A lesson this morning is in Colossians
chapter 2. In our studies in Colossians
2, we've learned that in Christ are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. He's the Rosetta Stone. Does everybody know what the
Rosetta Stone is? That's a stone that they found
that was the key to unlock all that Egyptian hieroglyphics,
a language of pictures written on those pyramid walls that remained
a mystery for thousands of years. And they discovered that stone,
I think, back in the 30s or 40s. And that stone was the key. That
Rosetta Stone unlocked all the mysteries of that. And Christ
is the Rosetta Stone of spiritual mysteries. Unlocking that which
had been hidden in him from ages and from generations. He's the seed of Abraham. The
seed of Abraham through which all the nations of the world
should be blessed. He's the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world. He's the fulfillment of every
Old Testament type, and he's the object of all the Old Testament
prophecies. Modern day religionists would
make those Old Testament prophecies about monsters and giant creeping
things and all sorts of things, but he is the object. of all those Old Testament prophets. To Him give all the prophets
witness. And there is no hope of ever
coming to the knowledge of the truth apart from the truth as
it's manifested in Jesus Christ. In Him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. And then secondly, we learn that
there is an order in the new creation. There is an order,
as God created the old creation and established an order in it,
so He does in the new creation. Certain things take place in
this new creation. Certain things come to pass as
faith and repentance finds its place in the hearts of chosen
sinners. Things happen. Things happen. What happens? Well, they hear
the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. How many of
them hear it? They all do. Our Lord said to
His disciples, blessed are your ears, for they hear. Everybody
there didn't hear it, but they did. Everybody there didn't see
His glory, but they did. How come? How come? Because there
is an order in this new creation. They hear His Gospel. They're
all taught of God. They're taught of God. Well,
I thought preachers taught. They do. They do. But God teaches through them.
And if God don't speak through them, you can't be taught. If
He don't speak to you personally, you can't be taught. That's right. I'm telling you, I went to church
for years and didn't learn anything. I didn't learn anything because
God didn't speak to me. But when it pleased Him, He still
spoke through that same man. That same man had been preaching
to me for years. He spoke through him. But when
he spoke, I heard. I heard. They hear the gospel
of God's sovereign grace in Christ. They are all taught of God. They
all come to Christ. Every one of them. They all come
to Christ. They all receive Christ, rejoice
in Christ, and rest in Christ. They all are brought into obedience. They all obey the rule of their
ascended King. And they all love one another.
He that loveth not knoweth not God. I tell you, you can say
anything you want to say. That man who shuts off, cuts
off his brother, just cuts him off. I'm not speaking to him.
I'm not shaking his hand. I'm not telling him good morning.
I'm not telling him Godspeed. That man don't know God. He that
loveth not knoweth not God. There's an order in this new
creation. They all grow in grace. knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then thirdly, we learned
this, that the believer's walk comes from the same place his
hope comes from. He doesn't find hope in one place
and then find motivation and so on in another place. He finds
his walk the same place he found his hope. As you have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. Men are not saved by grace and
then sanctified by law and threat of punishment. Well, what kind
of walk is this walk? It's a humble walk. It's a humble
walk. It's a gracious walk. It's a
genuine walk. It's a merciful walk. It's an
obedient walk. And it's a committed walk. And
then, fourthly, we learn that there's some danger. There are
some dangers to this thing of serving God. There are some dangers
to this thing of walking with God. There are dangers. False religion,
carnal philosophy, vain deceit, traditional religious understanding,
all dangers. And any and all these things
together are a threat to seeking senses. Beware, Paul says. Beware. Which brings us to our lesson
today, the full sufficiency of Christ. He tells us here in verse
9, For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him which
is the head of all principality and power. Now listen to me for
just a minute. Everything God has for sinners
is in Christ. There's nothing outside of Christ. Everything that God has for sinners
is in this man. That's why I preach Him. That's
why I preach Him over and over and over. There's nothing for
the sinner outside of Christ. In Him is the righteousness of
God. In Him. He is the righteousness
of God. And no man, no woman shall ever
be saved without a righteousness equal to God's. Perfect, unblemished,
unbroken righteousness. A perfect righteousness in motive,
thought, and deed. And you can't produce it. You
can only have it in one place. In Him. In Him. That's where it's at. Sinners
cannot produce this righteousness. Listen to the Scriptures, "...by
the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his
sight." That's pretty conclusive, isn't it? No flesh. Not by the
deeds of the law. Not by their obedience. Verse
21 there in Romans says this, "...but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested." being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ. That is where the righteousness
is. And it is unto all and upon all
that believe. For there is no difference, that
is, between Jew or Greek or Jews and Gentiles. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. There is no righteousness
acceptable to God outside the representative obedience of our
covenant head in surety of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there
is no forgiveness of sins, that's the second thing, outside of
Christ. God doesn't forgive sin apart
from Christ. I've seen men take an eraser
and erase marks off a blackboard and say that's how God saves
sinners. That's a lie. God don't save sinners that way.
God saves sinners by paying for their sins in their substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 verse 6 said, To
the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his
grace." And I'll tell you this, forgiveness of sins don't come
by way of compassion and sympathy. Modern day preachers would have
God feeling sorry for sinners. And because He felt sorry for
them, He said, That's not how God saves sinners
either. Forgiveness of sins comes by
way of satisfaction, not sympathy. Justice must be satisfied. Romans
3.24-26 tells us that God set His Son forth before us to be
a propitiation through faith in His blood. That is, faith
to find a sufficiency in His sacrifice to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins, that He might be just and justifier
of all that believe. And every attribute of God is
manifested in the life, death, resurrection, and reign of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His sovereignty, His love, His
kindness, His mercy, His grace, God's wrath, God's justice, In
God's wisdom, to know Him is to know God. You remember when
He told the disciples that He was leaving? And He said, whether
I go, you know, and the way you know. And Philip was doing this. He said, we don't know where
you're going, and how can we know the way? You know what he said? I am the
way. I am the truth. I am the life. To know Him is to know God, and
to know God is eternal life. It's all in Christ. It's all
in Christ, and we're complete in Him. Now listen to what these
next verses say in the light of what we've just learned. In
the light of those things that we've already studied and learned,
Beginning here in verse 11, listen to what these verses say. Colossians
2, verse 11, in whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands in putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. I'd be willing to wager not too
many of you could tell me what that verse means. That's kind of complicated, ain't
it? Well, circumcision was the sign or seal of the covenant
that God made with Abraham. And even the Jews that were willing
to accept Jesus as the Christ still wanted and insisted on
circumcision. Circumcision. Circumcision is what God commanded
to be done in their flesh to separate them from the heathen
and to identify them as the children of God. And in every way, the
children of God have this circumcision already in Christ. We have it
in Christ, in whom also we are circumcised with the circumcision
not made with hands. Isn't that what he says? We had
this. We were circumcised in Christ
our Lord who was made unto us sanctification. Set apart in
Him, received the covenant in Him, by Him as our meritorious
cause of regeneration, we are set apart or circumcised with
a circumcision not made with hands. And then in verse 12,
buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from
the dead." Now, let's just break this down a little bit. First
of all, we're buried with him in baptism. We're not only circumcised
in him in a spiritual sense, and the body of our sins cast
away, as was the old foreskin, but both we and our sins were
buried with him. If I was buried with Him, so
was my sins. Do you follow what I'm saying?
We're all in Him. I was crucified with Christ. Isn't that what Paul said? And
as we were crucified with Him, being in union with Him, we're
also buried with Him. We're buried with Him. The significance
of the grave is that all our sins which had been paid for
in His death were now hidden forever, left forever in the
ground. They're gone. They're gone. When Christ rose from the dead,
He rose being fully justified and free of sin. And to those
who look for Him like those old Israelites looked for that high
priest, they knew where He was going and they knew what He was
doing. He was taking that blood atonement, that blood sacrifice,
and He was going beyond the veil into the Holy of Holies to make
atonement for their sins. And they watched that tabernacle.
They didn't take their eyes off that tabernacle. They wanted
to see that high priest come back out without that blood and
without those sins. And unto them that look for Him
shall He appear the second time without sin. unto salvation. Baptism is an ordinance whereby
we confess our faith, which is in the representative accomplishments
of our Lord and Savior. And so Paul tells us we're not
only buried with Him, but also risen with Him through the faith
of the operation of God. That's what faith does. Now let me tell you something.
This generation preaches faith. But they don't know what to say
about faith. What does this faith do? Well,
to them, it acts in the physical. It's evidenced by speaking in
tongues. It's evidenced by some supernatural
power. It's evidenced by boldness. It's
evidenced by all of these things. And they talk about faith as
applied to your job. or your offerings in the church,
if you give a lot, you're going to get a lot, and so on. That's
how they describe it. That's not what faith is. Faith
looks into the substitutionary work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and understands what it is. and finds peace in it. They look
to Him and they see His appointments of God. They see Him as the High
Priest and the King and the Prophet of God. They see all of these
things in Christ and it perceives those things, believes those
things, and finds rest in those things. And they see the children
of God in union with Him. They see them in Him accomplishing
these things. They see that meritorious work
of Christ. That is the faith of the operation
of God. It understands those things.
It sees those things. And those things are applied
to the heart. Verse 13, And you being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with
Him, having forgiven you all trespasses? In Christ my Redeemer
I have no sin, You let that sink in a little
bit. In Christ my Redeemer, if I'm in Him, if I truly have saving faith,
if I have believed on Him, do believe in Him, continue to believe
on Him, I have no sin in Him. In Him I'm righteous. In Him
my sins are gone. They are gone. Verse 14, blotting
out also, not only is my sins taken away, but 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 is this handwriting of ordinances
that He is talking about? What is He talking about here? Well, it's the removal by the
grace of God in Christ, the condemnation of the law which we had broken. That's what he's talking about.
This law of Moses. You know what? God sent those
two tablets down by Moses. God knew what was going on down
there, but Moses didn't. And Moses come down with them
two tablets, rejoicing in his heart. He come down there and
looked. And here is all Israel, including God's high priest,
dancing naked around a fire, worshiping a golden calf. The law was broken. God called
Moses back up on the mountain. He gave him, took his finger,
wrote in that stone, wrote those commandments down again. Now
this time, he said, you go down and put them in the Ark, because
that's the only way they can be kept. That's the only way
they can be honored in that Ark of the Covenant. And over top
of it, you're going to make a mercy seat, and we're going to sprinkle
the blood on the mercy seat and cover that broken law. That's
what he's talking about here. He took that away. He took it
away, that handwriting of ordinances that was contrary to you. Huh? Love your neighbor as you love
yourself. That's contrary to you, boy.
Contrary to me, too. Now, I might take him a bowl
of soup every now and then, but that's not loving him like I
love myself. I don't take my paycheck old
and hand it to him. Just a bowl of soup. These are contrary. Love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. You
can't do it. You don't do it. He took them
out of the way. But he didn't just throw them
away. He took them over here and he nailed them to that cross
where they're honored and exalted forever. He took these things
out of the way. By the righteous and loving obedience
and by his substitutionary suffering and death, Jesus Christ has once
for all exalted the law and made it honorable. And this he did
not for himself, because he is the lawgiver and the judge, but
rather for all those given him by the Father before the world
began." The one great boundary between
God and men is their sin, their sin. And sin is the transgression
of the law. And that has to do with the conscience,
or whether we're talking about the imagination, or the lust
of the heart, or whether we're talking about the outward commandment.
In Christ, we have obeyed God's law, satisfied its demands, and
received its rewards. Believers are in no sense under
the law. Our law is the law of love and
gratitude. That's my law. I don't have any
other law. Our law is the law written upon
our hearts, that law satisfied, that law honored and exalted
in Christ, written upon our hearts. And as these things were fulfilled
in Christ, and honored in Christ, and exalted in Christ, he spoiled
the powers of darkness by exposing their lies and motives. Salvation
by grace exposes the religion of legalism. You can't preach
grace and not expose legalism. It's impossible for me to preach
a message to a mixed congregation and somebody not be angry. It's
an absolute impossibility. Because grace exposes legalism. Salvation by the work of Christ
exposes salvation by the work of men. Salvation by the righteousness
of Christ exposes self-righteous religion. And salvation by the
power of God exposes salvation by the will and works of men.
Now, look down here at verse 16. Let no man therefore judge
you in meat, or drink, or in respect of a holy day, or after
the new moon. Are you listening? Or the Sabbath
days? which are a shadow of things
to come, but the body is Christ. Christ is our Sabbath. He is
our Sabbath. In Him we have a rest from all
our labors, and yet still honor our God. Christ has fulfilled
all the ceremonial laws, and we are not to let any man bring
us back under that captivity. Free from the law! That is what
the hymn writers said. Oh, happy condition! Jesus has bled, and there is
remission. Come unto me, Christ said. Oh,
hear the sweet call. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Now watch this, verse 20. Wherefore,
if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments, these basic principles
of the world, why, as though living in the world, are you
still subject to ordinances? Why are you still subject to
ordinances? Why do you still let men put you in this yoke? What's he talking about? Well,
he tells you there in verse 21, touch not, taste not, handle
not, which are all to perish with
the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things
have indeed a show of wisdom in where? Will worship. Wherever you find will worship,
you'll find these things, and you'll find men and women practicing
these things. Still in that yoke of bondage.
Still under that old law. But he said, it's not in any
honor to the satisfying of the flesh. Now, there's all kinds
of explanations for this last verse, but I believe what he's
saying here is this. None of these things actually
do what men say they do. That's what he says. These things
don't satisfy God. They don't bring you any closer
to God. Isn't that what they tell you
they do? Keep the Sabbath. Keep the Sabbath. That way you
can be close to God. That don't bring you any closer
to God. The closer you're going to get to God in Christ, Christ
is God. None of these things truly do
what worldly men claim they do. They cannot of themselves satisfy
because they were never meant to satisfy. They were meant to
point you to Him. That law as a schoolmaster, what
did it do? Brought us to Christ. That's
what it did. That's what it did. Takes away
all of our excuses, leaves us guilty before Him. But before
Him, that's where it leaves you, before Him. You don't want to
leave your guilty out there in the wilderness. Make guilty before
he.