move on. Rooted,
rooted. Now look at verse 7 first. where
Paul is talking to them and he's saying to these Colossian believers
and evidently the Laodicean believers as well because he wanted this
letter read there too that you're rooted and built up in him and
established in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein
with thanksgiving rooted Rooted like I hope most of my I mean
the birds seem to be doing a good job in places are trying to unroot
Many of my plants, you know, I love the birds I feed them
but sometimes I really do fall out with them because you know,
they are vandals They they get in there. I put a load of new
seedlings in I got some seeds coming up in a big pot out there
and I noticed that something Undoubtedly a bird had got in
there and just decided it was just gonna rape them all out
of the ground, you know Perhaps he thought there were some worms
or bugs or something underneath them. He just did vandalism.
No, I want my plants to be well-rooted. And if they're well-rooted, they're
fixed and the wind can blow. And the rain can come. And all
sorts of things can happen. It can go dry, but their roots
are down deep where the moisture is. They're rooted. They're grounded,
they're built up, they're established in the faith. He says this is
what you're like in Christ as true believers. With that knowledge,
with that assurance of understanding rooted and built up in him, solidly
anchored on the rock which is Christ. Look at verse five. For
though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the spirit,
joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ. So you're stable You know, you're
in a stable position, you're... You're hard to move, you know
the rugby player, when they don't want to be knocked over, they
brace themselves, they get in a stable position. And he's saying
it's like that spiritually. They're stable. God is not the
author of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the
saints. In understanding be many, speaking of maturity, rooted
and built up, steadfast in faith in Christ, solid in your mind
and heart concerning eternity, and justice and your standing
in Christ such that when we get to verse 10 having told us that
in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily you know
I hope this doesn't sound irreverent or blasphemous when I say this
but a lot of people in religion have the idea that Jesus is God's
little boy You know, they really do. They have this idea that
Jesus is God's little boy. He's not. He's our great God,
manifest in the flesh. In Him dwells the fullness of
the Godhead, bodily. And you, if you're a believer,
are complete in Him. You're complete. in him. Let's
say you collect certain things. Let's say you collect stamps,
or whatever it might be. It used to be very popular to
collect stamps. And you want all the stamps of a particular
nation. and you collect them and you
get the final one that there is to get and your set is complete. How many stamps are you lacking
of that nation set that you've got? Answer? None. Why? Because
you've got the complete set. I know it's obvious, but look
at it. We are told that as believers
you are complete in Christ, lacking nothing that God in strict justice
might require of you. Oh, you know, you've got to stand
before the judgment seat of Christ. What might God require of you?
How holy have you got to be to get into heaven? Oh, well, I've
got to have had a good attempt. No, not good enough, I'm afraid.
You've got to be as holy as God. Oh, but how can I be? In my flesh,
I'm a sinner, and if I say I have no sin, I deceive myself and
the truth is not it. That's right. As long as you
live in this flesh, you're a sinner. But in Christ, with that new
man that is born of the spirit of God we are told you are complete
in him you are lacking nothing with which to stand before the
judgment seat of Christ and to hear those words come ye blessed
of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world because when he looks on his people it's as if
he looks on his son he does he's made us doesn't just think of
us, doesn't just count us as if, it says in 2 Corinthians
5, 21, where he made him to be sin for us, made him to be sin
for us, that he might make his people the righteousness of God
in him. What does God say of his son?
This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. If you're
in Christ, he looks at you and says this is my beloved son.
in whom I am well pleased. And of course, I'm not making
a distinction between men and women. We're all sons of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. But, verse eight, beware, beware. Warning, warning. 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. If you fall under the spell of
false teachers, bringing their philosophies. What's philosophy?
Worldly wisdom of fallen man. The Greek philosophers. It was
all the philosophy of life without redemption that is in Christ.
Fundamentally that is it. Isn't that what we saw throughout
Revelation? Whenever we saw Satan and Antichrist
and the beasts and all of those weird things The true interpretation
of it is this, that all of it was the worldly wisdom of fallen
man, and in what respect do you identify it as that? There's
nothing to do with the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's
what this world's trying to establish. The political systems of this
world are trying to establish a political utopia, an economic
utopia, in which there is nothing to do with redemption that is
in Christ Jesus in which there is nothing to do with sin and
judgment. It's trying to build all the
time what Satan did at the Tower of Babel when he tried with that
worldwide political union before God confounded the languages
to get them to build a tower up to heaven so that man without
any redemptive purpose in Christ could reach up to heaven. You
know, but when you go right back to the beginning, Cain and Abel,
you know the fundamental difference. Cain, I will get to heaven by
my works. Abel, I will get to heaven through
God's substitute. And he brought a lamb, and his
was accepted. No. Philosophy. Vain deceit,
it says. based in empty self-centered
thinking of man. Tradition. Why do you do it?
Ah, we've always done it like this. Does it have any warrant
in the word of God? Well, I can't find any, but,
you know, it must have some meaning. It must have some mystical meaning,
so we've always done it like this. And so you get all of the
religious trappings that go with religion that calls itself Christianity. Superstitious ideas. Stuff which
doesn't have any basis in the scriptures. You know, we should
be people of the book. If we can't find a clear teaching
in the word of God, we shouldn't be doing it in the name of religion.
You know, really, we shouldn't. We shouldn't. Verse 6. How did
you receive Christ? As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. How did you receive
Christ? By Holy Spirit quickening, by
regeneration, by conviction, by faith. Those things are all
spiritual. So continue to live it out by
faith and by prayer. These are spiritual exercises.
There's nothing physical. You say, oh, this is not a proper
church that we're meeting. It is, if the people of God,
if the believing people of God are meeting here, this is the
church of God. The church is not a building.
The church does not have certain architecture. It's just a convenient
place to meet. It would be nice for us to have
a building, but there are not enough of us. But friends that
we know do have nice buildings and meet together and share the
gospel of Christ. But you see, the thing is, as
Peter prayed in his prayer, Jesus told the woman at the well, the
woman at the well said, you Jews say you should worship in Jerusalem,
and we Samaritans say we should worship on this mountain, and
Jesus said to a woman, believe me, the time is coming when neither
in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship, but those that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's
the truth. We continue to live out by spiritual
exercise with nothing physical. Then finally, let me move on
quickly. Triumphant versus deluded. Look at verse 11. Talking about
Christ being complete in him, Paul elaborates this triumphant
completeness that we have in Christ in whom in Christ also
ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ what on earth is all that about? what on earth is all that
about? Jews practice circumcision, Islamists
practice circumcision for religious purposes. We don't. What is this
all about? Well, circumcision was a symbol,
a sign, a picture to Abraham and the people of God, the Israel
of God. It was a sign of separation from
the sin of the flesh. It was the putting off of the
flesh. In the flesh is always corruption. And it was a sign
and a symbol and no more. And God repeatedly tells us about
the hypocrisy of that which is external when there's nothing
truly internal. So he says, the circumcision
of the heart. He's talking about that which
is the cutting off the fleshly desires that are in the heart,
in the affections, in the emotions. And he says, if you're in Christ,
you have that. You're circumcised without hands.
It's what God did in Christ. God requires separation from
sin in those he takes to glory. And that's only possible by substitution
in Christ. He has done it. The circumcision
of Christ. That which he did in cutting
off, in dying to the law on the cross of Calvary. That's what
he did. Look at verse 12. buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead." What's that talking
about? Well, baptism is such a beautiful
symbol, and it's the scriptural sign of heart-faith union with
God in Christ. And what does the word mean?
I'm sorry it's absolutely clear the Greek word baptizo is to
immerse it means immersion because in that there is a picture of
burial in the water and then rising again out of the water
it's a picture of Christ dying and being buried in the grave
and rising again out of the grave. That's what it is. United with
Christ. You know, Christ is united with
his people. It's a marriage. The union of
Christ and his church is a marriage. united with Christ in his death
and resurrection represented by baptism through God fulfilling
his covenant that's it through the operation of God through
God fulfilling his covenant to save his people from their sins
verse 13 and you being dead in your sins as in your flesh and
in the uncircumcision of your flesh as it is your flesh naturally
is full of sin it's full of the defilement of the world but he
has made it alive quickened it together with him having forgiven
you all trespasses you're dead by nature you're made alive with
Christ you're forgiven all sin verse 14 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. What's he talking
about there? He's talking about the law, about
the strict indictment of the law. Christ took it out of the
way for his people. He made it to disappear at the
cross. Why? Because he satisfied it.
He satisfied its demands in every way. Christ answered it fully
there at the cross for his people, united to him in the covenant
of grace. And verse 15, he defeated Satan,
having spoiled principalities and powers. He made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. That's the picture
of the Roman emperors and their conquest over their foes and
of their leading their defeated foes. They would lead them in
shame. They would make a show of them
openly. They would lead them in shame as defeated rebels back
into Rome. Well it says that Christ has
defeated Satan and his demons. How? He's disarmed their weapons. He's blunted their weapons. What
were the weapons of God? We saw it when we looked at Revelation.
Do you remember in Revelation chapter 12 and verse 7 there
was war in heaven between Michael and his angels and between Satan
and his angels. And what was that war about?
It was about the qualification of the Old Testament believers
to be there in heaven before Christ had come in time and satisfied
justice. That's what it was about, but
it tells us there quickly, in the following verses from Revelation
12-7, that Christ came and defeated him. He was defeated. How? Because in the very moment that
Satan was triumphing, thought he was triumphing over Christ,
by having him crucified, by finally getting there, he was actually
destroying his own accusation, his own weapons. For in that
moment, Satan was disarmed. for Christ had justified all
those who were already in heaven of the Old Testament saints and
so now it leads to triumph, triumphing over them in it 2nd Corinthians
2.14 says this, now thanks be unto God which always causeth
us to triumph in Christ but now let me wrap this up quickly religion
Religion, even that which calls itself, especially that which
calls itself Christian, religion doesn't like the calm confidence
of true faith in Christ. Religion doesn't like the completeness
in Him that Paul speaks of here, and the rest in Him, and the
confidence and the assurance that is in Him. Religion doesn't
like the idea that we're already prepared for judgment in Him.
the liberty that we have in him. In Galatians 2.4 Paul talks about
those that came in to spy out our liberty that they might bring
us back into bondage. That's what religion tries to
do. Religion tries to spy out the liberty of true faith when
not Are we under law? People who are Christians will
tell you again and again, of course you're under law, you're under
a moral obligation to keep the law of God. Well does that mean
if I say no that's not the case, does that mean I deliberately
go and flout it? No, no, no, but we're not under law, we're
under grace. The scripture says it again and
again, not under law, but under grace. We have liberty in Christ. We know that we're complete in
him. But religion is never certain.
Religion is always doubting. Religion is always needing to
strive to add its own contribution. And in the process, those who
are its leaders love to put burdens, burdens of bondage on the necks
of its followers. Look at them with me quickly.
Verse 16. Because you know where you are, triumphant in Christ
as a believer, don't let anyone judge you in meat, what you can
eat, or drink, what you can drink, or inspect of a holy day, oh
you've got to treat this day, oh this is the holiest day of
the year, oh we must do this on this day because it's the
holiest day of the... For the believer, in the New Testament,
there's no day any different to anybody else. Not even Sunday? No, not even Sunday. I tell you,
if we were a group of believers living in an Islamic society,
do you know the day we'd probably meet? I know we'd get opposition,
but the day we'd probably meet would be a Friday, because that's
the day most of their society closes down for a while to pursue
their religion. So we'd probably meet on that
day. Look, is this what the Word of God says, or is it not? In
respect of an holy day? Or of the new moon? Or of the
Sabbath days? No, we don't keep a Sabbath day. Today is not the Sabbath day
in its Christian form. Absolutely not. How do we obey
the fourth commandment? We trust Christ, who is our Sabbath.
Read Hebrews 4. Christ is our Sabbath rest. He
is the rest. We rest in Him. We don't deny
ourselves this, that and the other. We don't wear horsehair
shirts and do penance today to try and earn favour with God.
Christ has earned all the favour we ever need with God. No. Religion
loves to take all of that away from us, but no, people like
to impose these things on us. What are those things? Weren't
they in the Old Testament? Yes. In the Old Testament, they
were a shadow. They were the blueprint. They
were the outline. They were illustrating by picture
the way God would save his people. But the body, the substance,
the reality is of Christ, not of these things. Let no man beguile
you, verse 18. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind. He's talking about religious
piety. He's talking about vanity. He's talking about fleshly pride
and thus being beguiled of your reward. What's the believer's
reward? What did God say to Abraham?
Abraham I am your exceeding great reward. Believer, what is your
exceeding great reward in glory? Our God in Christ. Christ is
our exceeding great reward. He is our reward. Verse 19, not
holding the head. Who's the head? Christ. Christ
is the head of the body, his church. From which all the body,
see this is it. Hold on to him, not these other
things. They're just external. All the joints and nourishment
knit together. He's talking about a body increasing
in the increase of God. Verse 20, wherefore, if ye be
dead with Christ. In other words, what he means
is, seeing that you are dead with Christ. As Paul says, I
am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. If seeing that you are then dead with Christ, when he
was crucified, crucified with him and risen with him, from
the rudiments of the world, why are you living? as if you're
still subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle
not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments
and doctrines of men. They've all got an external show,
whatever they appear like, this verse 23, it's external, but
it doesn't actually do you any good. It doesn't actually do
your spirit any good. Whatever they appear like, they
are all perishing. They all have an appearance of
wisdom in fleshly piety, but they're of no spiritual benefit
whatsoever. So, the text, as ye have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Walk by faith, looking
by faith unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, with
Christ in you, the hope of glory, and not beguiled or spoiled or
deluded by the delusion of religion but in the glorious liberty of
the children of God. Glorious liberty! What is that,
a liberty that gives me license to do what I want? No. No, of
course not. As Paul says, Galatians 5, 13,
Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty
for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Well, what's going to make me
behave rightly then? If the law isn't telling me not to go and
kill somebody, what's going to make me behave rightly? If you're
a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, is it not the love of
Christ which constraineth us? Isn't it the love of Christ that
constrains his people? Why don't I go and commit adultery?
Because I love this lady here. That's why. It's that. It's that. Doesn't matter what the enticements
are. It's that. It's not a law saying thou shalt not. It's love.
Love. Love that motivates and constrains. And so it is with the love of
Christ. Amen.