WEBVTT 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:20.879 Welcome more. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:23.280 Good afternoon, I should say, everyone. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:27.359 My name is Mark, one of the leaders here at the church. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:30.079 It's great to have you here if you're new or visiting. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:41.280 As we continue in our series in the book of Colossians, please keep that passage open in front of you as we look at it together and we pray as we consider God's word. 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:53.840 Father, we ask that you would quiet our minds and still our hearts and focus our attention on the Lord Jesus. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.880 May we see Him for who He is. 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:11.599 In these words, may we marvel again at what He has done for us and may we be stealed and encouraged in our faith because of it. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:17.680 Change us from one degree of glory to another. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:19.599 Make us more like Christ. 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:23.519 By the power of your Holy Spirit, we ask it in Jesus' name. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:24.480 Amen. 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:36.640 In the work The Pilgrim's Progress, which is written by John Bunyan uh a few hundred years ago, uh Bunyan maps out the Christian life. 00:01:36.799 --> 00:01:44.159 The main protagonist, in fact, is called Christian, and he is journeying on his way to the heavenly city. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:57.760 And on his journey, he experiences uh the kinds of things, temptations and trials, encouragements and discouragements that any Christian faces in their journey. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:16.639 And there comes a section in the book where Christian is taken captive, and he is taken captive by a giant called despair and locked away in the dungeons of Doubting Castle. 00:02:18.400 --> 00:02:26.240 There he languishes, tormented by his doubts, starved of hope. 00:02:28.479 --> 00:02:36.800 I imagine that I am not alone in this room to be someone who has wrestled with doubts. 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:52.319 We find ourselves trapped by the lies that we believe, lies that we believe about ourselves, lies that we believe about God. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:54.639 Does he love me? 00:02:54.960 --> 00:02:56.639 How could he love me? 00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:58.879 Am I really forgiven? 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:15.120 The guilt of past sin lurks in the dark places of our hearts, ready to make themselves known and to remind us of those events and choices that we deeply regret. 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:24.159 In this place, God seems very distant. 00:03:25.680 --> 00:03:36.719 Perhaps he feels like a father who used to be so close, but who's gone away now, such that you can barely remember what he looks like. 00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:47.680 Christian is locked in the dungeon of doubt and castle, tormented by thoughts like this. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:51.840 Those thoughts that so often come to us. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:55.439 How is it that he escapes? 00:03:56.719 --> 00:04:00.639 How is it that he would be free from castle doubt? 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:07.919 Well, in the novel, he discovers that actually he's been in possession of the key all along. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:11.120 It was hidden next to his heart. 00:04:11.280 --> 00:04:17.120 And the key was called promise, and it unlocked the door to doubt and set him free. 00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:36.240 In this passage, the rosy red, Paul points out a number of things that take us captive, that shake our faith, our confidence in the gospel, our confidence in who God is. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:51.120 And then he assures us in different ways of how it is that the gospel unlocks those doors that capture us and set us free. 00:04:52.319 --> 00:05:02.240 Paul begins in verse 8 of the reading, that very first phrase, Paul says, See to it that no one takes you captive. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:05.839 Even that's worth reflecting on for a moment. 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:21.759 The inference being there are things that want to capture you, and that you have the resources as a Christian and both the prerogative, as in you should do it, to fight against those things. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:24.720 See to it that no one takes you captive. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:30.000 Do not be a willing victim that is captured by the things that would beset you. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:32.399 Those doubts, those lies. 00:05:33.360 --> 00:05:36.319 Do not go willingly into that dungeon. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:38.079 Fight, Christian. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:48.399 In this passage, I think there are three main things that we need to fight against. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:51.600 Three main things that seek to take us captive. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:59.040 First is lies, second is guilt, and the third is legalism. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:05.439 Legalism is lumped there or associated there towards the end of the passage also with mysticism. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:08.480 So we'll look a little bit at both of those. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:10.560 So often people's faith. 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:13.120 Haven't you seen people walk away from the faith? 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:17.839 Because of one of these things, because they've believed lies about God. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.920 God can't really be close to me, God can't really love me. 00:06:24.399 --> 00:06:28.160 Or they feel crushed under the weight of guilt and they can't bear it anymore. 00:06:28.399 --> 00:06:31.360 They can't find the joy in their salvation. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:33.680 And so they walk away from it. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:41.680 Or those who try as they might try to earn God's favor. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:47.759 And so what they end up doing is they shipwreck their faith on the rocks of pride. 00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:56.160 Or they're crushed because they find that it is too hard and they fail too frequently. 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:00.959 How could you not be captured by those things? 00:07:01.279 --> 00:07:07.600 Wouldn't it be great to go away feeling like you had resources to fight against being captured by those sorts of things? 00:07:07.680 --> 00:07:09.279 I think that'd be quite important, don't you? 00:07:11.040 --> 00:07:16.560 Paul says that these things are kidnappers, that they are out for your soul. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:18.560 Fight against them. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:21.759 He gives you the tools to fight. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:25.600 First thing that we'll look at is lies. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:29.199 Fight against the lies that you believe. 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:36.160 I think there are a number of lies in verses uh 8, 9, and 10. 00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:41.199 But the first of those lies is really the chief of them all. 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:55.680 The chief lie that any person will believe that will cause them to doubt the goodness of God, that will cause them to walk away from the gospel, is that Jesus isn't enough for you. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:08:02.079 The chief lie that you will believe is that Jesus isn't enough. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:11.839 That you lack something because you do not have whatever. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:14.240 It's a constant temptation, isn't it? 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:16.319 It's a constant temptation for me. 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:21.759 We say implicitly, or we model in our life, Jesus is fine, right? 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.759 Love Jesus, but I really want that. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:27.360 I love that. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:28.560 I need that. 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:31.680 That's the thing that's actually going to make me feel fulfilled. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.639 What you're saying at that point, you're believing the lie that in Jesus you lack something good. 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:42.000 Paul wants to encourage us. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:49.600 He wants to encourage us with the truth that in Jesus we lack no good thing. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:52.240 Verse 9. 00:08:52.879 --> 00:09:03.919 For in him, that's Jesus, for in him the whole fullness of deity, that's godness, all that it is to mean God be God, dwells bodily. 00:09:05.279 --> 00:09:06.879 Jesus lacks nothing. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:10.000 Jesus is fully God, the perfect image-bearer. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:14.720 All of the perfections that it means to be God are in Jesus. 00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:22.080 The omniscient powerfulness of God is in Jesus, his all-knowingness. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:32.399 He doesn't lack in love, he doesn't lack in wisdom, he doesn't lack in generosity, he doesn't lack in compassion, he doesn't lack in mercy, he doesn't lack in power. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:34.399 He is fully God. 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:53.519 And if that wasn't astonishing enough, he goes on to say in verse ten, and you have been filled in him. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:00.320 Here is the logic. 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:09.279 All that it means to be God is in Jesus. 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:14.480 And we are in Jesus. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:21.120 And from that fullness we have been filled. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:34.080 Brother, sister, you lack no good thing if you are trusting in him. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:47.840 Another lie that we believe is the lie that we don't belong. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:56.080 That we don't belong in here in God's family, we don't have a sense of home. 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:01.600 But verse 11, believe it or not, gives us hope to that end. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:04.159 I say, believe it or not, because you look down at verse 11. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:05.679 What does verse 11 talk about? 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:07.279 It talks about circumcision. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:16.320 In him you've been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, and nothing thrills your Sunday afternoon without some good chat about circumcision. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:20.399 How does that help us to think about our sense of belonging? 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:23.360 Well, you need to understand what circumcision was. 00:11:23.600 --> 00:11:29.919 Circumcision in the Old Testament was a way of marking out who was in the people of God. 00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:36.879 If you were circumcised in your flesh, you were part of that people. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:42.320 It was a sign that God had set his promises on you. 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:55.120 That he would be with us always in a similar but more gloriously full way. 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:07.679 Christ marks out his people, his new people, by circumcising not their flesh, but their hearts. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:11.360 He removes their body of flesh. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:13.840 That is, he takes away their sin. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.240 The result is that you are part of the family of God. 00:12:20.399 --> 00:12:22.080 You are part of this new community. 00:12:22.320 --> 00:12:23.919 Christ has marked you out. 00:12:24.159 --> 00:12:25.759 This is your home. 00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:29.679 Welcome. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:34.159 By faith, God is your God. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:37.279 You are his people. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:41.840 He is yours, and you are his. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:44.799 Your home. 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:51.679 Then Paul goes on in verse 12. 00:12:53.679 --> 00:12:59.919 And in a in a in essence, what he is saying here is saying, How do you know that this is true? 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:03.360 How do you know that it's true that God really has marked you out? 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:08.559 And Paul, in a sense, says, Do you remember how wet you were? 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:11.600 Do you remember how wet you were at your baptism? 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:25.200 As certainly as you were wet at your baptism is how certain you can be that Christ has made you his and that you are part of his community. 00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:28.240 He points them back to their baptism. 00:13:30.559 --> 00:13:37.519 As certainly as you were washed with water, so by faith Christ has taken your sin and made you his. 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:40.559 But in verse 12, he's saying more than that. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:57.919 He says, Having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith, in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead, you were buried with Jesus. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:02.159 When Jesus died, you died. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.720 When he was sealed in the tomb, you were sealed in the tomb. 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:11.679 When he was raised on the third day of the newness of life, you were raised with him. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:24.960 Not to sound like a police officer, but where were you on Good Friday, 33 AD? 00:14:26.480 --> 00:14:28.399 Where were you on the night in question? 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:36.480 Because we have this image in our minds that the cross is a thing that's happening over there. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:47.679 Behold the man upon the cross, my sin upon his shoulders, ashamed to hear my walking voice call out among the scoffers. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:14:56.240 But what Paul is saying here is that you're there. 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:05.360 You're in Jesus as he dies by faith, joined to him, inextricably linked to him. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:07.919 When he died, you died. 00:15:08.240 --> 00:15:11.279 When he went to the grave, you were buried. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:18.720 And when he rose to newness of life, incorruptible, imperishable, you were raised in him. 00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:20.799 What hope that gives you? 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:25.440 What resources for unlocking those doors of doubt and despair? 00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:30.720 That you are inseparable from the risen Lord Jesus. 00:15:36.639 --> 00:15:41.120 Is God close to you? 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:45.360 Yes. 00:15:46.559 --> 00:15:48.399 You are in Him. 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:53.279 Where you go, He goes. 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:56.320 Everything else is a lie. 00:15:59.519 --> 00:16:01.679 Are you alone? 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:09.279 In Christ, God has made you part of his new community. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:14.399 Everything else is a lie. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:18.240 Are you loved? 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:26.080 Christ has died to take your sin and give you new life. 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:29.679 Everything else is a lie. 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:42.799 Don't you fight against the lies that beset your soul when all the lights are out and you lie there in the darkness? 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:46.240 Don't be taken captive. 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:56.559 The second thing that will take us captive is guilt. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:16:59.840 Is that a familiar thing? 00:17:01.360 --> 00:17:03.120 Or does that just mean? 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:07.759 Guilt entraps us. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.119 Don't you find it gnawing at you? 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:19.759 That's why people, especially in Ireland, have rejected religion. 00:17:20.720 --> 00:17:24.319 That's all religion seems to do is just make you feel bad. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:29.519 And so people walk away. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:32.799 Guilt is a kidnapper. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:45.680 But more than that, Paul shows us that guilt is something that is wielded by our enemies. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:55.200 He refers to things like verse 8 according to the elemental spirits. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:58.799 The term elemental spirits comes up again in verse 20. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:04.559 We're told that Jesus is the uh head in verse 10 of all rule and authority. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:10.400 And we read in verse 15 that Christ has disarmed the rulers and authorities. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:21.920 These are ancient ways of talking about those forces beyond our sight of vision that would array themselves against us. 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.319 We are in a spiritual battle. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:28.319 I do not say that to disturb or upset. 00:18:29.519 --> 00:18:35.119 I say that because we are not mere rationalists. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:37.119 We are supernaturalists. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:39.759 There are things beyond what we can see. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:43.359 And we are in a spiritual battle. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:49.839 What is our enemy's greatest weapon against you? 00:18:50.319 --> 00:18:51.759 Have you ever thought about that? 00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:55.519 What is our enemy's greatest weapon against you? 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:59.359 It's your own sin. 00:19:02.480 --> 00:19:07.680 You see, the word Satan means accuser. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:13.839 Satan is a great prosecutorial lawyer. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:20.720 And you know what the really disturbing thing about the fact that he uses your sin against you? 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:24.319 It's that you actually did it. 00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:27.759 That you're actually on the hook. 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:33.680 You see, you can imagine for a second the great celestial courtroom. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:38.240 And God the holy judge is there at the bench. 00:19:39.599 --> 00:19:46.079 Satan is the lawyer for the prosecution, and you stand in the dark. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:52.240 And Satan reads out the rap sheet. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:20:00.960 Says, Mark is charged with this and this and this and this. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:03.039 It's just four things. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:04.960 Maybe longer for you. 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:12.480 And the problem is I'm actually guilty of them. 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:18.000 And so what Satan does, he says, God, you are holy and just, you cannot look upon sin. 00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:22.319 You are pure and righteous, and Mark stands justly condemned. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:26.720 So I have a real problem, and so do you. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:31.920 Your rapture hasn't been made up, it's actually true. 00:20:32.160 --> 00:20:35.119 So how do we walk free from that courtroom? 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:38.240 Paul tells us. 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:47.119 In verse, end of verse 13, we're told that Jesus has forgiven our trespasses. 00:20:47.279 --> 00:20:50.960 Then he tells us how it is that he's forgiven our trespasses. 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:59.200 Verse 14, by canceling the record of death, that's our rapture, that stood against us with its legal demands, demands for condemnation. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:03.920 This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:12.880 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:23.359 When it says that Jesus disarmed our enemies, what weapon is he taking away from them? 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:27.440 Do not think of pitchforks or guns. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:32.559 The weapon that Satan wields against you is your own sin. 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:36.559 Lay out on the on the docket sheet. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:43.119 And Jesus takes it from that prosecutorial accuser and he rips it up. 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:44.640 He dies for it. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:46.480 He nails it to the cross. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:48.000 He pays it in full. 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:50.240 And so the case is thrown out. 00:21:51.759 --> 00:21:58.160 You are declared innocent because he is paid for your sin. 00:22:01.920 --> 00:22:11.119 And so those spiritual powers are not something to be feared. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.720 Christ has made a public mockery of them. 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.720 He has put them, second half of verse 15, to open shame. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:30.240 This is the ancient image of a Roman warrior coming back from battle, you know, a great centurion, a Roman leader, coming back into Rome, banners unfurled, and he's there on his white horse. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:31.599 And who's coming behind him? 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:37.839 All of his captives, all of the people that he's defeated, and they're being mocked by everybody else. 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:42.079 And for Jesus, that's Satan, our enemies. 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:54.559 This is not to say that we no longer feel guilty. 00:22:56.559 --> 00:23:02.960 There are times when guilt is used to chasten us. 00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:06.400 There's Holy Spirit given guilt. 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:09.839 It's a sign of a sensitive conscience, in fact. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:17.440 If you're sitting there, you're sitting there and you're indulging in that habitual sin. 00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:26.160 The thing that you should be really worried about is the point when you no longer feel guilty about it at all. 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:39.359 Guilt can be used to driven up to drive us back to God, our God who is our Father, who stands with open arms, who longs to receive us with abundant forgiveness. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:44.160 Now, what Paul is talking about here. 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:52.720 What Paul is talking about here is the experience that we have as Christians of those things in the past. 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:57.920 Those choices, decisions, actions. 00:23:59.759 --> 00:24:05.359 That we know have been forgiven in our more rational, objective moments. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:07.279 We know that Jesus has paid the price for those. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:15.680 We know that we've been forgiven, and yet the accuser still tries to come again and go, Yeah, but don't you remember what you did? 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:20.079 I can't believe that you did that, and that you call yourself a Christian. 00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:22.640 What a hypocrite. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:31.599 At those points, we have a great answer. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:43.680 It is not to be remorseless, it is not to be arrogant or proud, but to humbly acknowledge that our debt has been paid. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:47.920 I have no other answer. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:50.319 I need no other plea. 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:55.680 It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:03.920 That is your response to that besetting guilt. 00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:19.920 Thirdly, we can find ourselves captured by legalism. 00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:27.839 Or captured by comparing ourselves to people who have greater spiritual experiences than us. 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:46.000 Thinking firstly of legalism, you know, the perception of Christianity by many people is that it is a moral straitjacket, weighs you down, kills your innovation, stifles your freedom and self-expression. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:52.480 And for sure, I mean, depending on where you grew up, you might have even met some Christians like that. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:26:03.440 You know those Christians who you may have encountered who say things like, you cannot be a Christian if you fill in the blank. 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:10.160 You cannot be a Christian if you, what's the, you know, we'll play kind of family fortunes, you know, what's the what's the top answer? 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:11.359 Drink alcohol. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:13.359 Ding ding ding ding ding, right? 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:18.079 People have different views on that. 00:26:18.240 --> 00:26:21.200 If you are if you're TT, God bless you, right? 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:26.000 What I'm saying is people say, if you cannot be a Christian if that's a that's illegal. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:34.240 It's saying that your faith, your acceptance before God is conditioned on your abstinence, and that's wicked. 00:26:35.599 --> 00:26:36.880 Do you see the nuance there? 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:38.079 I hope you do. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:48.559 You cannot be a Christian if you work on a Sunday, if you go to the cinema on the Sabbath, and you swell the guy that grew up in Northern Ireland. 00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:54.160 You cannot be a Christian if you do not hold to certain traditions and certain laws. 00:26:55.039 --> 00:27:05.279 And then there are those who go on and on about their spiritual experiences and make spiritual experiences a marker of true faith. 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:07.680 That's not to disparage spiritual experiences. 00:27:07.759 --> 00:27:12.880 If you have them and they improve your love for Jesus, then God bless you. 00:27:13.200 --> 00:27:18.000 But do not make them a marker of true faith, do not make them a marker of orthodoxy. 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:24.400 Or you can think in your mind, I haven't had this spiritual experience, and so I cannot be a true Christian. 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:29.039 Paul to all of these things says, no. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:37.680 Verse 16, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food or drink with regard to festival, new moon, or sabbath. 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:41.279 These are the shadows of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:43.279 Let no one disqualify you. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:44.960 Insisting on asceticism. 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:51.599 That's beating the body, fasting, going living in the desert, or you know, up in Glendalok in a little hut, right? 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:53.039 That's asceticism. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:00.480 The worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, that's a spiritual experience sort of thing there. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:03.279 Paul says, No, don't be captured by that. 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:10.720 Don't believe the lie that you need to do these things or to have these experiences in order for God to like you more. 00:28:13.680 --> 00:28:16.880 That does not mean, however, that we get to live however we want. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:25.440 What we need to do, by implication, is hold fast to Christ. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:32.319 The problem with the legalist, the problem with the mystic, is that they're not holding fast to Jesus. 00:28:34.559 --> 00:28:38.079 In Colossae, Colossians, Colossi. 00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:43.759 In Colossae, there were people who were coming along and insisting that they obey some Old Testament laws. 00:28:43.920 --> 00:28:48.240 That's where you get the reference to food and drink, new moon and sabbath. 00:28:49.680 --> 00:28:54.480 You can have your Jesus, but put down the bacon sandwich, right? 00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:56.720 Take Saturday off. 00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:58.240 That sort of thing. 00:28:58.400 --> 00:28:59.839 Don't do work on the Sabbath. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:02.000 But Paul is saying, no, no, no. 00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:11.200 Christ has fulfilled the law, the Old Testament law, Ten Commandments or the 613 laws that are expounded in those books. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:14.480 Paul said, no, there are shadows. 00:29:15.359 --> 00:29:18.000 They're shadows of the things to come. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:20.559 The substance belongs to Christ. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:22.319 Christ fulfilled the law. 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:24.240 What do we mean by Christ fulfilled the law? 00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:25.759 Well, first, two meanings. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:27.920 First is it all points to him. 00:29:28.319 --> 00:29:29.839 He is the great high priest. 00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:31.599 He is the perfect sacrifice. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:34.240 He is the glorious temple. 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:37.839 He is the meeting place of God and man. 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:40.960 He is where heaven and earth overlap, as it were. 00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:43.759 And they're all point to him, they're all fulfilled in him. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:47.839 In the Old Testament, Christ plays in 10,000 places. 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:58.640 But it also means that Jesus in his earthly life was the perfect law keeper on our behalf. 00:30:00.319 --> 00:30:02.160 Perfectly righteous. 00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:05.759 And so he summarizes the law for us. 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:07.839 He summarizes the law, and how does he do it? 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.240 He says that we must perfectly love God and love neighbor. 00:30:10.480 --> 00:30:14.319 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself, right? 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:22.160 Holding fast to Christ, therefore, is living out of that principle. 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:24.559 Perfect love of God and love of neighbor. 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:32.160 The Old Testament, the Ten Commandments, Ten Commandments, the Ten Commandments apply to you as a Christian. 00:30:34.240 --> 00:30:34.559 No. 00:30:38.000 --> 00:30:42.319 That doesn't mean well, I'm gonna go and go and murder. 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:47.680 My neighbor has a particularly awesome ox that I'm gonna head off and covet. 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:49.680 No, no, no, that does not what it means. 00:30:52.000 --> 00:31:02.160 No, the law is taken off the backs of Christians and put into our hands as a tool to know what it means to love God and love neighbor. 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:14.559 But if that wasn't enough, Paul, Paul shows us also that these two things of legalism and chasing spiritual experience, they don't work. 00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:18.319 Don't work in your spiritual life. 00:31:18.400 --> 00:31:20.880 Let's look at legalism first, even though it's right down the end. 00:31:21.359 --> 00:31:22.400 Verse 23. 00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:25.920 He says, they indeed have the appearance of wisdom. 00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:32.079 It looks good, Paul says, in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body. 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:34.480 You know, you look super spiritual. 00:31:34.880 --> 00:31:40.160 If you're, you know, fasting all the time, whipping yourself with a birch. 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:43.119 But look at what Paul says. 00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:51.200 They are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. 00:31:52.880 --> 00:31:57.519 They look good, but they don't work. 00:31:57.920 --> 00:31:59.359 Why don't they work? 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:05.920 Because they are disconnected from Christ, they're not holding fast to the head. 00:32:08.400 --> 00:32:16.319 Anyone who has tried to kick their porn habit knows this. 00:32:18.400 --> 00:32:27.279 Because you know that you could throw your phone and your iPad and your laptop into a cement mixer. 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:36.319 But if your heart is not captivated by Christ, you Hafner's still gonna get you. 00:32:37.039 --> 00:32:37.920 Do you know? 00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:47.920 Neither does spiritual experience, chasing spiritual experience, work. 00:32:56.480 --> 00:33:03.839 There's people who are going into detail about visions, they end up being puffed up without reason by a sensuous mind. 00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:13.519 They're not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 00:33:15.839 --> 00:33:17.359 See, you stop and you think about it. 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:19.920 What Paul's saying here is really quite shocking. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:35.599 He's saying that you can be so captivated, so obsessed with chasing a spiritual experience that you can miss Jesus altogether. 00:33:38.079 --> 00:33:44.160 Again, these people look super spiritual, but they have let go of Christ. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:50.640 Caveat, I am not saying that that is true of everyone who experiences a spiritual experience. 00:33:50.799 --> 00:33:54.480 If that is you and that helps you love Jesus, God bless you. 00:34:01.200 --> 00:34:08.320 But we can think that it is only at the spiritual mountaintop that we are truly nourished. 00:34:11.039 --> 00:34:14.480 That we truly see the face of Jesus, and that's just not true. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:21.760 Christ is not just with us in the mountaintop when they come, but they're wonderful. 00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:25.679 He journeys with us in the valley too. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:29.360 Remember, where we go, he goes. 00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:34.719 Imagine for a second in your mind's eye. 00:34:36.639 --> 00:34:42.719 Someone looking out the window, waiting for Jesus to show up. 00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:49.119 Looking out the window, they're peering into the darkness, longing for Jesus to come and to eat with them. 00:34:49.840 --> 00:35:02.960 They're peering out and they're getting hungrier and hungrier, tirider and tire, more and more hopeless, straining and struggling, wondering when will he show up? 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:05.920 Why has he been gone for so long? 00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:12.079 And the camera in your mind's eye pans back. 00:35:13.199 --> 00:35:22.719 And you see that Jesus has been sitting at the table the entire time, waiting for the person to turn around and see him. 00:35:26.159 --> 00:35:34.880 Christ does not primarily make himself known in the blaze of the spiritual mountaintop. 00:35:35.920 --> 00:35:40.320 He comes to us in the ordinary things. 00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:46.000 He comes to us in the simple acts of service. 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:52.320 He comes to us in those words of encouragement that bind up our broken hearts. 00:35:52.639 --> 00:36:01.599 He comes to us in his word that is living and active, that really does change your heart and change how you think. 00:36:02.079 --> 00:36:03.679 He meets us there. 00:36:04.800 --> 00:36:07.760 He nourishes us and satisfies us. 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:11.760 He binds us closer one to another. 00:36:12.400 --> 00:36:16.639 He comes to us in the ordinary things. 00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:20.079 If only we would turn and see him. 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:28.800 He comes to us at this table. 00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:38.320 In this meal of bread and wine, simple things, basic things, fundamental things. 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:51.760 Isn't it a strange thing that the table of the king is not adorned with golden goblets and sticky treats? 00:36:53.760 --> 00:37:02.159 But is a wooden board where bread is given and wine is provided. 00:37:04.079 --> 00:37:06.400 There he nourishes us. 00:37:08.639 --> 00:37:18.400 And so ask yourself, is that Christ enough for ye? 00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:24.800 If so, come and eat. 00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:29.840 Has this Christ taken your guilt? 00:37:31.119 --> 00:37:33.039 Disarmed your enemy? 00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:41.760 If the answer is yes, come and eat. 00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:45.360 Do you belong to him? 00:37:47.440 --> 00:37:50.320 Are you joined to him by faith? 00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:53.679 Are you part of his community? 00:37:54.800 --> 00:37:56.559 Has he marked you out? 00:37:58.960 --> 00:38:14.800 If so comedy Those who sit there and think how could I be worthy to eat? 00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:19.920 It's the wrong question to ask. 00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:28.719 What matters is not the strength or clarity of your faith but the object of your faith. 00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:35.599 And so as you prepare to come, ask yourself these questions. 00:38:36.880 --> 00:38:39.199 Do you love Jesus perfectly? 00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:42.079 I can answer that one for you. 00:38:42.719 --> 00:38:43.039 No. 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:48.320 Do you love Jesus as much as you should? 00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:52.559 I suspect that I can answer that one for you as well. 00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:54.320 No. 00:38:56.480 --> 00:38:59.039 But here is the one that only you can answer. 00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:02.159 Do you love him at all? 00:39:04.880 --> 00:39:05.199 If so.