When we opened up our first service
over on Limestone Street at the Grace Chapel, there was a fellow
that came and his name was Jack. I can't remember what his last
name was, but that's the hymn he sung. He sung that hymn in our
very first service. That's always a blessing to me
to hear that hymn. Colossians chapter 2, I've entitled this message Therefore,
let no man judge you. Look what he says in verse 16. Let no man, therefore, judge
you. in meat or in drink or in respect
of an holy day or of the new moon or the Sabbath days, which
are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Let
no man therefore judge you. Now the therefore is there for
a reason. He's building what he's saying
upon what he'd said previously. Now look in verses nine and 10
of Colossians 2. We've looked at this several
times in the last few weeks. I love this verse of scripture.
For in him dwelleth All the fullness of the Godhead bodily. How glorious is the Lord Jesus
Christ! What the universe cannot contain,
dwells in His physical body. All the infinite fullness of
the Godhead. And then He says in verse 10,
And you are complete in Him. Now this is true of every believer. Every believer without exception. The newest believer, the most
mature believer. The weakest believer, the strongest
believer. This is true of every single
believer Without exception, you are complete in Him. This is not something to strive
for. This is not something you reach out for. This is not something
you attain. This is not something you achieve. This is something you are. You
are complete in Him right now. Nothing can be added to you. Nothing still needs to be done. There's nothing you can do to
make things better. You are complete. Right now, lacking nothing, you're
complete in Him. You can't get more holy. Isn't
that amazing? You can't get any more holy than
you are right now. You can't get any more righteous than you
are right now. You can't get any more accepted
than you are right now. You can't get any more justified
than you are right now. You can't get any more sanctified
than you are right now. You are complete in Him. You're perfect. Ah, Jesus. I wonder how much we really believe
that. You are perfect in Christ Jesus. Now in verses 11 through 15,
he tells us how that is so. 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. That's
what happened to him on the cross. My sins were put on him, put
in him, and put off him. He put them away, buried with
him in baptism, wherein ye also are risen with him through the
faith of the operation of God who has raised him from the dead.
And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you
all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting, that big long
book of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. And he took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. Now, therefore, let no man judge
you. in respect of meat or drink or
holy day or the new moon or the Sabbath. Now, can your participation
in these things make it any better for you? No. You are complete in Him. Now, you can't prevent men and
women from judging you. It can't be done. You can't stop
them. I've been preaching for over
30 years and I will always have somebody in the congregation
judging me, analyzing and criticizing what I say or how I say it. And
when somebody is gone, somebody else will be raised up. It's
always been that way. Anytime you preach, you know that, you
see that. And as far as that goes, you can't go through life
without somebody judging you or criticizing you or finding fault with you, looking
for a reason to criticize you because of the gospel you believe.
We will have people condemn us and criticize us because we don't
fill in the blank. You know that we can't possibly
prevent somebody from judging us, but we can not be affected
by it. That's what he's talking about.
Don't you be affected by somebody's judgment of you. Don't be affected by somebody's
judgment of you in this thing of eating and drinking. Jewish
dietary laws, eating things sacrificed to idols, drinking alcohol, doesn't
matter what you're talking about. You're always going to have somebody
that's going to judge you for things like that. They're going to say,
you shouldn't do this, or you ought to do this, or you ought
to refrain from that. Don't pay attention to it. All that is, is trying to cloud
the issue of your complete in Christ. If you don't do this,
you're a little bit more complete. You're a little bit more accepted.
You're a little bit more saved. Don't let anybody judge you like
that. Don't you listen to it for a second. Or in respect of
a holy day. Now, that's a feast day. He could
have been talking about the Passover. You know, we have these holy
days in our days, these holidays like Christmas and Easter, things
like that. Do you know those are heathen
holidays, really, when it comes right down to it? I like Christmas. I like to give gifts. I like
to give gifts. There's good things about Christmas, but it's a heathen
holiday. Don't put the Lord in it. It
doesn't have anything to do with Him. Don't let anybody judge
you regarding these holidays. Well, you're not celebrating
Christmas. What's wrong with you all? You're
not celebrating Easter. Don't listen to that. Don't let
anybody judge you regarding that or the new moons. That's the first day of the month,
the beginning. Or don't let anybody judge you on the Sabbath days,
the seventh day, or the seventh year, or the Jubilees. Don't
let anybody bring you into bondage, is what he's saying. Just don't
let them. You stand fast, therefore, in
the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. And don't you be concerned about
what anybody thinks. Don't be concerned about what
I think. Really. If I stand in judgment of you,
I'm wrong. Don't be concerned about what
I think. Let not any man judge you. Now look what he says in
verse 17. He says these meat and drink
and respective and holy day or the new moon or the Sabbath day,
they are a shadow of things to come. But the body is Christ. You see, Christ is our meat and
drink. Christ is our Passover. Christ is the first day for us. Christ is our Sabbath. Now understand this about the
Sabbath. The Sabbath wasn't a day off. When we take a day off,
we take a day off for rest and relaxation and so we don't have
to work. But the Sabbath didn't have anything
to do with a day off. The Sabbath was to cease working. Cease! He that's entered into his rest
hath ceased from his own works as God did from his. In Christ, I cease working. I'm resting in him. I'm complete
in him, and I do not need anything else. Now, the Old Testament
provided these things as shadows of things to come, but the body,
the substance, is Christ himself, and the shadows are done away
with. We eat the flesh of the son of
man and we drink his blood. Truly, he is my Passover. The reason God passes over me
in mercy is because he says, when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. He is my beginning. My life begins
with him. He's the new moon. He's my Sabbath. If a woman's husband is gone,
let's say he's gone to war, it could be You might have done
this, Jamie, when Aaron was gone, you looked at his picture all
the time, I bet. I bet you did, while he was gone. In Iraq, you look
at the picture. But what if he came back and
you kept looking at the picture and didn't pay any attention
to him? There'd be a problem with that, wouldn't there? If
all you want to look at was a picture and a photograph and a shadow,
there's no substance to that. These things, there's no substance
to them, there's no life to them, no reality to them. The body
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in verse 18. Let no man
beguile you of your reward. in a voluntary humility and worshiping
of angels, intruding into those things which he'd not seen, vainly
puffed up by his fleshly mind." Now, my marginal reading says,
let no man judge against you. The word beguile means judge
and condemn you. It's to act as an umpire. It's
to call you out. He's out. He's out. That's what
that word means. Now, notice how he says, let
no man therefore or let no man beguile you of your reward. Now, there is a reward to faith. It is not something earned or
achieved. It's the byproduct of salvation. Let me give some scriptures that
I think will illustrate what I'm talking about. Turn to Romans
chapter 14. There is a reward in faith. Verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink. It's not rules and regulations.
It's not do's and don'ts. It's righteousness. The very
righteousness of Jesus Christ. My righteousness, my personal
righteousness before God, the righteousness of God. Every believer
has this confidence. I have the very righteousness
of God. Now what comes from that? The
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and
peace. You see, if the sin question
is not settled, I don't have any peace. But if I have the
righteousness of God, I have peace. Peace. And what else I have from that?
Joy. It makes me happy. The kingdom of God is not meat
and drink. It's righteousness. And what
comes out of that? What is the reward of that? Peace. Oh, peace. God's not mad at me. God's pleased with me. And you
know, the only way you can ever really draw nigh into God's presence
is if you know he's pleased with you and he accepts you for Christ's
sake. That's the only way. If you think he's mad at you,
you stay away. You wait till you fix something or start feeling
better, feel less sinful. But oh, if you know that the
sin question is entirely taken care of and you're the very righteousness
of God, you draw near. Look in Romans chapter 15, very
similar, verse 13. Now the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing. You believe the gospel. If you
really believe that what Christ has done is all that's needed
to make you accepted before God, and you really believe he's done
something for you, If you believe that his righteousness is your
personal righteousness before God and you're relying on him,
two things you're gonna have, peace and joy. The peace of knowing
that all God requires you have and what joy you receive from
that. The joy and peace of believing. That's the reward of believing,
joy and peace. It's not a payment given to you.
It's just the byproduct of that. If you believe that Christ is
all and that you're complete in Him, you're going to have
joy. And you're going to feel peace. I love that scripture,
Colossians chapter 2, verse 10. You are complete in Him. I can't
tell you how happy that makes me that there's nothing needed
to be done to add to me or there's nothing I need to do that I'm
already complete, perfect in Christ Jesus. Oh the joy and
the peace of believing. Now don't let anybody rob you
of your reward. Don't let anybody's man-made
religion rob you of that. Along comes this person who seeks
to condemn you because you don't line up to some standard they've
made, which is not even in the Word of God. Don't listen to
that man. Don't listen. Notice what Paul says. I think
this is almost humorous. Back in Colossians chapter 2. Let no man beguile you or rob
you of your reward in a voluntary humility. This person comes with
a voluntary humility. Now, if you volunteer to be humble,
you're as proud as the devil. Isn't it so? I'm going to be
humble. Oh, you just show how proud,
wretchedly proud you are. You don't volunteer to be humble. You really, if you're humble,
you're humble. You really believe yourself to
be the chief of sinners and that Christ is the only hope you have.
That's humility. But if you volunteer to be humble,
watch out for that person who acts humble. It's an act and
nothing more. Let no man beguile you of your
reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels." In
this voluntary humility, they say, oh, I'm too sinful to come
to Christ myself. I wouldn't dare do that. I'm
going to get the angels to intercede for me. Or I'm going to get Mary
to intercede for me. Or I'm going to get something
else. It's some go-between between you and Christ. And that's done
under the guise of humility. He said, no, don't do that. A
worship of angels, intruding. This person who would beguile
you of your reward, they intrude into those things which they've
not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. Making claims
about himself and his relationship with God, which are not true.
Somebody that really seems to act holy. Someone you're intimidated
by, by their righteousness and their holiness. They speak of
their fellowship with God. They speak of their prayer life.
They speak of the joy they experience and the relationship they have
with Christ. When in reality, all they're
doing is intruding into things they know nothing of. It's just
talk and nothing more. John 1, 6 says, if we say we
have fellowship with him, a lot of people make that claim. Oh,
I've got fellowship with God. I pray, I give, I walk with the
Lord. Talk about all their religious
experience. If we say we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, the darkness of religious ignorance
and superstition, the darkness of that which is contrary to
the gospel, we lie. And we do not practice the truth. It's all talk. Inflated by a
fleshly mind, not the mind of Christ, but the mind of the flesh.
Do not be affected by these people. You know, you can smell them.
Here's how you smell them. They're always calling into question
this issue. You are complete in Him. Always some question
mark on that. You are complete in Him. And they don't hold The head,
verse 19, not holding the head, which all the body by joints
and bands have nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth
with the increase of God. Now, what's a body without a
head? It's dead. What's a body without a head?
Well, you can't even identify it. Not just looking at it. I
mean, there's a body. The body is identified by the
head. When somebody thinks of you, they don't think of your
body, they think of your face, they think of your head, that's
the person they know, that's the person they commune with,
your head, that's who you are. Every believer has Christ as
their head. We're the body, he's my head,
he's my identification, I'm known by him. And that's all nourishment
comes through holding the head. It takes life to hold the head.
You're holding on to the head. I'm holding on to this. This
is what I'm holding on to. That Christ is my head. That
God looks to Christ. And that's what I'm holding on
to. That God looks to Christ. He is my head. And really that's
the only place you get any nourishment. These people do not hold the
head from which all the body, by joints and bands, hath nourishment
ministered, and knit together increaseth with the increase
of God. Now he asks a question in verse
20. Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments
of the world, if you be dead with Christ, now, This can only
really be understood in light of union with the Lord Jesus
Christ if you be dead with Christ. When Christ died, I died because
I am united to Him. I'm one with Him. This is the
great mystery. You can't really understand any
of the gospel or any gospel doctrine apart from this. All of God's
elect have been eternally united to the Lord Jesus Christ. I've
always been in Him. Whatever He does, I do. When
he kept the law, I kept the law. When he was crucified and died,
I was crucified and died. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead because I'm united to my head. Now, if
you be dead with Christ, and remember, death means that the
sin question is taken care of. What does the law have to say
to a dead man? Absolutely nothing. I'm dead with Christ. I'm dead
to the law by the body of Christ, dead with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you be dead, wherefore
if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world. Now that word rudiments means
the ABCs, the fundamentals. the natural principles of the
world. Do you know everybody by nature? I mean, it's just natural to
us to believe in salvation by works. That comes as natural
breeding. It's natural for us to believe
in free will. I mean, I'm amazed. I grew up in a church where free
will was denied, but I believed in free will. until God saved
me. It's just natural to believe
in works and free will and so on. It's just the natural religion
of the natural man, the ABCs of the world. And when you die
with Christ, you die to those rudiments, the ABCs of the world. If you've been saved by Christ,
why would you return to man-made religion? The ordinances of men,
verse 20. Wherefore, if you be dead with
Christ from the rudiments, the ABCs of the world, why as though
living in this world, are you subject to ordinances? Man-made
rules. Summarized by touch not, taste
not, handle not. Now this comes, this idea of,
oh, you'll be more holy if you don't touch this, if you don't
taste this, and if you don't handle that. You'll be better
off. You'll be more pleasing to God. This comes from a warped
view of God and a complete ignorance of what sin is in the first place.
That's where that kind of thinking comes from. Oh, if I deny myself
this good tasting food. I think, you know, during Lent,
people say, well, I'm not going to eat chocolate for 40 days.
Oh, well, isn't that, do you actually think that pleases God?
Is that something that God is going to be attracted to, that
you denied yourself chocolate? I don't touch that. I don't taste
this. I don't, I don't handle that. What? Do you really think
that, oh, God's going to be pleased now. If I can just make myself
miserable, God's going to be pleased. That's foolishness.
It's foolishness. It's touch not, taste not, handle
not. It's foolishness. Turn to 1 Timothy chapter 4 for
a moment. Once again, all this is is a subtle denial or a not
so subtle denial of your complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 1, 1 Timothy chapter 4,
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits
and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their
conscience seared with a hot iron. That's strong language,
isn't it? And here's what they do. Forbidding to marry. If you
abstain from being married, and if you're a celibate, you'll
be more pleasing to God. And commanding to abstain from
meats, if you stay away from that, oh God will be pleased,
which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of
them which believe and know the truth. You see what is done,
this asceticism is what it is. I don't touch this, I don't handle
that, I don't taste that. That's a complete misunderstanding
of what sin is. See, sin's not in things. It's
not in something that I can touch or taste or handle. Sin comes
from the heart. That's where sin comes from. It comes from the heart. It's
not in things. The Lord said, out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses,
blasphemies. These things come out of the
human heart, the seed of sin. These are the things that defile
a man, but to eat with unwashing hands doesn't defile a man. Back to our text, Colossians
chapter two. Now, don't be intimidated by
men's religion. Just don't be intimidated by
it. Somebody comes across with this holier-than-thou attitude,
I do this and I do that, you need to keep from doing this,
keep from doing that, let no man judge you. Don't pay any
attention to it at all. Now look what he says about this
touch not, taste not, handle not religion. He gives us two
statements regarding this kind of religion in verse 22, which
all are to perish with the using. Those who practice this religion
will perish. It will be utterly corrupting
to them. They'll perish. There's no truth
in this at all. None at all. And if that's what
my religion's about, touch not, taste not, handle not, I will
perish. And it's nothing more than the
commandments and doctrines of men. It's man-made. Now if I
said, if you eat popcorn, you'll go to hell. Would you go to hell? No. But what I would be doing is
trying to give you a rule where I feel like I have some kind
of effect on you and control over you. That's what's going
on there. When people make these rules
and say, you need to do this, you need to do that. That's a
desire to have control over you. Look in Galatians chapter six.
Let me show you this in the Bible. Verse 12, as many as desire to
make a fair show in the flesh. They want to show something.
They want people to be impressed. They constrain you to be circumcised. They tell you to be circumcised.
They give you something to do. Only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves
who are circumcised keep the law. They tell you to keep the
law, but they don't keep the law. But they desire to have
you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh. Look what
I've done with these people. Look how I've influenced them.
Look how I've counted in their lives. I've done something to
help them spiritually. They want to glory in your flesh.
And Paul says, but God forbid that I should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now back to our text in Colossians
chapter two. He says, these man-made rules
in verse 23, he says, which things have indeed a show of wisdom
in will worship. You know, anything that has the
human will as the cause behind something is will-worship. Doesn't
matter what it is. If it has man's will as the cause,
as the deciding factor, it is will-worship. It's not the worship
of God. It's the worship of the will.
You know, all you got to do is believe in free will and you're
a will-worshipper. You really are. You worship,
well, you don't worship God. You worship the will. If you
think it's your will, that you've turned something around, that
through your dedication and your asceticism, you've been able
to stop this and start that, that's will worship is all it
is. Look what he says, which things have indeed a show of
wisdom in will worship. Look at the power that man has
over his own will. He can discipline himself. He
can make himself do anything. Whoa, aren't we impressed with
this fella? will worship, and a show in humility. Look how humble I am. I'm doing
the humble thing. And in neglecting of the body. This is asceticism. I have power
over my body. I can deny myself pleasure by
my will. Through rigid discipline, I can
bring my body into subjection. I can deny myself of everything
that's pleasurable. I can quit tasting good food
and have nothing but plain food. Well, do you really think God
is pleased with that kind of stuff? I mean, that makes God
some kind of cosmic killjoy is what it does. That's not who
God is. That's just human bringing God
down to our level. He says, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom and will worship and humility and neglecting of
the body, asceticism, not in any honor to the satisfying of
the flesh. They lack value in restraining
sinful indulgences. All this does is increase the
sinful cravings of the flesh. That's all it does. That's all
it does. Somebody says, I'm putting it
down. No, you're not. You're increasing it. You put somebody under law
in any way, and I know what it does. It just fans the flame
is all it does. It just increases things. Somebody
says, well, I put this down. No, you haven't. You are complete. Isn't that wonderful? You are
complete. This is nothing you're striving
for. This is nothing you're seeking to achieve. This is something
you are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Right now. Can't get any better.
You can't get any more saved. You can't get any more accepted.
You can't get any more holy. You can't get any more anything.
You're complete in Christ. However complete Christ is, that's
how complete you are. Now, don't let anybody judge
you and try to imply that that's not so because you need to do
this, or you need to do that, or you need to say it this way.
No, let no man judge you. Don't be affected or intimidated
by man's religion. It'll always seek to cloud this
issue you're completing here. In reality, believing you're
complete in Him will inspire you to obedience. Not to be saved or to be more
saved, but because you are complete in Him. That is the motive for obedience. Let's pray together.