Good morning. What a joy it is to share again and worship with you and study in God's Word. If you have a copy of God's Word, return it with me to Colossians 2. As we pick up where we left off a couple of weeks ago, Colossians, Colossians chapter 2, today we'll be looking at verses 8 through 10. Colossians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10 will be our focus. I'll start reading at verse 6 in order to set the context. And the title of the sermon, as Pastor Mark had mentioned, is Captive to Christ Alone. Christ alone is the high point of the Christian faith. When a church goes astray, This is where it goes astray. When a religion goes astray, this is the point in which it goes astray. It goes astray at this central truth, Christ alone and nothing else. And this is what Paul is reminding the Colossian believers about here in Colossians. He has been pointing to the sufficiency and the supremacy of Jesus Christ. He has been raising their thoughts and their minds and their hearts to Jesus as revealed in the scripture. And so he continues here in verse six, he says of them, therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him. Having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him, and established in your faith, just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude. Listen to the warning. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. And in him you have been made complete. And he is the head over all room and authority. This is God's word. Give heed to God's word. Pray that God would strengthen us according to his word. Pray that God will remove every false way. Today the question, and this question is the topic of one of Francis Safer's series that I watch, titled, How Then Should We Live? And that question is a relevant question. How then should we live in the times in which we're living today? People are anxious and depressed. There's an overwhelming response of fear and frustration and anger and defiance. And really, in reality, we as believers face a real threat. Because what lies beneath and what we see going on in the world, in the world's wisdom, is my needs, my wants, and my desires. In a time when it seems like the COVID-19 pandemic is bringing the world together, the church must be alert. We must stand on alert of the spiritual dangers that lurk beneath. as death and disease and poverty spread. These are serious issues. But the even more serious issue, the thing that we need to be concerned with the more is being led away from sincere devotion to Jesus Christ. That is the serious issue. That is the thing that we need to be concerned about in this moment. As believers, we must be careful not to get caught up in the thinking of the world. We must not allow the troubles of living in a fallen world to lead us into sin and cause us to walk in a way that dishonors God. We must not let the empty promises and hopes of this world distract us from Christ and to allow it to smother our zeal and our love for Christ. And so Paul in our passage today, he tells us that we need to maintain a worldview that is according to Christ. Remember back in verse three, Paul says that it is in Christ that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden. It is Christ Himself that is the revelation of God's purpose. It is Christ in which all of God's purposes are summed up in Him. And because of this, Paul says in verse four of this chapter, chapter two, he says, I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive arguments. Not let anyone convince you by lies. In verse six, he goes on and he reveals, how is it that they can protect themselves? How is it that we can protect ourselves in such trying times? Paul says in verse six, therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in him. You do not begin with Christ and then move on to something else. You do not begin with Christ and then become stationary. You begin with Christ. You move out in Christ. You walk in Christ. Your life is to be all about honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ. You must walk in Him, Paul goes on, and keep the roots of your faith deep in Him, rooted deep in Him. Be built up on Him and become established in the faith Him to the point to where you're overflowing with gratitude and joy He says in verse 7 and now he comes to the point. He's he now deals with the issue He's been hinting at that. There is something going on in the church, but now he gets to the point He gets to the main point And he starts with a warning look at look at verse 8 with me he says see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition of men according to the elementary principles of the world rather than according to Christ notice what he says he begins here with the urgent warning see to it being aware And this is a command. It is a command for the church to be on guard. The church is to always be watching carefully. They are to continually be vigilant. And this is the responsibility, not only of the church as a whole, but as individuals. We are all individually responsible to see to it or to be aware, to be vigilant of what Paul is going to bring to us here in the coming verses. So we're to see to it. You see, as far as Paul's teachers, it's not enough to just be aware of who they are. It's not enough to know them We're to be continually on guard. And notice this is to be on guard and not critical. We're to guard ourselves of them. And what is the danger? What is the danger that Paul is warning about? What is it? These believers are in imminent danger of being taken captive. Remember back in chapter one, when we were there and remember that Paul had, he told his believers that they have been redeemed, they have been redeemed in Christ. that they had been transferred from the dominion of darkness into the dominion of the sun, into the kingdom of the sun, under his dominion, in his kingdom, which is the kingdom of light. And Paul says here, see to it that no one takes you, you've been set free, you've been delivered. You've been, you are in the kingdom of Jesus Christ. See to it that no one takes you captive. The term captive could either mean, uh, could mean either to carry off as, as, as booty or when someone would go and take over a kingdom, they will plunder and take off the goods and the gold and all the riches and take them off for themselves. Or it could mean to be taken captive as in a war when someone is overcome and defeated. They take somebody, their enemy captive and put them to work for them. Paul, this is what this word means. And it really, Paul is using this word in a sense that it means to be carried away or to be kidnapped. The false teachers that were threatening the church, they're like spiritual terrorists. They're like spiritual robbers that the church needs to be aware of. Their intentions are to take captives. Their intention is to rob. They appear to be teachers like other teachers. They may say the name of Christ. They may take you to the Bible, but their intent, the intent of their heart is to take you captive. Their only aim is to kidnap and abduct others who are unaware. They want to take you captive away from the truth of Christ. Such people are not sent by Christ to teach the flock. In reality, they're like the satanic salesmen. They may name the name of Christ, but in reality, they just trying to, they trying to sell you their brand of Christianity. No matter what you say to them, can deter them from what they believe. They got their own brand of Christianity. These are satanic salesmen. They're satanic terrorists. They're not like Timothy, which Paul said in Philippians two versus 20 and 21 he says Paul says of Timothy who who is with him? as he is chained and Paul is writing this letter even this letter while he is chained to a Roman guard and Timothy is there with him and he Desires to send Timothy to Philippi and he has has sent the letter ahead And he says of Timothy because he's going to send Timothy to Philippi he says of Timothy in verse 24 I have no one else of kindred spirit in who would, listen, he says, who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare? For they, there are others who are in Philippi, Paul says of them, for they all seek after their own interests. They are like their own interests and not those of Christ. They do not teach others because they love Christ. They don't desire, they sneak their way in. They slither their way into the church. Not because they love Christ, not because they love believers, but because they want an audience. They're like the greedy man in Proverbs 20, 23. verses six and eight says of the greedy man, it says, we're warned, do not eat the bread of a selfish man or desire his delicacies. For as in this verse gets taken out of context today by men, for as he thinks within himself, so is he. He says to you, come eat. and drink, but the writer says, but his heart is not with you. It says, when you come to realize this in verse eight, you will vomit up the morsel you have eaten and waste your compliments. You will vomit up what you have been given because when you realize that his goal and the goal of this person really is to take advantage of the individual that he has invited to eat, he really wants to get rich. That's his goal. He's feeding, he is having individuals sit at his table, he is feeding them, but his only desire is for their demise. And that's what these false teachers are like. They're subtle. They're deceitful, Paul is going to go on and tell us. And so, beloved, no one is taken captive by such people like this woman. They're deceived. They're deceived. There's subtle deception. And so, how does a person become captive? Notice the method. Paul goes on. He says, he says, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception. The means by which the believers at Colossae are in danger of being taken captive is by philosophy and empty deception. the instrument the false teachers are using to bring others into captivity, notice Paul says, through philosophy and empty deception. Now philosophy means literally the love of wisdom. In the Greek and Roman mind, it referred not merely to an intellectual system of thought, but to a system of thought that led to a way of life. We could call it the philosophy of life, because it encompassed all of life. Such philosophy encompassed all of life. And there is nothing evil in philosophy itself. the late R.C. Sproul majored in philosophy. There's nothing wrong with philosophy in and of itself. But here's the issue. Philosophy becomes evil when it is the result of men seeking wisdom through human research and human reasoning apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. what such philosophy exalt human reason, but it doesn't matter what God's, it's, it's, you probably heard it. I got my own religion. Uh, you know, uh, just what to me, this is what Christianity is all about. Uh, we have to be careful of, of, of, of such reasoning. Richard Pratt said, and in his book on apologetics, he says, quote, when human reasoning is used independently of God, it will lead to falsehood and error end quote. And I can say a man today, I remember as a young believer and I still have this, this book, uh, in my home. I used to ride around going, when I was in the military, I used to ride to work every day. And I used to listen to a variety of Christian music, Christian worship. And I used to have this green book. And as I would listen to songs, I would get these impressions that I thought was the truth from the word of God. And I would come and I would write down in my little green book, or I'll be studying a verse and I would hear a song, and I'm like, ooh, man, that song fits. Ooh, my book fits. If I show it to his field, it would know. But what I found out was when I went and studied what I was looking at, what I had studied that morning, maybe in devotion, and look at it in context, all the stuff that I came up with throughout the day was not according to what the context of the verse was saying. It's easy, beloved. It is so easy to go down the path of falsehood and error, because it is us. When you're studying, or when you're thinking, it's me. And I think because I reason this way, it is true. But we must be held captive. We must be held captive to Christ and captive to the word of God and the context in which the word is written. We must not bend it on to our own desires and what we desire. And so, and the reason, and look what Paul goes on, he characterizes in this, going back to these false teachers, he characterized their teaching as being empty and deceitful. I mean, that's worse. I mean, when I was studying, I was just ignorant. These false teachers, they are being deceitful. Their teaching is hollow. It is not centered on Christ's person or his work. Really, their teaching is centered upon me or you and your work. That's the foundation of what they're teaching. And Paul says that their wisdom for life is deceitful, it's seductive, because they don't come and they don't announce it for what it truly is. They don't announce what their true intent is. And when they bring it, they mix it with orthodox Christianity. They mix it in, they mix it in with, they may mix it in with some Bible verses, you know, that we hold dear. But remember that it's cut, they're trying to deceive. and really they're trying to make disciples for themselves. And so they blend their truth with orthodox doctrine or Christianity, what we believe, but the intent is to mislead the thinking of others, like say Francis, who these folks are really exposed during this time, like the faith healers. If they really can heal, if folks really can lay hands on folks and heal, I mean, they should be on the front lines of the fight of this COVID-19. They should be out there on the front line laying hands on folks, and folks should be getting healed. But they're not. They're silent. Why are they silent? Because their philosophy is empty and deceitful. The only thing that they're after is money. They're silent. You're not hearing it. You turn to Fox or CNN or MSNBC or any news channel. They ain't on there. Sorry for the bad English, but they ain't on there. because they are such teachers. Such teachers philosophy is, they mix in the word of God. I remember listening to one person, I won't say his name. He was talking about the sovereignty of God and the next breath, error. And such teachers like that of the faith healers and this relativistic. to each his own, my religion, my way, liberalism. It's all about grace. Empty and deceitful. And the reason it's empty and deceitful is the source from which it comes. Look at the verse. The first source, Paul says, that such deceitful philosophy and empty philosophy comes from really It's according to the traditions of men or human tradition. The tradition of men here is the religious teachings that have been invented by men, sort of like the Pharisees had added to God's law, their own traditions, their own law. And these have been invented by men and they really don't have any true foundation in scripture. And as such, traditions or teachings are passed down from human teachers to others. And such teachings go against the word of truth where Paul had said that these Colossian believers have been Saved by the word of truth the gospel it goes against that and it's in competition with the truth of God And Jesus says of such people like the Pharisees in Mark 7 verses 6 through 9. He says Jesus says to them rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written the people honors me with their lips and but their hearts is far. That's a test. That's a litmus test for whether someone is true or not. Just notice their true desire. What is it that they love the most? And it will be revealed. These people honor me with their heart, with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. Verse seven. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men, neglecting the commandment of God. You hold the tradition of men. Jesus also said to them, you are experts. In verse nine, he says, you're experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. This is how cults operate. They're not out now because we're all on lockdown. But believe you me, after this lockdown is lifted, they're going to be knocking on your door. You may run into them in the store because they haven't met their quota. But this is how they operate. This is how cults operate. They use human reasoning to build their philosophy or what Paul would say, their fortress, their fortress of ideas. They seek to gain control of your life by basically capturing you and pulling you into their thought system rather than into the riches of Christ. They steal away those who are religious, but weak in Bible knowledge. Paul spoke of Once again, Pastor Mark, I think 2 Corinthians 10 is what you're going to be looking at tonight. See, look how the Lord works. 2 Corinthians 10 and 5, Paul says, we are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. We are taking captive, we are taking every thought Captive, we're not Paul said he wasn't being taken captive. He's taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ John MacArthur comments that speculation Here speculations are thoughts ideas reasoning philosophies and false religions he says are the ideological force in which men are These are forts in which men barricade themselves against God and the gospel. He says, every thought, every thought, he says, Paul emphasizes the total destruction of the fortresses of human and satanic wisdom and rescuing and rescuing of those inside the damning lies that have enslaved them." We must remember that false teachers and such men as this, they really are lost men who seek to pass down their thoughts, their ideas, their reasoning, philosophies, false religions in hope of making disciples after themselves. In a sense, they indirectly attack the person of Christ, the nature of Christ, the character of Jesus Christ in some way, and the ultimate goal is to make disciples. And the second source Paul says here is that it's according to the elementary principles of the world. There's a In the commentaries, there's quite a lot of discussion about what does Paul mean by the elemental forces of the world or according to the elementary principles of the world. It may mean, some say it may mean the law. It may mean the basic components of the universe. And I think this is what the Greeks, this is more toward the Greek thought of the universe. are the basic elements of earth, air, fire, and water, which many people worship. It may mean spiritual beings. There's really, I really can't say for sure what Paul is referring to, but I think in Colossians 1 and 16, he really, I think he sums up what he means by elementary principles here. In Colossians 1 and 16, he says, for by him, or by Christ, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for him. That includes angels, that everything, spiritual realm, physical realm, all things were created. And I think maybe this is what Paul is pointing to here, are these thrones, these spiritual thrones, the domains of rulers, the satanic influence rulers, things like that. But notice, and here's the key point, that their philosophy, is empty and deceitful, is according to the traditions of men, is according to the elementary principles of the world, relevant according to Christ. It is either Christ or it is these worldly philosophies. One or the other. There is no middle ground. Any teaching that challenges the supremacy and the sufficiency of Christ and salvation in reality devalues Christ and his work on the cross. There are no two paths to get to heaven. There are not many paths to get to heaven. There is only one path to get to heaven, and that's through Jesus Christ and faith in him alone. If you confess the Lord Jesus, Lord and believe that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved That is the only way there is there is no other name among the heaven by which man will be saved other than the name of Jesus Christ Jesus Christ is the only way And so what Paul is saying is that the Christian life is all about Not philosophy man-made traditions and things like that. It's about the object of our faith. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be held captive by Christ and not philosophy. We should be held captive by who Christ is and the work that he came accomplished. And our lives should be governed by every aspect of him as revealed in scripture. We shouldn't deviate from Christ in any area of our life. Because you deviate from Christ in one area, it will impact all the other areas of your life. And this is why Paul prayed the way that he prayed in Colossians 1, verses 9 and 10. Paul prays there, he says, but for this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Paul realizes that who Christ is and the work that he came to accomplish, it impacts every area, every aspect of our lives, or it should. That's what he gets to in chapter four. Once again, I mentioned this before, he talks about the family and talks about the job and talks about husbands and talks about wives. Jesus Christ, who he is and the work that he came to accomplish affects every aspect of our lives. You might say then, what's the issue? I mean, why are you making such a big deal? I mean, don't all roads lead to God? As I said earlier, I mean, what's the big issue? The big issue is what Paul says. in verse 9. For in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. Since the false teacher's teaching is empty and deceitful and is not according to Christ, the Colossians should not be deceived. Don't be deceived by what they're teaching because Paul declares in him, that is, in Christ Jesus the Lord, all the fullness of deity dwells. Fullness here is what is in Christ. And this talking about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. And in him is all the fullness of deity. The fullness here, it comes from the Greek word that means to make full, fill or fill up, or means to full measure. And it has an emphasis upon completion. Christ is the full measure or he is the completeness of all that God is. And what is this fullness? It is deity. All that God is, the fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ. All that God is dwells bodily in Jesus Christ. Paul says earlier in Colossians 1 and 15 that the son is the image of the invisible God. What God is, Christ is. Colossians 1 and 19, Paul says, for God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. It pleased the father that his work of redemption is done through the son who possesses all the fullness of deity. That's the issue. It pleased the Father to solely work through the Son to save us. He didn't work through anything else or anyone else. States here quotes. He says Paul is declaring that in the Sun there dwells all the fullness of absolute Godhead he was and is an absolute and perfect God in quote all the fullness that God is Christ is and it dwells in him in bodily form That's the manner In by and this is For the Greeks, their thought is that this would have hit their ears and it would have been foolishness to them. Because anything that is physical, they consider evil. Only that which is spiritual is good. And Paul says, hit that right at the point, he says, all the fullness of deity dwells in Him in bodily form, in the incarnation, the incarnate Christ, the God-man. This is why John said in John 1 and 14, the Word became what? Flesh, and made His dwelling among us. The fullness of God resides in Christ, not in philosophy, not in angels, not in other men, but in Christ alone. And Pink says this, He says, quote, it is in the perfection of manhood that the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ revealed to our faith. We would not ascend to God. We could not ascend to God. So he descended to us. And all that men could ever know of God is presented to them in the person of his incarnate son, Jesus Christ, end quote. So what does this mean to us? Paul is making a point that since Christ has taken on humanity, verse 10, in Him you have been made complete or made full. He is the head over all rule and authority. In Him you have been made complete. The fullness of God dwells in Christ and Christ dwells in you and you in Him. And if you have Christ, there is nothing more that you that needs to be had. You have the spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of God dwelling spiritually within you. And Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher, he he he he had a good definition of what this completeness looked like. He says, he says, we are complete. Number one, we're complete without the aid of Jewish ceremony. Number two, he says we're complete without the help of philosophy. Number three, we're complete without the interventions of superstitions. Number four, lastly, he says we're complete, most importantly, without human merit. We're complete, we can never earn Discompleteness that we have in Christ. In Christ, we have been justified and made righteous. Positionally in Christ, we have a perfect standing before God. We have been made spiritually alive in Christ. We are able to call God our father because we are in Christ. In him, God has richly blessed us with all, with every heavenly resource that we need in order to live and grow spiritually. He have richly, grace upon grace, He have richly given to us everything that we, He hasn't held back anything from us in Christ. He's given us everything that we need and more. We have everything that pertains to life and godliness. And this comes through the knowledge But the more we know Jesus Christ, the more we know of the grace that we have in Jesus Christ. Because of him, we now have the desire and the ability to walk in the spirit, to live in the Holy Spirit, to walk step by step by the Holy Spirit. We have the power of God at work in us to enable us to grow spiritually. We don't need anything else or anyone else to make us grow or to be holy before God. All we need is Christ. And Paul teaches us why. And as I close, this is why. Christ is the head of all rules and authority. That is, everything is under Christ's authority. There is nobody else that we need to go to to teach us that can bring us about spiritual growth in our lives other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Under His Lordship, under His Lordship, not under some other's teaching, some other person teaching, but under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Under His Lordship, every area of our life can be transformed and it can be bought into subjection to Jesus Christ. Only under His Lordship. You can try as you may. You can try with, and some of you may have been trying during these times in which we live, to to try to to find joy and happiness and peace in in in in your own strength. You can't do it. You can't do it. It's only under his lordship. It's only under Christ's lordship. It's only under his leading that you'll have joy and peace. and only under his lordship, can you be be through Jesus Christ can change the rebellious heart. God through Jesus Christ can change those who live unholy lives because of what Christ has done and who Christ is in his person. The fact that he is God, that he is man, the fact that he possessed a real body is our only hope because Jesus And when he walked the earth, he kept God's law perfect. He kept it perfectly. He lived a perfectly righteous life. And that is our only hope. Our only hope is our faith that Jesus Christ is who he says he is. And because of that, because of what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, we now have hope. We now have confidence to stand before God and rejoice and be happy, not because of something we've done, but because of Christ and who he is. Beloved, what philosophy are you being influenced by? Because we're living in tough times, you might be tempted to move beyond Christ to other things. to other philosophies, like the philosophy of personal convenience. And Paul didn't mention it here. We're expanding, making it practical for us. The philosophy of personal convenience, the philosophy of self-esteem, the philosophy of self-love, the philosophy of self-pity. All of these things won't lead you to Christ. In reality, they lead you to isolate yourself from other people. Have you given yourself over to any other philosophy? To a philosophy that is outside of Jesus Christ? Because If Christ is your philosophy, you will be filled with gratitude and joy and peace regardless of the circumstances. Check your philosophy. Check what it is that you believe. And for us to resist being led away from Christ and his purposes, we must see Christ's value. We must fully appreciate all the spiritual riches of grace that we have in Christ. And as Paul said in Philippians 3 verses 7 through 10, we must have this mindset about us. Whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted lost for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all of these to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish, dumb, so that I may gain Christ. Verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering being conformed to his death. Because Paul's desire, his philosophy was Christ, he could go through anything. And as Pastor Marcus said, the theme of Philippians is joy. The theme of his life is joy. Do you want joy to be the theme of your life? Know Christ. Know him in every aspect, every angle, as he is revealed to us in the scripture. know him, learn of him more and more each day. Allow the Holy Spirit to teach you and to show you why you should hold the Christ and apply the reality of who he is to every aspect of your life. Let us be like David. Let us have the attitude of David when he said, that there is one thing that I desire. There's one thing I desire and one thing that I seek out. And that is to behold the beauty of the Lord. Let us let the one thing that we seek after and that we desire over everything else in life be to seek after. and be able to see and to know the beauty of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Let us pray. Father, there are many things that are right concerns for us during these times. But Father, we pray that we do not drift in our faith and love for Jesus Christ. Because if we drift, it impacts not only us personally, but it impacts everyone else that we fellowship with. Father, may our lives be characterized by those who seek to know the beauty of the character of Christ, the beauty of his love for his people, the beauty of his atonement, the beauty of his resurrection, the beauty of his present reign in our lives, and the beauty of the future reign of Jesus Christ. Let our hearts be captivated by the marvelous truths of Christ as revealed in all of scripture. to the point that our lives overflow in praise and thankfulness and gratitude for Him in all things. Lord, this is your will for us. I pray that it is so, by the help of your Holy Spirit who indwells us. In Christ's name, amen.