Colossians 2, Colossians chapter
2, verse 1, For I would that you knew. Paul
said, I wish you knew. What great conflict, what great
concern and fear and care I have for
you, and for them at Laodicea, all
the believers, and for as many as have not seen my face in the
flesh, those who have come to knowledge of Christ Jesus, to
whom I have never preached. whom I've never met, I have great
concern for you, great fear, and great care. And it's a threefold
concern, given in verse 2, that their hearts, all of you, all
of the believers there in the church, that your hearts might
be comforted that you may have peace and joy and rest in Christ. That's what we read a few moments
ago when the Lord spoke to his prophet Isaiah, and he said,
comfort my people. We're not sent to shear the sheep,
we're sent to feed the sheep, and comfort them, encourage them. And I want you to be comforted,
he said. This is what our Lord said to
his disciples when they were so troubled and vexed in heart
and spirit. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. You believe in God, believe in
me. My comfort I give unto you, my
peace I give unto you. Comfort my people. I want you
to be comforted in Christ. And secondly, that you may be
knit together in love, that your hearts may be knit together in
love for the Redeemer, in love for one another. Now about is
faith. Thank God for faith. Strengthen,
O Lord, our faith. Hope, love, but the greatest
of these is love. On this hangs all the law and
the prophets, to love God, love each other. This is my care and
conflict and concern to you, that you might be comforted in
faith, that you might be knit together, your hearts in love. And then look at the next. I'm
concerned about this. under all riches of full assurance
of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the
mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ." Two important
words here, understanding and acknowledging. A person cannot
acknowledge what he doesn't understand. David said, Therefore have I
acknowledged, I've spoken." Paul repeated that. He said, I believe,
I understand what God has said, and therefore I've spoken. And
Paul said, I want your hearts to be comforted, knit together
in love, and for you to come to a full assurance of understanding
the mystery of God in Christ. And God has given us that understanding. Listen to 1 John 5, verse 20. We know that the Son of God is
come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is
true, the true God, and we're in him that is true, even in
his Son, Jesus Christ. And this is the true God. This
is eternal life. And I want you to have a full
assurance of understanding the mystery of God and the Father
and Christ, and that you might acknowledge that. And Paul acknowledged
it. He said, I know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded he's able to keep
that which I've committed to him against that day. Comforted
in love with Christ and one another, understanding whom we believe,
the mysteries of grace and of the gospel, and acknowledging
that confidence in that faith. Now watch verse 3. In whom? Now we're talking about Christ,
and while I was sitting there and John was reading, I noticed
how many times the Master's name is mentioned in this 23 verses. Christ, Christ. And he says in
verse 3, "...in whom, in Christ, are here contained all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, all in him." Now, don't search for
anything pertaining to God's person, God's glory, God's will, God's
God's mercy, God's righteousness, except in Christ Jesus. Don't
look for it anywhere else. Because you're doomed to failure.
And you're doomed to frustration if you do. For it says here,
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and eternal life is
to know God. Christ whom he hath sent." It's
all in Christ. God, who spoke to our fathers
with the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir over all things, by whom he made
the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory, the exact image
of his person, upholdeth all things by the word of his power,
when he by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of God. In whom are hid, contained, all
the treasures, all of them, all of the riches of God, grace of
God, everything is in Christ. And this I say, this I say, lest,
this I say as a warning This I say as an encouragement, instruction,
this I say, lest any man, whomever he may be, whatever his credentials,
whatever his claim, lest any man should beguile you, bewitch you, entice you, persuade
you with enticing words. This is Satan's cheap weapon. And it's the apostle's greatest
fear that someone should come along with his own enticing words
and beguile you, take you away from Christ, the simplicity of
Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
11. 2 Corinthians 11. And did you notice that they
come not with the word of God, they come with their words. I
see these fellows that come to the door in pairs. They don't
come with the scriptures, they come with their books. Book of
Mormon, Jehovah Witness book, some other books, their words,
their enticing words. They don't come with the scriptures
and say, let's sit down with the word of God and see who Christ
is, what he did, why he did it, where he is now. They bring their
words. Lest any man should beguile you
with his words. Now listen to 2 Corinthians 11,
verse 1. Would God you could bear with
me a little in my folly. You do bear with me, you're kind,
you do put up with me. But I'm jealous over you, with
a godly jealousy. I have espoused you to one husband,
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, not fair, lest
by any means, as a serpent, Beguiled. Isn't that what the
word he used over here? Lest any man should beguile you.
Serpent beguiled Eve with his words. With his words. He beguiled Eve through his subtlety. This is the way they come. They
come with their arguments. And a verse here, and a verse
there, and a verse yonder. And they put them together. And
they've got a program. And they've got a way, and they've
got a denomination, and they've got a prophecies. They've got all their words. So that your mind should be corrupted
from this singleness. That word simplicity is a singleness
that's in Christ. Everything God has for us is
in Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge are in Christ. Salvation, mercy, grace is in
Christ. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption is in Christ. And these fellas come with their
words. With their words. And they twist
and beguile your minds and take you away from the singleness
of Christ. Simplicity of Christ. That's
what I'm worried about, he said. And I say this to you, that in
him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Verse 5, For though I am not
with you, I am absent in the flesh, and he was, as I told
you this morning, these are the present epistles. Yet I am with
you in spirit, in heart, joying, rejoicing, and beholding your
order. and your steadfastness, the steadfastness
of your faith in Christ. You know what that word steadfastness
means. You can look these words up.
If you buy a strong or prudence concordance back in the back,
it's got the Hebrew lexicon and the Greek, and all the words
are there for you to look it up. And this word, Paul said,
I joy and rejoice when I behold your perseverance. in Christ. Your permanence and the word
is established in Christ. I shall not be moved. I'm built
on the rock of ages. Christ is my foundation and nobody's
going to move me from that foundation. He said that makes me happy to
see that you're grounded and settled and established and steadfast
and persevere your faith in Christ. faith in Christ. Now then, verse
6 and 7, as you have therefore received Christ, and that's whom
you receive, you receive Christ. To as many, he was in the world,
and the world knew him not, though he made the world. And he came
to his own Jews, and they received him not. But as many as received
believed on him, acknowledged him, bowed to him. To them gave he the right to
become sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. Now,
as you receive Christ, you walk in Christ, you continue in Christ. Now listen to me. If true believers
grow, just like children grow, a baby's born, And it grows. Chuck and Peggy have a new little
boy. And he's just a tiny, dependent
creature. But that little boy is a person. He has everything
he'll ever have. That's right. He'll have two
eyes and two ears and ten little fingers and toes. He'll grow. He'll grow. He'll get bigger.
He'll get stronger. He'll grow, but he'll still be
the same little fella he is right now. That's right, he'll grow. But he, if God's pleased to take
him to glory today, he'll be a fully matured person in the
image of Christ in glory, just like he is right now. He'll grow. And believers grow in grace,
in love, in knowledge, in understanding, but we never grow beyond where
we started. Never get beyond Christ. That's where I started. I'm getting
older and some of you are too, but we never get beyond where
we started. How did you receive Christ? They
read it again. As you therefore received Christ
Jesus by faith, the day God met you in grace and saved your soul,
you walked the rest of your life here that way. How did you receive
Christ? I received him as the sole revelation of God. He still
is. I don't have any other revelation
of God but Christ. I received him as the one sacrifice
for my sins. He still is. Jesus Christ was all I needed
then, he's all I need now. I received him as my wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. I received him as the fulfillment
of every promise. He still is. I received him as
the fountain of all life and grace. He still is. I received
him as my righteousness, my claim to God's glory. He still is. I received him as the resurrection
life and the hope of eternal life, and he still is. I received
him as my Lord. my king and my master, and I
his bondservant. And the arrangement hasn't changed.
He still is. So walk in him. As you received
him, walk in him. As you have received Christ,
walk in him. Listen, rooted established, built up in him,
established in the faith in him, as you have been taught, abounding
therein with thanksgiving. Simplicity, singleness of Christ. This is a tragedy that's happened
to, that's taken place in what we call religion. It's gotten
complicated. It's gotten a form and a ritualism
and a complicated thing. And it's not complicated, it's
simple. As I receive Christ, I walk in
Christ, rooted in Christ, grounded in Christ, established in Christ,
and it never changes, the simplicity of Christ. Beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. after the traditions
of men and the rudiments, elements of the world, and not after Christ.
I'm going to come back to this verse. Let me just say this about
this verse. Let me point out this one thing.
This is where the false teachers stray and the people who follow
them stray. Whatever their emphasis, whatever
their subject, whatever their era, whatever their direction,
whichever way they depart, they depart from Christ. See, he says
the last line there, and not after Christ. It doesn't matter
what the error is, this is where it starts. It leads you away
from Christ. Isn't that right? To something
else besides Christ. They may emphasize their denomination. Well, they do that to the exclusion
of Christ. They may emphasize They may emphasize
morality, they may emphasize legalism, they may emphasize
anything, but they do it at the expense of Christ. That's what
it says here. They spoil you through philosophy,
vain deceit, traditions, elements of the world, and not after Christ. Now watch this. There are three
things I want to show you now and then bring you the title
of the message. Here's the first thing. three
important things. Here's the first one. For in
Christ dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He's the
complete expression and manifestation of the Father, our God. In him dwelleth all, all the
fulness, The manifestation of God. Now,
Paul has said that, this is the third time he's said that. Look
back at Colossians 1, verse 19. This is the third time he's said
that in this epistle. Verse 19 says in chapter 1, For
it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fulness dwell. In him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge." Verse 9, "...in him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily." That's the reason Christ said
to his disciples, you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Everything God has for sinners
is in Christ. All life, truth, redemption is
in Christ. And look at this verse 10, here's
the second thing. And you, you who believe, you
who have received, you who rest in him, you're complete in him. Not in Christ plus something,
you're complete in him. If everything's in Christ and
I'm in Christ, then I have everything. Isn't that right? You're complete
in him. Now let me show you the things
that we have in him. in whom you're circumcised. With
the circumcision made without hands. This is not the typical
circumcision, this is the real circumcision. In putting off
the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Now, see if I can help you with this verse. In him we're circumcised. What was circumcision? Well,
first of all, it was a picture of true circumcision. Everything
in the Old Testament, the priesthood was a picture of the true priesthood.
The atonement was a picture of the true atonement. The Sabbath
rest was a picture of the true rest. All of these are pictures
of the truth. Circumcision of the flesh is
a picture of circumcision of the heart. Cutting away the flesh,
a new heart. Secondly, circumcision, and in
Christ we have a new heart. Secondly, circumcision was a
token of the covenant. When God gave Abraham the covenant,
he said, I'm giving you a mark, a token that distinguishes you
from all other people, all other nations, and that's circumcision. The Jews, the males were circumcised,
no other nation. That man's a Jew. That man belongs
to God. And in Christ, our hearts are
circumcised, and it's a token of the covenant. I'm in the covenant.
You're in the covenant. We belong to God. And we're distinguished
from all other nations, all other people, because we're in the
kingdom of his Son. And when you see one who has
a new heart and a new nature and faith in Christ, He's the
Son of God. Thirdly, circumcision permitted
them to eat the Passover. Man couldn't eat the Passover.
You know what? Passover lamb was slain, and
the blood on the door, and they roasted the lamb and ate it. No uncircumcised man eats Passover. You and I feed on Christ. We're circumcised in Christ. We're permitted to come and eat,
feed on Christ, eat his flesh and drink his blood. And then,
fourthly, when a child was circumcised, eight days old, you remember
this morning we read Paul said, I circumcised the eighth day.
Eighth day, they bring him to circumcise him. And that's when
they name him. That's what the name is. And
you and I have a new name, sons of God, when we were circumcised,
when Christ operated on this heart. Now, you don't get that
by coming down and shaking hands with a Christian. And this circumcision is not
found in the water. And you can sign a card and go
to the inquiry room and join the church, but that won't circumcise
In Christ dwelleth all the fulness, and in him ye are circumcised." New heart. Son of God! In the kingdom, he has translated
us from the kingdom of God to the kingdom of his Son, and given
us a mark, and permitted us to feed on Christ, come to the Passover,
and named us And that's something, that's in Christ. All right,
secondly, verse 12, not only in him are you circumcised, but
you're buried with him in baptism. What's that? What is baptism?
I'm dead, dead to the world, buried with Christ and risen. Read these verses. Buried with
him in baptism, which is a picture of our true burial. risen with him through the faith
of the operation of God who raised him from the dead, and you, being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, with him. And glory, glory, listen, and
hath forgiven you all your sins in him." Now, I know people take
a great deal of comfort in association. They say, well, I'm a Catholic. I'm a Baptist. I'm an old-fashioned
Christian. I'm this, that, and the other.
A believer takes comfort in association, too. I'm one with Christ. I'm buried with him, risen with
him. And in him all my sins are forgiven."
Don't let anybody take you away from that now. That's not all, read on. And
he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that were against
you, which were contrary to you. Took it out of the way and nailed
it to the cross. I know what those were, that old Levitical
law. But I tell you, when I think of handwriting, I think about
old King Belshazzar. He was having a ball, had all
his friends and acquaintances, and he tried to impress everybody,
and they had a big, big party. And then he got to making fun
of God, and he sent for the holy vessels, and he told them to
bring the holy vessels from the temple, and they filled them
full of wine, and he gave them to all of his people to drink
out of. And suddenly the hand appeared
on the wall, just the fingers of a man's hand, no body, no
head, just the hand. And it began to write, and his
knees smoked together, and everybody stood back, shocked, and the
hand wrote, You're weighed in the balances,
and you're found wanting. You've been weighed in God's
law, and weighed in God's kingdom, and weighed in God's presence,
and weighed by God's requirements, and you've come up short. This
night, you're going to die. Your kingdom will be taken from
you. We've been weighed, too, and
come short of the glory of God, found extremely wanted. You know,
old Belshazzar, some couldn't could have come along and brought
it out, all that, and said, you're forgiven. That'd been a different
story. And that's what Christ did for
us. That's right. He blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances that were against us and contrary to us and took
it out of the way and nailed it to the cross. And verse 15, and in him, He
spoiled the principalities and powers. Who is that? That's Satan. Principalities. Turn over here to Ephesians a
minute. This is the thing I'm talking
about. If I can find this scripture over here, we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities. Where is that
in Ephesians? There, here, 6, verse 12. I tell you, the battle, you know,
people kind of get me sort of disappointed when they waste their energies fighting
the air, beating the air. They don't get it, the real enemy.
They don't wrestle with the real enemy. We wrestle not against
flesh and blood. Our enemies are principalities
and powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness
in high places, Satan, evil, forces of evil, that which
is anti-God, anti-Christ, and they're beyond my ability to
them, or control them, or even escape them. But he came, verse
15, and he spoiled, he defeated Satan and sin and death and hell. How are you going to handle Satan?
Peter couldn't, Job couldn't, Michael wouldn't, How are you
going to handle death when it comes? What are you going to
do? Just say, don't bother me now, I'll talk to you later?
How are you going to handle judgment and hell and charges against
you? You're not going to, but he can.
He said, Satan came to me and found nothing in me and he made
a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. He came down
here and conquered Satan and like the old Roman generals that
used to go out and win the battle and bring the king and all of
his generals with him and tie them in chains and parade them
through the streets of Rome. His enemy conquered his enemy.
And our Lord spoiled them and made a show of it on the cross,
conquered them. Do you understand what he's saying?
Paul says all that God has for the sinner is in Christ. All
that God requires of the sinner is in Christ. You have that in
him. All that we need to be perfect is in Christ. All of our enemies
are defeated in Christ. The perfection is yours in him. Now then, three things. Let no man judge you in meat and drink and the keeping
of holy days and new moons and Sabbath days. Don't let anybody
come along and deceive you and judge you and take you away from
Christ in requiring of you that you return to the law, you return
to keeping days and the bondage of those Levitical requirements,
these legalists who come along with all the, you're not supposed
to salute the flag, you're not supposed to serve in the armed
forces, and you're not supposed to do this on the Sabbath day,
and all these things that Those things, he said in verse 17,
were a shadow of things to come. Yes, there was a day. The law,
if a man keep it lawfully, is a good thing. The law is a good
thing if a man observe it lawfully and leave it where it is. Those
things were shadows of things to come. Redemption, the body,
is Christ. It's Christ. He's my Sabbath.
He's my acceptor. He's my king and kingdom. Render the things to Caesar,
the things of Caesar, to God the things of God. Don't let
a fellow come along and judge you in those things and requiring
of you that you return to bondage for acceptance and sanctification
in any way. You're sanctified in Christ. And verse 18, listen to this.
Let no man judge you. And then let no man beguile you
of your reward or rob you of your reward. Don't let anybody
rob you of your joy and your peace and your rest in Christ
by requiring of you, listen, a voluntary humility, by requiring
of you an outward show, a show of outward false humility. You've got to learn the religious
language. You've got to show an outward
humility, an outward show of self-abasement. And worshiping
of angels, this is a popular thing now, angels. And putting a special emphasis
on things like that, angels. You know, when the angels did
appear to a believer, and the believer John on the Isle of
Patmos and others, they were impressed. But the angel rebuked
them when they gave that angel some kind of special spiritual
place. And the angel said, don't you,
I'm a fellow creature. You worship God. Don't let anybody come along
and robbed you of your peace and joy in saying you've got
to show outward certain humility and self-abasement and hold in
a certain place angels and crosses and dead saints and visions and
emotionalism and healings. And he said they intruded into
things that they haven't seen. intruding into those things which
they have not seen, they have not experienced. They're flesh merchants, and
they're preying on poor. They come along with their outward
piety and false humility and worshiping of angels and self-abasement,
intruding into things they've never seen, visions they've never
seen. voices they've never heard, victories
they've never won, healings they've never accomplished, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind. Don't let them do that to you.
Don't let them trick you and beguile you and rob you of your
peace in Christ. They're phonies. God's true servants are simple
men. plain men, honest men. They don't put on. They don't
change their voices in the pulpit. They don't change their voices
when they play. They don't change their, do this
outward phony humility and folding of the hand. Verse 19,
they don't hold the head. from which all the body, by joints
and bands, having nourishment, ministered, and knit together,
increaseth with the increase of God." Don't let them do that. Don't let them judge you. You're
not spiritual enough. You're not holy enough. You're
not sanctified enough. You don't keep this day and that
day. You don't do this, that, and the other. Don't let them
judge you. Christ is your judge. And don't let them rob you. of
your hope and your peace and your joy by saying, claiming
things they haven't experienced. When you listen to some of these
fellows, you talk, you say, boy, I wish I had his faith. No, you
don't either. You've got Christ. No, you don't. Boy, I wish I'd seen what he,
he didn't see it either. That's, I'm telling you the truth. They're phony. Don't let them
do it. Don't let them judge you. Don't let them rob you. And look,
go back to verse 8 now. He said, don't let them spoil
you. Don't let them carry you away
captive. Don't let them carry you away captive. I've seen it happen. Don't let them spoil you. That's
what they did, you see, they go in and take the spoils. They
go and take the spoils, and they carry away, carry the captives
away. They've stolen them. And these
phony fellows, they prey on believers. They prey on the simple believer. They prey on them, and they lead
them away. What do they use? Philosophy? Intellectualism? Listen, don't let a fellow impress
you by his intellectualism and philosophy, in big words. Boy, he sure is educated. Being
educated and redeemed sometimes are two different things. Don't
be impressed. What impresses me is the simplicity
of Christ, honesty of a man who believes. Paul said, when I came to you,
I didn't come to you with enticing words of man's wisdom, lest the
cross of Christ be made of none effect. I determine not to know
anything among you Corinthians, but Jesus Christ and him crucified."
Don't let people carry your way into philosophy, intellectualism,
and vain deceit after the traditions of men, the ritualism of their
particular denomination. You've got to do it our way.
No, I've got to do it God's way. I don't have to do it your way. And God's way is Christ. He said,
I'm the way. Don't let them do that. And after
the rudiments, and you know what the rudiments of the world are.
They are the Jewish laws and ceremonies and requirements put upon people. And you see, these men that come
in and carry folks away with their intellectualism and philosophy
and deceit and traditions of men, and after the rudiments
of Moses, Levitical law, and not after Christ, there it is
again. Stay with the simplicity of the
gospel. Christ. Now read verse 20. Go down here to verse 20. Wherefore,
if you be dead with Christ, crucified with Christ, from the rudiments
and elements of this world, he's fulfilled all the Old Testament,
all the laws, traditions, why, as though living in the world,
are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle
which all are to perish with the using after the commandments
and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom
and will worship and humility and neglecting of the body, not
in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. God has decreed
everything in Christ, and you have all in him, you're complete. Don't let anybody rob you of
that, or judge you in your liberty. Stand fast in the liberty with
Christ to set you free. And don't let them come along
with their intellectualism and philosophy and traditions, and going back to the Old Testament
elements and rudiments. Stand in Christ. Stand in Christ. All right, I hope that's a blessing
to you, encouragement to you.