Today, from Chuck Swindoll. The cults, prosperity preachers, charlatans who steal money from unwitting followers. We tend to think that aberrant theologians are new to our generation, but counterfeit Christianity has been around for many generations. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll continues a study he began on Thursday's program in Colossians chapter 2. In this passage, Paul emphatically stated, don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense.
So how do we discern the difference between what's real and what's fake? Teaching from Colossians chapter 2, Chuck titled his message, Council from a Concerned Apostate. I grateful we are our Father for this land in which we live, for most of us our homeland, the place of our birth, the place where we were first loved and trained and taught, for the freedom that has been ours as we have enjoyed throughout our lives liberty and the pursuit of your will. How grateful we are to have been privileged to live in this land. How thankful we are for the men and women who stand among us today, for what they represent, the grief and the loss of a loved one who once wore the uniform of our country and those who served faithfully and well, who completed their calling and live today with the memory of the things learned through the hardship of the training and in many cases the combat.
How beautiful is this world around us. How delighted we are to be able to enjoy the beauty because of the liberty that has been provided, for the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies. Lord of all to thee we praise. We give you this prayer with gratitude today. Our gifts are yours and rightly so because you own it all and we trust you to use these gifts to disseminate the good word of God to places that have heard before and rejected and to those places that have never for the first time heard of Christ. Give courage to those who represent you in difficult places and protection for those in dangerous places today and give us an overwhelming sense of gratitude because of the privilege we have to worship freely without interruption because of the courage and the faithfulness of heroic men and women and ultimately because of your grace. In the name of the Savior we give you our thanks and our gifts. Everyone sin.
Amen. The great Apostle Paul, astute theologian, brilliant mind, surrounded himself with people. Matter of fact when we get to the second chapter of Colossians we find him writing words of love and understanding and compassion for people he's never met. The only way he knows them is through a friend named Epaphras who was mentioned more than once in this little letter but he cares about them. In fact look how he writes, I've agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea and for many other believers who have never met me personally. We don't know each other face to face but I pray for you. I have you on my heart. And he continues, I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. Look at those words. I don't know them personally but I long for them to be encouraged and to know what it is to have loving arms around their shoulders.
I hope they're not trying to make it on their own. We need each other. He continues, I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God's mysterious plan which is Christ himself. In him lie all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Verse 4 tells us, I am telling you this so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. The terms well-crafted convey the idea of persuasive.
We call it smooth talk. Paul cares about these people living in colossi. He said, I don't want anyone to deceive you with their well-crafted arguments for though I am far away from you, my heart is with you. Those are words of love by the way. I'm not near you but man, I've got you on my heart. I rejoice that you're living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong. I want it to stay strong.
I don't want it to get weak. I don't want you to hear the siren song of some false teacher who says, let me tell you what you're missing by that kind of narrow thinking. Christ isn't all you cracked him up to be. Let me teach you what you're missing.
And they come with their smooth talk. In fact while I'm on the subject of a warning, let me have you mark some warnings. Verse 4, so no one will deceive you with well-crafted arguments. Verse 8, there's another one, don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high sounding nonsense. The word capture is to take you captive, to march you into their place where they will hold you captive.
It's like an addiction. You can't get free of some of the calls. Sometime your life is in danger. Look at verse 16, don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or sabbaths. That's a list of legalistic things that the leader is saying you need to start doing or stop doing. If you don't, you won't know the pleasure of God. They give you the list, that's their list, not a biblical list.
So he warns them about falling in the trap of a legalist. Some of you have lived there. You could stand and speak on your own to tell others around you what you went through. Not only trying to live up to the list, but when you decided to break free from it. You were shunned, you were ostracized, and perhaps still are.
This is still going on. Look at verse 18, don't let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels. The whole asceticism that he's emphasizing. Don't let anyone rob you of your prize or disqualify you.
You see now why we need one another? What if Paul weren't there to warn them? They'd fall into the trap. It's very appealing. In case you don't know, cultists don't wear a little badge that says I represent a cult. They don't do that.
I'm being facetious obviously. They're very attractive people. And my, can they sell you on their doctrine?
How attractive they can make it. You'll think, how could I have missed this? In fact, it reminds me of 2 Corinthians 11. Go back to that, will you do that please? Right quick. 2 Corinthians 11 beginning in verse 2 to show you something about the beauty of simplicity of Christ.
11-2. I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promise you as a pure bride to one husband, Christ, but I fear. Not often you hear Paul admitting a fear.
But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted. Just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. Remember the scene in the Garden of Eden? Here's the serpent not crawling on his belly. That happened after he was cursed.
The serpent is a very attractive animal created by God. And having turned against his creator he's now engaged in the subtle drawing of thinking minds to his own teaching. And so he says to Eve, look at this. You could be like God.
You'd know what God knows. And she took it. She gave to Adam. Look, Adam. Yeah.
That looks good. She's deceived. Adam's dumb. He just bites right into it. How could these people do that, having been given the garden and all the things beautifully?
Because they moved away from the simplicity of the rules. Don't eat of that fruit. You don't have to know Hebrew to understand what that means in Genesis.
You don't need to know an original language. It means exactly what it says. And so Paul says, I'm concerned that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted. There it is. Say, I just really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Stay there. Stay there. Well, it's a pretty simple belief.
Stay with the simple. It has depth that you've not become aware of, but your commitment to Christ. In fact, look at what he goes on to say. You Corinthians happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach. Keep reading. Or a different kind of spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.
Why are you going there? Because they're deceived. They're sucked into this subtle seduction.
Look across the page. Let me show you what those deceivers look like. Verse 13. These people are false apostles. Don't you love it that he calls it what it is?
It's because he's not politically correct. That's why we like Paul, one of my heroes. There aren't many left. These people are false prophets. They're deceitful workers. They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. Of course they do. Of course they do. They're appealing.
They're attractive. They're deceitful workers who disguise themselves, but I'm not surprised even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it's no wonder that his servants who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness get away from the old medieval idea that the devil is this little red creature that sits on his shoulder going, yeah, I got this pitchfork.
I'm going to jam this in your ear and make you listen. That's not the devil. He loves it if you think that. He is the most winsome, attractive, gorgeous, appealing creature you could ever meet. Sweep you off your feet. Plus he's been at it long before you were even born. He knows every cheek in your armor. Why? With a little bit of deception, you get sucked right into it.
It's like a vortex of current that you can't fight. Now you see why you need other people. You need to be accountable.
Those people that have the right to ask you the hard questions. You know, I'm concerned about what you're starting to read. I'm troubled that it takes those potshots at the things you've been taught to believe. And I know it sounds attractive and I know he's got several letters after his name. I realize there are a number of people that follow him, but wait, wait, wait, wait.
I'm concerned for you. If I'm living an isolated life, chances are great that I'll be sucked right into it. You check it out. You check out those that get drawn into cults.
They're often isolationists who've gotten a little bit disillusioned in life. And this new teaching sounds very attractive. Now back to Colossians 2.
So no one deceive you with well-crafted arguments. I rejoice that you're living as you should and that your faith in Christ is strong. Isn't that affirmation fabulous?
Don't you love that? He says to them, I commend you for living as you should and your faith in Christ is strong. Notice how he puts it. Your faith in Christ is strong. Each of these is a slap in the Gnostic's face. They're not hearing that their faith in Christ is important.
They're hearing the opposite. It's not really that important. Oh, the apostle says you're strong because your faith in Christ is strong. Never get far from the person of Christ.
When you do, you're headed for trouble. And now, having affirmed them, he gives the basic rudiments of Christianity. Look at them in verses 6 and 7. You talk about verses worth memorizing.
There they are. Colossians 2, 6 and 7 should be on the lips and in the mind of every believer in Christ. Those are two verses that are worth your memorizing.
Listen to them. And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as the Lord, that's salvation. That's the new birth. Christianity begins for each individual by our putting our faith and trust in Christ, by our accepting him the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the first part. Now notice further on. You must, he uses the word, you must continue to follow him.
Just as you have trusted in Christ, given him your soul for eternity, so you must begin to walk with him. It's just like life. We're born little infants, little tiny babies. We can't walk. We can't talk. We can't feed ourselves. We don't even have teeth.
We are totally helpless. We're little babies. And as we get a little older, we start to grow teeth. We bite. And we can begin to crawl.
We like to sit up. Before long, we like to walk. But it's called toddlers because they walk like this. And they're stumbling around and they're falling, getting back up and they're falling, getting back up. A toddler never says, that's it.
I am never going to walk because I cannot walk now. Toddlers keep at it. They stay at it. Drive mothers and dads crazy. Get their head and start to bleed and you patch them up and they get right back up, right toward the coffee table again.
They're learning how to walk. That's the Christian life. Continue doing it. Don't quit because you fell.
Everybody falls when they're learning to walk. Continue on. Stay at it. Stay at it. That's why we need other people. They hold us up. Please ask these Chapter 4, 9 through 12, two are better than one.
In fact, when you read the whole section, three are better than two. We need each other. So keep on walking.
Continue to follow him. Now there's more. As you begin to master this walking, you begin to put your roots down. Isn't this fun?
Isn't this great? You're beginning to walk. You have now been birthed.
You have now begun to walk. So you grow in Christ and you begin to deepen your roots. Let your roots grow down into him and let your lives be built on him, not on some high sounding philosophy, not on some slick wording that you're going to pick up from the false teacher. Don't be mesmerized because there's a big following.
If we go by big followings, the cults are winning. Don't be afraid of minorities. Don't be afraid of being a part of the minority group. Don't be afraid of being the only one in your company or neighborhood.
It's okay. You're walking with Christ. You're growing stronger in the truth that you were taught and now look at the ultimate. You begin to overflow with thankfulness.
Isn't that a great couple of verses? We're birthed. We begin to walk. We put our roots down and then we start to produce. And what do we produce? Thankfulness.
Got your pen ready. I'm going to give you a verse of scripture to put in the margin of Colossians 2, 6 and 7. It's Hebrews 13, 15. Hebrews 13, 15.
Listen to it. By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of lips giving thanks to his name. By him, none other than the Lord God, let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually the fruit of lips giving thanks to his name. Naming the name. The name of Christ.
Giving thanks to his name. Well, we're midway through a message from Chuck Swindoll. He titled today's study Council from a Concerned Apostle arising from Colossians chapter 2. Now, please stay with us because Chuck has asked to have a few minutes to share some personal thoughts with you. And if you'd like to learn more about this ministry, be sure to visit us online at insightworld.org. Well over the years, we've discovered that our listening audience has a healthy appetite for studying the Bible on their own. So in addition to these daily programs, we've developed a wide variety of resources designed to help you learn more about God's Word. For instance, Chuck has written a commentary on Colossians. In fact, this hardbound book includes his commentary on Philippians and Philemon as well.
As you'd expect, the commentary is academically sound, but equally important, it's designed to help you integrate what you learn into every aspect of your life. And that makes sense because Christ is our all in all. And that means his truth should become evident in the daily choices we make. Well, to purchase a copy of Chuck's commentary on Colossians, go to insight.org slash offer.
Or call us if you're listening in the US, dial 1-800-772-8888. And then one more thing, did you know Chuck has a daily email devotional? Yeah, it's sent to your inbox each morning to help you start your day with God. Thousands are taking advantage of these daily inspirations that come from some of Chuck's best writing, and you can too. The email devotional is absolutely free.
All you need to do is sign up at insight.org slash devotional. In our 43 years of ministry, Insight for Living has only had two announcers. Al Sanders began it all back when he introduced our program and remained with us for 17 years. And then we met Dave Spiker, who has been our program announcer for the next 25 years. Dave became Insight for Living's announcer back in March 1997.
Can it be that long ago? I personally picked Dave's wonderful voice even before I had met him. I had been presented with several talented people, but there was something about Dave's voice that drew me in. And long before I even knew his name, I chose that voice.
And you know why. You've been listening to it all these years. And then I met Dave. What an authentic, marvelous man. Dave is humble and quick-witted, sincere, and always a lot of fun. But let me assure you, Dave Spiker is deeply committed to his craft, and he's given his entire adult life to the cause of Christian broadcasting. This was Dave's choice to pass the baton on to the next program host.
Believe me, it wasn't ours. And so we accept what Dave has chosen to do, and we wish him all the best. Dave has expressed a desire to spend more time with his wife, Lori, and their wonderful grandchildren.
What a great game plan for the future. Dave often says, my job is simple. Through my words and my voice, I draw listeners into each day's topic. And then, poof, I get out of the way. Well, Dave, that's sort of what I do, message after message, whether it's Sunday or Wednesday or Friday afternoon or at a chapel at Dallas Seminary or maybe a meeting here at Insight for Living.
But you do it better than anyone I've ever known. March 2022, Dave will reach his 25th anniversary with Insight for Living. That's a magnificent milestone, and we commend you, Dave, for that accomplishment.
We release Dave willingly but reluctantly. However, it's with a deep debt of gratitude that we say goodbye to our dear friend and longtime announcer. We wish you and Lori and your family all the best. Thank you, Chuck. Thank you so much.
I wasn't expecting this. It's been an enormous privilege to be a part of your team all these years. I have such love and respect for you and Cynthia and really the whole IFL team. And I really believe the best days are ahead for the ministry. Thanks again for letting me have a part. Well, friends, to get in touch with Insight for Living today, feel free to call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888 or go online to Insight.org. I'm Dave Spiker, grateful to have come alongside you for the last 25 years as your program host and inviting you to join us again Monday to hear the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Council from a Concerned Apostle, was copyrighted in 2014 and 2022, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2022 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
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