(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

🎵Music🎵 🎵Music🎵 Good evening, tonight we're in Colossians chapter 2 and the Bible reads For I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them that have laid it to see you, for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, for though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the Spirit, drawing and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 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. 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, 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, 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. And you, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath ye quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 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 the cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of them on holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward, in a voluntary humility of worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. And not beholding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ, from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using, after the commandments of the doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom, and will of worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. Let's pray, dear Lord God, thank you for every soul that's able to make it to church today, Lord. I just pray that you bless this service, Lord, fill pastor with the Holy Spirit, Lord, as he preaches unto us, and that us and the congregation could take these truths from your word today, and apply them to our lives. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Okay, tonight we conclude the synopsis of Colossians. I'm just going to cover some of the subjects, the remainder of the topics in the book of Colossians. About two weeks ago, we were talking about Colossians chapter one, and I'm not going to review that. You can listen to that on your own. But tonight, we're going to cover chapters two, three, and four, but not the entire chapter. We're just going to cover the main topics and subjects that these particular chapters are talking about. And chapter two is a great chapter that can be used to refute Judaizers, and the Hebrew Roots movement, and people who say that we need to observe the Sabbath, and we need to keep the law. This is one of the most powerful chapters that you can use to refute that. And in fact, a lot of the arguments against our interpretation of Colossians 2 are really feeble when you think about it. We'll get into that in just a bit. But the reason the Apostle Paul is even bringing this up in the first place is because when you look at the Apostle Paul's ministry, and his letters, and his preaching to these Gentile churches, one of the main problems that keeps coming up is the fact that Jews are infiltrating these local New Testament churches, trying to bring people back under the law, and get them to observe the law, to be circumcised, to observe the law of Moses, and things of that nature. They're trying to Judaize these churches. And one example of this that's a pretty important example that we see is the letter to the Galatians, which is not to just one church, it's the churches of Galatia. And essentially it's the Apostle Paul combating Judaizers and Judaism, because they've infiltrated and really were able to influence a lot of the members there into thinking that they were saved by the law. And so he doesn't want that to take place at Colossae. And I don't believe it actually took place in Colossae. I think Colossae is still very much a church that's not affected by Judaizers. But this is essentially preventative, right? He's writing this letter because the main culprit and adversary of the New Testament is the Jew. And so obviously what's probably going to happen is that Judaizers will make their way to Colossae and try to beguile them, try to entice them, try to fool them with false doctrine, which is why he's writing this unto them. Now in chapter 2, he essentially commends them and he tells them that he wants them to be unified. And this is something that the world is constantly pushing, is unity. But the unity that the Bible talks about that we should have is the unity centered around the truth. We should all be in agreement with the truth and the truth being Jesus Christ. Not just unity where it's just like, well, I believe different than this person and we have different doctrines and different gods and different religions, but we can still all get along. That's not the unity that God wants. The Bible says that we should endeavor to keep the spirit of unity, but it's all centered around Jesus Christ. So when we endeavor to be unified and to be in fellowship, it should always be centered around the right doctrine, the right gospel, the right God. And so that's what he's telling them here. He says in verse 2 that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love. He says, So what is he doing here? He's basically telling them, hey, just keep in mind, if you're seeking after wisdom, you're seeking after knowledge, just make sure you go to the right source and recognize that at the end of the day, the greatest source of knowledge, the greatest source of wisdom is not your Greek philosopher of that time. It's not some pagan who is espousing some sort of secular philosophy. What is it? It's Jesus Christ. He says, Now, obviously, there is knowledge outside of the Bible. There's knowledge outside of the Bible. There's even wisdom outside of the Bible. But at the end of the day, every ounce of wisdom and knowledge should essentially point us to Jesus Christ. When we look at all the scientific things out there, proving, you know, regarding things above, things in the ocean, when we look at those things and observe those things, what does it do to us? It causes us to glorify God. We look at the intricacies of the body, the intricacies and the depth of the ocean and, you know, space and all these things. We look at that and we give glory to God on that behalf because at the end of the day, He points us to the Creator. Right? So He says, And the reason He's telling them this is because He wants to wet their appetite to help them to realize this is the most important thing. And He says in verse number 4, And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. Okay? So in other words, there's people out there with the intention to deceive you, to beguile you, to essentially fool them with enticing words. And obviously what He's referring to here is deception, false doctrine. He goes on to say in verse number 6, So He says, look, you know, as Christians, you need to make sure that you're rooted and grounded in the Bible and that you're built up and established in the faith. Why is that? Well, obviously we see here that He's absent. So He's not always going to be around to help them when someone's trying to beguile them. You know? And let me say this is that, you know, your parents or your pastor is not always going to be there to fight your doctrinal battles. You need to be rooted and established in the Word of God. You need to make sure that you're established in the faith so that you know how to combat certain false doctrines. You know, the person who taught you soul winning, who equipped you how to preach the gospel, is not always going to be at the door with you when you run into a Jehovah's Witness or a Mormon or a Hebrew Roots Movement guy to help you to answer the questions. You have to be established in the faith, right? You need to be rooted and grounded and built up and make sure that you're not being beguiled by some false teacher, some heretic who's trying to cause you to deviate from doctrine. He says in verse 8, this is a good one here. He says, beware lest any man spoil you. Now what does it mean to spoil someone? What's the terminology that he's using here? What does it mean exactly? Well you think of like the Old Testament, whenever an army would conquer a city, they would take the what? The spoils, right? And to spoil something essentially means to take captive, okay? And so what he's saying here is that you've got to be careful that no one captivates you with enticing words. So someone might come under the guise of Christianity, under the guise of biblical doctrine, and what do they do? They'll captivate you with that false doctrine using, you know, flattery, using vainly puffed up words, you know, using... It's almost as if like they're using the thesaurus to try to like, you know, to try to attract you and make you think that they have something worth listening to, okay? Calvinists are very notorious for this, right? We're just talking about Calvinism out there, outside. And the Apostle Paul is saying you need to be aware of that. That no one captivates you, spoils you. How? Through philosophy. You know, this is your Jordan Peterson, who espouses a lot of philosophy. And you know, he attracts a lot of Christians too. A lot of Christians are captivated and spoiled by Jordan Peterson. But when you sift through all his nonsense, you start realizing this guy's not even saying anything. And most of the stuff that he claims is Christian or biblical is not. I mean, he can't even affirm if the Word of God is the Word of God or not. They ask him a question about Christianity, he can't give a straight answer. Why? Because he's in the business of enticing people, or should I say beguiling people with enticing words. Spoiling and captivating audiences through philosophy and being deceived, okay? He says there, after the tradition of men. And when I think of the tradition of men in context, I think of Judaizers. Because the Pharisees were notorious for teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Teaching for doctrines their traditions, and allowing their traditions to supersede the Word of God, and expecting their proselytes to also adhere to that. So he says there, hey, don't let anybody captivate you with philosophy, with deceit, with traditions. There's nothing wrong with traditions unless they're trying to supersede the Word of God. At which point the Bible says to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. And listen to this, and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Captivity, that's spoiling. He's saying, look, when you are confronted with philosophy, vain deceit, tradition of men, it should be filtered through the Word of God. It's not like, oh man, but it sounds so good, you know? You know, Andrew Tate, his philosophy just sounds so spot on, you know? You know, oh man, these guys in the manosphere just sound so spot on. What's that guy's, Sneaky, what's that guy's name? What's his name? Sneaco. Sneaco Sneaky. He's captivated a lot of young men to be these women-hating, manosphere types where they talk down on the institution of God to the point where they just demean women and, you know, they just hate them. But yet they're okay with fornicating and committing adultery and elevating that which is sinful in the eyes of God. But you have Christian men who listen to that garbage. What's wrong with them? I'll tell you what, they've been beguiled with enticing words through philosophy, vain deceit, tradition of men. Oh, but they're so manly. Are they really that manly or are they just a bunch of grifters? They're just a bunch of grifters who are just making money off of you because you're paying for their stupid little university lesson on how to remain single for the rest of your life. There's nothing manly about those dudes, okay? The manliest thing you can do is follow the Lord Jesus Christ, marry one woman, have children, right? Have a family unit and be faithful. Beware, he says, you need to beware. These things existed back then, they exist today. He says, beware lest any man spoil through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men and after the rudiments of the world. What are rudiments? Rudiments are referring to the first principles, so worldly principles. Now I think both of us can agree that there are some worldly principles that might match up with the Bible. But at that point we might as well just go with what the Bible says, right? It's like, oh man, these match up with the Bible, then let's just stick to the Bible because the Bible says it better anyways. Rudiments in the world and not after Christ, he says. So a lot of these people who are trying to beguile you, deceive you with these enticing words, the end game for them is not necessarily to get you to be closer to Christ because it says there that they're not trying to spoil you after Christ. They're trying to spoil you for their own means. They're trying to deceive you. It doesn't make you a better Christian when you adhere to these philosophies, traditions of men, vain deceits, rudiments of the world. It doesn't make you a better believer because at the end of the day they're not emphasizing Christ. So notice he begins the chapter with saying, hey, we need to be unified around Jesus Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And he says you need to beware of these people who are promoting these ideas and philosophies that are not after Christ. And I don't think I've ever met a manosphere, I don't even know what you call them, a manosphere adherent? Yeah, a MGTOW. I don't think I've ever met a MGTOW dude who's gotten closer to Christ because of the MGTOW movement. I don't think I've ever met a MGTOW guy who adheres to those philosophies and they're just a great soul winner. They're just a man of God who loves his wife or loves his church or loves his parents and is serving the Lord. They often become worse. They become full of hate, they become prideful and arrogant and full of lust and covetousness and greedy and foolish and stupid and idiotic and they just degrade and just become worse. Why? Because the road that they're taking to knowledge and wisdom doesn't lead them to Christ because it's not based upon, it's based upon the rudiments of the world. And so that's why he starts off by saying, hey, remember, Jesus Christ is whom is in all wisdom and knowledge. So if you want to learn how to be a better husband, read the Bible. If you want to learn how to be a man, read the Bible. If you want to learn how to be successful in life, read the Bible. That's where all the wisdom and knowledge is held in those regards. If you want to learn how to be a man of God who has emotional fortitude, mental stability, to be a hard worker and a success, go to the Bible. Don't go to these people who are trying to spoil you with enticing words and you end up becoming this woman-hating, MGTOW loser who signs up for a university of pimps or something. You know, Andrew Tate not only pimps women, he's pimping some of you too. Especially if you signed up for his course. Boy, you're getting pimped because you're making him money. That's why it says he's spoiling them, right? That's exactly what he's doing. And it is funny, but you know what? It's not funny too. And so instead of, yeah, I get the bootleg course. The whole course is bootleg whether you pay for it or not. It's a bootleg course. Because it's using the rudiments of the world to get you to a specific destination that when you get there you realize it's a bunch of nonsense. And so you look at verse 9, it says, For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. What is the Apostle Paul doing here? He's saying, look, whoever comes to this church at Colossae, if they're not promoting Christ and His word, just disregard them. Because in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So everything that we preach, everything that we do, should be centered around Jesus Christ. And it should start with Jesus and end with Jesus. Because in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Skip down to verse 13. And the reason he's bringing all this up is because obviously he's trying to warn them of potential Judaizers. And of course he explains, he goes into the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins and he kind of gives this explanation via the illustration of circumcision in verse 13. It says, And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. And I believe the reason he's using the illustration of circumcision is because even though circumcision was something that was physically done to the children of Israel as a means to confirm the Old Testament covenant, there's a spiritual meaning behind it, right? The spiritual meaning being that when we get saved in the New Testament, when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, essentially our hearts become circumcised. Which is why he says, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision outward in the flesh made of hands, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, and not of the letter, but of the Spirit, whose praise is not of men, but of God. He's saying there, hey, just as when you believed on Christ, your hearts were circumcised in like manners, it's almost as if God has essentially taken away the foreskin of sins that essentially were taking you to hell. That's what he's referring to there. He says in verse 14, So the ordinances could be referring to the meats, drinks, and divers washings, which I believe is what it's referring to here. And what this is saying is that when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, we often associate that with the forgiveness of sins, which it is, right? He took upon him the sins of the whole world. The Bible says that he himself bore our own sins on his own body on the tree. But simultaneously, he also nailed the ordinances of the Old Testament to the cross, essentially bringing a conclusion to that Old Covenant. And the ordinances that he's referring to are the dietary laws, the rituals, the purity laws. As Hebrews 9 would list them, meats, drinks, divers, washings, carnal ordinances, then you could even add upon that the observance of holy days. So he says there that he blotted that out. Those things were against us as Gentiles. They were contrary to us. He took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Verse 15, And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. What does that mean? It essentially means that when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, he was essentially the culmination of those Old Testament ordinances. So the lambs who were sacrificed in the Old Testament, the Israelites were supposed to look at that and say, Oh, he's the lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world. And so once that took place, those were no longer to be practiced. Why? Well, let's read on. He says in verse 16, Now this is a powerful verse, right? And anytime you run into a Hebrew roots type of a person who says shalom, they say Yeshua or Rabbi, and they're trying to bring you back under the law to get you to observe the Sabbath, pull out Colossians 2.16 and say, Well, this is what the Bible says, Now, there's this argument against this interpretation, though, and it's really silly if you think about it. Because I've talked to people who are like, Well, that's not saying that they shouldn't judge the Colossians for not observing those. They're actually saying don't let anybody judge you for observing those. So what they're implying is that this verse is teaching, don't let anybody tell you not to observe the Sabbath, not to observe the dietary laws, the meats, drinks, and the respect of the Holy Day, the New Moon. Don't let anybody judge you in that regard. That's what the Judaizers would say of today, and it's said multiple times. But it's such a dumb interpretation because of the fact that this is a Gentile church, and Gentile churches don't keep the law. These guys just got saved. You understand what I'm saying? These aren't Jews. They're not observing the Sabbath. They're not observing the dietary laws. They're not observing the New Moons or anything like that, the festivals. These are Gentiles that we're referring to here. Now, here's even further proof that it's not referring to that interpretation. Look at 17. Which are a shadow of things to come but the bodies of Christ. Now, if you were to take our interpretation of it, which is the correct interpretation, what this is stating here is that the meats, drinks, and diverse washings were essentially a shadow of Jesus Christ who came in the first century A.D. So He was the fulfillment, He was the total image of those shadows of the Old Testament. And in fact, you have a very similar statement in Hebrews chapter 10 when talking about the animal sacrifices, and it says that they were a shadow of things to come. And that's exactly what they were. In other words, they symbolically represented Jesus Christ who was going to come in the future and be crucified for the sins of the world. Now, the reason this debunks their interpretation is because if this means what they claim it means, meaning that, oh, we're supposed to observe the Sabbath, we're supposed to observe the dietary laws, then what is the things to come then? If Jesus already came in the first century A.D., what is it foreshadowing? Can anybody explain that to me? If He's saying there that these things are a shadow of things to come, that means we're supposed to be waiting for another Messiah? I don't think so. The Messiah has already come in the first century A.D. The Messiah has already been crucified. But obviously, you know what, that would make sense to them because their Messiah is not Jesus Christ. So they're waiting for another Messiah, which conveniently the Antichrist will institute the animal sacrifices once again. So you can see how that can play a role in end times prophecy where that interpretation can be taken and say, oh, now, obviously they're not going to refer to him as the Antichrist, but now the Antichrist is here, he's instituting these animal sacrifices, and of course, when he receives the deadly wound to the head and his deadly wound is healed, then the oblations cease because the culmination of those shadows has already arrived, referring to the Antichrist. You can see how that can be used to push that type of narrative. But at the end of the day, what this is telling us here is that we're not to observe those things. He's telling those Gentile churches, don't observe those. And another argument that they'll say is like, well, this isn't saying not to observe THE Sabbath, it's just the other Sabbath days. Because obviously in the Bible, there's multiple Sabbaths that the children of Israel were to keep, right? And they say, you know, the Ten Commandments is still supposed to be kept, and the keeping of the Sabbath was one of them. That's a different Sabbath. Well, it says earlier in verse 16, or in respect of an holy day. So what is respect? It's an observance. It's remembering the Sabbath to keep it holy. Here it's telling us, don't let anybody judge you in that regard. You're not supposed to observe the Sabbath at all. Now, why shouldn't we as Christians observe the Sabbath? Well, because according to the Bible, Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. When we believe on Jesus Christ, we are resting from our works, and essentially He's doing all the work for us, and therefore we rest in Christ. We place our faith in Him. Go to Hebrews chapter 4, if you would. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter number 4. Look at verse number 10 of Hebrews 4, it says, For he that has entered into his rest, referring to Jesus, he also had ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. So, and by the way, according to this chapter, it's referring to your faith in Christ, because look at verse number 1. It says, Let us therefore fear, lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Which, by the way, is another great verse to debunk dispensational salvation, because they'll often teach that people were saved differently in the Old Testament. Well, no, it says there, For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them. The only difference was is that they didn't place their faith in Jesus Christ. We do place our faith in Jesus, right? So this is a clear passage to teach us that placing our faith in Jesus for salvation is God's equivalent to entering into his rest. It's God's equivalent to observing the Sabbath, right? Which happens only once. Which is why in the Old Testament, when someone chose not to observe the Sabbath, what would happen to them? They were put to death. The dude was caught collecting sticks on the Sabbath day. He was killed immediately because it was a violation of that Old Testament law that was only for a window of time. Well, in like manner, if you choose not to place your faith in Jesus for salvation, according to the Bible, then you suffer the second death. Go back to Colossians 2, if you would. Colossians chapter 2. Now, I like how the Apostle Paul's teaching this without even mentioning the Jews. And this is why it's silly to think, like, oh, the Jews aren't responsible. The Jews were literally the number one adversary of believers in the New Testament. You can't dispute that at all. That is the indisputable fact of the New Testament that they were the ones who were constantly persecuting the Apostle Paul, who, although was a Jew, he called himself a believer. And were constantly trying to sway the believing Gentiles into going back under the law. They weren't the ones preaching the real gospel. You know, they were telling people that you have to be circumcised after the manner of Moses to be saved, which is a false gospel. And so he's not calling them out by name, but we obviously know what he's talking about here. Right? Because there's only one group of people that would tell people, you've got to go back under the law and observe the dietary rules and observe the Sabbath. It's the Jews. They were the only ones who were doing that during that time. Okay? So he says in verse 17, which are a shadow of things to come but the bodies of Christ, he says in verse 18, And what this is referring to when it talks about voluntary humility, it's actually just referring to people, just like the Pharisees, who have a false humility is what it's referring to. So he's saying, you know, you've got to be aware of people who are spoiling you, they're enticing you, and they're kind of displaying humility, but it's actually a false humility. Because it's not a humility based off of their faith in Christ. It's a false humility that's based off of pride, actually. You know, you think about these people who do humble bragging. Right? It's a complete contradiction. When they humble brag, they're bragging about something, and they, you know, it's just like they're being humble but simultaneously being prideful. You understand? So in like manner, these Judaizers, they act like they're humble on the outside, but inwardly they're ravening wolves. Inwardly they're very arrogant and prideful, they're holier than thou's. They actually think that they're superior to those recipients of their message. So he tells them, don't let anybody beguile you of your reward. What does this teach us? It teaches us that Christians can actually be under some pretty bad preaching and not know it, because they're not comparing scripture with scripture. They're not proving all things, holding fast to that which is good, and the result of that is that they lose out on rewards. Because you can have Christians at some church that's not necessarily the best church, maybe they're teaching a false gospel, or maybe they're teaching other false doctrine, and at the end of the day, the believer who goes to that church is essentially going to lose out on some rewards by simply virtue of being in a bad church where they're teaching you the wrong way of doing things. So he's telling them, hey, you're going to get a reward, but don't allow these people to influence you because if not, if you do, they're going to rob you of a reward, they're not going to teach you the right way, you need to be aware of that. He says in verse 19, And not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together increases with the increase of God. So what he's warning them here at the very end of the chapter is he's telling them to beware of ascetics. In other words, people who essentially abstain from certain pleasures of this life in order to kind of give this portrayal of godliness. And I would think that he's still referring to the Jews at this point, and I'll explain to you why. Because the Pharisees were notorious for commanding others to abstain from certain things that they themselves claimed to abstain from, but they wouldn't. And in fact, in 1 Timothy 4, they would command people to abstain from meats, and they would forbid them to marry. Just two things that are just completely natural to do, right? Get married and eat food, eat animals. And I know that meat in the Bible is often synonymous with just any type of food, even bread, but in that context, it is referring to animals. Because then he says, for every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it were received with thanksgiving, right? But apparently there's people out there who are promoting this type of lifestyle as a religion, and they're going to try to cause people to abstain from eating certain meats, forbidding to marry, just doing the most natural things that are not sinful, but they're teaching these traditions of men, proposing that it is sinful to do those things. And again, you have groups of people who do that today. You have the Jews, you have Muslims, who are just like, if you eat pork, it's haram. Isn't that what they say? Isn't haram sin or something? It's like, oh, it's haram to do that. Even though they're just doing some of the most wicked things, they're like fornicating, drinking, doing the most wicked, participating in the most wicked activities, oh, but don't eat pork, because that's haram. Bro, your whole life is haram. Everything that you do is haram. And the same thing with the Jew, because the Pharisees are like abstained from meats, they forbid to marry, but what are they doing? They're stealing from widow's houses, they're devouring widow's houses, they are teaching a false gospel, they take away the key of knowledge, they enter not in themselves, and them they were entering in, they hindered, they were guilty of covetousness, they were guilty of false doctrine, they were guilty of murdering the Lord Jesus Christ. So they want to promote, oh, you know, a bodily exercise and abstaining from eating pork and shellfish or whatever, while simultaneously actually breaking the commandments of God. So he's telling them, don't listen to that voluntary humility, and he describes it in verse 23, look at verse 23, he says, Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will, worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body. So this is a worship that's not biblical, it's a worship that is based upon them neglecting their own body. And think of the Hindus who do this as well. Well, they'll abstain from certain pleasures of this life, and people will look at them in regard of, oh man, this person is so spiritual because he's starving himself, or he's keeping his arm up like this, but yet they're guilty of cannibalism. I mean, they're literally eating each other, or they're just guilty of eating fecal matter. That's a fact, they do those things. But yet people are literally like, oh man, he's so spiritual. Well, spiritual is a broad term there, like, what spectrum of the spirituality are you referring to? Because if you mean demonic, I agree with you. But there's nothing, you know, good about what they do. And so many people are beguiled by those groups, by their voluntary humility, by their will worship, just because they neglect their body, and they're abstaining from certain foods. Now look, if you're the type to abstain from a particular food because you think it's wrong to eat, that's your business, but never teach it as a doctrine of God. And people can go overboard with that. Now you can have the philosophy that you feel like you can't participate in a certain food because it's bad for you or whatever, but you can't really impose that upon anybody. You can make a good argument for health reasons, but not a spiritual reason. Because meats don't commend us unto God, the Bible says. The kingdom of God is not in meat or in drink, the Bible says. And I have to make that announcement because we're feasting in these next couple days, amen? We don't need no holier than owls out there, you know, the neglecting of the body. But in actuality, these people are not honoring Jesus Christ. And in fact, when they neglect the body, it doesn't point them to Jesus Christ. It just kind of vainly puffs them up. When they abstain from certain meats, they abstain from certain drinks, they abstain from certain activities, they're not doing it because they want to honor Christ, they're trying to build themselves up, they're trying to glorify themselves. And this is what the Apostle Paul is warning the Colossians of. He's telling them, you know, beware of these people because they're going to rob you of your reward because if you get caught up in that type of lifestyle and philosophy, you're not getting rewarded for that. You don't get rewarded for not eating pork. At the judgment seat of Christ, God's not going to look and say, hey, good job in not eating all that swine. Here's the crown of bacon. Yeah. Doesn't work that way. Because God doesn't care about those things. Now here's what's interesting about that latter end of chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3. Because he's warning them of people who would try to promote this type of doctrine of neglecting the body, this voluntary humility, this will worship, worshipping of angels, this ascetic lifestyle, but then in chapter 3 he gets into the actual things that we should abstain from which are actually harmful to us spiritually. Because remember, the people that he's talking about towards the latter end of chapter 2 are people who are neglecting the body. But you know, that's not natural because the Bible says no man never hated his own flesh but nourished it and cherished it. The natural disposition of a man is not to neglect his own body and in fact he kind of spends too much time on his body actually. The natural tendency is to feed the body, clothe the body, take care of the body. That is the natural tendency of man. So this is an unnatural view of the body that the Apostle Paul is referring to here but then he gets into what is it that they should abstain from. Fornication, covetousness, idolatry. Why? Because these are actually destructive. These will actually kill you and it will bring God's wrath upon your life. He says in chapter 3, it says, It says, So why is he starting off the chapter by saying that? Well, he's basically saying if you want to obtain godliness in your life, it's not based upon how you neglect the body, it's based upon where you place your affections. And when you place your affections on the eternal, it kind of determines what type of life you live here. It gets your priorities straight. And he says in verse number 5, So here's the godly way to neglect the body is to essentially mortify the deeds of the body. So if you want to be rewarded by God and actually succeed spiritually, it's not like how long can you go without pork? How long can you go without shrimp to obtain this level of godliness? It's mortifying the deeds of the body, the flesh. Crucifying the flesh. Because here's the thing, eating pork is not bad for you. But fornication is bad for you. Fornication can destroy you. Fornication can kill you. Hey, how about covetousness? Covetousness can destroy your life. Because it can cause you to be greedy and you can pierce yourself through with many sorrows. It can drown you in perdition. It can just completely destroy you and your family. These are actually things that you should abstain from. And when he says the members, when he says mortify the members, he's not saying chop off your arm or something. Pluck out your right eye literally. Chop off your legs. He's basically implying here that the body is used to carry out these sins, right? And he's saying that we should mortify the deeds of those members is what he's talking about. He says in verse 6, For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, into which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these. Anger, wrath, malice, I mean those things can get you in a lot of trouble. When you're a person who's easily angered, you're a person who's easily wrathful, you know someone cuts you off on the freeway and you allow that road rage to take you over, that can cost you your life. Pull over and they pull over and just pull out a gun and just shoot you in the stomach and that's it. So it'll be good to mortify that because it can actually destroy you. Wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, you know dirty jokes. Lying out one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. So here we see a contrast between the false prophet who's trying to help you to gain godliness by neglecting the body, but there's actually no reward in that. And the true formula to get a true reward is to actually mortify the deeds of the body, sinful habits that will actually destroy your life. Now here's something that these false prophets didn't think of, which a lot of false prophets don't think of, because they'll tell you to stop doing something but they never tell you to replace it with anything. Because they ain't got nothing to replace it with. They're just like, don't eat pork, what do I replace it with? I don't know, just don't eat it. Put your arm up like this, then what? I don't know, just keep it up there. Or it's like, don't eat the cow because it's like our ancestors, what should I eat? Eat poop. Eat other people. And I'm not joking, that's what they do. You may get mad at that, but it's what they do. I mean, are you for cannibalism? I mean, it's disgusting. So even what they replace it with is just godless, filthy and perverse. Why? Because pagans are inferior spiritually. Not because of their skin color, not because of who they are, but because of their beliefs. We were in Belize this last week, and on Monday we went to the Belizean, the Mayan caves. It was an incredible experience. You're in the water, swimming in the water, going into the caves, and they're telling you about the history of what's going on. There's skeletons in there of people who were sacrificed. Because what would happen is these Mayans would experience this severe drought, no rain, and so they're like, oh, let's kill people to bring back the rain. That's what they believed. So basically, they would have these offerings, whether it was pottery, but the deeper you go into the cave, basically the more severe the drought was. The more skeletons you saw, the more severe the drought was. And so they can actually pinpoint when these people, around the time that these people were killed, based upon the stalagmites and the stalactites. And historically they said there's a great severe drought in 720 AD, 820 AD, which is when these people were killed, to appease their water god to bring back rain. Now, when I'm listening to this tour guide, when he said 720 AD and 820 AD, I was like, wow, these Mayans are stupid. He said, well, how would you say that? Because 720 AD, there's not like cavemen in 720 AD or anything like that. Let me just help you. The Latin Vulgate was made in the 400 AD. So even a false version of the Bible was already complete by then. So technology had already existed. There's preachers and churches and technology. Obviously not as advanced as we have it, but enough for people, for a society to thrive and to know what to do during times of famine. And then you have these guys, who, yeah, agriculturally, they know what they're doing, but any society pretty much put a seed, bro. There you go. Put a seed and it comes out and you eat what's there, okay? But as far as like what to do in times of famine, oh, let's just kill people. And our tour guide, you know, I don't know how I came across, but somehow he mentioned that he was like half Mayan or something like that. And we're like, do you believe in this stuff? He's like, oh, yeah. And we're like, how much do you believe it? He's like, oh, I believe it all. I'm like, what about the sacrifices? He's like, well, the laws don't permit us to do that. I said, but if they were permitted, would you do it? He's like, yeah. I'm like, this guy's freaking wicked. So for up to him, he would, and then I wanted to ask him like, so would you be the first to volunteer? And don't let these history buffs fool you into thinking that there are voluntary sacrifices. They want to be, they want to be sacrificed for their God. They found these bodies bound and gagged. Because they didn't want to die. Because people don't just want to die. Yet for a righteous man, one would scarcely die, the Bible says. They're like, oh, man, but they didn't know any better. Well, they have the testimony in their hearts. And in fact, when you look at all their practices, it's essentially a bastardization of the Old Testament laws. How do they know about offerings? How do they know about all these things? I'll tell you how they bastardize a lot of the religious teachings of the Old Testament. And so I have no sympathy for them because of the fact that at the end of the day, they had a chance to actually thrive and be blessed of God by simply believing on the God of the Bible. And they chose not to. They chose to serve false gods. And this guy who's the tour guide, he claims he's still like a Mayan. And we're just kind of like, because here's the thing, a lot of their writings didn't survive either. Except for their hieroglyphics. Some of them. But let me tell you why the vast majority of them didn't survive. Because they didn't, it didn't improve any society. So people were finding them and just like, oh, they're doing drugs through their rectum. Okay, let's throw this away because this is stupid. That doesn't improve a society. They're drinking beer and taking drugs through the backside. That's what they would do for like recreation. This is not a smart society. They don't even know how to drink, I'm not even for drinking beer. But they don't even know how to do like a regular sinful activity the right way. Yeah, but they didn't know anybody. There's plenty of people in the 700 AD who knew better. There's plenty of people, there's even regular sinful people who knew how to drink beer the right way. And I'm not even for drinking beer, don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. I'm just saying there's enough of people in the world at that time. When you already have a false version of the Bible being promoted, that means you're behind, my friend. You don't have a library of knowledge. All you have to show for your society is murdered people and children, by the way. Oh, what a great society. Teenagers and broken pottery and hieroglyphics with people taking drugs through the rectum. What a superior society. It's garbage, my friends. I don't even know why I brought that up, but it's a good point. Why did I bring that up? I don't know. Well, you know, the example with the Mayans is like, oh, the answer is sacrificing people to get more rain. But you know what they could have just done is just asked the God of the universe for rain. And when we were there, it was raining a lot. And you know what? No one's been doing any sacrifices. Isn't that interesting? Nobody's been killed lately. No one's been sacrificed. It rained the entire week, and no one had to be sacrificed. But, well, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Moses is not interesting. You know why? Because in the 900 AD, I'm sure that happened. But they didn't have the brains to realize, oh, I guess we don't have to kill people to get rain to come. There's some outside forces doing it for us. The neglecting of the body, the killing of the body. But here's the thing. Those Mayans knew what they were doing was wicked, though. Because they even have a story of this lady who's going to be sacrificed to appease their rain god or whatever. And she was recorded as saying, like, if you throw me into this, in other words, where she was going to die, I will not carry your message to the god. Because she didn't want to die. Because the purpose of, like, sacrificing them was so that they can carry the message to the rain god, like, hey, I died, so you can send some rain. Can you send some rain? And her killer is like, I'm not going to send the message if you kill me. What does that show us? It shows us that she didn't want to die. And so we see here that, you know, not just pagans, but even bastardized Jews, apostate Jews, didn't really have the answer for how to live a godly life. They were just like, oh, neglect the body. Whereas, look at verse number 10. And hath put on the new man, which is renewed in the knowledge after the image of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. So these guys who are promoting this voluntary humility, they didn't give a solution. What do I do after I neglect the body? Just keep neglecting it. Whereas, what does God say? You know, put off the old man, mortify therefore the deeds of the body, and then put on the new man. Which after God has created in righteousness and true holiness, the Bible says. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. Walk in the new man, for the Spirit lesteth against the flesh, the flesh lesteth against the Spirit. These are contrary to the ones of the others, so you cannot do the things that you would. He says, walk in the new man. He says in verse 14, and above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful. So aside from the fact that he wants Christians to kind of clean up their life and institute godly virtues, he says on top of that, to kind of seal it, you need the bond of perfectness, which is charity, and you need to allow the word of Christ to dwell in you richly. So that's the perfect solution. If you want victory over sin, it's not just a matter of putting off the old man, you've got to put on the new man. It's the principle of replacement. It's like, okay, I have to replace this sinful habit with reading the Bible, listening to the Bible, memorizing the Bible, putting on the new man. It's like, oh man, I've just got to neglect the body. No, you don't neglect the body, you've got to nourish the body. You've got to not watch pornography anymore, you've got to put away the video games, you've got to actually go to sleep on time, and then when you wake up, you've got to read the Bible. And then go soul winning. And then go do some squats and some deadlifts. And go get some testosterone, and that's how you can actually improve your life. Bible, meat, exercise. All the things that these guys don't tell you to do. And come to church. And go soul winning. And before you know it, you're just like, man, I didn't have to neglect the body, I had to nourish the body with the proper elements of Christianity, of the word of God, of winning people to Christ, etc. Now what I like about chapter 3, and I'm pretty much done because I'm not going to cover chapter 4. Chapter 4 is basically like the Apostle Paul just calling a bunch of people out in a good way. What I like about chapter 3 is that he says, you've got to mortify the deeds of the body, and you've got to put on the new man. And that seems really basic and it seems understandable, like okay, I've got to put on the new man. But he doesn't just leave you with that, he explains how to practically do it. Which that's what we need sometimes, right? We need the commandment of God, but we need to know how to carry out that commandment in a practical manner. Look at verse 18. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands. It's like, how can I put on the new man by submitting to your husband? Can I get an amen on that one? You guys scared over here? I'm just kidding. Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord. So in order for you to put on the new man, ladies, referring to that spiritual man, a way you can carry that out is by submitting unto your own husband. Reverencing your own husband. You know why? Because your old nature doesn't really like that. Yeah, but my husband, you know, I know more than him, or he sometimes doesn't make a right decision. Well, you married him, so that's on you. What the Bible commands you to do is to submit to him. So don't complain about your husband after you married your husband since you're the one who chose to marry your husband. Amen? The Bible says if you want to be blessed of God and put on the new man, you submit to him. And obviously we're not referring to sinful things. We're referring to just the institution of marriage. God, what he expects from you is to keep the biblical order, which is that the man is in charge. Verse 19, husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. What is he saying there? A practical way for husbands to carry out the putting on of the man is to love the wife, as Christ also loved the church as we see in Ephesians 5, and not to be bitter against their wives. Now obviously that's there for a reason. God obviously knows the nature of man, that the husband can often become bitter towards his wife for whatever reason. And he's saying there, you obviously need to forgive one another, forbear one another, have the bond of perfectness, which is charity and love towards your wife, and make sure you have a forgiving spirit towards your spouse. This is how you can do it. Verse 20, children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Hey kids, if you want to please your Lord, if you want to please God, if you want to please Jesus, here's the best way to do it, obey your parents. Don't talk back to your parents. When your parents tell you to make your bed, you make your bed. When they tell you to throw away the trash, you do it. Obey your parents, and obviously I'm referring to if you live under the roof. This is not saying like if you're already married, you got to keep obeying your parents because that authority has now been relegated to the spouse, to the husband. We're talking about children who still live in their parents' household, they need to obey their parents. And one of the greatest ways you can please the Lord is by pleasing your parents. I don't care how much more you know than them. I don't care if you feel like your parents are mean to you, or they just don't know anything about Christianity, they don't believe the Bible, blah, blah, blah, blah, obey them. That's what the Bible says. You want to put on the new man? Have obedience towards your parents. Verse 21, fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. In other words, don't just defraud your children by not keeping promises, right? Have integrity with your children. Verse 22, servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh. Now with eye services men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God. So he's even delving into the realm of having a job because a servant is referring to an employee. What is this telling us? It's showing us that you can serve God in every aspect of life. Whereas these people, they only succeed in keeping their left hand up, or right hand, whatever it is. Whereas when you mortify the deeds of the body and put on the new man, you carry that over into your relationships and your job, you actually succeed and you're blessed of God because of it. And in fact, look at verse 23, and whatsoever you do, do it hardly as to the Lord and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. So back in chapter 2, he says, let no man beguile you of your reward in voluntary humility. And then he says in chapter 3, you'll be rewarded if you do these things unto the Christ. Because there is no reward with the false prophet. There is no reward with the person who's giving voluntary humility. The reward is what? Everyone's seen you do it. Oh man, this guy kept his arm up for 20 years. He holds the Guinness World Record for the dumbest thing a human being could ever do. Keep his right arm up for 50 years. What an amazing accomplishment. That's the only reward you get is you're in the Guinness Book of World Records for idiots. Whereas the Bible says, no, you'll be rewarded of God. For the things that you do when you serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want you to notice that when he says, serve the Lord Christ, it's synonymous with what? How you treat your wife, how you treat your husband, how good of an employee you are, how you obey your parents, all the roles that we fulfill on a day-to-day basis, weekly basis, God translates that as serving Christ. If you do it as unto the Lord. And he says, but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done and there is no respect of persons. So very practical what the Apostle Paul is telling the church at Colossae. He's saying, hey, beware of these people who are trying to cause you to deviate from biblical principles. They're vainly puffed up, trying to get you to neglect the body. Really what you should be doing to the body is nourishing it, just making sure that you mortify the deeds of the body. Don't worry about what foods you eat, in moderation of course, but make sure you're mortifying the sinful habits that you have. And not just that, but make sure you're putting on the new man and the way you can practically fulfill that is essentially fulfill these roles that you have here with your spouse, with your boss. And you wouldn't have to go into it, but in chapter 4 he obviously addresses the masters as well, referring to the bosses because it's not just the servants who are responsible for being faithful to their boss, but the boss is supposed to be faithful to their servants as well. Because he says they're given to your servants that which is just an equal, knowing that you also have a master in heaven, making sure that you're fair with your employees as well. And so we see here these admonishments that the Apostle Paul has given to the Colossians is very valuable. Even though they're not experiencing any controversy, they're not being Judaized, it's a lot of preventative medicine. And I'm sure after this letter was written and sent, this probably took place. Where you had some Judaizers trying to beguile them and entice them with enticing words, but Lord willing they actually gave heed to the letter here and executed these principles. Let's pray. Father we thank you so much for your word. Thank you for the Book of Colossians, a lot of great truths here Lord. I pray that you'd help us as your people to differentiate voluntary humility with sincerity and that we would put off the deeds of the old man, that we would mortify the deeds of the body and put on the new man. And may we apply those to everyday practical living. Sometimes Christians think that in order to live out principles of the Bible we have to be in church, not just Christians, but really whatsoever you do, whether you eat or drink, whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. And so we should live out these principles at home, at our jobs Lord, in whatever relationship we have, that we may please you and recognize that we will receive a reward for anything that we do in every facet of our life. And so help us to take that with us tonight as we begin our week tomorrow. Bless the banquet on Tuesday and may all things be done for your honor and for your glory. In Jesus' name, Amen.