In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 2:16-19 and the two warnings Paul gives Christians against false teachers demanding legalism, ascetism, or cult-like submission.
1. Sever yourself from any deformed pattern of Christian living and practice (vv. 16-17)
2. Sever yourself from those who have a diminished view of Christ (vv. 18-19)
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foreign [Music] this morning in turn to Colossians chapter 2.
and then be ready to go to the Old Testament in numbers we’re going to be looking at a few passages there Colossians chapter 2. this morning we’ll be looking at chapter 2 verse 16 through 19.
and this Baptist scripture we’ll see the warnings that are given to us as believers because we are in Christ let’s pray Lord this morning as we approach your word Lord do we want to do with reverence because we are coming before the word of the king in whom we serve and in whom we are subjects in his kingdom and we are so because of Christ who is the king of kings and a Lord of lords so Lord give us listening years give us a receptive heart that we would understand the word of God and Lord it would move to our will so we do it and I pray Lord we would do it in a way that is filled with thanks for thankfulness and joy and honors you give us discernment every day to be able to know the good and the bad the right and the wrong your way in every other way and I pray in Christ’s name amen so this morning Colossians chapter 2 and I want you to just to think the penalty for our sins accounted to him Christ’s perfect righteousness credited to us and that means that we are Vindicated that we are on the victory side therefore when a Christian is being persecuted for their faith in Christ alone or for their obedience in doing what is right or for their refusal to participate in the old sins that they used to commit and the sins of others in society we can’t find comfort and contentment in the middle of those troubles and temptations and reflect thoughtfully on the ultimate Vindication and victory that we have in the finished work of Christ that Jesus sacrifice was so perfect so final and so sufficient I.E complete that it gave to all who believe in Christ a permanent justification and a continuous position before God that will be enjoyed now and forever but remember we have an enemy who through false teaching and false teachers desire to confuse Christians and to get them to think that somehow the Cross of Christ was not enough or sufficient that there are things that we need to do in order to help God save us or help God keep us saved in other words the enemy wants to steal what you already have he can’t get you anymore he can’t make you his possession anymore but he can steal what you have so the demons used the certificate of indebtedness as mentioned last week against us to keep us accused in the state of guilt and enslave to his decrees to his Commandments and to obey his regulations not gods the implications of our completeness in Christ comes with warnings every Christian should want to inquire as to what the Christian Life is what am I to expect as a believer the true Christian Life is a life that is hid with Christ and God yet it is a life lived lived out on this Earth with many dangers so scripture now gives us instruction concerning warnings about doctrinal and practical errors of false teachers so if a man creates a religion any man creates a religion it will be man-centered it will turn out to have no saving or sanctifying value it will lead to worship of the creature and not the Creator it will not lead to a worship and a relationship with the true and living God so there are two warnings given to the church about the wrong way concerning Christian doctrine and life and each of These Warnings is like a stop sign at a very busy intersection and it warns us to stop and to look both ways and proceed with caution so here’s the first warning verse 16 of chapter 2 and verse 17. let me read that first it says therefore no one is to act as a judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day things which are a mere shadow of that which is to come but the substance belongs to Christ so the first warning is in order to if it is it is in order to sever yourself from any deformed patterns of Christian Living now we’re going to find those patterns our legalism Pride and the things that go along with those things but first of all I want you to notice remember in the book of Colossians Paul is writing identifying one particular Christian quasi-christian claiming to be a Christian but a false teacher but he’s a leader and he says in verse number 16 notice here’s the distinguishing Mark of this certain false teacher it says therefore no one is to act as your judge now if the writer is focusing on this prominent leader who has incredible uh ability to teach and gather people around him to listen the leader of this emerging faction sets himself up as a judge a person who who would take others to task by passing personal judgment on another person’s actions and usually not to encourage them but to criticize them and to find fault in their life now this sounds like a person who wanted to have control over those in his religious movement today we would refer to this kind of person as a cult leader and how are Christians to respond to this domineering imposing leader well verse number 16 gives us the First Command out of the two and it says therefore let no one let no one or no one is to act as your judge so the strength of keeping this command is the knowledge that you and I have of the complete salvation we have in Jesus Christ that’s what gives us the strength that’s the foundation but he wants to rob that from us so if you know what you believe and you know what you believe is based on biblical Doctrine from the word of God then there is nothing to fear from those who desire to impose judgment on you you have the confidence in Christ finish work on your behalf and you have the Holy Spirit of God and the word of God which will give us all of us discernment so when the question comes up as to how the Christian Life is supposed to look we Christians have a clear idea from the word of God we have already learned in Colossians how the Christian walk is supposed to look and how we are to proceed if you look back at chapter one of Colossians look at verse 10 and 11 because it already told us there in verse number 10 of chapter 1 it says so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in All respects bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God of verse 11 strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience and we do that joyously so here is really what the Christian life is about I walk every day in a way that I I learn how to please God but it’s not by my own strength and your own strength it’s by God’s strength that we do it and then we become steadfast in that and what we believe and we become patient in the process of God sanctifying us every single day and we do that with the attitude of joy see that’s what the Christian Life produces that’s what the spirit of God produces in our life and in the strength that God gives we purpose in our hearts that we will not let anyone judge us nonetheless this imposing judge has his own idea of how life and the life of a Believer is to look and what they are to do and now we look at it look at verse number 16 again these are the features of the false teachers Doctrine notice what it says in verse 16.
therefore let no one no one is to act as your judge and then it says in regard to what to food or drink or respect to a festival a new moon and a Sabbath let’s unpack that a little bit this morning if you notice here this is the legalism imposed upon Believers by these false teachers using dietary rules and eating and not eating food eating food and keeping and not keeping certain holy days now this always looks like wisdom this always looks like yeah this is the way it ought to be but it is not the way it ought to be in fact that’s what this passage is about because this teacher is imposing legalistic first of all dietary regulations on the people that are listening to him in other words you if you’re going to be quote unquote a Believer then you have to keep these food regulations you have to do that so you can see very quickly the Jewish element in this false teacher’s Doctrine in which rules of piety and Purity serve to set the Israelite diet apart wherever the Jew may live some animals remember we’re clean so it could be eaten and others were unclean in which they were restricted from eating like animals which part of the hoof and chewed the cud and then various kinds of birds and fish and insects things they could eat things they couldn’t eat now just for some reference let’s look very quickly back to Leviticus chapter 11 just a few verses verses one through four because you find there from this passage and in Deuteronomy that God gave to Israel certain things that they could eat and they shouldn’t eat and it set them apart from the Nations Leviticus chapter 11 verse 1 it says the Lord spoke again to Moses and Aaron saying to them speak to the sons of Israel saying these are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth whether whatever divides a hoof and making split hoofs choose the cud among the animals that you may eat nevertheless you are not to eat these among those which choose a cud or among those which divide the hoof the camel for though it choose to cut it does not divide the hood hoof and then it says it is unclean to you so here it is the clean unclean dietary regulations and the regulations also prohibited any food which was or has been contaminated by some contact with other cooking Foods or water that was defiled by unclean carcasses something that died in the water and it goes on that all these regulations were given to Israel to make them different and distinct from all the rest of the Nations around them because they would be God’s people and they were recognized as God’s people by what they ate and what they didn’t eat and these other nations didn’t have those regulations so this was a distinctive Mark for Israel but I want you to notice back the Colossians you see there that not only did this false teacher impose these dietary regulations on people but legalistic rituals he imposed upon them like it says in Colossians 2 verse 16 or in respect to a festival now a festival was an annual Festival like Passover or Pentecost and then a new moon was a monthly offering or or a festival that was regulate regulated by the lunar calendar and then of course a Sabbath day which was a weekly holiday right the Sabbath they were to keep every week again if you’re still in numbers you can look to Numbers chapter 10 verse 10 because it give gives us again a sense on what Israel was supposed to do to make themselves different than the other nations and it says in 10 10 of numbers 10 it says also in the day of your gladness and in your appointed feast and on the first day of your months you shall blow the trumpet over your burnt offerings over the sacrifices of your peace offerings and they shall be a reminder of you before your God I am the Lord your God and then other passages say the same thing and it talks about doing something at the beginning of the month and they were to offer drink offerings and burnt offerings each month throughout the month of the year like offering one male goat for a sin offering to the Lord that shall be also offered with a drink offering in addition to a burnt offering so the Israelites had a lot of things they were given by God to do to show themself to be the Covenant Old Testament Covenant people of God so many things were required monthly which led up to of course annual sacrifices and Feasts but they also had a weekly holiday and that was the Sabbath every single Saturday they were to rest actually the Jews had seven yearly Feast sabbaths as well as a weekly Six-Day Sabbath of rest however none none of these has been carried over and given to the church none of them have the Saints in Christ are not under obligation to keep the Jewish feasts sabbats or their day of rest of the weekly Sabbath now if we think about that we’d have we went off this all also have to say if those are under the shadow of Truth who did not these people did not have the indwelling Holy Spirit as believers do today if they were commanded to keep one day as a special day for the Lord how much less should we how much less should we the Saints in this age in the church age keep the Lord’s Day the first day of the week as a day of worship the Sabbath was not changed it just was not given to the church so Sunday is the first day of the week it pictured a new age has dawned in Christ after his death his burial and Resurrection this took place so on the first day of the week if we would go through the scripture we would find that Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week and it became the Christian’s most important remembrance of everyone who was in Christ and then on the first day of the week as we go through the gospels we find Christ met with his disciples twice for the breaking of bread after his resurrection that became an important thing for believers to to do and then on the first day of the week it was the Holy Spirit that came to the Earth to indwell Believers on the day of Pentecost that was the first day of the week and then of course the disciples throughout the Epistles and the book of Acts met on the first day of the week for preaching for communion for gathering together to fellowship and to worship and for Gathering offerings for the Lord’s work to be done in different other regions so with the example of Christ and of the spirit and of the Apostles this makes the day of the Lord the first day of the week that is the Christian day of worship not Saturday and what others have said about food and dietary regulations after the resurrection and the Ascension of Christ become very clear in scripture in fact the Apostle Paul wrote another passage of scripture in Romans he said there therefore do not let what is in you a good thing be spoken evil of for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit and then Jesus himself declared in Mark 7 verse 19 when he was having this dialogue with the with the leaders of Israel about putting stuff into your body and you know what was unclean the food or the heart Jesus was focusing on the heart and he said to them there because it does not go into the heart but into the stomach and is eliminated thus he declared all foods clean Jesus uses his authority right there as a as the resurrected Lord and he says listen to all these dietary regulations are null and void all food is clean and then take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 10 because this is where God enforced and the Apostle Peter that all foods are clean now remember the Apostle Peter was a staunch disciple of the old regulations of keeping the food regulations and so God had to actually bring a vision to him three times before he would comply and I want you to notice in Acts chapter 10 verse number 9.
down to verse number 16 it says on the next day as they were on their way in approaching the city Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray but he became hungry and was Desiring to eat but while they were making preparations he fell into a trance and he saw the sky open and an object like a great sheet coming down lowered by Four Corners to the ground and there were in in it all kinds of four-footed animals and creeping crawling creatures of the earth birds of the air and a voice came to him get up Peter kill and eat and what does Peter respond in verse 14 Peter says by no means Lord for I have never eaten anything Unholy and unclean but then notice in verse 15 Again The Voice came to him actually three times it came to him the voice came to him a second time what God has cleansed no longer considered Unholy now God had to do this three times before Peter can be freed up from the dietary regulations because he was no longer just part of Israel he was now a new believer in Jesus Christ and those regulations are null and void in Christ because a new thing had come now what is very interesting is after the resurrection these imposed dietary restrictions were considered by the Apostle Paul as demonic well to Pro back that up First Timothy chapter 4 verse one through five gives us the background for that if you like to turn there but if not listen what it says it says in first Timothy 4 verse 1 but the spirit explicitly says that in latter times some will fall away from the faith paying attentions to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons in verse 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron and notice verse three men who forbid marriage and Advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth for everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude for it is Sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer so that’s pretty clear that if anybody is going to impose any dietary or Festival regulations upon you you just say sorry that doesn’t apply to me that was taken care of already by Christ so these false teachers judged his followers by their observance of these calendar and dietary regulations however Christians are not obligated to observe any calendar or any dietary observances in fact even the Lord’s day is not a command it’s a willful response with gratitude to the Lord that I want to meet I Want To Worship the Lord I want to hear the word of God I want to give you praise see it’s a willful desire to want to do it God’s not dragging anybody if they don’t want to come so don’t let anyone take you to task no keeping of laws and rules will earn salvation or cause you to grow spiritually nothing we don’t have to abstain from any food we don’t have to keep holy days we are free these have no spiritual or saving significance at all Christians cannot grow measured by keeping or accomplishing certain things and keeping and not keeping man-made rules and regulations these are done away with so these calendar festivals and these dietary observances they do have a purpose though they were a dim outline a mere shadow of the reality of things in which they pointed to something that is going to come in the future now take your Bibles again and turn back to Colossians chapter two notice in verse number 17 because the Bible explains this so what reality was intended by all these festivals and these dietary observances well verse 17 says things which are a mere shadow of what is to come but the substance belongs to Christ there’s a lot right there in that Passage the Shadow the reflection the silhouette of something of Old Testament teaching it’s like a shade caused by the Inception of light or an image cast by an object and representing a form of that object and prophetically of the relationship of type and anti-type the type that happens in the Old Testament and the anti-type that is a foreshadowing of the reality that will take place so a dim outline these rules and regulations were dim outline or a sketch of an object in contrast to the object itself now the passage we read the this morning talking about Moses and the pattern of the Tabernacle and the things of the priesthood that were taking place Moses was told by God listen do what I told you and make this Tabernacle according to this pattern that was seen in heaven but the Tabernacle would just be a ghostly copy of not only the Tabernacle itself but the Earthly priesthood for it says in Roman in Hebrews 8 5 who served the copy and the shadow of the Heavenly things just as Moses warned was warned by God when he was about to erect the Tabernacle for he said see he says that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown to you on the mountain so in other words the point being that the Earthly priesthood because it was only a sketch plan representing the real copy of that which was in heaven and was an inadequate shadow of the real priesthood that these could never lead people to the reality of God’s Heavenly sanctuary or into the presence of God see the only the real priest could do that so all these things were pointing to the real priest and the real priest was Jesus Christ who was not after the order of Aaron the priesthood but after the order of Melchizedek now Melchizedek is a very interesting character in scripture he sounded very very much like God himself when you read those things in Hebrews so in other words if this could not provide entryway into the Heavenly sanctuary and to the complete forgiveness of sins so a person could have access to the presence of God well who can well surely Jesus can it is he who leads us right into the presence of God and Jesus is the reality of the Shadow and the types of the Old Testament sacrifices and the Old Testament dietary laws and the Old Testament Festival days he is the one who is the substance of those things so Jesus is the high priest who offers himself as a sacrifice for sinners the priest had an offer of sacrifice for his own sin first and then the sins of the people Jesus has no sin so he offers himself for the people that makes them completely different than any other priest that has gone before him and all that has gone before Christ came were mere shadowy indicators of what is to come so like yearly and monthly and weekly festivals and dietary observances and sacrifices so you see Christians they do not need anyone to set them straight on these matters for they should know that the old system the old system of Mosaic worship is now ended in Christ that all Jewish feasts and feast days where but a shadow of the person and work of the Savior and until he came and now that he has come the Shadows were empty and fulfilled by Christ in fact this is what it says in Hebrews 10 for the law was only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things and who was who becomes the form and substance of things Jesus Christ himself so the Mosaic law was a mere Shadow and thus fleeting with no value except no value to save because it pointed all to Christ that’s what the law did right convicted of sins and points us to the one who could save us Jesus Christ so think of it like this if you are standing next to a wall and there is a source of light behind you your body is going to Cast Your Shadow on the wall but the shadow is not really you it is only a reflection of you on the wall so all these things these types and shadows and sacrifices and regulations of the Old Testament were all a shadow pointing on the wall but remember once the light source is gone or the light source moves to the other side there’s no longer a shadow if you go back and look at Colossians chapter 2 verse number 17 notice what it says it says things which are a mere shadow of what is to come but the substance belongs to Christ so the existence of a body that casts The Shadow a shadow only exists when light is cast upon something that actually has mass and has substance so once the light moves from behind the reality to the other side the shadow disappears so what do we have we have Christ coming into the world as what as the light of Revelation so the light has shifted to the other side of the law making regulations pointless that Jesus is the reality and Jesus is the light we come to the gospels and what do we see that Jesus again spoke to them saying I am the light of the world he who follows me will not walk in what Darkness but will have the light of life so where there is a shadow there is also reality and the Old Testament mode of Jewish worship was a picture of the Son of God who would be the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world so in Christ everything everything is fulfilled and before Christ before Jesus came Godly men waited by faith Galatians chapter 4 verse 4 says but when the fullness of time came God sent forth his son born of a woman born under the law so that he might do what remit reme redeem those who were under the law that they might receive the adoptions as Sons they could no longer come into the family of God by the Old Testament regulations and sacrifices and feast days and dietary laws or anything like that but only through Christ the whole book of Hebrews is about listen leave Judaism and leave everything behind and go follow Christ and whatever religious system you came from where I came from we need to leave it all began behind and turn from that and follow Christ and not drag all this baggage into our new our Christian Life see Christ is the real thing in other words he is the substance the substance belongs to Christ the Passover points to Calvary Christ’s death on the cross the feasts of first fruits points to Christ’s Resurrection the Feast of trumpets points to Christ’s Rapture and second coming the Sabbath which is Saturday is a blessed holy day but Israel had a shadow day in that Sabbath yet it pointed forward to the substance which was Messiah which they have rejected and now coming to know the Lord individually but someday in the land they will come to see the Messiah as who he is and no longer look at the shadow but look at the reality we look at the burnt offering it points to Christ’s willing offering of himself the meal offering points to Christ’s Purity and sinlessness the peace offering points to Christ’s accomplishment on on the cross the sin offering points to Christ dealing with sin and its guilt the trespass offering point to Christ dealing with sin’s injury upon Humanity see Jesus has fulfilled everything and he is our spiritual food and he is our light so the first warning is pretty clear don’t let anybody judge you why because of what you know because of what scripture teaches we’re warned by that but there is a second warning back to Colossians chapter 2 the second warning is to sever yourself from those who have a diminished view of Christ in verse 18 and 19 here’s the second command in scripture in our text and it says let no one verse 18.
keep defrauding you of your pride I don’t know about you but if we have a prize don’t let anybody take it away from you hear the term keep the frauding is an interesting term comes from a split Greek word the first part Kata means against and the second part it means to be an Umpire of the games so you put them together and it meant to decide against someone as an Empire might do with the result that they are have robbed someone of the prize for which they were competing uh strike comes over the plate and you’re at that or a ball comes over the plate and you’re right bad and the Umpire calls it a strike if you turn around and argue with the um you’re going to get thrown out of the game right so here this false teacher again is deciding like an Umpire in a game for what reason to Rob someone of the prize that they were competing for or depriving or cheating someone of their spiritual reward well what’s the prize the prize of what she was trying to rob the Colossians and us are being robbed of the fullness of life in Union with the in incomparable Christ that’s what he’s trying to rob if Christians give in they’re back to square one so then the command let no one act as your umpire against you to get you to deny your claim to be a genuine believer don’t anybody let you let them do that to you if you know the truth of scripture you don’t have to let anybody do that to you now saying that and keeping that command is also Discerning how the false teachers are going to carry out their umpire judgment upon Believers or against Believers well what’s the first thing he does look at verse number 18. the first thing is what he does it says by delighting in self-mortification in other words let no one keep defrauding you of your prize how by delighting in self-abasement if you think of this for a moment remember we’re supposed to do things out of joy this is an enforced delighting like you will Delight in this or else so often in Jewish Christian writing the term self-abasement is used in connection with fasting saying that the ascetic practice is entrance when you fast is an entrance into the Heavenly Realm you gain something when you are fasting because fasting prepares you for Heavenly visions it brings you into a spiritual realm that you can only get to by obeying what the teacher says not not only about the regulations that he just is imposing upon the Believers but now upon now abusing or keeping down your flesh now I don’t know about you but flat fasting is a good thing and it is a Christian thing to do but in this sense here it is not talking about a Christian thing to do this is talking about fasting so you look good and now you prepare yourselves for this higher knowledge that this teacher says that they have so they’re the their profession of humility was cloaked in this excessive Pride which seemed to be a false humility that brought attention to men not to God it’s it’s probably when when people keep the feast and the regulations of the false teachers they’re looked upon as humble and obedient right they give an appearance of wisdom and piety wow look how those those holy people how they practice their faith so methodically even as the the Muslim Believers put out their carpet every day and and prayed three times a day they they give an appearance of of being right with God and being pleased to God but we all know from scripture that that’s not going to bring them anything spiritually profitable at all it actually condemns them so the false teachers were imposing fasting and total abstinence on the body as a necessary factor in discovering the insights of the false teachers especially the things that they were peddling now if you look at Colossians chapter 2 verse look at it down to verse number 23 it says these are matters which have to be sure an appearance of wisdom and self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but they are of no value against fleshly indulgences true humility is viewing ourselves as we really are from God’s perspective and who are we you know who we are we’re centered by God’s grace that’s who we are and so once we know that we act accordingly and how do we do that because the scripture tells us how to do that so they were insisting upon their followers to Delight in self-mortification I wonder how that went you know you read of people like Martin Luther and some of the Saints of the past before he became believers they used to treat their body horrible sleep at night with no blankets and sometimes on beds of nails because they thought in doing that they were putting down the Flesh and exalting God and getting it getting into a place where they get closer to God but it has no Prophet at all and people are still doing it today I mean people today on holidays where we celebrate crucifixion actually get crucified and uh and they think that somehow pleasing God and getting close to God and our whole how holy they are when they do that you know what that is it’s Pride that’s thinking you’re smarter than God and that these practices are going to be beneficial for your spiritual growth and they are not but I want you to notice something else that leads into that verse number 18 of that then they not only insist of the followers to Delight in self-mortification but in verse 18 and they impose Angel worship on the people and the worship of angels so these false teachers viewed God as so lofty and removed from Human affairs that he could only approach and address be addressed through Angelic mediators and the reason is because they viewed the body as evil that couldn’t have any relationship with God could have no contact with the supremely spiritual unless they started with the less Spiritual Beings as Angels so you have to go through angels to get to God well you know what that’s called it’s called idolatry worship of angels it says right if you worship anything but God is idolatry Exodus chapter 20 verse 3 to 5 says you shall have no other gods before me and you shall not make for yourselves an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or in Earth beneath or in the water underneath the Earth You shall not worship them or serve them so now they lead the people in idolatry but the people don’t think they’re related to I idolatry they think they’re led into a deeper realm of spiritual understanding and get closer to God which they are not and then you come through scripture and like first Timothy chapter 2 verse number five there’s only one mediator between man and God doesn’t that say there for there is one God First Timothy 2 5 and 1 meteor also between God and man the man Christ Jesus so again when the scripture is emphasizing these things it’s because it’s for our good to know there is no other way there’s no other mediator between me and God except Christ so that means that they couldn’t even pray directly to God and some people even believe today that Saints you have to pray to Saints before or marry before you can get to Jesus well that’s just simply not true you don’t need Saints or Mary you need Jesus right so it see it it will fundamentally deny people Rob people of the prize that they have of being freed up in truth see I don’t need we don’t need any of those things we don’t have to back go back to any of those things and not only that if you look in scripture true angels refuse worship Revelation chapter 20 it says there I John am the one who heard and saw these things and when I heard and saw I fell down and worshiped at the feet of the angel who showed me these things and what did the Angels say verse number nine it says he said to them do not do that I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren the prophets of those who heed the words of this book and then he said worship God that’s how he ends it revelation 22 verse 8 9. so even true angels worship and will point you to Jesus so that means if angelic intermediators were working in this I think you You can conclude something Satan has its fingerprints all over religious systems all over it but he never will come out and say that no but another thing back to Colossians chapter 2 verse number notice number 18 the second part of that verse says this that not only did he insist the followers Delight in self-mortification not don’t not he not only imposed on them Angel worship because he had an incorrect view of God but he also penetrated into those things which he has not seen look at verse number 18 taking his stand on visions he has seen inflated without caused by his fleshly mind now in other words through these aesthetic experiences seeing visions these experience dominated his talks with others and he believed it also authenticated his message that he was right and everybody else was wrong that these spiritual and Supernatural experiences made him think High thoughts of himself like I must be something special because I’m receiving these visions and God’s not giving it to everyone else but it’s giving it to me Brethren a lot of stuff is going on today where people are seeing visions saying they were transported to heaven and writing books and making a lot of money do those things that’s all a bunch of bunk it means nothing it’s nothing but Pride that’s all it is and because he had these special visions of secret things which were not open to the eyes of Ordinary People so again Satan has his fingerprints all over religious movements because the nature of his perversions are seen Colossians already said it chapter 2 verse 4 enticing words chapter 2 verse number eight human philosophy and traditions of Men chapter 2 verse 16 and 17 legalism and then chapter 2 verse 20 asceticism so the two commands are not to listen to people who say to you if you don’t do these things you can’t be saved and grow in the Lord don’t listen to them but instead know what you believe that is based on scripture and then nobody has to manipulate you nobody has to try to convince you that you should be doing something you should not be doing because you know in your mind and in this text and in Scripture that Christ has done it all he’s fulfilled everything and what I am required to do is follow him and love him with all my heart with all my soul with all my strength right and to do his will that’s what we are quite we’re required to do and God gives us the strength to do that so that means that these false teachers say one must obtain secret knowledge in order to be saved and or perfected and this knowledge was not available to everyone well didn’t we just get done reading in the chapter before this the beginning of this chapter that Christ’s Secret that God’s secret is who Christ and he has been revealed to all and we’re to preach the gospel to everyone we go we’re to teach the word of God to everyone no one is excluded there’s no such thing as obtaining a place where you have secret knowledge and nobody else has no we all have the word of God we can all study the word of God right so the answer to these satanic perversions that Christians are in the know because they know Christ they have the Holy Spirit of God and they have the word of God again chapter 2 tells us that we know who Jesus is we know what Jesus has done for us we know who we are in Christ we know what to do for him we know what to do the instructions are clear so that is what he does to keep people and Rob them of their prize but also this is what he doesn’t do and maybe this gives us more substantiates more fully who’s behind him notice what it says in verse number 19 the last part of the verse kind of pulling back the curtain to see who’s who’s pulling the puppet strings look what it says that this false teaching in verse number 19 is not holding fast to the Head not holding fast to the Head they’re not holding according to Christ in other words he and those who follow such teaching fail to hold fast to the head of the body which is Jesus Christ they fail to follow Christ and hold his words as the ultimate Authority they fail to do that they don’t give crisis rightful place any that’s why anytime you look at any kind of cold always look first at the doctrine of Christ what do they say about Jesus anything aberrant about Jesus run as fast as you can from that place because it will lead you to bondage false teachers are under Christ’s feet as an enemy like it says in Ephesians and he has put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all and then in verse number 19 the last part of the verse he gives this that also these false teachers are not part of Christ’s body that means they’re not part of the church that means they have no connection to the head which is Jesus and if you have no connection to the Head who is Jesus you have no life and if you have no life you have no communication with Jesus Christ and if you have no communication with Jesus Christ you have no salvation no matter how much you were deceived to think you do have it you have none of it and then notice what he says in verse number 19 he gives really the necessity for Christians to live in an active Christian Community for service to Christ and maturity as their goal notice what it says it says from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments grows with the which with the growth which is from God so in other words the body of Christ the church derives its unity and its growth as we all together gather from Christ himself that Believers are banded together ligaments and and Joints what are they ligaments really holds joints together don’t they to hold bones together when you’re when you blow a ligament out you really feel it it holds it together it bonds it together it binds it together and that’s what the church does so the gathered assembly is God’s means which we gather together to hear the word of God so we are bound together with each other we feed each other as we fellowship with each other and so God growth does not come from a denial of certain foods or keeping festivals or fasting for Spiritual benefit the growth comes from God himself see he grows us with a growth which is from God so all this comes from the Lord to us we don’t need any of these other things that’s why religions are so incredibly captivating and destructive to rob people of what is true Satan is behind religious systems that’s what he’s behind that’s where he works the best and the most so if God delivered you from those systems one of those systems thanked the Lord for him and don’t look back keep going forward but keep your discernment your radar up so when you hear things coming down the pike about oh no I think a Christian should look this way and dress this way and do these 10 things and if if you do those 10 things boy you’re going to look spiritual and you’re going to be part of the body throw it all out it means nothing if you’re in Christ you will be Sanctified you will grow in the knowledge and wisdom of Christ and you will become like Jesus and you will have discernment to know what is true and what is not what’s God’s way in every other way amen that’s what will happen so I pray that for all of us let’s pray together thank you Lord that we need nothing but you thank the Lord for the word of God that lays it out quite clearly and what we’re to look out for what we’re warned about because lord it’s still going on there’s new religious systems popping up all over the place claiming this and claiming that but somewhere down the line Lord they rob us of your grace they take away from us the things that you’ve given to us freely and so I pray Lord that we would be very concerned that we would see the difference and that we would hold to Christ and Lord we would fellowship with one another and be bound together so Lord we can be strong as your body in these days to be strong in truth in Doctrine and practice and that Christ would be exalted so men and women boys and girls can be drawn to him and that your church can become healthy and stand on the truth of scripture and I pray this in Christ