[0:00] So this is a message that began last Sunday. So this is a part 2, but it stands on its own, feet. So we'll be looking at Colossians 2 verses 16 through 23. And the message is set free part 2. Let me read, Let me read these verses, if you'd stand with me.
[0:31] Colossians chapter two, beginning at verse 16. So let no one judge you in food or drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility, and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, not holding fast to the head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grow, with the increase that is from God.
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations?
Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish, with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men.
These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom and self-imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
[1:53] Lord, thank you for your word. Help us, Lord, to realize the freedom we have.
[2:03] Because of what you accomplished on our behalf. And so bless us today as we consider these words in Jesus' name, amen. You can all be seated.
What a mouthful.
Oh my goodness. You could easily take verse by verse and make a study out of all of this for sure.
But we're going to take all these verses. But just looking just as the first two that we read there, so let no one judge you in food or drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is Christ.
And so, in other words, in other words, don't let those still living in the shadows, dictate to you how to walk in the light.
[3:05] The Bible tells us that we're children of light, those of us in Christ.
It tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:5, where it says, you are all sons of light and sons of the day.
We are not of the night or of darkness. Also in Ephesians chapter five, verse eight.
[3:34] It tells us there, for you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.
And walk as children of the light.
And so those that are bringing the false message are trying to cast shadows over that which is true.
And basically in this section of scripture, Paul is sending the message that the new covenant that Jesus has given us, that sets us free to enjoy a unstressed union with God.
This unstressed union with the Lord is based on the merit of Jesus Christ.
And when he hung upon the cross, and when he said, it is finished, At that point in time, when he said, it is Finished.
It tells us in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 27, verses 50 and 51, and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and he yielded up his spirit.
Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and the earth quaked and the rocks were split.
[4:55] And so when Jesus died willingly, that sacrifice, and he gave up his spirit at that particular time, that veil of separation that was in the temple, that veil that kept people from coming into the presence of God was torn from the top to the bottom.
Paul, writing to the church of Corinth in chapter three, He says, nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
There's more said in that chapter. You should really read that whole chapter.
But Paul is speaking about that veil was torn, that veil of separation was torn from top to bottom.
[5:52] And so then we can then live that unstressed union where we can enter into the presence of the Lord and relax and be comfortable. I remember as a kid at one point in time, and I don't remember the reasons, but trying to avoid my dad.
And so in our house where I grew up, if you came in either the kitchen door or or the front door, you could go through one of the bedrooms and that bedroom had two doors.
The second door led into the back of the house where there was the hallway.
My dad would be in the living room.
So for whatever reason, you know, maybe thinking my dad, we might be having a bad day.
And when my dad was having a bad day, he didn't wanna be around my dad having a bad day.
Or maybe I didn't do my chores, or maybe he was gonna ask me about something I didn't wanna be asked, whatever.
So day after day, this went on, and finally, my dad said, what is going on here? Where's the kids?
Then he realized what we were doing.
We were avoiding him, and so he got a hammer, 16 penny nails, and he pounded that second door closed, and now the only way through was to go past my dad.
[7:09] And, you know, that was a good thing. that was a good thing.
We started to see my dad more. And so, you know, for whatever reason, you know, we were no longer.
[7:26] Avoiding my dad, because we had that open. We were in a good place, right, to spend time there.
And I think that when you consider the subject here, the message of the Old Testament was that, you could have a relationship with the living God, yet you could not at all enter his presence.
That way was blocked and it required, it needed sacrifice in order for that way to be open.
And it's interesting because the Bible tells us that many of those priests became believers.
[8:12] It tells us in Acts 6, 7, then the word of God spread, the number of disciples were multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." Well, can you imagine being a priest under that Old Testament covenant, and that veil tearing from the top to the bottom?
That was sending a clear message to them that now the way was made open.
And so many of them came to faith.
And so Jesus became that once and for all acceptable sacrifice.
And so God sent his son, the Bible tells us, to be the propitiation for our sins.
It tells us in Romans chapter three, it tells us for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance, God passed over the sins that were previously committed.
[9:37] To demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier, of the one who has faith in Jesus.
[9:50] He is our covering. It tells us in 1st John 4 10 11, in this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son, to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. And so that propitiation now established that love relationship, where we can be in the presence of the Lord and having full access because he opened up that way. He became, you know, he became that sacrifice. It's interesting because that word propitiation is a word that speaks of the.
[10:38] Mercy seat. The mercy seat was the covering over the Ark of the Covenant. It's the same word used for mercy seat, propitiation. So when that veil was torn and you could enter into the Holy of Holies, that was a place that only the high priest could enter once a year to, put blood on that as a sacrifice to represent a sacrifice for the people. And so when that veil was torn, Jesus being the propitiation for us became the mercy seat. And now we would have fully access to the presence of the Lord. And so, when we come to faith acknowledging that we need forgiveness, when we come to terms with the gospel, which is God's plan of salvation for us, then we're able to enter in to the presence of the Lord. Unheard of. Unheard of. And yet, that was the Old Testament.
Now we have the New Testament.
And so this open door policy we now have was demonstrated by the tearing of the veil of the temple when Jesus died.
And he said, it is finished.
It's done.
Taleo is the word that he used, paid in full.
[12:01] Now the people wanna put, rather than saying it's finished, the people want to put pressure on you, the false teachers say you're finished.
Not it's finished, but you're finished.
You know, it tells us in John 19.30, so when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.
Have that image in your mind, lest you begin to believe the lie that's propagated out there that would bring people in bondage once again And in legalism, Pastor Chuck Smith, he wrote, He said, the veil in the temple was an 18th century veil.
[12:48] Tell me that didn't send a clear message to the priests when that tore from top to bottom.
If I remember right, it was a 60 tall.
[12:56] It tore all the way from top to bottom. It was a miracle. And so he says, the purpose of the veil was to keep man from coming to God.
It blocked the way to the most holy place where only the high priest was permitted to enter and only once a year.
But when the veil was torn, it signaled the fact that through Jesus Christ, we now have access to God, we can now come boldly before the throne of God.
It is interesting to note that the veil was torn from top to bottom, not from bottom to top.
And this was because God tore the veil, he ripped the way open for us to approach him.
This is so important, because what happens is those who would come to you to judge you, are those who are trying to stitch up the veil, put that division then between you and God again. And so once a year that high priest, after purification rituals and a perfect blood sacrifice of a lamb would go behind the veil to put that blood there on the mercy seat. And the Bible tells us that Jesus once and for all did that for us as our high priest.
Those false teachers that would want to judge you are those who would say it still needs to continue is the idea.
[14:24] When it tells us in Hebrews 4.16, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of trouble.
So now we can boldly become before the Lord, That's unheard of. But that's what the Bible teaches. It's no longer jumping through hoops of men to be in right standing as the false teachers were coming around and they were infiltrating the church, attempting to re-establish the old covenant and bring a religion, bondage, in a sense again stitching up the veil. Not a pure religion but man's religion, and by doing so in all reality they were saying what Jesus alone did and what Jesus alone finished, what Jesus alone accomplished is not good enough. We need to add to it. We need to do more. That's what they're saying. And Paul, when he addressed the Church of Galatia, he dealt with this subject.
[15:43] No sooner did they become believers, they knew the gospel, they received the gospel of grace, then they began to drift, of course, by this false teaching. And Paul said to them, Galatians 1, 6 and 7, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Sure, they're telling you that Jesus died and they're telling you that it's by his blood, that our sins be forgiven.
But although that's true, it's not a different gospel, but now let's add these other things.
In other words, grace is unmerited favor, but there's a bit more merit that needs to take place so that we can be in right standing with the Lord and thus religion is born.
And religion in and of itself is not bad. It doesn't have to be bad.
As an example, as James tells us in chapter 1, 26, 27, 26, 27, if anyone among you thinks he is religious.
[17:04] And does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one's religion is useless.
But pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
And so you see there, religion can be pure and religious can be useless.
[17:28] And oftentimes, religions will promote good things, things that we certainly would want to be doing.
And I remember in high school, I had a teacher, this is before I was a Christian.
[17:45] I remember I had a teacher, Mr. Lantrip, and he was my teacher in anthropology.
And we learned all about the prehistoric men and all that stuff, the Neanderthals, and he was a great teacher, oh my goodness.
He was a wonderful person. Actually, he was a Buddhist, and he was engaged in all that he did, and just a real humanitarian.
As a matter of fact, he used to go visit with parents of some of the kids, and used to be invited over for dinners, and used to, I mean, just this great guy.
And, you know, I mean, I had no bearing to.
[18:31] Know anything really about, you know, spiritual things, but I do remember that he was just a great, wonderful guy, but, and he would do great and good works, but not having salvation.
You can't have salvation and not have Jesus. The work of God is separate from the works of men when salvation is on the line.
Again, the work of God is separate from the works of man when salvation is on the line.
When Jesus isn't in the equation, Jesus alone makes our works acceptable to God.
We're created in Christ Jesus under good works, the Bible says.
[19:18] Said, but once someone tries to establish relationship with God by works, then those works are no longer acceptable, even though they be really good natured things.
But as far as salvation, there is no connection. And those caught in the middle, those caught in the middle would be the Church of Galatia that Paul addressed.
[19:45] Those who are genuine believers, but that have derailed from grace, unmerited favor and have drifted into legalism.
I've ran into many along the way. and are now discounting the finished works of Jesus.
I think of that, it's like getting the paddles out and the defibrillators out, and trying to resurrect the old man.
Keep hitting him with the paddles, keep hitting him with the paddles.
Try to get something out of the old man.
When the old man correctly is crucified with Christ, As Paul said, nevertheless I live, yet it's not I, but Christ that lives in me.
And so it's the idea of trying to resurrect these things is like trying to resurrect the old man.
Paul says, why would you do that?
[20:44] I remember when I was 18 years old and looking into law enforcement and I went on a ride along with the sheriff department, And we get a call and we end up, somebody had a heart attack on the golf course.
And so we're driving over the greens and going out there, you know, policemen can do that.
And we get out there and the ambulance is there and they put the guy up on a gurney and they're hitting him with those paddles, and his body's kind of like jumping off the gurney, you know, just boom, they're just hitting him.
They did that for a while, no success.
So then they put him and transferred him to the hospital. You know, I'm 18 years old.
This is kind of like new to me.
[21:31] And so I'm watching it. And then we were the car that was called to cover the whole thing.
And so we then followed the ambulance to the hospital.
And we were there when they loaded them off. And we had to follow them into the hospital where they keep dead bodies and all that. And I'm all part of it.
I'll never forget the impact of all that.
And the nurse that worked there. I don't know whether she was flirting with the sheriff or what, but she was going over and taking off the guy's golf shoes and, hey, nice shoes, and throwing them in the corner, and then she gets the guy's mouth and opens up, hey, nice choppers, and I'm thinking like, okay, I guess that's how you survive in a hospital.
I don't know, but that's what was going on, and I'm just watching.
I go, I guess this is the way it works. And so we had to wait around for the family.
The mom and the wife, I think it was, that came.
[22:39] They didn't know that he had died. They just knew he got transferred to the hospital.
So they get there and the sheriff is the one that has to go tell them.
And I'm standing by him, like I said, 18 years old, after just seeing all this.
And then he lets them know, and they immediately burst into tears, and they grabbed each other.
It was just, they were holding each other up.
And they embraced for a little while, and then one was trying to comfort the other, and then one of them said, do you remember what he said?
That he wanted to die on the golf course, playing golf, and that brought them comfort, that he got his wish, that they all of a sudden, they were comforted, they accepted that, like it ended up being good for him.
And I thought of that whole thing and I think about it oftentimes, but acceptance brings comfort.
We have to accept what Jesus Christ did.
Jesus Christ died, our old man in Christ died, and now we accept the new creation.
But the false teachers, they go back and they want to put us back under bondage.
[24:07] And so you see there in verse 16, so, you know, because of what Jesus did, don't let others judge you regarding all of these, you know, these Old Testament restrictions that they had. And then you see in verse 18, let no one cheat you. That's an interesting word there. If you look up that word, let no one cheat you of your reward. We've been blessed. We've been rewarded in Christ. We've been given an amazing new life. Don't let anybody cheat you out of that. Well that word cheat there is umpire. It's interesting. Don't let someone else make the calls regarding your salvation.
How horrible. My grandson Edison, he plays baseball and we were watching some of his baseball games and the umpires are not professional umpires. So they're calling things that are just so off the wall. It's crazy. You know an umpire they call strike, ball, safe, you know, out, foul, you know. So they're the umpire, right?
And so I'm sitting behind the plate and I'm watching them call these calls and I'll tell you what, it gets you in the flesh. Especially when it's your your grandson pitching.
[25:34] You know, he has a full count, and we're all on pins and needles, and he throws a perfect strike, and the umpire goes, ball! And walks the guy.
[25:43] I mean, talk about, I mean, what I'm thinking? Well, I actually thought, you know, umpire, if you had one eye, you'd be a cyclops, you know?
One more eye, you'd be a cyclops. It's like, and I'm thinking, this is just a game.
But I'm watching this, and it just brings out the flesh in the same way.
[26:08] As, you know, because that's just the game. But this here is talking about governing of life, either bondage or freedom.
That's what we're talking about here. And there are those that the enemy influences that wanna bring you back under in bondage to teach you out of the reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels.
They're in it for their own thing.
You know, hypocrisy seeping from the seams and false worship of angels.
In other words, worshiping of things lesser than Jesus Christ, whatever it would be, that's where they're at.
[26:48] Intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up, in other words, he's a representation of truth, but he doesn't even understand it.
And the message that's coming across by these false teachers being described here, beware, know the truth so you would recognize the false message, and not holding fast to the head.
Who's that?
Christ. one chapter back, probably one page back in your Bible, verse 17 and 18, and he, Jesus, is before all things.
[27:26] And in him all things consist, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have preeminence.
They're not looking to Jesus Christ as the head from whom all the body nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments grow with the increase that is from God.
And so the health of the church, the health of this fellowship comes only through Jesus Christ, through the work of the Holy Spirit and not in any other way.
Verse 20, therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why as though living in the world do you subject yourselves to regulations?
Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men.
So speaking of man-made religions that men subject themselves to.
And this is directly speaking to born-again believers once again subjecting themselves to legalism, to religion, subjecting yourselves to these regulations. Are you going along with them?
[28:52] Why are you still ruled by a godless judge and the religion of men? Why would you put yourself there? Maybe not knowing better? Well, I would pray that today you would know better. We're set free in Christ and whom Christ has set free, Bible said, is free indeed. And so, you know, according to the commandments and doctrine of men, once you go there, where does it end? Jesus said, that's why Jesus says it's done. Because if you start going that way, where does it end? How far does it go? In that last verse.
[29:33] These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom and self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
It all accounts to nothing. Sure, it looks good, but looks can be deceiving.
The devil can come as an angel of light, So can his men.
[29:58] And so are those who are caught in the middle that are just sending a confusing legalistic doctrine that brings you away from the true gospel.
Again, just religious hypocrisy. And there are religions, the religions are many.
You know that there is an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide.
Broad is the way that leads to destruction. Narrow is the way that leads to life.
And that's a reference to the gospel.
That's a reference to Jesus Christ. He's the way that leads to life.
He said it, I'm the way, I'm the way, the truth and the life.
And no man comes to the Father except by me.
And Jesus very specifically has given us that truth. And so there's no value, no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
In other words, the flesh, When the flesh rules and dominates, there's no value in that.
When the flesh dominates, the flesh dominates.
I read that wrong. The flesh is, it's only by God's spirit that we can have that victory over the flesh.
[31:16] And I read my notes and I wrote just opposite of that. So, are we ever set free from the judgment of the flesh that has sinned against God? Only by God's Spirit. Only by the work of Jesus Christ. It does not matter how many hoops of men we jump through. It doesn't matter the good deeds of religion we might jump through. But they may look appealing as we look and we see religious people and you think, wow, they are so good.
Wow, they do so many good things. Wow, they're so family oriented.
Oh, they're so nice and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[31:59] You see, the interesting thing is, is you can have a true born-again Christian that is just rough around the edges.
And you look at somebody who's caught up in a religion and think, man, this guy's moral, this guy's a fine, outstanding citizen, this guy's others-minded.
He's not a Christian, but this guy's a Christian rough around the edges.
Guess who's going to heaven?
The Christian rough around the edges.
Because it's not us being rough around the edges that keeps us from heaven.
What keeps a man from heaven is knowing Jesus Christ.
But once you're covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, are you a perfect person in the flesh?
Absolutely not, but you're ready for heaven because it's based on Him and Him alone.
And so that's the freedom. That's why you're set free. Has nothing to do with what you do.
[32:47] You know, we have this propensity to think, you know, we can be more loved or more favored or have more of an inroads, if we can just do this, we'll really impress God.
No, what impresses God is when you love Jesus Christ with your whole heart and you serve Him.
And so there's plenty, plenty of religions out there and there's plenty of people that are deceived out there, but I pray that we would not be deceived.
I pray that we would be clear on the gospel, that we couldn't be tricked by that false message, that we would be prevented by being under the thumb of man.
[33:33] And yet be spirit-filled believers. When this last time when I was up in Canada, I had the opportunity, we were sitting waiting for the ferry And it turns out that.
It turns out that the ferry was, you know, we were there like two hours early and then there was this guy that's parked in a truck next to us and I thought, heck, we're gonna be here for a little while, so why don't I go, you know, talk with him?
[34:03] And so I go and I talk with him, name's Mark, and we get talking and then having a great conversation.
And so I just started asking him about God and his beliefs and different things.
And that's when the conversation sort of gets strained.
You can be talking about trucks and you can be talking about anything, but as soon as you start talking about God.
Anyway, so he kind of felt like there was something out there, and he kind of felt like it could be reincarnation and as long as he kept good karma and as long as he did good deeds and didn't hurt anybody, that he was gonna end up either reincarnated into a better place and all this stuff.
And then I just shared the gospel with him and I just shared what the Bible taught and the fallacy really of what he was saying.
And just as it goes, it's no sooner did we get to that part and then the policeman comes up, hey, you gotta get back in your car because we're gonna be checking your paperwork.
And so we had to get back into our cars and then after that, It just didn't seem like anything, like he was responding in a favorable way or whatever.
But you know what, that's not up to us. I mean, we plant seeds and we water, but we trust God for the increase because it was enough said to him that he could make that decision to follow Christ, You know, and he was alone and traveling and.
[35:33] You know, but anyway, we just look for opportunity because you know what?
God gives us opportunity if we're open to share with people and wherever it may be.
And sometimes it's just a simple word that needs to be shared or just given a simple example, be a good testimony.
But anyway, let's stand. If you need prayer, come forward, okay?
Guys will be up here to pray with you.
Lord, we just want to thank you for your word once again. And we just ask, Lord, that we would truly walk in the light as children of the light, that we wouldn't let those that are deceived to cast shadows over the freedom that we have, set at liberty by your spirit.
I pray for all those here, Lord, that they would be set free completely by following you.
Lord, you're the one that knows where everybody's at and decisions that people have made.
And I just ask God that by your spirit that you would work mightily in our hearts and in our lives.
And so bless your people today. And I just ask that you bless the fellowship around the table as well.
We thank you for your great provision. We thank you for this new day you've given to us.
We ask it in Jesus name, amen. And God bless you.
