Pauls Epistle to Colossians (11)

Music Music Well let's turn to Colossians 2 please.

I received a note from our friends Dennis and Lynette Hustedt.

They've been in South Africa a few weeks. Dennis has preached in a, actually a

South African Anglican church the last two Sundays. I met the pastor with him a couple of years ago.

We had coffee with him, a good man. He says the church has been blessed down there in, that's located in Durban.

They, you know we've known Dennis and Lynette for many years and our church has supported them as missionaries for many years when they were stationed in South Africa.

They've been back in the States now for a handful of years and he's pastoring a small Southern Baptist church in Arkansas.

Our church has continued to designate missions offering,

I think it's probably around $3 ,500 a year. But instead of going directly to Dennis and Lynette, they hold it in reserve and so at the end of each year, we have now for a handful of years, send him a single check and they devote it to this conference ministry in South Africa.

And so our church has fully underwritten these pastors' conferences, purchasing their ticket to get down there and back and the costs of putting on the conferences.

And they're for pastors and Dennis wrote me and said that this attendance is significantly up this year in the first two conferences.

I think normally the first one's pretty small, maybe 20 people and 20 pastors and the second larger, maybe 40.

But this year between the two of them, they've had about 125 already and their largest conference is yet this week in Johannesburg.

So they might be hitting close to 200 pastors this year. That's a great influence that we can have there within South Africa.

And he told me after they complete this week, they're going down to Cape Town because he hopes to have contact with some pastors down there with view to maybe start in a conference in the future, hoping maybe to be down there at this time next year where he's hoping that Doug Van Meter, who pastors in Johannesburg and myself will cover the conferences they're dealing with now.

We were there twice in the past and they're looking forward to us coming back. I have numbers of them

I can send our sermon notes to every week and I hear back from them pretty frequently. And so we have a good mission work down there.

And please pray for the Lord's blessing on their ministry this week.

Well, here we are in Colossians 2. We want to consider continue to consider the apostle Paul's instruction to this church that he had never personally visited.

We have just completed our consideration of Colossians 2, 1 through 5, in which the apostle had exhorted these

Christians to be knit together in love. Even the reaching all the riches of full understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is

Jesus Christ. Paul wanted them to be grounded and steadfast, secure in their knowledge and commitment to the

Lord. And he desired this so that they would be characterized by stability and strength in their faith.

And so in establishing them in their knowledge and commitment to Jesus, Paul would be assured they would withstand those who would attempt who were attempting to corrupt their faith through what seemed to be plausible arguments that he alluded to in verses 1 through 5.

We now arrive to verse 6 and following, in which the apostle instructs these

Christians further and how they should live as Christians. And he basically exhorts them to be wholly devoted to Jesus Christ and they were not to allow anyone or any teaching to divert them from their commitment to him.

He then Paul set forth the sufficiency of Jesus Christ to enable them to live before him.

He is able to do so because he has all authority, having caused them to be born again, having saved them from all that threatened them.

And so let's read Colossians 2 .6 through verse 15 and this is from the English Standard Version, the

ESV. Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and establish in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 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.

And you who were dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt, that stood against us with its legal demands.

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities, and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Now that is one loaded passage of Scripture. And we're going to be here for a few weeks.

I think that we'll get through the first three verses today, Lord willing.

But we'll have at least one more Lord's Day, perhaps two more, after we arrive back from our trip to California.

Now, as we approach this section of Scripture, again what I want to help us to do is to help us to be better equipped to deal with the

Scriptures on our own. As we approach this section of the Epistle, it would be helpful to identify the paragraph divisions before us.

A paragraph, by definition, contains a series of sentences that are related to a single topic, in other words, a major idea.

Supposedly, each paragraph has a single major idea. Paragraph divisions are determined by translators.

And different translators will often identify different paragraph divisions of the same portion of text.

And generally, a more readable translation, newer versions, will have shorter paragraphs.

Apparently, our ability as Westerners is less than it once was, and so we need things in smaller portions that we can comprehend them better.

And the various paragraph divisions of various translators can be reflected in this passage just before us.

For example, the New International Version, the NIV, has verses 6 -15 divided into four separate paragraphs.

The New King James Version has verses 6 -15 in three separate paragraphs.

The English Standard Version, which we just read, and also the Revised Standard Version, which really stands behind the

ESV, organize verses 6 -15 into two paragraphs, verses 6 -7 and 8 -15.

Interestingly, the two most circulated editions of the Greek New Testament both have Colossians 2 .6

-15 as one paragraph, not two, but one, in the Greek text, the modern, critical

Greek text that most scholars use. In other words, those

Greek scholars understood verses 6 -15 setting forth a single, important idea.

And we're going to assume this last division of a single paragraph because we're going to see how it's all related to one another.

Now, not only is it helpful to identify the paragraph division, we should also attempt to distinguish the length and nature of sentences in each paragraph.

And just as paragraph divisions vary between English translations, so sentence divisions also vary.

As we've shown earlier in our study, the more readable translations, like the NIV, tend to set forth their translation into shorter sentences for easier reading and comprehension.

And so the NIV translates verses 6 -15 into nine distinct sentences.

The NKJV set forth these verses in seven sentences. The older KJV has five sentences.

But when one examines the Greek New Testament, just as there are fewer paragraphs, verses 6 -15 comprising one single paragraph, so there are only two sentences in all of verses 6 -15.

One sentence is verses 6 and 7, and in the Greek text, the other single sentence begins with verse 8 and continues all the way to verse 15, one sentence in the

Greek text. And so when Paul originally wrote this epistle in the

Greek language, this is the way he conveyed it. And I think this is probably the most accurate way if you really want to get into do the nitty -gritty work of understanding what is being expressed here.

Actually, although in verses 6 -15 there are 27 different verb forms, 14 of which are participles, some of you may know what that means.

If you don't, that's okay. The Lord has spared you. Even though there are all these verb forms throughout all of these verses, there are really only two finite verbs in the whole of verses 6 -15.

In other words, two main verbs. And one is in the sentence of verses 6 -7, and the other main verb is right at the beginning of verse 8, and it's the main verb for all of verses 8 -15.

And so the first sentence of verses 6 -7 have the main verb walk. Again, beginning of verse 6 reads,

Therefore as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. And that's the main verb, main idea.

The second sentence, again in the original Greek text, which is all of verses 6 -15, has its single finite word at the beginning of the sentence, see.

Short, perhaps more intelligible, if we see to it. It's a warning, isn't it?

And perhaps the translation of the King James Version translates it best, beware. And so there is but one main verb in verses 5 -6, that should be verses 6 -7, not 5 -6, and there's one main verb in verses 8 -15, the word beware.

And so from these two verbs, we have derived our outline.

And that outline basically is how we are to be walking in Jesus Christ, and how we are to be watchful while we are walking with Jesus Christ.

So there you have the title of today's message, Walking and Watching. And that's really the sum, sum idea of these verses.

So let's take the first one, Walking in Him, verses 6 -7. Therefore as you receive

Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. Rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

Now in verse 6 we are told what to do, in verse 7 we are told why we should do it.

And so what are we to do? Verse 6, Paul wrote, Therefore as you receive Christ Jesus the

Lord, so walk in Him. And so we are instructed to walk in Jesus Christ.

Walking, of course, speaks of ongoing activity, a direction, a destination suggested.

True Christianity is not a one -time decision, but rather it's a lifetime walk. Walk in Jesus Christ.

Christianity is not a mere prescription to escape God's wrath, it's a relationship with God. And the idea is that we're walking with Christ, we're walking in Christ.

There's relationship suggested. And it suggests that it grows richer and deeper with the passing of time.

We grow closer to the Lord as we walk in the Lord. Well, we're commanded to walk in Him.

Perhaps it's a good question to answer. How, therefore, do we walk in Christ? And the answer simply is, as you receive

Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. And so let's ask and answer the question, how is it that we received

Him? Because this is how we are to walk in Him. Well, first of all, we certainly received

Him in humility and submission. When one receives the

Lord, he ceases to be his own Lord. His self -sufficiency is abandoned. His self -dependency ceases.

No one can be a true Christian as long as self is king and Christ is not enthroned in the heart.

By definition, that's what a Christian is. Notice, again, what he wrote, as you received

Christ Jesus the Lord. The Bible teaches lordship salvation, doesn't it?

We received Him in faith, in humility, and submission.

The Christian has denounced his former independence and has made a declaration of dependence upon Christ Jesus as his

Lord. And so as you receive Christ as Lord in humility and submission, so go about walking in Him in the same manner.

How you came to Christ should characterize your walk in Christ. We are to be humble and submitted to our

Lord Jesus. How else did we receive the Lord? Well, not only in humility and submission, but we received

Him certainly in love, didn't we? No one can be a true Christian who does not love his

Lord and seek to serve Him and bring honor to Him. Peter would write to the Christians of the

Christian's heart, Christ having not seen you love. And that's true of every

Christian. And so when a person perceives the love of God in Christ, he receives

Christ as Lord and Savior. His heart is filled with love for his Savior. And so as you receive

Christ Jesus the Lord in love, you also walk in Him daily in love, guarding your heart, lest you depart from your first love, which is a common danger, isn't it?

To all professing Christians. How else did we receive Him? Well, certainly we received

Him in joy. No one can be a true Christian who's not experienced the joy of knowing

Christ as Lord and Savior. Peter wrote further, Christ having not seen you love in whom though now you see

Him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

That's how a Christian feels about his Savior. And so we received

Him in joy and we are to walk daily with Him in joy. As you receive the Lord Jesus, so walk in Him.

That's pretty simple, isn't it? How else did we receive

Him? Certainly we received Him in faith. No one can be a true Christian who does not come to Christ the Lord in faith.

We believe who He is. He's the only begotten Son of God. We believe what He did. He died so as to save sinners from the penalty of death and judgment.

We believe where He is and what He is. He's risen. He's seated at the right hand of God, high and exalted.

The Father gave Him authority to grant repentance, forgiveness of those that come to God through Him in faith.

We also believe what He will yet do. He will return to judge this world, usher in the eternal state.

We received Him in faith, believing these things of Him. And so we are to walk believing these things day by day.

And so walk as you received Jesus Christ as the Lord. Very simple, not hard.

And so verse six tells us what we're to do. And now when we look to verse 7a, we learn why we should walk in Him as we received

Him. Why are we to do it? Again, we read,

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith just as you were taught.

And that bold, italic clause with the multiple verbs or participles tells us why we are to do it.

The Apostle described these Christians' relationship with Jesus in three ways. They were rooted in Him.

They were built up in Him. They were established in the faith. Now, it's important to understand each of these three blessings that every true

Christian experiences is due to the grace of God operating upon him and in him.

These are blessings that God had bestowed upon each of them as Christians. And if you're a Christian, this is true of you too.

First of all, you've been rooted in Him. This imagery is that of a tree having been planted.

This word, rooted, which is a participle, a verbal adjective, if you will, is in the perfect tense.

Now, there are different tenses in Greek. That's one of the strengths of the Greek language. And what this essentially means is that when

God caused us to be converted to Jesus Christ, it was God who then caused us to be rooted in Christ.

It happened then when we were converted, and we're still rooted in Him. That's the idea of the perfect tense.

It happened in the past, and its results continue even presently. That's the emphasis.

And so it was God who caused us to be rooted. These are all passive, by the way. You didn't root yourself.

You were rooted. It was God who rooted you. This is what's being conveyed here in the passive voice of these participles.

And so ever since the time you were converted, you were vitally connected to your

Savior. As a tree is rooted in the ground, God caused us to be planted, rooted in our

Savior. And again, that happened when we were converted, but the tense of the word also emphasizes that reality continues even now.

And that's why you were to walk as you received Him. Because God planted you in Him.

He rooted you in Christ. It follows that you ought to walk in Him. The second description of the

Christian is that you're being built up in Him. Rooted and built up. Now, in the first participle, we have the metaphor of a tree being planted.

The second metaphor is really of a building being constructed. You're being built up in Him.

And there is a change of tense in this second word. Whereas that first participle was how we described it, the perfect tense, it happened in the past.

This second participle is passive, God is doing it, but it's in the present tense.

And what Paul is basically saying is that you are currently being built up in Him. You are rooted in Him.

God is building you up in Him. It's an ongoing process. And so as the first word, the perfect tense, emphasized what

God had done in the past, and the results continue to the present, the second word translated built up is in the present tense.

What the Lord is telling us is that He's causing every Christian to be presently built up in Him. Whether you are aware of it or not, if you're a

Christian, God is at work in you. He's building you up in Christ. It follows, therefore, you ought to walk in Christ.

It's reasonable, isn't it? Good reason. And thirdly,

Paul reasons we should walk in Christ in the same manner that we received Him, because you're being established in the faith.

Now, the Apostle commanded these Christians to walk in the Lord. They were to do so because of what

God had done for them in Christ, and because He was to presently establish them in the faith.

Notice the first two participles have reference to what God has done for you in Christ, but this third participle has to do with you and the faith.

You see that? And here faith, it's not speaking of the

Christian's subjective faith, the fact that you believe, but rather faith here is a reference to the

Christian's objective faith, what he believes. Even the truth that is in Jesus Christ, what is believed.

And you're being established in that faith. In other words, the Lord is stabilizing you, establishing you in the

Christian faith. He's talking about the doctrines of the faith, the truth of the Christian faith.

The Christian faith, the faith is that which the doctrines of Scripture touch upon with regard to the identity and nature of the true

God, His Son, Jesus Christ, and what He does to secure the salvation of His people. The faith involves those doctrines that are essential to our salvation, even the truth regarding sin, its punishment, the grace of God in bringing us salvation through faith in Christ.

All these doctrines and many more are what constitutes the faith. And what the Lord is teaching us in this passage is that because of our connection and relationship to the faith that we've come to know, believe, and embrace,

He tells us, therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. This word establish is also in the present tense, which indicates that God is in the process of establishing us further in the faith.

Some of us may know the faith a little bit better than others, a little bit more than others, but the fact is that God is establishing each and every one of us more fully and firmly in the faith, the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

We have heard it, we've learned it, we've embraced it, and He is establishing us in this, and therefore we are to walk of Him.

And so each of these three words depict what God has done or is doing for the Christian. We are to walk in Jesus Christ because God has rooted us, or planted us in Him, because He's building us up in Him, and He's establishing us in the faith.

And so because we've been the objects of God's gracious dealings, therefore walk in Him. And so where verse 6 tells us what to do, verse 7a tells us why we should do it, in verse 7b now, the second portion of verse 7, it tells us how to do it.

There's a manner in which we should be doing it. Therefore as you receive Christ Jesus the

Lord, so walk in Him, rooted, build up in Him, establish in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

This is what should characterize us in our Christian walk. Thomas Watson once wrote, you know, a thankful Christian is a godly

Christian. And a godly Christian is a thankful Christian. They go hand in hand.

So how are we to walk in Jesus Christ? We are to do so overflowing with expressions of gratefulness to our

God for all that He's given us, is giving to us, and has promised to give us in Christ. And so when we consider everything that He's done, everything that He's doing, everything that He's promised to us, how could we do anything less but walk in Him, abounding in thanksgiving?

If our lives aren't characterized by this, there's something terribly deficient, isn't there?

However, again, it's a single paragraph, giving us instructions on how to live. Not only are we to be walking in Him, verses 6 and 7, the first sentence, but we are to be watching while we walk.

And that's what we have, really, the bulk of this paragraph, verses 8 through 15. The instruction to walk in Him is very short and sweet, and now we have watching in Him.

Let's read the paragraph again. See to it that no one taste you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

For in Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you've been filled in Him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

In Him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, 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. And you who were dead in your trespasses, in the uncircumcision of your flesh,

God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with His legal demands.

This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities, and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him.

Again, our English Standard Version opens with the words, see to it that no one takes you captive. The urgency, perhaps, is better conveyed by the

King James Version, beware. Beware lest this happen to you. Why was the warning necessary?

What is the danger? The answer is that there are some who are seeking to take you captive.

That's why you need to be on your guard. Suppose you knew, or you heard, that somebody was going to try and ransack your house, and pillage your goods.

You would probably be alert and watch for it, wouldn't you? We should be more watchful and on guard for our souls than for our goods.

This is a warning. And so if you are not alert, you do not take steps not to be deceived by them, then you will be deceived by them.

You need to be on guard, alert, see to it. The idea being suggested is that there is a spiritual battle being waged.

The defensive walls have been breached, and the enemy comes in to take the spoils of the city. And you're the spoils that they take.

See to it, wrote the Apostle, that this doesn't happen to you. Paul is referencing the error that had been promoted among the members of this

Church of Colossae. And as we previously said, we really don't know the true and full nature of the heresy that Paul was addressing there in this

Church in those early days. However, we can make some assertions about the error by considering what the

Apostle sought to correct, and what he sought to affirm to the Church. The fact is, the false teachers were trying to lead away the

Christians from viewing themselves as complete in Jesus Christ. And this is what

Paul was attempting to correct, and inoculate them against this error.

Two kinds of error threaten the Church. He mentions the word philosophy, and secondly empty deception.

See to it, no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Philosophy. Now, when we say philosophy, within this context, we're not talking about far out thinking and philosophies of non -Christian people.

Those modernism, existentialism, all of those isms, we're not speaking about that kind of philosophy.

Spurgeon described it, you know, he was describing here the study of the history of philosophy.

The history of philosophy is a record of the insanities of mankind. Boy, that's a truism.

A catalog of lunacies. And that's where philosophy will lead to. The philosophy of fallen men.

No, rather, Paul was addressing some who claimed to be Christian, that they were seeking to make a spoil of Christians by leading them to embrace a brand of Christianity that was not after Christ.

That's what he's concerned about. It was more subtle. Deluding these people, pulling their eyes off of Christ and onto other things.

He described it earlier as plausible arguments. People are deceived because they think that they're embracing something that is reasonable and right.

It seems plausible. But Paul basically says, if it's not after Christ, it's not true.

And you need to be on guard. This is one of the really key means that we have to detect and determine truth from error.

Is it after Christ? That answers it. That will reveal a whole lot.

Is it centered in Jesus Christ? And this error wasn't.

There were errors that were common in first century Asia Minor, which is what is today western Turkey, where Colossi was located.

But similarly, there are errors today that are making spoil or taking captive of many professing

Christians. I did have a whole long list of various things. I won't go into them at this time anyway.

But any teaching that would take your eyes off Jesus Christ as the center of all things, the basis of all your hopes, the meaning of all that exists, is false teaching that would lead you astray from Him.

And this can happen in churches and does all the time. And secondly, he says that no one takes you captive by empty deceit.

The second form of error that false teachers were using to corrupt the Christians at Colossi involved empty deception.

There are those who promise much, but deliver nothing. They captivate professing Christians who fail to heed the instruction of our passage, see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit.

They deceive people. And so there are two kinds of errors. And we might say that these two kinds of errors, philosophy and empty deceit, were packaged in different ways.

Two kinds of packaging through which error was promoted to them. Verse 8, According to human tradition and according to, secondly, the elemental spirits of the world.

That's a difficult phrase. First, according to human tradition. There are many in churches who embrace errant teaching because it comes to them in this form, in the form of tradition.

Because the teaching and observance has been long in existence and has been observed by many, it's assumed to be true or legitimate.

God -honoring, pleasing to God. And, of course, this is not the standard by which we assess what's true and false just because it's been done that way.

Even if it's been done for centuries, that doesn't bring any more credibility to it. It must be in accordance with the

Scriptures, the Word of God. Our Lord rebuked His own people for the error they embraced because of this form of authoritative tradition.

The Pharisees strived to ask Jesus, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?

They weren't concerned about their hygiene. This was a ceremonial washing that they thought everyone needed to do was spiritual before they ate.

And the tradition was that teaching common to the prominent rabbis that actually became written down and became a legalistic code.

And the Pharisees and scribes were criticizing Jesus' disciples for not conforming to their tradition.

And Jesus answered and said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites? As it's written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

In vain they worship me. There are many people in churches today that think they're worshiping

God, but in vain. It counts for nothing before God. Because it's not according to the scriptures.

It's according to traditions. Maybe centuries long traditions. But that is not to be our standard.

Verse 8, For laid aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers, cups, many other things, such things you do.

All too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. And then he gave an example of this.

They set aside the fifth commandment on your father and mother. But you say, Hey, if we can take that money we would have given to dad and mom and support them and say

Corbin is dedicated to God, then we don't have to give it to support dad and mom. And so Jesus said,

You make the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you've handed down, and many such things you do.

Tradition counts for nothing unless it's in accordance with Holy Scripture. Human tradition must always be assessed and either accepted or rejected by the standard of the

Bible. For human tradition has a powerful appeal to people to embrace error that comes in this form.

Well the church has always done it this way. Our denomination has done it this way. We've done it this way for centuries.

And assuming that that is what makes it valid, it's not. And then secondly, the error would come according to elemental spirits of the world.

Now this is a phrase that is debated by commentators. Some argue it reflects the ancient

Greek world of elements that are basic components of the physical universe. These would have included, say, earth, air, fire, and water.

Perhaps more likely Paul was addressing error that was based on elemental teachings or doctrines perhaps of a

Jewish or pre -Christian nature and origin. And so the commentator William Hendrickson, all his commentaries are good by the way, good

Reformed scholar. This was not a apostolic tradition, nor was it a tradition that belonged to the mainstream of Judaism, though it did have something in common with Judaism and embraced later tenets.

It was rather a mixture of Christianity, Judaistic, ceremonialism, angelolatry, and asceticism, as he says verses 11 to 23 later indicate.

It was a philosophy according to the rudiments of this world. Rudiments are elements, either in the physical or in the non -physical realm.

F. F. Bruce wrote these words, another good scholar of the 20th century. But for all its attractiveness, this particular philosophy was but an empty illusion.

If the Colossians embraced it, they would be losers and not gainers thereby. For those who had received

Christ Jesus, the Lord, it must be unacceptable. It was a human tradition, which ran counter to the essential truths of their

Christian faith and life. It sounded well. It appealed to their natural religious instincts, but there was nothing in it for Christians.

It was not a teaching according to Christ, in accordance with the tradition handed down by Him, but one which accorded with the elemental spirits of the cosmos.

Then Matthew Henry sought to identify the error to which Paul was referring to be characteristic of both Jews and Gentiles who had been in that church at Colossae.

And so his comments on the expression, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, this plainly,

I would question that, but this plainly reflects upon the Jewish pedigree and economy as well as pagan learning.

The Jews governed themselves by the traditions of their elders and the rudiments or elements of the world, the rites and observances which were only preparatory and introductory to the gospel state.

The Gentiles mixed their maxims of philosophy with their Christian principles and both alienated their minds from Christ.

Those who pin their faith on other men's sleeves I love that expression, and walk in the way of the world have turned away from following after Christ.

The deceivers were especially the Jewish teachers who endeavored to keep up the law of Moses in conjunction with the gospel of Christ but really in competition with it and contradiction to it.

Again, the bottom line is whatever those elemental principles was, it was teaching them to put their emphasis and confidence in something other than Jesus Christ.

That's the point. And of course throughout the New Testament, throughout the

Bible we have warnings against false teachers. Peter described in his epistle written about the same time within a handful of years described in similar ways false teachers that were corrupting the faith of his readers.

And so in 2 Peter 2 he's describing men in the churches. They are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever, for when they speak great swelling words of emptiness.

See the paradox there? Great swelling words. They're very fluent. They're very articulate.

They can move crowds but there's no substance there. They allure you through the lust of the flesh.

They're actually appealing to people's baser desires rather than spiritual longings.

Through lewdness the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. And so while they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption for by whom a person is overcome by him also he's brought into bondage.

So they promise liberty but in actuality they are binding the people of God in their error. The fact is

Christians are easily deceived and that's why we need to be on guard. Beware, lest you're taken captive.

I've said it many times but it's true. You know 150 years ago a pastor pretty much could govern what his people in his church read and heard.

I'm just one voice among many. You have Christian radio, so -called Christian TV, you have books, everything.

I'm just one voice. And there's danger out there. You need to be attentive to it.

Christians are easily deceived and so Paul says beware, be on guard. Just to illustrate this, consider the

Christian book industry of today. It's appalling. The books are superficial, often errant, deficient in their presentation of truth.

I brought a friend over from Germany when we had to make a trip to the States here for a wedding.

He's from England and a pretty stable, civilized guy if you know what

I mean. Typically English. He was from Plymouth. And I took him into a

Christian bookstore and he didn't want to buy a book because he was struck with all the glossy covers that appeared to him so superficial.

Because you go to England or you go to Germany, you'll see a book and it'll be either red or green or blue and have a title on it, the author on it, that's it.

But you come to the States and everything is packaged in all the glitter and embossed covers and he didn't want to buy a book.

I remember telling him about a good one. He didn't want to buy it because of the way it was packaged. The fact is people are very gullible.

And heretics grind out these books quickly and they become bestsellers. In fact,

I would argue in some ways it's an easy matter to become a bestseller. And I years ago thought about this.

Here's a prescription for a big seller in the Christian industry. First, find a problem common with the human condition.

It does not need to be original with you. Take some condition that's commonly known in the psychological field.

You can go down to Barnes & Noble to the section on psychology and I'm sure you can find a half a dozen in no time.

The current buzz in the psychological field about human problems and issues.

Then you Christianize the terminology. You've got to change the terms to make it sound biblical and Christian. And then thirdly, depict it as experienced within the

Christian community. And then fourth, find some biblical material to cite as illustrations.

And then fifthly, propose some treatment. And it doesn't necessarily have to provide a cure. That's immaterial.

Just propose some treatment and the book will sell regardless. That's a prescription for a bestseller in Christian evangelicalism.

It's sad, but that's true. The fact is the scriptures have continual warnings to us regarding the need to be on guard for false teachers.

1 Timothy 4, the Spirit speaks expressly that in the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits, doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own consciences seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from foods which

God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good.

Nothing is to be refused if it's received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

Paul was telling Timothy that this was going to take place in the churches. He's not talking about the world out there.

He's talking about the churches. We might say, hey, he's talking about the latter times just before the

Second Coming. No. Paul was warning Timothy about what Timothy would have to encounter. And the latter times covers this entire church age.

Paul said these heretics would depart from the faith. They wanted to embrace the faith. They had believed on Jesus as Lord and Savior, but they later turned away.

They came to reject and despise what they formerly espoused. They fell away. They apostatized from the faith.

And yet they're still in the church. These apostates still have a faith.

They believe and proclaim. They've not stopped believing. They could still claim to have their faith, but they no longer believe the faith, but rather had a corrupt faith that they believed and taught.

And Paul identified five specific false doctrines that would be promoted among the people of God. He said, first of all, false teachers would be giving heed to deceiving spirits, doctrines of demons.

And all false teachers' teaching is demonic, satanic. Secondly, false teachers would be speaking lies and hypocrisy.

They're lying. They're hypocrites. Thirdly, false teachers would have their own conscience seared with a hot iron.

Their consciences are no longer sensitive to what is true and right. Fourthly, these false teachers,

Paul said, would forbid to marry. See, they would teach you that you can be more right with God and holy if you're single rather than married.

The Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible does say that being single is a gift. It's a gift of God.

But actually, marriage is encouraged in the scriptures so that you can be holy rather than sorely tempted.

But these, they're saying, are forbidding to marry. And then some of these false teachers commanded to abstain from teaching you could be closer to God if you ate some foods and you avoided others.

And so all of these things, if you'll notice, takes your eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ and puts them on something else.

Some kind of behavior, some kind of belief. And Paul says, don't be fooled by that.

I think this is a good place to stop. Later on in Colossians 2, Paul will speak in more detail about this, very similar to what we see there in that Timothy passage.

Therefore, let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or new moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

And that's the point. That's the heart of the entire message of Colossians. It's what we need.

Don't allow anything to obscure you, deflect your focus, your attention away from Jesus Christ.

For He is the sum of all things. And as we'll consider next time, in Him the fullness of deity is seen, is manifest.

He is God. He is man. And you are complete in Him. Amen? Let's rejoice in that.

And let's walk in Him for all the benefits that accrue to us because of that relationship.

Thank you, our Father, for Your Word and for the practical counsel that we receive.

And we just pray, our God, You would grant us grace through Jesus Christ to do these things.

Help us, our Father, to walk in Jesus Christ because You have caused us to be rooted in Him.

And we are being built up in Him. And You are establishing us in the faith.

And so help us to walk in Him as we have received Him. And then our Father, help us also to be on alert, to see to it that no one takes us captive.

No one deceives us. And so we look to Your Word, our God, and to Your mercy to spare us and to keep us.

And we'll thank You and praise You, Lord, give You the glory for all that You do. In Jesus' name, amen.