to a man who was the most skilled theoretical car mechanic. So this guy was amazing. If you asked him, how do you change a timing bell on a 1976 Ford Cortina, within a split second this man was there. He could tell you exactly how to do it. But of course, I've kind of hinted there that there's a problem. that this guy was the most amazing theoretical car mechanic. But when it came to the practice, he was absolutely hopeless. Yes, he could tell you how to change the timing belt on a Ford Cortina, but see if he'd try to do it. What an absolute mess. What a catastrophe there would be. Well, it's that sort of transition from the theoretical to the practical that we are dealing with tonight, okay? Now you'll remember, not last week, but a couple of weeks ago, last night, that Paul in Colossians, he's urging these people to absolutely reject out of hand all the sort of false teaching that's going on in that place. And he's urging them to see that fullness, spiritual fullness, all spiritual fullness, it comes to them only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's what he said last time out, but it is that same theme that we encounter this evening as he moves really into how practically that spiritual fullness in Christ should affect you and I, and how it should practically affect how we worship God and how we worship Jesus Christ. As I looked at these verses this week as we were going through it and preparing the study, I was sort of reminded about what one of my old ministers used to say to me. An old man, he used to sort of say to me, I've heard it from him a couple of times, he would say, Sonny, there is no such thing as a coincidence. And I'm sort of beginning to believe him, think he's right, because this morning, you remember, we looked at Christian liberty, yeah? That Christ has freed us from evil. Well, it's again, tonight, all the way through in these verses, it's to that theme, and to the Christian's freedom, the freedom that Christ has won for us, that we are returning. So with that in mind, let's get into this, okay? Please have Colossians chapter 2 open there in front of you. Those verses from verse 16 to the end of the chapter. Okay, let's think firstly about the fact that Christ has set us free from lifeless legalism. Christ has set us free by the cross from lifeless legalism. That's our first hit. Okay, here just now, in these verses, we are in the midst of what some people have called the warning section of Paul's letter to the Colossians. Paul has been, over the last few times that we've read this, and Paul is here warning people. He is cautioning the Colossian Christians about these sort of false teachers and the heresies that they are bringing to them. Now, if you're looking at this, if you have got the Bible in front of you, you'll see from verse 16 that what Paul is speaking against is the idea that these false teachers, they were being, you know, critical that they were standing in judgment over the congregation in Colossae. Now, what is it exactly that they were saying? What is it that we need to learn here? I'm going to suggest a couple of things. First of all, it would seem to be the case from what we've read that the false teachers were imposing a set of rules on that congregation. Just look at verse 16. Now what have you got in verse 16? Like you've got mention of eating, what else? Eating, drinking, what else is there? Observance of festivals. Okay, so what's that about? What is Paul speaking against? Well it would seem to be the case that the false teachers are saying to this congregation of Colossae, you want to grow spiritually, do you? You want to spiritually advance? Well these false teachers are saying, you must not drink this. You must eat. You want to advance spiritually? Okay, you're going to observe this festival? You're not going to observe. So they're standing, you see it? Coming into this congregation of Klossie, standing in judgment, setting out all of these big rules and regulations. So that's one thing. I suppose maybe even more importantly, we also see that these rules, they're harking back to Old Testament worship, aren't they? You see what I mean? It's not like the false preachers are just sort of out of the blue talking about eating and drinking. It's not like they sort of stand in front of the Colossian congregation, take a hat, you know, take out a bit of card and say, okay, right, let's just not observe this festival or let's observe this. It's not that, is it? The language that Paul is using to speak against them is Old Testamental language. So this is about Jewish food laws and this is about Jewish observance. Do you see what the false teachers are doing? They are trying to grab the Colossians and drag them back into modes of worship that happened in the past. that happened, crucially, before Christ. Do you see what Paul has to say about this? I love Paul and this sort of stuff because he just, he just nails it. I mean, it's so blunt. He's saying to the Colossians, guys, why would you want to go back to Old Testament worship? That stuff was created to point forward. That stuff, they were signs to point to the Lord. Look what he says in verse 17. Those things were just a shadow of what was to come. You've got the reality. Why do you need a shadow? The reality is found in Christ. Now, if you're awake, I hope you're following me so far. You see what's happening? People were imposing rules and it's old testamental rules on a congregation. I think what we've got asked though is whether that sort of stuff could happen today. You know, imposing sort of an Old Testament sort of mode of worship on a Christian congregation. Could that happen today? I think it could. I was speaking to Gabriel a couple of months ago and Gabriel was telling me about a building project in South America And he told me that a Christian denomination in, I think it's Sao Paulo, but I could be wrong about that detail. But a Christian denomination, what they have done is spend, wait for this, okay? About $300 million on rebuilding an exact replica of Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. So you heard that right, 300 million dollars spent by Christian Church on rebuilding Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. Surely, if you're a Christian tonight, you see how mad that is, do you not? You see how crazy that is? Like, why spend all that time and all that money and all that energy rebuilding what is a foreshadow of the dwelling place of God when, as Christians, what do we have? We have the real dwelling place of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, already with us in our hearts. I mean, it is madness, isn't it? It's craziness. But perhaps more than asking, could this sort of stuff, you know, harken back to Old Testament rules, regulations of worship, more than asking whether that could happen today, maybe we should ask whether that could happen in here. Maybe we should ask whether that could happen in our hearts. And again, I think the answer to that is yes, it absolutely could. See, isn't it true that because of our sin, that we can almost without thinking create a sort of a list of do's and don'ts and rules and regulations about how we conduct ourselves. Isn't that the case? that we think, even this year, I am going to do this, and this, and this, and this, and I'm going to grow. I'm going to flourish. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this, and spiritually speaking, I'm going to grow. Now it could be legitimate things. It could be, I'm going to focus on the prayer meeting. I'm going to focus on that. And I'm going to focus on reformed expository preaching. That's going to be the focus. Or I'm going to focus on Lord's Day observance. I'm going to focus on that. And of course, look, those things are fine. But wait, do you see the problem? We can end up as Christians looking to those things and not looking to Jesus Christ. We can, in effect, be harking back to an Old Testament system where we are looking at shadows, we are looking at pointers and we are not looking to the one who deserves to be pointed to. You see, it's not about prayer. It's about praying to Christ. It's not about preaching. It's about listening for Christ, seeing Christ. It's not about Lord's Day observance. It's about doing that for the glory of God. Friends, the splendor and the beauty of the gospel is that there's now no need for all these rules and regulations that Christ has He's fulfilled all of that. I tell you this, now, this side of Calvary, worship is so simple. It is not about shadows. It is about your Saviour. And it is not about sort of methods. It is about your Messiah. It is not about rules and regulations. It is about our Redeemer. It's about Him. So what we do, in worship and in our Christian life is not focusing things, things. Instead, let us focus entirely on our exalted and risen Christ. It's about Him. So Christ has set us free from lifeless legalism. Secondly, we see that Christ has set us free from spiritual subjugation. Spiritual subjugation. Okay, now, you may or you may not remember the 2011 Athletics World Championships. Okay, now, If you do remember that, you remember that there was a sort of big hoo-ha about, a big focus on the men's 100m final. Okay, if you follow these things you'll remember why. Because you had Usain Bolt, fastest man on earth, and he was sort of up against, pitted against, you know, his young rival, I think his name's James Blake, And everyone's on the edge of their seat, you know? They're waiting for this, you know, they're waiting for the starting gun. 100 metres, final, fantastic. Do you remember what happened? Usain Bolt false starts and the man's disqualified and it is the biggest anti-climax in history. Well, see, that there is the imagery that Paul is using in these verses here. Because what we've got is a situation that the false teachers aren't just sort of imposing lots of rules and regulations. They are also trying to, get this, they are trying to disqualify some of the Christians in Colossae. So it's not just that they are being judgmental. That Paul is writing and warning against these people being condemned by these false teachers. What's going on here? What are the false teachers insisting the Colossians do? I'll ask you to do something. If your Bible's open, I just want you to look at verse 18. Because it's a strange verse. Paul's speaking against and mentions the worship of angels. You don't hear that an awful lot in Scripture. Now, I don't think necessarily that it means that the false teachers, these preacher guys, were worshipping angels. If we looked in depth at the language, it's much more It's much more likely that these guys are claiming, now follow this because this is the main point in this second heading. These false teachers are claiming that by observing all these rules and regulations, that they have had a spectacular spiritual vision. And by that vision, they have joined with the angels in worshipping God. And Paul's talking here. It seems as though these false teachers are not just claiming to have had this wonderful spiritual experience, but that they are just, what does Paul say, going into great detail. You know, they're standing and sort of beating the Colossian Christians over the head with this spiritual experience that they have had. And they're saying to the congregation, this is what you've got to pursue. You guys, you need this strange and unique spiritual experience in your own lives. Do you see how Paul reacts? Paul says, what utter rubbish. Paul says that people who, and this is important, people who raise up the pursuit of a spiritual experience over the pursuit of Christ, Paul says that they have lost connection with the head, that they have lost connection with Jesus. Now, okay, that seems to give us, I don't know, when I was reading it and studying it, I thought that gives us more of an understanding of what it was like to be part of that Colossian church. But here's the thing that I want to ask you. Do you think we could be guilty of the same thing? Do you think this exists today? The pursuit of an unusual spiritual experience to the detriment of focusing on Christ? Could that happen? Let me tell you a story, a short story. When I became a Christian, soon after that, in the weeks after that, I landed a job working in a Christian bookshop. A reasonable-sized Christian bookshop. And just when I started the job, we had these sort of staff meetings that I'm sure you've been to and seen happen. And they had heard that I'd just become a Christian, so they wanted me to sort of tell them how I had become a Christian. I was a bit nervous about it, you know. But I stood in front of the staff, and they're all seated, and I told them all sort of gory details about how God had saved me. And I thought at the end, I've done that really well, you know, that's gone okay. And then an elderly woman picks her hand up and she says, Andy, that's wonderful that that's happened, but I hope you see that you are not truly a Christian yet. I said, okay, what do you mean? And she said, you're not truly saved. You've not properly experienced salvation until you have had a second blessing, until you have had a further and a deeper and a richer experience of the Holy Spirit. And as a young Christian, I guess I still am, but as a young Christian I was a wee bit bewildered by what this woman had to say. I wonder, do you see the mistake that she was making? Just like it is in Colossae with his false teachers, she was raising up this unusual spiritual experience and the pursuit of that and she was raising it high and above the pursuit of the Lord Jesus Christ. What I want to say here is that please let us not sort of dissolve into any sort of spiritual snobbery about a Pentecostal or a charismatic church. No chance. That is not something that could just happen there. This is a problem that can happen in here. Because I want you to ask yourself this. See, deep down, you come into a worship service, even here, What is it that you're ultimately after? Is it not sometimes a feeling? Is that not sometimes what we want in worship? Is it not to be moved? Is it not sometimes just to have an emotional buzz? Isn't that the same even in our private devotional time? We think that these things maybe even aren't valuable, not worthwhile, until I kind of feel a bit, no. And aren't we just so enthralled and interested when we hear that other people and other Christians have had some sort of, you know, strange spiritual experience. We see a book about that, we go, we read it, we love it, we're attracted to that, we want that sort of thing, we love that idea. Well, do you see what Paul is saying to the Colossians here? He is saying do not follow people just because they've had a spiritual experience. Do not lift up an unusual experience over the Lord Jesus Christ. What Paul is saying, and please hear this, is that in worship, the desire of our hearts must not be on just being moved. The desire of our hearts in worship must be on the one. He must be the one, the one who has bled and died for sin. And if we do that, if we focus in Christ in worship, he's gonna give us these things, you know? We focus exclusively on the Lord Jesus Christ. What Paul says here, Christ is gonna nourish us Christ is going to thrill us. We focus on Christ. He is going to give us absolutely everything that we need. Christ sets us free from lifeless legalism. He sets us free from spiritual subjugation. Third and last heading this evening. Christ sets us free from empty asceticism. And by that I mean that Christ sets us free from pursuing spiritual growth by self-denial, you know? Self-deprivation. Asceticism. Okay, now. Paul closes this warning section of Colossians really by asking these people, why? Why on earth, if Christ has set you free, why would you return to bondage? And he's saying to these people, if Christ has set you free in his death, Why would you go back to a situation, why would you enter a situation of asceticism and self-denial? Because what's clear in what Paul is saying here is that those false teachers were really stressing the idea of a severe type of abstinence. That's what they want the people in Colossae to do, you know? To really deny themselves and abstain from lots and lots of things if they are going to become more spiritual. That maybe seems like a weird idea, does it? But it's certainly, it's certainly an idea that has occurred throughout the ages, hasn't it? This idea that you grow spiritually if you abstain from certain things. Like you'll have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls, yeah? These scrolls that are found in, I'm gonna go for the 1940s. Well, on those scrolls, the scrolls speak of a sort of group, Christian sect, if you like, that did this stuff. You know, that they sort of spent their time in self-denial and abstaining from some of the basics in life with the idea that if they do that, they are going to progress and become wiser. What happens then? But wait a minute, it still happens today. monasteries, different groups, and people thinking that if they deny themselves, they're going to progress and they're going to grow. I think it's one thing for us to accept that this practice still goes on, the self-denial. Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I ask you, is that something that we can slip into thinking? Is it? Can we think like this? You know, haven't we, haven't you at one stage in your Christian life thought, okay, if I give this up, if I deprive myself of this, then I am going to mature greatly. If I deprive myself of this, I am going to flourish. Now, I don't want you to think, and I know I'm on dangerous ground, I don't want you to think that things like fasting don't have a place. Because of course they do. But I do want you to see the danger here. If we focus exclusively on self-denial, you see the error that we're making. We're saying all of this spiritual growth is about me. If I don't do this and I don't do that, I can grow spiritually. I can do this in my own strength. I can do this. And surely if we know anything as Christians, we know that that is not the case. Well thankfully what happens here is that Paul doesn't just warn the Colossians about asceticism. What Paul does is remind these people about where real spiritual growth comes from. Because what he does here, and it's very very clever, is that he calls asceticism, self-denial, he calls it, he says about it, that it has an appearance of wisdom. that this idea of self-denial sounds great. You know, if I deny myself, that's going to be wonderful. I'm going to flourish. It looks great. It has an appearance of wisdom, but that it's not true. Here's what I want to ask you as we end. Do you remember what Paul has said about where true wisdom is found? If this has an appearance of wisdom, What about true wisdom? Well, in the same chapter, he has just said to the Colossians that all the treasures of wisdom, all the treasures of wisdom are found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's saying if you want to grow spiritually, if you want to develop, it is not about asceticism. It is about entirely relying on Jesus Christ. And I think when we see that, we see what all of this is about. Because you take those three things that I said tonight about the false teachers, you will see that they all have one fundamental thing in common. They are all about the actions of man, aren't they? You know, false teachers promoting legalism about man observing rules. And, you know, this asceticism stuff, it's all about man denying himself, the spiritual episodes and pursuing that, it's all about man having experiences. The false teachers are saying, this is about man reaching up to heaven. And what you know, I hope, if you're a Christian tonight, is that because of sin, man cannot reach up to heaven. And that is why by his grace, God has reached down to us in the person of his son. And that's where spiritual health is found, isn't it? It's not by you or me hurting ourselves, injuring ourselves. It's about Christ having been willing to be hurt and injured, being willing to die in our place. Friends, I hope tonight Nothing else. That what the Holy Spirit does in us is fix us on Jesus Christ. That we see tonight as we go out the doors, and we go home, we go into the week, that we see that it isn't about shadows of worship, and it isn't about experiences of worship, it isn't about rules of worship, it is about the King who deserves to be worshipped. It's about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. So let's go, let's live and let's focus and look to Christ. Let's pray.