Colossians 1:16

Colossians chapter 2 verses 16 and 17, Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a 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. May God bless to us the reading of His Sacred and Holy Word. this morning. When I attended seminary as a young man, I encountered for the first time people who would judge me regarding what I ate and what I drank. I was at the school cafeteria eating breakfast. I had bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee for breakfast, a rather normal fare, I would think, for most Americans, and all of a sudden, several students came over to my table and told me you are sinning. They condemned my meat. They said bacon is an unclean food and it’s forbidden. And my drink. Coffee has caffeine in it, and therefore it is sinful for me to eat and drink these things. Of course, I being naive at the time was shocked by their accusations. They were a follower of a man named Peter Ruckman, who was big in Texas and the 70s at least. And so they went around to cafeteria, every table, judging people what they were eating. And if you didn’t follow their dietary laws, you were condemned as a terrible sinner. Sadly, they didn’t do this in meekness, but with pride and unloving and unloving and a very graceless attitude. Now this goes to show you that our text is not irrelevant for our day and age. What Paul addresses here is still of importance. Nothing in the Word of God is obsolete. All of it has value, and we need to consider it. Now, Paul has spoken of your completeness in Christ in verse 10. And the need to be on your guard against those who would drag you back under all the ceremonial regulations of the laws, he mentions in verse 8. It’s already demonstrated that you do not need to be physically circumcised, as the law of Moses required, if you have been indeed circumcised by Christ, which is heart circumcision. or regeneration, verse 11. And now the apostle focuses on the issue of the dietary laws and the holy days or the feast of the ceremonial law here in verse 16. And he explains, and this is the key factor here, that these things were a shadow of what was going to come in substance in Jesus Christ. and this is the key factor in all these Old Testament ceremonial issues. And we’ll be looking at that in more detail next week. But let us look at what he says here in verse 16 to begin with. Now, you’re not under obligation to observe the laws’ ceremonial regulations. No one has a right to impose ceremonial regulations. ceremonial regulations of the law upon you. Let no man therefore judge you, he says, in these matters. You’re not to allow others to condemn you for not following the ceremonial regulations with regard to diet and regard to days. In the business of salvation, we are not to add to the doctrine of the gospel the need to obey mosaic ceremonies in order to be saying. We must not fear the judgment of those who might condemn us for neglecting ceremonial law regulations since Christ has delivered us from them. And he has fulfilled what they are portraying in type. Christ is your final judge in these matters. There are those that would usurp his authority. But remember, we answer to Christ ultimately. Now, this is a relatively sensitive area for many Christians. What others think of us normally matters a great deal, and so we do not wish to disappoint others. But there is a danger in allowing the judgment of others to shape your decision or unsettle you? Paul would say in Galatians 110, do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Our goal is not to please men. Our goal is to please Christ. And if Christ is our master, and he does not require us to observe all the ceremonial regulations, why fret over what others think? Proverbs 262 says the bird by wondering as they swallow by flying so the curse causeless shall not come. They may condemn you. They may say, may say all evil, manner of evil against you, but it really doesn’t matter if you are right with Christ. These things are of no substance whatsoever. No one. has a right to impose the ceremonial regulations of the law upon you. Now, you’re not required to obey the dietary regulations of the law. If you read Leviticus Chapter 11, for example, there are a number, a great number of meats, for example, that you were not to eat. They were considered to be unclean. Basically, unless the animal chewed the cud and in a divided hoof, you were not permitted to eat it. Among the sea creatures, unless they had fins and scales, you were not permitted to eat those animals. So you could not eat pigs and rabbits and turtles and shrimp and crabs and oysters and so forth. There were several kinds of birds that were forbidden, mainly birds’all. of prey, hawks and eagles and ravens and things like this. As for drink, there was really no list of drinks that were forbidden. You were forbidden to drink blood. You’re forbidden to drink anything from an uncovered vessel according to Numbers 1915. If you were a Nazarite, especially dedicated to God, you had to abstain from wine and any type of strong alcoholic drink. Now, avoid unintentionally violating these laws or regulations. The Jews never ate with Gentiles, and they wouldn’t even partake of meals that were prepared by Gentiles. In addition, there was always a fear that the meats and drinks of the Gentiles may have been offered to idols somewhere along the line. However, for the most part, these restrictions of the law are not binding a New Testament believer. since Christ has come. The only thing that’s mentioned that we could bring out, Acts 15, when they sent out the various things to the Gentile churches, one of the things they said was they were to abstain from blood. I take it from drinking blood. And they were, that they would, I think they were suggesting that we should not drink blood. That was one of the things that I think that they were not to do. and, of course, they were not to engage in the fornication that was forbidden on the law and so forth. But let’s look at a couple of passage. We’ll look at why in particular in our next study, but let’s look at Acts chapter 10 first and see what the scripture says here in the New Testament about these things. Acts 10 and verses 9 to 15. Now most of you will recognize this. This is Peter’s vision of the great sheet. We read her on the morse as they went on their journey, they drew near under the city. This is Cornelius’s servants coming to get fetch Peter. At this time, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, and he became very hungry and would have eaten, but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, saw heaven, saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him as it had been a great sheet knit the four corners and let down to the earth. Wherein were all manner of four-footed beast of the earth and wild, or beast of the, or wild beast of the, wild beast, and creeping things and fowls of the air. There came a voice to him, rise Peter, Peter, kill and eat. Peter said, not so, Lord, if I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean, and the voice. And the voice, spake unto him again the second time. What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. this was done thrice, and the vessel was received up into heaven. now if you look at this particular passage, you see, Peter is concerned about eating unclean animals. He’s hungry, and the Lord tells him to eat, but he’s, you know, I don’t eat unclean animals. You know, I don’t eat animals. But what he’s told here, what God has cleansed, don’t call unclean. Now, this particular vision, I think, is not merely with regard to the foods, but you recall that it’s also for him to go to Cornelius’ house as a Gentile. Not to call him unclean either, and to preach the gospel to him. Now, if you would, look at 1 Timothy chapter 4. This is even perhaps a clearer statement of this truth in the New Testament, verses 1 to 5. 1. Timothy 4, 1 to 5. Though the spirits speaketh expressly that in the latter time, some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Speaking lies in hypocrisy. having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Now, obviously, true holiness and consecration to God, we know, is not a matter of diet. Foods, the animal meats that you eat, were divinely created for consumption by man, by our God. Every creature of God is good. Now, how do we know that? Well, it is sanctified by the Word of God, isn’t it? Where does in the word is of God? Does it say it was good? Well, the scripture says in Genesis 131, God saw everything that he made, and behold, it was very good. There is no animal, then, food, to be refused as if it were in some way evil or defiling to you. All creatures are good, being consecrated by means of God’s blessing upon it from the beginning, and by prayer, when we ask for God’s blessing over it. So for the Christian, eating and drinking are to be done as unto the Lord. And therefore, what we eat or drink here, as far as the actual meats are concerned, all can be received and eat. We receive them from God. We give thanks to God for them, and they are God’s good provision for us. So you are not required to obey the dietary regulations of the law. These things we know are not now binding upon us. My next point, though, is this. You are not required to obey the ceremonial holy days of the law. He goes on to say, in respect of a holy day or of a new moon or of the Sabbath days. Now, you know that. Jews had many religious festivals associated with these festivals were holy days. You find a list of them in Leviticus 23 and in Numbers Chapter 28. At the three great festivals, the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of the Tabernacles, and the Feast of the Pentecost, all Jewish males were required. to be in attendance. They had to go up to Jerusalem for these particular feast. At the beginning of every month, there were special gatherings, what they called these new moon gatherings, or the new moon days. And they followed the lunar calendar, and so when a new moon came up, it was like the new month was beginning. What a lot of people fail to realize is that there were Sabbaths. associated with these ceremonial holy days, these various feasts. For example, look with me at Leviticus 23. We’ll just look at a couple here so that we have an idea of what the scripture teaches on this, because I think it’s important in understanding this text of scripture. Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 203. 24, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation, or a holy gathering. This was the feast of the trumpets, and there was a special holy day associated with it, a Sabbath on the seventh month on the first day of the month. Now you’ll notice verse 32. It says this, it shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month, at even, from even unto even, and you shall celebrate your Sabbath. Now, this was the day of atonement, and there was a special Sabbath day associated with it. This was the seventh month, the ninth day of the month. This would be eight days after the first Holy Sabbath that was mentioned. Then look at verse 39. Also in the 15th day of the seventh month, when you are gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. So the seventh month here had extra Sabbath days associated with it as well. on the 15th day of the month was a special feast day, and these feast days, there were two Sabbaths connected with it. So we have all these extra Sabbath days. These were in addition to the regular weekly Sabbath. Look at verses 37 and 38 with me. See, these are the feasts of the Lord which ye shall proclaim to be holy, convocations to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, an a meal offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything upon his day, beside the Sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, beside all your free will offerings, which you give unto the Lord. Beside the regular Sabbaths, these were special Sabbaths. I don’t know if you ever notice this or not. but if you read John chapter 19, read about the crucifixion of Christ, remember the Sabbath day was coming and they wanted to break the legs of the people who were being crucified lest they’d be on the cross on the Sabbath day. Of course, Christ had already given up the Spirit. But it says it was a high Sabbath. What did that mean? It was a special saying. It was a special saying. Sabbath associated with the Passover. And so what we have to understand here is there could be several Sabbaths in one week, because there could be the Holy Sabbaths, these high Sabbaths, and the regular Sabbath on the seventh day. So these ceremonial Sabbaths were separate from the Sabbath day of the Ten Commandments. There are also Sabbaths, we should say, associated with the the land, every seven years, the land was supposed to have a Sabbath and rest. Now, what Paul is teaching you here as a New Testament believer is you’re not required to observe these festival days and the Holy Sabbaths associated with them, these high Sabbath days. You will not be condemned as a transgressor of the law as though you, as though you, you had to obey these holy days all portrayed something about Christ’s redemptive work, and therefore they are now fulfilled. And we’ll look at that, Lord willing, next week. So you’re not required to obey the ceremonial holy days of the law. Now, let me stop a moment and make some application from this section of scripture regarding what we have just looked at. And my first thought is this. false religions often load down your conscience with holy days and food restrictions as necessary to salvation. The Roman Catholic Church has so many holy days associated with it, you practically have one for every day of the year. They have holy days, they have festivals, they have a lot more than even the Jews had in the Old Testament. There are holy days. of obligation which you are required to attend if you are a Catholic. And they have the power to punish noncompliance. The Roman Catholic Church has so many festivals it would fill your calendar. They have Christmas Day. They have the feast of circumcision, the Epiphany, the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, the Feast of Ascension, the Feast of Pentecost, the feast of Trinity Sunday, the feast of Corpus Christi, the feast of John the Baptist, the feast of St. Peter’s and Paul, the feast of Assumption, All Saints Day, all Souls Day, the Feast of Immaculate Conception, and I could go on and on and on. I could add to this the Lenton season, you’ll require, where you’ll recall, which this is the most celebrated season of the Roman Catholic Church, including the Holy Week, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter, and certainly there are food restrictions during Lent, where you are supposed to give up something for Lent. When I was growing up, all the while I was growing up, the Catholics were not allowed to eat meat on Friday. I don’t, some of you may remember this. When I went to public school, they’d always have fish and hot dogs on Friday. And the fish was always for those who were Catholic. They could eat the fish, and they wouldn’t eat the hot dogs. various cults like the Seventh-day Adventists have food restrictions. Peter Ruckman and his group have food restrictions. Various groups will require you, you know, it’s sinful and wicked for you to eat these particular foods. Here’s what the scripture tells us. And let’s look at Romans 14 and verse 17. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy God. Christ’s kingdom is not about meat and drink. It is not about abstaining from certain foods and drinks in order to be holy or to be acceptable to God. That is not what the kingdom of Christ is about. Religion does not consist of these kind of external observances, but of the inward graces of the spirit, of Christ. That’s what Christ’s kingdom is about. Christ’s kingdom exists where the Holy Spirit grants righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. My friends, if you have the righteousness of Christ imputed to you, that satisfies the demands of the law. You have been given peace with God. You’ve been brought in the right relationship with God. You’ve been reconciled to God. God through Christ’s sacrificial work on the cross. And therefore, you’re not trying to earn his favor. You’re not trying to get in good with the Lord somehow and gain his attention. And my friends, you have joy. The joy of possessing salvation, an enjoying fellowship with Christ. It has nothing to do with your diet. You can eat pork every day of the week. It’d still be in a right relationship with Christ. Friends, the only holy day of the New Testament is the Christian Sabbath. That’s it. That’s how simple it is for us. I don’t have to look at my calendar and see what day, what’s going on today. Maybe today’s the day of the Holy Ascension Day. I know one thing. The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day, and it’s that simple. Is it not? It’s interesting. to note that all the other days are humanly devised holy days. You don’t find them in Scripture. These days are not found in Scripture. They’re man made. There are those who hold Christmas and Easter as special holy days for the church. They have extra services. have extravagant things going on. People find it odd. They say to me, are you doing something special for Christmas? I said, no. I’m just going to preach, as I always do right through the book that I normally am preaching on. Christmas is not a holy day. God doesn’t say it’s a holy day. God doesn’t say anything special about it. Easter. It’s not a holy day. If you want to observe the resurrection of Christ, be on church on every Sunday because that’s what we’re doing. That’s why we’re doing. That’s why we’re we worship on the first day of the week. If the one holy day that God has given the church to celebrate Christ’s resurrection is often the one that gets the most neglect. I met a man who was adamantly opposed to Christmas. He wouldn’t even come to the church if we observed Christmas observance. Sadly, when it came to the Lord’s Day, he treated it as if it was indifferent that he could do other things on that day. how sad that you could be so adamant about one thing and miss the day that God has given you to worship. You’re okay if you want to go on the negative side of it, but you’re not looking at the positive side. This is what you have been commanded to do. So as a church, we do not observe these extra holy days. What you do personally in your own life is up to you. But what we as a church do, the scripture, I think, is clear, we have one holy day. Stand fast friends in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Because people would be entangling you in all kinds of bondage if they could by all these things. To observe their holy days, their dietary restrictions, don’t let anybody condemn you in regard to these things. Don’t let your conscience be disturbed. False religions often want to load you down with holy days and dietary restrictions as necessary in some way to either acceptance with God or to salvation. Secondly, you should realize that Christian Sabbath is moral law and not ceremonial law. There are those who will come to this text of scripture and say, see, I don’t have to observe the Christian Sabbath. They feel they can do as they please on Sundays. They have no obligation to be in the House of God. you realize Christians, churches sometimes offer Saturday night worship services. So you can free up Sunday to do whatever you want. You want to go to the sports, you know, see the Steelers play. You want to go camping or sport, go to sports, or family picnics, or whatever the case may be. And they will look at this passage and say, see, I don’t have to be here. Remember, Paul links these Sabbath days to the whole days and the new moons. These are ceremonial things. These all relate to the ceremonial law, not the weekly Sabbath of the moral law. The New Testament classifies Sunday as the Lord’s Day. Revelation 110. It’s the Lord’s Day. It’s not your day. It’s the Lord’s Day. You’re not free to do as you please. Christ doesn’t release Christians from the Sabbath over which he has pronounced himself to be Lord. Matthew 128. says the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Now you think Christ is Lord over something that’s passing away? Or do you think he’s Lord over something that’s going to be permanent for his kingdom? I suggest to you it’s permanent for his kingdom. And he is the Lord of that day. The Sabbath is a creation ordinance. Genesis 2.3. When we read that the Sabbath was made for mankind, our mind should think back. When was it made for mankind? or right after man was made on the sixth day, what did God do on the seventh? The Bible says he rested and he sanctified the day. He set it apart. The Sabbath was made for man, Mark 227. Not just for the Jews, but for man. This statement forcefully contradicts any notion that the Sabbath has no bearing on the New Testament church. The wording of Christ compels you to think of the origin of the Sabbath here. And it was made immediately after man’s creation. It was not just given to us in the law of Moses. You ever wonder why it says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it whole in Exodus 20? That remember, I think, is there because this was established long ago and they had forgotten. The people of God had gotten away from that particular day as being separated as under the law. The law command you to remember what has already been established at creation. The moral law is always binding on the Christian. It’s written in stone. It’s written by the finger of God. It doesn’t vanish away or pass away. It’s permanent. Interestingly enough, Isaiah 56 indicates that Gentiles being brought into the kingdom of God when the temple was made a place for all nations are said to observe the Sabbath day. Isn’t that interesting? I wonder what Sabbath he was thinking of. I think he was thinking of the Christian Sabbath. I think that passage relates to the kingdom of Christ. The writer of Hebrews declares there remaineth a rest, literally a Sabbath keeping to the people of God. It doesn’t pass away as the ceremonial law regular. relations Hebrews 4-9 tells us that she’d realize the Christian Sabbath is moral law not ceremonial law this is why it’s important to understand this passage carefully my third thought and final thought is this you’ll find much hypocrisy among those who would obligate you to special days and special diets Jesus said to the Jews during the feast of the tabernacle in John 7 19 did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law. Oh, they were sticklers for all their special regulations. They added to the law, but he reminds them you’re not even keeping the law. The Lord reckons them to just have pretended zeal when it came to the law of God. Let me go back to that story about my experience in the school cafeteria long ago. One of the students who harshly condemned me for drinking coffee, because they had caffeine in it, was an avid Dr. Pepper drinker. It would be, you know, always drinking Dr. Pepper and telling us how good, how much better it was for us than Coke or Pepsi. So one day at the dorm, I bought a Dr. Pepper at the vending machine, and for the first time I read the label on the can. And I looked at the ingredients. Now, I confess, I was hurt by these charges that they had made against me. And I was looking for a way to discredit this guy, and I found it. But sure enough, on that Dr. Pepper can, there was caffeine. So here’s the guy condemning me for drinking caffeine on my coffee, but he’s drinking it, and his Dr. Pepper. I kept my discovery secret. I waited for my opportunity. And sure enough, one day he’d come bebopping in up to the Coke machine. I happened to be there, puts his money in, gets his Dr. Pepper, and I waited. I waited until he popped that can and took the first swallow, and then I knew I had him. I said, I charged him with being a hypocrite. I told him, you condemn me for drinking coffee because he has caffeine in, and that Dr. Pepper has caffeine, and you look at the ingredients on the label. And he stood there, dumbfounded, looking at that label, and real, that he had been hypocritical to the utmost degree. And I walked away smiling. Now, I have to confess, with more Christian maturity, I probably should have handled it but I really wanted to get him on that. And I think, you know, I could have handled it better as a more mature Christian, but I was so aggravated by what he had done and catching him in his little charade here. I thought it was just perfect justice in this case. People condemn others about diets and regulations, and yet often they’re guilty of doing something that violates their own rules and regulations. Remember how Paul says in Romans too, you know, the Jews were so quick at condemning the Gentiles. You did say that other people don’t steal. Do you steal? You that say you shouldn’t rob temples. Do you rob temples? Do you rob? Do you rob? temples, you that make dietary regulations, do you violate them? So these are just some observations I will make that for you to consider. So no one has a right to impose upon you ceremonial regulations of the law. You’re not required to obey the dietary regulations. You’re not required to obey the special ceremonial holy days of the law. We will look at why. so in the why they’re obsolete now as we look at the next study because we have to understand all these things shadowed something about Christ and once we have Christ these things are no longer necessary they have were beneficial as long as they were foreshadowing Christ once Christ has come it’s no longer necessary to obey them and that’s why we have a distinction between the old and the New Testament well let us close with the way