Well, good morning, Christ Family Church.
If you're visiting, I would like to say a couple things specifically to you.
! Are we on?
We good?
Can you hear me?
Hear me?
A couple things to our visitors this morning specifically.
First is that I'm not the pastor of CFC.
The pastor is actually on sabbatical right now.
We're giving him a short break from teaching.
He'll be back with us next week in person,
but I'll also be teaching next week.
So if you're thinking, after all this is over,
man, that preacher, he was just a nutcase,
then, first of all, I wouldn't disagree.
But what you're going to see over the next three weeks, actually,
is not what you'll normally see if you start to attend here.
Second, we're really glad that you're here as a guest with us.
There's a lot of reasons to choose a church,
and there's a lot of reasons why I've chosen this church to bring my family to
and to attend here on a regular basis, to be in fellowship with this faith family.
And those reasons are numerous.
This is truly a genuine body of believers,
and I say that as an affirmation to those regular attenders as well.
It's a pleasure this morning to be able to share his word with you.
And if you have a Bible, and I hope that you do,
turn with me to Colossians chapter 2.
Colossians chapter 2.
We're going to be specifically looking at verses 8 through 15.
We're supposed to be looking at verses 9 through 15,
but verse 9 simply is not complete without verse 8.
And so we're going to have to take a look at verse 8 as well.
And before we jump into that verse, I would really like to open up with more prayer.
I know we've already prayed before the sermon,
but there's something that's weighing heavily on my heart this morning,
and that is a congregation in Charleston, South Carolina,
who is potentially for the first time in a long time meeting just like we are this morning,
but without their shepherd.
Many of you know that there's a congregation this week during their Bible study
that a young man opened fire, gunshot fire, and killed nine individuals,
nine congregants, including their pastor.
And so let's just go to the Lord in prayer for that congregation
as they're meeting potentially even right now
while we meet and gather together this morning as well.
Heavenly Father, we are so grateful
that we can come to you freely in our country.
Father, we've seen so little persecution
in relation to the rest of the world,
but Father, we know that there are tragedies that happen.
And Father, they open our eyes to the nature of sin.
And Father, this is an excellent example,
what happened this week is an excellent example
of human depravity
and the ugliness that is involved
and the depravity that exists
in our sinful nature.
Father, we lift up this congregation
even as they hopefully are even gathered together right now
that you would encourage them.
Father, that you'd lift their spirits
and help them to mourn peacefully
and help them to mourn well.
We thank you for the courage of the city of Charleston,
for the way that they've handled it,
the whole situation.
And Father, we just pray for them right now
as they are missing loved ones,
as they are missing friends and family,
and as they are missing their pastor this morning.
We pray, Father, for that congregation.
We pray also for us as we gather here together
for the safety of this congregation as well.
But also, Father, that you would indeed speak
in and through me,
that you would just illuminate your word for us this morning
as we gather together.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right, I kind of want to give you a road map
of kind of where we're heading
over the next two weeks together.
What we're dealing with is worldly philosophy,
the sufficiency of Christ,
and then kind of in the background,
we're dealing with this whole concept
of expository apologetics.
So, philosophy is a word
that appears in verse 8.
See to it that no one takes you captive
by philosophy.
Philosophy comes from two Greek words,
phileo and sophia.
Phileo meaning to love,
sophia meaning wisdom.
So, philosophy, we can look at it
as a word that means love of wisdom.
All throughout history,
man has pursued this fascination with wisdom,
be it for good or for bad.
And philosophy itself really boils down
to the effort of man to determine
the ultimate causes on the earth and the universe.
The second aspect to both this morning and next week
is the sufficiency of Christ
over worldly philosophy.
That Christ is sufficient.
Christ is greater than,
ultimately, he's greater than worldly wisdom
or worldly philosophy.
And then the third simply flows naturally
from the first two.
And that is in light of the supremacy
and the sufficiency of Christ.
Over worldly philosophy,
Paul exhorts us to practice
expository apologetics.
Now, to be clear here,
there's probably 18 different ways
I could have dissected this passage.
And it was really, really difficult
to be able to take all the angles
on this passage.
So, in a very real sense,
there's going to be,
the best way that I could choose
to break it down
is to kind of talk about a backstory,
something that's going along,
the kind of theme that runs
throughout the book of Colossians,
and also to teach the actual text
that we're seeing.
And so what we're going to see
is this idea of expository apologetics
come up kind of in the background
of what's going on in all of this.
I'm going to try to weave
in and out of it gracefully,
as gracefully as I know how,
and we're going to kind of talk about
this idea of expository apologetics.
So what is expository apologetics?
A lot of you are probably thinking,
what in the world?
What is this word, expository?
Expository simply means
to expose a truth from a text,
in our case, scripture.
So that's what expository means.
And apologetics,
there's a lot of different ways
we could define it,
but Cornelius Van Til
kind of gives us a broad definition
that I find useful.
He argues that apologetics
is the vindication
of the Christian philosophy of life
against the various forms
of the non-Christian philosophy of life.
I'm going to say that again
for anybody who might be taking notes,
and just so we can let it soak
into our minds.
Apologetics is the vindication
of the Christian philosophy of life
against the various forms
of the non-Christian philosophies of life.
What I really appreciate
about this definition
is that he basically boils
all worldviews down
into two separate categories.
You have the Christian worldview
or the biblical worldview,
and then there's everything else.
It also is the vindication
of the Christian philosophy of life.
It's not necessarily
the vindication of me.
Oftentimes when we talk
about apologetics,
we want it to be
the vindication of me.
We want to win the argument,
and we want to be the ones
who philosophically,
or however you want to put it,
defeat the enemies of Christianity.
And that's not what this is all about.
It's the vindication
of the Christian philosophy of life,
not winning an argument,
not the vindication of me,
not me wanting to win.
So apologetics in the simplest form,
the way we can break it down,
simple definition,
is knowing what we believe,
why we believe it,
and to be able to communicate
that clearly to others.
Knowing what we believe,
why we believe,
and last but not least,
certainly not least in this case,
being able to communicate that
clearly and effectively
to other people.
That's what we mean
when we're talking about apologetics.
And Paul was an incredible
expository apologist.
In the passage that we're looking at
over the next couple of weeks,
there's some of the finest exhortations
that he's using expository apologetics
as we're going along.
And I have to tell you,
if you haven't already figured this out,
I'm excited about the next two weeks
teaching this,
because this is something
that we need to be doing
in our Christian walk
that by and large
we're not doing as believers
in our culture.
And so I hope
to not only dissect
and exposit the great truths
that are in this text,
but I hope also
that we can have some tools
and hopefully we can learn
a little bit about this,
how we can apply
expository apologetics
to our life
in a very tangible way.
As I've been meditating
over this passage
the past several weeks,
I've kind of been
not thinking about cookies
as Alex,
so got us going with that.
But I've been meditating
and just kind of thinking
all angles of this passage.
And one of the things
that kind of came up to me
was some of the times
I've been recalling
that I've been stumped
in a way
by somebody who wasn't a believer
or just being misled
by these empty philosophies.
And it's happened to me before.
One instance,
I was sitting in an ethics class
at University of North,
well actually it was
North Georgia College,
State University then.
But some of you college students
may be able to relate to this.
But I was sitting in a class
under a professor,
an ethics professor,
definitely not a believer.
And I won't mention her name
just for the purposes of anonymity.
But she presented to the class
what she herself has determined
to be the greatest argument
against Christian ethics.
Okay, she's talking about
the problems,
how problematic
that Christian ethics can be.
And she said,
when you hold to
a Christian set of beliefs
or a Christian ethical system,
you have to ask yourself,
are your actions right
because God says they're right?
Or does God command them
because they already are right?
Either way,
you have problems.
Either answer
that you come up with,
there are inherent problems
with the answer.
If morals,
that is what is right and wrong.
If they are solely based
on God telling us
what is right or wrong,
then God is merely
creating morality
as he speaks it
or as he reveals it to us.
Which means that
what was right and wrong
before he said it
did not apply
until after he said it.
And so there's some
inherent problems with that.
There's not a universal
moral system
because of that.
And God can change morality
however he sees fit.
That's their argument
at the very least.
If the opposite is true,
then God commands us
to right actions
because they already are right.
What does it mean?
It means that there's
some morality
outside of God.
That there's some
moral system
or moral code
that supersedes God
and God has to follow
by that moral code as well
which makes him
not all powerful.
He is no longer omnipotent.
Which believers
have a tough time reconciling.
And this is how
it was presented to us
in class.
And I have to tell you,
I was stumped by this
in class
when I was in college.
I wouldn't have an answer
until several years later
when I began to realize
at the base level
that there was
fundamental flaws
in this empty
and deceptive philosophy
that they were trying
to teach
in a class.
By the way,
it's the very thing
that verse 8
warns us about.
You see,
her argument
was not an original idea.
It's an argument
that's been presented
years,
like hundreds
and thousands
of years ago.
and it's been
passed down
over the centuries.
And what she presented
is called
a false dichotomy.
A false dichotomy.
It's a clever fallacy
that leads someone
to believe
and there's only
two options.
There's only
two options there.
And so as I began
to understand the Word
and as I began
to grow in the Word
and grow in my understanding
of the character
of God,
I began to realize
that neither option
was the case.
and the key point
that I was missing
the whole time
that I was mulling
over this,
and some of you,
I'm sure,
if you're following along
or dying to know
the answer,
some of you may already
know the answer,
but the key point
is that morality
does not exist
outside of God,
nor does God
simply create morality
as He goes along,
but that Christian ethics
and Christian morals
are based on the very
character of God.
And that's the key.
It's based on His character,
which means that there
is indeed
a third option there
and that everything
that God tells us
and everything
that we know
to be true
in terms of
biblical morality
is all centered
and all developed
within His character.
It's within His very character.
And that takes us
outside of the dichotomy,
the false dichotomy,
and moreover,
God has given us
the ability
to understand
His character
in His Word.
So we already
can know
this character.
We can already know
God through His Word.
But this is the way
in which the philosophers
really work.
This is the way
that they present
these ideas.
Most of them
deny the existence
of God.
They try to rationalize
away any idea
of God
becoming God-like
in their own minds
and creating
their own codes
of morality
apart from God.
By the way,
this is a very
hopeless way to live.
It's incredibly hopeless.
It's no wonder
that people like
Bertrand Russell,
at the end of his life,
at 90 years of age,
this philosopher,
at least 70 of those
years of his life
were dedicated
to philosophy,
worldly philosophy.
His last words
in his life
were that philosophy
has proved
a washout for me.
And that's a long
washout.
At least 70 years
of his life
dedicated
to philosophy.
90 years
of his entire life,
everything that he
had poured out
in his life
dedicated to philosophy
only to come
to the end
of his life
and to realize
that philosophy,
this idea
that he had been
poured his life
into,
was a washout.
Thomas Hobbes,
a famous English
atheistic philosopher,
drawing near
to his death,
he said this,
he said,
I am about
to leap
into the dark,
I shall be glad
to find a hole
to creep out
of this world.
You hear the hopelessness
in these philosophers
when they come
to the end
of their lives
and they realize
that their whole
life's work
was a washout.
And so it goes
for philosophers.
This is what happens
when you want
to eliminate God
from your life.
When you want
to rationalize him
away from your own mind.
Now the city
of Colossae
had its philosophers
as does every culture
and that has existed
since the beginning
of time.
And the little
assembly of believers
that exist there
in Colossae
were no different.
They were in danger
of being captured
by this empty philosophy.
And this is why
Paul is writing to them.
They're in danger
of being infiltrated
by these ideas
and their deceptions.
And by the way,
this is the case
for every society.
This is the case
for us.
This is the case
for people in the past.
It's the case
for people in other cultures
right now currently
in the world.
And this becomes
Paul's great concern
as this early church
movement progresses.
And this concern
becomes really
the heart of the letter
to the Colossians
that we see right here.
So as we get to
chapter 2,
verse 8,
we're really getting
into the heart
of this entire letter.
This is really
Paul's verses 8
through 23.
This kind of can be
taken as one section.
And we're really
getting to the heart
of what Paul's
main message is
to the Colossians here.
And if we broke
them down into
different types
of philosophy
that Paul is speaking
to in these verses,
we would essentially
find four different
aspects of these
false doctrines
or these heresies
that he's combating
here in these passages.
Verses 8 through 15,
this is kind of
giving you an outline
of where we're going
as well.
Verses 8 through 15
deal with human philosophy
or humanism.
This is primarily
where we're going
to be living
this morning
for our purposes.
Verses 16 through 17
for next week,
they're speaking
to legalism.
Verses 18 and 19
talk about a rather
mystical worship
of angels.
And then fourthly,
there's an element
of asceticism,
which is a false
type of humility
that we would see,
for instance,
in monasticism
where monks
and nuns,
how they try
to remove themselves
from all pleasure
in the world
at all.
And so we see
this false humility
being combated against.
And so as we read
this passage together,
by the way,
we're jumping in
from that background
phase back into
the text.
Okay, so we're going
into what this text
directly teaches us.
So as we read
this passage together,
I want you to notice
two diametrically
opposed ideas
that are going here.
The first is
captured by philosophy
or complete in Christ.
captured by philosophy
or complete in Christ.
This is the story
of every human being
because every human being
is either captured
by worldly philosophy
or he is complete
in Christ.
There's only two options
there.
It's pretty simple.
Either a man or woman
becomes a victim
of empty human philosophy
or he or she
becomes complete in Christ.
Let's begin reading
in verse 8.
See to it that no one
takes you captive
through hollow
and deceptive philosophy
which depends on
human tradition
and the basic principles
of this world
rather than on Christ.
This is what Paul
is saying here.
It's essentially a warning.
To beware lest those
of you who have already
been rescued out
of the dominion
of darkness
and brought into the light
through the blood
of Christ
lest you be carried off
like captives
and being enslaved again.
And so this whole idea
that Christ has captured us
away from the darkness
and from the dominion
of darkness
and brought us into light
you don't want to go back
to the darkness.
This is a warning
that Paul has given to us.
This is a call to vigilance
to continually be aware
and watchful
lest we be led astray.
The church is always
under siege by false teachers.
Matthew 7.15
Jesus warns
Beware of false teachers
who come to you
in sheep's clothing
but inwardly
they are ravenous wolves.
And this is happening
all over America
whether you realize it
or not
there are people
in our congregations
all across America
and the church
as a whole
a capital C church
where people
are pretending
or demonstrating
themselves
they appear
to be one of the sheep
one of God's elect
one of God's
chosen followers
and yet
they are
wolves
and they are
leading people astray
and this isn't just
people in the congregation
this is pastors
there are pastors
and people
you can just
flip on the TV
most of the people
on TV
won't list any names
but most of the people
on TV
they've gotten to the point
where they are
because they're really
really good with words
and they're really
really good with
leading people astray.
a lot of these
televangelists
that you see
on TV
they come with
this positive message
they come with
they come looking
like sheep
and yet they're
leading people
astray by the thousands
if nothing else
they're leading people
in a mediocrity
into doing nothing
with their faith
they're leading people
into not fulfilling
the great commission
that we are called to
and this
is a wolf
in sheep's glory
they're not going to
present themselves
as wolves
they're going to
present themselves
as sheep
as light
it's going to
look like light
but really inwardly
the ravenous wolves
Paul warns us
in Ephesians
the Ephesians elders
in Acts 20-29
he says this
I know that after
my departure
grievous wolves
will enter among you
not sparing the flock
Peter warned as well
2 Peter 3-17
beware
lest you be led astray
with the air
of the wicked fall
from your own steadfastness
so Jesus
warns us
Paul warns us
Peter says
beware
this hollow
philosophy
is deceptive
in other words
it's a lot like
fishing
right
fishing
deceptive
anybody like to fish
I love the fish
we've taken Joseph
a couple times
already this month
it's a lot of fun
it's a great pastime
it's really beneficial
to the fishermen
right
not so much
to the fish
the interesting
thing about
a fish hook
is that's not
what the fish
expects
right
a lot of
comedians
have joked
about this
they say
we should just
call fishing
what it really is
which is tricking
and trapping
or tricking
and killing
we trick them
and then
we eat them
right
that's kind of
how it works
philosophy
works kind of
the same
way
just like
the fish
is not
he sees
something
that he
thinks
he's going
to get
something
really
really good
really delicious
he's going
to have
his meal
for that
day
and what
he really
gets
is this
entrapment
he gets
a hook
in his mouth
and it
ultimately
leads to
his death
this hollow
worldly
philosophy
is the same
what looks
wonderful
and satisfying
and beneficial
turns out
to be
entrapping
it turns out
to be
enslaving
and after
struggling
through it
it ultimately
leads us
to death
that's why
you have
all
seen these
supposedly
we see these
supposedly
great philosophers
coming to the
end of their
lives and saying
it was a
washout
everything I
dedicated my
life to
in philosophy
was a
washout
I love this
quote by
Robert Zastrow
he's not
a believer
but he
says this
about
science
and about
the
biblical
accounts
of
creation
I love
this
I have
to share
it
with
you
just
because
it's
so
great
it says
the details
differ
but the
essential
elements
in the
astronomical
and biblical
accounts
of
Genesis
are the
same
isn't that
interesting
a scientist
saying this
this is an
exceedingly
strange
development
unexpected
by all
but the
theologians
they have
all believed
in the
world of
the bible
but we
scientists
did not
expect to
find evidence
for an
abrupt
beginning
because we
have had
until recently
such extraordinary
success in
tracing the
chain of
cause and
effect
backward in
time
he wrote
it seems
as though
science
will never
be able
to raise
the curtain
on the
mystery
of
creation
for the
scientist
who has
believed
by his
faith
and the
power
of
reason
there's
the
empty
philosophy
there
the story
ends
like a
bad
dream
he has
scaled
the
mountains
of
ignorance
he is
about
to
conquer
the
highest
peak
and as
he pulls
himself
over
the
final
rock
he is
greeted
by a
band
of
theologians
who have
been sitting
there
for centuries
you have
to love
that
when science
and philosophy
find true
wisdom
does that
mean that we
should just
come to
God with
a blind
unreasoning
faith
absolutely
not
God's
given us
brains
and he
expects
us to
use them
to be
able to
reason
to be
able to
find
understanding
and ultimately
to be
able to
understand
who he
is
through
his
word
and through
the power
of the
spirit
revealing
himself
to us
that is
christian
there is
a whole
load
of
christian
philosophy
I took
a class
on a
seminary
and it
is
fascinating
and it
is in
the wisdom
that is
found in
his word
and given
to us
by the
holy
spirit
that we
find
understanding
of him
that we
can
understand
and know
him
and walk
by faith
in his
truth
as such
Paul continues
in verse
9
for
in
christ
all
the
fullness
of the
deity
lives
in bodily
form
and you
have been
given
fullness
in christ
who is
the head
over every
power
and authority
in other
words
who needs
the philosophy
of this
world
who needs
that
we
have the
fullness
of the
deity
of christ
in us
I love
how Paul
just kind
of throws
it in
there
it's
like
he's
saying
oh
and by
the way
he is
the head
of every
power
and every
authority
it's
all
these
philosophers
who are
climbing the
ladder
they're
working
their way
up
in this
thing
where they're
building
themselves
up
and they
almost have
this worship
of themselves
and how
their minds
have been able
to transform
from lowly
regular thinkers
into higher
upper level
thinkers
that have
this whole
thing
and it's
like Paul
saying
by the way
no matter
how far
you reach
in knowledge
no matter
how much
you gain
and what
you think
is wisdom
christ
still has
power over
you
he is
still
no matter
how much
you try
to reason
him out
of your
life
he is
still
in control
he is
still
sovereign
over
you
and he's
sovereign
over me
for the
believer
this is
incredible
news
because
his
fullness
is
imparted
to us
and
the
implications
of that
are
far
reaching
they're
far
reaching
for our
lives
I don't
even know
that I
can explain
it
in my
own
words
or in
the human
English
language
I don't
know
that I
can fully
explain
this
but I'm
going
to try
let me
help you
try to
understand
this
this word
for fullness
is
pleroma
Greek word
pleroma
and so
Christ
is the
pleroma
of God
Christ
is the
pleroma
of God
and we
are the
pleroma
in him
God
literally
passes
himself
to us
through
Christ
through the
sacrifice
that he
paid on
the cross
and we
have been
complete
in him
with
eternal
results
not just
temporary
results
we're so
used to
the
temporary
the way
we think
here on
this earth
we get
used to
that
this
has
eternal
results
in our
lives
you're
once
dead
in your
trespasses
completely
without
hope
destined
for
eternal
destruction
and in
one
glorious
moment
Christ
calls
you
out
of the
darkness
and
into
his
marvelous
light
and you
receive
the
fullness
the
pleroma
of
God
through
Christ
this is
huge
this is
tremendous
you are
now
complete
in him
you're
complete
in Christ
for the
believer
which means
by the way
that you
don't need
Dr.
Phil
to make
these little
statements
to make
you feel
better
you don't
need to
fill your
head with
Psycho
Bible
this empty
idea that
psychology
presents
to us
you don't
need
Sigmund
Freud
or
Frederick
Nietzsche
or
for crying
out loud
Ayn Rand
I don't
know why
we focus
so much
as believers
I see
believers
posting
Ayn Rand
quotes
all over
the place
she's
not a
believer
she had
a really
messed up
ethical
system
really
messed up
philosophy
we don't
need to
fill our
head with
unbiblical
ungodly
truths
you are
full
and
complete
in
Christ
this is
where Paul
is driving
us
towards
to understand
the fullness
and the
completeness
that we
have
as
believers
in
Christ
that we
can have
this
philosophy
this
world
view
through
scripture
that is
far
reaching
and far
above
any other
worldly
wisdom
or any
other
worldly
philosophy
that is
out
there
it's
not that
we don't
use
our
minds
it's
that we
supersede
because
of
Christ
because
of
the
philosophy
that is
taught
in
scripture
we
supersede
those
ideas
Paul
continues
on
in
him
you
are
also
circumcised
that's a
fun
word
don't
get
tripped
on it
just
yet
we're
not
talking
about
physical
circumcision
but in
him
you
were
also
circumcised
in the
putting
off
of the
sinful
nature
not
with the
circumcision
done
by hands
of men
but with
circumcision
done
by
Christ
having
been
buried
with
him
in
baptism
and
raised
with
him
through
your
faith
in
the
power
of
God
who
raised
you
from
the
dead
so
Paul
isn't
referring
to
a
physical
circumcision
what he's
talking about
is a
relatively
new
concept
to these
Colossians
okay
so
they would
have
understood
what
physical
circumcision
is
because
even
if
they
were
Gentiles
they
would
have
known
this
tradition
that
the
Jewish
people
were
practicing
up
until
this
point
and
so
he
says
this
is
not
a
physical
circumcision
this
is a
spiritual
putting
off
of
the
old
flesh
and
you
are
a
new
creation
in
him
he's
saying
look
your
salvation
is
absolutely
complete
there's
no need
to be
circumcised
you've
been
baptized
so
make
no
mistake
that
Paul
is
continuing
this
apologetic
he is
combating
the
philosophy
of this
time
that
people
have
during
this
time
among
many
heretical
movements
trying to
persuade
believers
from
truth
there
were
the
Judaizers
these
were
the
people
who
were
still
promoting
Jewish
ceremony
essentially
this
Jewish
ceremonial
law
that
Christ
had
come
not
to
abolish
but
to
fulfill
and
so
Christ
came
to
fulfill
this
law
and
these
Judaizers
believed
that
Christians
should
remain
true
to
Jewish
ceremonial
law
and
they
would
come
from
the
mindset
that's
fine
great
you believe
!
in
Jesus
Christ
but we
have
all these
ceremonies
that we
have to
keep
doing
and
you
need
to
be
circumcised
so
Paul
makes
a clear
distinction
here
we're
not
talking
about
surgery
we're
talking
about
putting
off
the
sinful
nature
that
we
were
born
with
having
been
buried
with
him
in
baptism
literally
immersion
or
submersion
being
raised
with
him
through
your
faith
in
the
power
of
God
what's
most
fascinating
about
this
is
that
Paul
doesn't
appear
that he
is talking
about
water
baptism
the
same
way
he's
not
talking
about
physical
circumcision
he's
not
talking
about
water
baptism
here
he's
talking
about
this
thing
that
happens
upon
regeneration
when we
come into
faith
in
Christ
there's
something
that
happens
to
us
and
we
are
immersed
in
him
and
along
with
that
all
of
our
sins
all
of
our
shame
all
the
horrible
things
that
we
committed
throughout
our
lifetime
all
of
these
things
are
immersed
in
Christ
you
are
buried
with
him
as
is
your
sin
everything
about
your
former
self
and
you
are
raised
to
new
life
in
him
everything
that
you
once
were
was
immersed
in
him
he
takes
on
that
sin
and
then
we
are
raised
to
new
life
amazing
truth
and by
the way
this
is
not
to
!
say
that
water
baptism
is
something
we
shouldn't
practice
we
are
absolutely
commanded
to
do
that
and
what
a
beautiful
picture
it
is
of
what
happens
to
us
upon
regeneration
this
immersion
in
Christ
that
happens
spiritually
speaking
and
we
do
we
do
baptism
through
immersion
so that
we
can
see
a
very
real
picture
of
what
happens
to
us
upon
regeneration
amazing
truth
and
it's
all
done
by
the
operation
of
God
through
his
son
and
the
everything
that
he
did
for
us
this
is
how
we
are
made
complete
in
him
verse
13
when
you
were
dead
in
your
sins
and
uncircumcision
of
your
sinful
nature
God
made
you
alive
with
Christ
he
forgave
us
not
some
not
most
but
all
of
our
sins
having
canceled
the
written
code
with
its
regulations
that
was
against
us
and
that
stood
opposed
to
us
he
took
it
away
nailing
it
to
the
cross
this
is
the
difference
between
a
believer
and
an
unbeliever
so
if
you
are
an
unbeliever
in here
this
morning
and
we
know
that
you're
amongst
us
and
we're
glad
that
you're
here
we're
glad
that
you're
hearing
God's
word
this
is
the
difference
between
a
believer
and
unbeliever
it's
the
difference
between
hope
and
hopelessness
!
it's
the
difference
between
being held
captive
by sin
and having
the freedom
from sin
through the
blood of
Jesus
Christ
see a lot
of times
as
unbelievers
I've talked
to
unbelievers
I like
conversing
with
unbelievers
because they
have a
different
perspective
than what
we do
I don't
tend to
judge
them
because
they
haven't
come in
and see
the
light
they don't
know
these
great
truths
yet
but
the
interesting
thing
is
they
think
that
this
Christianity
is all
about
a set
of
rules
and a set
of
morals
and that
you
are
then
entrapped
by
these
set
of
rules
once
you
come
into
faith
in
Jesus
Christ
it
couldn't
be
more
far
from
the
truth
that
is
a
lie
from
the
enemy
because
once
we
come
into
Christ
we
have
the
freedom
from
that
sin
we
have
the
!
freedom
!
from
that
bondage
of
sin
that
once
held
us
and
this
is
the
difference
between
a
believer
and
an
unbeliever
the
regenerate
and
the
unregenerate
what
Jesus
accomplished
on the
cross
was a
cancellation
of the
eternal
debt
that
we
owed
and
he
took
it
away
and
nailed
it
to
the
cross
and
having
disarmed
the
powers
and
authorities
he
made
a
public
spectacle
of
them
triumphing
over
them
by
the
cross
in
other
we
can
put
it
another
way
in
a
different
tense
that
Jesus
is
winning
and
has
won
he
has
the
final
victory
over
sin
over
death
over
powers
over
authorities
over
everything
in
this
world
in
him
we
have
that
same
victory
as
believers
which
means
that
we
have
all
the
more
reason
to
be
ready
to
give
an
account
for
the
hope
that
is
within
us
and
this
is
the
reason
why
I
so
readily
agreed
when
Nathan
asked
he
asked
if
I
would
be
willing
to
preach
for
either
one
or
two
I
readily
agreed
for
two
weeks
in
a
row
because
of
this
we're
going
to
get
into
right
now
we're
really
going
to
be
shifting
a
little
bit
into
a
transition
right
now
we're
going
to
bridge
the
gap
between
this
week
and
next
week
this
next
verse
that
we're
going
to
start
with
next
week
begins
with
therefore
which means
it connects
back to
this
week
in light
of the
truths
that we
talked
about
this
week
we're
going
to
see
the
application
of
those
truths
next
week
and
what
we see
is
Paul's
warning
not to
be
taken
by
empty
philosophy
then
he
demonstrates
how
the
completeness
in
Christ
gives
us
superiority
over
worldly
!
And
then
next
week
we
get
to
therefore
so
Paul
begins
to
combat
a
series
of
false
doctrines
that
have
made
their
way
into
the
church
that
the
church
is
at
risk
of
being
infiltrated
with
and
into
the
culture
of
Colossae
and
in
doing
so
his
discourse
is
using
expository
apologetics
Paul
uses
apologetics
in
order
to
teach
the
church
of
Colossae
and
so
want
to
give
us
some
things
to
be
thinking
about
before
we
head
into
next
week's
passage
we've
already
defined
expository
apologetics
in its
basic form
is knowing
what we
believe
why we
believe
it
right
and
then
being
able
to
communicate
those
truths
effectively
to
other
people
that's
the
important
part
being
able
to
effectively
communicate
those
truths
to
other
people
so
the
bible
talks
about
apologetics
throughout
for
example
in
Exodus
9
16
God
says
to
this
guy
who
has
kept
the
Israelites
in
captivity
for
hundreds
of
years
to
show
for
this
purpose
I
have
raised
you
up
to
show
you
my
power
so
that
my
name
may
be
proclaimed
in
all
the
earth
one
of the
purposes
for
Israel's
time
in
Egypt
one
of the
purposes
for
the
plagues
that
happened
one
of the
purposes
for
all
these
things
is
to
demonstrate
his
superiority
over
the
gods
of
Egypt
little
g
gods
these
false
gods
that
they
served
or
that
they
worshipped
not
just
for
the
Egyptians
not
just
for
everybody
looking
from
the
outside
into
the
situation
but
also
for
the
Israelites
the
Israelites
have been
in
captivity
for
hundreds
of
years
at
this
point
and
God
didn't
want
to
take
the
Israelites
out
of
Egypt
before
taking
Egypt
out
of
the
Israelites
and
so
the
plagues
also
applied
to
the
Israelites
and
then
little
by
little
you
begin
to
see
the
plagues
not
being
for
the
Israelites
the
Israelites
were
omitted
from
these
plagues
throughout
times
but
God
said
I'm
setting
a
people
apart
for
myself
and
I'm
doing
this
for
my
glory
and
you
look
at
the
way
that
God
releases
them
from
the
captivity
in
Egypt
and
he
does
so
in
a
way
that
only
God
can
do
it
how
many
people
do
you
know
can
take
a
staff
and
part
this
huge
body
of
water
I don't
know
anybody
can
do
that
it's
only
a
work
of
God
that
can
do
something
like
that
so
God
does
it
so
he
can
glorify
himself
and
he
says
he
does
it
to
show
his
power
that
by
his
name
his
name
may
be
proclaimed
in
all
the
earth
so
God
participates
in
apologetics
titus
1
9
apologetics
and
pastoral
ministry
he
must
hold
firm
to
the
trustworthy
word
as
taught
so
that
he
may
be
able
to
give
instruction
and
sound
doctrine
and
to
rebuke
those
who
contradict
it
apologetics
is
required
for
every
elder
those
of
you
who
are
looking
into
becoming
an
elder
or
pastor
or
maybe
pastoral
ministry
apologetics
is
required
for
you
if
you're
!
not
an
!
anthropologist
you
are
not
qualified
to
be
an
elder
that's
what
the
book
says
you
must
be
able
to
rebuke
those
who
practice
sound
doctrine
it
also
applies
to
every
believer
you
might
say
okay
I'm
not
going
to
pastoral
ministry
I'm
not
going
to
be
an
elder
I'm
not
going
to
be
a
pastor
this
applies
to
you
as
well
1
Peter
3
15
!
in
your
hearts
honor
Christ
the
Lord
as
holy
always
being
prepared
to
make
a
defense
for
everyone
who
asks
you
for
the
reason
for
the
hope
that
is
in
you
yet
do
it
with
gentleness
and
respect
and
that's
key
there
folks
doing
this
with
gentleness
and
respect
we're
not
shutting
people
down
we're
not
doing
this
we're
going
to
get
into
this
more
next
week
but
that's
every
believer
every
believer
called
to
apologetics
commanded
to be
an
apologist
not
just
there
in
Jude
chapter
3
beloved
although
I
was
very
eager
to
write
to
you
about
our
common
salvation
I
find
it
necessary
to
write
to
you
appealing
to
you
to
contend
for
the
faith
that
was
once
for
all
delivered
to
the
saints
this
contending
for
the
faith
is
apologetics
it's
contending
for
the
faith
and
this
is
what
Paul
is
doing
throughout
the
book
of
Colossians
from
the
beginning
to
the
end
so
if
that
is
true
if
every
believer
is
called
to
expository
apologetics
why
do
most
of
us
not
do
it
for
some
of
us
maybe
it was
because
we
didn't
realize
that
there
was
a
call
to
this
thing
maybe
some
of
us
are
just
now
learning
about
what
apologetics
is
but
now
you
know
so
that's
not
an
excuse
anymore
right
you
know
now
but
I
think
the
reality
is
that
most
of
us
don't
practice
this
because
we
think
apologetics
is
for
the
elite
Christians
it's
for the
Ravi
Zacharias
and for
those who
are
seminary
professors
and those
who
are
elite
what we
think of
as being
elite
Christians
we
believe
that
apologetics
requires
a certain
level of
knowledge
of
science
and
philosophy
and logic
and how
to debate
people
we
believe
that
apologetics
requires
an intimate
knowledge
of cults
and heresies
and we
think that
if we
don't have
this
then
maybe
we
can't
do
this
ourselves
so
this is
what I
want you
to think
about
over
the
next
week
this
is
what
I
want
you
to
meditate
over
in addition
to
whatever
your
currently
doing
in your
own
quiet
time
I
want
you
to
think
about
this
and I
want
you
to
take
this
with
you
and
chew
on
it
over
the
next
week
until
we
get
to
next
Sunday
there
are
66
books
of
the
Bible
most
of
us
know
that
66
books
of
the
Bible
and
there's
not
going
to
be
anymore
the
canon
is
closed
so
we're
going
to
always
have
66
books
of
the
Bible
Scripture
is
already
complete
which
means
there
are
a
limited
number
of
things
that
we
believe
there
are
a
limited
number
of
things
we
believe
everybody
track
with me
so far
there's
a
Bible
there's
only
66
books
that's
there
we're
not
going
to
add
any
more
therefore
we
have
a
limited
number
of
things
that
we
believe
!
which
means
that
there
are
a
limited
number
of
objections
that
we
must
answer
in
apologetics
as we
contend for
the
faith
and
thirdly
there's
a
source
to
those
answers
and
most
of
you
brought
that
source
with
you
this
morning
and
we've
been
reading
from
it
this
is
our
truth
source
we
have
the
answers
here
within
scripture
so
everybody
with
me
there's
a
limited
!
number
of
things
that
we
believe
there's
a
limited
number
of
objections
that
can
be
raised
and
we
have
the
source
for
the
answers
to
those
objections
which
means
the
answers
are
already
there
we
don't
have
to
make
them
up
we
don't
have
to
think
of
this
amazing
elaborate
argument
for it
we
already
have
the
answers
we
don't
have
to
make
them
up
which
means
that
you
can
do
it
!
it
!
it
!
this
whole
apologetics
thing
is
doable
you
don't
have
to
have
a
high
level
degree
master
of
divinity
doctorate
whatever
you
don't
have
to
be
Ravi
Zacharias
who
by the
way
is
really
good
at
it
because
he's
been
doing
it
for
so
long
we
get
better
and
better
as
we
go
through
these
things
as
we
practice
it
but
you
can
do
this
no
matter
how
young
or
old
if
you're
in
for
the
faith
it's
amazing
it's
amazing
that
three
year
olds
even
two
year
olds
can
do
this
if
they
can
speak
they
can
do
this
we
practice
catechisms
in our
home
usually
during
dinner
time
just
a
good
time
for
us
to
ask
questions
and
provide
answers
by
the
way
if
you
don't
know
what
a
catechism
is
it's
a
question
that
has
a
predefined
response
and
then
as
we
Joseph
he
filters
the
questions
that
people
ask
him
through
what
he
knows
to
be
true
and
what
we've
taught
him
through
catechisms
and so
we've
had people
ask him
questions
like
man
where did
you get
those
beautiful
blue
eyes
and you
expect
a
two
or
three
year old
to
say
mommy
or daddy
or
he might
try to
reason
through
something
like
daddy
has
blue
eyes
mommy
has
green
eyes
so
he
must
have
got
my
blue
he
filters
things
through
this
category
and by
the way
he's
not
perfect
we're
not
perfect
parents
we're
not
trying
to
pretend
like
we
are
but
he
filters
these
things
through
this
list
of
questions
that
he
goes
through
and
when
he
was
asked
where did
you
get
the
blue
eyes
from
he
didn't
even
miss
a
beat
he
says
from
God
from
God
of
course
it's
from
God
and
he
was
right
I
didn't
choose
his
eye
color
we
didn't
choose
his
eye
color
it's
not
like
you
can
go
to
a
drive
through
and
request
these
things
from
God
or
anybody
else
I
like
to
have
a
blonde
hair
blue
eyed
child
that's
well
balanced
with the
side
of
a
large
ability
to
learn
and a
medium
order
of
athleticism
it's
not
like
we
can
do
this
and
order
these
things
that's
not
how
it
works
but
Joseph
got
the
answer
right
and
he
got
the
answer
right
in
front
of
someone
who
as far
as I
know
hasn't
been to
church
in a
long
time
it's
really
cool
to hear
the way
this
works
why
did
he
get
the
answer
right
is
because
his
first
catechism
question
is
who
made
you
God
made
me
what
else
did
God
make
God
made
all
things
why
did
God
make
you
in
all
things
for
his
glory
how
can
you
glorify
God
by
loving
him
and
doing
what
he
commands
where
is
God
is
everywhere
can
you
see
God
no
but
God
always
sees
me
the
list
can
go
on
and
on
and
on
do
you
realize
how much
theology
that
you
can
learn
through
catechisms
that
your
children
can
learn
through
catechisms
alone
somebody
asked
them
where
is
God
!
don't
He
is
everywhere
He
is
omnipresent
which
means
that
He
is
everywhere
and
His
answer
was
right
God
is
everywhere
if
my
three
year
old
can
contend
for
the
faith
you
can
too
you
can
we
caught
him
we
walked
in
on
Joseph
sharing
his
faith
though
I
don't
know
I
don't
think
he's
regenerate
I
don't
think
he
fully
understands
all
these
truths
yet
but
he's
filtering
these
things
through
but
don't
be
able
to
make
it
next
week
it
will
be
online
try to
make
every
effort
to
be
here
or
make
the
commitment
right
now
that
you
want
to
go
online
to
watch
it
after
it
over
we
are
going
to
pick
back
up
on
this
idea
of
expository
apologetics
and
talk
to
you
about
some
tools
you
can
use
in
doing
this
I've
already
told you
about
one
of
them
catechisms
is
a
great
tool
that
we
can
use
in
helping
us
to
quickly
come up
with
answers
and
we're
going
to
see
how
Paul
does
this
in
Colossians
chapter
2
how he
can
backs
these
ideas
so
if
he
can
be
here
try
to
make
it
where
he
can
be
here
if
not
make
sure
you
make
the
commitment
to
see
it
online
it's
not
going
to
be
good
because
I'm
teaching
it
it's
going
be
good
because
God's
word
is
good
so
let's
pray
together