In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 2:8-10 and explains how believers are to walk faithfully based on whom they have received. Pastor Babij walks through the passage using three headings:
1. The Command (2:8a)
2. The Warning (2:8b)
3. The Completeness (2:9-10)
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okay let’s take our Bibles this morning and turn to Colossians chapter 2.
we’ll be looking at this morning verses 8 through 10 of Colossians chapter 2.
well let’s pray first Lord this morning as we do meet together around your word and time of worship just a time of thinking of the so great salvation you bestowed upon us pray Lord that would always be on our mind and I pray Lord that you would remove from our mind the thoughts of the just uh work of the week and what we’re anticipating for next week I pray Lord that we would just rest In This Moment focus our focusing our full attention upon your word and what it has for us today and I pray that as we do that Lord you may make us Disciples of Christ who know exactly what we’re what we ought to do and how we ought to live and I pray this in Christ’s name amen King Colossians chapter 2 as I’ve been going through Colossians we need to consider that all modern religious counterparts contrasted with true biblical Christianity are really Hollow and deceptive and yet they appeal to many people I remember when I was growing up I was pretty religious my father and I always were involved in somehow with the church and um but all at the same time as I was growing up there was always this gnawing emptiness inside of me and I was always wondering and had these questions that I didn’t seem to be getting answered and so I felt like I was always wrestling inside of myself and not not that I was necessarily looking for God because I thought I was all right I thought everything was fine well and dandy and I wasn’t really looking and uh and then the Lord had to take me out of the state into another country and uh all the distractions that I had were gone and uh at that point the Lord began to deal with me in a very specific way and uh but I was still wrestling I still felt empty and um when I heard the gospel and I believed the gospel one of the things I recognized going on inside me for the first time is that my wrestling stopped my um I felt complete and and I never felt that way before and of course it just continued the more I understood and studied the word of God and follow the lord the more settled I was in my heart than I ever have in my life until this day I think that happens to all believers that we have this sense that were settled we’re resting in Christ um and that is a good place to be but when it comes to religious systems they don’t offer that religions are when that when they’re examined more more closely the common result of Investigation will always be they hold too low of view of Christ they can mention Christ they can talk about Jesus but somehow it’s Jesus plus something else somehow Jesus sacrifice on the cry the cross did not accomplish everything there were there were some things still undone that we had to try to figure out and and help God do any anything that deludes the promotion of the person of Christ should it be called philosophical piracy because they’re trying to rob something and once the Christian understands the wealth and riches they have in Christ they are unwilling to exchange Christ for any other would-be man-made substitute so then we we cannot let anyone persuade us to believe that Jesus is anything less than than the totality and and comprehensively the perfect God man there is only one there is only one image of the invisible God Jesus Christ the lord the only unique one so we ought then to keep believing in him to keep growing in your knowledge of him to keep understanding him and keep on holding to Christ and keep on obeying him as we love him we learn to obey him now we all have already been armed in the scripture in Colossians for the conflict that we’re in because we’re holding on to truth and we heart we’re holding out the truth by our unifying love that’s a weapon that we have victory in Warfare we’re keeping The Treasure of truth about Christ that’s a sharp weapon we’re keeping firm on our faith in Christ that’s another weapon for victory and we’re thinking and we’re keeping like last time thankful we have thankfulness an overflowing Tech thankfulness in the end of verse number seven because of what we understand we have in Christ and we’re not willing at that point to let go of anything any of our treasure again when we understand what has been done in Christ and how much God has done on our behalf along with a validation of the transformational results of life carried out in Christ that he’s making us new we’re dropping off the old we’re putting on the new all one can do is overflow with thankfulness once they understand that and what’s next after that well in verse number six if you notice in chapter two it says therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in him so this is what what’s next we’re called to a faithful Christian walk and Jesus through the transformation of truth that he has made us new so now we are to continue to walk in that truth and while we walk there are commands to heed there are warnings in order to avoid going the wrong way or listening to the wrong people and there’s also more understanding of our complete salvation as we grow so I want you to notice first of all this morning the command that is given in verse number eight it says this see to it that no one takes you captive stop right there that’s the command now the first imperative was found in verse number seven and the command is walk in him that of course means to conduct one’s daily life in a behavior and a lifestyle that honors God and this leads a Christian to a continued walk in the faith the body of Truth doctrines that have been given to us in the Christian faith and as we Christians do Walk This Way the transformational changes happen in our life it happens to our character it happens in our obedience it happens in our love it happens in our maturity it happens in our stability and it becomes evident in our everyday life and the sphere in which the Christian Life is carried out it says so walk in him and this includes obedient in cooperation with the truth of God’s word and a constant dependence on God and that’s that’s where we walk as Christians so the Believers are to conduct their lives in accord with the apostles Doctrine not in accord with the enticing words of false teachers that Christians are to continue in the truth as as it is in Jesus and not be turned aside to Novelties or any kind of things moving from teaching from this way or that way into falsehoods and by false teachers we’re to watch out for that so as we walk in Christ that’s the first imperative that’s the first command but the second command goes with it in verse number eight see to it see the imperatives put responsibility in the lap of those who have received the truth we just don’t sit back on our Laurels and do nothing God says no you’re responsible now you were to cooperate with the spirit of God in your Christian walk you are responsible so the first imperative goes along the second parative to see and that is to see that no one misleads you now these two imperatives have been called the imperatives of discipleship we find in the gospels a similar pattern just take your Bibles and turn over to Matthew chapter 19.
Matthew 19 this is when Jesus was dealing with the Rich Young Ruler and I want you to notice what Jesus says to him here after he has this discussion with the Rich Young Ruler and the Rich Young Ruler pretty much says I have kept these Commandments and Jesus says to him in Matthew 19 verse 21.
Jesus says to him if you wish to be complete go and sell your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me so to walk in Christ is also the command to follow Christ same thing now this yet Rich Young Ruler was not complete Jesus said because his real treasure was on Earth in his great possessions that’s where his heart was that’s what he loved he did not love God so his treasure was not in heaven he didn’t follow Christ it’s a real genuine Believers follow Christ whatever the cause this Rich Young Ruler was deceived by the Earthly riches do Earthly riches have power to deceive you better believe they do and they’re still very much on the top of the list of deceiving people because the rich ruler never followed Christ he never saw the danger around him now if you turn over to Matthew chapter verse 4 and 5 Jesus also says something that is similar to Colossians Matthew 24 verse 4 and 5. now these are the these prophetic passages about living in the end time and Jesus said to them in verse 4 of Matthew 24.
see to with that no one misleads you that’s exactly the same thing as it says in Colossians and verse 5 why for many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and will mislead many so this atmosphere in which people live and even in the religious world there is a great potential not to follow Christ and be deceived and there’s also a potential not to see and so therefore you get misled for the believer walking and following is to be continuous so is the seeing and the watching no Christian no Christian is exempt from these two commands we’re always doing this this is a daily pattern that we have every day we are walking in Christ and we are watching that we don’t get misled now why is that because we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death where there are many enemies and so we Christians are urged to walk in Christ and keep to keep our eyes open so that we will not have a black hood pulled over our heads and pushed through into an unmarked van by hoodlums and whisked Away to a dark unclosed location by the evil motives of our captors see that first these first two imperatives this command is to be lived out but it leads to the warning and I want you to notice in verse number eight there is a warning that goes along with those commands and if you notice it says see to it that no one takes you captive now as you read that you find that the word captive means for somebody to carry you off or it also can mean to carry off the spoils or cap or captives off from a conflict in battle that you know when somebody went into a country and they won the battle what do they do they take the spoils and take them back home right well this is the picture here that someone is coming into your life that will victimize you to brainwash you into some kind of religious error and then to take control of you and Lead You astray in other words they prey on you some have used this term in a sense of to kidnap someone away from the truth into error now that doesn’t look like the enemy has good motives for us so that’s why we have to be watching we have to be watching as we stand and learn truth it is like Pirates who unsuspectingly move in on a friendly vessel in order to board and loot the treasure that it’s on board see treasure attracts Pirates like honey attracts flies a Christian’s treasure is Christ and when someone knows Christ the enemy wants to diminish Christ in their lives and steal what they have now how do these enemies actually try to capture its victims well notice in verse number eight of SEC Colossians chapter two we’re back there it says see to it that no one takes you captive and notice it says through philosophy that that is really the search and love for wisdom but this is not philosophy proper or good philosophy this is philosophy that’s mixed with current human thought and Pagan religious practices and for the Colossians there was this philosophical mindset that saw things in two con contrasting principles because of these false teachers number one that on one side things were good which was associated with the spiritual and the immaterial but on the other side things were evil which is also always associated with the material universe that in other words matter was evil your body was evil anything you could touch was evil and anything spiritual was good they thought because they thought that they thought God himself was perfectly good spiritually and totally disassociated from the material world so again they had a wrong view of God and yet they’re teaching also in because of that fact they believed God did not create the material Universe he would not pollute himself by any such contact with material things because material things were evil so for them the idea that God would become a man God in human flesh was Unthinkable that was heresy for them but the Biblical teaching is still true in Colossians Christ in you the hope of glory that did not ring good with these philosophers these Gnostic philosophers saw the human being as trapped but had a spark of divine and so for them salvation meant release from bondage to all that was material including one’s own body so Resurrection a bodily Resurrection would be a horrible thought to them none at all but all of that flying right into the true theology right into biblical theology all right so that’s what they did but then notice in verse number eight there’s another thing that actually goes along with that and that is empty deception the the noun actually expands on the meaning of the first to mean Hollow and deceptive philosophy in other words a philosophy that amounts to empty foolishness it has no spiritually sound purpose it’s like so so one can light as many candles as they want to light they can go into the church building as much as they want the mosque the temple every day throughout their lives and go through all the steps of belonging to a particular religious group and all they do to earn favor with God amounts to nothing no matter how sincere they are in carrying out their religious workout they cannot make themselves complete they cannot wipe away their own sin they cannot make themselves right with God no matter how much they believe that they are able to do so see they are captives to a philosophical system that is battling for the mind of a person because when all this is examined with Biblical truth they’re all found to be Hollow and deceptive actually this wisdom is demonic wisdom it’s Earthly like James says it’s Earthly but I want you to notice this is empty deception notice the device that the false teacher uses the device the false teacher uses in order to take advantage of someone it is the device of Deceit empty deception that if we search through scriptures we get an eyeful and an earful of the evil nature of Deceit for example in Psalm 119 verse 118 it says you have rejected all those who wander from your statutes for their deceitfulness is useless also where does deceitfulness come out what’s the instrument of the seafulness the instrument of deceitfulness is the tongue it has to be that’s why the these these false teachers are very skilled with language they’re very skilled getting to people what does it say in Romans 3 13 their throat is an open grave with their tongues they keep deceiving the poison of asps is under their lips also this deceit comes from where it comes from the heart in Matthew Mark chapter 7 it says from within out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts fornications thefts murderers adulteries Deeds of coveting and wickedness as well as deceit and what is God how does God look at these seed in scripture he abhors it Psalm 5 6 says you destroy those who speak falsehood the Lord abhors the man of Bloodshed and deceit now again look back to Second Corinthians for a moment and you see that false teachers are workers of Deceit where in second Corinthians 11 verse number 13 the Bible records this it says for such men II Corinthians 11 13 4 such men are false apostles deceitful workers disguising themselves as the Apostles of Christ so you see that this tool in their toolbox the seed is very very effective and they don’t come out and say well I’m being seeful right now us who have to decide and understand when we hear deceit because in the end like second John tells us who is going to be the main characteristic of the seed it’s going to be the Antichrist listen what it says for many deceivers have gone out into the world those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh this is the deceiver and the antichrist so now we we see who is behind the Twisted doctrine of Christ it’s Satan himself of course Ephesians brings it out more clearly Paul is dealing dealing with these false teachers and he’s turning turning what they believe on their on its head after you get done Paul gets done with them they really don’t know what to do because the the beliefs we have to say well we can’t believe that anymore so see deceit seduces with Promises of great reward but leads to hollow disappointments that’s what the seed always does and the colossian heresy taught that for salvation one needed to combine faith in Christ with secret knowledge and man-made regulations concerning such physical and external practices as circumcision eating and drinking rules harsh treatment of the body and strict observance of the religious festivals these are some of the ways people are taken captive and held in spiritual bondage today religious systems are a manual they are manufactured by the enemy himself to keep people in bondage and they all do it sincerely they all think they’re doing the right thing but they’re actually being kept captive and they’re kept there by deceit but they don’t see the deceit so don’t you get the sense that there is someone using these false teachers whether they know it or not their strings are being pulled by the enemy which is Satan himself and what is Satan’s Mission anyway his goal is to destroy us because we bear the image of God his goal is to overthrow the kingdom of God to re regain control of what he still possesses and regain his lost territory in those that came to Christ and his Travelers and strategies to entice us to sin to hinder our spiritual disciplines to misrepresent God in truth and to keep us away from it and then also he’s in opposition to our sanctification he doesn’t want to see that we’re growing in Christ so he’s always reminding us of our past sin you filthy dirty rotten person you’re you’re not changed you’re all the same corrupt person you’ve always been you ever hear him speaking like that to you um and you know want some for a moment you believe it and then you have to run back to the cross and he says you’re right I am that but I have Jesus Christ who died in my place his devices he uses the same strategy but different particular Tools in his toolbox where the Bible tells us in second Corinthians 2 11 so that no Advantage would be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his devices that is the key and not to be ignorant of what he’s doing that is thoughts and actions involved in deceiving someone so the church has to really know its enemy and not be ignorant of the Unseen spiritual Realm and remember when we think of that Satan is not all-knowing he cannot be present and anywhere Satan is stronger than we are and is a formidable enemy but he is not God nor is he equivalent with God he is a created being in which God has full authority over and he has them on a Long Leash where the scripture tells us greater he who is in you than he who is in the world and don’t forget Satan in looking upon his various plans to carry out his Dominion in the world his sights are on anything and anyone who gets in his way and anyone who honors God the most and is serious about serving him Satan will struggle very unsympathetically with that person in other words Satan views God’s people as hindrances in his Reign so he Co he contrives methods by which he may remove them out of his way or get them to work on his behalf he and his whole host of inferior Spirits under his control are trying to get the faithful to fail therefore all the Servants of God will more or less come under the direct or indirect assaults of the enemy sometime in their Christian walk so what are Christians to do well according to First Peter there to resist him in the truth in the body of Truth they’ve been given to them so we ought to be growing in that truth and becoming more skillful to use the sword of the spirit to resist his attempts to get you and I to doubt God’s word and don’t ever forget Believers are no longer under the Dominion of Satan he has no authority over us at all whatsoever we are in Christ you can’t touch us he hates that he wants he wants his his treasure back but he can’t have it because God has us but it’s the battle still going on and that’s the point of Colossians so so here is a another method that he uses to capture Us in back in Colossians chapter 2 verse number eight Not only was the first one that of uh you and I being deceived by empty philosophy but here a second one would be the false teacher’s manipulation and that would be according to the traditions of men now as I came to this passion of scripture I would thought to myself how powerful is tradition family traditions cultural traditions what about religious traditions no they are probably one of the most enslaving things that we could ever have going on in our life because I believe when I became a Christian and now my uh the first Christian in my family on my mother’s side and my father’s side my whole family exploded against me and for what reason you’re leaving the tradition of our religion that was that was the main reason and they were Furious and I endured that for many many years uh so I I found back then that you know tradition is very powerful and it is definitely a tool in Satan’s toolbox and I thought of myself is there any place in scripture that talks about tradition and I says yes there is and I’d like you to turn there Mark chapter 7 verse 2 to 13.
here’s a controversy that surrounded the disciples of Christ when confronted by the scribes and the Pharisees because the scribes and the Pharisees remember they were the religious leaders of the day and they were very steeped in Tradition and so the religious leaders bring a charge against Jesus disciples and this delegation of religious leaders came to accuse Jesus we’re going to look at verse number two in a minute of chapter seven and it didn’t take very long for them to find something and the first cause of confronting Jesus is a very serious violation of the traditions of the elders they caught certain uh they caught certain of Jesus disciples eating with common hands that were unwashed however they were not interested at all in hygiene and hygienic Purity they were actually interested uh in ceremonial cleanliness notice in verse number two of Mark 7 it says and had seen some of his disciples were eating their bread with impure hands that is unwashed for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they are carefully they they carefully wash their hands thus observing the traditions of the elders in verse 4 and when they had when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe such as Washings of Cups and pitchers and copper pots now there was a sense in the minds of the people that unless you are clean you cannot be in the presence of a perfect and holy God and what they did not grasp though was the source of the defilement and uncleanness it wasn’t washing their hands the source of the defilement as we read further on and Matthew 7 was their own heart that’s what was polluted but notice in verse number three again just to highlight these it says for the Pharisees and for all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands thus observing the traditions of the elders so Jesus and his disciples did not perform this ritual and keep in mind that the Pharisees and scribes believed not to do this was considered to be unclean in the sight of God that the Pharisees and the scribes were so adamant about this that they personally held Jesus responsible for not teaching his disciples the tradition the tradition of the elders or the ancients and if you look at their impassioned question in verse number five of Mark 7 it says in the Pharisees and the scribes asked him why do your disciples not walk according to to the tradition of the elders but to eat their bread with impure hands so they actually were accusing Jesus disciples of being defiled because of unwashed hands and therefore unclean in the sight of God now there’s one important thing that escaped the Pharisees and describes attention you know what that was the levitical law required no such washing so you know what this is this is the tradition of men they were spending so much time trying to build the fence around the scripture so they would not break it it actually moved them farther away from the word of God which in turn LED them into the sin of hypocrisy and false worship so Jesus quick quickly assesses and identifies the real spiritual state of these legalistic-minded Pharisees and scribes and Jesus turns the tables on this delegation and responds to their question by saying this to them in verse number six of Mark Seven hey Isaiah the prophet spoke about you guys this is what he said and he said to them rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you citing Isaiah chapter 29 and verse number 13 because this people draw near with their words and honor me with their lip service but they removed their hearts far from me and they their reverence for me consists of tradition learned by wrote man did he put his finger on the problem that Isaiah the prophet was describing the shallow religious lives of the 8th Century Jewish people and they were just going through the moshes by Road and that’s what the that’s what the the really the deception is about tradition it is wrote it’s passed on one family passes on to the next family whether it’s religious or not and so the families depend that you keep the traditions what does Jesus do he counter charges them and he says you guys are wrong on two occasions he says in verse number six you give me lip service without heart that’s hypocrisy that their lips give the external impression of devotion but their hearts and lives are a great distance from God in other words the basic meaning of the hypocrite is someone who answers to a set conversation an actor a stage person somebody who has a script you know it’s great to say stuff when you’re watching a movie and they said man that guy that really was a good saying but they it’s all scripted right they wrote it out before and you just said it well life’s not scripted it’s not scripted so they have lip service without heart that’s that’s religion see the moment the heart keeps far from God it also does something else it leaves God’s word and if you notice in verse number seven and eight of Mark chapter 7 Jesus accuses them secondly of worship without the word of God notice what it says in verse number seven but in vain they do worship me teaching as doctrines the precepts of men neglecting the Commandment of God you hold to the tradition of men so tradition is a very powerful thing that Satan uses to keep people captive I got rescued from it many of you got rescued from it we cannot go back to it we cannot go back that way when somebody gets rescued the whole book of Hebrews is about rescuing Jews from Judaism and coming all the way over to Christ and once they get there don’t go back don’t look back don’t trample underfoot the Son of God because judgment is next don’t do that so I can’t go back to what I did before so they were substituting men’s rules human Ingenuity for God’s laws in the end they are not listening to God or accepting his word or following his voice notice verse numbers 13 of Mark 7 Jesus exposes the Damage Done by such self-invented human tradition a particular term is used in verse number 13 and notice what it says thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down and you do many things such as Dad see the Greek word for invalidating it really means to make null to cancel actually it means to leave without Authority and Jesus is saying you guys have abolished the authority of not only the fifth commandment and that’s the fifth commandment is to obey your parents because the context before that but you abandon the authority of the word of God by your Traditions you invalidate the word of God see True Religion can never be the product of man’s mind True Religion should not be mistaken for mere outward observance and religious acts as if that is true to what God wants in our life the real deception is making man-made rules appear to be teaching from God’s word that’s the deception of tradition and does Satan still use that today you better believe he uses it he’s behind and works in most religious systems I would say in all of them and not the aberrant ones the one the ones that everybody will say oh that’s a cult that’s a given I’m talking about in the ones who are saying they believe these things but they do not really believe these things because it’s replaced by a bunch of men stuff and then go back to Colossians and I want you to notice there is in this false manipulation by the false teachers there’s another thing that is used the first one is according to we are to watch out according to man’s traditions in verse number eight but also in the latter part of verse number eight it says according to the element Elementary principles of the world I believe these Elementary principles really are connected to uh these false teachers use of the worship of angels that most likely this is spiritual forces that have significant influence over the Affairs of day-to-day experiences and existence of people demons are very much active in that way in other words the false teachers are saying to them listen you should practice the way of life laid out by these teachers which have special knowledge and what ways were there the way of a life stress that stress asceticism and rigid regulations and abstinence and self-punishment and of course Liberation from Evil and fleshly the fleshly body by whatever you want to do with it and then of course Angelic intermediaries were honored by ritual and worship this was the way that they said to live but it is the way of not only empty deception but it is the way of the elementary principles of the world just ritualistic it insisted that the Colossians should observe religious days and Seasons it was also worldly philosophy and in the sense it was mystical The Cult of Angel worship indulged the praise of visions only understood by a prolonged thought process by the false teachers they had this super knowledge and it was also ascetic rigid regulations of abstinence uh and self-punishment so the problem what tradition and what uh Satan uses with the elementary principles of the world trying to control people is this that it cannot control the most basic desires we have in other words it cannot stop people from sinning if you notice in Colossians chapter 2 verse number 23 it says this are matters which have to be sure the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but they are of no value against fleshly indulgences so in other words when somebody came to Christ one of the things they noticed is they were having victory over their sin they were dropping off their sins their thoughts were changing to become more holy and godly and they were realizing their sins more and they were leaving them and following Christ but these false teachers there was just sin multiplying Within These people because they had no power at all whatsoever over the flesh see we should always be warned against things like astrology which is on the rise in the United States or horoscopes which is also on the rise tarot cards Ouija boards spiritual spear tests psychic readers and even yoga that has been introduced to a large portion of Christianity that has been something that is subtle and no big deal but all those yoga moves are worshiping gods and people don’t realize that we can’t have any of that exercising is one thing but when you’re connected with something that has a history of things that are connected to false worship we have to stay away from stuff like that so whether if a person is religious in practice religious in Attitude religious and speech religious and precept religious and ceremony they can be all those things and they can all give an appearance of wow that person is religious and that person is uh is wise but the problem is is they’re alien from the grace of God only a Christian knows the grace of God so see false teachers spiritually actually drastically distort true biblical Doctrine and the Christian way of living specifically it was rooted in the doctrine that robbed Jesus of his central place so what is the gross era of false teachers Waltz mentioned back in chapter 2 verse number eight notice what it says at the end of the verse it says they do all these things rather than according to Christ there it is they carry out their teachings according to humanly engineered traditions and the basic worldly man-made principles of the world here’s the huge mistake rather than according to Christ and the one thing you’ll find about Many religious systems and cultic systems is that they it’s a very complicated system try go to somebody and ask him to just give you in a nutshell what the main premise of your religion is they can’t do it you know why it is so complicated these systems are always very complicated when you put them alongside the gospel I can tell somebody in just a minute why I believe what I believe of course there’s much more that goes to it but why I can’t save myself Christ saved me Christ granted me Faith and repentance to believe in him I am saved and forgiven because of what he did not what I’ve done he’s given me eternal life and he’s made me write with him that’s it that’s the premise that we have that’s what we stand upon so the old message of the Gospel has never changed and will never change which is the only way to be saved to be forgiven is to believe the message to believe on the Son of God Jesus Christ and that justification is by faith only our works will never save us all our Good Deeds are not enough to save us they never will be enough we must be saved and we must live our life as it says in our text according to Christ so false teaching is complex and often morphs and changes oh we believe that last year we don’t believe that this year why because the culture is dictating what they believe in many in many cases true sound Biblical teaching does not change and when learned and followed leads to simplicity it leads to Godliness Godly sincerity and it leads to devotion in Christ that’s what it leads to that’s how you know you’re following the truth well are there any scriptures that back that up yes there are there’s two and I’d like to turn there second Corinthians chapter 1 verse number 12.
now in Corinthians here we see that Paul is saying to them in verse number 12 of second Corinthians chapter 1 for our proud confidence is this the testimony of our conscience that in Holiness and godly sincerity not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially towards you so Holiness and godly sincerity in that passage and then second Corinthians chapter 11 verse number 3 he says this he says but I am afraid I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness your mind was your minds will be led astray from the Simplicity and purity of Devotion to Christ see that’s what Satan is trying to do he’s trying to pull you away from the end results of walking with Christ and that’s simply simplicity it’s a simple Christian it’s a simple life God wants us to live a simple life and he wants to do it with sincerity and devotion of Christ and that’s where it all leads that’s what real Doctrine leads to so we must beware of these false teachers and their teaching for three reasons and then we’re done this morning look at back at Colossians chapter 2 verse number nine this shows us it leads to the commands lead to walking properly in Christ leads to the warning which leads to us understanding more of the completeness not only of Christ but of our life notice what it says in verse number nine for in him all the fullness of deity dwells and notice in bodily form why do you think he put that there because because he’s rubbing it right in the face of the false teachers saying no Christ God came in bodily form in the flesh so you’re wrong Jesus shares fully in the Divine Essence along with the father and the Holy Spirit as one true God that’s what the scriptures teach us in fact what’s the proof of Jesus Humanity Jesus began Life as a baby he grew up and developed Jesus had emotions a normal appetite grew tired and weary he looked like a Jewish man Jesus suffered and died he rose from the dead in his human glorified body he is seated at the right hand of the father in his glorified body and he is coming again in his glorified body and his foot his feet are going to touch the Mount of Olives and he is going to come to this earth and Rule and Reign so his Humanity was not just a covering for his deity he was fully man but he’s also full of God the Old Testament tells us that he’s the Messiah in his Divine personage that Christ has the attributes of deity he’s he has eternality he has omniscience he has omnipresence he has he has omnipotence he has immutability that Christ has the office of deity that he’s the Creator and he’s the whole upholder of that creation that’s Colossians chapter one and that Christ has the prerogatives of deity he is able what to forgive sins and to raise the Dead and to execute judgment you remember what happened in the New Testament when Jesus forgave sins what do they want to do to him Stone into death why because they knew that was a claim to deity he has and is absolute and perfect God so what is the first reason that we’re to be aware of the false teachers because of what is true in Christ that he is the god-man secondly because of what is true of the followers of Christ that means the completeness the Christian’s completeness in Christ and if you notice back to Colossians chapter 2 verse number 10 it says something very important for you and I it says and in him you have been made what complete you have been made complete so it follows logically that if Christ has all the fullness of deity and Christians have Christ in them then they possess fullness of life because Believers have been filled in him they have full salvific acceptance that goes with and it really goes with all the benefits that come afterwards being a Christian we’re really privileged to be believers we really are and then one last thing a third reason not to believe these false teachers is verse number 10 it says because of the comprehensive comprehensive authority of Christ and he is the head over all Rule and Authority in other words if if you just made a mistake and think Jesus was just a man and you didn’t get he was man and God and somehow mixed that up no let me just remind you that he is the head over all Rule and Authority that’s in all the universe that’s who he is and make no mistake and he’s our God so you realize that Satan has no hold on us we have nothing to fear nothing else needs to be done Christ is done it all we are complete in Christ and if that doesn’t give you Assurance as a Believer I I can’t help you I can’t help you but it sure does to me and I thank the Lord for it amen let’s pray Lord thank you this morning for your word it again Lord solidifies our faith gives us confidence in the work that you have accomplished helps us to follow you more definitely helps us to Be watchful of all the things that are flying out around around us that have to do with spiritual things and religious things and Lord you you give us the ability to stand on the truth of God’s word firm fully armed knowing that you have you are complete in of yourself and because we’re in you we are complete and nobody no one no power no demon can take that from us and I thank you for it and I pray in Christ’s name amen let’s Stand Together