Don’t Be Spoiled | Colossians 2:16-23 | Pastor John Miller

the believers in the church at Colossae were facing a great danger they were in danger of being spoiled in their relationship to Christ for false teachers had been telling them that Jesus was not enough if I were going to summarize the reason Paul wrote Colossians it would be just that false teachers came into the church and they said we know that you are Christians but that's not enough there's things that you need to add to your Christianity there's things that will make you more spiritual than just knowing and loving and serving Jesus Christ and the same kind of dangers face us as Christians today saying that Christ is not sufficient or Christ is not enough I want you to see these warnings in the Bible notice verse eight of our text or verse eight of our chapter in Colossians 2 he says beware lest any man spoil you cheat you that's the first warning chapter 2 verse 8 and then chapter 2 verse 16 he says let no one judge you and then chapter 2 verse 18 let no man beguile you in my King James Bible or defraud you or rob you or I like the word disqualify you the false teachers in Paul's day as the false teachers of our own day we're teaching Christ plus legalism Christ plus mysticism and Christ plus aesthetics ISM Paul has made it clear in verse 10 that in Christ we as Christians are complete notice it in verse 10 of chapter 2 that we are complete in him the word complete is a nautical term it means that we're shipshape were fully rigged and we're ready to sail and at the moment you were born again you were placed in Christ and Christ is the fullness of God and you draw from that fullness and you have that fullness so Paul gives us in our text three warnings he warns us of these three dangers and we're going to talk about them as we go the versus legalism the second is mysticism and the third is asceticism there are three present dangers in our world today that can be rail us as believers so first of all he says watch out for legalism let no man judge you verse 16 and 17 I want you to see it in the text verse 16 and 17 Paul says let no man therefore judge you in food or drink or respect of holy days or new moons or Sabbath days which are shadow of things to come but the body or the substance is of Christ now whenever there is a therefore the rule of thumb is of course find out what it's there for right so the therefore is therefore because just before verse 16 he had said don't you know that you have died with Christ you've been buried with Christ and you have risen with Christ he talked about our identification with Christ as believers now since you died since you were buried and since you rose new creations in Christ therefore verse 16 let no man judge you and he tells them don't be judged in these two areas what you eat and in what you drink and in your holy days your new moons or your Sabbath day so diet and days so don't let anyone judge you the word judge you means take you to task I think of my old hippy days it would be saying don't let anyone put you on a trip you all hippies remember that don't let any much don't anyone trip you out don't let anyone mess with your head we would say and that's what these false teachers were doing they were putting them on a trip they were messing with them they were putting them under legalism now before we break down this text what is legalism legalism is the religion of human achievement it teaches that salvation and spirituality are based on Christ plus two human works it fails to recognize that God's grace in Christ has made is acceptable to him and that human works have no part in it so it's basically saying that you have to work to be saved and you have to work to be sanctified that you're not only saved by works but you're sanctified or made holy by your own efforts and by your own good deeds now there were two areas I've already mentioned that the legalist were judging them and they're common even in our day they were the area of their diet and they were the area of their days even today people will say that if you eat certain foods or don't eat certain foods usually it's don't eat certain foods and you worship on certain days you're more spiritual right that's pretty common and they tell you that it's not enough just to be a Christian you have to worship on this certain day or just you have to eat certain foods and follow dietary laws so the false teachers were imposing a mosaic legalism on the Christians and colossi as a means of spiritual growth now first of all notice the diet says in verse 16 in food or in drink in my King James Bible that says meat but that's just a word referring to their food so it's a matter of what you eat and what you drink it could be translated in your eating or in your drinking it's from the Old Testament Mosaic law in the Old Testament of Israel notice who it was given to Israel not the church dietary laws and notice it was the Old Testament and they're not repeated in the New Testament so you have to take that into consideration so what did Jesus teach about food and diet and these things well we taught a lot but I'd mentioned in mark chapter 7 Jesus said it's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you it's what comes out of your mouth right it's not what you eat that messes you up it's what comes out of your mouth your words you said you know want to know why you see what Julie just passes through you and it's gone but what you say comes from where your heart and that defiles the whole person so your spirituality isn't based on whether or not you hamburgers we had steak or you know whether or not you go to in and out or not praise the Lord for that when I read Jesus saying it's not what goes in your mouth that defiles you it's like I'll have a double-double right now hallelu now if you say well I don't think we should eat meat that's great don't eat me just watch me as I eat mine okay with great delight but don't put me on a trip don't mess with me don't try to tell me that I have to do what you do or that I'm going to be more spiritual if I follow your dietary laws there has to be a clear command and teaching in the New Testament for believers today if we're going to follow dietary laws and there isn't any so jesus said look it's not what goes in it's what comes up what comes out comes from your heart I've been around people before you know I'm a pastor and they don't like to say bad words around the pastor but sometimes they'll slip and they'll say oh sorry pastor I didn't well I don't I don't know where that came from like I know where it came from came from your heart there's an old saying that if it's in the well that comes up in the bucket I like that you know whatever's in the well comes up in the bucket whatever's in your heart comes out of your mouth it's kind of a good test by the way if you're driving a nail and you hit your thumb oh praise Jesus hallelujah if you speak in tongues and you know your spiritual unit if you say things you shouldn't say it's like that was in the well that came up in the bucket so you need a change of heart but diet is not an issue what about Paul well he taught here in Colossians is not an issue but write these two verses down first Corinthians chapter 8 verse 8 Paul says this he says for food come enza's not to God for neither if we eat are we the better neither if we eat are we the worse and then write down Romans chapter 14 and verse 17 where Paul says the kingdom of God is not food and drink but it's righteousness and it's peace and it's joy in the holy spirit now I don't purposely or intentionally want to offend anyone today but buckle your seatbelt this is kind of like I'm going to offend everybody today okay this is one of those sermons where I'll probably make at least everybody not happy somewhere in my message but with all due respect to my seventh-day adventists friends food is not an issue I grew up my whole life right next to Loma Linda and I know a lot of some of the Adventist people and they're sincere and they're devoted and they they love God but they feel they're more spiritual because they don't eat meat or Roman Catholics that feel like we can't eat meat on Friday and we can't eat meat on certain days that that's not scriptural it's not biblical it's not really what the Bible teaches it's a form of modern-day legalism I had a friend that was a vegetarian and he would shop out at Loma Linda and brag about the fact that he could buy veggie hotdogs I'm thinking oh wait a minute don't you think that it's sinful to eat meat yeah well then why do you have fake SID it looks like I'm sinning but I'm really not ah like what's the deal with that if you're going to go veggie just go veggie wife it got to be a veggie hot dog you know are you trying to convince me that they were really good I go no thank you if I'm going to eat a hot dog it's going to be really a hot dog you know not a veggie hot now what's that that's insane that's like a oxymoron but yet people you know they get so hung up on diet and then there's the day's notice at verse 16 or in respect of a holy days which would be the annual Jewish feast once a year and then there's the new moon verse 16 which would be the monthly feast or the Sabbath's which would be the weekly the Saturday the Sabbath now the Sabbath is a big deal for many today we once had a group kind of show up at my former church and they put Flyers on all the cars that said because we were meeting on Sunday we were taking the mark of the beast because we were worshipping on Sunday and that we were all condemned because of that and the Bible says it doesn't matter what day you worship on God doesn't esteem one day above another goddess seems every day like God looks at our hearts right when you cry out to God he doesn't go oh sorry wrong day I can't hear you check back with me Saturday after the Sun Goes Down it's not an issue I've given you I want to give you five issues about the Sabbath you might want to make note I get so many questions about the Sabbath day this is a little footnote in my sermon first of all the Sabbath was assigned to Israel of the Old Covenant Exodus 31 it was a sign that God made with Israel of the covenant that he made with them in Exodus 31 not the New Testament church and then secondly the New Testament nowhere commands Christians to observe the Sabbath of all the 10 commandments the one that is not repeated in the New Testament was the keeping of the Sabbath day and then thirdly in our only glimpse of the early church worship service in the New Testament we find the church meeting on Sunday the first day of the week Acts chapter 20 and verse 7 and then fourthly the Jerusalem Council acts 15 as they were imposing certain restrictions on the Gentile believers they did not impose the Sabbath day keeping and then fifthly Paul warned the Gentiles about many different sins in his epistles and letters but he never warned them about breaking the Sabbath day no one mention to the carnal Corinthians that they were messing up because they didn't worship on the Sabbath day now I want you to notice the weakness of legalism from this text first of all the Old Covenant was only a shadow look at it in verse 17 he says these holy days these new moons these Sabbath days this food and drink he says in verse 17 they are a shadow of things to come but the body or the substance the essence is of Christ so weakness number one the Old Covenant was only a shadow in Hebrews chapter one or chapter ten verse one says for the law having a shadow of good things to come not the very image of those things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect so the Old Testament was like a shadow now whenever you have a shadow you know that you have a substance that's creating that shadow you ever tried to clean the spot on the carpet and you're rubbing and cleaning and stuff and then all of a sudden you realize that the lights coming through the window and something's in the way and it's a shadow it's not a spot I remember working on a spot for hours one time it's like man it's just not going to come out and then I saw that it was a shadow and realized that it's just it's just being cast by something else so the Old Covenant is likened unto a shadow now Jesus has come he's the substance he's the real deal so once we've come to Jesus we don't need the shadow anymore it's kind of like having a picture of somebody that you love maybe a young couple gets married and then the husband goes off as a soldier to war and the whole time he's gone fighting in the war she has a picture of him she carries it close to her heart you look that every night she prays for husband and then that special day comes when he returns don't you love those those moments when you see these soldiers coming back and the family runs out and the kids get to hug daddy and mom comes out and they kiss and they embrace now can you imagine a soldier coming off the gang plant or coming out of a plane and a wife saying well I know he's here but I just wanna I just want to look at my picture I'm just going to hold my picture and no she puts the picture away and she rushes out and she puts her arms around her husband and she embraces him right once Christ has come we can put the picture away we can put the picture away and we have the reality we have the substance which is in Jesus Christ and that's what Paul is saying there that's what he says in verse 17 notice but the substance is of Christ or Christ is the body jesus took care of the law on the cross back up to verse 14 of Colossians 2 remember we got it last Sunday that Jesus blotted out the handwriting of Ordinances that was against us that was contrary to us he took it out of the way and he nailed it to his cross you got that Jesus took care of the law which condemned us and was against us and contrary to us he nailed it to his cross now what is legalism lead to let me mention five things legalism leads to judgmentalism be careful of the legalists they become very judgmental remember what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 7 he said judge not lest you what you know that verse pretty well judge not lest ye be judged for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged now don't make the mistake of interpreting those words as saying that you're not to be discerning between truth and error Jesus and the very same passage also said beware of wolves in sheep's clothing and he said don't cast your pearls before swine so you're going to have to be judgmental what's up swine and don't cast your pearls and beware of wolves in sheep's clothing so it's not saying that we don't say that's wrong and that's right and this is true and that's false when it's talking about when Jesus said judge not lest you be judged he's talking about a critical fault finding judgmental sense Oris spirit where you criticize other people because they don't meet your standards by your standards I mean unbiblical standards man-made rules that you feel are necessary to be spiritual like if you're really spiritual you wouldn't wear those clothes if you're really spiritual you wouldn't listen to that music if you're really spiritual you wouldn't go to that place you wouldn't hang around those people or you wouldn't do this or you wouldn't do that and they try to put a standard on you that God hasn't given to you in his word and they become very critical very fault-finding very judgmental and this deals with a lot of controversial areas like I said clothes some Christians have an idea of what Christian clothes are you know if you don't dress a certain way that's not the Christian way to dress pray tell me what our Christian clothes I make jokes about Christian haircuts when I got saved two had long hair and a big beard I kind of the duck dynasty look you know this is pre duck dynasty and I was full on duck dynasty hippie don't think about it too much it'll freak you out some of you're looking at me like I got stated but I didn't cut my hair say I still had long hair in a beard I got say and I went to work for a Christian organization and I found out after working them for them for years that they didn't think I was really saved they were praying for me all to play God just saved John Miller just saved that hippie Lord just save him what they're saying is Lord cut his hair is what they're saying I found out because they did they didn't think I was a Christian because of the way I looked at that man I look more like Jesus than you do what's the Tsukiko where is there a dress code in the Bible it's not but people get hung up on that or should women wear makeup told you I was going to freak some people off I love what Jay Burnham McGee said he said if the barn needs paint and painted I'm just quoting dr. McGee but I do like that clothes I had a guy call me my former church one time is this how can you call yourself a Christian Church to them women all painted up like Jezebel's I've been watching the women coming your church and some of them are wearing pants at least they're wearing something like what is your problem dude well you can't mean or do you like they're like of the devil and they got makeup and they're all painted up and they're freaking out people worry about the music you listen that's demon music if you have drums those are demonic beats demons are going to fly out of the drums and possession we get all hung up on him versus worship courses or music in the church and on and on whether Christians can swim or dance people ask me King Christian's dance my answer some can some can I've gone the weddings where they danced afterwards is like I don't dance by the way I just sit there and go oh Lord I pray right now it's embarrassing you're going to dance know how to dance okay concussions do can they smoke and they chew can they hang out with those that do I had a good Christian friend one time and he was a good solid Christian and he lives in a different state we got together and he's chewing tobacco I'm like I thought you were Christian I am I'm like weird it just didn't compute you know praise God but in tobacco it's like I don't know about that but I I looked in my Bible I couldn't find any scriptures says thou shalt not chew tobacco maybe second flesh alone Ian's or something like that it's not in the Bible but but legalism wants to have all these little rules now I understand that we need to love God and not live in a way that is offensive to God I want to be pleasing to God I want to live a holy life I want to love other people and not do anything that causes them to stumble or offend them so I think it's the law of love not the Mosaic law but the law of love loving God and loving others is what we need but it becomes judgmental let me move through these points secondly it becomes uniformity it promotes a uniformity now uniformity comes from pressure on the outside unity comes from the spirit on the inside you know you can go to lunch after church on Sunday morning in a restaurant you can see Christians come in and you can tell their doctrine or the church affiliation by the way they dress people come from revival you don't know where we came from I don't think they're saved but you know yeah I know they're from that church and they're from that because of the way they look and I got to stop there I'm going to get in big trouble I can tell you their theology by the clothes they wear in the way they look so there's this pressure on the outside this uniformity they all look the same and then it moves to hypocracy you legalism becomes at the critical jesus said to the pharisees you may clean the outside of the cup but inside it's full of extortion it's full of sin God looks not on the outside God looks where on the heart God looks on the heart now when your heart has been changed i believe the outside does change and the outside should reflect the true spiritual beauty of Christ on the inside and you don't want the outside to distract from Christ but it's not an issue to God at least to pride fourthly I'm better than you because I don't listen to that music or I don't dancer I don't go to the movie house or I don't do those things and lastly it leads to joylessness you show me a legalist and i'll show you somebody looks like demon baptized and lemon-juice there's no joy there's no liberty in Christ I heard the true story of a pastor back east and on a cold Sunday morning there was a blizzard and all the streets iced over and he was unable to drive his car to get the church to preach that Sunday so his only option was to put on ice skates and to skate to church while the elders found out about that that he skated on Sunday they called him in after the service and a pastor we heard that you skated today it's the Lord's Day and that's not right did you skate sit yeah I had to it's the only way I could get to church a street you're ice I had to skate to church and so after listening to him they kind of kind of came to close you up I guess it's okay as long as you didn't enjoy it oh no I didn't enjoy it it was I was miserable the whole time so it's okay with God I mean what do we get the ideas that Christians can't have fun that it's more spiritual to look sad that the same of being spiritual is to be grumpy or have a sad face I believe that the Spirit of God brings joy into our heart so beware of legalism secondly he says to watch out for mysticism let no one disqualify you so we have legalism let no one judge you now we have mysticism let no one disqualify you look at verses 18 and 19 he said let no man beguile or disqualify you of your reward in voluntary humility notice that's a feigned or phony of voluntary humility and the worshipping of angels intruding into those things which he have not seen I think it's better to translate that which he claims to have seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly or carnal mind here's the problem with mysticism verse 19 they're not holding the head from which all the body and joints and the band's having nourishment ministered and knit together increased with the increase of God now here's a description of mysticism mysticism looks for reality in subjective experience and I tried to make that as simple and to the point as I can of a definition the mysticism looks for reality in experience now there's nothing wrong with the experience so there is a true mysticism but that experience must be based on the truth of God's work let me tell you something if you miss everything I say this morning don't miss this the way to determine what is true and what is false what is real and what is not what's of God and what if not is the objective truth of God's Word the Bible it's not your subjective feelings I felt it well I saw it well I heard it well I just know it's true because I have a burning in my bosom the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter day Saints will say Mormons will say that they know their doctrine is true because they have a burning in their bosom eat a burrito and get a burning in your visit the older I get everything burns my bosom what's the deal with that that's subjective what about the Bible is what you teach true with God's Word is it aligned with the truth of God's Word that's the plumb line that's the authority false teachers claim listen to me carefully special visions verse 18 special visions that only they had seen new revelations in contact with angels and spirits again I don't want to offend anyone but the Mormon Church is based on the testimony of one man named Joseph Smith that he was visited by an angel the Angels name was Moroni and I showed him where the golden tablets word gave him special glasses to read that and it's all a claim that he had this experience subjective experience what about God's Word what about the Bible so they come up with other writings and this angel said all of Christendom is apostate all Christians have fallen away from the truth I'm going to give you the truth I'm going to give you a new revelation listen if it's new it's not true if it's true it's not new God has given to us his word and we don't need some new revelation some new insight Paul the Apostle said if I or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that what you've received let them be an ass among Galatians chapter 1 let them be a curse to the lowest hell it doesn't matter if I are an angel Paul pastor Miller whoever it might be if we preach any other gospel than that which is in the Word of God let us be a nassima so it's a subjective kind of experience so we have the New Age movement creeping into the church we have the experience focus of the church and I'm all for experience I'm all for experiencing God but it must be based upon the teachings of Scripture so he says in verse 18 let no man beguile you the word beguile was taken from two words in the Greek its prize and umpire and it means to disqualify of a prize what would an umpire do he would either disqualify you or he would reward you if you're running a race and you stepped out of the line out of your lane the umpire would disqualify you so he was the umpire that can make you kind of disqualified or not or reward you and what Paul is saying these false teachers will rob you of your prize and the prize is Jesus Christ they will disqualify you now there are two problems with false mysticism and I want you to see them in your Bible the first is that it promotes self verse 18 and the second one is a demotes Christ first of all it elevates man and then it D elevates Christ notice it in verse 18 he says let no man beguile of your reward in a voluntary humility worshipping angels and intruding into those things which they have not seen vainly puffed up in their fleshly Minds they take their stand verse 18 on visions that only they have seen this phrase is really a challenge to translate from the Greek and scholars kind of debate as to how it should be phrased but I think after studying this that it should be phrase they take their stand the visions only they have seen and this brings you into intimidation well I saw something you didn't see I know something you don't know I've had experiences you don't have and so now you need to look to me and I'll teach you and I'll train you and you can follow me I am actually and again I have to be careful here but I've actually seen people preaching or preachers preaching and in the middle of the sermon they'll stop and they start dialoguing with God I saw one preacher stopped and said Lord Lord no Lord I can't say that no no no Lord are you sure you want me to say Lord you really want me to say that look I don't know if I should say that whenever everybody closes their Bible wow what is the Lord wanting to say he has a direct hot line from heaven he's hearing from God right now that's dangerous to start with right now and they said the Lord just wants me to tell you right now there are 10 people that ought to give $1,000 each writer really Wow why not 11 people I mean just it's just crazy and what it does it's kind of a false kind of sense of intimidation let me tell you something there are no second-class citizens in the kingdom of heaven you are complete in Christ you have Jesus you have everything you need you don't need some preacher to channel God for you you can open your Bible and God speaks through what he's spoken whatever they say must be judged according to the scriptures never shut your Bible when you're listening to a preacher always keep it open always read behind the text and past the tents and around the text I've asked yourself is that really what it says and is that really what it means and do your own homework don't let anyone deceive you don't let anyone timming I God told me to turn riot God I was driving my car the other day and God said turn right and go here and go there you ever hear people talk then go wow wow you must be can I touch you I want some of that anointing God doesn't talk to me like that oh chill turn right turn left say this you know I know that God can make impressions on our heart and that God can lead us by our desires and our impressions but we don't have a direct hotline from God the Bible says they just have to live by faith and that faith is in God's Word which declares us to God's son whom we put our faith and trust in but they take their stand on visions that only they have seen so they're intimidating you as though they're hearing directly from God this is mysticism they're empty minds verse 18 it says they're puffed up and then it the real problem is in verse 19 it demotes Christ it elevates the man or the person of the messenger and ad emotes Christ notice verse 19 the problem is they're not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment are ministered unto knit together and increase with the increase of God he uses the analogy of the human body and the head the body must stay connected to the head it's a good idea to keep your head right you can lose an arm you can lose a leg you can lose a hand you can lose in the air you can lose things but you lose your head you're not going to function Jesus is the head stay connected to Christ amen he's the one that nurses the body supplies the strength of the body he's the one that gives us what we need so they're not holding the head that's the big problem they're not united to Christ there's no spiritual life apart from Christ Christ is the head of the church verse 19 and Christ nurses the church so be aware of those who promote self and demote Christ but there's a third warning verse 22 23 and this is it watch out for asceticism let no one enslave you verse 22 23 follow with me in your Bible he'sjust wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world or the principles of the world here's the question then why as though living in the world are you subject to ordinances ordinances like verse 21 touch not taste not handle not which all are to perish would be using after the commandments and the doctrines of men notice the source is their commandments and doctrines of men which things verse 23 have indeed a show of wisdom and all worship and humility and neglecting of the body but not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh now what is a stennis ISM asceticism and legalism our partners in humanistic religion asceticism promotes self-denial the deliberate refusal to have material comfort as a means of spirituality it's saying I have my body is evil therefore I'm going to starve it I'm going to punish it I'm going to afflict it today we know what we know it is dualism which practice asceticism an attempt to free the spirit from the prison of the body now a lot of Eastern mysticism does this and so they they punish the body they afflict the body let me tell you something that's so important the body the physical body is not evil your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit the human body the physical body the material world is not evil it's been sanctified by God it's been created by God so you don't have to punish your body or flip your body to be more spiritual well I I can't sleep on a soft bed because that would be carnal I need to punish this flesh and afflict this flesh and I need to subdue this flesh that's that's not going to help you at all that's dualism trying to free the Spirit from the prison of the body sadly this ideas come into the church and especially in the fourth century when people moved into monasteries as though moving in the monastery up on the hill on the mountain somewhere not getting married not eating certain foods is going to make you more spiritual the church begin to promote don't get married that you're more spiritual if you don't get married we have branches of the church where people are married to Christ and they're not married and forbidding to marry which they think is a sinful thing and if you do get married that don't have sexual intimacy in your marriage because it's just a necessary evil to procreate have kids that's not biblical Christianity that's not scriptural God created to be enjoyed and have pleasure in the coveted relationship of marriage they denied themselves of sleep and a food they practiced asceticism wearing certain clothes purposely wearing rough hard harsh clothes to punish your skin uncomfortable clothes so that you would be more spiritual they would sleep in a swamp or one monk refused to lie down when he slept and he denied himself laying down to sleeping another monk lived in a hollowed-out log for seven years and he was spiritual another monk had maggots all over his body thinking that made him more sure and when he walked down the street they said the maggots would fall off of him and people thought Wow spiritual no he's stupid that's creepy that's not spiritual that's just flat-out dumb or if I get on my knees and I walk up the steps or I whip my body then I'm going to be more spiritual or if I deny myself some creature comforts that's a status ism I want to know three things about asceticism in this text first it's ignorance in verse 20 it's ignorant of the fact that they had died with Christ he says therefore if you are dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world why is the living in the world are you subject to ordinances it was ignorant of the truth which Paul just taught in Colossians that you died with Christ you were buried with Christ you've risen with Christ therefore you're not subject to these ordinances secondly I want you to notice this description verse 21 it's touch not taste not handle life don't touch that don't taste that don't handle that notice it's only negative they judge themselves as spiritual because of what they don't do rather than what they do you know that's the way a lot of people look at Christianity they look at Christianity as a bunch of don'ts don't have fun starts on the top of the list don't smile don't enjoy anything be miserable but know this one day you're going to get to go to heaven that's not Christianity it's only known by the negatives you know don't touch that don't taste that don't don't don't drink that don't do this it's all negatives and that's pretty sad and then thirdly its weakness in verse 22 and 23 it is a man-made teaching he makes that perfectly clear in verse 22 he says after the commandments and the doctrines of men what you need to do as a Christian is you need to differentiate between what the Bible teaches and what people teach what is man-made rules and traditions and what is truly biblical and what is scriptural it's not taught in the Bible and then it's also weak because it's hypocritical notice verse 23 these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion false humility and neglect of the body so it's a feign our phony religion it appears to be spiritual while you look so spiritual because you wear a robe or you look so spiritual because you shave your head now those things are ok but God's looking at the heart he's not looking at your head or your clothes that you wear and it's a funny Punk it's a phony or feign spirituality I love what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6 when he talked about fasting he says when you fast don't look sad he says when you fast wash your face comehere he actually said don't appear unto others that you are fasting and this is funny because I've been to government and I've been to potlucks where Christians will show up at a potluck and not eat you go aren't you going to eat no I'm fasting really we'll get out of the way I'm not trying to get to the food I've been to public so they just walk around look at the food and so often - if they talk real soft that makes them more spiritual are you gonna eat no wow your spirit I mean if they whisper that makes you more spiritual no you know if you're not I mean go to the potluck but don't don't don't don't let people know hold up the big sign I'm fasting you people are I'm more spiritual than you a fasting is fine but you don't do it to be seen as men you don't give money to be seen of men you don't serve God to be seen as men you do it as unto the Lord so Jesus said watch out that you appear not unto menace to be fasting 11r can't use that he said asceticism has his own seductiveness today in this Eastern form it attracts me indulge cultured elite thousands today have their gurus through him they make their aesthetic nod to God seeing for what it really is this is an expression of independence from God which says I'm going to get to God on my own terms by my own mind a status ISM feeds the flesh by starving it I like that it feeds the flesh by starving it and notice lastly it's powerless to overcome the sin nature verse 23 he says but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh there's no benefit or value to help you resist your sinful fallen carnal nature what you need is to be born again what you need is to live in a life of dependence upon the holy spirit when you come to know Christ you are free indeed amen that's not free to sin that's free not to sin that's not free to do whatever you want that's free to live a life that pleases God now the answer to legalism is the grace of Christ the answer to mysticism is my completeness in Christ and the answer to asceticism is that I have died with Christ and that I've risen with Christ the answer is Christ Christ is all that we need and Christ is all that we want amen don't let anyone spoil you let's pray

Channel: Revival Christian Fellowship

Views: 751

Rating: 4.5555553 out of 5

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Id: k-4frI1sd6o

Length: 45min 33sec (2733 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 09 2017