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For any that weren't here this morning, we were reading in Colossians chapter 2.
Should we begin with verse nine and read it again, or did we get a little further than that?
I think we should start there.
Start with verse nine. Yeah, OK, sounds good.
Colossians chapter 2 and verse 9.
For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power.
In whom also you are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also you're risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly.
Triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come. But the body is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he had not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands.
Nourishment, minister and knit together increases with the increase of God. Wherefore if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why is the living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances, touch not, taste not, handle not, which are all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will, worship and humility, and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh.
We talked a little bit this morning about making this practical.
And I would like to make a comment or two on verses 9 and 10 in that respect.
The thought here, I believe, is that.
We have one with whom we are united as part of the same body. And at the on the one hand, he is a real man, a real man up there in the glory at God's right hand. And the blessed fact, the blessed truth is that he will remain a man for all eternity in order to be able to enjoy your company and mine.
Wonderful.
Now the whole question is, do we need anything more than that to get through the difficulties, the questions, the problems, the things that puzzle us in this life?
In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him. We are united to that man in the glory, and we can go to Him.
For everything that we might need in the way of wisdom. We've been talking earlier on about how the all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are contained in the acknowledgement of the mystery of God. And that is true, most blessedly true.
But if I could use the term respectfully, I believe this ninth verse and the 10th verse brings us down if we could use the term to where the rubber hits the road.
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It's intended to be that which is practical for us in dealing with all the difficulties of this life.
Yes, God has given each of us a good brain and we're expected to use it, no question about that, but under the guidance of the Spirit of God.
And recognizing that you and I are united to one in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, we could not ask for anything more than that. And we don't need anything more than that.
Man's wisdom can add nothing to what you and I have in Christ.
It goes on to say that he is the head of all principality and power. That phrase is used a number of times in Scripture. Sometimes it refers to elect angels, sometimes it refers to fallen angels. But here I believe it refers to angels in a way that, as we get later on in the chapter, there was a tendency perhaps in the Old Testament.
And still was in the New Testament to get involved with worshipping of angels and holding them in awe. And to that extent, we know they are greater in power and might than man. We have to recognize that. But what are angels to you and to me? They are those who are sent to be ministers to us, who are the heirs of salvation. They are learning.
In you and me as we get in.
Ephesians, the manifold or multivarious, multi coloured, however you want to say it, wisdom of God. And you and I have a nearer place to Christ than those angels can have or will ever have. You and I are united to Him, and so He is the head of all principality and power, and.
We are complete in him. Paul could say to the Corinthians, Know ye not that ye shall judge angels?
Amazing fact. And so we don't need to get occupied even with those heavenly beings greater in my power and might than you and I.
God wants us to be occupied with the person of His beloved Son and all that He is a real man, Yes, He is all the fullness of the Godhead in Him. Yes indeed. Can we understand that? No, we can enjoy it and walk in the good of it.
I enjoy.
This verse nine it says I'm going to read it in the new translation for in Him dwells.
All the fullness of the Godhead bodily in chapter one and verse 19 it says in this is the new translation in him all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell. That is something just stop and think of that.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the whole, the fullness of the Godhead.
Dwelt in that person, the Lord Jesus bodily that human body like you mentioned, Bill, it's he was a real human being.
And I just marvel at it and say, and it's our privilege, brethren, to take the Scriptures, the four Gospels, and go through that and observe here is the one in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily and think of the different situations he came up against.
When he was being tried before the Jewish Council.
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It says the chief priests came up and spit in his face. I can't think of a more degrading act toward another human being and come up and spit in your face. I've had people spit at me, but not spit on me. They did that. Is that God?
Yes, it's all the fullness of the Godhead. What kind of reaction did that produce?
There he stood, brother.
Spittle running down his face.
No reaction. Is that our God? Yes, that's our God. Tremendous to try to think of it as he meets each situation and the four Gospels to realize this is our God and we can know him in the person of the Lord Jesus.
In the second chapter, in the ninth verse, like you say, it's it's adds that word bodily.
Not sure why it's added there. Maybe somebody has a comment on it, but I think it just brings it down like you say, Bill, to our level.
He met us where we were that poor.
Man on the road from going down from Jerusalem to Jericho that led fallen amongst 3 the thieves.
The priest passed by on the other side, the Levite as well.
There was a certain Samaritan who came.
Where he was, he met us right where we are. I think that is so amazingly beautiful and wonderful. Try to think about it. Like you say though, there's no way we can comprehend that. The fullness of the Godhead, the One who spoke the whole universe into existence and that holds everything in its place.
The power, the wisdom involved in all that, there it was in that man.
Oh, what a person to be occupied with, brethren. And I, I find it, brethren, it's it's necessary not only to understand these things.
But to enjoy them in our heart, let it get down into your heart.
And let it affect you because that's where it's going to have power in your life. How important that is.
In chapter one, verse 19, all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased past tense.
To dwell in him, I take it that has reference to his incarnation. And then in 29.
In him all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth present tense in resurrection, so that perhaps the addition of the word bodily would be that He is upholding the vital truth of bodily resurrection from among the dead. Perhaps others can add to that or help me my understanding of it.
So with the incarnation, that means in the flesh, in the body.
And that is a fundamental truth of Christianity, that the Lord Jesus the Son.
Became Incarnate.
Those of us who are males became a son when we became Incarnate. I became a son of my Father when I was born in this world. But in the case of the Lord Jesus, He was the eternal Son of Godfather, Son and Holy Spirit.
And the Sun became Incarnate.
Now the the Gnostic teaching, and again I should might not have been clear this morning. Gnostic Gnosticism comes from the Greek word gnosis, which is a word for knowledge. It's a professed higher knowledge, higher than this, higher than what God gives.
In the garden.
The serpent was going to promise a higher knowledge than what God had given to Adam and Eve. And I was thinking of first Timothy chapter 6 and verse 20 right at the end of the epistle. He says, Oh Timotheus, keep the entrusted deposit, avoiding profane vain babblings and oppositions of false named knowledge of which some having made profession have missed the faith well back in the in the early part of this chapter.
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We see that we have in the mystery of God there is a full knowledge.
God has given us a knowledge, a full knowledge. When He revealed the mystery of God, He wants us to have the knowledge.
Of this mystery and we spoke of competition. Well, the Gnostic system, that which has professes to have a higher knowledge, runs in competition to the true knowledge. And one of the elements of Gnosticism is a dichotomy between the material and the spiritual, such that the material is bad and only the spiritual is good. But if you say that the material has bad, then what have you done about?
This word bodily referencing the Lord Jesus Christ, Well, some of them taught, well he didn't have a real body.
You see how every departure from the truth that God has given somehow touches the person of Jesus one way or another, every single time. And that's why the Lord Jesus is the center and the touchstone. Whatever word you want to use, the Scripture uses many for the truth of God as it is revealed He is at the center of it all.
And anything where the enemy would seek to undermine the faith is going to touch that person somewhere. Either a denial of his deity, as in many of the false systems, the cults around us, a denial of his true humanity.
A denial in some way of the union of His deity and humanity, what is referred to theologically as the hypostatic union. One way or another, false teaching always touches the person of the Lord Jesus. Why? Why would that be?
Because he is at the center of our faith, and if he is undermined, our faith is undermined as well.
Well, he's also the truth. So anything that pertains to say this is true doesn't keep a doesn't keep in who he is, then it would under it would take away or be attacked on that on him as truth.
It's all connected.
Would it be right to say when God gave his only begotten Son?
He gave everything that he could give. And if you have?
The Sun.
You have everything that you need.
Well, perhaps going on then we might be able to get to the end of the chapter if we keep going.
The next two verses bring before us that which is absolutely important for a walk in communion with that Blessed One, for you and for me, of course.
Once again we are brought into a position and then told to walk in it.
Every exhortation of Scripture is based on what we already possess.
And so here we are circumcised, verse 11, with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Well, this is Roman truth.
Brought before us again in Colossians here, but perhaps with a little different.
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Aspect of it.
Romans, of course, and we don't want to get complicated, but in Romans we're seen as men on the earth or men and women on the earth.
And our walk is dependent upon our realization of the fact that in baptism we take that place of being dead and risen with Christ. Positionally we have died and are risen with Him in baptism we take that practically. Here we are perhaps with the practical side of it more.
If you want to go back to the journey of the children of Israel, Romans is more going through the Red Sea, Colossians is more crossing the Jordan, and so we're brought to the opposite Bank of the Jordan in the realization practically of what we already are in Christ.
Very, very important, because we cannot.
Walk in a pathway pleasing to the Lord without the practical realization of this. And so it's brought before us here. It doesn't dwell on it in a long stretch, but simply brings it before us in order that we might understand that yes, you and I still have the old sinful flesh in us, but by the grace of God and through our being dead and risen with Christ.
We are entitled, as we get in Romans 6, to reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God.
Very fundamental, very, very important, not hard to understand, but as a brother said to us years ago, he said. For some of us it seems to take a lifetime to learn it.
And we say there's a difference between circumcision and baptism.
Circumcision comes after baptism, doesn't it, in your journey from Egypt to Canaan. And so baptism corresponding to the Red Sea, as you mentioned, is really salvation, isn't it? It's when we see ourselves positionally as dead with Christ, identified with Christ, and we are now saved. We're in a new standing before God. But circumcision, as you mentioned, was on the other side of the wilderness.
I believe it really speaks of discipleship. There's the difference between salvation and discipleship, isn't there? Sometimes they go together pretty closely, but sometimes they're separated because discipleship involves consecration, does it not? When they got the Kadesh barnea, some of them turned back. Most of them turned back and they had to wander for 38 years in the wilderness. What does Kadesh mean? It means consecration.
They refused to be consecrated to Christ, and as a result they lost the blessings of entering into the Promised land. So I think there's that distinction between circumcision and baptism. As you mentioned, in Romans we have baptism. That's the basis of it, isn't it? Can't have circumcision unless you have baptism. But in Colossians, the emphasis is on circumcision because it's more the thought of discipleship. We won't enter into the mystery of Christ.
A mystery of God. If we're not consecrated to Christ, we're going to miss those. Practically, we're going to miss those blessings. Positionally, it's true, it's ours. But practically we're going to miss those treasures that we get in the mystery of God.
Yes, thank you. That's very good to make that distinction. That's excellent.
I know Mr. FB Home. I think it's FB Hole. When he writes on this, he actually puts a parenthesis around the beginning of verse 12 where it says buried with him in baptism. Mr. FB Hole has an excellent article on on the Jordan and the Red Sea, and he puts that really in a parenthesis because again, baptism is the basis for circumcision, but circumcision comes often comes later.
I think it's important that we.
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Are as it says in verse.
13 we are dead. In verse 12, we are buried and we are risen again. These are like you've been saying, things that are true of us right now.
I find sometimes we go more by feelings than we do by.
What we find in the word of God, and I don't feel that dead. It's not a matter of feelings, it's a matter of faith in what God says. He says we are dead. With him we are buried.
And sometimes I find young people, and I went through these struggles myself, young people. So don't think I'm trying to isolate myself. But I came to the point where I realized.
I didn't have to put myself to death. It's already done. It was done way back there, and now it's just for me to simply believe it.
I talked to a young sister one time and said, she says I, I don't feel like the Lord's with me. I said, do your feelings ever change? Yeah, they change quite a bit. I said, does the word of God change? No. What you think is better to trust your feelings or the word of God? Well, I guess the word of God be better. Yeah, I say I agree with you and that's the point, rather than to realize this is our Christian position.
And we struggle with our feelings. Our feelings are very real things, and I don't think we can ignore them. But remember that feelings should be based on fact. And there we have the facts dead, buried, risen again. I think it's so amazingly wonderful just to simply lay hold on that truth. And then, like you say, Bill, then there's the basis of putting it into effect practically in our lives, isn't it?
And we have to realize that the power to do it is outside of ourselves, isn't it?
It is not within my power to put myself to death.
That is the old.
Sinful self. It's not within my power as a child of Adam to put myself to death.
But Christ did it for me and to me what we don't want to make this again too complicated, but what really helped me in understanding that was to see.
That there were two sets and this is something we don't want to get too far down into, but it's an illustration. I encourage the you young people to do some a little bit of searching on it, but when they cross the Jordan, there were two sets of 12 Stones placed in the Jordan.
The first set was placed by a member from each tribe.
But then there was a second set put down there. And how did they get down there? Joshua, a type of Christ put them there.
Yes, there is my responsibility in one sense to recognize that I am dead and risen with Christ. But there are 12 Stones. There were 12 Stones in the bed of that Jordan River that Joshua put there.
Why did he do it? Why was it his prerogative to do it? Because as a type of Christ, he put them there. Now, am I prepared to recognize what Christ has done for me and act on it? I trust so because it's important to see that the work has been done and the power to live a victorious resurrection life in all the good of that new life that God has given me in Christ.
Is not in myself the power of that new life is the Spirit of God.
And it is by that power, I believe that I am able to.
Reckon myself to be dead indeed unto sin, and to act practically on this.
It's what Brother Eric was bringing out. There's one side of it that is definitely true because of what the Lord has done. There's another side of it which involves consecration and discipleship, which brings responsibility in on my part. Again, not that I can do it in my own strength, but it's my part to act on what God has already done for me in Christ.
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Call brethren had some expressions that are maybe helpful in this too that we can bear repeating. In the Red Sea or baptism, it's more Christ death for me, isn't it? Recognizing that he died for me and I'm identified with that. But in the in the Jordan or circumcision, it's more my death with Christ or another way to put it that they've often put it is in the Red Sea and in Romans, particularly the 1St 8 chapters.
You get your Israel is getting out of Egypt. They're becoming it. They have a new standing, but in the Red Sea, in the in the Jordan or circumcision, it's getting Egypt out of us, getting Egypt out of Israel. There's a difference, isn't there? So again, Romans is more getting Israel out of Egypt. Where is the the circumcision and the Jordan is more getting Egypt out of Israel.
And that's discipleship, isn't it? That's practical, isn't it?
In the 12 Stones, Brother Bill, I thought that the 12 men from Israel carried the stones out of the midst of Jordan and put them on the other side. Is there something else I'm not catching here? No, I was not. I didn't have mind in gear when I put mouth in motion, and I'm glad you corrected that. Those stones were taken out of the Jordan, put on the opposite bank, and they were visible.
Thank you very much for that correction. They took those 12 Stones out of the Jordan.
Put them on the opposite bank. They were visible continually. And Israel, of course, went back to them more than once in order to remind themselves in Gilgal of the very truth in tight, no doubt, of course, but the very truth in Tight that you and I are talking about. Because we know that when they went through that river Jordan, the Lord opened up that river Jordan for them in a most remarkable way.
And they went through us on dry land. There was really only one set that was left at the bottom of the river, the ones that Joshua put there.
Thank you. And that's a very good point, isn't it, that we don't have to put the ourselves into the place of death. It's been done. The Lord Jesus in his death did it, and it's for us to simply believe and think in that way. I like the way it puts it in Romans 6 when it gives us the truth of being dead to sins and alive to God in verse.
11 It says likewise, Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. In other words, reckon means thinking, think that way. Now you're dead to sin, alive to God. Joshua was the one that put that those stones in the middle of Jordan, and they were out of sight, not of mine. Sometimes say to young people, when you bury somebody in the cemetery.
Do you, do you go out there and dig them up and see how they're doing once in a while?
I'm afraid that's what we do sometimes when we start analyzing ourselves again and again and we get so discouraged and downcast.
He put them in the grave, they're buried. Leave them there. You have a new life, a new object. It's the Lord Jesus that is our life now. That's what it says in chapter three of our of Colossians. Our life is hid with Christ and God. Wonderful to realize that, isn't it?
In action is the love of Christ when he wins our hearts and we it should be one there when we come to the cross and we that Red Sea experience is something that wins our hearts through the love that he did, but we come into the full realization of that. It's hard to do something wrong when you to someone when you love them and that's that's why we have that verse. The love of Christ constrains us.
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That's where the power is in consecration, isn't it?
Comes comes down to relationship.
Probably the greatest treasure on this earth, I think we could say, is relationship. You think about it, look at the person next to you that's precious, and that relationship is so precious to us. Think of the treasures on this earth. Nothing compares when it comes right down to it, to relationship. But relationship with the Lord Jesus saves the soul, and it also is the power to consecration.
The only thing we'll take to heaven with us is relationships.
So what will have in heaven is Christ and everything that the Father has given to him.
So all that is Christ's he would share with his own redeemed.
Father, I will that those whom thou hast given me be with me where I am.
That they may see my glory, all that is Christ's.
He will share with his own and I was thinking here that.
False named knowledge again wants to counterfeit the things that God has given to us through Christ. And I think that's why after the apostle here emphasizes that in him, in the Lord Jesus, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, as well as our completeness in him.
He goes on to talk of some of these things. We've been talking about him for the last few minutes here.
That have to do with our identification with him. He speaks of circumcision, the putting off of the body of the flesh. He talks about baptism identified with him in the likeness of his death and then in the end of verse 12 he speaks of of the God who raised him from among the dead. There is a resurrection aspect in which we are identified with him as is the heavenly.
So will those be who are the heavenly again, everything that is His will be ours in Him. So we don't want a counterfeit of any of those things. So how do they seek to present? How does this vain deceit and this empty talk that he was Speaking of, how do they seek to present counterfeits to us? Well, one of the main ways we might say.
In verse 14 is ordinances.
What can I do? What kind of rituals can I observe?
To either gain favor with God or show that I'm in the right place or whatever it might be ordinances.
One of the writers said that when when faith is weak, the heart of man naturally turns to ordinances. He turns to some of the things that came from the Jewish system. Verse 16.
Dietary Regulations.
The new moons, the feasts, the Sabbaths, one thing or another that was part of the shadow that only looked ahead to Christ the body. And this is this is teaching that you find in Hebrews, for example, you've been brought to the one.
Who?
He did a sacrifice that never has to be repeated again. It's perfect.
There was nothing left undone. It was complete in every way. Now don't go back to the things that merely looked ahead to that. And then here in the end of the chapter, we, we, it was mentioned a little bit earlier. You don't want someone to deprive you of your prize in his own willfulness, a willful humility. It looks real, spiritual, real ascetic, but it may merely be the flesh.
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Fleshly ordinances, traveling on your knees for a certain distance to gain favor with God, worshipping of angels. But notice at the end of verse 18, what does he do? It's merely entering into things by your mind that you don't know anything about. They're not accessible to us. And that's where the delusion comes in. And then and then in the last four verses of the chapter, putting yourself under all kinds of regulations and ordinances, like, I'll be better if I don't touch this or if I don't touch that.
And I was thinking of.
The doctrines of demons that Paul mentions in First Timothy, chapter 4.
You have the gospel of health and then in first Timothy chapter 6, the gospel of wealth. And don't we see those two things in the world around us today, the gospels of health and wealth, as if man can gain some sort of favor with God by pursuing everything connected with these types of things. Whereas really if if we want to walk in liberty and peace with God.
We look back to what the Lord Jesus accomplished on the cross and what He brings us into Himself to share all of that with Himself.
Might say those shadows too, perhaps they go beyond relationships in this, in this extent and perhaps more that there's an inheritance. These shadows, many of these shadows are a shadow of what the Lord's inheritance is when he brings in the Millennium. There's two inheritances the Christian has, isn't there? There's a heritage and inheritance above our heads. That's the spiritual inheritance we have right now, the many blessings.
That we have in Christ. But there's also a material inherited, perhaps we can say John, that goes beyond relationships. Although of course we're going to inherit it with Christ because we're heirs of God and coyers with Christ. But this whole world is going to be transformed into a beautiful place. The curse is going to be removed. Those shadows that are mentioned in verse 17, many of those shadows were shadows of the time to come.
The time of blessing. And I mention that because sometimes I think when we read the Old Testament, or maybe many times people don't read the Old Testament because like one brother said to me, you know, I'm not interested in prophecy because it just has to do with Israel, doesn't affect me. That's a poor understanding of Scripture because the the beauty, the inheritance of this earth is part of our inheritance. It's our earthly inheritance. The Christian is going to reign over it with Christ.
Both heaven and earth. So that's one of the things that the shadow was a shadow of. Was those like that You mentioned the the new moon. What's that? Well, that's when Israel's restored. What about the feast of Jehovah? Those are shadows. It gives us an overall picture of God's ways and councils. And it ends in the Feast of the Tabernacles, which is a picture of the of the of the Millennium. Well, is that just for Israel?
Not one bit. It is Israel, that's true, but we're going to be reigning over it with Christ as his bride for that thousand years. So let's remember that although, as the old brethren used to say, not all Scripture was written to us, but all Scripture was written for us.
So what you're saying emphasizes, I think, a good point relative to the teaching of Colossians, that that touches on the whole idea of Gnosticism, the dichotomy between the material and the spiritual. Just because something is material doesn't mean that it doesn't have a spiritual aspect.
Here's a perfect example. All of us just came back from eating a delicious meal and having fellowship together over that meal. That meal was sanctified by the word of God and prayer are freely addressing him and some of you remember brother Bill War. He said to me one time he said you know that verse that that verse means to me that when we thank the Lord for something material like a meal.
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That we're going to enjoy together. That's like the Lord Jesus saying I want to sit down and enjoy it with you.
So it's a material thing. It's not evil. It's good because God gave it.
But we take it from the hand of God. I can be a glutton. I can just be obsessed with recipes and food and cooking and all of this kind of stuff. And that can be something that cuts a barrier between myself and the Lord. But it doesn't have to be that way. I can take it from the hand of a loving Creator. I can thank Him for it.
And that in a sense, as I'm saying, Lord Jesus, I just want you to sit down and enjoy this meal with me.
Because he gave it to us. And that is something that these people who came in with these teachings, they were undermining that with their delusive speech. And that shows that something and and this has been brought out in Galatians Chapter 2, for example.
Eating a meal.
Was the occasion where Paul saw the very foundation of the gospel being undermined and it was just people sitting down and eating a meal. And this shows that God, he's involved in every aspect of our lives. We can take everything. My relationships, my relationship with my wife who designed that relationship? The Lord did my my relationships with my children, with the Christian community, with my brethren, the food that I eat.
Whatever it might be, even the natural things he says, we can take these from His hand as a gift of His love and they are only rightly enjoyed when they are enjoyed that way.
And these false teachers, they had that all wrong. So Paul had to correct that.
And the eventual result of that is that we focus on those things and get occupied with them instead of Christ. God gives us these things and gives them to us to enjoy. I know some of us here and including myself have had occasion to travel to a number of foreign countries and people often want to know where you're from. They.
Notice.
A face that doesn't fit in with the local appearances and so on. And they want to know where you're from. Oh, Canada, Very rich country. Oh, yeah, Yeah. Or sometimes, of course, I get mistaken for being an American, which is fine. And oh, United States. So I say, wait a minute, you're saying very rich country.
I don't apologize for that, nor do I get defensive about it. I say yes, the Lord has given much to us in North America, and we're very thankful for it, his brother Dave says. We can be thankful for the good food that's prepared for us, and we can enjoy it without apologizing for it, But it's a means to an end. It's not an end in itself.
What we have here, even though it supposes godliness.
Ends up gratifying the flesh and occupying me with things.
That are not Christ.
If I use what the Lord gives me as a means to an end, that's right and good. And if the Lord gives us relative peace and quiet in North America, we can be thankful for that. We're very thankful that we're not involved in a war zone right now. I don't say that it won't come. We can be thankful that we can put food on the table without any problem. We can be thankful that we can have these meetings in relative peace and quiet without fear that somebody's going to burst in the door and arrest some of us.
But all these things should not be taken for granted, but rather accepted as the mercies of God, enjoyed from His hand, but then as a means to an end, not an end in itself.
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Just a little comment perhaps on verse 14 as an explanation of it.
It might seem like strange language.
Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances. That was against us.
Which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. What does that mean? Well, if I understand it correctly, in the days when crucifixion, sadly, was a rather common way of the Roman Empire's getting rid of criminals, it was intended to drive the point home very brutally. Crime does not pay.
Rebellion against the Roman Empire does not pay, and this is the penalty for it.
But often they would put a sign on that cross outlining the particular crime for which the individual was being crucified. It was nailed to his cross.
Did that happen figuratively to the Lord Jesus? Yes it did because He took our place. What did the law say concerning those who didn't keep it? Cursed is everyone that continue with not?
I can't quote it accurately, but in all the points of the law that's not right. Maybe someone can give it more accurately, but.
Everyone that did not keep the whole law was under a curse. That was you and I before we were saved. But what did the Lord Jesus do? He was made a curse for us. He took that penalty and in that sense.
That crime was nailed to his cross.
All that result of a broken law he suffered the penalty for for you and for me. And now what is the result of that? It was nailed to his cross. No longer are you and I under law, but rather under grace, as my late father-in-law Albert Hayhoe used to put it. He said, what use is it to put a believer under law who has?
One nature, the old sinful flesh.
That can't keep it, can't keep it and he has a new life in Christ that can't break it.
Now, of course, we're talking about the law in general terms here. It talks about ordinances and things like that. The ceremonial law, we could refer to to that. That was all taken out of the way too. Things that had to do with dietary restrictions and with washings and so on, and all kinds of rituals as well as the moral law.
All of that, you and I are no longer under. We are under grace.
Why does man keep going back to all of that? Why does man keep going back and wanting some of it in spite of grace? Because it gives some importance to man and ultimately takes away from the glory and honor that is due to Christ. It takes away from that honor that is due to Christ as our object. And if I can keep the law better than you can, then I can take a little bit of pride in it.
And how quickly that came into the Christian profession after the apostles had passed off the scene.
Galatians 3.
Chapter 10 For as many as there are of the works of the Laura under the curse, for it is written cursive is everyone that continuous not in all things which are.
The wall on the side of God. It is evidence for the chest shall live by faith. The law is not a faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us.
00:55:02
Thank you Virgil, And that's the verse I was trying to quote and didn't do a very good job of it. The end of verse 10.
If you drop back into the shadows of the Old Testament.
To automatically inherit correspondingly the darkness of the shadow.
I just mentioned in that verse 17, just for clarification sake, which are a shadow of things to come. That's the Old Testament, isn't it? Under Judaism, but the body, perhaps it's a little bit confusing, perhaps a better word there is but the substances of Christ. In other words, the shadows were in the Old Testament. Now we have the substance in Christ that the shadows pointed to. So it's true that we're not under the shadows of the Old Testament, but.
Those shadows become living realities now, don't they? Beautiful illustrations of New Testament truth. How thankful we can be.
But when you have the reality, you don't go back to shadows, do you? The.
And I think it's wonderful because going back to the ordinances was basically saying, OK, that old flesh is still alive and well in me. I got to keep it under control.
That is a denial of our Christian position that we are dead, married and risen again. Lord help us, brethren, to think clearly about that. And, and it comes down in verse 19. And I think this is such a beautiful thing. I would like to.
Focus on it a bit, not holding the head. When we do those things, when we go back to those elements of the law, we're not holding the head from which all the body by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together increases with the increase of God. This is so beautiful.
What does it mean to hold the head?
Brethren, we are intimately connected to that glorious man in the, in the, in the heavens. They're sitting at the right hand of God in all his glory. We are united to him right now. Is that a reality with us? I think that's so amazingly wonderful. And when you go to the book of the Acts, I just like to make a few references there because to see how that was a reality.
In the church in the first days of its existence, notice in chapter 4 of Acts, and they are brought before the council, Peter and John, they are threatened of not that they should not any longer preach in this name. And Peter in verse 19 it says, Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right?
In the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, or we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified God for that which was done. And then verse 23. And being let go, they went to their own company, reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord.
Said Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. Isn't that beautiful? How they took the problem to the Lord that's holding the head? Is there a problem that's facing you? Do you know what it means to hold the head? He has allowed that situation in your life.
Does He have some purpose in allowing that? Yes, He does. And if we can simply go to Him about it, what's the result? Verse 31, it says when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the Word of God with boldness. The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.
01:00:15
I think it's so beautiful, the testimony that resulted in simply holding the head and how through the book of the Acts you find that through the Holy Spirit, the Lord responded, He is the head. When we have problems, brethren, do we know what it is to hold the head? Sometimes we're good at running to the old writers, and I don't say that's wrong, but we need to hold the head.
And the Word of God and living reality. Perhaps some of the old writings will help me to understand it better.
But it's holding the Lord as head. It's a living relationship. Even today, in the time which we live in 2022, He is still the head of the body. Precious, wonderful truth. Lord help us to to really make it a practical reality in our lives.
And could we carry that brother Bob perhaps a step further?
Maybe I need to be careful about how I say this, but I believe it with all my heart.
Sometimes there are problems and difficulties collectively, and they can be very hard and very difficult, very challenging. Sometimes they affect only a local assembly, sometimes they go further than that.
Oh, needful to go to the head about it first and foremost. Yes, there may be something that needs to be done, there may be an action that needs to be taken, but how much better to be able to get on our knees? I say it to my own heart, Just lay the problem before the head.
I guess I have seen in my lifetime more than once where a problem has seemed insurmountable, so complicated, so difficult, and yet going to the head, laying it before him.
How easily sometimes the Lord settles the difficulty and how it seems to disappear. I don't say that happens all the time, and it may not happen right away because if the Lord allows the difficulty, He means us each to learn something from it. And sometimes that takes a little time. But nevertheless, how important to be holding the head? You might say, why do we need to hold the head? We're already united to Him. It says so right in this chapter.
You're complete in Him, verse 10, which is the head of all principality and power and so on. And then back in the first chapter, verse 18, He is the head of the body, the Church.
Ah, there's the position in which God has placed us, but there's the practical application of it in our lives, and that's something that takes real exercise before the Lord, doesn't it?
Do you find that in Colossians 1?
118 And we quote quite often, for he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning of the first one from among the dead, that in all things he might have the 1St place. And that's what you're saying, Bill, that in everything we might give to him the 1St place.
Amen.
What if we can say to Brother Bill that this is true individually, Isn't it not just collectively?
Often our danger, and I was reading something recently that was written, they said one of the dangers of Christian psychology is that it focuses on the problems, how to fix the problems. But that doesn't really solve the problem for a Christian, doesn't it? We first have to go to the head. He's the one that solves the problem. And that's why again, I, I was my exercise when I read the verse in First Chronicles 16 this morning. It was first the altar, then the burnt offering and then the peace offering, the fellowship we have.
Not only with the Lord, but with one another. But I think we missed that point. So often we are concerned about all our needs, but who's the answer to our needs? It's the head.
01:05:00
Yes. The reason I mentioned the collective side, I understood, if I understood him correctly, that Brother Bob was emphasizing perhaps a little more the individual side of things. But we need both, absolutely.
And it starts, first of all, with individuals, doesn't it?
If I'm not careful and I have seen on it are times nearly gone, but I have seen it where.
An individual will say, well, if everything's right in the local assembly, I will come. And I have actually had dear brethren say to me, well, I, I want to be part of an assembly where there's a nice mix of good teachers and good pastors and good gospel preachers and a nice outreach and.
All the rest of it, and again now I'm quoting one of our old writers that many will recognize the source of a brother said Christianity is properly characterized not by what it finds, but by what it brings. God doesn't promise you and me that in these last days we are going to be given all of those things handed to us on a platter.
He says you feel the exercise, you look to me as the head, you do your part and leave the rest to me to look after.
On that note of the individual and collective side, an example would be Daniel's prayers. He prayed and confessed his own sins and then the sins of the people and indeed Job at the end of his time.
When his relationship was restored with the Lord, then he was able to be used to restore the relationships of his three friends with the Lord as well.
It starts. It starts in an individual who's exercised in himself and then caring for the matters of the assembly.
Another case perhaps of holding the head in the book of the Acts I thought about is in Acts 13 where we have in the assembly at Antioch 5 mentioned that were prophets and teachers not one man ministry there, but there were five that were occupied and it says in verse two as.
They this is collective, ministered to the Lord and fasted. How did they minister to the Lord? It really doesn't say. Sometimes fasting is connected with prayer, but here it says ministering to the Lord. I've wondered if they might have sung hymns of praise to the Lord, perhaps that in that way. But as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, I've often wondered if.
The Holy Ghost used a human mouth or.
Whether it was said in a different way, but it said separate me, Barnabas and Saul for the work we're into. I've called them when they had fasted and prayed. There's pray and fasting and laid their hands on them. They sent them away or they let them go. So they've been sent forth by the Holy Ghost.
There's holding the head. They were waiting on the Lord, and the Lord sent out to in gospel endeavour.
Very interesting, the blessing that resulted. So it's been together with the sense that the Lord is our head, direct us, Lord we want direction, and then being willing to do what He tells us.