Colossians 2:4-5

Colossians chapter 2, verses 1 to 5, our focus on verses 4 and 5. For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laudicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And this I say, lest any man should be gow you with enticing words. For though I be absent in the flesh, yet I am with wisdom. you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. God bless to us His sacred and holy word this morning. During the Franco-German War of 1870 to 71, two exploded shells were found near a house. And the homeowner cleaned them up and decided he would put them on display by his fireplace as souvenirs from the war. A few weeks later, he showed them to one of his friends who came by for a visit, quite proud of his find. The man happened to be a munitions expert, and as he looked at the shells, he had a horrible thought, what if the shells are still loaded? And so after quickly examining the shells, he exclaimed, we need to get away from the fire here and get out of the house. His friend explained the shells were just as deadly as the day they were made without realizing the homeowner had been living in grave peril. In the spiritual realm, there are many Christians or professing Christians who do not realize the danger that false teachers pose to them. False teachers unwittingly at times are accepted and embraced by the church, and yet they threaten the spiritual life of the people of God. Sadly, many are unaware of just how dangerous false teaching is, and therefore they don’t stand back and keep away from it. However, someone who is knowledgeable about the truth will be alarmed and raise a warning. And that’s what we find Paul doing here in our text about false teachers. Now, let me begin by saying this. You should beware of religious deceivers. Verse 4 says, and this I say, lest any man should begal you with enticing words. You should realize, there are false teachers who will deceive you. They will beguow you, as the text indicates to us. Remember how Peter warned the Jewish believers in the book of 2 Peter 2nd Peter chapter 2, but there were false prophets also among the people, the Israelites, in the Old Testament. Even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heres. Satan has his angels who disguise their true intentions, and they creep into the church unawares. We have talked about this before. Just because someone is religious, just because someone claims to preach the Bible or be a minister does not make them a true minister of the gospel of Christ. There are those who are false teachers who would lead you astract. And thus the need for discernment. For there are those who bring a counterfeit message, very crafty people, and they can avoid immediate detection. they trick you into believing a lie instead of the truth. The gospel we saw in chapter 1 and verse 5 is called the word of truth. So anything that is contrary to the gospel of Christ is a lie. And it’s a beguiling of people. Isaiah 5 verse 20 says, woe unto them that call evil good and good evil evil, that put darkness for light and light for darkness. They swapped the truth for error. Remember how Jacob disguised himself in the Old Testament to deceive his father into thinking that he was Esau? While so do these deceivers trick you into thinking that they are faithful teachers when actually they are not. You know, the story is told about a man that was aggravated by the high cost of oats to feed his mule. So he decided that he would gradually substitute sawdust in with the oats so that it would be cheaper to feed his mule. Obviously, he couldn’t just begin by feeding the mule sawdust, so he just put a little in to begin with. But as time went on, he increased the amount of sawdust and reduced the amount of oats. Everything would. was going well until, of course, the mule died. He didn’t get enough nutrition, and so he could not survive. This is how false teachers operate spiritually. They don’t feed you all lies at one time, but they put lies in with any truth that they may say. They’ll teach some things that are true in order to deceive you about their true intent. and then they sneak in the false teaching. And gradually they introduce more and more false teaching, but eventually if you listen to them, you too will find yourself in serious condition. The church becomes apostate. The church then dies. So you should realize there are false teachers who would be out there to deceive you. They should realize the way false teachers deceive you is by persuasive speech. He says they use enticing words to deceive you. Persuasive speech in scripture in and of itself is neutral. You could use persuasive speech to persuade someone with regard to the truth of God’s world. Or you could use it into deceiving someone to swallow a lot. Later on in another passage, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 4. he adds to these words. He says not only enticing words, but enticing words of man’s wisdom. And he indicates what he means by these enticing words. In other words, people will use persuasive human arguments instead of basing things on thus saith the Lord. Eloquent words as a kind of an enchantment. win you over to embrace what they are teaching. You will find as you go through this life, if you listen to enough religious teachers on the radio or whatever, you will find some of them are very slick and deceptive in the way they present their error to deceive you. They’re very good. Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 says, But I fear less by any means as the serpent begowed Eve through a her subtility. So through his subtility. So your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. How did the master deceiver trick Eve into eating off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil work when God said, thou shalt not eat of it. The day you eat thereof off that tree, you’re going to die. How did he do it? He seduced her by persuasive her by. persuasive words. He didn’t use God’s word. No, no. God’s word was plain. You eat, you die. Satan persuaded her that she would not really die, and it would actually be beneficial for her to eat off the tree. She would become God like herself. And therefore, there’s the idea of you could be on equal footing with God. God is withholding something beneficial from you. And with these persuasive words, he deceived Eve, and she ate violating God’s command. All false teachers follow this same principle in their work, and how they deceive us. Do you remember the Sadducees came to Jesus and wanted to deceive him and approached him about the issue of the resurrection from the debt. I want you to look with me at Matthew chapter 22, if you would. We see the account here of how they go about trying to deceive people. Now, they have this argument that they evidently thought was irrefutable. And it’s found here in Matthew 22, beginning with verse 23. And the same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection and asked him, saying, Master, Moses said, if a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. Now, there were with us seven brethren, and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and having no issue, left his wife unto his brother. Likewise, the second also, and the third, under the seven. And last of all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife shall she be of the seven? For they all had her. Jesus answered and said unto them, ye are not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are they given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have you not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Him? the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, and when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine. Now, the Sadducees wished to demonstrate the absurdity of the doctrine of a resurrection of the dead. They had devised a rather crafty human argument here, which they considered irrefutable, that a certain woman had married several brothers in succession, None of them had any children. And finally, she dies herself. And then whose wife is she going to be at the end time when all, everyone is resurrected from the debt? And thus with enticing words of men’s wisdom, not based on divine teaching, they wanted to persuade people. And here they are trying to refute Christ. Jesus rebukes them. He says in verse 29, he do err not knowing the scriptures nor the power of God. You’re ignorant of what? what the Bible teaches, nor do you believe that God has actually the power to do this. Jesus then explained that life in the next world after the resurrection is not like life in this world where we have husbands and wives, but will be more like the angels of God, just servants of the Lord and the world to come. And Jesus’ proof of the resurrection is found in verses 31 and 32 in that the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were said to be alive in Moses’ day, hundreds of years later, because God is not the God of the dead, but he is the God of living. So when he says, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he didn’t say I was the God, but I am the God, therefore the implication is there still alive. And Jesus is teaching that God is the God of the whole person, not merely of the soul, but also of the body. and the very existence of the soul and the intermediate state indicates that there will be a resurrection of the body eventually. Ultimately, Christ then exposes the folly of the human wisdom here of the Sadducees, who couldn’t offer biblical proof for what they want, but they used a human argument. So you should realize this is the way false teachers deced you. They’re going to use persuasive, enticing words to persuade you. Now, you should realize that knowledge of Christ is the way to keep from being deceived by false teachers. And this I say, lest any man be gaul you. This is how he begins verse 4. Now, what does he mean when he says, this I said? He’s talking about what he’s just previously said in this particular letter. The safeguard against falling into error, subcumbing to seducting to seductant. teachers, if you would, the charms of these false teachers, is the know the truth concerning Jesus Christ. If you know the truth, then you will detect the error. Knowing what Paul says about Christ, fixing your mind upon it is what’s important. As you go through chapter one, and we studied this and even into chapter two, we find a lot of things told us about Jesus Christ. One is this, that forgiveness of sins is only through the redemption that he provides, chapter 1 and verse 4. My friends, there is no other way for us to get rid of the sin that we have in our life unless Christ bears it himself upon the cross, pays the penalty due unto us, and therefore we can be forgiven of that sin. This is how God operates. This is the only way of salvation from our sins in this life. We’re all sinners. We all have come short of the glory of God. We have all broken God’s law. And therefore, when God looks at us, we are all guilty. The solution is found in Jesus Christ, and it’s found in him alone. It’s found in his shed blood and his perfect righteous. And so if we want forgiveness of sins, we must trust in Christ for the salvation of our sins. Remember who this person is that we are to trust it. We saw in chapter 1 in verse 15 that he is the God man. He’s God, but he took upon himself a human nature that he might die in the place of sinners. We find that he is the creator of all things in verse 16 of chapter 1. things were actually made for Christ. And therefore, we find that it’s all done for His ultimate glory. He’s the preserver of all things. The reason why you still exist, why you are still living is Christ is keeping you alive. He upholds all things by the word of his power. He is the head of the church, verse 18. All believers are being conformed to his spiritual image as they go through this life. Verse 15. He’s the first born from the dead, verse 18. For Christ not only died on the cross, but he rose again. the Bible tells us. On the third day, our salvation depends not merely on his death, but also upon the fact that he rose from the dead, and therefore God has accepted his sacrifice on our behalf as those who trust in him. He alone can reconcile you to God. We have peace with God through him alone. Verse 20. We all often hear people talking about making their peace with God. My friends, the only peace that can be made with God has been made by Jesus Christ, and it’s only through Him that you can have peace with God. You can’t make any bargain with God. You can never do any good works that somehow or other are going to smooth over all the wrongs that you’ve done in this life. No, my friends, he is the only one that can provide us with a peace with God. Verse 19 of chapter 1, he’s the dispenser of all grace. We go to Christ because he’s full of grace and truth. And in him is salvation from sin. And we find that in chapter 2 and verse 3 in him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. My friends, no weapons of the enemy, no matter how crafty they are can bear up before this truth concerning Jesus Christ. This will always protect you if you hold and cling to this truth. You know, when the FBI trains staff members to identify counterfeit bills, they’re not required to study fake money. Instead, they go through an extensive study of what a real dollar bill or a $100 bill looks like. What the ink is like, what the paper is like, what the printing is like, all the little details about the money. And they study it very carefully. And when they have studied it very carefully and they compare a counterfeit bill to it or one they think is counterfeit, if it doesn’t match up to what they know about that bill, the true bill, they say that’s wrong. They say, that’s wrong. That’s it. This is a counterfeit bill. This is not real. In a similar way, the best way from being deceived is not to try to study every false doctrine there is from all the different religious organizations and cults and so forth. Why, you could spend a lifetime just trying to list all the error that’s in the world. But the best way to combat it is to know the truth about Jesus Christ so well that you can easily detect error when someone strays from it. So you should be aware of religious deceivers. Secondly, you should rejoice in stable believers. Verse 5, though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. You have a special bond with other believers. Paul wishes to convey here his love and his care for this church. Now, he’s never met these people. He only knows them through Apaphras, who is their minister. He’s heard about them. He’s writing to encourage them in the Christian faith. The people might complain, where you’re so far away from us here in Rome, how can you know about our church’s affairs? How can you know what’s taking place? among us. And so the apostle removes this objection by emphasizing the knowledge and the care that he has for the church. He’s not ignorant of their affairs. He knows they’re in good order. He knows that they are steadfast in the face. Faith. Now, some understand the word spirit here and they capitalize it and refer to it as the Holy Spirit. When he talks about, I am with you, in the spirit here. Paul, some believe, was granted a special vision of the affairs of the church, that Paul’s spirit could travel in a way to cross a and behold what was taking place there. Remember the prophet Ezekiel at one point was carried by the Holy Spirit in vision to Babylon from Babylon to Jerusalem so he could see firsthand what all was going on. In this sins of his people there. First-hand information was granted to him, and then he reports that. Well, Elish’s spirit went also with his servant Gahazi when he went to take the various gifts from Naaman the Syrian, and he came back and tried to hide it from his master. Remember in 2nd Kings chapter 5, went not my heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee. I know all about it. It’s possible that Paul discerned the spiritual state of the Clausons in this manner. We just don’t know for sure, and I can’t be dogmatic about it. But Paul some may simply mean that a presence in the sense of his spirit of care and affection with them. You are in our hearts, as he tells the Corinthians, 2. Corinthians 7.3. Well, these Colossians were always on Paul’s mind. They were certainly in his prayers. And we should see that pastors, especially, but all the people God and generally should be concerned about the welfare of those fellow believers around them. We have a special bond with them. You know, recently I was speaking to a believer on the fallen. We hadn’t talked for maybe a year or so. And as soon as I talked with him for a little bit and we started conversing about spiritual matters, he said, you know, Jack, I feel closer to you than my own brothers and sisters in Christ. Why is that? Because we have a bond, because we both have the spirit of God in us. There’s a bond that believers have together. You have a special bond with believers, certainly with regard to our care and affection. And notice also you should rejoice when you find sound believers. He talks about an orderly walk here. He says in verse 5, joying and beholding your order, he says. They were orderly. Now, this term orderly comes from the military. We know what it is in the military to march in a parade or to march in orderly ranks in unison. And the idea is the same here. None are out of step with the others spiritually. They’re marching together as Christians. When someone walks contrary to the commands of Christ, they’re out of order. They’re out of step. With where they should. be. It’s ever the lot of the church that there may be some who profess faith in Christ who do not walk orderly. And Paul sees the Colossians are, for the most part, behaving in a manner which adorns the doctrine of Christ. They have godly men leading the church in their eldership. There is church discipline where sin is addressed and repentance is commanded. There is submissiveness to the elders so that there’s respect and love for those. The daily lives of the members are in general godly lives. The women are not usurping authority over the men in the church. The worship services or orderly, they’re not like the church in Corinth when there there’s a chaos going on in the services. And this produces great joy for the apostle here when he sees this occurring. Order is offense. that helps oppose false teachers. Because people are seldom plunged in the airs who are walking orderly. If they are submissive to the elders of the church, if they are careful about the way they obey God’s commands in their daily life, they have a high respect for God’s word, it’s unlikely then that they’re going to be drawn astray easily. And then he says they’re steadfast. in their faith. This steadfastness refers to the doctrine of Christ. You’re not to allow the true to be wrestled from you. don’t let anybody trick you into believing something than what the apostles teach in the Word of God about about Jesus Christ. You know when a ship is out in the water, in the ocean somewhere, they drop an anchor so that they are move from that position. It holds them in place. Well, spiritually, we have to drop our anchor when it comes to the doctrine of Christ, we’re not moved away from it. We’re blown about, as Paul says, with every wind of doctrine that comes along that would blow our ship one way or the other. We need to be anchored and therefore not moved from the truth. Keeping the truth involves keeping it pure and uncontaminated by that which is false and corrupt. I’ll make this observation. Those unsettled about the doctrine of Christ are always easy prey for false teachers. If you don’t have this settled in your mind, the truth about Jesus Christ and the way of salvation in him, you can easily be persuaded by words that are enticing, by false teachers and drawn away from the truth. Christian faith demands that you dogmatically adhere to the teaching of the apostles. There’s no room for just taking everybody’s teaching. There’s no room where let’s just bring everybody into the same camp. Let’s just accept everybody. No. If they do not adhere to this teaching, then they are false teachers. And we must not accept them. Steadfastness means no compromise. No admittance of human inventions regarding the person of Christ. Everything must be based upon the scripture. My second observation, briefly, is this. Don’t fail to appreciate ministers that God has used to ground you into truth concerning Christ. You should appreciate the fact that someone has taken the time to teach you the truth and ground you in the faith. Paphros is one of the men here that we find. Paul is trying to do the same thing. We should appreciate that when we’re taught the truth. Well, those two live shells from the Franco-German war were unwittingly placed in the man’s house next to the fireplace. Very dangerous place to have them. Because he didn’t realize the grave danger of taking these shells into his house. My friends, you can take false teachers into the church. You can have these people or listen to them yourself. They’re dangerous. You may not realize how dangerous they are, but they are dangerous to your soul and dangerous to the body of Christ as well. Paul would have you be on guard. Be on guard. Satan would deceive you. He doesn’t mind if you’re religious as long as you have the wrong religion. As long as you are following a false teaching, he don’t care whether you’re religious or not. You can be as religious as you want to be. He would rather you be religious and think you’re okay but follow a false teaching. And so therefore, be careful. The way not to be deceived is to be knowledgeable about who Christ is and be steadfast regarding that doctrine. Walk orderly in a manner pleasing unto God. Let us close with the word of prayer.