Now Colossian Chapter 2 verse number 1 the Bible reads
“For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
So, Chapter 2 of Colossians starts out in a similar way the Chapter 1 started out. He talks about the two things that he wants Colossian to be abound in. He talks about love, he said he wanted their heart to be knit together in love and then he follows that up by saying that he wants them to reach unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding and then in verse 3 he says,
“In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
So, in Chapter 2, like in Chapter 1, he is emphasizing that we need to know the Bible, we need to know God’s word, we need to have the knowledge of what this book contains right here and also we need to apply wisdom to understand the things that are there in the Bible. So the Bible over and over again is talking about knowledge, wisdom and understanding. We talked a lot about that last week. Now the reason why we need knowledge, it says in verse 4,
“And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.”
To beguile someone needs to deceive them or trick them. He said, “look people are going to use enticing words” meaning they are going to say a lot of things that sound good, they sound convincing, they are going to entice you or seduce you in the following lies and false doctrine with a lot of smooth talk and lot of trickery.
Go to Ephesians Chapter 2, keep your fingers in Colossians and just go a couple pages to the left in your Bible to Ephesians Chapter 2. Now Colossians and Ephesians are two parallel books in the Bible. They contain a lot of the same statements. He pretty much wrote a lot of the same things to these two different churches. So, if we compare of the two, we can get a greater understanding of what’s being said in Colossians Chapter 2.
But, I am sorry, go over to Ephesians 4, we’ll go to Ephesians 2 in a moment. To go to Ephesians 4 first of all, in Ephesians 4:11 it says,
“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”
So here he is explaining the purpose for pastors, and teachers in the church and he is says “to edify or build up the body of Christ” look at verse 13,
“Till we all come in the unity of the faith,” and of the what?
“knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we henceforth”
Meaning from here on
“be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”
Go back to Colossians 2.
So, in Ephesians 4 there explains that in order for us to not be deceived and not to beguiled and not to be fooled by false teachers and false prophets and liars who are going to come in and teach life. He said we must have knowledge, we must grow in knowledge, we must be built up in the knowledge of the Son of God, we need to have knowledge, we need to have wisdom, we need to have understanding. Look, that’s why it’s important that at church here, the preaching be a teaching of God’s word not just a sermon where we go and we hear some preaching that makes us feel good, may be it encourages us, may be it even motivates us to do great things for God, but we need it to be a place of teaching, it should be learning.
You know a guy visited our church recently, he said, “man I felt like I was back in school”, because in many churches it’s rare that you are learning something. Okay, and it should be the upmost importance in our service and it should be a priority in our preaching to teach sound doctrine. Otherwise, if we don’t know the doctrines, if we don’t have the knowledge of the Bible, if we don’t know what the Bible says. The Bible says there are already people lying and wait to deceive us, I mean people who literally, that’s their whole purpose, that’s their goal. They designed it in advance, they decided “Hey, we are going to go in there, we are going to teach lies, we are going to teach false, like you said “you really think people do that?”, hey the Bible tells us over and over again that they do.
He said in second Peter Chapter 2 that they will do it, he said in Jude that they will do it. He said that there are certain man crapped in unawares, who were before of all our dainty to this countries, ungodly man turning the grace of our God until deviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. He says look there are wicked, evil people their goal is to come in and corrupt your doctrine. Their goal is to come in and teach lies, their goal is to shake your faith and get you to believe in things that are not Biblical. The only way to defend yourself against false teaching is to know the Bible. If you know the Bible you are not going to be fooled.
Now, coming to church and hearing the preaching of God’s word is important but it’s not enough. You’ve got to read the Bible daily on your own. The Bible says that the Berean church, they were more noble than those that were in Thessalonica and that they search their scripture daily. They said they receive the word of God with a ready mind, they were ready to learn, they were ready to hear, but they searched the scripture daily whether these things are so. I mean you shouldn’t even come to church and just listen to Pastor Anderson and just blindly believe everything I am telling you. You should be daily studying the scriptures whether these things are so, for yourself.
So that’s why there are so much emphasis in Colossians 1, Colossians 2, all throughout the book of Ephesians on getting knowledge, learn the Bible, wisdom, understanding. This is why we need to read the Bible every day. This is why we need to be in church because there are so many lies out there, there is so much deception, there is so much fraud and if you know the Bible well, you will be able to see through all of it. You will be able to cut through all the lies and see the truth clearly, that’s why this is being emphasized. That’s why in verse 5, he says,
” though I be absent in the flesh,”
we are in Colossians 2:5,
“yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order,”
Watch this,
“And the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.”
He said look I like the fact that you are steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. He said, don’t be tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, but you need to be rooted, jump down if you would to verse 7,
“Rooted and built up in him,”
Remember he talked about being edified in the knowledge of the Son of God, edified means built up, he says
“Be rooted, be build up in him and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.”
So look at these words steadfast, established, rooted. I mean over and over again he is emphasizing the fact that if we know the Bible, we’re going to be like a rock because we are founding our faith on the rock, because we are standing on the rock.
When you don’t know what the Bible says, you are like a little kid that can be easily deceived. Kids? Kids are you listening, alright I am going to take my thumb, I am going to remove it from my hand right now, okay, all the kids looking? I am going to remove, every kid started paying attention to the sermon, they are like, wait a minute what? Look at that, do you see Pastor Anderson removing his thumb right now?
Now look, put it back, no adult is going to be deceived by that, but little kids are deceived. When I was a kid, I would confess, I thought it was real when I saw it. I remember thinking it was real when I was a kid, why? Because children are easily tricked, easily deceived. He said if you don’t know the Bible, you don’t say the Bible, you don’t go to a church that teach Bible because it does also say, “as you been thought”. It’s important to read on your own” that’s where you gain most of your knowledge but also it helps to be in a church that says preaching and teaching what you need to hear. But it says if you are not thought, if you are not doing the reading, you are like a little kid, you are going to be easily deceived when the Mormons come by, the Jehovah witnesses or the seventh day Adventist or whatever. And they teach you all this false, “hey, look the book of Enoch, the gospel of Thomas” and they are going to trick you into believing things that are false because you don’t even know what the Bible teaches, what it says.
So that’s what it saying, you are not as really profound thought in verse 6, when he says this,
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:”
Okay that was right after he finish talking about steadfastness of their faith, so he says
“as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him”,
Now how did we received the Lord Jesus? By faith, right? We received him by faith. The Bible says but as many as received him to them he gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his name. We received the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, he says,
“as we received him so walk with him”
so how are we suppose to walk? Walk by faith. That’s why he said in second Corinthian chapter 5
“for we walk by faith, not by sight”
That’s why in Romans Chapter 1, he said we go from faith to faith. Okay, we get saved by faith but then we need to walk in faith. You know what that tells me, that tells me if I am saved by faith by believing when the Bible said
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son that who so ever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life”.
I got saved by believing that, by believing that Jesus died on the Cross and was buried and rose again, by believing that Jesus Christ was saved me if I would just call upon him by faith. That’s how I got saved, so he says look if that’s how you got saved that’s how you need to walk as a Christian also and by faith. So look, if I believe God when he said that who so ever believeth in him shall not perish but have eternal life, I need to also believe God when he says
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteous and all these things shall be added unto you.”
I need to also believe in God when I read all of his commandments, when I read everything about how my marriage should be, how my children should be, how my lifestyle should be. I shouldn’t just walk by sight now that I am saved and just go through life just relying on myself only but no, I need to rely on the promises of God.
Look just as much as God promised me salvation, he also promised me that if I live a life of sin, I am going to be disciplined and chasing his courage. Just as much as he promises me eternal life if I believe on him, he also promised me that he will supply all my needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus if I would seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. So not only do we get saved by faith but we should live a life of faith. Basically what that means is that we live a life that demonstrates that we believe the promises of God.
See when we’re putting work first, we’re putting our job first, and look you job is important, it’s a very high priority as a man in your life but when we are basically neglecting church, neglecting the things of God just to that we can make money, that is showing a lack of faith in the promises of God, because God has said, if we seek him first and his righteousness that all the things that we need food, clothing, etc. will be added onto us. If we really believe that then will make church and serving God a priority and then we’ll go to work and work as hard as we can and do the best that we can. So we need to walk by faith in all areas of life.
For example, the world is going to tell you something different than the Bible tells you on many different subjects, who are you going to believe? I mean the world is going to tell you, if you spank your children you are going to warp their brain, they are going to grow up and be violent criminals. But what does the Bible say?
“He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.”
So who are you going to believe? I mean, look as you received the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to walk in him in the same way by faith believing his word every step of the way.
Now, look what the Bible says in verse number 8, because you just finished in the previous verses talking about the importance of knowledge, wisdom, understanding, being rooted, grounded, established, confirmed in the faith. He says ‘beware’, in verse 8,
“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
And I love what he says next,
“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.”
He says look you are complete in him, don’t let anybody come to you telling you “oh the Bible is not enough, the word of God is not enough, Jesus Christ is not enough, you also need philosophy. You also need tradition” and look you say how is it going to apply in today in 2013. Who is going to come at me with philosophy, or vain deceit, or tradition or rudiments of the world? Look people is going to come at you with tradition, it called the Roman Catholic Church. You know they are going to say, well you know there is more than just the Bible, its more than just the word of God, we got to go with the tradition of the church. Now look traditions are great as long as they jive with the Bible. But Jesus warned, he said you have made the word of God of non effect through your tradition, he said in Mathew 15.
He said don’t let tradition trope God’s word. What does tradition mean? Tradition is a custom or practice that is being passed down. So we might say we have a tradition that every thanks giving we eat Turkey with mash potatoes sand gravy and stuffing and cranberry sauce. Is that a bad tradition? No, it’s a great tradition, so it’s not that the traditions are bad.
We had certain family tradition when I was growing up. On the 4th of July, we go swimming, and we would also eat Shish kebabs. Every 4th of July we are eating Shish Kebabs is just a tradition in our family, nothing wrong with tradition. When it comes to church, we might do certain things that are just traditional things to do, but you know what, the problem is when we basically are confronted with the word of God that’s telling us that something we are doing is unbiblical. But we just say this is how we’ve always done it. This is how it’s been done for 100s of years and I don’t think all these other people are wrong, are you telling me that brother so and so are wrong? That he wrote the fate? No, the Bible is our final authority in all matters of faith and practice not Baptist tradition. You know, there are things that Baptist churches have been doing for 100s of years that might not necessarily be right, lets tore them out, let’s not do it.
I mean personally I am not a fan of the alter call, where everybody comes and bows down at the feet of the pastor at the steps leading up to the pulpit and basically or the Baptist confessional booth where we all bow our heads and close our eyes and you know, if you are struggling with sin in your life that I just preached on you slip up your hand, no one is looking around, and it’s like I see that hand.
Pray for me pastor I am struggling with sin, I am struggling with that sin, I am struggling with pornography, pray for me, you know, put your hand up, you know, I am struggling with lust, I am struggling with stealing you know I am struggling with whatever. That doesn’t seem biblical to me, I don’t see it anywhere in the Bible, seems Catholic, you know, all those things seem Catholic. I am not saying that churches who do that are bad or wicket, I am not criticizing them, I am not saying that church is a bad church don’t go to that church, that’s not what I am saying.
I am just saying we are not going to do that in our church because it’s not biblical and I have even had people get upset at us for not having alter call and invitation saying that we are not doing it right, we are not right with God, this is a liberal church because you are not having alter call invitation but you know what it’s not biblical, we are trying not to be based on tradition here but rather we base on the word of God, so if I see something that’s just not biblical, let’s cut it from the service. I mean how long you guys want to be here tonight, you know, I just want to be here as short as possible and get the job done.
So let’s just only do stuff that God told us to do, let’s cut off all the fluff, right? Let’s sing the hymns, let’s pray, let’s preach, let’s fellowship, let’s not waste a bunch of time bowing down at a staircase when the Bible said don’t make any stairs to go to the altar, specifically. You know, and just let’s play just as I am for the 12 time just to make sure we didn’t miss any hand, you know what I mean. Okay I am going to extend, I have never done this before but I am going to extend another 15 minutes.
I mean, look, I am all full having a long church service if it’s packed with profitability, it’s packed with God’s word, if its pack with learning and doctrine and singing and praising God. Not just this drawn out whatever service just wasting time and I just don’t want to waste my time with stuff that’s not biblical. I feel that everything we do in this church is biblical, singing a hymn is biblical, praying is biblical, reading the Bible is biblical and preaching is biblical and that what we are going to do.
But anyway I am just saying, you know, people will try to spoil you through tradition or through philosophy. They try to logic and philosophies things that aren’t biblical, things that aren’t in the biblical, things are aren’t in the Bible. Let me give you a perfect example, the Bible is pretty clear that Jesus died for everybody, he died for everybody. The Bible says he died not for our sins only but for the sins of the whole world. The Bible says, all doesn’t it means all, but here is the thing he said that
“He by the grace of God taste dead for every man. “
Jesus taste the dead for every man, he is the savior of all men, especially of those that believe, okay. It says over and over again that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world, He died for all, the free gift came upon all man unto justification of life. There are so many scriptures we could use to prove that Jesus died for all people.
But the doctrine of Calvinism teaches that Jesus Christ did not die for all people, okay. Calvinism, you know the 5 points of Calvinism, the third point in Tulip is limited atonement, meaning Jesus Christ did not die for everybody, he only died for the elect, he did not die for all men. Now, if you ask a Calvinist to show you that doctrine or explain that doctrine or teach that doctrine to you, they don’t have a Bible verse that says he didn’t die for everybody, there are certain people he just didn’t die for. I mean, even the false prophets in Second Peter 2, he said, they denied the Lord that bought them, right. They don’t have a scripture to teach that, but they have logic, they have philosophy. Because here is how a Calvinist will explain it to you, ‘Well, if these people die for their sins and Jesus already died for their sins that would be two people dying for the same sin and that does not make any sense.’
Look I don’t care what do you think it make sense, that’s what the Bible says, you can philosophize all you want but the Bible says he died even for the unsaved. Look he is the savior of all men, especially of those that believe, meaning he is also the savior of those who don’t believe. He bought those who don’t believe, he died for every man, he died on the cross for the sins of the whole world and so you can philosophize about it and say, ‘well how could two people die for the same sins?’ All they philosophize like this, ‘oh well but if Jesus died for them, then they would already be saved.’
It’s just all their logic and by the way, its faulty logic because God’s logic is perfect, man’s logic is usually flawed. So you can see how people can come at you with philosophy, logic, rationale for what they believe but it’s not explicitly what the Bible says. The Bible says, he died for everybody. They will explain why that just can’t be, even though the Bible says it. Vain deceit, philosophy, the tradition and by the way, we don’t need all these Greek philosophy either and I am talking about Aristotle, Plato, okay, and honestly, a lot of churches, they are teaching Greek philosophy and they are packaging it as Christian doctrine. For example, they will teach the doctrine of the personality types that are cleric, melancholic, sanguine, that is straight out of Greek philosophy from a bunch of Sodomite heathens from thousands of years ago.
I thought we’re just complete in Him. I thought we have everything we need in the Bible. You know, we are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power. We don’t need a bunch of extra biblical teaching and doctrine, we need to just stick with the word of God. It’s what he is saying. So when he says get knowledge, get wisdom, get understanding, he is talking about getting it from the word of God, not from the doctrines of men but from the word of God itself. He says in verse 9,
“For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”
Now isn’t that a great verse from the deity of Christ, the fact that Jesus is God? I mean Jesus wasn’t just a good teacher, a good prophet, no. In Him, in Jesus dwelleth all the fullness, part of it, part of the fullness? Part of the Godhead? No! All the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelleth in Christ. That’s why the Bible says,
“For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost and these three are one”
Look, the Holy Ghost, Jesus Christ and the Father are all one. They are three in one. They’re Trinity, that’s where we even get the term Trinity. It says in verse 10,
“And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power”
Verse 11,
“In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ”
Verse 12,
“Buried with him in baptism,”
Question: Does that sound like baptism by sprinkling? You know a lot of churches; they’ll baptize you by sprinkling, right? Or they will just pour water on you. Is that what the Bible’s teaching? No the Bible says,
“Buried with him”, okay, by baptism. “Buried with him in baptism,”
Same thing in Romans chapter 6, Jesus Christ, Matthew 3, the Bible says,
“And Jesus, when he was baptized came up straightway out of the water”
In Acts chapter 8, when the Ethiopian eunuch was baptized by Phillip, it says they went down, both of them into the water; both Phillip and the eunuch and he baptized him. The Bible says in John chapter 3, that John the Baptist was baptizing an Aenon near to Salim because there was much water there. How much water do you need to sprinkle somebody? Not much. How much water do you need to dunk someone completely under the water? You need a substantial amount of water in order to dunk someone so they can be buried with by baptism because baptism represents and pictures the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.
You say, well, it doesn’t really matter if baptism by sprinkling. Baptism by sprinkling just tells me you’re following tradition. That tells me that the word of God is not your final authority. And it makes me wonder what other parts of the Bible do you not believe. What other parts of the Bible you’re not following? What other teachings of your church are just made up by men. If the baptism is not a burial baptism, an immersion baptism, complete dunking under the water baptism,
Verse 12,
“Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead”
Verse 13,
“And you, being dead in your sins and the un-circumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”
Now quickened means brought to life. To quicken the death is referring to the living and the death. So when the Bible here says that we were death in our sins but that we’d been quickened together with him, it means we’ve been brought to life and that God has forgiven us all trespasses, okay. Now, does this say that certain sins are being forgiven and others are not? Certain sins are mortal sins; you know those are not forgiven. No, no, see the thing is the people that he is talking to, he is not talking to everybody, is He? He is talking to people who have received Christ, people that are saved, right? To the people that have received Christ, he says all of your sins are forgiven, all of your trespasses are forgiven and he says that it’s through the faith of the operation of God and he says that God has quickened us together. Now when I read this verse, I instantly thought of Ephesians Chapter 2 verse 1, you don’t necessarily have to turn there, we are going to go to Ephesians 2 in a moment anyway if you want to stick your finger there.
But in Ephesians 2:1, he says almost the same thing.
“You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”
So this is a parallel passage, he is on the same topics here in Ephesians. Ephesians 2:1 said
“He quickened us when we were dead in our sins.”
Colossians 2,
“He quickened us for dead in our sins.”
Now let’s keep reading because the Ephesians 2 and Colossians 2 connection is going to be important in a moment. Keep reading there in Colossians 2 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”
Okay. So in Colossians 2:14, the Bible says that there were ordinances that were contrary to us that were taken out of the way and nailed to the cross. There were ordinances that were blotted out. Now what is an ordinance, okay? Well if we study the Old Testament, the term ordinance comes up a lot. But let’s forget the Bible for a moment just think in our modern world in 2013; what would you consider an ordinance?
Well, yeah, it’s more like, it’s not really a big law, like usually, there are like, for example, murder? You wouldn’t really call that an ordinance, you know what I mean. Ordinance is like ‘don’t skateboard on the sidewalk’, right? ‘Ordinance no.537, these things or whatever’. Ordinances are usually, and it comes from the word ‘order’ or ‘how things are arranged’, ‘an arrangement’, okay. Ordinances are just kind of how we do things, just rules to follow and how we do things.
Now if you study the word ordinance all throughout the Old Testament, the vast majority of the time, its referring to the Passover, the Feast Days, they’re blowing a trumpet, they’re doing sacrifices and things like that. That’s usually how the word is used. It’s used in a few other ways as well, talks about the ordinance of the sun and the moon, just the fact that they are working in an orderly fashion dividing the day from the night and so forth. There are a lot of places where he just runs off a lot of different terms for his law in general. He’ll call it his judgments, his statutes, his ordinances, his commandments, his laws, right? So when we think of the ordinances, it has to do with the laws of God, okay?
But in this context, it’s not talking about all of God’s laws. When it says here blotting out the ordinances, he is not saying we’ve done away with all of God’s laws. All of God’s laws are done away with. I mean do you think that’s what he is saying? Just do away with all of God’s laws. When he talks about blotting out the ordinances, look down at your Bible there in Colossians 2,
“That was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross”
He is talking about some of the Old Testament laws that are done away with in Christ. Keep reading and it will get more specific.
“And having spoiled principalities and powers,”
Verse 15,
“He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
Look at verse 16,
“Let no man therefore judge you”
Now look when you see the term, ‘therefore’, you need to see what it’s there for. Because ‘therefore’ is referring back to something. He is saying, look,
“The ordinances that were contrary to us were blotted out and they were nailed to the cross with Jesus.”
Therefore, because of that verse 16,
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
So what is he saying here? He is saying that certain laws in the Old Testament were just shadows of things to come. Okay? It’s not that these things were just intrinsically sinful or wrong or just intrinsically must be done. He said that they were shadows or symbolic of things to come. In the Old Testament, they kept this ceremonial law or the rituals or the ordinances that are described here and they were symbolic of what was coming with Christ. Okay, but now, we have Christ. Therefore, don’t let anybody judge you in meat, drink or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. Those were a shadow of things to come. Now that Christ is here, we are not under those ordinances any longer.
Now is he saying throw out all those God’s laws? Aren’t these just specific things? Is he saying its okay to murder now? It’s okay to steal now. It’s okay to lust now. Is that what he is saying? No. He is just mentioning specific meat, drink. Okay? The new moon, the Sabbath day, holydays, okay. Go to Hebrews 9, keep your finger there in Colossians too, go to Hebrews 9.
Now remember he said there were a shadow of things to come? Remember that? Look at Hebrews 10:1. While you’re turning to Hebrews 9 {unclear 00:32:01} Hebrews 10:1
“For the law having a shadow ...”
See the word shadow? Same thing we saw in Colossians 2.
“For the law having a shadow of good things to come,”
Is it not exactly what Paul said in Colossians 2? That those things were a shadow of things to come?
“And not the very image of the things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.”
Go back to chapter 9. So what do we see there? An exact parallel of Colossians 2 about the law having a shadow of things to come. What are we talking about? Animal sacrifices. What are we talking about? Sacrifices that occur on a yearly basis, he is talking about the Day of Atonement. He is talking about other Feast days. That’s exactly what he said in Colossians 2 when he said a holyday; he said here, these year by year, animal sacrifices. That’s what done away in Christ because look right there in Hebrews 10:2, He says look, if they take away your sins they cease to be offered? Now that Christ had sacrificed once for all has been offered, do we need to have an animal sacrifice any longer? So why would we celebrate the Day of Atonement? Why do we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and why would we celebrate these holidays that were a shadow of things to come. The body is of Christ; Christ is what have been once offered, okay.
Now we do keep the Passover when we observe the Lord’s Supper because He says Christ is our Passover, all we do is just the unleavened bread and the juice because of the fact that Christ has already been slain. We don’t need to offer a lamb, he’s already been offered.
Go to chapter 9; look at verse 1 of chapter 9,
“Then verily the first covenant had also” what?
‘Ordinances’ see the same term for Colossians too?
“..Of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary”
Is there any question that Hebrews 9 and 10 is covering the same subject matter as Colossians 2? It’s the same thing. Look at verse 9 of Hebrews 9
“Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices,”
Talking about the animal sacrifices.
“That could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks,”
What did he say in Colossians 2? He said,
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days:”
Keep reading there in chapter 9,
“Which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation; But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come,”
The time of reformation is the coming of Christ. These things, the meats, the drinks, the divers washings and the carnal ordinances were imposed on them until the coming of Christ. They were a shadow of things to come. Now that Christ has come, now that we’re in Christ, these things are no longer imposed upon us. Therefore we let no man judge us. Now look, notice, these are the carnal ordinances.
What does ‘carnal’ mean? Fleshly ordinances. These are physical services, these are physical meat offering, drink offering, animal sacrifice offering, they have to do with physical matters of ‘we should eat this food or not eat that food’. Okay. Physical observances of physical holydays, where we were looking for the moon, and when we see the new moon, then we’re going to blow the trumpet and we are going to have the feast. These are the carnal ordinances, look there are also in the Old Testament, moral laws or spiritual laws. They are not carnal ordinances that are a shadow of things to come. They are the moral code of, ‘thou shall not kill, thou shall not steal, thou shall not commit adultery. You know, for example, when the Bible tells you not to marry your sister, and the Bible tells you not to marry your aunt or your uncle. Look, do you think that it’s done away in Christ?
I mean do you think that God’s prohibition on marrying your sister has been done away now that we are in the New Testament? Of course not! But yet the New Testament doesn’t teach that but we get it from the Old Testament. But Jesus didn’t come to destroy the law or the prophets. He came to fulfill. He fulfilled the feast days, the sacrifices, the meats, the drinks, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the holy days. Did he come and fulfill the law against murder? Come fulfill the law against marrying your sister? Did he come and fulfilled the law against cross dressing in Deuteronomy 22:5? No!
These are morality issues; these are issues of right and wrong. These are things that existed even before the Mosaic Law. It’s always been wrong, to for example, lust after a woman that’s not your wife or to kill someone or to steal from someone. You know, those are the things that, that basically are timeless. They are moral issues. They are not carnal ordinances, they are spiritual laws. Okay, that have to do with what’s right and what’s wrong. Not a physical service that need to be performed. But rather, morality and spiritual things that keeps us from walking in the flesh and allows to walk in the spirit of righteousness, okay.
Everybody see the difference? So look. There are two mistakes that are often made. One mistake says let’s throw out all the Old Testament moral codes. Let’s throw them out. And you’ll try to show people an Old Testament scripture that tells you what is right or what is wrong and people will say, you know, that’s Old Testament. I don’t need to observe that. So that’s one error. Then the other error is the one who doesn’t blot out anything. I mean, who was it, Scott and Quinn? Didn’t you guys say that you went hiking at South Mountain, there was a guy standing out South Mountain like blowing a ram’s horn, for some kind of a Jewish feast or something? And were they Christian or what were they? Or were they some kind of, do you know?
Well, I know a guy. Here is the thing. I know a guy who is Christian who blows the ram’s horn on the New Moon. Is that biblical? No! Because the Bible’s telling us, ‘look, we’re past that.’ That was for the time then present. You say, “Oh, is this dispensational?” No, it’s testamentalism. There is two testaments, not 7 dispensations. Okay.
But go back to Colossians 2. Is this making sense? Pretty clear, right? So he specifically says, look, because these ordinances are blotted out,
“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holyday”.
So what if somebody comes to you and says you’re not right with God because you’re not keeping the holy days. Why aren’t you observing the feast of tabernacles? Why aren’t you observing the Day of Atonement? Why aren’t you observing the Passover and the First fruits and the Day of Pentecost? Should we let anyone judge us on those things? No! What about the Sabbath days? What if somebody says you’re not right with God because you’re not keeping the Sabbath? Same thing.
And that’s why even though in the Old Testament he says over and over again to keep the Sabbath after the Mosaic law, they start observing the Sabbath, okay. There’s no mention of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob observing the Sabbath. He said, well God insisted that when he created the world in 6 days and rest on the 7th day. No. He created the world in 6 days, rest on the 7th day but the Sabbath was not observed by man until Moses. No evidence ever before that. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, no evidence of them observing it. But here, we have in the New Testament, no doctrine in the New Testament that ever tells us you need to observe the Sabbath. Here we have a scripture telling us not to worry about it. That it’s been done away in Christ. And in Romans 14:5, we have a similar statement when he says
“One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.”
That’s why I believe that it’s okay if someone says I want to observe Sunday as the Lord’s Day and I want to make sure I never work on Sunday. That’s okay but do we have to observe Sunday in that way? No. Now I am a strong believer in going to church every time the doors are open. Because I mean I just think we just need the more church the better. You know, the Bible says,
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
The further we get into this thing of the end times, the more we need church. I want more church not less church. Okay, but I don’t believe it as a sin to work on Saturday or to work on Sunday, I don’t believe that. I above and worked between these services, for example. I don’t miss church. But I’ve often worked before church, after church on Sunday, I mean by the way, the security, he work all the time, right? He works at his job at split shifts sometimes where he will work between the services, then he will go back to work after Sunday night church.
I don’t believe that there’s anything in the world wrong with that. If anybody wants to observe, and here is the thing, in our society, we have got like double Sabbath. Because most people are off on Saturday and Sunday, right? I mean most people, they work 5 days a week, who at your job works 5 days a week, put up your hand nice and high. Look at all those hands. 5 days a week. You’re getting a double Sabbath and you’re living in the New Testament. So people observe Saturday, people observe Sunday but you know what, I don’t observe any of them. Because I don’t believe in it. Because I am not living in the Old Testament, I don’t believe that’s something that we have to observe in the New Testament. And I am not going to let you judge me on Sabbath days or on holidays or on new moons, okay. I mean I’m sure nobody in here knows anything about the cycles of the moon. I mean every once in a while you look up, ‘oh, there is the moon, oh wow!’ I mean when was the last full moon? I mean does anybody even know? When was the last new moon? I mean very few people probably know.
So anyway, let’s look down in our Bible here, He says, “there are shadow of things to come but the body is of Christ”. Let me tie in quickly Ephesians 2, flip back there because I said I would tie it in. I am cutting out a big chunk of my sermon that was just way too in-depth on the subject, trying to be a little more concise. But I just wanted to show Ephesians 2 because I said I would tie it in. It says in verse 14,
“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;”
Did you get the context? He is talking about the wall partition between the Jews and the Gentiles. If you read the chapters really clear.
“Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;”
Isn’t that same law for the Colossians too?
“For to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God “
Meaning what? Both Jew and Gentile
“In one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: “
So this is another thing that’s done away of the Old Testament. One other things that was blotted out or done away was the meat and drink offering, the animal sacrifices, the holy days, the new moons and the Sabbaths, the carnal ordinances but also the ordinances that’s separated Jew from Gentile. Or that separated Jew from non Jew that separated Israelite from the other heathen around them. Those have been done away. For example, in the Old Testament, it said, you know that the Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. The Ammonite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. Hey, if you’re not circumcised, you’re not going to enter into the congregation of the Lord. Look, according to Ephesians 2, that’s part of what was done away with the carnal ordinances. Circumcision, the separation between the physical nation of Israel and other nations. Is there any difference between them today in the New Testament? Is there any difference between Israel and just believers in general? He says, look, he broke down the wall of partition between us. He has made us one body. We are baptized by one spirit or we’re baptized into one body whether we be Jew or Gentile. Whether we be bought or free. Circumcision, un-circumcision, were all saved through faith in Christ and also we’ve all been allowed into the congregation. So we don’t need a separate congregation for different nationalities. We are all joined together, white, black, Jew, Gentile, its all one body. It’s all one church here that we are located in, okay.
So that’s an interesting thing too about the ordinances. Go back to Colossians 2; we’ll finish up quickly here. It says in verse 18,
“Let no man beguile you”
Look how many times is he going to say that in this chapter? He said I don’t want you to be beguiled; I don’t want you to be deceived. He said look, I don’t want you to be enticed, I don’t want you to be tricked. Look, the serpent beguiled Eve in Genesis 3. The devil’s a deceiver. His minions are deceivers. The world is filled with lies and deception and Paul is just saying, they’ll be deceived, they’ll be deceived, they will be beguiled, they will be tricked and then people are just, ‘oh, you know, everyone, pretty much all churches all teach the same thing. What’s all these denominations, just, if it’s Christian, its fine.’ No!
There’s so much deception. So many lying and false prophets. Look he said John, the apostle John said many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is the deceiver and an anti-Christ. II Thessalonians 3,
“Let no man deceive you by any means”
Jesus said in Matthew 24, Mark 13, he said
“Take heed that no man deceive you.”
First part of that famous Olivet Discourse Sermon, Jesus, first thing he said, take heed that no man deceive you. Is it just me or should we be on our guard that somebody is trying to trick us, somebody is trying to like, but you just believe everything that you hear.
‘Oh, this cave is billions of years old.’
‘Oh, okay!’
‘Oh, the book of Enoch was written in 300 BC!’
‘Okay!’
‘Did you know that they found a bone of a giant that was 50 ft tall?’
‘Really?’
Look, you’re just deceived. You just believe stupid stuff. Look, there are people who lie to you every day. You turn on the TV, it’s the tell-lie-vision, that’s not the television, the tell-lie-vision and its TV programming, social programming, social engineering, okay, religious indoctrination. Look, I’m telling you that there are a lot of liars and deceivers in this world and you better get used to proving all things and holding fast that which is good. Check everything, verify everything, there’s a lot of deception. Verify with the word of God. God’s word is faithful. The Bible says these words are faithful and true meaning we can trust the Bible. We can’t trust men, you can’t trust me, you can’t trust anybody. You trust the Lord. And now put confidence in men.
“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility”
And then look at this,
“And worshipping of angels, “
So are there people out there who worship angels? Or have an inordinate obsession with angels? And look what it says next
“Intruding”
What does it mean ‘to intrude’? Intruding is like if I am on a date with my wife at a restaurant and then let’s say you showed up and just sat down at the table and just, ‘hey I saw your video..’ and then you just stay for like 2 hours. It’ll be like, hey, you’re intruding here. Basically what its saying is you don’t you don’t belong here. You’re uninvited here, okay. So what is he saying here? This worshipping of angels “intruding into those things which he hath not seen”, okay?
“Vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind”
Look, being so puffed up thinking that you know all about angels and demons and basically intruding into the world of the unseen, the spiritual realm that God has not told us a whole lot about. Told us a little bit, he didn’t tell us a whole lot about it. Therefore we should not speculate too much. Think about that now. We shouldn’t get so vainly puffed up in our fleshy mid like, ‘oh, I got this all figured all about angels and demons, devil is the big one, I’m using the word demon, it’s the modern vernacular but honestly the biblical word is ‘devil’. But here is the thing; do we really know that much about this? I mean it’s great to teach what the Bible says about that. But go no further. And don’t read some extra biblical material to try to get more on it, ‘I just want to learn more on the angels, let’s just get more literature on that. No, look, just read the Bible and don’t intrude into subjects. It’s like when the Bible says in Jude.
“Yet Michael, the Archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”
Know your place; don’t speak evil of things that you know not, okay. And the Bible saying don’t intrude in things that you don’t know much about, that God didn’t really reveal to us because we are flesh and its out of our league at this time. Verse 19,
“And not holding the Head,”
The Head is Christ according to earlier in the chapter.
“From which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.”
That’s growth. It’s talking about us growing, that’s what we saw in Ephesians 4.
“Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world,”
And remember “rudiments of the world” was brought up back when he brought up the traditions and philosophies and things like that. He says,
“Why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,”
Now look, didn’t a minute ago, He said the blotting out ordinances? Then a little bit earlier, he said, these things are done away in Christ? Shadow of things to come? So now, he is like, why are you subject to ordinances? So what if you just want to have an attitude that said, ‘well, just to be safe, just to be safe, I am just not going to eat pork, I am going to observe the Sabbath, I am going to blow a ram’s horn every time the new moon comes, just in case… just in case’. Just to cover on, he is saying, no, look, have the faith to believe the New Testament teaching here.
And don’t be subject to ordinances. It’s not just that you don’t have to be circumcised. It’s not just that you don’t have to blow a ram’s horn. It’s not just that you don’t have to observe the Sabbath. It’s not, he is just saying, look, if you’re doing all these stuff, it’s like a lack of faith. It’s like you’re trying to be brought back under the bondage of the schoolmaster. You know that was the part that I cut out my sermon but I mean, Galatians 4 just goes on and on about how, the Old Testament law was a school master to bring us to Christ and he says, when faith is come, you’re no longer under the school master. He is saying, look, and he even says to them, in Galatians 4, see, I knew I couldn’t get this out. He says, ye then that desire to be under the law, do ye not read the law? I am paraphrasing but look the Bible to thought, there are people, it’s like they want to go back to the Old Testament for some reason. Have you ever known these people? It’s inexplicable to me. It’s like they just really want to learn Hebrew and they really want to just observe, they just, I mean that ram’s horn, it’s cool.
You know what I mean? Just saying Shabbat, Shalom, I just like the way it sounds, I just, I mean aren’t there people like that they just think it’s really cool and they are going to, I mean, I am not one of them. I am just a New Testament Christian. I am not under the ordinances. I am done with ordinances, okay. And look what he says, touch not, taste not, handle not, those are the carnal ordinances and he says, which all are the pairest with using at the doctrines and commandments of men.
It’s just the Jews coming to the Colossians, not only telling them to observe God’s Old Testament ordinances, but remember they had a lot of their own ordinances that they had added. The Talmud and all the stuff that they added. They have way more rules, God had certain rules but they have like an encyclopedia of rules. The Jews today and the Jews of that time called the Talmud, I know different parts of the Talmud came later and whatever. I am not an expert on it; don’t want to be because I want to be an expert on this book. Period! I don’t need the Talmud.
But he says here in verse 23,
“Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility and neglecting of the body: not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.”
Now that’s kind of a tough to understand verse first 23, my opinion of what it means because I have stated this verse and looked at it, I think what He’s saying there in verse 23 is that, you know, some of these extra biblical mammoths, you know, some of them could be beneficial or they could have some of their merits but don’t teach them as God’s law. You know what I mean? Don’t teach for doctrines that you don’t know what does it mean. Like for example, you might look at some of the dietary stuff in the Old Testament or you might look at some of the washings and you might look at some of the traditions and think, you know, yeah, this is good.
Like for example, let me give you an example. You might look at it and say, you know what; it’s good to rest one day a week, right? And there have been scientific studies that might have shown it, you know, taken a day off, like for example, anyone who is an athlete, pretty much knows that you’re usually supposed to rest one day if you’re an athlete. To let your body recuperate, right? Who is familiar with that? Whether its swimming or running or but, usually it’s like, hey, rest one day a week, let your body recover. Some of the dietary things could be helpful, sanitation is obviously helpful, okay, he saying look, some of it shows wisdom, some of it denies the flesh which is a good thing to walk in the spirit and not fall after the lust of flesh. You know, some of it could bring humility or neglecting the body.
I don’t fully understand verse 23; I am just being honest with you. To form your own conclusion on it but that’s how I take that verse. It’s just to say, look, even if you might look at some of these ordinances and say, ‘well, it just makes sense’, people tell you, ‘well, pork is just not good for you’ or ‘well, resting a day a week is healthy’. I mean it could have its merits but don’t teach it as a doctrine and look, I’ll say this, anyone who is teaching that we must keep the Sabbath is in violation of God’s word.
Now if you say it’s good to rest one day a week, okay. But if you say, you must not eat pork; you are in violation of God’s word. If you say God teaches you must take the Sabbath, God teaches that you must observe these holy days; you’re in violation to God’s word. Even if these things do have merits. Even if some of them are good or healthy, we don’t need them. The Bible says we don’t need it. If you want to do some of these things, like for example, there are people who circumcise their children, we don’t circumcise our children. And people say, oh, there is a health benefit.
Well, the Bible said that there is no profit in either circumcision or un-circumcision. It’s just whether we believe in Christ. And there are a lot of scriptures like that. So Chapter 2 here is packed with great doctrine, the main thing that we should take away from this chapter, let me just give it to you in a nutshell and I’ll be done. He emphasizes a lot the fact that we need to have biblical knowledge and biblical understanding and biblical wisdom. We need to learn the Bible. Why? Because there are a of deceivers and a lot of trickery out there and a lot of false prophets and one of the biggest signs of deception and false prophets and so forth is this bringing us back to these Old Testament ordinances that have been done away in Christ. That’s specifically what he is telling them not to be deceived by.
This is a great chapter for the 7th day Adventist. This is a great chapter for the Roman Catholics. Because the Roman Catholics system is a lot like bringing back the Old Testament like Priests, mediating between God and men when Christ is our only mediator. There’s just a lot of deception out there that is masked as, hey, and by the way, a lot of false teaching even amongst Baptists taking as Old Testament scriptures, how we need to support the nation of Israel. And that their god shows the people, when God said he brought down the partition between us. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither bond or free. They want to keep that separation a lot, don’t they?
‘Oh, well the Jews, don’t confuse the church in Israel. Do not confuse the church in Israel. They are two different things’
Well, the Bible said in Ephesians 2, that we as believers, as Gentiles are citizens of Israel. I told that to the Board of Petrol checkpoint. I drove through in front of Petrol checkpoint and they said are you a US citizen? I said I am a citizen of Israel. And he said, well, I need you to pull over the secondary and show me your documentations, I said okay and for once in my life I went to secondary. So I went to secondary and I, let’s see here if I got it with me. I went over to secondary and I pulled out my camouflaged waterproof Bible here and this is like the coolest Bible ever. But anyway, I pulled out my camouflaged Bible and I said I am a citizen, I said here is my documentation that I am a citizen of Israel and I turned to Ephesians 2 and I read the scripture, about being a citizen of Israel, about how we’re no longer foreigners to the commonwealth of Israel, we are not fellow citizens of Israel and I said its right there. And the guy didn’t even figure out that I was joking. He is like well, I just need to see some more documentation, I mean you’re saying you are a citizen of Israel but you know…. And he said I don’t even know what that book is. And I said well, it’s the Bible. He probably thought because it was all camo’d out, he probably thought it was like my mansard field manual or something. But you know, I said I am a citizen of Israel and then they asked me for ID and he said I need a picture ID. So I gave him an ‘After the tribulation’ DVD and I showed him my picture on the back and my name next to it, there is the picture ID.
So anyway what I am saying is that we are citizens of Israel. So to sit there and say well, in the New Testament there is a difference between the church and Israel. Look, we are Israel, the Bible said that. Look, Did the Bible not say in Ephesians 2 and I don’t have time to preach that old sermon that we are citizens of the commonwealth of Israel. What about some unsaved guy over in Palestine? If he is not saved, is he a citizen of Israel in God’s eyes? Because that branch has been cut off, broken off that branch, grafted us in. That’s good doctrine, my friend. Yeah, you say, oh the sermon is too deep. Well, time for you to grow up and get some smarts and learn the deep things of God and learn biblical doctrine so you cannot be deceived by the Judaists and the Zionists and the Dispensationalists and the Adventists and everything else that ends in ‘ists’. Buddhists, Methodists, I can’t think of any other ‘ists’ but I’m against all of them except Baptists, that’s the only one that I agree with. But anyway, let’s bow our heads in a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word, thank you for Colossians 2 and warning us about the beguilement and the deception that’s out there. Help us to study the Bible on our own, help us to read it every day so that we won’t be fooled by these things, in Jesus name we pray.
