Turn your Bibles to that passage in Colossians, Colossians chapter two. And we'll be looking at verses 11 through 15, continuing in our study. And as you're turning there, would you stand with me as we say our theme verse together in Colossians two, verse eight, and hopefully as we Read this together each week and study this. It's beginning to make more sense to you on exactly why Paul said that we need to make sure that no one takes us captive by philosophy and empty deceit. All of this, hopefully, is coming together for you. But let's recite this together, Colossians 2, verse 8. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit. According to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world and not according to Christ. Now, our text this morning picks up in 11 through 15. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. having been buried with him in a baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside. nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. Father, we're grateful for this great and marvelous work that you have done through Jesus Christ. Father, speak to us through your word. Father, we ask for help by way of your Holy Spirit. Give us ears to hear and hearts to discern the truth in Jesus name. Amen. Now, as we looked at verses 9 and 10 last week, There were some points that we saw Paul pleading with the Colossians to recognize the fullness or the sufficiency of the atonement of Christ. You know, letting them know that Christ is sufficient, that He is full, that there's no need to add to Him. There's no need to add anything, any measure of things to Him. And now we get into the portion where we see just exactly what the false teachers were trying to add. You know, one of the key things was circumcision. Telling them that you must be circumcised in order to be a true Christian or to be greater into the faith with Christ Jesus. But this is not true. We recognize Christ is sufficient. The fullness of deity dwelled in Him. We see this in Colossians 2 verse 9. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." And we talked extensively about that. The fullness of deity dwells bodily. That is, Christ is the God-man. That he is God in flesh. And that because he is God, the fullness of God, there is nothing that he is lacking. There is no measure of forgiveness that He lacks. There is no measure of grace that He lacks. There is no measure that you can add to anything that Christ has already accomplished on the cross. Now, this is why Christ is so sufficient. You can't add to His work. Because He is God, there is no higher or greater work that must be achieved on this earth. Now, this is where you and I, believers, This is where you and I should seek to take solace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Where we seek to have peace. Where we seek our refuge. We rest on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Amen? You know that song? Well, we're going to say it together. We're going to sing it. We're going to try to sing it. No music. Just me and you. Live Open Mic Night at The Branch. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. When darkness seems to hide His face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand His oath is covenant and His blood Support me in the whelming flood When all around my soul gives way He then is all my hope and stay On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand. When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found, Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. His righteousness. His covenant. His blood. His atonement. His work. Your sin. There's nothing you can even bring to the table but your wretchedness. And Christ saw fit to do a work. Your hope is not tied in how you feel. It's not tied in your health. It's not tied in your financial status. Your hope is bound to the sufficiency of the God-man. His oath. His covenant. His work. That leads us to what I want to focus on first in this text, in verse 11, is that Christian circumcision is spiritual. Christian circumcision is a spiritual circumcision. It says in him, also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." Now, it is obvious here that the false teachers were telling the Colossian church that they needed to add to Jesus in some shape, form, or fashion. They had to bring in circumcision, that you've got to do something. And I said last week, That that's a truth that you and I really need to understand is that many false teachers won't deny Jesus, they just try to add to Jesus. And that in itself is a heresy. That in itself is a falsehood. You can't add to anything that Jesus has done. He has accomplished it all. This is a hot topic during Paul's ministry. This is back to circumcision. You've got to think, as Brother Ed just shared with the kids, that in the Old Testament, Israel was God's chosen people, that He chose them, and that they performed this act of circumcision upon the males as a reminder of that covenant, of that choosing. And so now, we get to the New Testament, and Jesus has fulfilled all things. And when we come to understand that, and now we're saying that you can be in the family of God without doing this physical act, this physical act of circumcision, it's not mandatory. And people are like, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute, how do we know that you're fully in? How do we know if you're not going to do this physical act, this external thing, then how do we know? And Paul dealt with this issue at great lengths. It was just not with the church at Colossae. The Galatian church, the whole book of Galatians deals with this act of do you have to become a Jew in order to become a Christian? Paul extensively dealt with this. He dealt with it in Acts chapter 15, where we come to the Jerusalem council, where the council meets together, one of the first church councils in human history, where they come together to determine and decide and discern from the Spirit of God, do people actually have to participate in the Jewish feasts and rituals and circumcision and all of these things in order to be in Christ? Listen to what the reasoning is. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And the conclusion of that Jerusalem council would say that's not the case. In Galatians, chapter five, verses two through three, Paul says, look, I Paul, I say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. In our modern day world, if you accept something other than Christ, that Christ Himself is not sufficient, you've got to add to it somehow. For some, you have to speak in tongues. You have to go to this next step in order to prove that you're in Christ. Well, then Christ is of no acceptance to you. Obviously, He doesn't matter to you because you're still looking for something greater than what He is. He goes on and says, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again that every man who accepts circumcision, that he is obligated to keep the whole law. If you're going to add one thing, then you better start adding a whole bunch of things. And you better start recognizing that you've got to keep every law in the book. Because Jesus died to set us free from the condemnation of the law. He freed us from that. But if you're going to say that Christ isn't sufficient, that you've got to add to, well, then evidently His atonement is not sufficient. And if His atonement is not sufficient, then you are still subject to the law of God. And you will stand before God without a Savior, without one who is able to accomplish the atonement that you are in such dire need of. Now, I want you to take note of the root of the problem here, because it's not much different. than false teaching today that goes on, not just within churches, but even within the world itself. Here, we are dealing with the act of circumcision, but the root of the problem is not the physical act of circumcision. The physical, the root of the problem is that they're actually saying that Christ is not sufficient. That's the root of the problem. That's where we get down to where the rubber meets the road. Now, this morning, I want to present to you a question, and this question will help you determine If you're relying on Christ alone, or if you're dependent upon other factors for your salvation. That one question is this. Now think about this. If you're asleep now, wake up and hear this one question that I ask. Is Christ an addition to the Old Testament? Or is Christ the fulfillment of the Old Testament? Ask yourself that question. For many people, this is where they are. The New Testament is an add-on to the Old Testament. That Jesus is something new, it's an addition to the Bible. But see, what you and I need to understand is that we have to wrestle with this and determine for ourselves which is it. For many people, Christ and the New Testament They're just an add-on, an expansion to what God was doing in Israel. God chose Israel, and then all of a sudden, He chose the Gentiles, but He did that through Christ. See, the mindset for many people is, well, He chose the Jews, so now He's got to have a way to get the Gentiles in. So because he needs a way to get the Gentiles in, he brings Jesus to the picture, and that way all the people in the New Testament now, the Gentiles, can be saved through Jesus. But what we must understand is that nobody in the Old Testament was saved apart from Jesus of the New Testament. Jesus is eternal. Jesus was not just set into existence 400 years after the last prophet wrote in the Old Testament. Jesus pre-existed any writer of the Bible. He is the God-man. It's unfortunate that many see the Old Testament as God's working in the nation of Israel and the New Testament as God's working in the church, and they don't understand the relationship of the two. You see, Christ is not an add on. He's not an expansion to what God was doing in the Old Testament, Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. He is the absolute perfection of everything that was indicated in the Old Testament. That's where you and I need to come. That's the point I pray that I bring you to this morning, that you see when you look at Jesus Christ, you say, He's not just an addition to the Bible. He is the fulfillment of the Bible. When God said in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, you recognize that it was not just God the Father working, that all things were created through the Son, Jesus Christ. that you recognize that the very opening Scriptures of the Bible dictate the mandatory necessity of the Son in the New Testament, but He's there in the Old Testament. Let's look at the two and compare. Just take the act of circumcision. That's what we're dealing with in this text. Let's look at the circumcision of the Old Testament and compare that to what we see in the New Testament. First, in the Old Testament, circumcision was a physical act. How many of you men would understand that and agree with that? It is a physical act. It's always been of great curiosity to me, the relationship of Paul and Timothy and Titus. You know, Paul allowed, you know, Timothy's father was a Greek. His mother was a Jew. But he continually argued for the point that there wasn't any need for Timothy to be circumcised because it didn't matter. But you know, Titus? Am I no Titus? What did he have to do? He had to get circumcised. Now, can't you imagine Titus' train of thought when he's looking at Timothy going, but you didn't, you didn't make him do that. You're going to make me do this. That always just, evidently you don't find it as humorous as I do, but, you know, that God would, you know, through The working of the apostle Paul would allow Timothy to not have to endure this thing while Titus had to. There's reasons for it. There's reasons for it. But I always just thought that was funny. But circumcision in the Old Testament was physical. It's a physical act. In the New Testament, what do we read in this text? Spiritual act of the Holy Spirit of God. It is a circumcision made without hands. It's the work of God in your life. It's not a physical act that one person can do to another. It's the work of God spiritually working in a life. In the Old Testament, it's an outward act. It's an outward act that says, you know, hey, I've done this. Therefore, I'm in. I've done this. I've received the blessings of God. And I understand those things in Christianity and the New Testament. Circumcision is an inward act. It's something that happens inwardly within us. The transformation of the heart. Something that's totally and radically changed. This is fully accounted for in Scripture in Romans chapter 2, verse 28 through 29. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly. Nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly. And circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God. We see that circumcision, even for the Jew, is not just a physical outward act, although many of them saw it that way. They don't understand the relationship. Philippians chapter 3, verses 2 and 3. Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. He's talking about circumcision here. For we are the circumcision." Who's the circumcision? Those who worship by the Spirit of God and the glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. That's Christian circumcision. That we glory in the work of God. That we recognize the work of God. We are the circumcision. Worshipping God in spirit and in truth. Is that not John 4? Is that not the woman at the well? That those who worship me will worship in spirit and in truth? And God says, yes, that is accomplished through the circumcision of Christ Jesus. Through Christ and His work. Now, if we look back at the Old Testament circumcision, what did it symbolize? It symbolized a lot, but it was a physical act. It was a removal of skin. You with me? There's no need for me to have a demonstration of this. Praise the Lord. But it's a removal of skin in the New Testament under Christ Jesus for all of us, male and female alike. It's not the removal of skin, it's the removal of sin. Amen? Jeremiah 31, 34. This is the prophet Jeremiah giving us The prophecy of the New Testament, the new covenant in Christ Jesus that is rapidly approaching. This is His words. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor, and each one teach his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Brother Ed mentioned that from Hebrews. Parallel passage to this. God says, I will remove their iniquity. I will remember their sin no more. It's not the removal of skin anymore. It's the removal of sin in its entirety to the point to where He remembers it no more. In the Old Testament, circumcision, we just read, is based on Moses and it's based on Abraham. It's based on the Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant. Circumcision in the New Testament is based on God. It's based on Christ. Christian circumcision is not a physical act upon the body. It is a spiritual transformation and renewal within the Spirit. Peter said this in 1 Peter 1, verse 3. He says that you and I have been born again to a living hope in Christ Jesus. It's not about having your body cut. It's about being in Christ and recognizing the sufficiency of Christ's work on the cross. Now, do you realize that we have our own battle going on against physical circumcision today. You know, us in our modern day society, we are dealing with the same root issue that Paul was dealing with then, with circumcision. Now, it's not the act of circumcision, it's not the physical act of circumcision, but there is a strong movement of people that are trying to add to the faith. There are people trying to add things to the glory of Christ. Some will say that you cannot be fully in the faith unless you dress a certain way. You have to dress a certain way in order to be fully in the faith. Some people would argue, oh, that's not the case. It is the case. Me and Brother Sonny sat in here one afternoon on the phone. And a lady called just out of the blue happened to call. I don't know if she's planning on leaving a message or what, because we're normally not here. But she spent probably nearly 30 to 40 minutes on the phone with me talking about how a church in this area told her that she was not welcome there unless she wore a specific set of attire to the fellowship. It's not that she was dressing inappropriately. It's not that she was dressing in a provocative manner. But she was told, if you don't wear a dress, you're not welcome here. Some will take it to a step beyond that and say, you know what? If you don't read and preach from a particular translation of the Bible, you're not fully in the faith. Some, they say, if you don't abstain from certain foods, you're not fully in the faith. Some will say, unless you keep certain Sabbaths, certain days, you're not fully in the faith. Some will say, if you don't speak in foreign tongues, then it proves you're not fully in the faith. Church, we are not bound to the physical. My whole prayer over this message, was that you marvel at the glory of Christ. That there is no act you can perform. There is no covenant you can keep. Christ shattered all of that with his death on the cross. That you might trust in him and in him alone for salvation. It's His oath, His covenant, His blood that supports me in the whelming flood. What all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. Him. Him. Not clothes, not a translation, not a diet, not a particular day and not a spiritual gift. It is Christ. It is the God man. This is the one who is all sufficient. And the quicker you and I come to that understanding. The greater your relationship with a great savior will be. Second, Christian circumcision is not just spiritual. It's transforming. It will radically change the way that you see all things. Look what it says in verse 12, having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. Well, the Old Testament relationship to God was shown by circumcision. Now, the relationship now is shown by the act of baptism. It's shown by the act of baptism. And this is a beautiful illustration for the gospel. And it's powerful. And it shows us the glory of the gospel and how the gospel can transform wicked sinners into saved people. First, it shows us that we have been buried with Christ. You've been buried with Him. This is to say that when Christ died on the cross, every human being who will ever be found in Him was forgiven. We have to understand that Christ's death on the cross, His blood was sufficient for all of those sins in the past, for all of those sins at the time that He died, and for all of those sins in the future. I want you to think about that. I want you to think about the depths of Christ's work on the cross. This is the essence. This is the underlying understanding of the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. We just sang it in the first hymn we sang today. What was the name of it? Yes. Praise to the Lord. No, not that one. It's the second one. The one that Mary played. I know whom I have believed." That one. That's the one. Why? I know whom I believe. Because He accomplished it. Is there any way that you could put the first lyrics we sang back up on the screen? I want you to recognize the work of Christ and what He was doing. I know not why God's wondrous grace to me He hath made known. Why me? There's no reason for me. Nor why unworthy Christ in love, redeem me for his own, why? Why? We talked about this Wednesday night in our study. And how people have this misconception of the gospel. And they seem to think that God is, when we talk about God's sovereignty and how people just, they get violent, they get upset. How dare you say that God would choose some for heaven? And they say, so in their mind, God is choosing. You go to heaven and you go to hell and you go to heaven and you go to hell. And that's not what the Bible teaches. And that's not what grace is. This is grace, the fact that all of us were headed to hell. Every single one of us were on the road to eternal condemnation. And by His grace, He said, I'm going to save Jodie. I know not why He chose me. I know not why. Now, tis the power of the cross. That's how He accomplished it. It's beyond my comprehension as to why. It's beyond my comprehension as to how. All I know is that He did it. And for that, I am thankful. For that, I committed unto Him until that day. We have been buried with Christ. He took my place on the cross. That's where we have to wrestle with this. If He took everybody's place, then everybody's forgiven. If he took everybody's place, then everybody goes. But we know that's not the case. We know that his substitutionary atonement has not covered those who reject him. We know that. Galatians 3.13, what a glorious, glorious verse. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He took your place. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. He took your place. 2 Corinthians 5.21. We're saying this one. For our sake He made him to be sin. Who knew no sin? He took your place. So that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. We have been buried with Him. We died with Him. We were put into the grave with Him. Our sins are buried. Not only were we put into the grave, not only did we go down with Him in His death, but as Christ rose from the dead, you and I have also been raised from the dead. We have been raised with Christ Jesus. Since Christ took our place in death, we are given His life. The result is that we are raised from being dead in sins and trespasses. You know, we talked about this in the passage. Listen to Romans chapter six, verses three through four. Do you not know? And if you don't know, this is a passage that I will probably always read when I do a baptismal service. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death. In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. You get to walk in life because Jesus Christ walks in life. You have been grafted into Him. Romans chapter 11. Branches were broken off and I might be grafted in. So branches were broken off of Israel, and the Gentiles were grafted into the root, and the root is Israel. But yes, the question is, who is the true Israel? Is it a group of people who were rebellious sinners? Or is the true Israel the absolute perfection of all the Old Testament? The glory of Jesus Christ. The image of the Son in the Old Testament being fully fulfilled in the New Testament. Do we need a temple today? How many of you need a temple today? Why? Jesus Christ said, tear this down. And after three days, I will raise it up again. And they perceived that he was talking about the temple, but in actuality, he was talking about who? Himself. Jesus Christ is our temple. He is the source. He is the one in whom the fullness of deity was pleased to dwell. We look back at the temple and we say it's where the presence of God would dwell in the Holy of Holies. It's where the Ark of the Covenant was. It's where the forgiveness of sin takes place. And I ask you, question yourself and ask you, is that not your Jesus Christ? Is He not the full dwelling place of God? Is He not the one who offers the forgiveness of sin? The one who the veil was torn down and that you and I can go to Christ anytime, any day of night, not once a year. He is the absolute picture of perfection for all that is the Old Testament. Romans 6, verse 8. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we also live with Him. Now, I want you to take an important note of verse 12 in the text. And note this, church. Here's one of the false teachings that is prevalent in our society today. That baptism saves you. There are some who say that. The Church of Christ believes in baptismal regeneration. They believe that you are saved, that you're baptized, and at that point salvation is made complete, that you have been regenerated because of the work of Christ and your following through with baptism. See, Christ isn't sufficient. They're adding two. But let's look at what the text says. Look at verse 12. "...having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead." Do you see how Paul is very, very careful to make this statement? Where some will try to convince you that in order to be saved, you must be physically baptized, the apostle here is very careful to state that salvation does not come from being baptized. It comes from being in Christ and being born again. Look at the text. You've been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him. Through what? Through faith and the powerful working of God. Not baptism. You're saved by faith and the powerful working of God. Not because you were baptized, but because of the powerful work of God. That's what you were saved from. That's how God saved you. This is a work of God's Holy Spirit. Lastly, Christ has done a freeing work in the life of believers. Christian circumcision is spiritual, it is transforming, and it is freeing. Verses 13 through 15. A huge passage of text to deal with. And you who were dead in trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him. Now, just look at the freedoms that come as a result of being in the Christian circumcision, being in Christ Jesus. First off, He says you were dead, but God made you alive. Second, he says that God has forgiven all your sins. Now, I want you to take note of what Paul says in this text, in verse 13. God made alive together with Him, having forgiven what? Look at what he says. Having forgiven us all our trespasses. Note the Apostle's words. He doesn't say, having forgiven you of all your trespasses. Even Paul in his apostleship recognizes that he is nothing apart from the work of Christ. He says that God has forgiven us all. Us. All of us. Paul includes himself. Is that not reminiscent of what he said to Timothy? That I am the chief of sinners? When you come to Christ, you must never forget that you are still a sinner saved by the grace of God. Even that statement is challenged by modern day denominations. I've read article after article, how dare you say that you're a sinner saved by grace? Because when you become in Christ, when you're under the covenant of grace, your sins go away. You don't sin anymore. And you have the power and the ability to no longer sin in Christ Jesus. And it flies in the face of what John wrote in his epistles. that he who says he is without sin is a liar. Paul and Peter, they had some clashes with one another. Somebody was in sin. Somebody was not paying attention to the will of God. Now, granted, it was probably Peter and his short-tempered attitude want to sit down and eat with the Jews and reject the Gentiles at one minute, and to go sit down with the Gentiles and eat with them and fellowship with them in the next. And Paul says, wait a minute, buddy, that's what we call hypocrisy. You can't chastise them one minute and then go down with them the next. Peter, was it thought? It's because we're still in the flesh. We have sinful tendencies. And why in the world would John continue on and say, but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our trespasses. Why would James in his writing talk about our dire need to commune with the Father through prayer and seek the face of God, ask for repentance? Why throughout the New Testament are we told that we have a mediator, a mediator, Not one who mediated. Not one who did it then and he's just sitting up there not doing anything right now. But he sits at the right hand of the Father. What is he doing? He is interceding. That's the perfect tense that means that it's an act that is ongoing. He accomplished it fully on the cross, but until the day that He returns, the perfect comes, as Paul puts it in Corinthians. The day the perfect comes and we are made whole physically, being transformed by our physical bodies, given glorified bodies. Then, then, it's done. There's no need to mediate at that point. There's no need to intercede anymore at that point. But until that day. He sits at the right hand of God, interceding on our behalf because we still fall short of the glory of God. The fact that we are dead in sins and trespasses when we are without Christ, it seems like a stumbling block for many people. Listen to John's Gospel, chapter three, verse 18. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already. Because he is not believed in the name of the only Son of God. To not be in Christ is to be condemned already. And this is a truth that I plead that you understand this morning. That if you are not in Christ, there are people out there that seem to think that there is some neutral ground. You know, that there's this neutral area that while you're in this life, you know, you just kind of got to make up your decision. You're either going to be on God's side or you're going to be on the enemy's side. And to prove the point of how we've muddied the waters as a people, as a society, I want you to think about even death. Think about a funeral. Think about the sermons you've heard at funerals. Think about the obituaries you've read in the paper. We've watered down death to the point to where it smells good. Well, they didn't die. They passed. Well, they departed. They're dead. The Bible makes it clear. Some of them sleep, they're dead, they're physically not here anymore. But we try to make death sound like it's not really all of that bad. I heard one pastor say that death is the glorious chariot that ushers us into the presence of Christ. And there's the truth to that. It is the vehicle. It is the vehicle. But you need to understand that that vehicle is not our friend. That vehicle is our enemy. Jesus Christ defeated death. If Jesus Christ defeated death, that means death is not your friend. It's death is the enemy of God. And if death is the enemy of God, then death is your enemy, my friend. And we ought not be scared to call a spade a spade. And we ought not water down and make people think, you know what, well, that's just a harsh word, you know what I mean? That just sounds bad. It sounds bad because it's serious business. But why don't we just water down Jesus? Why don't we just water down the Gospel? I mean, that would sound better to some people. Well, Jesus, He's not the only way. He might be the only way. Why don't we water that down? That's the point where we've gotten to in a society. That we won't even say that somebody's dead because we're afraid we're going to offend somebody. That's just a harsh term. Let me tell you this. You know why death is a harsh term? You know why to say somebody's dead is a harsh term? Because if you recognize that somebody's dead, you recognize that your lifetime is limited upon this earth. You recognize that there is an infinite span of time. of which you have to repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ. There's no neutral ground. There's no, well, you know, in the end, maybe God will let me see and then I'll... I just discussed this a couple of weeks ago in this very church. Somebody said, well, there'll be a time afterwards where people can get saved. Where is that in the Bible? It's beyond that. But people actually believe that, you know, hey, we've got a time span now and you better get saved now. Oh, but but if you don't get saved now, there'll be a second chance for you. And what's called the Great Tribulation for some. But then you'll have the opportunity to repent and believe the gospel. So we're just we're just to take the Bible and throw it out when Jesus think about the apostles, think about the urgency. I plead with you to come to Christ. I'm going to all nations and preaching Christ." Why? Because if they don't come to Christ now, they perish. And so we go and we go and we go and we go. How vain is it to think that every missionary journey you've ever been on, every time you've ever shared the Gospel, it didn't really matter because you know what? They're going to get a second chance in the end anyway. There's really no sense of urgency. When Jesus said, you will be my witnesses now, well, He didn't really mean that we had to do it now. Because there would be this secondary time period in which man could be saved. This argument is prevalent in our society. And what you and I as Christians, we need to understand that Paul, John, and John, the oldest living apostle, you watch his words from the Gospel of John to his epistles and into the book of Revelation, and watch how his wording somewhat changes. Hey, let me ask you this question. And I know I'm way off my notes and you're probably like, man, he is like a ping pong ball. Let me ask you this question. When is Jesus coming back? When the Father dispatches Him, right? When He goes, right? That's a good, solid, biblical answer. But at what point in time in human history? When should we expect His return? Every minute of every day. No man knows the hour at any given time. Why would the Gospels tell us to expect Him at any moment? Paul, talking about the second coming, says, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, it happens. Now, you think about this. What's your sense of urgency? You know what? There's really no need for me to tell you, because when people see that happen, well then, they can just believe on the back side of that and get saved. Because then they will have seen. But the Word of God tells us, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. Do you see the problem? Am I the only one? You with me? This is what is being taught. The waters are being muddy to where people can't see the clarity of the gospel. Because the muddier the waters are, the harder it is to catch something. You ever fish for crawdads? When I was a kid, we used to get in a creek and you'd lift up a rock real slow and you could see the crawdad in it and you'd grab him. But if you lift up the rock too fast, you'd muddy up the water and you couldn't see nothing. The whole point was to be clear so that you can catch the point. And you and I need to be as clear as we can with the gospel. There's no need to muddy the waters. There's no need to make things unclear. Just read the Scriptures. Just tell them what the Bible says. And then leave God to do God's work. God's the one who circumcises people. It's hard. He's the one who deals with the human heart. He's the one in Romans, bless His holy name, that said every single human on this planet already knows that there's a God. Ain't that something? That when you and I go to witness to somebody, we don't have to try to convince them that God exists. God says in their heart they know He exists. And if you believe His Word, you can take that to the bank. So when you deal with somebody in witnessing, you don't have to start from ground zero trying to prove that God exists. They know. They know He exists. All we've got to do is preach the truth. Church, understand this. Christian circumcision is a spiritual act. We don't have to add to and we don't have to do physical things in order to prove ourselves as redeemed. Jesus Christ alone has done that work. Jesus has accomplished our salvation. We rest in that and we trust in that. And that is a freeing experience. Father, we thank you for grace. We thank you for mercy. Father, your kindness, which leads us to repent.