Pauls Epistle to Colossians (15)

Because, actually, if you just kind of glance with me to, I think, page 7, from page 7 all the way to the end, which is page 17, 7 through 17,

I thought I would address, for your benefit, idea of the

Christian Sabbath. And the reason I wanted to address that is because a reference to the

Sabbath is given in our passage, but we don't have time to deal with that. And the Christian Sabbath, how did the

Sabbath day from Saturday to the Jews and the Old Testament become the

Christian Sabbath of the Lord's Day and the new? And so I set forth that.

And it's an important matter, and some people have questions about that. I had, when

I was in California, driving down the interstate in central California, I got a call from a radio listener who asked me about this.

She called me from New Hampshire, and I had a discussion with her for about an hour over this matter.

And so we'll probably, Lord willing, get to page 7, and that's about it for today in the time that we have.

And so Colossians 2, 6 through 15, is what we've dealt with now for a number of weeks.

And in this one paragraph we have really two sentences in the Greek text.

The Apostle had set forth Jesus Christ as the all -sufficient Lord and Savior of his people. And Paul really gave two reasons for this.

First, the fullness of the Godhead is in him bodily.

It pleased God that in him, in Christ, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.

And secondarily, because you and I as Christians have been filled in him,

Christ is filled with the Godhead, and we are filled in him, or complete in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

And so Christians are to see their salvation through Christ alone, of course, obviously. But further, they are to regard their identity and purpose in life solely through and due to their spiritual union in the

Savior. This is a truth that not a lot of folks seem to understand.

God had brought them into the fullness of their blessed relationship with him when he had regenerated them, that is, he caused them to be born again, as set forth in verse 11, a spiritual circumcision performed without hands.

And then their baptism showed forth their union with Christ, as set forth in verse 12, both in his death and resurrection.

And in their union with his death, they died to their former lives. And in his resurrection, they were raised to a new existence, a new creation, even new life in him.

And Paul set that forth before us in verses 12 and 13. And so these

Christians at Colossae to whom Paul wrote this epistle were to see their self -identity, their purpose, as well as their aspirations as centered in Jesus Christ and him alone.

The whole of their existence was wrapped up in Jesus Christ and him alone. And Paul gives the reasons for that.

For Christ, in Christ, he had removed all formal legal demands that had condemned us, his people.

And that was through Jesus Christ bearing our punishment upon his cross. And further, due to his cross,

Jesus Christ defeated all spiritual forces that had formerly held us in control when we were in our sin.

He had rescued or saved us from their dominion, having brought us into the blessed kingdom of God.

And so the apostle would have this church of Colossae, in attempting to correct them from error that was being taught them, sought to focus their all in all upon Jesus Christ and him alone.

Well, it's then that we enter into verses 16 -23. Here the apostle gave forth a warning that they were not to allow anyone to convince them otherwise.

And so now we read Colossians 2, 16 -23. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a

Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions popped up without reason by a sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the

Head, from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments grows with a growth that is from God.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings?

These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self -made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

So Paul sets forth that we are filled in Christ, and really in these verses he says, don't let anybody tell you otherwise, that in Christ you have all and in all.

As we look at these verses we just read, these two paragraphs in our ESV text, we may discern an outline that would perhaps help us understand what the

Apostle was emphasizing. First, Paul instructed his readers to maintain their faith and their identity in Christ alone, verses 16 -19, and he did that in two ways.

First, they were not to let anyone pass judgment upon them due to their practice, how they lived, and they were not to allow anyone to disqualify them for their failure to conform to the expectations of their detractors.

These false teachers were imposing their brand of Christianity upon them and then condemning them because they failed to live up to these expectations, and Paul said, don't let that happen.

And then secondly, Paul reasons with his readers for the wisdom and righteousness of his instruction.

This is why what I'm telling you is so reasonable. First, he reasons the false teaching to which they were exposed is of human origin, without divine sanction.

And then secondly, the false teaching to which they were exposed may have a false appearance of legitimacy, but it only appears to be legitimate.

It's not true. Now that outline perhaps reflects the content of these verses, but perhaps for our purposes a more practical and helpful outline may be as follows.

There are three divisions, we might say. We have first a warning against legalism, verses 16 and 17.

Secondarily, we have a warning against mysticism, verses 18 and 19.

And then thirdly, we have a warning against asceticism. All these are possible threats that would lead us away from seeing our sufficiency and fullness in Jesus Christ alone.

And so let's work through these. First, verses 16 and 17, we have a warning against legalism.

Paul wrote, Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival, or a new moon, or a sabbath.

These are a shadow of the things that come, but the substance belongs to Christ. We had touched on this matter of legalism earlier in our study of Colossians, but here the subject is again addressed.

The false teachers in the city of Colossae had been promoting the keeping of the law of Moses as the necessary way or means to salvation, and in doing so they were directing the

Christians to take their eyes off the fullness which was theirs in Christ, and to focus rather upon themselves and their own works, their performance in keeping the law.

The phrases that Paul uses, questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival, or a new moon, or a sabbath, are terms that we associate readily with the law of Moses, and it is understandable that we do so.

However, probably the false teachers were promoting a perversion of the law of Moses, rather than the law precisely set forth in the

Hebrew scriptures. Indeed, the law of Moses had set forth detailed stipulations regarding the foods the people of Israel were to eat, and the annual festivals, and the observances of ceremonies according to the lunar calendar which they observed.

The Old Testament is filled with that. If you are reading through the Bible, following our reading chart, we got through that, didn't we, in Leviticus and Numbers.

There were three great feasts each year, at which time all the males in Israel were required to travel to the temple or tabernacle before the temple was built, and each festival, each one of these three, was a week in duration.

And then there were also monthly worship services that were scheduled according to the phase of the moon. And then there were detailed laws regarding clean and unclean meats, which meats were allowed to be eaten, and which were forbidden to them.

The concern was not primarily health concerns, although there is probably an element of that, but rather the idea of clean and unclean.

Clean animals were associated with things that were living and life, and the unclean foods or meats had to do with that, which is associated with death, life and death.

And so they were not allowed to eat birds of prey that fed on the dead. They were not allowed to eat anything in the sea that didn't have scales and fins, things crawling around on the bottom that feed on dead things.

And so that's really the emphasis, the spiritual emphasis. They were to be consumed and concerned about things having to do with life rather than death.

There were not many laws respecting what they were to drink, although Paul mentions that, doesn't he? Food and drink.

Certainly there were laws against priests drinking wine while they served in the temple, and those who took a

Nazarite vow were forbidden drinking wine during the period of their vow, which may be shorter or longer.

But Paul declared that these Mosaic laws had been temporary, preparatory, and typical of the realities in Jesus Christ to which they pointed the people of Israel.

They were as shadows that had portended the appearance of that to which they were casting a shadow.

And all of these Old Testament laws were a shadow. It's like somebody is approaching, you don't see him coming, but you see the shadow first, and then you see the person.

Christ appears. And all of these laws in the

Old Testament were as the shadow of Christ foretelling his appearing.

And they should have recognized him when he came upon the scene. Christ was due to come into the world, and the laws of Moses had served to reveal and direct the

Lord's people to desire and anticipate his coming. But to impose laws on the people of God in the place of Christ is great error.

Paul argues they had a place, no more. We've got the reality now in Christ. And so to impose laws on the people of God in the place of Christ is error, and the error of these false teachers.

This is what the false teachers were perpetrating upon the Christians in the church at Colossae. Taking their eyes off Christ and getting them to direct really to themselves and their observance of these things, these laws that had been legitimately prescribed, even though we would acknowledge the false teachers were probably exaggerating and infusing all kinds of different ways in which to observe these laws that were inventions of their own minds.

They were legalists. Legalism is a heresy that says that in order for a person to gain salvation, he must earn his way by the merit of his own righteousness.

What you do or what you don't do is somehow going to accrue righteousness for you that will enable you to pass a judgment on the final day of judgment.

This is what the false teachers were advocating to the Christians in the church at Colossae. But of course the

Holy Scriptures teach us that no one will be saved by trusting in His good works for salvation. Paul made this clear in Galatians 2 .16,

knowing that a man is not justified, in other words, brought into a right relationship with God.

A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that, that is a purpose clause, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law.

For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. And so legalism is present when good works are viewed as meritorious for the obtaining or retaining of God's favor.

Good works are necessary, and they must be performed by us, but it is a deadly error to somehow think that our obedience to the law of God is meritorious and somehow will accrue righteousness for us that will enable us to pass the judgment on Judgment Day.

When people believe God accepts them because of something they are doing or something they have done or will do, they are legalists.

They believe that through their own effort they move God to be favorable to them, but these ones do not have salvation according to the scriptures.

God tells us that He justifies us in His sight through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Any person who believes that he will be justified in the day of God's judgment because he has kept the

Ten Commandments or the Golden Rule or any other rules that others or he himself has devised will be sorely surprised when he stands before God, because no man can save himself from God's wrath.

It must be of God's grace, holy of grace, through Jesus Christ alone.

And these false teachers were attempting to teach the Christians in this church at Colossae otherwise.

Of course the Jews who did not believe on Jesus as their Messiah were legalists.

And the reason that they did not believe on Jesus is because they trusted in themselves that they were righteous.

They were legalists. Paul described them in Romans 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.

For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Zeal counts for nothing if it is not according to knowledge.

For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, in other words, the way to become righteous through faith in Christ alone, they being ignorant of God's way of righteousness, seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

In other words, they have not come to God asking, trusting God to give them the gift of righteousness, but they were thinking that through their own efforts they were gaining a righteousness that was going to somehow enable them to escape damnation on the day of judgment.

And so the Jews who didn't believe on Jesus were guilty of legalism. They did not believe in grace alone as the way of salvation.

And yet, you know, we're not just picking on the Jewish people who didn't believe on Jesus because this is an era common with most religions of the world, isn't it?

All religion, apart from biblical Christianity, sets down methods or laws or principles of living whereby people may establish their own righteousness.

That's the definition of false religion. And so the common message that needs to be proclaimed universally is that they have not submitted to the only righteousness that can save them from hell, and that's the gift of righteousness, the righteousness that God grants as a gift of His grace to those who believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who believe only on the

Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Now the

Jews that did not believe in Jesus Christ were legalists, but there were also those who say they believe in Jesus, but were also legalists.

And as probably was the case with these false teachers at Colossae, it certainly was with the churches in Galatia.

And so legalism is also present when people add additional requirements to faith in Jesus Christ in order to be forgiven of their sins and to be accepted by God.

And so you can be a legalist and believe on Jesus if you think that it takes something more than faith in Jesus, but it takes faith in Jesus coupled with something else in order to make you acceptable to God.

And so whereas the Jews refused to believe on Jesus, were legalists because they thought they were righteous apart from Him, this second form of legalism occurs among those who claim to have faith in Jesus, but they do not believe that faith alone is sufficient to bring them into a right relationship with God.

And the world is full of churches with people who think that way.

They say that a sinner becomes right with God through faith in Christ plus something else, not

Christ alone. For one to say, it is my faith in Christ along with the merit of my baptism or the merit of my repentance or obedience, or it is

Christ in my sincerity that renders me accepted by God, this man is guilty of legalism.

It is Christ alone, like the hymn we sing, not by any tears we shed, not by any works our hands have done, it is through His works by which we are justified.

The teaching of salvation by grace and salvation by works are incompatible with one another. They cannot mix.

There can be no mixture of the two. Any effort to do so results in grace no longer being present, but works only, which cannot be saved.

As Paul wrote in Romans 11 .6 and 7, Even so, then at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Here he is talking about a remnant of Jews who believed on Jesus as their Messiah. It was due to grace that Paul was saved, due to grace the apostles were saved, everyone who believed on Jesus as their

Messiah, it was due to the grace of God, and it was a remnant that God chose for Himself.

And then he reasons, And if by grace, then it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

See if you mix works with grace, it is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace, otherwise work is no longer work.

And then Paul addresses formal legalism in Galatians 5 .2 and following, Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised,

Christ will profit you nothing. See these people believed on Jesus. They just thought that they also had to keep the law of Moses in conjunction with their faith in Jesus in order to become right before God.

And he basically said, If you become circumcised, which was the entrance point into a life of obedience to the

Mosaic law, if you think you are going to be saved by that means, you are fooling yourself.

Christ will profit you nothing. I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

You have to keep it as well as Jesus did. And even if you could, even if you or I did not sin one more time from now to the end of life, that still would not be enough, would it?

Because of everything else we have done in the past, because of what Adam did, because of who we are, only the

Lord Jesus Christ lived a life of righteousness. We are saved by His works, not ours.

Now this is foundational, something that every one of us should understand and be able to repeat to ourselves as well as to others.

And so in this verse in Galatians 5, I say to you, if you become circumcised,

Christ will profit you nothing. Again, these were people who believed on Christ. He was correcting an error that was being perpetrated among the churches in the region of Galatia.

He had begun these churches based on the promise of the gospel that God would forgive their sins, bring them into a right relationship with Himself through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

And there were some there who said, yes, you must believe on Jesus to have salvation, but you must also observe the laws of Judaism in order to be saved.

It was Christ plus something, they said, was the grounds of God accepting sinners.

And Paul essentially wrote, if you add anything to Christ, you lose the benefit that Christ brings to His people.

You're on your own. Because salvation is in Christ alone, by grace alone, through faith alone.

Legalism is addressed in corrected Romans, but also in the book of Galatians. Legalism was a common problem in the churches of the

New Testament era, and legalism has remained a threat to true grace throughout the church age.

Legalism characterizes whole denominations today. And often when bringing people to understand the gospel of the grace of God, this error of legalism must be addressed and corrected in the ones whom we're attempting to reach for Jesus Christ.

They have to know this. They have to know it's Christ alone. That's a cardinal truth.

You can't have salvation unless you understand it's Christ alone. That puts it on Him and outside of you.

And so a person cannot be saved until he abandons all trust in himself or his own ability to please

God apart from Christ alone. And so he must come to trust in Jesus Christ alone as his

Lord and Savior. And the church of Colossae was being plagued by those who were teaching the heresy of legalism.

And Paul exhorted them very strongly not to embrace this false teaching. He wrote, Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in question.

These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Legalism, a great danger.

But that was not the only danger that these false teachers were imposing upon this church.

And so secondly, he also warned them against the danger of mysticism, verses 18 and 19.

And mysticism is basically the error of embracing subjective spiritual experience as a means or a way to determine truth, that is, the will of God.

Rather than the scriptures, they are dependent on something they see, hear, experience, feel.

So Paul wrote, Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and the worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind.

They claim to be spiritual, Paul says they are sensuous. Not holding fast to the head, again that is

Christ, capital H, from whom the whole body nourished and knit together through his joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God.

And so these false teachers were teaching the Christians in Colossae that through subjective, personal, spiritual experience they could come into a true or deeper relationship with God.

If you did not experience what they claimed was possible and necessary to experience, then you are not a Christian.

Or if you didn't listen to them that claimed to have these experiences. Ones who claim to have ecstatic experiences, such as visions or impressions, which were in actuality not of the

Lord, but born from their own corrupt minds, sensuous minds, claim to have direct communication with God.

The world is filled with these kinds of people. In churches too, there are those who claim to worship angels, and the reason is they thought angels were intermediaries between God and man.

The essence of this error is that these people do not believe that God's revelation of Himself and His will is complete and limited to His written word, the

Bible. They claim that through their devotion, their prayer, their meditation, they receive direct and immediate communion with God and receive direct communication from God.

Or through intermediaries, angels. But apart from the scriptures, that's the bottom line.

And mysticism is a common error in evangelicalism. I recounted some of these things a handful of years ago, but this is a common problem

I thought I'd better rehearse them. It is commonplace in many Pentecostal denominations, but it's not only common to them.

The Quaker denomination is characterized by mysticism. They sit quietly until the

Spirit moves one of them to speak. Mysticism is seen, however, as a common belief and practice by many television preachers.

The Lord told me, and I've got a word for you, they don't give you chapter and verse.

They got it directly from the Lord. And people believe them. But there are very many churches in broad evangelicalism who claim to believe the

Bible, but they combine mysticism with biblical teachings. This is not an unusual thing.

This is a very common understanding of the Christian life. Some in the church at Colossae had been teaching the need to worship angels.

These people perhaps projected the idea that they were very humble people, why we are so lowly and unworthy to come to God directly, so we will seek and trust and even do homage to angels, for it was believed that angels have direct access to God.

We don't. They do. And therefore, we'll seek God through them. As one described these false teachers, perhaps the suggestion that's been offered by more than one commentator is correct, namely that the teacher of error was trying to create the impression that he considered himself to be insignificant to approach

God directly and sought to contact deity through the mediation of angels, and since the angels were willing to perform this service for him, or in order that they might oblige him, worship them.

And so these people claim to be really humble, why I'm too unholy to approach

God. We need to go to angels, and we'll receive word from God from them, and they'll be able to communicate our desires to him.

But the fact is, in evangelicalism today, all across the world, it is rife with the idea that God communicates directly to people, not through the scriptures, but through their spirit.

God spoke to my spirit, is what you hear. The first problem of this is they have a wrong understanding of what constitutes a human being.

They view a person as a trinity, and by the way, many sound and solid men in the past and in the present continue to teach this, that a human being is a body, soul, and spirit.

But the scriptures don't teach that. The scriptures teach a human being is a body and soul, and many times in scripture the soul is also described as one spirit, but spirit and soul are one and the same.

A human being is a body and soul. But these Christian mystics claim, no, that they have this third category of their person, their spirit.

And they believe that this is their heavenly, spiritual self, distinct from the soul. The soul involves your mind and how you think and how you feel and how you act, but your spirit, that's what's really close to God, and so God, the

Holy Spirit, communicates with your spirit. It's just another way to get revelation from God apart from the word of God.

And it's not biblical. They say the spirit is a matter above and beyond your mind, which is an aspect of your soul experience.

They claim your spirit has the capacity for a higher, more desirable and pure kind of knowledge and experience with God, which your soul could never contemplate or encounter, and so their thinking may include something like this.

What use is doctrine? That's soulish. You see, that's earthly. The soul is how you interrelate with the world about you through your senses, through your mind, through your will.

Senses having to do with the body, but your mind, your will, and your affections. What use is doctrine, for God has spoken to my spirit, and this is what is really important.

And so what difference does the Bible say? You know, that was God speaking 2 ,000 years ago, and we need a fresh word today, is what they advocate.

And they'll be quick to claim that God has communicated to them directly through their spirit.

And this is not even Christian, but it's common among Christian churches.

It's pure mysticism and Christian dress, and yet many, many are deceived with really this silly and foolish idea of spirituality.

And so what matters to many people is not the word of God, the scriptures, for they're looking for an impression, a feeling, a sense of, you know, a buzz, as one dear friend of mine who's with the

Lord now, who was plagued by this all his life, and as he came out of it and he looked back, he says,

I see, Lars, and all the time I was caught up in that whole thing, I was looking for a spiritual buzz.

That's how he described it. And so may the

Lord deliver us from this error. May we look to the written, authoritative, inerrant word of God, the scriptures, for it's through the scriptures alone that the

Lord speaks to his people. And it's quite amazing to me how many evangelical voices are asserting that Christians are to look to other sources than the

Bible in order to hear from God. And again, I recounted this in some time past, and this might be familiar to some of you.

Some are more blatant in their assertions than others. Jack Deere, a former seminary professor at Dallas Seminary, a

Presbyterian minister, leading theologian for the Vineyard Church movement, wrote this, In order to fulfill

God's highest purposes for our lives, we must be able to hear his voice both in the written word and in the word freshly spoke from heaven.

There it is. Satan understands the strategic importance of Christians hearing

God's voice, so he has launched various attacks against us in that area. One of his most successful attacks has been to develop a doctrine that teaches

God no longer speaks to us except through the written word. See, he'd call me a heretic for what

I've already said today. Ultimately, this doctrine is demonic, even though Christian theologians have been used to perfect it.

Amazing. And to understand what he's written, this evangelical says that the historic

Protestant doctrine concerning the sufficiency of Scripture to direct people in the word of God in all matters of faith and practice is demonic.

That's what his statement said, didn't it? There are others who are less overt in their assertions, but they're saying essentially the same thing.

And one very influential Southern Baptist, I mean, this guy is so popular. Open up a CBD catalog. It's a cottage industry.

It's not just his book, Experiencing God, but he's got Experiencing God Bible Studies, Experiencing God for Children, for Teens.

I mean, it's a whole cottage industry. And that's what publishing houses look for. Not just a single book to publish, but a whole range of things by which they can market.

Well, Blackaby, along with Claude King, wrote a book that sold many, perhaps well over a million copies by now, entitled

Experiencing God. It's a very popular book, and there's a lot of good things in this book. But unfortunately, it advocates the

Christian's need and ability to hear from God apart from the Scriptures in order to experience a vital relationship with God.

There's a new book out with a new title that's changed and added things from the original book.

I saw it online last night. And so Blackaby speaks of a will of God outside of the

Scriptures that is found by properly reading day -by -day events that occur in one's life.

And so he advocates the importance of a life of experiencing God that's largely based on subjective interpretation of personal experience rather than through the authoritative and objective revelation of the

Scriptures. And this is a departure from historic evangelical understanding and practice.

And this is the kind of Christian experience promoted by the false teachers at Colossae. This is the kind of experience that Paul was repudiating.

People puffed up, claiming they had visions. They got communication from angels. They got a word of God for you.

And Paul said, don't go there. I'll cite one more example.

A very common example is

Campus Crusade International. Worldwide, one of the largest, most influential parachurch organizations today.

Receives hundreds of millions of dollars a year in donations. It promotes the Jesus Film Project all over the world.

And we praise God that Christ is preached to them and the gospel is many times set forth by them and we rejoice in this.

But Bill Bright said this, there will be an awakening in America. Our World Center will be erected.

We will see the International Christian Leadership University develop where Vonette, his wife, and I will take the basic truths and messages of Campus Crusade to thousands.

I'm telling you what God told me and I'm willing to stake my life on it. That's quite amazing.

God spoke to me directly and told me this is what he's going to do and this is what I'm telling you to do.

So get on board and help me in raising money and whatever toward this goal.

In one of his books, Bright declared that God told him after he completed a 40 -day fast that God would bring revival to America if he,

Bill Bright, could get 100 ,000 Christians to fast for 40 days. And so he said, he wrote a book saying that a 40 -day fast was the secret key to see the blessing of God in this day.

All of his assertions are not found in the Bible. It's mysticism. Now let me correct a possible misunderstanding when we're asserting the

Bible alone as the sole rule in all matters touching what we're to believe and how we live. We're not saying that God does not presently lead his people, but I put that in quotation marks.

Evangelicals have always affirmed that God guides and directs his people if the Holy Spirit illuminates the scriptures to them.

The Holy Spirit prompts actions, brings to remembrance scriptural principles, places upon our hearts the desire to do good works.

But what these evangelicals are saying is quite different. They're saying that God gives additional revelation apart from his

Bible that is necessary for his people to know his will and be used in order to be blessed by him.

They're saying that God speaks in ways that cannot be found in the Bible. This is a departure from historic

Christianity. It's mysticism. The corrective to Christian mysticism is restoring the role of the mind as the arbiter of the truth of God as informed solely by the word of God, the

Holy Scriptures. Romans 12, 1 -2, we addressed this when we were in Romans several years ago.

In Romans 12, 1 -2, it says forth the primary role of the mind of understanding truth as the divine means of sanctifying

God's people. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service or ministry, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed.

And how are you transformed? By the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to prove or demonstrate what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

And so here, Paul appeals to the need for the Christian to experience transformation.

In other words, the believer's sanctification. His mind must be engaged. It needs to be renewed by the acquiring of truth found in the

Scriptures. And so, really, this is a way of sanctification to what has been described as the hegemony of the mind.

When Adam and Eve were created and God placed them in the garden, the mind was the ruler of the life of Adam and Eve.

God communicated His will to their minds, and then they entered into that with their affections, and then they purposed in their will to fulfill that within the garden.

But when they fell into sin, the hegemony or leadership of the mind fell, and rather the affections came to preeminence.

And so people are not governed by their intellect, although they may claim to be, but rather they're governed by their lusts, their affections.

And when we become a Christian, God basically is reversing that fallenness, once again putting the mind as the headship within a person, and so the mind as the truth of God from Scripture is communicated.

He applies that to his thinking, his reasoning, and his actions, and in that way he becomes more and more conformed to the will of God.

And those who claim to mysticism as a way of the Christian life are really setting aside the mind, and they're looking, you know, they think it's some kind of spiritual apprehension.

They're being governed by their affections, their lusts. Paul declares it right here, doesn't he?

They're driven by their sensual minds. In other words, it's not an intelligent, reasoning, rational thing, but rather it's by experience that they claim, their impressions.

And again, the whole world is caught up in this. This is a serious error of which we all need to be on guard.

Thirdly, and we have to close here, a warning against asceticism. Here he gave this third warning.

Asceticism is a teaching that Christian life can be enhanced, and that the Christian can become holy by denying himself of certain foods and restricting his activities.

And so doing this is viewed as a way to get grace from God. And so ascetics fail to look to the grace of God that they need through Jesus Christ alone.

Again, verses 20 -23. With Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world. Why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch?

How many times have I heard people over the years, Pastor, just tell me what I'm supposed to do. People want laws rather than principles.

And they readily accept this message. Do this, don't do this. Paul says, referring to things that perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings.

That's the issue. It's not taught in the word of God. These have indeed an appearance of wisdom.

Oh, that man really is holy. Look, he's a monk. He goes off and sits on that mountain.

Asceticism is the philosophy of monasteries, monastics, who think that if you get away from the world and get off alone and deny yourselves the creature comforts that the rest of the world indulges in, you're going to become more holy and God is going to accept you and reveal himself more fully.

But Paul says they may have an appearance of wisdom, but it's just an appearance. It's a self -made religion, asceticism, severity of the body.

They'll outstrip you and I and zeal. But they have no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

This is no way to defeat sin. Because when you go off onto some monastery up on Mount Sinai, the problem is you've still got this, right?

You take it with you. You can't get away from it. And so asceticism is the idea you can separate yourself from a worldly environment, deny yourself of certain pleasures, devote yourself wholly to a strict religious discipline, and this style of life will result in a closer, deeper relationship with God.

And this is just not according to Scripture. And the basic problem is these standards of behavior are not prescribed in the

Holy Scriptures. Paul said that God has given all things to richly enjoy.

And we may enjoy these things if we view them as coming from God. When we begin to view them apart from God, then they become idols, of course, and poison to our souls.

But we should enjoy all aspects of life, not indulging sinfully, but appreciate the things that God has given us.

And granted, for example, we live in a country here. We're greatly privileged. Ninety percent of the people in the world would trade places with you in a moment.

They would gladly do so. We're greatly privileged. And I don't think that we ought to be beating up ourselves because of these.

But we ought to be thankful to God and yet also mindful that it is not because of anything that we merited that we are enjoying these things.

And so it comes with responsibility, doesn't it? And we must see them as gifts of God through Jesus Christ and delight in them and rejoice in them, but in no way somehow thinking that they make us better than the ninety other percent in the world.

That would be terrible error. Well, may the Lord help us not to be distracted or diverted from viewing our fullness in Jesus Christ.

He is the one whom God has set forth to be the source and the meaning of all life. In him alone the

Christian may find and experience all of the spiritual treasures that God has for his people.

And Paul was telling this church, don't you let anybody or anything tell you otherwise. The fullness of God dwells in Christ bodily and you are filled or complete in him.

Amen? May the Lord help us to see this more clearly and fully and may he not allow us to be diverted by errant voices and our own errant thinking in these matters.

Let's pray. In your word and for the clear instruction that you have for us, may you help us take these matters to heart and may we glory in Christ Jesus in him alone.

And we'll thank you and praise you Lord for all the blessings that we will receive and enjoy because of this awareness of our fullness in him.