I invite you this morning to
turn back again to Colossians chapter 2. My message this morning
is beware of the spoiler. There's no other time of year
when so much idolatry is practiced and so many vain ideas implanted
in the minds of unsuspecting sinners, both old and young,
than Christmas and Easter. And not even Christmas can surpass
the pageantry of Easter. I've never seen anything like
it. This message has been on my mind all week, and I hope
by the grace of God you'll receive it. You'll look at it in the
Word of God. You'll see it and take it for
what it is. Paul opens the second chapter
of Colossians talking about a great conflict in his heart. He was upset. A great conflict in his heart
for those that he was writing to. Now, I like to ask myself
questions when I read the Word of God. I don't know if you practice
that or not, but it's a good idea. And the first question
I asked myself was why was he having a conflict of heart about
a people who was established under his own ministry? What
was this conflict all about? Why was he upset? Why was he? The word conflict
means struggle. Paul had, he was struggling in
his heart over these people. He was wrestling and making petition
for them to God and they were constantly on his mind. He was
constantly praying for them and worrying about them. Why would he have a conflict
of heart over people established under his own teaching? Well,
I'm going to give you four reasons. Same reasons why I have conflict
in my heart for you. Same thing. Same thing. Nothing's changed. First of all,
because he knew something about indwelling sin. Your whole view of salvation
will change if God ever reveals to you what sin is. This world
is totally ignorant of sin. Is that right? They're ignorant
of sin. They don't know what sin is.
They thought sin was that watermelon they stole when they were ten
years old. That is a sin, but that's not sin. Paul knew something about indwelling
sin. Believers are still in the flesh. Self-righteous men would not
have you think bad of them, but they're still sinners. Paul said to the Galatian church,
listen to this, he said, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one
to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would.
That's Galatians 5.17. There are two forces at work
in those born of the Spirit of God, grace and sin. And these two things pull, pull
back, pulls this way a while and then it pulls back this way
a while. There's an inward struggle. He calls it warfare in the scriptures,
a warfare. In Romans 7, verse 21, this is
what Romans 7 is all about. It's an explanation of these
two forces. It's an explanation of the believer
still being in sin. Now listen to this. In Romans
7, verse 21, he's getting down to the end of his arguments here,
and he said, I find then a law, that is a fixed principle, that
when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man. That inward man is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. And after that inward man, I
delight in the law of God. I delight in it because he perfectly
fulfilled it. My righteousness, which is in
Christ, is a perfect righteousness. So I can, with the mind of Christ,
rejoice in the law of God. You won't rejoice in it until
you do, once you hear what it says. You won't want any part
of that loud, just like Israel looking at that mountain and
the thunderings and the lightnings and the shaking of the earth
and the burning of that mountain. They said, no, Moses, you go
up. We're not going up. Paul said, I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another fixed principle,
another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my
members. Oh, he said, wretched man that
I am. How can a man have the mind of
Christ and still be pulled down in the captivity of the flesh?
And when Paul realized that, he cried out the desperate sinner,
crying out to God, Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death, this principle of sin that's
in me? He said, I thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then, with the mind, the mind
of Christ, I serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the
law of sin. Is that your experience? That's
mine too. Paul had a conflict of heart
concerning this church because he knew something about indwelling
sin. People need comforted and encouraged
because of indwelling sin. All right? Secondly, they need
comforted and encouraged because of Satan's temptations. Nobody
knows sinful flesh better than Satan except God. He knows what you love. He knows what you love. He knows
how to feed its wicked appetites. He knows how to inflame its evil
passions. He knows what appeals to it and
often puts it in your path. Paul prayed for and carried a
burden for this church and desired to come and comfort them and
impart some spiritual knowledge to them because he knew something
about Satan's devices. He said, we're not ignorant of
Satan's devices. Thirdly, this man had a knot
in his stomach, a conflict of heart concerning this church
because of afflictive providences. What's that? That's being blindsided by the
providence of God. That's what that is. Afflictive
providences. You're going down the road minding
your own business. Pow! T-boned at an intersection
by somebody who was trying to tech somebody. And you say, why me? I'm a believer. I'm a believer. I have angels. God appointed angels over me.
He sent his angels to those who shall be heirs of salvation.
That's what the scripture said. I'm a believer. I attend church.
I worship God. I read my Bible. I study. I pray. Why me? We have a family who moved clear
across the state of Texas to be here. They no sooner got here
than one of their grandchildren was killed. And a battle went
on to get custody of the other one. You have to ask yourself, why?
Why? Isn't that what happens when
we get blindsided by this providence? I moved all the way down here
to pastor this church, fully intend to stay here until I die,
the Lord willing. I know sooner or later, my wife
was diagnosed with brain cancer. Richard and his wife. Found a
gospel church, at least that's what he tells me. He said, I
hope you don't die until after I do. He said, I want you to
preach my funeral. They found a gospel church, and
they came here. They rejoiced. They hear the
message. They worship God. Wife was diagnosed
with cancer. Afflictive providences. I could
go on and on. People need encouraged, because
these things blindside you. You're not expecting them. They
take the wind out of your sails. Boom! Everything, everything
you had planned, everything that was laid out, it's all gone.
All gone. Get everything all planned out,
how you're going to retire and all this, and you get laid off.
My boss told me one day I'd work for him forever. Went down and
got a loan on a new house and barely got started on it. He
come over and he said, well, I've decided to fold. I didn't
have a job. You start to ask why. I'm a believer. I love God. I attend church.
Why is this happening to me? You can just go on and on with
these things. But God's people need to be comforted and encouraged
because of these afflictive providences. And it's not the question that
you ought to be asking why. That'll come to you after a while.
That's the first question you're going to ask. But then you're
going to begin to get encouraged. Somebody's going to tell you
the truth. And they're going to tell you, don't be looking
at the afflictive providence. Look to Him who sits on the throne,
who controls this providence, and trust in Him. He's perfect
goodness. He's goodness personified. He's
wisdom personified. Nothing has blindsided Him. It
just blindsided you. Trust it in His hands. God the
Father trusted everything in His hands. I think we can trust
Him with that. He can't do wrong. And He's perfect
love, perfect goodness. Just trust Him. And one day before
long, the hymn writer said, we'll understand it better by and by. And then fourthly, and this is
where I want to camp for a while. Paul had an inward conflict concerning
this church because he understood the power and influence of Satan
in this world. Do I? Do I understand Satan's power
and conflict in this world? Do I understand that? Do you? I received a call earlier in
the week from my nephew. He's a Methodist minister. And
this is how he started the conversation. He said, are you having a good
holy week? I said, I don't know about that.
I'm having a good study. And then we went on to talk.
And then about an hour later, I got another call from a man
out in Ocumba, California, listening to the message I preached back
on March the 3rd, the power of God unto salvation. And if you
were hearing, you recall the message, I was talking in that
message about Satan's power over this world. And his statement was that my
definition of satanic possession seemed to differ a little bit
from the spiritual accounts of it. The demons that possessed
legion, you remember the story of legion possessed with all
those devils. They couldn't chain him. They
couldn't tame him. He lived in the catacombs. He
cut himself with sharp rocks and things. He was a wild man. He was a wild man. They couldn't
do anything with him. People feared him. They just
tried to stay away from him. Or the demoniac son was left
foaming at the mouth. The spirits would throw him on
the ground and he'd foam at the mouth and gnash his teeth, cut
himself and tear him. Yet that's not how I described
it in my message. Now let me tell you what I told
him. There may be cases still of that type of demon possession. I'm sure there is. Satan hadn't
changed. This world hadn't changed. God
hadn't changed. But I speculate that there still
is cases like that. We probably give them different
names. We call them psychopaths. We call them insane. We call them mentally handicapped.
We call them this. We call them that. We put names
on everything. And I'm not saying that everybody
that's mentally handicapped is demon possessed. I'm not saying
that. I'm just saying if you, if this world today, right now,
saw Legion, they'd say he was mentally incompetent, mentally
insane. And he was because of demon possession. There may be cases still where
men are possessed in the same manner. Yet, you cannot apply
this kind of demonic possession in a universal sense in which
Paul does in Ephesians chapter 2. He said, you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein you walked according
to the course of this world. Now listen. according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now worketh in
the children of disobedience. That's a universal application
of demonic possession. Is it not? Isn't that what he's
saying? The spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience.
Now, I personally believe that this outward, visible, demonic
possession is used by Satan in a kind of sleight-of-hand way. He takes his right hand and he
says, look at this. Look at this. This is demon possession. And while you're looking, he
steals your soul with the other hand. He makes you to think that if
this is true demon possession, then nobody else is possessed.
If this is the work of Satan, then Satan is not working over
here. I personally believe that this
outward, visible demon possession is used by Satan in that manner. In Ephesians 2, verses 2 and
3, he describes the universal working of Satan and every fallen
son of Adam. No exemptions, no exceptions. You go down there and read it
for yourself. Now here's the explanation. Sin,
like grace, is a way. It's a way. It's here described
as a road or a path in which all unconverted sinners go. He said you walked. You walked. And he describes this as a way.
He describes this as our walk. He describes this as our everyday
practice. It's described in other places
in the scriptures as a broad road, a crooked road, a dark
road. It leads to destruction. This
way is called their way, the way they chose, the way they
approved, the way they delight to travel. It's called the course
of this world because the whole world travels this road. It's their custom, it's their
manner, it's their way of life. And the course of this world
is said to be according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience.
How can it be said that the spirit of Satan works in every unregenerate
son of Adam? How can that be? How can that
be said? The devil is not omnipresent. God is everywhere present at
the same time. Satan is not. He's not omnipresent. How then can he afflict the mind
and affect the mind, the will, and the actions of every man,
woman, and child? How can he do it? How can he
have such power and sway over the whole world? He rules this
world by deceiving men through false ideas, false concepts,
and principles concerning God, salvation, Jesus Christ, and
just righteousness in general. Listen to what Paul says here.
Such are false apostles, deceitful workers. What are they? Deceitful workers. Their work is to deceive, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. That is, convincing
men and women that they're ambassadors of God, and as such, laying down
the fundamental doctrines and principles of righteousness and
acceptance with God. They do not, for the most part,
know that they are deceived, but are described in 2 Timothy
3, verse 13, as seducers deceived and being
deceived. Not every man who deceives knows
that he himself is deceived. I didn't. I didn't know it. Did you? I didn't know it. They are further described in
verse 7 as ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. They're deceitful workers transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And they're called
in 2 Corinthians 11, 15, Satan's ministers. He said, this is no
big deal now. He said, Satan himself is transformed
as a minister of righteousness. Therefore, it's no big thing
if his ministers do the same. They're called His ministers
because they do His bidding. They're called His ministers
because they're promoted by Him and rewarded by Him and used
by Him to deceive whole nations. Without gospel truth and faith
rooted and grounded in Christ, we're carried about, the Scripture
said, with every wind of doctrine, every new thing that comes down
the road. At least the Greeks were honest
about it out there on Mars Hill. They all gathered there either
to tell or hear some new thing. They weren't ashamed of it. But we're carried about with
every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness
whereby they lie in wait to deceive their deceitful workers. And this whole work of deception
is pictured in Revelation 17, 19 as the great whore. riding on the back of the scarlet
beast, which is Satan himself. Her religion is likened to fornication,
and all the kings and inhabitants of the earth and throughout every
generation is said to have committed fornication with her. All of
them. She holds in her hand a golden
cup. It's appealing. It's bright.
It's shining. And according to her, if we drink
of its contents, we shall experience happiness, peace, prosperity,
and good health. But in reality, this cup is full
of abominations, filthiness, and fornication. It is a historical
fact that where false religion is well established, moral degeneration
always follows. Check it out. Check it out. The Great Horse Cup is filled
with the intoxicating doctrine of freewill works religion. That's
what it's full of. And it sparkles. Oh, men love
it. Men love it. She's described
as sitting upon many waters. These, John tells us, are peoples
and multitudes and nations and tongues. And this great whore
called Mystery Babylon the Great rides upon a scarlet-colored
beast, and this beast is a picture of Satan who carries the whore
throughout the whole world. Read it for yourself. Everywhere
she goes, she goes as one with the beast. And Paul warns the
church, beware, Colossians 2.8, lest any man spoil you through
philosophy. Not drunkenness, philosophy. This is a church. This is a church
full of believers established under the ministry of an apostle
who wrote half the New Testament. And he doesn't warn them about
pornography. He doesn't warn them about the
bars and the brothels. What he warns them about is philosophy. Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments. What in the world is a rudiment?
The rudimentary principles, the basic principles of the world
and not after Christ. What is the philosophy of this
world? The philosophy of this world is if you do good, you'll
be rewarded for it. Now, what'd they say? I've been
hearing that since I went to school. The philosophy of this
world is that man is free to make himself whatever he will.
The philosophy of this world is that man is a master of his
own destiny. The philosophy of this world
is that man is born an innocent, And then he rises to the age
of accountability, whatever that is, and at that point, he has
to choose one direction or the other. The philosophy of this world
is that man, by his works, can reconcile himself to God. You
want to reconcile yourself to God? Quit drinking. Get a job. Get your hair cut. Buy you some clean clothes. Go
to church. Do all these things. That's not
what this book says. It says, by his works, by the
works of the law, shall no flesh be justified in his sight. The
philosophy of this world is that man, by his works, can reconcile
himself to God, and the philosophy of this world is that if you
do the best you can, God will approve it. And this philosophy, when it
is accepted, is passed on by tradition from one generation
to another and becomes what Paul calls here the rudiments, the
basic fundamental principles of the world. This deceit is
so universal in its acceptance that parents teach it to their
children, teachers teach it to their school children, and churches
teach it to everybody that comes through the door. These things
spoil the man of faith. They spoil the man of faith.
These things spoil faith of men who give in to them. Their faith
is contaminated with the bacteria of free will religion and works
religion, and their faith becomes rotten and tainted with the corruption
that follows with it. Or if you want to view the words
full as a conquering force, these principles and their universal
acceptance overpower the mind and heart and bring your faith
under its rule. Either way, you won't use that
word full. It means the same thing. Now here's what I want
to tell you. Faith rests in Christ alone. It rests in Christ alone. In
Him, Paul said, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. It didn't come there and camp
out for a while. It dwelleth in Him. It ever dwelleth
in Him. And ye are complete in Him. What does that word mean, complete?
It means you can't add anything to it. Pour a glass full of water. If
you put one more drop in there, it goes over the side. You are
complete in Him. His rule is the rule of God. That alone which is effectual
to the saving of the soul, that alone which is able to call dead
sinners to everlasting life, to preserve His saints and raise
their vile bodies from the grave. He's the head, not only of the
church, but of creation, providence, and all power, both good and
evil, in His hands. And He being the head of all
principality and power, He's able to quicken dead sinners
through the faith of the operation of God. And by His accomplished
redemption, forgive us of all sins and give to us the mind
of Christ. And when He gives it, listen
to what Paul tells them now. They all want to go out and get
back into the pageantry. They all want to go out and get
back into the The duties, they all want to get out and go back
into the ceremonies and all of these things. He said, don't
let anybody hold you and make you feel guilty about what you
drink. You want to drink a beer, drink
a beer. You want a glass of wine, drink a glass of wine. Don't
let any man hold you in subjection on what you drink or what you
eat. Isn't it this week and this time
of year we don't eat meat? You have to eat fish, right?
Don't let anybody judge you in meat. Isn't that what Paul said
there in that chapter? You read it for yourself. Don't
let anybody judge you in respect of a holy day. Boy, what's more
holy than Easter to this world, huh? You want to stay home, stay
home. If it wasn't a day of worship,
I'd stay home. There's nothing holy about it.
The week before Easter is not a holy week. It's just a week. And if you want to know the truth
about it, Christ is our Passover. There is no Easter. He's our
Passover. The Lord's passed over us. He
fulfilled that. The Sabbath day, He's our Sabbath
of rest. I taught you that in Sunday school
lesson. Rest is in Him. It's the mind of Christ that
keeps us from being deceived by anti-Christ religion and being
deceived by these philosophy and vain deceit of this world.
And in that respect, that spirit, the prince of the power of the
air, that spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience,
he works in every unregenerate son of Adam. He works the same
way, establishing these anti-Christ principles. Christ fulfilled every type,
every holy day, every holy week, every holy year. He fulfilled
the Passover. He fulfilled the Feast. He fulfilled
Jubilee. He fulfilled the City of Refuge. He fulfilled the City of Jerusalem.
There is no holy land. Colossians 2.16, let no man judge
you in meat or drink or in respect of a holy day or a new moon or
Sabbath days. These were shadows. Christ is
the body. He's the embodiment of these
things. The very heart of the gospel is the believer's union
with Christ, that we were chosen in Him, represented in Him, lived
in Him, died in Him, raised with Him, seated with Him in glory. Knowing Christ, knowing what
He did, knowing who He is and for whom He came and why, we're
no longer deceived by ordinances and holy days and tabernacle-style
worship. Preachers don't see why you have
to talk about those things so often. Because I don't want you
deceived. That's why. I don't want you deceived. This
apostle, who I'm telling you couldn't lay a stronger foundation
than this man did, as a wise master builder, he tells us over
in I Corinthians 3, I think it is, as a wise master builder,
he said, I've laid the foundation. But he still worried about him,
didn't he? And the reason he worried, because he knew something
about the power of Satan and how he works in this world. He
works. Nobody's exempt from it. It's
everywhere. It's everywhere. You can't keep
your kids from it. The only thing that you can do
for your children concerning that power is bring them here
and let them hear the truth. That's it. You can't shelter
one. You can't keep it home. You can't
do anything else about it. You can teach them the truth.
And that's all you can do. Christ is our high priest. His
church is his holy priesthood and temple. Christ is our lamb,
our altar, our atonement. He's the Sabbath of rest, both
of us and our God. And Paul prayed. Oh, he said
that their hearts might be comforted. being knit together in love and
under 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. And this I say, this I say, here's
why he said it, lest any man should beguile you with enticing
words. Does that make sense to you?
Well, I hope it does. I hope that you can understand
now what Paul's saying. And I hope you can understand
why I said it on a day like Easter. Because everywhere I look, people
are being deceived. All around, I've never seen anything
like it in the stores. I was down at Walmart. You couldn't
get waited on for the people buying stuff for Easter. Beware. Beware. Lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, laying down these worldly principles. And why wouldn't you believe
them? Everybody else does. It's in the textbook. They give
you a textbook when you go to school, don't they, boys? Give
you a textbook. You look in there, and there
it is in the textbook. Must be right they wouldn't put it in
a book. They don't only put it in the
book, they put it in your heart.