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Now in Colossians chapter 2 verse number 1 the Bible reads, For I would that ye knew what great conflict I had 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 acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ. So chapter 2 of Colossians starts out in a similar way that chapter 1 started out. He talks about the two things that he wants the Colossians to abound in. He talks about love. He said he wanted their hearts 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's emphasizing the fact 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 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 means to deceive them or to trick them. He said look, people are going to use enticing words, meaning they're going to say a lot of things that sound good, they sound convincing, they're going to entice you or seduce you into following lies and false doctrine with a lot of smooth talk and a lot of trickery. Go if you would to Ephesians chapter 2. Keep your finger here 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 the two, we can get a greater understanding of what's being said in Colossians chapter 2. But I'm sorry, go over to Ephesians 4. We'll go to Ephesians 2 in a moment, but 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, edifying of the body of Christ. So here he's explaining the purpose for pastors and teachers in the church and he says it's 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 out, 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 he explains that in order for us to not be deceived and not to be beguiled and not to be fooled by false teachers and false prophets and liars who are going to come in and teach lies, 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, maybe it encourages us, maybe 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. You know, because in many churches it's rare that you're learning something, okay, and it should be the utmost 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 in wait to deceive us. I mean people who literally, that's their whole purpose, that's their whole goal. They've designed it in advance. They've decided, hey, we're going to go in there, we're going to teach lies, we're going to teach false doctors. You say, do you really think people do that? Hey, the Bible tells us over and over again that they do. He said in 2 Peter chapter 2 that they'll do it. He said in Jude that they would do it. He said there are certain men, crept in, unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, 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 to 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're 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 searched the scripture daily. It said they received 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'm telling you. You should be daily studying the scriptures whether these things are so for yourself. So that's why there's so much emphasis in Colossians 1, Colossians 2, all throughout the book of Ephesians, on getting knowledge, getting knowledge, getting knowledge. Learn the Bible, 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's so many lies out there, there's so much deception, there's so much fraud, and if you know the Bible well, you'll be able to see through all of it, 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're 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's saying, look, I like the fact that you're 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. So 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 built up in Him and established in the faith as you have been taught abounding therein with thanksgiving. So look at these words, steadfast, established, rooted. I mean, over and over again, he's emphasizing the fact that if we know the Bible, we're going to be like a rock because we're founding our faith on the rock because we're standing on the rock. When you don't know what the Bible says, you're like a little kid that can be easily deceived. You know, see, kids, kids, are you listening? Alright, I'm going to take my thumb, I'm going to remove it from my hand right now, okay? All the kids looking, I'm going to remove, every kid just started paying attention to the sermon. They're like, wait a minute, what? Look at that, do you see Pastor Anson removing his thumb right now? Now look, no, put it back, no adult is going to be deceived by that, but little kids are deceived by it. I mean, when I was a kid, I'll confess, I thought it was real, you know, when I saw it. I remember thinking it was real when I was a little kid. Why? Because children are easily tricked, easily deceived. He said, you know, if you don't know the Bible, you don't say the Bible, you don't go to a church that's teaching the Bible, because he does also say, as you've been taught. 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's preaching and teaching you what you need to hear. But he says, look, if you're not taught, if you're not doing the reading, you're like a little kid. You're going to be easily deceived when the Mormons come by, you know, or the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Seventh-day Adventists or whatever, you know, and they teach you all this false, hey, look, the Book of Enoch, the Gospel of Thomas, you know, and they're 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 he's saying here. Now, there's a 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 finished talking about the steadfastness of their faith. So he says, as you've received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Now, how did we receive the Lord Jesus? By faith, right? We received him by faith. The Bible says, but as many as received him, to them gave ye power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. We receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. He says, as we've received him, so walk in him. So how are we supposed to walk? Walk by faith. That's why he said in 2 Corinthians 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 that if I'm saved by faith, by believing, when the Bible said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should 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 would save 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. Don't walk by faith. So look, if I believe God when he said that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life, I need to also believe God when he says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. I need to also believe 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 can just walk by sight now that I'm saved and just basically 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'm going to be disciplined and chastened and scourged. Just as much as he promised me eternal life if I believe on him, he also promised me that he would supply all my need 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, your job's important. It's a very high priority as a man in your life. But when we're basically neglecting church, neglecting the things of God just so that we can make money, that's showing a lack of faith in the promises of God because God has said that if we seek him first and his righteousness that all the things that we need, food, clothing, etc., would be added unto us. If we really believe that, then we'll 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's going to tell you that if you spank your children, you're going to warp their brain. You know, they're 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 to him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. So who are you going to believe? I mean, look, as you've received the Lord Jesus Christ, you need to walk in him the same way, by faith, believing his word every step of the way. Now look what the Bible says in verse number 8, because he 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. Spoil you means ruin you, right? He's saying 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 then 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's saying, look, you're complete in him. Don't let anybody come to you telling you, oh, the Bible's not enough, the word of God's not enough, Jesus Christ is not enough. You also need philosophy. You also need tradition. And look, you say, well how is this going to apply today in 2013? Who's going to come at me with philosophy or vain deceit or tradition or rudiments of the world? Look, people are going to come at you with tradition. It's called the Roman Catholic Church. They're going to say, well, you know, there's more than just the Bible. It's more than just the word of God. We've got to go with the traditions 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 none effect through your tradition, he said in Matthew 15. He said, look, don't let tradition trump God's word. What does tradition mean? Tradition is a custom or practice that has been passed down. So we might say, you know, we have a tradition that every Thanksgiving we eat turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing and cranberry sauce. Is that a bad tradition? No, that's a great tradition. So it's not that traditions are bad. You know, we have certain family traditions when I was growing up. You know, on the 4th of July we go swimming and we would also eat shish kebabs. You know, every 4th of July we're eating shish kebabs, it was just a tradition in our family. Nothing wrong with tradition. When it comes to our church, you know, we might do certain things that are just traditional things to do, but you know what is the problem is when we basically are confronted with the word of God that's telling us that something that we're doing is unbiblical, but we just say, well this is how we've always done it. You know, and this is how it's been done for hundreds of years and I don't think all these other people were wrong. Are you telling me that Brother so-and-so was wrong? The hero of the faith? 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 hundreds of years that might not necessarily be right. Let's throw them out. Let's not do it. You know, I mean, personally, you know, I'm not a fan of the altar call. You know, everybody comes and bows down at the feet of the pastor, at the steps leading up to the pulpit, you know, and basically, or the Baptist confessional booth where we all bow our heads and close our eyes and, you know, if you're struggling with sin in your life that I just preached on, you know, slip up your hand, no one's looking around, and it's like, okay, I see that hand, okay, I see that hand. You know, pray for me pastor, I'm struggling with sin. You know, I'm struggling with that sin. You know, I'm struggling with pornography, pray for me. You know, put your hand up. You know, I'm struggling with lust, I'm struggling with stealing, you know, I'm struggling with, you know, whatever. It doesn't seem biblical to me. I don't see it anywhere in the Bible, it seems Catholic, you know, but all of those things seem Catholic. You know, and again, I'm not saying that churches who do that are bad or wicked, I'm not criticizing them, I'm not saying that that church is a bad church, don't go to that church. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying we're not going to do it in our church because it's not biblical. And I've even had people get upset at us for not having an altar call and invitation, saying that we're not doing it right, we're not right with God, this is a liberal church because you're not having an altar call and invitation, but you know what? It's not biblical. We are trying not to be based on tradition here, but rather to be based 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 do 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 out 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, you know, let's play just as I am for the 12th time, just to make sure we didn't miss any hand. You know what I mean? Okay, I'm going to have, I'm going to extend the, I've never done this before, but I'm going to extend it another 15 minutes, you know. I mean, look, I'm all for having a long church service if it's packed with profitability, it's packed with God's Word, if it's packed with learning and doctrine and singing and praising God, not just this drawn out, whatever service, just wasting time. And I don't, I just don't, 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, you know, that's what we're going to do. But anyway, I'm just saying, you know, people try to spoil you through tradition or through philosophy. You know, they try to logic and philosophize things that aren't biblical, things that aren't in the Bible. Like, let me give you a perfect example. The Bible's pretty clear that Jesus died for everybody. He died for everybody. The Bible says He died not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world. The Bible says, you say, well, all doesn't mean all, but here's the thing. He said that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man. Jesus tasted death 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 men unto justification of life. There's 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 five points of Calvinism, the third point in Tulip is limited atonement, meaning that Jesus Christ did not die for everybody. He only died for the elect. He did not die for all men, okay? Now, if you ask a Calvinist to show you that doctrine or explain that doctrine to you or teach that doctrine to you, they don't have a Bible verse that says that He didn't die for everybody. There's certain people He just didn't die for. I mean, even the false prophets in 2 Peter 2, He said they denied the Lord that bought them, right? So they don't have a scripture to teach that, but they have logic, they have philosophy. Because here's how a Calvinist will explain it to you. Well, if these people are dying for their sins and Jesus already died for their sins, that would be two people dying for the same sins and that doesn't make any sense. Look, I don't care whether you think it makes 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's the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe, meaning He's 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, you know? Or they'll philosophize like this, oh well, but if Jesus died for them, then they would already be saved. You know, it's just all their logic. And by the way, it's 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'll explain why that just can't be, you know, even though the Bible says it. Vain deceit, philosophy, the tradition. And by the way, we don't need all this Greek philosophy either. And I'm talking about Aristotle, Plato, okay. And honestly, a lot of churches, they are teaching Greek philosophy and they're packaging it as Christian doctrine. For example, they will teach the doctrine of the personality types that are choleric, melancholic, sanguine. That is straight out of Greek philosophy from a bunch of Sodomite heathens from thousands of years ago. You know, 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 you to stick with the Word of God, is what he's saying. So when he says get knowledge, get wisdom, get understanding, he's 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 fulness of the Godhead bodily. Now isn't that a great verse on 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 dwelt in Christ. That's why the Bible says, for there are three that bear record in Him, 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. The three in one. The Trinity. That's where we even get the term Trinity. It says in verse 10, You 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, and 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 just by sprinkling, right? Or they'll just pour water on you. Is that what the Bible's teaching? No the Bible says, buried with Him, 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 Philip, it says they went down both of them into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. The Bible says in John chapter 3, that John the Baptist was baptizing an anon near to Salem 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 water? You need a substantial amount of water in order to dunk someone so that they can be buried with my baptism. Because baptism represents and pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. You say, well it doesn't really matter if baptism is by sprinkling. Baptism by sprinkling just tells me your fallen tradition. That tells me that the Word of God is not your final authority. It makes me wonder what other parts of the Bible do you not believe? What other parts of the Bible are you not following? What other teachings of your church are just made up by man? If the baptism is not a burial baptism, an immersion baptism, a complete dunking under the water baptism. Verse 12, buried with him in baptism wherein also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead. Verse 13, and you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Now quickened means brought to life. The quick and the dead is referring to the living and the dead. So when the Bible here says that we were dead in our sins but that we've 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's talking to, he's not talking to everybody is he? He's 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, because you don't necessarily have to turn there, we're 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's 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, we're 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. 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? Well if we study the Old Testament, the term ordinance comes up a lot. But let's forget the Bible for a moment and just think, in our modern world in 2013, what would you consider an ordinance? Well, yeah, it's more like a, it's not really a big law. Like usually, you know, 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 number 537B6, you know, whatever. Ordinances are usually, and it comes from the word, you know, order or how things are arranged, an arrangement, okay? Ordinances are just kind of how we do things, just rules to follow on how we do things. Now if you study the word ordinance all throughout the Old Testament, the vast majority of the time, the vast majority of the time, it's referring to, you know, the Passover, the feast days, you know, 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. He talks about the ordinance of the sun and the moon, you know, 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? When you 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's 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's 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's 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's 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 drink or in respect of an holy day 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's 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. It's not that they were shadows or symbolic of things to come. In the Old Testament, they kept the 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, respect of a holy day, new moon, Sabbath. Those were shadow of things to come. Now that Christ is here, we're not under those ordinances any longer. Now is he saying throw out all of God's laws? Aren't these just specific things? Is he saying it's okay to murder now? It's okay to steal now? It's okay to lust now? Is that what he's saying? No. He's just mentioning specific meat, drink, okay, the new moon, the Sabbath day, holidays. Okay go to Hebrews 9. Keep your finger there in Colossians 2. 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, glance at 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. Isn't that 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 their unto 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 with Colossians 2 about the law having a shadow of things to come. What are we talking about? Animal sacrifices. What are we talking about? The things that occur on a yearly basis, he's talking about the Day of Atonement. He's talking about other feast days. That's exactly what he said in Colossians 2 when he said a holy day, he said here these year by year animal sacrifices. That's what's done away in Christ. Because look right there in Hebrews 10 too, he says look, if they take away your sins they'd cease to be offered. Now that Christ, the sacrifice 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 would we celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles and why would we celebrate these holidays that were a shadow of things to come? The bodies of Christ, Christ has been once offered. 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 from Colossians 2? 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 pertain 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 drink, or in respect of a holiday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. Keep reading there in chapter 9, which stood only meats and drinks and divers, washings and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation, but Christ being come and high priest of good things. The time of reformation is the coming of Christ. These things, the meats, the drinks, the divers, washings, 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. Physical observances of physical holidays where we're looking for the moon and when we see the new moon, then we're going to blow the trumpet and we're going to have the feast. These are the carnal ordinances. Look, there are also in the Old Testament, moral laws or spiritual laws. They're not carnal ordinances that are a shadow of things to come. They are the moral code of thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery. 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 that'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're in the New Testament? Of course not. Maybe 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 holidays. Did he come and fulfill the law against murder? Come fulfill the law against marrying your sister? Did he come and fulfill 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 things that basically are timeless. They're moral issues. They're not carnal ordinances, they're 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 keep us from walking in the flesh and allow us 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 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 and there was a guy standing on South Mountain like blowing a ram's horn for some kind of a Jewish feast or something? And was he, were they Christian or were they some kind of a, do you know? Well I know a guy, here's the thing. I know a guy who's Christian who blows a 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, it's testamentalism. There's two, there's two testaments, not seven 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 drink or in respect of unholy day. 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. You say, well, God is to do what He created the world in six days and rest on the seventh day. No, He created the world in six days, rest on the seventh day, but the Sabbath was not observed by man until Moses. No evidence of it 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, you know, 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'm a strong believer in going to church every time the doors are open, you know, 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 is the manner of some is, but exhorting one another in so much the more as we see the day approaching. You know, 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 that it is a sin to work on Saturday or to work on Sunday. I don't believe that. You know, I have often worked between the services, for example. You know, I don't miss church, but I've often worked, you know, before church, after church on Sunday. I mean, Brother St. Gore, you do that all the time, right? He works at his job, you know, a split shift sometimes where he'll work between the services, then he'll go back to work after Sunday night church. I don't believe that there's anything in the world wrong with that. With observing, you know, if anybody wants to observe, you know, and here's the thing, in our society, we've got like double Sabbath because most people are off on Saturday and Sunday, right? I mean, most people only work five days a week. Who at your job works five days a week, put up your hand nice and high? Look at all those hands, five days a week. You're getting the double Sabbath and you're living in the New Testament, you know? So, you know, 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, you know, I'm not living in the Old Testament. I don't believe that that's something that we have to observe in the New Testament. And I'm 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's the moon, you know, oh, wow, you know? 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 at our Bible here. He says, there are a 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'm cutting out a big chunk of my sermon that was just way too in-depth on this subject, trying to be a little more concise. But I just wanted to show you 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 broken down the middle wall of partition between us. And if you get the context, he's talking about the wall of partition between the Jews and the Gentiles. If you read this chapter, it's real clear. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances. Isn't that similar to Colossians 2? 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. You know, one of the 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 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. You know, the Ammonite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord. You know, 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's made us one body. By one spirit are we baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free. Circumcision, uncircumcision, we're 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're all joined to get white, black, Jew, Gentile, it's all one body. It's all one church here that we're 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, don't be deceived, don't be deceived, don't be beguiled, don't be tricked. And then people are just, oh you know, pretty much all churches are all teaching the same thing and you know, I just love, what's all this denomination, just, if it's Christian it's fine. No, there's so much deception. So many lying false prophets. Look he said, John, the apostle John said, many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Genesis 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's trying to trick us? Somebody's trying to lie. But you just believe everything you hear. Oh, this cave is billions of years old, oh okay, you know, 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 feet tall? Really? You know, you just, look, you're just deceived. 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 it's 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'd 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 it 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 man, you can't trust me, you can't trust anybody. You trust the Lord and not put confidence in man. No man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility, and then look at this, and worshiping 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? You know, intruding is like if I'm 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 greeting and then you just stay for like two hours and be like, you know, hey, you're intruding here. Basically what it's saying is you don't belong here, you weren't invited here. So what is he saying here? This worshiping of angels intruding into those things which he had not seen, 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 fleshly mind like, oh, I got this all figured out about angels and demons, or you know, devils is the biblical word. I'm using the word demon, it's the modern vernacular, but honestly the biblical word is devil. But here's the thing, do we really know that much about that? I mean, you know, 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 the angels. I just want, man, I just want to learn more on the angels. You know, let's just get more literature on that. No, no, look, just read the Bible and don't intrude into subjects. It's like when the Bible says in Jude, you know, yet Michael the archangel when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, it said that he durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee. You know, know your place, don't speak evil of things that you know not, okay? And the Bible is saying here, 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 it's 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. He'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 you subject to ordinances? Now look, didn't a minute ago he said the blotting out ordinances? Didn't a little bit earlier he say, you know, these things are done away in Christ, shadow of things to come? So now he's like, why are you subject to ordinances? So what if you just want to have an attitude that says, well, just to be safe, just to be safe, I'm just not going to eat pork. I'm going to observe the Sabbath. I'm going to blow a ram's horn every time the new moon comes, just in case. Just in case. Just to cover all of it. He's 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. He's just saying, look, if you're doing all this 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, and that was the part that I cut out of my sermon, but I mean, Galatians 4 just goes on and on about how, you know, the Old Testament law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ and he says, you know, when faith has come, you know, you're no longer under the schoolmaster. He says, look, and he even says to them in Galatians 4, see, I knew I couldn't cut this out. He says, you know, ye then that desire to be under the law, do you not read the law? I'm paraphrasing. But look, the Bible does, 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, 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. You know? I just, I mean, aren't there people like that? They just think it's really cool. And they're going to, you know, I mean, I'm not one of them. I'm just a New Testament Christian, you know? I'm not under the ordinances. I'm done with the ordinances, okay? And look what he's saying, you know, touch not, taste not, handle not, you know, those are the carnal ordinances. And he says, which all are to perish with using after the commandments and doctrines of men. You know, this is 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'd added. You know, the Talmud and all the stuff that they added, they have way more rules. You know, God had certain rules, but they have like an encyclopedia of rules. The Jews today, and the Jews at that time, called the Talmud, you know, and I know different parts of the Talmud came later and whatever. I'm 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, the 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, verse 23. My opinion of what he means, because you know, I've studied 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 commandments, they, 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 the Talmud's meant. Like for example, you know, 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 know, you might look at it and say, you know what, it's good to rest one day a week. Right? And you know, there have been scientific studies that might have shown that, you know, taking a day off. Like for example, anyone who's 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's familiar with that? You know, who's been, you know, whether it's swimming or running or football, you know. Usually it's like, hey, rest one day a week, let your body recover. You know, some of the dietary things could be helpful, sanitation is obviously helpful. Okay, he's saying, look, some of it, some of it shows wisdom. Some of it, you know, 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. You know, I don't fully understand verse 23, I'm just being honest with you. You know, form your own conclusion on it, but that's how I take that verse, is just to say, look, even if you might look at some of these ordinances and say, well, you know, it just makes sense. You know, like I, you know, people tell you, you know, well pork is just not good for you, or well, you know, or resting a day a week is healthy, or, you know, I mean, it could have its merits, but don't teach it as 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, you know, observe these holy days, you're in violation of 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 them. If you want to do some of these things, like for example, you know, there are people who circumcise their children, you know, we don't circumcise our children. And people say, oh, there's a health benefit. Well, the Bible said that there's no profit in either circumcision or uncircumcision. It's just whether we believe in Christ, you know. And there are a lot of scriptures like that. So chapter 2 here is packed with great doctrine. You know, 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 lot 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's telling them not to be deceived by. This is a great chapter for the Seventh-day Adventists. It's a great chapter for the Roman Catholics. Because you know, the Roman Catholic system is a lot like bringing back the Old Testament, like priests mediating between God and men when Christ is our only meter. You know, there's just a lot of deception out there that is masked as, you know, hey, and by the way, a lot of false teaching even amongst Baptists, telling, taking us Old Testament scriptures how we need to support the nation of Israel. You know, and that they're God's chosen people. And God said he broke down the partition between us. In Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile. There is neither bond nor free. They want to keep that separation alive, don't they? Oh, well the Jews, you know, don't confuse the church and Israel. Do not confuse the church and 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 border patrol checkpoint. I drove through the border patrol checkpoint and they said, are you a US citizen? I said, I'm a citizen of Israel. And he said, well, you know, I need you to pull over to secondary and show me your documentation. 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 camouflage waterproof Bible here. This is like the coolest Bible ever. But anyway, I pulled out my camouflage Bible and I said, I'm a citizen. I said, here's my documentation that I'm a citizen of Israel. And I turned to Ephesians 2 and I read the scripture, you know, about being a citizen of Israel, about how, you know, we're no longer foreigners to the commonwealth of Israel. We're now fellow citizens of Israel. And I said, so right there, you know, and the guy didn't even figure out that I was joking. He's like, well, you know, I just need to see some more documentation. I mean, you're saying you're a citizen of Israel. And he said, he said, I don't even know what that book is. And I said, it's the Bible, you know. He probably thought, he probably thought because it was all camo'd out, he probably thought it was like my Mossad, you know, field manual or something. But you know, I said, I'm a citizen of Israel. And then they asked me for ID and I just, 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. I said, there's a picture ID. So anyway, what I'm saying is that, you know, we're citizens of Israel. So to sit there and say, well, in the New, you know, in the New Testament there's 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 whole doctrine, that we are citizens of the commonwealth of Israel. What about some unsaved guy over in Palestine? If he's 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. You say, oh, this sermon's 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 can not be deceived by the Judaizers and the Zionists and the dispensationalists and the Adventists and everything else that ends in "-ist." Buddhists, Methodists, you know, I can't think of any other "-ists," but, you know, I'm against all of them except Baptists. That's the only one that I agree with. But anyway, let's bow our heads and have 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. And in Jesus' name, we thank you.