COLOSSIANS 2:16-232006 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Colossians 2:16-23

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2006. That's the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Paul makes this point in one of his epistles. He says, it's a new covenant making the old one obsolete.

The new covenant makes the old one obsolete. It's no longer valid. You can't come to God on those terms anymore by keeping the law, by following the law, because it was never an adequate way of dealing with sin. For example, Hebrews chapter 10 verse 4 tells us it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

It's not possible. Yet in the law, it was commanded that you offer these bulls and goats as a result of the sin that you had. The sacrifices were commanded, but they didn't actually take away sin. They were done in obedience and faith. And that is what made them effective.

That's why Samuel told Saul in 1 Samuel 15, 22, that to obey is better than sacrifice. The issue was always the heart, not the outward fulfillment of laws and regulations, but obedience and faith to what God has said and presented to his people. The New Testament is full of scriptures that deal with this issue throughout the book of Romans and Galatians and Hebrews and many more.

So these things, verse 17, are a shadow of the things to come. The whole point is that the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, was valid for a season because everything pointed to Jesus Christ. But now that Jesus has come, the work is complete. We are not bound to keep the law any longer. Yet there are still many groups, even to this day, that teach these type of things.

And as Paul is encouraging us here, we need to be careful not to get caught up in such things. Legalism and the following of rules and regulations. Now, legalism really is saying one of two things. There's two viewpoints or two avenues which people come from when they get involved in legalism.

The first one, the first opinion of those who are involved in legalism is that Jesus Christ is not enough for salvation. This group, whether they actually pronounce that or not is beside the point. But in saying that you have to fulfill these laws in order to be saved, they are stating that Jesus Christ, his death on the cross was not sufficient for your salvation. Right.

What they say is you have to believe in Jesus. Yes, that was good. He needed to die. But also you have to keep these regulations and rules. It was something that was dealt with a lot in the New Testament because they came from a Jewish background. And so people are saying all over the place, you have to be circumcised in order to be saved.

Sounded fine to many of the people there, but the reality is that's saying that Jesus' death was not sufficient. To say that you have to be baptized to be saved is saying that Jesus' death is not sufficient. You have to fulfill some requirement. You have to keep some law and some regulation. That's what legalism is. You have to keep these things and fulfill these things because Christ's death was not enough to save you. The second viewpoint is

from which legalism comes is the understanding or the idea, not an understanding, it's a misunderstanding, that Jesus Christ is enough for salvation, but not for spiritual maturity. In other words, oh yes, Jesus is good and you need him to be saved, but if you really want to be spiritual,

Then you will fulfill these other things. You will walk in these requirements. You will follow these regulations and keep this law, act this way, and then you'll really be spiritual. Jesus is enough for salvation, but to grow in your spirituality and to draw closer to God, you have to keep these rules and regulations. And as we look at Colossians chapter 2, that is the mentality of the group that Paul is dealing with here.

They believed in Jesus and they believed that he was necessary for salvation, although there was a lot of misunderstandings and weird doctrines that they had. But they said, you know, if you really want to be spiritual, though, you have to keep these rules and regulations. If you want to get to our level, they would say, you need to follow these things and live the way that we live. This group was teaching, if you really want to be spiritual, you have to follow these things.

then follow the dietary laws and keep the feasts and follow the Sabbath and so on and so forth. Now, before we dismiss this as something that we don't deal with, that was just back in their day, we really need to check our hearts because we can easily fall into that same trap.

You know, often we feel that we can determine how spiritual a person is by comparing them to our own standards. We can look at a person and say, you know, that person is not very spiritual because look at the way that they drive. If they were really mature, if they were really spiritual, they would drive more like me and not like the way that they do.

We can look at someone and say, you know, you're not spiritual. You celebrate Halloween. That's Satan's holiday. It's a day of darkness. And on and on and on the arguments go. You can't be spiritual. You don't keep this feast or that feast. You don't worship God on the Sabbath. Many will say you're not spiritual. Look at how you take care of yourself.

My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, so I keep it fit. I eat right, and that's why I'm so close to God. I'm not talking about myself. But there's that mentality, and there's that attitude that we can have, passing judgment on others and their spirituality based on our own standards. Oh, you can't be spiritual. You smoke cigarettes. Everybody knows you can't be spiritual. Well,

Is that what the word of God says? No, but there are these standards that we place upon people. And we need to check our hearts. You know, we just sang the song with our hands lifted high. And we can look around and say, your hands aren't lifted high. You're not as spiritual as I am. How come you don't have your hands raised? Yeah, you're not very spiritual. You're not very mature. I don't even know if you're saved. You can't raise your hands during a song. Our own standards we place upon people.

Or, man, look at those guys in the back row. I mean, really, you're not spiritual if you sit in the back row. If you really want to be spiritual, sit in the front row with Royce and Daniel. The only spiritual ones in the bunch. No, none of that matters. It's all inconsequential. It plays no factor into spirituality or how spiritual a person is.

It has nothing to do with those types of things. Christianity is about a relationship with God, not rules and regulations. So Paul says at the beginning there in verse 16, so let no one judge you. Christianity is not about those rules and regulations. It's about a relationship with Christ. So do not let anyone judge you in regard to those things. Sit in the back row if you want to. It doesn't impact your spirituality.

Don't let anyone judge you. Now, how do you do that, practically speaking? How do you not let anybody judge you? Something that, you know, is difficult to do because they judge you. They don't ask your permission first, you know. It's not something that they inquire of and say, hey, can I please judge you? No, no, please don't do that. It doesn't mean that you go around telling everyone, hey, don't be judging me. Stop judging me. You can't judge me. That's not what Paul is saying either. The point is...

Going back to the thing that will continue to come up throughout our portion this morning, the point is to stay connected. Don't let anyone judge you, or in other words, don't give them authority to require that you keep laws and regulations in order to walk with God. You personally, individually are connected to the head.

Stay connected. You hear from God what he wants of you and let no one tell you differently regarding the things of the law. Don't let anybody don't give anybody the authority by responding to their opinions of the laws, rules and regulations that you are supposed to keep. Paul says that has nothing to do with your spiritual walk.

Now, there are things that God will speak to you as you're connected to the head and you want to walk in those things and fulfill those things. But he's transforming you from the inside out. He's not applying rules and regulations from the outside, trying to change within. You stay close to God and he will give you instruction to follow. But don't let anyone tell you to follow the law in order to be saved or to be more spiritual.

You know, Jesus dealt with this too. There was many times where the Pharisees and the Jewish people were upset with Jesus because he continued to break their traditions and the commandments that had been passed down that were not part of the law, but were part of their culture. But he continued to break those things that

They were not to do on the Sabbath. For example, healing on the Sabbath. And the population determined he cannot be of God because he healed on the Sabbath. Now, here's the power of God working, demonstrating that he is of God. But they say, no, it can't be. He's breaking the rules. He's breaking the commandments. And of course, the whole point is it's not about rules and regulations.

Jesus, in Matthew 12, verses 1-14, I think sets us a great example with dealing with this issue of not letting anyone judge you. Because the Pharisees were coming against him and his disciples as they were walking through the grain fields. They were breaking off the heads of grain and rubbing them and eating the grain. And it was a violation of their traditions and their way to keep the Sabbath.

And Jesus lovingly corrected them from the word, but then continued to move on. He didn't force the issue. He didn't have to convince them that he was right or anything. He just lovingly shared the word. They continued to hate him for it, but he moved on and continued to do what God had called them to do.

you stay connected to the head. You walk with Jesus Christ. It's nobody else's place to tell you you have to do this in order to be saved. You have to do this in order to be spiritual. If it's not in the word, you don't have to pay attention to that. If it's not something that God has given, you don't have to pay attention to that. You are connected to the head. You walk with God and let him instruct you.

An important note about this, this idea of letting no one judge you, you need to understand that this has to do with legalism. Keeping the law and doing things that God did not tell us that we have to do. There's lots of laws and rules and regulations that can be applied to people. But it doesn't apply when it is the revealed word of God.

Whether in instruction or in sin, for example, if you are involved in adultery and someone comes to you and and shares a scripture about sexual immorality, it's not the time or the place to say, well, don't be judging me. The scripture says, don't judge me. Well, you're in violation of the word of God involved in adultery and sexual immorality.

It's not that person judging you. It's the word of God judging you and it has every right to do so. They're not judging motivations and intents and things behind the scenes that are not able to be determined by us.

But simply revealing or sharing the revealed word of God. If we are involved in sin, in rebellion to God, then it's not judging, it's conviction. And the appropriate response then is to repent, to turn from our sin and to walk with God. Or for example of instruction, God commands us to forgive.

Jesus commands, just as he has forgiven us, we are to forgive others. And so if you're harboring unforgiveness and bitterness and someone comes to you and shares with you, hey, you know, can you please forgive me? No, I'm not going to forgive you. You're a dirty, rotten scoundrel. I can't even believe it still makes me mad what you did to me. But you're supposed to. Jesus said to don't be judging me. All right. No, that's that's not the place for that.

God's word is instruction for us and God's word against sin and what not to be practiced in our life is revealed. And that is appropriate and that we are to follow and to walk in. But we are not to let anyone apply to us anything wrong.

Besides the word of God, we have brothers and sisters in the Lord and we share the word with each other constantly. We need that. That's the iron sharpening iron. But be careful. Do not let anyone judge you regarding things that are contrary to the word or not included in the word.

If it's here, it's for us. But if it's not, you stay connected to the head and let God give you instruction in that area. Verse 18. He says, Verses 16 and 17 dealt with the legalistic elements

Of the false teaching that was there. But now in verse 18, Paul is dealing with the Gnostics or the Gnostic element, the intellectual and mystical element. Now, one of the things that the Gnostics taught, which is helpful to understand this verse is.

The Gnostics taught that all matter was evil. So your body, your flesh, everything was all evil. It led them to teach that Jesus Christ was not actually a man because if he had a body, then he would be evil. But.

The point was you were evil. Your body, it's all evil. The chair that you're sitting on, it's matter. It's evil. All matter is evil. And so they came to the conclusion that because all matter is evil, then I am too vile, too sinful to worship God directly.

And so what God did in order to allow me to worship him indirectly is he created other beings. He created angels and other entities, God-like entities. And by worshiping those, you're indirectly worshiping God because you're too vile, you're too sinful, you're too wretched to come and worship God directly. This is what Paul is talking about when he says taking delight in false humility.

Now, first of all, before we get into that, any humility that you take delight in is false humility. Just know that. OK, it's like saying any humility that you're proud of is false humility. I'm humble and proud of it. That's right.

No, that's false humility. And this is what they were involved with. But here's the thing. It sounds humble. It seems to be humble. The person saying, I am just so low and I'm so vile. I can't come to God myself. And so I need someone else. I need an angel.

To go to God for me. Because I'm so low and I'm sinful and I'm so vile. Others would say, well, I need a saint to go to God for me. I need someone to go on my behalf because I'm just not worthy. And they have more influence and better communication. And I just don't have the inside track like they do. There are those who continue to pray to the Virgin Mary.

who is no longer a virgin, by the way. But they share this. You know, I'm a sinner, but Mary's there with Jesus. And she's his mom. And who has more influence over a son than his mom? And so I pray to her so that she can, because, you know, the scriptures say that prayers of a righteous man availeth much. And so I pray that she would pray for me and go through this channel. And it sounds humble.

Seems humble. I'm low. I don't have much weight. I don't have much to say. I don't have much pull with God. But the reality is, Paul says, that's false humility. It's false humility because they're vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind. And that's the contrast there. That's the irony. There's

I'm so low and I'm so vile, but Paul says what's really taking place is they're puffed up and prideful in their fleshly mind because true humility is receiving and obeying God's word. The Bible teaches that you have complete access to God through Jesus Christ.

You have full access to his presence. To the holiest of all. Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 22. The author of Hebrews tells us, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus...

By a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Here, the author of Hebrews tells us this. Listen, guys, you have boldness to enter the holiest. It was the place in the temple or in the tabernacle that the presence of God would dwell, which nobody could experience. The high priest could go in one time a year. But if he went in just a little bit off, his heart wasn't right. He would die in the presence of God.

Nobody could experience it. They were separated. God was there with them, but they weren't able to enjoy and experience His presence. But now...

The author of Hebrews tells us everything's different. Again, that was the old system, the old covenant. But now the substance of those shadows are here. And the reality is that now you have direct access to the holiest of all, to the presence of God, to complete an intimate relationship with God because of Jesus Christ.

He says it's by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh. And he's the high priest. And it was by his blood. And we have our evil consciences cleansed by his blood. And so we're able to come in with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Again, Colossians 2, 9 and 10. You're complete in him. There's nothing else that you need. You have full access to God. It's what the Bible teaches us.

Jesus himself taught the disciples this in John chapter 16 as he's preparing the disciples. Hey, I'm going away. I'm going to be crucified. And in John chapter 16, verse 26 and 27, he says, in that day, you will ask in my name. But notice, he says, and I do not say to you that I shall pray to the father for you.

Verse 27, for the father himself loves you because you have loved me and believed that I came forth from God. Jesus is saying this. Listen, guys, I'm completing the work. I'm about to be crucified and the work is going to be finished. I'm going to hang there on the cross and say it is finished. And at that point, at that time, I don't have to pray to God for you. You have access to God through me because of what I've done on your behalf.

Jesus says, listen, you have full access to the Father. You don't need someone else to go for you. You don't need some angel or some entity or some saint to go for you. You have full access to God. Not one of us has more access to God than any other. We all have the same complete, open, intimate access and relationship to God.

To believe anything else, anything other than that, is to be puffed up in your fleshly mind and taking delight in false humility. Because you're denying the scriptures. Saying, no, I'm too low. I'm not worthy. And the Bible is teaching, yes, you're not. But that's why your heart is cleansed from your evil conscience. Heart sprinkled from an evil conscience. That's what I was trying to say.

That you have full access to God. Not because of who you are. None of us are worthy. We all missed the mark. We've all blown it big time royally. But Jesus Christ saved the day. He died on the cross and he took care of all of that. And so to say that you have less access than anyone else is false humility. It's being puffed up in your mind thinking that you know better than the word of God.

valuing your own opinion and your own understanding more than the word of God. Throw that away. Believe what the word says and draw close to him with a true heart and full assurance of faith.

Again, the point is to stay connected. Stay in right relationship with God. Yes, you blow it, but come back into his presence by his grace and mercy. Receive all that he has for you. You do not need another mediator, someone to go to God on your behalf. The work is complete in Jesus Christ. So stay connected in relationship to God.

Paul says at the beginning here of verse 18, let no one cheat you of your reward. Here's the issue. If you let anyone else tell you that you have to go through someone else or if you convince yourself that you have to go this way or you're not worthy and so you have to fulfill these things and follow this route, you're being cheated, beguiled, robbed of the presence of God.

Because it's there. It's for you. It's a gift. All you have to do is receive it. You don't have to complete something or accomplish something or fulfill something. You simply receive what God has done for you. Don't get caught up in any teaching that is contrary to the word of God. God spells it out for us here.

Jesus Christ is all you need. You're complete in him. So walk with him and stay close to God. Jesus, remember, told us in John 15 to abide in him. Abide, stay connected, stay plugged in and don't let anyone cheat you by pulling you out and connecting you to something else or fixing your eyes on something else. No, let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith and run with endurance the race that is set before us.

We need to stay connected to him. He is all that we need. Verse 19. Still talking about these false teachers. He says, And here we find the real issue with the false teachers. Again, the point of this morning is to stay connected. The problem with the false teachers is they're not holding fast enough.

to the head. They're not connected anymore. Now, you need to know, you will do funny things if your head is not connected. You ever have those days where it just feels like your head's on backwards?

And yesterday for me, it was one of those days where it was just an off day. My head wasn't on straight or I think I was maybe dragging it behind me in a bag or something. But I got up and it just it just, you know, the whole day it felt weird. I don't know if I got up on the wrong side or what, but I think it started because my wife kicked me out of bed. No, I'm just kidding.

But I come here in the morning. We have the whole council Bible study and we go through it a great time in the word together. I spent some extra time around here doing some some work around answering some emails and doing a little bit of studying. And then my wife, Kim, gets off work. And so I go and I meet her for lunch. And so we're there. We're having a great lunch together and.

As we're eating, I'm having a bowl of some really good broccoli cheese soup. Man, it was delicious. But I'm eating this and I spill some on my shirt. I don't notice it. Kim points it out to me. I said, thank you very much, honey. And I grab a napkin. I begin to wipe my shirt. And as I'm wiping my shirt, I'm looking at my shirt really confused.

Because I don't recognize it. Something's, I don't remember, what is this shirt? What am I wearing? I can't even figure out what am I wearing? And as I'm rubbing it, I realize this is the back of my shirt. I've had my shirt on backwards all day. And I never recognize the back because I don't see that. My head wasn't on straight. It wasn't connected. All the cylinders weren't firing. Something wasn't.

It wasn't going on. And I told my wife afterwards, I remembered when I put on the shirt thinking, I thought the stain was on the back of the shirt. How did it get to the front? That's what happened to the false teachers. They're not connected to the head. So they have things backwards. They're saying you have to follow the law and keep these rules and regulations. You have to go through these other beings and these other ways in order to have a relationship with God with this false humility.

And Paul's saying, guys, you have your shirts on backwards. You got it all wrong. It's completely the opposite of that. You don't need anyone else. You don't have to follow rules and regulations. You have everything you need in Jesus Christ. You're not connected to the head and it's caused you to go way off. And that is why it's so important for you and for me to stay connected. Because if you as a believer in Jesus Christ begin to go off on a particular doctrine,

In some area, you just begin to believe a different way or just begins to impact your thoughts and your hearts. But if you're connected to the head, then God can and will correct you. That's what 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17 is all about. The word of God. It's inspired. It's profitable for doctrine, but also for correction.

For admonishment, for reproof, to turn us around and get us back on track. If we're connected to the head, we might vary. We will because we were sinful and our hearts are wicked.

But if we stay connected to the head, God will direct us back and he'll put us right back on track as we walk in relationship with him. If we begin to practice things in our life that are not right, if we begin to live in certain areas that God has not called us to live, but if we're connected to the head, then God will bring us back on track.

As we walk in relationship with him, he'll show us, he'll instruct us. Again, he'll transform us from the inside out. But the problem with these guys is that they're not holding fast to the head. They're teaching and leading others astray. But God's not able to correct them because they don't have relationship with him. They claim to be spiritual, but have no relationship with God. And that idea, that concept should be quite sobering for us.

That there are those who claim to be spiritual, but in reality have no relationship with God. There's those who claim to be authorities and be able that you can follow them. There's some who have mass followings and yet have no real relationship with God. They're not connected to the head. So don't let them judge you. Don't let them cheat you. You stay connected to Jesus Christ, is Paul's point. Because we are the body of Christ.

You're connected to the head, Jesus Christ, as a part of the body of Christ. Now, that's what the Bible teaches. The church is the body of Christ. And every one of us who believe in Jesus are members of his body. The church is not a building. It's not an organization. It's an organism. It's the body of Christ. Now, on my hand, I have, well, it's, I guess, my wrist. I have a watch. It's a five-year anniversary present from Paychex when I worked there.

This watch that I have on me, is it a part of my body? It's okay, you can answer audibly. How do you know? Simple answer, it's not connected to my head. I don't have control of my watch. Now my arms and my hands are connected to my head and my head tells my arms and my hands what to do, when to do it, how to do it. And that's why I do all these crazy motions because it's just kind of going crazy in my head.

But the watch, I have no control over. It's on my body. It's around my body. But it's not connected to my head. A member of the body of Christ is connected to the head. But anything that is not connected to the head is not a member of the body of Christ. We need to stay connected to Jesus Christ.

Remember in John 14, 6, Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. We have to stay connected to the head. It's only through Jesus Christ that we have relationship with God. And if we look anywhere else, like these false teachers, if we rely upon anything else for spirituality, for salvation, we've disconnected ourselves and we've fixed our eyes on something besides Jesus Christ.

Paul also, as he's talking about the body, he gives us some side notes here. The body of Christ is a real spiritual body and it has joints and ligaments just like our bodies have. Now, I was listening to a message by Pastor Bob Hoekstra this last week and he was talking about this concept and I thought it was really great because he said, you know, when any two members of the body of Christ determined to work together together,

under the headship of Jesus, it forms a joint. So just like you have an elbow, which is a joint. But what is that? Well, it's your forearm and your upper arm or whatever they're called, working together under the direction of your head. And when any two members of the body of Christ determined to work together, as we come together to accomplish God's work by his direction, and we're working together, working

we form joints and we're able to function as the body of Christ. And then he went on to describe the ligaments as the bonds of love that keep joints together. The ligaments are what keeps your joints from popping out of socket. And it's what enables you to be able to be useful as a joint. Now, if you didn't have ligaments in your body,

arms or your elbows at your joints, then you would have problems. Anytime anything heavy needed to be lifted or moved or done, anytime anything hard would need to be accomplished, then your joints would all be out of place. There'd be all kinds of problems. And as the body of Christ, the bonds of love are the ligaments that hold us together.

As we are working together under the direction of Christ, we are sinners and we offend one another. We hurt one another. There's difficult things that we go through together. And if there's not the bonds of love, we'll pop out a socket. You ever wonder sometimes how can and they're just like seem like they were doing great. Those two Christian brothers. And then all of a sudden, boom, now they won't ever speak to each other again. What happened? Well,

There wasn't the ligament. The bonds of love needs to be there as us as the body of Christ. We're called and commanded over and over again to love one another.

To have the heart of Christ towards one another. Yeah, there's problems. Yes, you've offended me. But we love the Lord together. And I love you as my brother and my sister. And so I'm going to continue to work together under the headship of Christ. And it holds the joint in place. It holds the joint together. And we can continue to act as the body of Christ.

Also, since the body of Christ is a living organism and not an organization, it grows. It's not manufactured. It's not put through a process of rules and regulations and kablooey. Here's a bunch of new Christians and new believers and here's great spiritual growth because of this recipe that you followed. No, it grows as God gives the increase, as we work together together.

As we're connected to the head, it's a growth process. In our lives individually, spiritually we grow. Also, we grow in leading others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 4, verses 11 through 16 deals with this a little bit more in depth. And it encourages us there that every part, as every part does its share, as all the members of the body of Christ work together, the body is edified and it grows together.

Verses 20 through 22, we need to move on. It says,

Paul here in these three verses reiterates the things that he's been teaching. He wants to make sure that it's clear. Do you understand the point? Do you understand what Paul has been saying? Do we get it? Now he says, if you died with Christ, why do you continue to subject yourselves to regulations? You died with Christ. Now we discussed this two weeks ago in verses 11 through 15 of Colossians 2.

We were circumcised in him. The flesh was cut off. No longer has authority over us. We were buried with him. Our past was completely wiped away. It's just, it's been buried. It's gone. And we were raised with him to walk in newness of life by the power of the spirit. As second Corinthians five 17 says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have gone. Behold, all things become new. This is the gospel message.

Believing in Jesus Christ and his promises and his word receiving him is being born again and receiving it for ourselves. In other words, Jesus Christ died on the cross for me. He died for my sin. He took my place. And by believing in him, I am included in his death, burial and resurrection.

So I died with Christ. Why then would I subject myself to regulations?

to the laws and the things which never produce life anyways, why would I go back now that I have life? Why would I go back in the bondage to sin and death? In the old covenant, in the old system, in the things that do not save, that do not produce life, I've been given life in Christ. I died with Christ to the principles and regulations of this world. So why would I go back?

and put myself in submission to those things why would i go back into bondage of those things we are free in christ now there is a balance between our freedom our christian liberty and our obedience to god paul deals with it extensively in romans chapter 14. you can check that out on your own time romans 14 and first corinthians chapters 8 through 10. but the point is

Why would I go back? I've died to those things. I'm not required to keep those things any longer. Verses 21 and 22. Again, he says, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle. This is his example of the regulations of the world. This is the type of thing. And he says, these things perish with the using.

These things have no impact on you spiritually. They just waste away. They're just physical things that make no difference and have no value in spiritual growth or maturity. I would encourage you to read Mark chapter 7, verses 1 through 23. In Mark chapter 7, the Pharisees are so upset with Jesus and his disciples, as they often were.

But they're upset because they did not wash their hands before they ate. The disciples came in, saw some grub on the table, and they sort of started to eat. They started to chow down. And the Pharisees said, wait a second, you're supposed to do the ceremony of washing and do it this way and that way and do the things that our fathers have taught us. And it was the traditions of man and not the teaching of God.

And Jesus, he uses that and he begins to talk with the Pharisees about the law and how they hold their traditions and follow their traditions more than they care about the word of God. But then he goes on to explain to those who are listening. In verse 15 of Mark 7, he says, There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him. But the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man.

Jesus in his ministry, as he's sharing here and many other things that he taught, he was illustrating God was never concerned about the outside. The issue was the heart. The issue has always been the heart. It was the purpose for God's rules and regulations under the old covenant that your heart would be a heart of faith and obedience.

But taking care of the outside and the legalistic things of the outside never had any impact. They're not effective for spiritual growth or salvation. You can't improve your spiritual state by physical means. It's only by relationship with God.

He went on to explain in verses 20 through 23. He said, That's the issue. It's not what happens on the outside, but it's what is manifested from within,

That defiles you. Do not taste. Do not handle. Do not touch. These things, they perish with the using. Jesus says it doesn't matter what you eat. It's eliminated by your body. It doesn't matter. It doesn't affect your spiritual state. What affects your spiritual state is your heart. Now, your heart is demonstrated by how you act. It's demonstrated by the things that you do, the attitudes that you have. And it's in those things that you need to come to God.

That you need to go ask for forgiveness and enjoy a relationship with him. Jesus' point is God's not concerned about rules and regulations. He's concerned about your heart. And that's why you need to stay connected. To keep your heart right with God. You can't do it through the legalistic mentality. Or you can't do it through knowledge or through these mystical levels that the Gnostics would teach. But only through relationship with.

Paul concludes with verse 23, our last verse this morning. He says, Now here's the danger of legalism, as well as Gnosticism and all other types of false teaching. It has an appearance of wisdom.

It appears to be wise. It's like a big backdrop. It appears to have substance. It appears to be everything that you need it to be. But in reality, it's just a big piece of cloth with some paint on it. There's the appearance of wisdom, Paul says, in these things. And do not taste, do not handle, do not touch. Not only that, but our flesh likes. Legalism appeals to our flesh.

It appears to be wise to follow such things. It sounds spiritual. It appeals to our flesh. But here is the reality. Those who practice and teach those things are not holding fast to the head. And here's the way it manifests itself. Paul says, here's three things that they practice. Self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body.

Self-imposed religion. Of course, self-imposed is the key thought here. It's not God's command, but man's attempt. It's self-imposed. It's what I've determined I need to do or what someone else has determined that I need to do. It wasn't God's command to me to follow the instruction or to keep away from this, but it's my determination. Here's what I've decided I need to do in order to have right relationship with God. Sounds wise, right?

But it's self-imposed religion. I read my Bible six hours a day, you might say. I memorize 25 verses a week, and that's why I'm spiritual. That's why I'm growing. That's why I have right relationship with God. I pray 12 hours a day, and you know I fast 75 hours a week. That's why I have right relationship with God. Of course, I'm exaggerating. But it sounds spiritual. Oh, you read your Bible a lot. I used to have a man that I knew who...

would profess such things. Oh, I study the word three hours a day, memorize four verses a day. But in the end, he wasn't connected to the head and he went off on some crazy doctrines. Oh, he studied the word through and through and knew it all backwards and forwards. But if you're not connected to the head...

You're in trouble. Self-imposed religion doesn't do you any good. Now, just so you know, I need you to know how spiritual your pastor is. I do fast about 50 hours a week, every week. Seven hours a day, seven days a week, I'm sleeping and I don't eat, so I'm fasting a lot. The mentality that I have to keep these things in order to have right relationship with God. Self-imposed religion.

If God didn't tell you to do it, you don't have to do it. It doesn't give you any benefit spiritually. It might sound great to read your Bible 40 hours a day, but it's hard to do. You can't do it and it won't benefit you spiritually or false humility. Well, I have to keep these things because, you know, I'm just not worthy to come to God otherwise. I'm just a wretched sinner.

I'm not like your average sinner. I mean, I enjoy sin and I practice it a lot and I'm involved in it. Or, you know, I just have a really bad background and just, you know, you can't even imagine. It's false humility. You're denying the Word of God, saying, no, I don't have right relationship by Jesus Christ. Jesus is not enough for me. I have to impose these things and follow these things and keep these things from

It sounds good. It has the appearance of wisdom. It seems spiritual, but it's not. And the neglect of the body. Well, I just have to beat my body. Or that's why I fast. And that's why I have that relationship with God, because I really neglect my body. Not like other people, you know, they go and they watch movies and eat popcorn and have all this fun and have a great time, but man, they're not as spiritual because I don't really do those things. It has no effect. Self-imposed religion, false humility,

And the neglect of the body. You cannot grow spiritually by rules and regulations. Not only do those things not help you grow, they do not keep you from sin. And that's Paul's last point here at the end of verse 23. But are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. So here you are in a world of trouble. Because now, involved in such things, you're not connected to the head anymore. You're involved in self-imposed sin.

Worship, false humility, neglect of the body, so you're beat up, miserable, and it doesn't even help you in your struggle against sin. It's the worst of everything. You don't get Christ. You don't get relationship. You don't get peace, joy, love. You don't get any of that. And you still struggle with sin. Now, a lot of times when a person gets caught up into legalism and these type of things that Paul is referring to, they don't do it necessarily with bad motivation.

But here's the issue, and maybe you've experienced this. I'm a Christian. Great, I've been born again. I'm walking with God. Things are going great. I'm on fire. Woo! And then, hey, why am I still struggling with this? Why do I still have this issue? How come this temper is still here and my eye still wanders? And how come I deal with this greed and have these desires for these other things? How come I'm still struggling in these areas? I know. And we begin to lay down rules and regulations.

Think about it. Someone comes to you and says, you know, I'm really struggling with this. Well, here's what you need to do. And we start writing our list. Well, you have to go to church a couple times a week. You need to be reading your Bible every day. And you'd be spending time in prayer. Now, all those things are great things. But what they need is relationship with God. They need relationship. That's what we need. We need to stay connected. You know, if you're here and you're saying, I'm struggling in sin. And so I need to keep these rules and regulations. Yes.

I have to keep myself on this strict thing. Otherwise, man, you know, I just, I won't be able to struggle against sin or I won't be able to survive this or approach God. I have to pray to this saint or maybe I should have this person pray for me because, you know, I'm just, I'm really struggling with this and I can't do it. I need to fast and beat myself up because I'm really struggling with this issue or with this sin. You can do all of those things and you can feel spiritual about it

But they have no value against the indulgence of the flesh. You will still struggle with sin. You cannot control your sinful desires with external rules. It sounds good, appears to be wise, appeals to our flesh, but has no value. What we need is not rules and regulations. We need relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Stay connected. Enter into his presence. Walk with him.

continually, every day, every moment, stay and walk in relationship with Jesus Christ. Those things have no value against the indulgence of the flesh, so what does? Galatians 5.16, Paul says, I say then, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. The way to receive victory is not by rules and regulations.

Not by thinking, well, man, I need to read my Bible more. You probably do. It's not going to help you in your relationship with sin. You need more of Christ. You need a relationship with God. You need to go deeper with Him. And it's not found by applying rules and following procedures. It's found by intimacy with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. By walking in the Spirit every moment. The Spirit communicating with God and us.

Flowing back and forth. Relationship. It's what God desires from us. It's what he died for. And it's everything that we need, everything that we're looking for, everything that we want. Through relationship with God, we find the peace that we've always been searching for.

The thirst that we've been trying to quench is quenched through relationship with God. The forgiveness that we desire and yearn for is obtained through relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything that we need is found in God. Colossians 2, 9 and 10. You're complete in him. He's fulfilled it all. He's taken care of it all. We simply receive what he has done. This morning, are you connected? Are you walking in right relationship with God?

Maybe you never have. Maybe you've never been born again. Or maybe you have, but you've just been walking away, doing your own things, connected on these other things, just like the false teachers of those days. This morning, God's calling you back. He says, those things are worthless. They're not going to help you. They keep you from me, and you're still stuck in your sin. Come back. Have relationship with God. Receive His promises.

This morning, he's struggling with sin. God wants to set you free, but it's not through legalistic things, rules and regulations. It's through brokenness, true humility, receiving him at his word and responding to his call. This morning, I challenge you to stay connected. Stay connected. Walk in relationship with God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I do pray for all of us here, God, that you would help us to stay connected.

Lord, as the scripture says, our hearts are prone to wander. We're quick to rely on ourselves, God, and to look to our own understanding, Lord, to follow rules and regulations and use that in determining our relationship with you. God, help us to turn from those things and to spend time with you in relationship and intimacy. Help us to walk in your spirit.

God, I pray for those who have never received you, have never been born again, that you would work in their hearts, that you would speak to them, encourage them, Lord, and show them the need, Lord, that eternal life is only found through you. There's no other way to the Father. Lord, it doesn't matter how sincere we are or how hard we try. You are the way, the truth, and the life. God, I pray for those struggling with sin. Lord, really, that's all of us. Help us, God.

Not to try to deal with these things on a natural level, but instead to follow the instruction of Hebrews. Lord, we've fallen, we blow it, but Lord, we confess our sin to you. And we trust you at your word that you're faithful and just to cleanse us. And so, Lord, by your blood, we enter into your presence. We ask, Lord, take us in, surround us, fill us with your presence. Not because we're worthy, we're not. Lord, but you promised the work is finished.

And we believe it. And so, Lord, we come with a true heart, with full assurance of faith. Sprinkle our hearts from the evil conscience we have. And give us the passion, the fire, the intimacy with you that we need. Turn our hearts towards you, God. Draw us close to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.