WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.160 Okay, so we're continuing in our study of Colossians. 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:07.080 This is Colossians chapter 2, verses 16 through 23. 00:00:07.259 --> 00:00:08.740 So this is finishing out chapter 2. 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:16.339 And this is not a topical sermon, but I kind of feel like it's a topical sermon 00:00:16.339 --> 00:00:25.580 because a lot of the bent of this passage is combating asceticism. 00:00:25.579 --> 00:00:32.359 And this is what I call the title of this is Let No One Disqualify You. 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:37.019 If you have an ESV, that's the title of the little section of Scripture is Let No One Disqualify You. 00:00:37.839 --> 00:00:47.640 But I really, I think the point is Paul is trying to combat a demonic substitute for reality, for Christianity. 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:50.840 And the substitute is asceticism. 00:00:50.840 --> 00:00:57.180 And we see extreme versions of this that we easily recognize. 00:00:57.720 --> 00:01:04.719 And then we have more subtle versions of this that we might be completely blind to, 00:01:04.820 --> 00:01:08.180 that we've just given entire categories of our confidence in our life to, 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:10.620 and just think that's normal. 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:12.100 That's just normal Christianity. 00:01:12.099 --> 00:01:24.899 And by God's grace, I want to share what's on my heart and maybe articulate this passage in a way that maybe exposes some of that stuff 00:01:24.899 --> 00:01:28.780 and cleans house a little bit, especially as we're starting a church. 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:33.799 I love that there's that adage, for every mile of road, there's two miles of ditches. 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:36.079 We're like that. 00:01:36.079 --> 00:01:41.120 The devil changes his tactics when we change. 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:45.420 So when we're just in the world, living for the world, getting drunk, 00:01:45.579 --> 00:01:51.379 and just giving ourselves fully to sexual immorality and indulging the flesh, 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:54.719 the devil has one tactic for us. 00:01:54.819 --> 00:01:55.459 Keep us doing that. 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:56.299 All right? 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:57.739 Don't repent. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:01:59.259 Don't listen to God's law. 00:02:00.019 --> 00:02:00.900 You do you, man. 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:02.700 You know, don't let anyone judge you. 00:02:02.700 --> 00:02:06.659 But then when we come to Christ, you know, he opens our eyes to the truth, 00:02:06.740 --> 00:02:07.540 the fact that we're sinners. 00:02:07.980 --> 00:02:09.360 We're under the wrath of God. 00:02:09.460 --> 00:02:10.259 We're headed for hell. 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:15.379 And that he substituted his son as the sacrifice for our sin. 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:18.240 And we receive that, and we're born again. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:18.900 We're saved. 00:02:19.300 --> 00:02:21.280 And then we're like, man, I want to live for Jesus now. 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:22.840 I don't want to have anything to do with that life. 00:02:23.539 --> 00:02:25.180 Well, the devil just adjusts his tactics. 00:02:25.740 --> 00:02:25.900 Okay? 00:02:26.379 --> 00:02:27.539 He has a different line. 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:30.140 And that line is encouraging holiness. 00:02:30.939 --> 00:02:32.219 But through a different means. 00:02:32.219 --> 00:02:33.259 A different approach. 00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:36.139 And that is what Paul's combating in this passage here. 00:02:36.460 --> 00:02:40.819 So, I guess the point being, this is not a very balanced sermon. 00:02:41.099 --> 00:02:43.719 Because this is not a very balanced section of scripture. 00:02:44.259 --> 00:02:46.939 So, if you hear me saying things, you're like, but, but, but, you know. 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:48.599 Yes, of course. 00:02:49.099 --> 00:02:49.340 All right? 00:02:49.500 --> 00:02:53.060 And there's a lot of other passages that handle the but, buts that come to mind. 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:54.659 This one doesn't. 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:58.680 And so, I just want to be as unbalanced and as focused as Paul is here. 00:02:59.020 --> 00:03:00.379 So, a little bit of qualifier. 00:03:00.379 --> 00:03:00.780 Okay. 00:03:03.099 --> 00:03:04.099 Let's read a passage. 00:03:05.539 --> 00:03:07.079 Colossians 2, verses 16. 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:08.060 Starting at verse 16. 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:09.259 I'm going to read through the end of the chapter. 00:03:09.939 --> 00:03:12.099 And then we'll break it down and go verse by verse. 00:03:12.099 --> 00:03:21.000 Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:26.500 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 00:03:26.500 --> 00:03:28.860 Let no one disqualify you. 00:03:28.860 --> 00:03:30.320 And then we'll pray. 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.320 --> 00:03:30.320 00:03:30.319 --> 00:03:37.120 asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:44.419 by his sensuous mind and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit 00:03:44.419 --> 00:03:50.979 together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that is from God. If, with Christ, 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:57.579 you died to the elemental spirits of this world, that's demons, why, as though you were still alive 00:03:57.580 --> 00:04:03.100 in the world, do you submit to regulations like do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:09.880 referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings. 00:04:11.340 --> 00:04:16.580 These indeed, these have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion 00:04:16.580 --> 00:04:23.520 and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:30.000 flesh. So let's get into verse 16 here. Paul says, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:36.959 in reporting to what? Questions of food and drink and with regard to a festival or a new moon or a 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:46.639 Sabbath. Or in other words, consumables, you know, dietary restrictions, or whether one day is more 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:52.759 holy than another. When we think of food and drink, this is just anything that's, we consider like, 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:57.159 that's socially acceptable as consumable, like something that you eat as food, whether you, 00:04:57.419 --> 00:05:04.939 you know, cake, beer, barbecue, bacon, processed foods, kosher, not kosher, you know, just the whole 00:05:04.939 --> 00:05:13.120 gamut, food and drink. Which is like, why? Like, why would anyone pass judgment on, like, why would that 00:05:13.120 --> 00:05:19.459 even be a thing that Paul's concerned about? Well, we know about these things, you know? 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:25.399 We know that the Jews, for instance, had dietary restrictions. There were things that were holy 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:30.240 and that there were things that were not holy. And it was very clear that you ate the not holy things 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:37.199 that was, you were defiled, that was sin. And you had a restriction. And so it was good to judge Jews, 00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:43.240 you know, because God judged them. You know, if you ate something that was unclean, you were unclean. 00:05:43.579 --> 00:05:52.759 It infected you. Same with drink. And then holidays, like, what's the deal with holidays? Well, the Jews 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:59.740 had tons of holidays. And they were bound under the law to observe them, to not do so with sin. 00:05:59.740 --> 00:06:08.759 So the question is, what about us? We're in the New Testament. Paul's super clear. Let no one pass 00:06:08.759 --> 00:06:20.220 judgment on you for any of it. Full stop. Okay? Full stop. So we think about days, Christmas and Easter. 00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:27.360 Do Christians celebrate those? Some Christians think those are pagan holidays, nothing to do with it. 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:31.900 Other Christians are way on the other side. Just like, no, like, you're not going to remember 00:06:31.900 --> 00:06:39.960 Christmas, the day Jesus was born? Easter? You raised him from the dead? What? And they're just like, 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:50.520 straight. Sabbath. What is the Sabbath? You know, and the Old Testament, it was a particular day, 00:06:51.060 --> 00:06:56.560 Saturday, and you don't work at all. If you work on Sabbath, you know, one of the very first instances 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:02.019 of transgression of the law was a guy picking up sticks in the Sabbath. And they were told, 00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:09.720 you cannot work. They stoned him to death. All right, so this is serious. So what about us? 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:15.319 Like, you know, you know, do we stone Christians if they don't observe the Sabbath? What even is the 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:21.439 Sabbath to a Christian? Well, this is very important that we know this. And there's a lot of range of 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:25.600 opinions on these things. You know, some people think that, you know, the Sabbath is now the Lord's 00:07:25.600 --> 00:07:32.079 day Sunday, and we observe like a literal day of physical rest on that day. Some see it more as a 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:37.180 spiritual fulfillment. These are all really important questions. But Paul's starting off, we're going to 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:44.540 start off with a new premise. Let no one pass judgment on you for anything regarding food or drink 00:07:44.540 --> 00:07:51.420 or days. So regardless of our theology and the way we interpret all this stuff, 00:07:52.460 --> 00:07:57.180 he's starting off with a new premise. Clean sheet. Let no one pass judgment on you. This is important. 00:07:57.260 --> 00:08:03.460 We'll get into this more later. Just a few notes on this. Food and drink, you know, like, 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:12.620 you might not even have a background in understanding the law that much or, you know, been associated with 00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:18.199 certain groups that do understand the law and try to apply it to Christians, you know. But overall, 00:08:18.620 --> 00:08:23.740 it's pretty easy to think of some foods as more holy than others. You know, the Daniel fast, 00:08:24.459 --> 00:08:30.620 vegetables and water. Surely that's a little bit more Christian than a rack of ribs and beer, 00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:36.440 you know. And our conscience, like, we have this, you know, we're sinners. And so we just, 00:08:36.860 --> 00:08:41.060 our conscience, unless it's been renewed by the Word of God, it just kind of automatically thinks this way. 00:08:41.059 --> 00:08:48.159 And so when someone comes with a really strong biblical case as, like, no, actually, you know what? 00:08:49.619 --> 00:08:53.519 Vegetables and water is holy, and that's how God actually intended you to live. 00:08:54.219 --> 00:09:00.919 And if you eat barbecue ribs and drink beer, double damned, all right? It kind of sounds, 00:09:00.919 --> 00:09:07.599 it just seems right. And so we have to really dig in here and understand what Paul is trying to 00:09:07.599 --> 00:09:13.319 articulate and have our minds be renewed. So just right off the bat, food and drink, healthy does not 00:09:13.319 --> 00:09:22.459 mean holy. Like, of course, vegetables and water as a pattern of life is more healthy than if you ate, 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:28.480 like, ribs from Oklahoma Joe's and drank beer for all of your, you know, liquid consumption. Like, 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:34.360 that's way healthier, okay? So we can all agree about that. But we're talking about something 00:09:34.360 --> 00:09:42.440 different. We're talking about standing before God, righteousness. Holy days, getting into Romans, 00:09:42.639 --> 00:09:48.519 Romans 14 speaks to both of these. I'm just going to mention a few passages here. Romans 14, 00:09:48.920 --> 00:09:55.740 verses 14 and 17, Paul shares his thoughts on both of these topics, food and days. He says, 00:09:55.740 --> 00:10:02.740 I know and I am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But it is unclean 00:10:02.740 --> 00:10:07.820 for anyone who thinks it's unclean. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of 00:10:07.820 --> 00:10:16.080 righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Regarding holy days, a little bit prior in that 00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:21.940 same passage, Romans 14, verses five through six, he says, one person esteems one day is better than the 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:26.680 other while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 00:10:27.160 --> 00:10:32.820 The one who observes the day observes it to honor the Lord. So we start to get a little insight here. 00:10:33.300 --> 00:10:42.340 Like he's not saying any consideration in the conscience for food is silly for a Christian. 00:10:42.340 --> 00:10:51.000 No. He says, Hey, actually, if you have freedom and you have the same faith that I have, that you can eat 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:58.420 everything, praise the Lord, because that's actually true. But if you don't, you have freedom. And you know 00:10:58.420 --> 00:11:03.019 what? It's better that you don't eat food that would harm your conscience. All right. You need to grow up in 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:07.220 faith a little bit more. And these two groups of Christians shouldn't force each other to act like 00:11:07.220 --> 00:11:14.300 each other. But you see what the metric is? It's within. God doesn't have a standard of you eat these 00:11:14.300 --> 00:11:19.740 14 things. These are approved and everything else is off limits. No, no, no. It has to do with the 00:11:19.740 --> 00:11:24.879 conscience, what we're doing, the motive, why we're doing it before the Lord. Same with holy days. 00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:33.240 You observe one day, you do it to honor the Lord. Awesome. So there are Christians who observe certain 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:39.899 days as more special than the other ones out of reverence for God. Other Christians, they see 00:11:39.899 --> 00:11:43.799 every day is the same. I'm going to, you know, this is the day the Lord has made. That's true. 365 days 00:11:43.799 --> 00:11:48.320 a year. I'm going to worship like the Lord on every day, you know, and I don't, I like, it just doesn't 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:54.820 mean anything to me like Sabbath or Christmas or Easter or whatever, you know, feast of booths, 00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:01.159 Passover. They're all the same because in Christ, every single day is the day that I'm going to 00:12:01.159 --> 00:12:08.339 walk in the Sabbath rest of a believer and worship the Lord. Both of these, Paul says, are fine 00:12:08.339 --> 00:12:16.120 because they're unto the Lord. God is now looking at the heart and saying, hey, why are you doing this? 00:12:17.439 --> 00:12:25.179 But we got to be careful and we'll get into why we need to be careful quite a bit. So anyway, 00:12:25.179 --> 00:12:31.120 point being verse 16, Paul says, do not let anyone pass judgment on you in these matters. 00:12:31.659 --> 00:12:37.859 A Christian has liberty and this is of gospel importance. This is essential. This, this might 00:12:37.859 --> 00:12:41.339 seem like some secondary thing. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Christians can eat whatever they want. 00:12:41.419 --> 00:12:45.479 And yeah, you know, we're not bound under the holy days like they were under the law. Well, 00:12:46.019 --> 00:12:50.779 we need to be more than just sort of passingly convinced about this. We need to be rock solid about 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:59.720 this because we're sinners and the devil has an alternative gospel that is very persuasive if we 00:12:59.720 --> 00:13:09.679 let it in. And like, this is easier said than done. Okay. Very mature leaders can fall prey to this 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:16.959 demonic influence that Paul's about to battle here. Peter did it in Galatian. A little bit different 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:22.019 flavor, a little bit different terms, a little bit different background, same deal. Paul had to 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:28.080 rebuke him. This is the, this is the preeminent apostle. Peter fell prey to this deception that 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:33.280 Paul's going to challenge here. So anyway, he says, don't let anyone pass judgment on you in these 00:13:33.280 --> 00:13:40.980 matters. On what basis? How can we stand confidently? Verse 17, these, these rules and regulations, 00:13:40.980 --> 00:13:48.180 these are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Um, is that ours? No. 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:55.120 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. I love how the KJV puts 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:02.220 it. It says the body belongs to Christ. You think of a body and light. You're our, our bodies in, 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:07.360 in the sun, they cast a shadow. So all throughout the new old Testament, we have all these rules and 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:12.879 regulations and precepts and days and Holy days and kosher laws, dietary laws, sacrifices. Well, 00:14:13.539 --> 00:14:21.000 it all is a huge shadow cast by the person of Jesus Christ, the person and work of Jesus. 00:14:21.419 --> 00:14:27.680 He is the substance. It all points to, and has its fulfillment in a person, Jesus Christ. 00:14:28.800 --> 00:14:33.019 And that's what Paul's saying. So these things are a shadow. You're preoccupied with shadows. 00:14:33.019 --> 00:14:40.919 The substance is Jesus Christ himself. And that's what you have. Um, so anyway, there's a lot of 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:45.340 passages here. I think I'm going to kind of skip over these, but I do want to go back to one of 00:14:45.340 --> 00:14:49.960 them. It's Colossians two verses nine through 10. And this is kind of the context for, for this, 00:14:49.960 --> 00:14:57.559 this, uh, admonition. Paul says for in him, Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:05.379 and you are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. So Jesus is the 00:15:05.379 --> 00:15:11.899 substance. He's the fulfillment of everything. And God put us in him. So we're not falling short 00:15:11.899 --> 00:15:17.339 in any area, which is just amazing. Say, how can that be? I have all kinds of sin in my life. Yes. 00:15:18.099 --> 00:15:24.539 But in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, you don't, you're complete. And you are seated 00:15:24.539 --> 00:15:30.620 over every authority in this world that would point to some precept and say, Hey, you eat pork. 00:15:30.699 --> 00:15:37.240 You know, the Bible says that that's a, that's a unclean animal. It's fulfilled in Christ. And, 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:40.879 you know, I might not understand it all, but I do know he's saying, don't let anyone pass judgment 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:46.639 on you. And because it's that, that, that regulation is just a shadow of something that's fulfilled 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:51.500 ultimately in Christ. And he puts you in there and it's not your understanding that makes you able 00:15:51.500 --> 00:15:56.039 to stand there. It's just the fact that you believe it. He put you in there and you might 00:15:56.039 --> 00:16:01.539 not have to even have a very good answer to why it doesn't matter that you pork now or not. 00:16:03.860 --> 00:16:07.519 I'm complete in Jesus and he's the head over all authority. And so your authority doesn't count. 00:16:07.580 --> 00:16:15.240 It doesn't matter. You know, um, this is important. Verse 18, let no one disqualify you. There we have it 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:20.740 again. The goal of this teaching is to disqualify you from your standing, your confidence in Christ. 00:16:21.539 --> 00:16:28.000 Let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism and worship of angels going on in detail about 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:34.960 visions puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind. So here we have it again, this, this admonition, 00:16:35.060 --> 00:16:42.180 let no one disqualify you. I think of this as kind of like he's attacking this, this spiritual 00:16:42.179 --> 00:16:48.299 bullying from a holy high horse, you know, this imminent preacher, this someone who looks really 00:16:48.299 --> 00:16:54.859 holy and he has, you know, a deep understanding of what God's real plan and desires for us are. And, 00:16:54.939 --> 00:16:59.379 and I'm kind of like a loser Christian. This guy's an awesome Christian. He's telling me, 00:16:59.459 --> 00:17:03.399 you know, no, if you really want to follow God, you need to do all these things. You know, 00:17:04.819 --> 00:17:09.679 it's, it's disqualifying. And he's saying you don't, you need to not be bullied by this. 00:17:09.680 --> 00:17:14.140 And this is important because we just tend to trust strong convictions from people. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:22.060 If someone has a strong conviction, all right, and it's delivered by a persuaded, 00:17:22.840 --> 00:17:29.860 persuasive messenger, like they're fully convinced. They really live it. And they're persuasive and 00:17:29.860 --> 00:17:37.400 they're confident. Well, I'm not that confident. They're so confident. I have a default within me 00:17:37.400 --> 00:17:46.180 to agree with them. It's just, we're hard code. We're insecure, you know? Um, and honestly, 00:17:46.180 --> 00:17:49.720 this is like a good thing. Like when someone preaches the truth, it's awesome. This is a good 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:53.440 attribute. If someone's preaching the truth, it's horrible. If someone's preaching deception, 00:17:53.440 --> 00:18:00.540 it has to be combated just as confidently and more ruthlessly because of how persuasive this sort of, 00:18:00.539 --> 00:18:08.079 this predisposition to being deceived, we have is. Um, so it says they insist on asceticism, 00:18:08.139 --> 00:18:16.319 these false teachers. And, uh, I think of this as outside in religion. Uh, this is the religion 00:18:16.319 --> 00:18:23.680 that the Pharisees had. Um, this is the religion that Jesus combated when he said, you clean the 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:28.259 inside of the cup or you clean the outside of the cup, but the inside is full of wickedness. Um, 00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:33.100 it's, it's demonic. This is the religion of demons. We're going to get into this a little bit more 00:18:33.100 --> 00:18:38.440 later, but, uh, it's the same basic spirit as the heresy of the Galatians. So there's an entire book 00:18:38.440 --> 00:18:48.160 that is chastising a church for leaving confidence in the gospel and coming under the law. Um, it was 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:53.180 under the influence of the Judaizing, uh, Christians, at least professing Christians. Well, this, 00:18:53.180 --> 00:19:00.160 this is written to people who are pagans, ex-pagans, and they don't have, he's not specifically 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:05.740 addressing a bunch of Judaizing, uh, heresies here, but it's kind of the same spirit. Well, 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:12.140 it's because this religion is the religion of the world. Okay. This is the, the demonic 00:19:12.140 --> 00:19:17.620 principalities and strongholds. It's their answer to the problem of sin. And it's the universal 00:19:17.620 --> 00:19:23.039 religion everywhere. We're trying to work off your debt to get to God. Um, 00:19:23.180 --> 00:19:29.240 so there's modern examples of this seventh day Adventists, Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses. 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:35.880 These are all obvious cults, but there's versions of it within the church. You know, 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:42.400 um, I think a great example of this is the doctrine that, uh, alcohol is sin for Christians. 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:47.000 Okay. Uh, teetotalers, you know, independent fundamental Baptists, a whole list. There's a 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:51.160 bunch of other denominations that kind of do this and they go beyond what's written. And then 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:55.279 they basically say, Hey, if you're a real Christian, you don't drink. Okay. Whenever 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:59.060 the Bible talks about wine and stuff like that, it's talking about unfermented grape 00:19:59.060 --> 00:20:08.220 juice. Uh, it's just a distortion. Well, that is a more socially within Christian, uh, circles. 00:20:08.220 --> 00:20:18.640 Anyway, it's more socially acceptable version of this demonic heresy. So, and that's why it's applicable to us. 00:20:18.700 --> 00:20:23.160 All right. Like we're not above any of this stuff. That's what we're talking about. Uh, the other one, 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:27.839 he says, so he, he, he, he, there's these two, two sort of indicators of these false teachers. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:31.959 These people are trying to disqualify. We need to kind of be on our guard with, you know, one is 00:20:31.959 --> 00:20:37.039 they insist on cedricism. The other is worship of angels. So obvious versions of this are like, 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:44.480 you know, uh, false religions that worship a angel, like a messenger came and gave a new, 00:20:44.480 --> 00:20:51.179 uh, revelation, you know, like, uh, Islam and Mormonism, you know, these are obvious. Okay. Uh, 00:20:51.179 --> 00:20:55.740 and then just straight up idol worship. Like when they, when people worship idols in pantheistic 00:20:55.740 --> 00:21:01.420 religions are actually worshiping demons, there's demons that represent those idols and they get 00:21:01.420 --> 00:21:06.160 whatever out of it, they get something out of it. And, and, and people worship demons. Okay. 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:10.720 So you start talking about worshiping angels. So that's an obvious one. Uh, but another interpretation 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:15.839 of the word angels is messenger. And this is where it kind of hits home a little bit closer for us. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:25.720 Um, this can be alive in the church when we have a, a, um, a dedicated, 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:32.599 dedication to a particular deliverer of the gospel, a particular teacher, a particular leader. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:38.599 These are our leaders that get a free pass. You know, you, you, you put them in the, well, 00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:43.460 if they said it, I just automatically believe it category because there's so much trust there. 00:21:43.599 --> 00:21:47.240 Paul spoke of this when he, when he blasted the first Corinthians, the Corinthians, 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:50.480 blasted the first Corinthians in first Corinthians, 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:56.839 he rebuked the Corinthians for having a sectarian spirit saying, I am of a Paul. I am of a Paul's 00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:04.360 same spirit. You're worshiping messengers. Uh, we can get like that. Um, so I think it's a little 00:22:04.360 --> 00:22:08.640 heart check for me. This is certainly true of me. And it's helpful for me to kind of have this metric. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:15.300 Am I more inclined to believe something, uh, from certain preachers, especially the ones I don't 00:22:15.300 --> 00:22:23.860 know personally? Do I just, do I have like an, uh, a cadre of preachers and leaders that I just give 00:22:23.860 --> 00:22:29.540 a free pass to? I don't take what they say and check and see if it's according to scripture. 00:22:29.539 --> 00:22:38.980 If that's true, I'm doing this. I'm worshiping a messenger. Okay. Nobody gets a free pass. We're 00:22:38.980 --> 00:22:43.539 all sinners. When Jesus comes back, we all get glorified bodies. Everybody gets a free pass. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:48.099 Up until that point in time, we judge what they say according to scriptures. We receive it gladly. 00:22:48.740 --> 00:22:52.119 You know, if it seems according to the truth, we can receive it joyfully and gladly and be like, 00:22:52.180 --> 00:22:55.659 oh man, that was really encouraging. But you know what? I'd never actually heard about that thing 00:22:55.659 --> 00:22:59.159 before. I'm going to go check and see if that's what the Bible really says. And if it doesn't say it, 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:09.480 no, just no, this is for you kids too. Like this is, we need to be a people who worship Jesus Christ, 00:23:10.080 --> 00:23:17.259 the father, the Holy spirit. And we don't give people a free pass just because they've been a 00:23:17.259 --> 00:23:23.940 huge blessing to us. No, we're all sinners. Like this is why it's so dangerous when leaders go astray 00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:27.800 is because everybody tends to give them a free pass, especially really good ones like Peter. 00:23:27.799 --> 00:23:40.039 Paul blasted Peter in Galatians because Peter, his, um, falling into this trap was going to lead 00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:45.839 everybody astray because Peter got a free pass. They shouldn't give Peter a free pass, but that's 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:52.599 just human nature. All right. So we shouldn't either. Um, moving on. And then he says that these 00:23:52.599 --> 00:24:00.659 people, they, they go on in detail about visions and they're puffed up by their sensuous mind. Um, 00:24:00.980 --> 00:24:08.459 you know, the Bible doesn't in the new Testament, it doesn't, it doesn't restrict, you know, 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:12.939 all of our dietary things and we eat and drink, you know, there was a very particular exhortation 00:24:12.940 --> 00:24:19.440 given to Gentiles in Acts, um, right after the, uh, the church of the Gentiles first emerged. 00:24:19.740 --> 00:24:24.140 And it did give some dietary restrictions, but for the most part, you know, holy days, 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:27.460 what day you should, you know, observe as unto the Lord food, drink, all that stuff, 00:24:27.460 --> 00:24:32.799 basically unaddressed. All right. So in order to make really strong cases, I have to go beyond 00:24:32.799 --> 00:24:39.460 what's written and I have to get into God told me territory. And so like this, that's why these 00:24:39.460 --> 00:24:45.799 teachers go on and about, on and about their visions, you know, and some of us in less charismatic 00:24:45.799 --> 00:24:49.920 circles might not be as susceptible to getting tricked by this. But if you're in a charismatic 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:54.100 circle and people are prophesying, you value prophecy, you just might be wide open to it. 00:24:54.100 --> 00:24:58.640 If you're not used to testing and someone says, God told me that, you know, I'm gonna keep using 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:03.180 barbecue, barbecue ribs, uh, are sin. You eat them. You're defiled and under God's judgment, 00:25:03.180 --> 00:25:10.420 you know, I might be susceptible of that. Well, that guy couldn't get that from the Bible. Cause 00:25:10.420 --> 00:25:15.000 it didn't talk about that. He had to get it from a vision. That's why they go on and on about visions. 00:25:16.140 --> 00:25:23.000 I think another version of this is maybe not, maybe not like dream vision, charismatic type visions, 00:25:23.000 --> 00:25:30.539 but maybe more like, I know I've seen what's real, man. You know, these are the woke visionaries. 00:25:30.539 --> 00:25:34.659 All right. They've seen behind the scenes and they understand how all this really works. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:42.619 And they have the real insight into, you know, why this particular dietary thing is 00:25:42.619 --> 00:25:49.039 mess is the source of all sin in the world, you know? And it's more just like, uh, it's more 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:58.000 operating by their sensual mind. Um, you know, Romans eight, five says, those who live according 00:25:58.000 --> 00:26:02.460 to the flesh, set their mind on things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit, 00:26:02.539 --> 00:26:06.579 set their mind on the things of the spirit. These people are especially convincing because they can 00:26:06.579 --> 00:26:12.660 often identify real problems in the world, manifestations of the flesh. All right. Sin problems, 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:19.920 but they do it without personal conviction. I E the takeaway isn't fundamentally where the problem 00:26:19.920 --> 00:26:25.960 it's, they're the problem. All right. And the solution they offer is not a gospel solution. 00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:34.980 All right. It has to do with cutting a bunch of stuff off. All right. Um, the conviction of the 00:26:34.980 --> 00:26:42.000 sin is awesome. Acknowledging bad fruit is awesome. It takes the spirit to actually do anything about it. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:48.299 It didn't require Jesus coming and dying, crucifying the old man, raising the life of a new man. 00:26:48.299 --> 00:26:55.480 It's not the solution that God has offered through his son. So anyway, uh, these things are important 00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:59.059 because it's more than just differences of food convictions and what day Christians worship is 00:26:59.059 --> 00:27:05.460 about being disqualified. Um, so I gotta skip through this stuff. Uh, how do you know you're 00:27:05.460 --> 00:27:10.319 being disqualified? Just a few indications. One is you take on other people's stricter convictions, 00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:14.220 especially when they're around. All right. You don't actually believe this thing, but you know, 00:27:14.220 --> 00:27:20.660 so-and-so, you know, uh, doesn't drink beer. You feel fine drinking beer, but when they're around, 00:27:20.660 --> 00:27:27.819 you're kind of like, drink water, you know, want to do it in love. Not really. You're afraid of what 00:27:27.819 --> 00:27:33.680 they think. Um, this is a, this is a personal one. We used to have a hardcore conviction that 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:38.819 Christmas was pagan and we were in a group that shared that conviction. And then Lord opened 00:27:38.819 --> 00:27:44.939 the gospel and all of a sudden we were like, we love Christmas. All right. But I was so scared to 00:27:44.939 --> 00:27:49.579 decorate our home because those people were still in our life and they would visit. They're like, 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:57.799 I just don't even want to have a conversation. You know, um, I'm letting them disqualify me. 00:27:58.659 --> 00:28:04.220 We'll get a Christmas tree, but we'll get a little one. You know, uh, I mean, these are silly things, 00:28:04.220 --> 00:28:09.680 but these, we just do this, you know, and if we start seeing ourselves do this, wait, wait, wait, 00:28:10.120 --> 00:28:15.860 like take a Holy spirit timeout and ask the question, Lord, am I living before you? Or am 00:28:15.860 --> 00:28:21.019 I living in front of men? Do I care more about what they think? Do I care about more about what 00:28:21.019 --> 00:28:28.579 you think? Do I believe these radical things, the gospel promises me, you know, or do I really kind 00:28:28.579 --> 00:28:32.880 of not really know? And I'll just default to whatever, whoever has the strongest opinion about a 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:39.480 particular issue, always go with them. So, uh, it's important because when we are persuaded and 00:28:39.480 --> 00:28:45.280 we start acting like hypocrites, it's indication we're not holding fast to Jesus Christ, our head. 00:28:45.920 --> 00:28:53.060 Verse 19. So these teachers are doing not holding fast the head from whom the whole body nourished 00:28:53.060 --> 00:28:59.660 and knit together through its joints and ligaments grows with the growth that is from God. So Paul said, 00:28:59.660 --> 00:29:05.220 these false teachers aren't holding fast to Jesus. Um, you know, I love the picture of a body, 00:29:05.220 --> 00:29:13.980 you know, human means of unity is trying to get as many shared convictions as humanly possible. 00:29:14.620 --> 00:29:20.279 And then we have unity. God's means of having unity is unifying us with the son. 00:29:20.279 --> 00:29:28.119 And that's the true basis of Christian unity is holding fast the head from whom the whole body 00:29:28.119 --> 00:29:34.660 is nourished life. I love the image of a house with a whole bunch of appliances, electrical appliances 00:29:34.660 --> 00:29:41.920 in it. Okay. And each appliance is different. It's unique, but there's one power source. 00:29:42.639 --> 00:29:47.240 When they're plugged in, they do their thing and they're connected to each other through this source. 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:52.420 All right. But if they try to unplug and plug into each other, there's no power. There's no life. 00:29:53.079 --> 00:30:00.019 Well, that's what trying to achieve unity on the basis of complete homogeneity of particular 00:30:00.019 --> 00:30:06.519 convictions is like no life. Um, but when people have really strong convictions about these things 00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:14.140 like that, you're tempted to. So anyway, Jesus is a source of life, not dietary convictions. Um, 00:30:14.140 --> 00:30:19.660 verse 20, if with Christ, you died to the elemental spirits of the world, 00:30:19.660 --> 00:30:23.880 why as though you're still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations? Do not handle, do not 00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:29.580 taste, do not touch referring to things that all parishes. They are used according to human precepts 00:30:29.580 --> 00:30:33.640 and teachings. So really, I think this is the main point I wanted to make. This is the main thing on my 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:43.500 heart. Demons have a religion. They have a religion that is called asceticism. So convict Christians are 00:30:43.500 --> 00:30:48.420 convicted of sin. Well, guess what? The world actually is too. They walk around with a nagging 00:30:48.420 --> 00:30:54.079 sense that they're falling short of God's law because the Bible says God wrote his law in their 00:30:54.079 --> 00:31:00.700 hearts. Um, it's not conviction under repentance, but it is walking around feeling guilty about them 00:31:00.700 --> 00:31:11.920 being sinners and demons know this. And the solution that they offer to people is asceticism. 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:20.420 Okay. You need to deny yourself these pleasures. Um, so where do we get this? 00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:26.920 First Timothy four verses one through four. Now the spirit expressly says that in light latter times, 00:31:27.120 --> 00:31:32.720 some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:38.240 of demons. This is really interesting what these teachings are going to be. It's not what I would 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:44.059 naturally think of is, you know, living for money, living for drunkenness, living for entertainment. 00:31:44.620 --> 00:31:47.460 Yeah. Like that would make sense. That would be teachings of demons. It's not what it is. 00:31:47.960 --> 00:31:52.120 What does he say? Through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:59.220 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received by thanksgiving 00:31:59.220 --> 00:32:04.799 for those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be 00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:11.299 rejected if it's received with thanksgiving. So doctrines of demons are just forbidding things that we enjoy 00:32:11.299 --> 00:32:18.339 that God created to be received with thanksgiving food. All right. Marriage. I mean, you see this 00:32:18.339 --> 00:32:23.619 in the Catholic church, uh, priests are forbidden marriage. What happens? What's the natural byproduct? 00:32:24.919 --> 00:32:31.639 Way crazier stuff. Way worse than, um, Titus one five, one 15 says to the pure, all things are pure, 00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:36.380 but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are 00:32:36.380 --> 00:32:45.259 defiled. A defiled conscience can't enjoy anything other than God without feeling guilty. Okay. Everyone 00:32:45.259 --> 00:32:48.960 knows we're supposed to enjoy God only, you know, even in the world, like they basically know this 00:32:49.140 --> 00:32:58.500 Christians know it too, but a conscience that's defiled can't appreciate God's creation and give thanks 00:32:58.500 --> 00:33:03.420 to him and just say, Hey, thank you, Lord. This hamburger is amazing. Thank you. Feels guilty. 00:33:04.180 --> 00:33:09.900 I'm finding pleasure in something other than God. Oh, you know, that's a defiled conscience. It seems, 00:33:10.019 --> 00:33:16.019 it seems holy. And the devil says, amen. You know, you should only want God alone. 00:33:16.019 --> 00:33:27.180 It's not true. It's not true. Um, so I want to give a few examples. Uh, these, these are imaginary 00:33:27.180 --> 00:33:31.519 scenarios. They're not that imaginary because these are all, I've experienced all these where I've been 00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:37.779 convicted of sin. And then I've had a conversation with the devil where he's offered me a different 00:33:37.779 --> 00:33:45.839 solution for my sin other than the cross of Jesus. So here's one gluttony. Um, I feel guilty of this 00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:52.000 sin. I feel, I feel that I've sinned. I know I'm a glutton. All right. And the demon says, 00:33:52.199 --> 00:33:58.240 real Christians are fine with only bread and water. You're in sin. If you want something different than 00:33:58.240 --> 00:34:04.240 just bread and water, the fact that you enjoy tasty food is actually a sign of discontentment 00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:11.279 and love of this world. Has anyone ever had a thought like this before? Repent and eat bread and 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:17.440 water only in small amounts. Also eating seconds of sin. So like, this is just like, I've had all 00:34:17.440 --> 00:34:22.000 these arguments in my mind and I thought it was the Holy Spirit, you know, cause he's encouraged me to do 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:27.440 something righteous. Something that seems like way more like in line with self-denial and everything 00:34:27.440 --> 00:34:31.320 that I'm currently doing. Cause currently I'm just a glutton. You know, I know I'm in sin. 00:34:31.320 --> 00:34:40.760 Drunkenness. I used to be a total drunkard. Uh, the line of reasoning comes alcohol is the devil's 00:34:40.760 --> 00:34:46.000 juice. Real Christians do not touch the stuff. Why would you want to? Your desire to join, 00:34:46.480 --> 00:34:51.740 enjoy the warmth and relaxation alcohol brings is basically just a lust for many drunkenness. 00:34:51.960 --> 00:34:56.820 You're just not satisfied in God. If you were really satisfied in God, you would never want 00:34:56.820 --> 00:35:02.740 or enjoy that. You should live on water only. Like these are just like, that seems like a really 00:35:02.740 --> 00:35:11.820 solid biblical godly line of reasoning. Okay. Yeah. All right. Water only. Cool. Um, 00:35:12.180 --> 00:35:15.840 there's, there's a litany of these. I have a few more examples like this. 00:35:16.480 --> 00:35:24.160 It has later on, he says this, an appearance of righteousness, but no power to restrain sin. 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:31.379 Um, I think kids are coming on gluten and I've, I need to live edit some of these notes. 00:35:31.859 --> 00:35:37.699 I'm just going to jump onto verse 23 here says these regulations have indeed an appearance of 00:35:37.699 --> 00:35:43.079 wisdom and promoting self-made religion and asceticism. What's the solution to your sin 00:35:43.079 --> 00:35:50.460 that demons offer? Asceticism, self-made religion, do more, try harder, severity to the body, 00:35:50.460 --> 00:35:54.960 beat your body, you know, and there is a good way to beat our body and make it our slave, 00:35:55.039 --> 00:35:59.159 but that's a different sermon. That's a different part of the Bible. We're talking about the bad way. 00:35:59.480 --> 00:36:04.760 Okay. But they are of no value in stopping indulgence to the flesh. So asceticism, I probably 00:36:04.760 --> 00:36:07.599 should have given this definition at the beginning. Merriam-Webster says, 00:36:07.699 --> 00:36:12.760 asceticism is the practice of strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual 00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:21.340 discipline, rigorous abstention or abstaining from self-indulgence. Um, it appears wise, 00:36:21.520 --> 00:36:27.680 which is why it's persuasive to us. Paul says this persuasion in Galatians, he says, 00:36:27.780 --> 00:36:31.760 this persuasion is not from him who calls you. This is not the solution that God is offering you. 00:36:31.760 --> 00:36:42.620 And a little of this persuasion, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Um, so why is it bad? 00:36:42.780 --> 00:36:48.100 I'm just going to burn through a few of these reasons and we'll close here. One is it's leaven, 00:36:48.460 --> 00:36:56.240 which means leaven fills something. It fills the lump. You start with, uh, food and holidays, 00:36:56.239 --> 00:37:03.299 goes into a lot more stuff than that. It spirals into every area of our life because what the devil 00:37:03.299 --> 00:37:09.419 does is he can hook us on this. It transfers us from my confidence is in the righteousness of Christ 00:37:09.419 --> 00:37:17.039 to my confidence is what I do and do not eat and what holy days I practice. Well, once you accept that 00:37:17.039 --> 00:37:21.619 you have to build confidence in all the other areas of your life on the basis of your works. 00:37:21.619 --> 00:37:29.440 So it balloons, it's leaven. It leavens the whole lump. Um, it's self-made religion. I get the credit. 00:37:29.679 --> 00:37:34.819 Okay. That's nothing to do with the gift of God. It's about what I do. All right. So, you know, 00:37:34.859 --> 00:37:42.039 I love the KJV talk calls this, uh, self-made religion. It calls it will worship, the worship 00:37:42.039 --> 00:37:47.319 of the will. Uh, if any of you have ever really gotten into Catholic mystics, it's all about this. 00:37:47.320 --> 00:37:52.360 There was a season in my life. I was super into Catholic mystics. It's will worship. It's literally 00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:59.460 worshiping the agency our will has to find the narrow way of righteousness and achieving. 00:38:00.080 --> 00:38:04.100 There were whole categories of Christians in the early days who would go out into the desert 00:38:04.100 --> 00:38:10.539 and they were called the desert fobbs. They would, they would preach this stuff. Monasteries are built 00:38:10.539 --> 00:38:18.380 on this impulse. It denies original sin. That's another reason. Okay. It says the problems out 00:38:18.380 --> 00:38:29.099 here, it's not in here. Uh, Jesus says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:35.259 for you clean the outside of the cup, but the inside is full of greed and self-indulgence. Clean 00:38:35.260 --> 00:38:40.960 the inside that the outside may be also clean. This is the word of the Lord for us. These are 00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:53.220 inner problems. Okay. Um, next reason it just doesn't work. Okay. It flat out doesn't work. 00:38:53.300 --> 00:38:56.600 If you try this hard enough, you had any period in your life where you devoted yourself to this 00:38:56.600 --> 00:39:04.260 approach to dealing with sin, you know, it doesn't work. Okay. Uh, you can't fight fleshly lusts 00:39:04.260 --> 00:39:11.240 with fleshly religion. The flesh wins. Okay. Like wherever you, I love the adage, wherever you go, 00:39:11.660 --> 00:39:20.440 there you are. Okay. Um, there's the Amish are a group who have a lot of rules. If you're familiar 00:39:20.440 --> 00:39:30.280 with this group, they have restrictions on everything. Their strategy for dealing with sin is this and it's 00:39:30.280 --> 00:39:35.000 balloon. The leaven has leavened the whole lump and they have a pressure relief valve and it's called 00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:41.900 room springing. Okay. If you know what that is, uh, there's a, there's a season, uh, in an Amish 00:39:41.900 --> 00:39:46.960 child's life when they enter adulthood, they're allowed to go taste the world and see what it's like. 00:39:48.440 --> 00:39:54.320 Absolute wickedness. It's so crazy. We had a group of friends in our early church. We, that actually 00:39:54.320 --> 00:40:00.680 did missions to them. They would go out and preach at room springing. Well, the flesh just gets bottled 00:40:00.680 --> 00:40:08.240 up and then it lets itself out in other ways. It's like whack-a-mole. It hides the real problem, 00:40:08.300 --> 00:40:13.720 thus presenting salvation. So you're so busy trying to deal with all these little manifestations of sin, 00:40:13.720 --> 00:40:21.620 um, by self-denial. It prevents me from coming to the terms of the fact that I am the fountain of sin. 00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:27.119 The fact that I have sin in these different areas is because I'm a sinner and there's a real simple 00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:35.779 solution, the cross. But if I'm devoted to these other means of dealing with sin, I, I miss salvation. 00:40:35.940 --> 00:40:42.859 It's a deception. It doesn't depend on faith. Talk about that. Galatians 5, 6 said, for in Christ 00:40:42.859 --> 00:40:47.679 Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. 00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:57.199 Keeps you worldly. Um, so I have various examples on this. I'm not going to share them right now. 00:40:57.779 --> 00:41:02.619 I feel very passionate about this because I think I lived most of what I've considered, 00:41:02.899 --> 00:41:06.579 like there's probably five or six years where I've considered myself a really radical Christian. 00:41:07.059 --> 00:41:13.539 Really? I was just radically committed to this stuff. All right. And the Bible says to the pure, 00:41:13.539 --> 00:41:19.980 all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. When you have defiled 00:41:19.980 --> 00:41:27.400 unbelieving goggles on, you just see the entire world through that lens. You want to enjoy good 00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:32.880 things, but you can't because it's sinful. You're always falling short. You don't have a clean 00:41:32.880 --> 00:41:40.239 conscience. The glorious truth of the gospel is we've received a clean conscience through Jesus. 00:41:40.239 --> 00:41:45.819 And we, through Jesus can joyfully enjoy things of this life without being ruled by them. 00:41:46.619 --> 00:41:50.859 Self-control. What's the solution? Okay. So the devil's solution is asceticism. 00:41:51.219 --> 00:41:57.419 Devil's solution to sin. What's the Christian solution? The Holy Spirit. Well, Colossians, 00:41:57.679 --> 00:42:03.819 he doesn't share a lot of the solution right here. Colossians chapter three shares the solution 00:42:03.819 --> 00:42:07.779 that's from the Lord. It's going to get into this a lot, but the preview is it's the Holy Spirit. 00:42:07.780 --> 00:42:13.820 First Timothy, second Timothy one, seven, one seven says, God gave us not a spirit of fear, 00:42:13.880 --> 00:42:20.640 but a power and love and self-control. Galatians 5, 16 says, but I say, walk by the spirit and you 00:42:20.640 --> 00:42:27.780 will not gratify the desires of the flesh. It's a glorious promise. Okay. It depends on faith. 00:42:28.080 --> 00:42:34.680 It depends on another person coming and living inside of us and granting us self-control and the 00:42:34.679 --> 00:42:41.919 ability to enjoy everything God has created to the glory of God under self-control like Jesus did. 00:42:42.059 --> 00:42:45.699 There was a huge difference between the way John the Baptist maintained righteousness 00:42:45.699 --> 00:42:53.719 and the way Jesus did. Our example is Jesus. It's not the John the Baptist. Jesus said that among all 00:42:53.719 --> 00:42:57.799 that were born of women, there was none greater than John the Baptist. He was telling his disciples this, 00:42:57.800 --> 00:43:03.920 but I tell you the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. It's going to be greater than 00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:10.320 us. That's us. Okay. Why? Because we've received the spirit. The work of the cross was accomplished 00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:15.640 for us. It was not from John the Baptist. It was put to death. The thing on the inside that's a problem 00:43:15.640 --> 00:43:22.380 was crucified. The power of sin was broken on the cross. And now I've had a conscience that had been 00:43:22.380 --> 00:43:28.700 cleansed from dead works. And the Holy Spirit has given me liberty, the same freedom that Jesus had, 00:43:29.160 --> 00:43:37.519 not freedom to indulge in sin, but the freedom to enjoy all of God's creation the way he intended to 00:43:37.519 --> 00:43:44.300 enjoy it so that no one would disqualify. So anyway, so I have a point in time in the future when we're 00:43:44.300 --> 00:43:50.420 faced with this kind of stuff as a church to be firmly grounded in your gospel and to not be 00:43:50.420 --> 00:43:51.960 disqualified. In Jesus' name, amen.