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Now I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel wasn't their military.
All right.
Let me begin with some prayer. Lord we depend on you and all things and all times. Lord we depend on you for every breath and every step. Lord I depend on you here and now. Lord God this time Lord guide my words In your name I pray amen.
Knowledge is.
Important. Like I said, I'm in charge of MIT. You're not gonna hear me bad talk about the Irrelevance of knowledge or theology. It is highly important. But knowledge is not what saves you. You are not saved by your theology.
You are not saved by your denomination. You are not saved by your political views. You are not saved by anything than the blood of Jesus Christ. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I do spend so much time because of MIT talking of theology.
Whenever I teach or preach it is so heavy in my heart to talk about the simplicity of faith the simplicity of returning to the basics of Christianity as Christ said woe to you scribes and Pharisees. You do this you do that you tithe, but you forgot mercy faith and justice.
You forgot love. What was it that he said to the Church of Revelation? You're doing this stuff? Well, but you forgot your first love and it is this I believe. That at the root of it at the foundation of it causes people to walk away from the faith.
At the end of the day, what does it matter? If you are a good Christian for 10 -15 years and then forsook everything in the end. Endurance. Long suffering. Holding on to the faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
To the end.
To death. No matter the death. Whether that be through persecution. Or in some instances worse cancer. Whether that be through whatever trial. What does it matter if We forsake Christ in the end. And so it's always heavy in my heart the message of hold on.
Hang in there. Don't forget the love. That we are called to have Colossians chapter 2 verses 6 through 10. Let us 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 abounding and thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition. According to the elemental principles 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.
A couple weeks ago in my tea students specifically I want you to note today pastor Josiah gave a perfect example of how to do a topical sermon today is Expository. We will walk through this verse 6. It says as you received him.
What does it mean to receive him? What does it mean to receive Christ? I do we don't want to use the words that you were told in VBS as a four-year-old to accept Jesus Christ in your heart. That's nowhere in the Bible, but it does say to receive Christ.
And what does it mean to receive Christ? Other than that, you didn't earn it. You did not work for it. Your salvation is not based on you in order to receive Christ. It requires a few things. This is the first principle a Christian must learn that this is the elementary principle of Christianity how to receive and what are we receiving?
The grace of God. So first of all, it requires humility. It requires submissiveness. It requires you to recognize who you are and who God is. The position. We're not you know, it's not JC in the house.
It's not Big Dad upstairs, you know who you are. The seriousness of your sin JC. Yes JC is in the house. The seriousness of your sin. It requires this. The scripture not say humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and he will lift you up.
Does it not say in James some? Submit to God resist the devil and he will flee. There is a humility and a submissiveness that we as Christians must remember and Like sudden beginning going back to the elementary principles of Christianity that doesn't change when you're 50 years into Christianity.
That doesn't change. We think that if we have been a Christian or done so many works or lives a certain kind of life that somehow some way that earns us something and how quickly we forget. How serious our sins are.
How quickly we forget our? Positioning. We think that if we are a Christian for 30 years our status before God changed. It was Paul the Apostle who said what a wretched man. I am. That was not when he was first saved that he wrote that that was the Apostle.
The Apostle the greatest evangelist to ever live. The man who was martyred for his faith and He recognized his position. Late in his faith. I am a wretched man. My works. Have not gained me an inch of righteousness to God.
He understood his position. That it was all the grace of God. Because if it is not all the grace of God. Then all glory does not go to God. It must all be the grace of God and the work of Christ because all glory is deserving to Christ.
Second thing what does it mean to receive it means that you must grasp it? You must and what I mean by that. I mean that when you receive Christ You received him as your own. If I receive something that it is now mine I am taking ownership of it.
I account it of my own. Does it not say that we just read Psalms 23 the Lord is my Shepherd. He's mine.
You cannot take him from me. I.
Will hold on to my God to my Lord to my Savior to my Shepherd to the dying breath and the last Bit of strength I have. I will hold on to him. He's mine when you receive Christ when you receive his grace.
You have to grasp it and.
Hold on we hold on to the Lord.
We hold on to Christ When the doubts and the lies come We hold on. I have a saying That when you're in the place of not having good mental health. And we're struggling with the lies in our head and those times we must listen to the truth in our ear rather than the lies.
In our head.
Scripture speaks to us the saints of God call to us and we push them away and push them out and We listen to the lies in our head. Stop doing that. Listen to the truth of the Word of God that is speaking to you.
Rather than the lies that want to tell you to isolate to come inside yourself to get inside your own head. Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee. You must submit to God first. Submit to the Word.
Brother Evan Weisner Has a quote that I love he says your faith isn't yours until you question it. This goes more toward the brain than it does the heart if you are the person Who your faith is built off.
What mama said. What grandma did. Well, I went to church with grandma as a kid. Well my past my youth pastor told me this that means nothing it means nothing. Because in the dark times in your bed at night those will not suffice.
When the sickness and the disease comes when the deathbed calls. My pastor told me will not suffice. I don't care how good-looking I am. It doesn't matter how eloquent your preacher is. It doesn't matter how many how many Podcasts you listen to or lectures or I was in church for this many years.
It does not matter when the tough moments come. It's going to matter what you read on your own. It's going to come down to the scriptures that spoke to you and you memorized. Loneliness is real lonely.
Loneliness gets real lonely. And what mama said ain't gonna cut it. It just won't. Your faith isn't yours until you question it. Dig deep into the Word of God dig deep until the questioning because there are answers.
If you're one of those guys that questions the Word of God just as justification for you to live how you want to live. That's lazy. Asking a question is fine. Questioning is not I can ask God a question but questioning him.
Questioning who he is questioning his authority questioning his goodness. That's not that is not what we ought to do. 2nd Timothy for the time is coming. When people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate themselves.
Teachers to suit their own passions and Will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths. The other thing that happens is when you receive Christ. You have to receive him for who he is not for who you want him to be.
We cannot you cannot accept Jesus as the hippie Jesus. The hippie Jesus ain't gonna cut it. That's not Jesus Christ the hippie Jesus that is non-judgmental and you can do how whatever you want. That is not the Jesus of the Bible.
You cannot Accept the Jesus of that's not divine. The non divine Jesus. This is what the big problems with Jehovah Witness and Mormon isms. They strip the divinity of Christ. If you strip the divinity of Christ, he's no longer the judge.
He's not the man sitting on the great white throne anymore. Which is why that's appealing to strip him of his deity of who he is. So we cannot have the hippie Jesus. We cannot have the solely human Jesus.
We cannot have the Jesus who practice homosexuality.
A.
Extremely popular. Quote-unquote pastor on tik-tok named Brandon Robertson complete Heretic. He's an openly gay pastor in New York City and and this is if you want to know an example of an Eisegesis when you read what you want to read in the text instead of getting what what the author meant.
Here's an example. Brandon Robertson was doing a sermon on the raising of Lazarus from the dead and he said that when Jesus looked at Lazarus says Lazarus come out. That I'm not playing that this was a statement of the Social norms of the time to come out of those social norms and to live freely as who you really are.
Now, I'm not. I prompt I listen to it myself. This this this is what hundreds of thousands might even be millions. I don't know. Hundreds of thousands of views. Deceiving hundreds of thousands of people.
This is the view of Jesus. That he is portraying to the hundreds of thousands if not millions. Oh. By the way parents, this is why you need to be teaching your children at home. Not just relying on a church.
Because this is the crap they listen to for hours a day and they're here for like what one two hours a week.
Yeah.
So we cannot have hippie Jesus the solely human Jesus the gay Jesus. Wait a second. Health and wealth. What about the health and wealth Jesus? Everything is for your success for your prosperity for you to have a.
Every time I hear that stuff I just literally ask like yeah, how'd that work out for Jesus? Did health and wealth work for Jesus or Job or like all of the people of the Bible who lived a horrible life?
I love when people were trying to say that about the prophets and I'm like you've never read anything. The prophets led horrible lives. I mean they were killed and persecuted and run out of town all of them.
This is not the Jesus we have to accept. If you're going to receive the grace of God, you have to receive the correct Jesus. The correct Jesus is the great high priest. He is the king of the universe who right now is sitting on the throne at the right hand of God.
Who will sit on the great white throne? That would judge the living and the dead. He is the lamb the Lion of Judah and the lamb that was slain. He is God. He is the one who cast them to hell and the one who will snatch from the fires.
If you have never read Zechariah chapter 3 you can turn the back your sheets where you have homework and you can add Zechariah chapter 3 on that homework. One of the most beautiful passages in all the scripture Jesus Christ says is this man not a fire brain plucked from the fires.
Is he not a burning coal and ember that I have taken out of the fire and cleaned? You are already in the fire. Remember how I said earlier you have to recognize your position of where you're at. You are already in the fire.
Christ is the one that reaches in grabs you out and cleans you up. All right, I can't do a whole sermon on that right now. Now we've talked about received him now. We need to talk about walking in him.
What is walking in him look like so all of that was about receiving Christ and what does it mean to receive Christ? Receive the grace of God now walk in him. Let's go back for context. Let's reach a verse 10 of chapter 1 chapter 1 verse 10.
So as to walk in a manner worthy of.
The Lord.
Fully pleasing to him bearing in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. When it talks about walking this refers to the way in which we live. How you walk. How you talk. How you treat people your co-workers your employees your bosses.
How you treat your wife when no one's looking. How you discipline your children when they're being brats. We we must walk in Christ in Everything we do. It is not a church thing. That is not what being a Christian is about.
It is not a church thing when it says the knowledge.
That.
Walking worthy means growing in the knowledge of God. Increasing in the knowledge of God. Remember how I said you're never going to hear me talk about about theology. If you are not studying the Word of God with the seriousness.
Then how are you growing in the knowledge of God? How are you going to walk worthy if you're an ignorant Christian? Do you know what you believe and why I? Guarantee you most of you in here if I pressed you on why you believe what you would believe you would fold.
You cannot stand up to the actual questioning of why you believe what you believe. That's not acceptable. I cannot stand ignorant Christians. You want to be a Christian great welcome. Figure out figure it out.
What do you believe why? Because again that will hold you up when the doubts and questions come. But this knowledge is not solely of Trivial Theology. The knowledge it says the knowledge of a God. Now, how does this work?
How does it work that? My knowledge increases my love in my and my walking in Christ. Well the analogy I thought of was this you ever heard the old married couple that that been together for 60 years and and they're Old and wrinkly their skin is barely hanging on they got the blood splotches all over them.
They walk kind of like why'd you look up so quick? And then you'll hear them say you'll hear the husband say you're more beautiful than the day. I married you. Now in one sense you could say.
Oh.
Whatever, right. There's something genuine in that and there's something authentic in that and that the beauty of the person is not in the outward expression and the love grows and You see them differently.
It's your knowledge of God how you know him. Is it growing? Do you love watching God work in your life? Do you love to talk to him? Are you becoming the old married couple with God? Or not.
Learn.
Who God is? How he works. Sit in his providence and his sovereignty. Don't fight against the stream so much. Sit and rest in the hand of God and you'll learn how he moves. And it's the most beautiful thing in the world to sit among God.
Very good. Ephesians chapter 4. A Prisoner of the Lord. I urge you as a prisoner of the Lord. I urge you to walk in a manner of the calling. Same author different book. Paul saying he's an urgent. So when it comes to walking in the Lord, there also needs to be an urgency here.
There needs to be a seriousness here that walking in accordance with the Lord is not something to play with. Is Not something to take lightly. He is urgent or I mean urging the urge root word of urgency.
There needs to be an urgency about yourself a seriousness about walking in the Lord. To walk in him means that you are never walking without him. He is the guide of your life the paradox by which you see the world.
He is the filter over your mouth before you speak. I read this in pastor Christians office and went over there to work and he had that has this printed out right over his computer. It says this. Christ with me.
Christ before me. Christ behind me. Christ in me. Christ beneath me. Christ above me. Christ on my right. Christ on my left. Christ when I lay down. Christ when I sit down. Christ when I arise. Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me.
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me. Christ in the eye of every man who sees me. Christ in the ear of every man who hears me. Now with that in mind, let me ask you again. Are you walking worthy of the Lord?
Is he the guide of your life? Is he the paradox by which you see the world. Is he the filter over your mouth and over your ears.
Or not. And again.
There needs to be an urgency in this Christ and everything we do.
Amen.
Rooted and built up. What does it mean to be rooted and built up? Well, one of the things that means to be is rooted in what you were taught just as you were taught Colossian says. So we are rooted and what we were taught from the beginning.
Hosea chapter 4 says my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge I will reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God I also will forget your children.
What does it mean to be rooted up? What do we rooted in? We must be rooted in the gospel. We must be rooted in Christ. We must be rooted in Scripture. I'm not going to go through all of these for time's sake.
But we must be rooted in Scripture. Man should not live on bread alone. But on every word that comes from the mouth of God, did you know that scripture before I finished it? Your word is the lamp unto my feet.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. But you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it and Then you will have success.
Psalms chapter 1.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the godly nor stands in the way of sinners nor sit to see the scornful. But his delight is in the law of God. And then this law does he meditate day and night, you know what verse 3 says and he'll be like a tree planted.
With its roots deep next to the waters. This imagery goes throughout all the scripture, what do you plant it in? Are you planted in the Word of God the law of God or your roots deep in it? Or are we still surface level Christians who yeah, you're a Christian here today and next year we'll see what happens.
You know, we'll see what happens. Are you a see what happens kind of Christian?
Is that the kind of Christian you are. Do not be deceived.
Going back.
Verse 8 see to it chapter 2. Verse 8 see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. According to human tradition according to the elemental principles of the world and not according to Christ.
What are the.
Philosophies that it's referring to. Well, let's talk about today for instance the I'm not that old guys. I can speak with this with some authority. The biggest philosophy on college campuses and universities today is relativism.
Not a question. The idea and but again all the popular people that your children will go see and your grandchildren. This is what they're going to be told that. Relativism says that truth is relative.
Truth is completely relative. The the more popular one is a moral relativism. There's no such thing as right and wrong. You whatever you do is perfectly fine. And it's funny the only wrong thing you can say is that there is such thing as right and wrong.
It's a kind of a contradiction. There's no such thing as right and wrong. Why it's what I'm saying wrong. The only wrong thing you can say is that there is an objective standard of right and wrong. There's a God who will hold you accountable.
It's the only wrong thing you can say.
Everything else it's fine.
It's whatever.
Do not be taken captive by philosophy and this empty deceit. This relativism is dangerous. It is a lie. You can't even live it out. Do not listen to the world's philosophy guys. I was talking with Pastor Josiah and this was a couple years ago he said that he got a bag of clothes for his daughters and One of the shirts that he found says I wrote it down.
I stomped my feet I screamed and I got what I wanted. That was the shirt that he got in a bag and you know what he did. Took it went straight to the trash and threw that away.
Are you listening to the philosophy of this world? Is that what you're going by?
Is how you ruin a child? That's how you ruin a child that doesn't work in life. It sure as crap don't work with God. You are setting that child up for failure in Every area of life. There is no area of life or that philosophy and don't get me wrong.
That's oh, it's just a cute shirt. No, that is not just a cute shirt. That is not how that works. You cannot placate with these kind of things. You can't just pass it off as it's not a big deal. That is a philosophy that the world is preaching and you are buying.
That is not cute it is not funny. That is how you ruin your child if your kids have clothes like that time to go shopping and. If they cry, oh, well, you kind of set yourself up for that one. Do not listen to this world's philosophies.
Here's the other one that it talked about human tradition. Legalism. Let me give you a definition. Pastor Jeff talks about legalism all the time. Let's let's give a definition. We don't know it. Legalism is anytime you put a human tradition or rule on equal footing with Scripture.
Anytime you put a human tradition or rule on equal footing with Scripture. Isaiah chapter 5. Woe to you who call evil good and good evil. Who put darkness for light and light for darkness. Who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
You know what? Whoa, what was like a cursing a damning? Whoa. To you who call evil good or good evil. Do not do that. Legalism will ruin your life. Legalism will ruin your life. Liberal philosophy on the one hand entices people by giving them a false sense of freedom.
Legalism entices people by telling them they can obtain a level of righteousness through their own works and. Both are lies this sense of freedom. The the idea that I can do whatever I want. That's not freedom because you are slave to your sin.
You are slave to that bottle. You are slave to the pipe. You are slave to the pornography. You're not free. You think I can do whatever I want. I don't have to obey the law of God. I can live. However, I want that's freedom.
Think that. Living however, you want sexually it's freedom. That's not freedom. You are enslaved to it. That's not freedom at all, that's the lie that liberal philosophy will tell you Paul of God you're gonna listen to a law that was written 4 ,000 years ago.
You really think that a law written by cavemen 4 ,000 years ago was going to apply to you today? Wasn't written by cavemen. Was written by God anyway but then legalism. This idea that you living a certain type of way.
The wearing the right clothes. Doing the right things. Somehow earns you righteousness before God. This is what we call a lie. This is what we call deception. Some of you need to stop living with the chains of the past on your back.
You need to let that go. Others of you need to stop putting that on those beneath you and. Stop putting those chains that you wore and have beaten you down on those beneath you Don't pass those chains on.
Let them die when you hit the coffin. That is a beautiful thing. Some most beautiful things in the world that the chains on your back will die when you hit that coffin.
Death is not always a bad thing my friends. Let's skip down for a second.
To verse 18 of chapter 2. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you and questions of food and drink. This is still legalism. Passing judgment on food and drink or with regard to festival or new moon or Sabbath.
I'm sorry, that's verse 16. I'm gonna keep going. These are shadows of things to come but the substance belongs to Christ. Now 18 let no one disqualify you. Insisting on asceticism and Worshipping of angels going on in detail about visions puffed up with reason without a sensuous mind.
Asceticism is.
The idea of self harm or self denial in order to obtain Righteous holy living. That's what upset asceticism is. This was very popular with Catholic monks that they would whip themselves and starve themselves refuse to wear comfortable clothing.
They would like crazy stuff. Crazy stuff like there's accounts of people who like would put on like rocks in their shoes and Force themselves to walk with uncomfortability. Martin Luther famously would would go out and beg.
Like a beggar a homeless beggar not because he needed anything, but he thought it would teach him humility and how to deny pride. Right this. Not right thinking. You know, what's crazy? Is that some of you still do that today?
You say I don't deserve the grace of God. I don't deserve forgiveness. So you choose to keep the chains on you. Because you don't deserve grace I call this emotional asceticism. You will refuse the grace of God refuse to live in freedom refuse to live and the freedom that God has paid for you because.
Because what? Because you're undeserved. I've heard this like I've had people in my office counting heard this. I don't deserve the grace of God. I deserve to feel miserable. I Deserve to struggle with depression.
Depression, it's my fault. I deserve to feel this way. This is a consequence of my own choices. That's nothing but asceticism. That you are no different than the monk who is whipping himself in the back.
You feel that you being like Eeyore and whipping yourself figuratively in the back and feeling bad about yourself.
Somehow.
It is spiritual punishment that makes you more righteous or holy. This is a lie. That's not true. You're doing the same thing the monk was. You're just doing it in an emotional way, which may even be worse emotional asceticism.
It's okay to forgive yourself. I Talk to people all the time. Did Christ forgive me? Well, yeah Christ forgive me then why can't you? You're gonna hold yourself accountable for something Christ already forgave you for so your opinion about your sin is is held higher than Christ.
What didn't mean like that, but I know but that's the consequence. That's that's what you're doing. You're doing. You're putting the judge your own judgment of your sins at a higher judgment than Christ He already deemed you forgiven.
Galatians says for freedom's sake Christ has set you free. But do not use your freedom as an excuse to live in sin. Realize that part of the reason the Catholic Church fought against Martin Luther so hard.
Which is they believe that people would just take the grace of God and use it as an excuse to sin. You're doing the opposite. You're refusing the grace of God because you're so horrible of a person. We say it all the time you don't.
This is not the place to share your war stories. I Got done. I got a dozen people around here that I can line up your war stories do not impress us. I Don't care about what happened to you. I don't care about what you've done.
You have no understanding of the significance of what Christ did. This is not about me. This is about Christ. It's not about what you did. It's about Christ. Christ Christ Christ Christ if you want a theme for today's sermons, it's Christ.
That's it. What did I say from the beginning going back to the elementary principles of Christianity grace forgiveness love? Addicts will use this often. To refuse rehab and to push those who are trying to help them away.
They hate themselves. They hate what they are. They hate the person in the mirror and it is better for me to deny help and To deny rehab than to accept it because living in misery is what I deserve again emotional asceticism.
These are lies.
Believe the truth in your ear rather than the lie in your head. We're gonna skip mysticism and.
Whoever's doing music you can come up. The last point is this. How do we not be deceived? How do we not be deceived? We're talking about deception. The deception of philosophy. This liberal philosophy.
Deception of legalism. The deception of asceticism. The deception of of your own misery. How do I not be deceived? Colossians chapter 1 verse 23. If indeed you continue in the faith. Stable and steadfast.
Not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard. Which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and which I Paul became a minister. Do not shift from the gospel. The gospel of Christ is what holds you.
Like I said in the beginning when I said to grasp on and hold on to it. You must hold on to the gospel. Hold on to that which is true. Chapter 2 verse 19 right after 18. So we'll read 18 for context. Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worshiping of angels and detailing about visions.
Pumped up without reason about sensuous mind 19 and not holding fast to the head. From whom the whole body nurse in it together through its joints and ligaments grows with a growth that is from God. Who's the head of the church?
How do you not be deceived? By holding on to Christ. Hold on to the gospel. Hold on to Christ. I'll finish with this. I. There was a pastor for 50 years. He was a pastor for 50 years and Decided to throw it all away for a young relationship.
An affair on it with his wife. Prominent pastor. I learned a lot from him. My own youth pastor. My youth pastor. Wife had an affair it crushed his soul. His children went to rebellion. He had to choose between seeing his children.
Or staying true to the gospel and he fumbled. He fell under the pressure.
Hold.
Fast at the end of the day.
Hold fast.
What is the will of God for your life? To abstain from sexual morality and to be sanctified in Jesus Christ Thessalonians. That's it. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're a cop a fireman an accountant a worker at McDonald's or you're homeless.
It doesn't matter what you do. It's the matter about how you do it. Hold fast to Christ.