False Teaching
So I'll be reading from chapter 2 verses 16 to 23. we are. Paul says, Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a new festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you. insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in details about visions puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind and not holding fast to the head from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why as if you were alive in the world do you submit to regulations? Do not and or do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings. These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. So, let us just begin in prayer. Father, we ask, Lord, we know that our sin, Lord, that our hearts will seek to hide from Your truth. Do not let them, Father, but rather by the power of Your Spirit, open our hearts. Lord, soften them, prepare them. to receive your word, to be changed by it. Do all these things by the power of your spirit and let the words that are spoken be spoken clearly, Father. And let us just marvel at the glory of your gospel and all that you have called us to. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now, something I wanna tell you about myself. I, this is just a trait about Matt, know, if it's on my dating profile, this is one that, not that I have a dating profile, just so you know, married, happily, obviously, but this is one of the facts I'd have on there. I hate... false teaching. And it's something Paul hates too. And you see, because naturally it impinges on our lives. It leads us down to the seat, it fills us up with hope and then leaves us feeling empty. And I felt that this week as I opened up my weather app. And apparently these meteorologists now are getting into the area of becoming prophets because it said a hundred percent chance. I couldn't believe just the, wow. The umpteenth to say something like that of more than a hundred mils. And that was just for Friday, I think. Oh, yeah. And how much did we get? Not a drop. It all went north of us. I was incredibly bummed. But in that moment, we saw what happens. Someone gives you hope. You get so excited. Whether you're a farmer, whether you're just someone who likes watching a storm, you get your hopes up. You get excited. and then inevitably you are let down. And so you see, this is what Paul was dealing with here. So far, he's been building up all this introduction. He had the introduction, he's kind of dealt with the gospel and now he gets to this, we've been talking about this heresy that the Colossians have been believing in, but we haven't really gotten to the details of what they actually are falling for. What is this thing that's being offered up to them? Why are they falling for it? Because you see, he first started, Derek talked about last week, the victory that Christ has won, that he has conquered the spiritual powers that no longer we enslaved. butt. Now he goes to the teaching that is in Colossi, particularly how they are falling back in old ways. particularly seem to have this problem with the observance of the Old Testament laws, right? The Ten Commandments, not particularly that part, but more specifically all the laws that follow from that. What you should eat, what you shouldn't eat, the festivals, the rituals, all these different things. These teachings, like you read from verse 16, where He says, let no one pass judgment on you in food and drink, with festivals and new moon of Sabbath. All those things are laws from the Old Testament. you see, they were really struggling with this because you've to imagine, we're kind of like now, we're like, yeah, we can eat bacon because we've been doing it as Christians for 2,000 years. We've kind of got that one figured out. We know Jews don't do it, but we do. We have freedom in Christ. Yay, isn't that great? But here in the early church, it wasn't quite as clear cut. You think for the Jewish church, Jesus has come. There's been a massive revival. Thousands have joined the church and it started in Jerusalem. So who were the first people to join the church? Jews. So they're not having you know, little debates about what you can and can't eat because they all eat the same thing, they have their entire lives. But then as the gospel began to spread, suddenly all these Gentiles were coming in, people who did not eat, who did not talk, who did not live like them. And so they're trying to figure out, wait, wait, so can you guys come into this religion which began as a Jewish religion, that's where it got its roots from in the Old Testament, but yet not observe the same practices that we do. And so this... incredible tension. Literally every single letter Paul wrote was basically dealing with this fact in different ways. But the easiest thing, the easiest teaching to bring in was you have to follow the laws once again. That as Gentiles, we have to follow it, so why shouldn't you? They didn't understand that the law had been done away with. So the easiest thing to do for any false teacher is just to bring it back. But Paul explains, he goes down on, then from verse 17, and he deals with why these things are of no use. He says, are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. He says, they're a shadow of the things to come. He's not saying as in they're still to come. They were shadows of something that was going to come, but it was Jesus. They were the one who was waiting. That was the thing they were all pointing to. And so you see, the law was like this treasure map, right? That it was guiding them along the way to find the treasure, but they found it. It was Jesus. They had the treasure now. You don't need to keep following the map anymore. You have the treasure. But yet the easiest thing for them to keep saying was, you have the treasure, but look at all that map did for you. You have to keep following it now. And so, sorry, we're doing a really quick overview of the whole passage and then we'll jump into some application from it. So, it goes on then in verse 18. Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism, worship of angels. Just stop there. So, you've got these other aspects that were brought into this false teaching as well. They're worshiping angels. Now, don't really need to explain that one. They were worshiping angels. Pretty self-explanatory. Very common practice in the area at the time. There's lots of historical evidence pointing to the fact that they used to worship all the angels. And these are Christian angels typically, Michael, Gabriel, these kinds of fellows, but they were elevating them above God. And then they had asceticism as well, which was the act of depriving oneself of the bare necessities of life or of luxuries as well, but just seeking to deprive yourself for the sake of afflicting yourself. for some value. Think of it as someone who afflicts himself by dieting and going to the gym, if that's your thing. Not mine personally, you go for it if you want to. Some people run 5Ks, don't understand that. But everyone has their thing. But you see, this was just a more morbid version of that. Just afflicting myself, making myself feel weak. But it was often for some... display. But you see, then you come to the epicenter of what was really going on, what was causing all this in the latter half of verse 18. going on in details about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. And I'll read the rest there. And not holding fast to the head from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments grows with the growth that is from God. So you he talks about his sensuous mind. So here he is, he doesn't really address him super explicitly, but there is a false teacher. There is a false teacher in this church, possibly teachers that are expounding this new teaching. And where are they getting it from? These ecstatic visions in their mind. Isn't it great when you've been given the Bible, but then God's also suddenly giving you all these words and you just, and suddenly you come with this newfound understanding. And naturally, we can fall for something like that because someone comes in when they're charismatic, when they're leading from the front, they say, I'm getting visions from God. There is something intoxicating about that. There's something, this person has a word, maybe a special word for me. But in truth, Paul gets to the foundation of it. He had actually disconnected himself from the head. How could he tell? Because he had made himself the head. You see, the head was Jesus. He was the source, the one who gave life. the whole church. But now what was this false teacher coming in and saying? No, I am the one who gives you life, who is your source, your origin. You come to me. You don't go to Jesus, you come to me and I will tell you who Jesus is. So he had detached himself, elevated himself above Jesus, above the church. He was their leader. But you see this man was a fool because he is disconnecting the people from the source of true life. And so then Paul goes on there, delivering a bit of a rebuke to the Colossians. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why is it if you were alive in the world do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teaching. Now, have any of you guys ever submitted to elemental spirits? Anyone? No? Never? I don't know. That's a very interesting kind of thing thrown in there, right? And what's it? Who's submitting the elemental spirits? Do we all do that? What is that? Understand, in Greek philosophy, what all that word means is just the foundational things that the world was built on. What did they think it was back then? It wasn't the whatever the 160 elements we have or something like that. But what they saw it as was four elements. Fire, water, air, dirt, pretty sure. Those were the four fundamentals that everything was built from. And so all it's really saying is everything else is built from that. So what Paul is really just saying here is if you have died to the world, why do you submit again to elemental spirits? saying, why again do you submit to the things of the world? Why do you submit to the things that make up this life? He's saying, you've died to that. All of you guys, if you believe in Christ, have been born again. You're now living a new life. Yes, you'll one day die, but then you'll get raised again, you'll go to heaven. Your destiny is heaven. You're not made to live here. Life isn't about here. And so he's saying, don't submit again to the things that make up this world. Another way it helps, there's another similar passage, Galatians 4.3. In the same way, we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of this world. This is Paul here in the letter to the Galatians. But here, the elementary principles isn't talking about the Greek side of it, it's talking about the Jewish side of it. And the Jews thought nothing was more fundamental than the law. The law was the foundation for everything. But he's saying, there's a purpose for this world. There's a purpose for the law. What does all of it point to? To Jesus. The law was a shadow of the things to come. His substance is Christ. Just as the world every day and every night is pouring out knowledge telling you about its creator and pointing you to your savior. And so. all these things, he's just saying, do not submit to the things that make up this world. And particularly, that's when he gets to the point, why do you continue to listen to these regulations? Do not handle, do not eat, do not touch. He says, these rules are pointless. Everything's going to die. Everything's going to burn up. It will all be gone. So stop thinking that by following some rules with the things here, that you'll actually achieve some value. There is no value in them. The whole point of the Christian life is often simply letting go of the things that are here. Not letting go as in we don't care about them, we still have to manage things while we're here, we know that. But the true reason we maintain them and hold onto them is for an eternal purpose. If things don't have eternal purposes, then Paul's saying, don't submit to those rules. So. is really getting to the point that they have no benefit for you the future. They simply weigh you down and offer no benefit for the life to come. But then he gets to a good point, verse 23. These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, asceticism, severity to the body, but there are no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. So you see, these things have an appearance of wisdom. Just think, you you look at some people and there's trends going around of people saying, you know, I'm not gonna follow the consumerism of the world. So I'm gonna deprive myself, you know, being a minimalist or something like that. They're trying to get rid of all their belongings. Live for just the things that matter. You know, it's funny now, I actually heard recently, there's statistics that suddenly the things that young people are concerned with nowadays, what they want for their lives, no longer is it about filling their lives up with everything. They've seen that consumerism doesn't work. They know that just stocking, stockpile everything, trying to get riches and wealth and possessions doesn't do it. What's the thing now? I wanna live a broad life. I wanna live a life filled with experiences because they understand This life is the only one we have, so I want to make the most of it. Making most of it isn't in the things of this world, but it's in experiencing the things of this world. See, that seems to have an appearance of wisdom, right? Yeah, you're right. The things of this world are going to go away, but you have one life, so make the most of it. But obviously, it still denies the fact that actually living the full life here wasn't what we were made for. We were made to live a full life in the place, sorry, in the world to come. And so particularly though, the severity, this discipline that they have over those bodies says it's no use because it doesn't actually solve the problem, which is the indulgence of the flesh. It's the sinful desires that all of us have. It's cleaning the exterior, doing nothing about the interior. So we switch here now, we go on to application. We've gone through our passage, a brief overview. Why did the Colossians fall for this? What was it that lured them in? because this teaching gave a very nice foothold for the devil when he had been defeated through the power of the gospel. This teaching came in and once again gave him a foothold in the lives of these people. What was it? Notice first, right, from the passage last week, Colossians 2.15. He, being Jesus, disarmed the rulers and the authorities, putting them to open shame by triumphing over them in the cross. So you think that, you know, you're right, you're in a sword fight, you know, with someone, you're going back and forth. What's the easiest way to win that? Disarm them. They have no weapon now, they're defenseless. You're gonna win that fight. And so he's saying now that what through Jesus has done on the cross, the spiritual powers and authorities have no power over you anymore. Would any of you guys say that Satan feels particularly powerless in your life? No, I wouldn't think so. If anything, you'd think, what? I feel far more like a sinner than I do a saint. I feel like I'm constantly falling into the same traps. So how is that happening if he's been disarmed? You see, one thing to acknowledge is what is the main tool that Jesus disarmed from him? What is the number one thing that he tries to use against us over and over again? It is guilt. Guilt is the power of sin because it continually keeps us enslaved thinking that God will never accept us, that we cannot come to him, that we are not good enough, that we have no hope of life after death. And he will not work good for us now in this life even. but he's been disarmed. You guys have absolutely no reason to feel guilt of your sins against God. No reason at all. So why do we? What is Satan referred to as? He has a bunch of different names, but one of them is the father of lies. Now you're sitting there and I don't know, imagine you're a police officer. You've got a guy sitting there. You've got your gun pointed at him, something. like that, sorry this illustration actually isn't working in my head. um Imagine you're in a situation where someone wants to mug you, okay? They come up to you but they don't actually have a weapon. What is the best way to mug someone without actually having a weapon? Pretend you have one. Have you guys ever seen the movie Mr. Bean Goes to America? If you've ever seen that scene where he's in the airport and he sees the cop with the gun, And so he goes like this and hides it in his suit jacket. And of course the cops are like, oh, what's that? They run after him, put the gun down. He was just pretending the whole time as he puts his finger guns down. And so you see that is the equivalent of what Satan has. He is hiding it in his chest pocket, hoping you don't actually call him on his bluff. So you sit there thinking, you're right, God probably doesn't love me. God probably, yeah, what is the thing he uses? Remember what you did yesterday, remember what you did then, remember the things you did before you were a Christian? He brings it back, hoping that you do not remember Christ's triumph on the cross, that there He paid for your sin. He has been disarmed. And so you see, this is particularly why Paul says, let no one pass judgment on you, let no one disqualify you. As in let no one disqualify you from inheriting the inheritance. You have every right to lay claim to it. God is yours. No one can take that from you. But Satan will rise up. Better yet, he will raise up people to once again bring us under the power of guilt. And this is just what he did in this false teaching here. So, we're going to tackle two different things. Two different aspects I see in this false teaching that kind of played a different... Some of them play to this church here, some of them will play more to other churches, but they're important to understand because they're dangers that face all of us. So, like I said, he calls and tells the Colossians, don't let anyone judge you, don't let anyone disqualify you. Why was he saying, let no one judge you? Well, know, that's something we tell kids, you know, don't let anyone judge you, alright? That's a good thing to learn, you know, that you have a judge. But what was the problem with being judged? It was the fact that it was for unbiblical reasons. You see, there were people in this Colossian church, they were listening to this false teacher, they were hearing bringing rules back in that were no longer part of the gospel. And so what did they say? Oh, I do that one, that person doesn't. Suddenly they built up these rules which were actually not biblical so that they could make themselves judges, referees, umpires over the lives of other people. So they could set up boundaries that reality the gospel never set. So they could elevate themselves above others. How do we elevate ourselves? We introduce criteria that we fulfill and others don't. That is how we do it. You just think about it. There are so many things that all of us fall in the trap of. Just think about it. Naturally, as we've grown up in churches, every single one of us has a different experience with, you know, it's a touchy subject, alcohol. Right? And there's a very good reason because it has wrecked many lives in this country and then many others. But think just for once, you're out at the RSL and you see another church member there and you notice, my goodness, they're at the bar. and they walk back with a beer in their hand. Wow, I wouldn't do that, that's for sure. I have been a proud teetotaler my whole life. Sorry, I'm not having a go at any teetotalers here, I'm just exaggerating hyperbole for the sake of it, just bringing out the full pridefulness of someone. Wow, okay, well I definitely, you I wouldn't do something like that. Better yet, you walk out after you finish your dinner and you see there's actually two empty beer glasses on the table. My goodness! That is just absolutely outrageous. You think I might have a little talk to them after church on Sunday. Actually, no, no. I'll probably just talk to the ladies instead. That's But you see, the reality is, okay, yes, maybe I've played up the pridefulness, but maybe someone's genuinely concerned. Maybe they're like, okay, I didn't know they drank. Okay, I wonder if there's something there. But the reality is, what is the evidence? One or two beers, right? And we have a call as Christians not to be drunkards, we are called to be sober-minded. But where is that line? I know, and reality is we're not gonna settle it here, all right? Everyone will have their different... place where they fooled depending on the tradition, how they were raised. And that's fine. But we need to be careful of setting that boundary to the point of where we say, that person has a problem. There are indicators that a person may have a drinking problem. One or two beers is not that. But of course this reality doesn't just apply to this. The way people parent their children, how our service is conducted, how people clothe themselves, how people behave. Man, I've got a million opinions about how you guys should act. Just hate to break it to ya, I act as a judge all the time and I really shouldn't, but I'm a sinful human. But I have no right to place that burden on you to tell you how you should live your life unless it is biblical. Unless it comes from the words contained in here, I can't say anything to you. I have no right. I may offer advice. People probably do that way too much. But the reality is we have to feel no guilt about the expectations of people upon us if they do not come from Scripture. and better yet as a church we should seek to not place expectations on each other that are not biblical. So, now just do a quick thing to just different segments in the church. Now, all of those of you who have, let's say, been around the block more than once, right, you've walked a Christian life for a time, you are a blessing to the church. There, you didn't think I was going to say that, did you? that, he's going to bash us now. Endurance is so important in the church. It is necessary. You have been loyal. You have gone through so much and you have so much wisdom to give to us who are still walking, who still starting out. We thank you so much. And you have built up very useful traditions, traditions that have kept the gospel strong in your life. Reading the Bible every morning is a tradition and it's not a bad one, if we do that. but we must be careful that our traditions do not become everything. That we must be able to assess our traditions and see whether or not they actually enforce the gospel or whether they actually hinder it. Whether they're actually keeping helpful change from happening. When we go back and assess it and ultimately the answer is, well, it's that way because that's the way we've always done it. is not a good enough reason to continue doing things that way. But I also turn to younger ones, to us who are continuing to walk starting out of faith. Maybe you've been doing it for 10 or 20 years or something like that. But we're not veterans of the faith yet. I'm definitely not, not even close. And there is a great benefit to having young people in the church. There is a zealousness and just an eagerness to go get it, to do things for the kingdom of God. But yet there is often a belief and a pridefulness that comes with it that... Our way is the way. We need to change things in this church and the way that it's so slow to change, it's just not good enough. There is often a disrespect that comes from those who have been loyal, who have been committed. And so we need to be aware of those things because both of these people set themselves as judge. I have been a loyal committed Christian for 50 years. Of course I know better than the young one. So my tradition becomes the judge. Or I'm zealous, I'm out here doing things, trying to bring people into the kingdom of God as an eager young person. Why won't they change? There is simply just a self-obsession with ourselves and we do not see the fact that every part of the body is useful. and every part is needed and we must have patience and compassion on us all. And so we must understand tradition is not always bad, especially when it keeps the gospel strong but where it does not, we must hold on to it with loose hands, you know. We just saw it, my goodness. We couldn't even take up offering without playing a song. That was funny, it was funny. It was just a funny thing I noticed. um And it's funny, that's only been a tradition really for the last six months. So you see how stuck we are to it. That's never changing. But there is a reality in things we settle into patterns and that's okay. Patterns aren't bad, but we must be aware when they start to hinder the work of the gospel. And so now I wanna turn to a second thing. Could you see, this was part of what this false teacher was trying to do. He was trying to set up these rules, these traditions, the way that he thought the people should live their life. and in it, he was putting some people here and some people there. When the reality is the gospel is a level field. And now I come to the second aspect because the reality is really hard to find out exactly what heresy this kind of correlates to because you kind of find different aspects of this across multiple churches. But obviously we struggle with, you know, we have tradition in this church and inevitably all of us have an expectation of how people should live. But there's an interesting aspect in this heresy. When you look at the false teacher, he says he's going on in details about visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. So you've got this guy bringing in these traditions, bringing in these rules, but where is he getting it from? It's revelation from God. Now, I know if you've ever been part of a cult, maybe you've experienced something like that. This ecstatic leader who receives just these messages from God that he's allowed to just put out over the masses and tell them how they ought to live. you see the danger often sits in here is because, and particularly for the Colossians, this fella has come in, whoever he is, he's charismatic. Sorry, not charismatic in the way we think, not charismatic Christian, just a charismatic leader. He's very engaging, he brings them in. And so they listen, this fella has something to teach us, he's getting visions from God, I want to hear what he has to say. But the truth was, he was basically an idiot, because he was not holding to the apostolic tradition, to the things that the apostles had passed down. He was going off in his own way. But here comes the danger that particularly comes in. This is what I would refer to as a religion of the eyes. A religion that we can see that's so visible. Because you see, why do you think he was bringing in all this stuff about a citizen? Afflict your body. Make yourself look skinny. You know, really show people that you're suffering. Worship of angels. What you eat and what you drink, the festivals that you attend. Because people can see that. People can see how you are more mature than the other people. Because it's visible. One of the hardest things about the Christian life is you're often very hard to tell someone's maturity because so much is going on in the heart. Yes, some of it is visible. We don't deny that. But you see, the danger comes when we make our religion entirely visible. Now, again, this isn't me having a go, but here's the reality. We have to address it. I'll start off with a good note, Pentecostal churches, right, are a blessing to the church. Why? Because they were response to the deadness of the church. When we were stuck in tradition and doing things the old ways, that movement came in and gave life to the church. Because it said, did you know there is a God who still moves? There is still a God who wants to save people and His Holy Spirit will come and change, transform people. That is a beautiful thing. It renewed our emphasis upon the Holy Spirit and His work. but sadly from it also came many dangers. And so we must appreciate what it brought in. We must not neglect throwing the baby out with the bathwater because it does have something to teach us. But we must also be aware because as it went on about the power of the Holy Spirit, well, inevitably then slowly the power of the Holy Spirit became about that which is visible, that which you can see. I love our Pentecostal brothers and sisters, but if you go to some of those churches, who were those who were elevated? Those who display spiritual gifts, but those which are visible, healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues. The reality is you never see the person lifted up who has the spiritual gift of administration. The most invisible gift in the body, apparently. Thank you, Dan, for being our spiritual gift of administration. There you go. You're not invisible. all know. But you see, then it comes in. This church you go to and suddenly people are ready for elevator, but it's for different reasons. No longer is it for tradition, but it's, are you visibly showing the power of the Holy Spirit in your life? Do you have deep spiritual experiences? Are you speaking in tongues? And those people are treated as closer to God than those who seemingly have a more mediocre faith. And man, those people are going to be thoroughly surprised when they get to heaven and find out that some of the quietest people they knew are the closest to God, as you would say. Those people. So, but then this becomes the hard part. Some of these churches have been built upon a visible display of the power of God and this belief that it will continue to happen. And miracles happen in church. People get healed. Also, people are saved every day. That is a miracle in and of itself. But when this promise of constant mind-blowing displays falls, those churches have to try and keep up appearances. They have to try and manufacture something. And you know, I find the funniest thing that for all the elevation of these people to show these visible gifts... What is it that Jesus said to Thomas? Jesus said to him, have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. We are not to build our church upon the belief that people will only come in if they see something. Our religion is a religion of faith. We believe in Christ through faith, not just because I see lots of stuff going on in the church. The church will be thoroughly underwhelming plenty of the time and it should be. because you have to trust that God is working, not just trust Him when you can see it. we know this. Because what is faith? Hebrews 11.1, faith is the assurance of things hopeful, the conviction of things not seen. We cannot build our lives upon something we can see. It must be invisible until the day it is made sight when He returns. And so you see, inevitably the devil is using either of these things, whether he uses our tradition, whether he uses this power of God that's working through people, the visible gifts of the Spirit, all he is doing is seeking to bring us back under the guilt of our conscience once again. You are not a good enough Christian, you are not close enough to God. Does anyone know how you get close to God? Believe in him and then you're right there. What does it say in Romans 8, 38 to 39? For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, or anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate you. It's not because you did something this morning. Just forget about those reasons. You are always exactly the same distance from God as you always have been. No one is closer to Him. We are all His children, all equally loved. And so, I want to then point out a particular danger. A danger that is present for us because the reality is all of us have young people in our lives. Whether grandchildren, children, young people we instruct. Whether you're part of the youth group. Whether you're a Sunday School teacher. Inevitably, we are always looking for signs of faith, for visible evidence, because what do we want more than anything? Our children to be saved, our grandchildren, those young people that we instruct. We want to see God working in them. but we fall into the same two dangers often because we are so desperate to see those visible markers. We often seek to motivate children more through guilt than actually seeking to see them grow in faith. And we have to be careful not to teach them a religion that is only concerned with externals. So first danger, like we were talking about before, this is what we'd call moralism. This belief, my role as an older person to a younger person is to tell them the rules, is to tell them the boundaries, to instruct them where to go and where not to go. And see, this is a really, really attractive option. Why? Because naturally, of course, you guys know we don't believe in legalism. But naturally if my children, my grandchildren, those people I'm mentoring stay within this boundary, they're saved. When very often they can be in that boundary and not be, and plenty of those that can be out of the boundary can still be saved. Because behavior is not the immediate indicator of salvation. And so you see, we must be careful with that. Just because I've told my kids, you know, don't drink, don't sleep around, make sure you attend church and they're continuing to do that doesn't ensure anything. It is a good thing. Don't get me wrong, you should instruct it, but don't make it that alone. You can't simply tell your kids how to live and not tell them about the Savior that they need. And so here comes the second danger. We can sit and think, my children, my grandchildren, the people that I'm saying, they're just not seeing enough. They just need a deeper spiritual experience. They need to really feel God. Man, I remember once going, a revival night and this fellow spoke and he said, you know, I know the gospel but I want to experience the gospel. I'm like, what does that even mean? Basically just meant for him just rolling around on the floor and doing a bunch of weird stuff. And the reality is we can fall for that. think, I just need to take my kid somewhere, know, okay, you're going to take him to a church where suddenly, oh wow, the music is pumping. And don't get me wrong, man, I fall for that too. It's good to have pumping music. I pump it in the car, it's great. But you go and you take him, suddenly the sermon is a bit more, less like a sermon and more like a pep talk. And then suddenly you draw to the end of the service. The band comes up about five minutes before the pastor finishes and they get the synth on. and then it's just playing in the back. It just, it just draw, he does an alter call and your kid's like, I wanna go up. Not a bad thing. Let me assure that. But we are not to think that that commitment is the end of the line. That is definitely not it. Because very often you can then go a month down the road and seemingly nothing's actually changed in that kid's life. All I am saying is we need to be careful of fooling ourselves about these things. Going up to the front doesn't confirm anything, but it does show a spark and we should take hope in that, but it is not everything. So you see, we must be careful because these rules, these spiritual experiences, they simply clean up the exterior. As parents, as grandparents, as instructors and mentors to younger people, they make us feel better. because they make us feel like our children, like those we're instructing are going somewhere. And we should take some hope in that, but you're not to put all your value in that because those things at the end of the day do not stop the indulgence of the flesh, as Paul was saying at the very end of the chapter. What is our solution to this mess? What is the actual thing that does stop the desires of our hearts from running off? Because you see, if I were to translate, you know, not translate, sorry, but you know, give a more simple paraphrase of that last verse. When it says they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh, they're of no value in actually making you a more godly person. Isn't that what we want for everyone? To be more godly, so that they might experience more of God, so that they might draw more near to Him. How does this happen? By acknowledging who we really are and how we are saved. puts it all to rest. Because you see, like we said, moralism only affects the external. A Pentecostal experience will only excite our feelings. What changes the heart is understanding who we are and understanding how we were saved. and better yet it will help destroy the elitism, the judgmentalism and our belief in visible markers. So who are we? It's okay, don't worry, we are drawing to the end, we're almost finished now. Who are you guys? I was intrigued to see if anyone was going to answer, don't think anyone would, but anyway. But it helps to answer as Paul did. He said, I am the chief, I am the worst of all sinners. Now, is he actually the worst of all sinners? If you actually number up the sins, look, there's probably someone out there worse than him. Yes, he murdered and yes, he put people in prison, but there's probably someone numerically out there worse than him. But what was he saying there then? But he's saying it does not matter. because my view of myself will always be lower than that of anyone else around me. It does not matter because I know how God saw me before he saved me in Christ, which is that I was an utterly depraved sinner that he would send to hell for all eternity. I do not concern myself. Yes, I know people are the same way, but I'm focusing on me and how I have fallen. That is who we truly are. Doesn't matter how much you clean the exterior, you will never be saved, never buy your own works. So we understand we are sinners under a constant guilt that nothing can cover up or make go away. And then what happened? Though when we were enemies of God, when we were sinners, He sent His Son to die for us, to cleanse us, to cover us by dying upon our place at that cross. So His Son has taken it all, the guilt, the shame, the punishment, it is all gone, we are innocent before God. It is the power... of that message that saves people. It is that truth, not just told, but continually lived out in our lives. See, this is an important part. We can't just tell people about the gospel. Yes, we must tell them, but it must also be reflected in our actions because the reality is if you say to people, yes, know, God has forgiven you for everything, but no, I am not gonna give my friend for, you know, nicking my favorite toy when I was 15, or whatever. We cannot continue, we must live out the gospel as well. And so you see in that, through the power of that, guilt is taken away and we are freed up. And so you see that is message. These Colossians were falling under the guilt once again. My desire is for you. And so look, maybe some of you, you thought, oh goodness, maybe I have been that person with the expectations of other people. Maybe I've been the one that thought there is more to be found in deeper spiritual experiences, not just the mediocre. My purpose here is not to fill you with guilt. Unless you, if you understood the point of the message, the purpose is that you had lived here with a cleansed conscience. Because the whole point is you're never gonna be good enough. Stop trying to be good enough. Just put your faith in Christ and teach others to do that as well. And then you give them the assurance every day when they come back to you and say, I don't know if God really does love me. I've done this today, I've done that today. I'm not feeling so assured. You say, read Romans 8, 38 to 39. Nothing shall ever separate you. So we're gonna finish in prayer and then I'll lead us into communion after that. I'll get the helpers to come up after prayer. Father. You have freed us from the power of guilt. Lord, we have peace with You. There is therefore no condemnation for us anymore because we put our faith in You. We trust in You. You have cleansed us from all guilt, all unrighteousness. Even that sin which remains in us will one day be gone. Not because we are strong enough, but because we are good enough, but because You will bring the work of Spirit to completion. Lord. We trust in you. You are our vine. So help us today, Lord, rid us from judgmentalism in our lives, in our church. Let us, Lord, not constantly hold to those things which you can see, but let us trust in the work that you do in the hearts of people and accept our place that we will not know everything and that we cannot see everything. So Father, do that by the power of your Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.