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Now, let's dive into today's teaching from Pastor Skiff Heitzig. Paul says, if you're in Christ... Then you're circumcised. The cutting away has been done and it's been done inwardly. Which was, by the way, always, always The meaning of circumcision.
You see, Jewish people were getting circumcised, but there came a time where they just thought they saw it as a badge of honor. I've gone through the ritual of circumcision, so I'm good. I'm good. I'm saved. I'm right with God because I've been circumcised.
Just like a person says, I'm good. I'm right with God because I've been baptized. But The physical Sine Should point to an inward reality.
So, in Deuteronomy chapter 10, even Moses said to the children of Israel: circumcise, therefore, your hearts. And be stiff-necked no longer. It's not about outward. Ritual It's about inward reality.
So, in Christ, the reality is you were circumcised. He doesn't say, I think you should get circumcised. He said, you already were. You were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by the putting off of the body of sins of the flesh. by the circumcision of Christ.
buried with him In baptism In which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. Baptism Also an outward sign of an inward change. Baptism is a representation of death and burial and then resurrection.
So we take the person, we put them under the water. Full immersion, that's the New Testament form of baptism. We don't. Sprinkle them. We don't Get a hose and spray them.
Though it w it would be quicker and easier. But We take the person and put them all the way under the water because it's a symbol of death. Burial And then after a minute or two, After a second, we bring them right back up. You died, you were buried. You were raised.
That's the symbolism of baptism.
So you've been circumcised? Buried with him in baptism, outward sign of an inward change. Raised through faith in the working of God who raised him, who raised Jesus from the dead. Verse 13, and you. Being dead.
In your trespasses, And the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made. Alive T together with him. having forgiven you all Trespasses. This is very similar to Ephesians chapter 2. And you has he made alive who were dead.
In trespasses and sins, in which he once walked according to the course of this world. Yeah. You were dead.
Now you're alive. He quickened. He made you alive. This is an important designation. The unbeliever isn't just spiritually sick, the unbeliever is spiritually dead.
And why is that an important designation? Because if he's just sick, Then maybe he can do something to get himself better. Maybe some self-help formula.
Some therapy will help. But if he's dead Well, he can't improve his condition. The only thing that can cure a dead person is a resurrection. If you went into a funeral home, how odd would it be to try to carry on a conversation with a corpse? There be no response.
The corpse is insensate. Unable to sense anything. Can't hear, can't speak, can't feel. and cannot improve his or her condition. You don't get less dead or more dead.
or mostly dead. You're dead. You were dead.
But you being dead He Has made alive together with him, the one who rose from the dead, having forgiven you all your trespasses. This is why, before you were saved, you would look at this book and you go, I don't get it. I read this book and it's weird. I don't understand it. You're right.
You you don't understand it. It's spiritually discerned, Paul said to the Corinthians. The natural man does not receive the things of the spirit because they are spiritually. discerned.
So, you were dead, now you're alive. He rose, you rose. He circumcised you. You were buried with him in baptism. And just as Jesus rose from the dead, Paul is saying: emblematically and in reality, you have a brand new.
Life. New relationship with him, new status. Uh He describes it further. Verse 14, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us which was contrary to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to. The cross This handwriting that he's speaking about.
Was a word that described a certificate of debt if you owed somebody something. It was a certificate that you owed somebody something. It's like an IOU. It's been wiped away, wiped out, it says, having wiped it out. Literally.
Wiped off. In fact, this is one of the Texts of scripture where the King James. is a better translation. Than the new King James, or even the New American Standard, or the NIV, or the NLT. The old King James says, blot it out.
Now let me c describe what that means. In the old days, in these days, New Testament days, they didn't write on paper, they wrote on paper. Parchment they wrote on vellum. Papyrus reads. Uh grown by the side of a river, but sometimes vellum, which was animal hide.
And the ancient inks did not have acid in them.
So when you would write on the surface, you had to let it dry and settle in. Modern inks would just Permeate. Because there's an acid into the ink. The ancient inks didn't have acid, so if you wrote something down, You could wipe it away.
So there was a Certificate of debt. That you could never pay. Before God. Before the ink dried, it was wiped off. Blotted out.
Wouldn't that be awesome today if you got a traffic ticket and you could just. Wipe it away.
Well, you had a big traffic ticket. And the ha he wiped out or wiped off or blotted out the handwriting of requirements, the certificate of debt that was against us, which was contrary to us, it condemned us. And he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Okay. Having disarmed principalities and powers, six times the New Testament uses that to speak of fallen angels in their rankings. Having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them. triumphing over them in it.
Now Paul is using a familiar Word picture of a Roman general returning from warfare. in a triumphus A Triumphus was a Parade, a procession. A triumphant procession where he would go through the streets of Rome, and people would hail him and throw flowers at him and gifts at him, and he has. He has come back triumphant.
So at the cross, Jesus disarmed. All of the Officers in the Satanic army, if you will, principalities and powers, made a public spectacle of them in those Roman victory parades. The generals of the other side. were captured and paraded by the victorious general through the streets, like look at These are the guys we beat. Triumphing over them in it.
Therefore, let no one judge you in food or drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance. is of Christ.
Okay, he mentioned a couple of different rituals, circumcision and baptism. But there were two more things people got hung up on. in this group. Infeldriting the church. One was Diet.
In the second days. Days of worship, diet and days.
So Therefore, because Christ Took The certificate of death that was against you, and you are complete in him. Therefore let no one judge you. In food, or in drink, or regarding a festival, or new moon, or Sabbath. which are a shadow. of things to come but the substance is of Christ.
Some people get hung up on what day You should worship Saturday or Sunday. Or, well, if you're really spiritual, you won't eat this or drink that. Paul says it's not the substance, it's just the shadow. Shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
Now Here's the problem with legalism. And some people I know are very legalistic in their relationship pretty much in every. Aspect, but especially in their Christian Walk. A legalistic person believes if I do this or that, or keep myself from doing this or that, I'm better than everybody else. I'm spiritual.
So it becomes righteousness by a checklist. I've done this. Check. I've done that check. I haven't done that check.
So You have set a standard whereby you consider yourself righteousness or righteous by the performance. that you have kept. That's where it's deceiving. Because Paul said, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by his mercy he has saved us. You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig.
Everyday friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God's Word through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. Our world constantly tells us we need something more. But the book of Colossians reminds us that everything we truly need is found in Jesus Christ. That's the heart of Pastor Skip's resource, Expound Colossians. As he walks verse by verse through this powerful New Testament book, you'll discover why Christ is supreme over all things, how to recognize truth in a world full of competing voices, and what it means to live each day firmly rooted in him.
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Now, let's return to today's teaching. Remember the rich young ruler who came to Jesus? And ask that question: What must I Do. to inherit eternal life. Jesus rattled off some of the commandments.
Then the guy said, All these I have kept from my youth. Check, check, check, check, check. And so Jesus. Knowing all things. In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, said to him, There's one thing you lack.
Rich young ruler, Sell what you have, give it to the poor, come and follow me, and you'll have treasure in heaven. At that, The young man went away sorrowfully. Because that system That standard of righteousness. He realized He hadn't kept. There's something you lacked.
And Jesus wasn't saying, if you just do this, then you'll be saved. He knew that was the one area that the young man was deficient in. Yeah. Because he was living under that. That Illusion.
Paul says, There are a shadow of things to come, the substances of Christ. Let no one. Defraud you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, including. Those things which he has not seen vainly puffed up by his Fleshly Mind. I mentioned this Colossian heresy had.
Mysticism. Not just legalism, not just asceticism that is denying. Um yourself certain things, but Mysticism. And Um A person who is Has a mystical relationship to God. It's all about, it's all inward.
It's all about one's sensation. What you feel rather than God's revelation. What he said So it's not like, well, this is what the Bible says, I'm going to live by that, but this is how I. Feel. about this.
It's all righteousness and relationship with God based upon sensation. It's looking for truth internally rather than externally. Based upon feeling rather than what the Bible says.
Now, these Gnostics, this little group of heretics, these pre-Gnostics, to be more accurate. Believe that all of these different emanations that led up to God. Remember, I said there was one God, God was perfect, He made all these other spirit beings, these emanations. All of these spiritual emanations formed a bridge by which you would. Get to know the one and true God.
And so they would say, we're going to take you along the pathway to understand who and what these emanations can do for you. And we'll take you along and over the bridge. That leads to God.
Now what was the thinking behind doing this. Listen carefully, see if any of you can relate to this. They believe that God is so perfect, so Holy That you, as a human being, you have no right to go directly to him. You have to go through other emanations lesser than him. who can then help you approach him.
I don't know if that sounds familiar to you, but it sounds very familiar to me. I grew up in a system. Where I was told, you have no right to approach Jesus directly. He's perfect. You're not.
But Every son listens to his mother. And if you approach his mother and beseech and pray to his mother, who will then in turn get you in touch with Jesus, who will get you in touch with the Father. Or now you're onto something. Or better yet, if you pray to this saint. And that saint and Mary, who will then talk to God, man, you got a whole bunch of lawyers on your side.
The problem with that is, Jesus said, when you pray, pray directly to the Father in Jesus' name. He bridged the gap. You are complete in him.
So let no one defraud you of your reward, taking delight. In false humility, worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. In other words, they're making this stuff up. They're not getting this from the Old Testament. They're not getting this from anywhere in the Bible.
They're making it up. Vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind and not holding fast to the head, that's Jesus. From whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows. with the increase which is from God. Therefore, If You died with Christ from the basic principles of the world.
Why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves? Two regulations do not touch. Do not taste. Do not handle. Which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and the doctrines.
of men.
Now, it's amazing, it started way back then, but throughout church history, actually. Even Up to the present, but there were periods of church history where the prevailing thought. Was this? If you're going to follow Jesus successfully, authentically, It's gotta hurt. You gotta feel some pain.
And we're not talking about the persecution of the world. The more you allow yourself to suffer. The better off you'll be. Serving God is awesome, but it's got to hurt you.
So the desert fathers believed lived out in the desert in isolation from everybody. And then in the middle the Middle Ages, the medieval period. Yeah. They wore Uncomfortable clothing, hair shirts, and they would flog themselves, beat themselves. When they were tempted, they uh Some of the monks who were living in monasteries.
To fight the lustful temptations they were thinking about in their minds, they would throw themselves into thorn bushes. And then the thorns that would dig into their flesh and cause them to bleed. Would distract their minds from thinking about bad things, naughty things. Of course, I don't know if that was a really great idea. For a number of reasons, one of which, when you go to dinner that night in the monastery and they see you all bloodied up, they know what you've been thinking.
I guess that's accountability, but not Not the right kind. One of the early church fathers by the name of Origen. Had himself castrated. Because of the words of Jesus, who said, Some have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of God's sake.
So, this thinking that pervaded the church and is still around is that if you're going to serve God, you got to make sure it's going to hurt. That's that asceticism. Self-denial. Sanctify the soul. By Disciplining the body.
Paul says it's not going to work. God never gave Any commandment for that to happen. You made it up. It's vainly puffed up by your fleshly mind. Therefore you died.
The basic principles of the world. Why are you living as though you subject yourselves to regulations like do not touch, do not taste, do not handle? All which concern things which perish with using according to the commandments and doctrines of men. Last verse of chapter Two. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom, in self-imposed religion.
False Humility. and neglect of the body But are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Going through all of these rituals, going through all of this self-denial to make yourself have a reputation of being so spiritual.
So, when people see, remember what Jesus said, when you fast, don't wipe your face and look good, don't appear to men to be fasting, they've already received their reward. Doing these things would give you a reputation that you are spiritual when, in fact, you are not spiritual. People just think you are. Paul is saying, they think you are. You have a reputation that you are, but you're not.
Because These things are self-imposed religion. False humility, neglect of the body, but they are of no value against the indulgence. of the flesh. Asceticism, self-denial. Feed your pride.
Think about it. Feed your pride. I'm spiritual because I didn't. Do that. I didn't have that cigarette.
That's good. I'm recommending you don't have that cigarette. But it doesn't necessarily make you more spiritual. Because you don't do certain Gray area items. Here's a better plan.
You come to Christ, you're complete in him. Circumcision, baptism, resurrection, done deal. And then He gives you new desires. He works from the inside out, not the outside in. That's what all this stuff is about: outside in.
Self-imposed religion, work my way to heaven. but they're of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Peter said, when you come to Christ, you are, listen to this, listen to this, you are partakers of the divine nature. Partakers of the divine nature, He gives you new desires. He Changes you from the inside out.
He gives you new appetites.
So that's the gospel. Religion is different from the gospel. Religion is man-made, the gospel is God-made. Given. It's a free Gift.
A free gift. But Any gift? Must be received. As you have received Christ.
So what can him? Salvation is a free gift. Christ says I'll dwell in you. I'll live in you. I'll walk with you.
I'll help you. But you have to receive the gift. He'll wipe away the ordinances. You have to let him wipe it out, blot it out, remove it. It's a free gift.
You've got to receive it. Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skiff Heitzig.
Now, here's how to pre-order an exciting resource from Pastor Skip that's coming next month. What if you could understand the big picture of the Bible in just a few minutes each day?
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In this five-message study, Pastor Skiff explores one of the Bible's clearest pictures of the supremacy of Jesus Christ and shows how being rooted in Him changes the way you live every day. Give today at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. See you next time on Connect with Skiff Heitzing. Making connections. Make a connection, let the foot.
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