Open with me, if you would, to Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapter 2. We looked at verses 1 through 10 last week. I'm going to read beginning in verse 8 and read through verse 19, which we'll look into this morning. This short passage. covers and speaks about a number of very large subjects dealing with Christ and Christianity. Going to see about the new birth, how one is born again. Going to see about the circumcision of the heart. Going to see as well the work of Christ as it pertains to what he did to disarm Satan, to limit his power even further. And so there is a great deal packed into these few verses. So let's read. 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 head over all rule and authority. That refers to all beings, physical, spiritual. And in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon or Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come. But the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. We have seen that the Apostle Paul's primary motivation in writing to the saints at the church at Colossae was his concern that they might be influenced by false teachers and thereby led away from Christ. Chapter 2, verse 4, Paul told his readers that this was the very reason he was writing. I say this, he said, so that no one will delude or deceive or cheat you with persuasive argument or enticing words. And so in verse 8 he warned them, See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. And the reason he warned them to avoid those who sought to add the traditions of men and worldly principles to Christ is because every believer is complete in Christ. There's nothing lacking in Christ. And Paul here is going to show them the glory of Christ this morning. And his point has been, if you have the Spirit of Christ dwelling within you, there is nothing lacking, either for your salvation or for this life. Why? Because, look at verse 9, in him all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form. So if you have his Spirit indwelling you, You have the fullness of deity indwelling you. And verse 10 affirms this. They had been made complete in Him. And these words, which maybe some skip over, are very important. He is head over all rule and authority. Satan does not have power over Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ limits the power of Satan, as we will see. So in this morning's passage, beginning in verse 11, Paul lays out for them and for us the reasons why they should resist all teaching other than the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Paul packs as much saving truth in the next seven verses as are found perhaps anywhere in Scripture. His point is this, if anyone is to attain to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, as Paul called it, he must know not the principles of the world. You don't need to know the world's standards of morality. You don't need to know the traditions that men have invented. You need to know Jesus Christ. That's how you attain to all the blessings that come from the knowledge of the truth. True knowledge, true wisdom, and God's blessing are found only in knowing Him. This isn't my idea. This is what the Word of God teaches us. This is what Jesus taught when He was on earth. He's the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to God but through Him. And God proved the truth of what Jesus said how? By raising Him from the grave. So Paul warned these people, don't be taken captive by any other teaching or philosophy. And Paul, as he wrote to the Galatians, look, to even add to Christ, to say you've got to believe in Christ and you have to do X, Y, and Z is also the same as to deny Christ. That's why religions that do that are false religions. When it comes to matters of life and eternity, don't buy into anything outside of Christ or outside of Scripture. But there's more. And this morning, Paul writes again of the glory of Christ and the incredible work He has done in every true believer. In verse 11, now just look at this. Again, these are pictures, but they're pictures of real truths. In Him you were also circumcised, not circumcision as we know it, but with a circumcision made without hands. in the removal of the body of the flesh. And this is accomplished by the circumcision of Christ. He says, having been buried with Him in baptism. Again, he's not talking about water baptism, and we'll get to that in a minute. In which you were also raised up with Him. The way this happens is through faith in the working of God. It's always been that way. Those who believe God and believe in Him. are the saved. Now in these words here in verses 11 through 14, Paul teaches us about the work of Christ Jesus done in the heart and the spirit of every true believer. That's why this is such a momentous passage. And he uses the Old Testament practice of circumcision, the old covenant practice of circumcision, to illustrate the spiritual work that God does in the heart of every person who is born again of the Spirit. So that circumcision of the body was a picture of what God does when He saves somebody in the believer, how He changes their heart. And He speaks of this, as we'll see here, in terms of the joining of that person into union with Christ through the new birth. Now why does Paul use the picture of circumcision? Well, because in God's covenant with Abraham, circumcision, it marked off, identified the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as those who were God's covenant people, His people. removal of part of the body identified them as different from other people, as God's people. And it was a way for them to voice their agreement to keep the terms of God's covenant, which were many, both the moral law and all of the ceremonial law. But that practice did not save anyone. It didn't save anyone. Abraham was not saved because he was circumcised. He was saved because he believed God. That has always been the only way of salvation. Belief in God and His Word. There isn't anything we can do that's good enough to merit salvation, folks. Believing God is the way. And in his letter to the churches of Galatia, alluding to and quoting the words of Genesis 15, 6, which I just cited, and Genesis 12, 3, Paul wrote this. Here's Galatians 3, 6. Even so, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Righteousness, meaning you're justified. You are not guilty before Me. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are the sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham. And what does he say the gospel is? Genesis 12.3, all the nations will be blessed in you. So then, those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham the believer. And Paul will tell us over and over again, that's both Jew and Gentile. There's one way in for everybody, and it's faith in Christ. Abraham was saved the same way anyone is saved, through believing the gospel. And notice Paul calls Genesis 12.3 the gospel. Physical circumcision, on the other hand, simply identified those circumcised as God's people. It indicated their agreement to the terms of the covenant, and it foreshadowed the circumcision of the heart that we're reading about this morning. Galatians 5.6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love. And that means a faith that is demonstrated in a life that loves God. Galatians 6.15 For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision but a new creation. He must be born again to enter or see the kingdom of God. And in verse 16 he refers to the people of faith as the Israel of God. Salvation requires a different kind of circumcision than that old covenant circumcision. It requires a circumcision of the heart, what Paul calls here a circumcision made without hands. And this was clear even in the time of Moses and throughout the history of the nation of Israel. Look at Deuteronomy 10, 16. He tells them circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer. Deuteronomy 36, if they kept the covenant, the Lord would circumcise their heart. If one sought the blessing of God under the Mosaic covenant of work. That covenant and the law that God gave as He thundered from Mount Sinai with lightning flashing and lava flowing down the mountain and smoke rising. Somebody wanted God's blessing under that covenant. The circumcision of the heart could only come by perfect obedience to God's law. Yeah, you could have the earthly blessings by sticking to the rituals. But circumcision of the heart could only come by perfect obedience and nobody could do that. But under the new covenant, the one we celebrated in this supper, God's covenant of grace, He circumcises the hearts of His people as a free act of His mercy, compassion, and love. Did you hear that? He circumcises our hearts based on nothing we've done. as an act of His free grace. This is the gift that the believers at Colossae and in every nation have received. What did this circumcision of the heart mean? Well, it means God marked off His people by removing something from them. And that something was the stain of sin and the guilt of sin. And by working a change in the hearts of these people, There are two direct effects of this circumcision made without hands. God removing the stain of sin from the believer, He just spiritually excises it. And second, and this is important for how we live, the person who has been circumcised with a circumcision made without hands is no longer ruled and subject to the desires of the flesh. He's now come under the rule of the Spirit. The Spirit now occupies the throne even though the flesh still lurks about, doesn't it? Seeking to again take control of us. This is the war that Paul writes about fairly frequently. Ephesians 6, Romans 7. But remember something folks, before the new birth, before this circumcision of the heart, there was no warfare. There wasn't any warfare. The flesh ruled without opposition. This is what happens when God circumcises our heart, though. Now the Spirit takes control. And the one who has received from God the circumcision made without hands is encouraged by Paul over and over again to fight this battle because now you're equipped to do it. Galatians 5.16, he says, walk by the Spirit and you won't carry out the desire of the flesh. If you respond to the rule of the Spirit, Which you can only do if God has done this work in you. You won't carry out the desire of the flesh, meaning you won't sin. We always yield to the Spirit or to the flesh. That again, unless one is born again of the Spirit of God and receives this circumcision of the heart, this conflict between the Spirit and the flesh doesn't even begin. It doesn't even start. until Christ comes and indwells you. Paul makes this point in several of his letters, that the true Israelites, the true sons of Abraham, are those who have received, not physical circumcision, but this circumcision made without hands, those who are of faith. Look at Romans 2.29, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly The circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. He is a Jew who is one inwardly. To be a true Israelite is to be a person who believes God and believes in Him. Paul then shows us that those who have had the stain of sin removed by this act of spiritual circumcision have been joined to Christ. have been raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. How? Not through going into the water. Not through any works you do. Through faith in Him, Paul says. And in the work He has done. Now Paul is going to use the language in the picture of immersion, baptizo is the Greek word, to show this. having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. Paul is not speaking of water baptism here. The Presbyterians would tend to want to teach that way. But that's not what this is. This verse speaks of the great blessing, something far greater than that one. This is the great blessing of being brought into union with the risen Christ. you were immersed into Him. This comes with the new birth, a gift of God, by which He makes the spiritually dead sinner alive, and in which the spiritually dead sinner is raised up with Him. The old person is buried, and a new person, a new creation arises in Christ. How does he do this? Well, look at the next few words. Through faith in the working of God. Faith. It's believing God that unlocks all these treasures. He opens sinners' eyes to the truth of the gospel. What you believe, not only dictates everything about how you live here, it dictates your eternity. Some, as I said, mistakenly, I believe, see a reference to water baptism here. But Paul here connects the new birth, being raised back to spiritual life, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and being brought into union with Jesus Christ, not with water baptism, but with faith. And we must understand that no one is saved, no one is joined to Christ, no one is raised up with Him to new life through water baptism. A man may be baptized in water a thousand times, but if he does not believe and is not jointly raised up with Christ, he's not saved. One is saved and raised up with Christ only when one is born again and made spiritually alive. Paul wrote about being baptized, immersed, joined into Christ in several of his letters here. Look at Romans chapter 6 verse 3 and this will explain this for us. Or do you not know that all of us have been baptized? And you should see the word joined there, or immersed. Baptized into Christ have been baptized into His death. Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in the newness of life. And then Paul clarifies his meaning here. He's speaking of union with Christ. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. knowing this, that the old self was crucified with Him. That only happens when the heart is circumcised, when one is born again. Jesus has given us water baptism as a means by which we declare our identification with Christ, our belief in Him, to the world. That's what water baptism is. We profess our union with Christ in His death and resurrection and our resolve to follow Him and obey Him for the rest of our lives. But only God can raise us up to new life. The circumcision of the heart is the work of God. Awakening the dead spirit of the sinner and joining him into Christ and bringing him into union with Christ and His body. And these saving truths shine forth now in verses 13 and 14. Now Paul's going to lay this out for us in even clearer terms. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive. And not only did He make you alive, He made you alive together with Him. And at the same time, having forgiven all our transgression and canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us through the law, which was hostile to us because we couldn't keep it. And He's taken it out of the way. We don't have to keep the law, even if we could, in order to receive His blessing. It's been nailed to the cross. So here Paul lays out in the clearest possible terms that it is only by the grace of God, and not by anything we did or could have done, that a person is born again, is made alive again. He made you alive. The new birth is the work of God. And it happened not once we'd made our profession of faith. It happened when you were dead in your transgressions, before you believed. It happened when you did not believe. It happened when you were not walking with Him, that He made you alive together with Him. Same truth in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 6 verses. Remember again what happened in the Garden of Eden. Adam sinned and died spiritually in that instant. And there wasn't a thing he could do about it. And all his physical descendants, all humanity, were born spiritually dead. Born spiritually dead. Born doomed to eternal condemnation unless God effected a rescue. and sent a Savior. Folks, no one could do anything to make himself or herself spiritually alive. Nobody. Anybody who thinks they can is in error. You can't make yourself spiritually alive. Only God could restore anyone to spiritual life. The Bible calls this being born again. It's entirely a work of God. It's not the result of anything we think or do or say. No one has ever been born again by some decision they made. And when He gives us new life, He gives us eyes to see the truth and believe. Why? Because He's merciful. There's no other reason. There's no human reason that would make any sense for why He would do that. Because we don't love like God loves. Why does God save anyone? That's the question. Because he's merciful. And he does this by the same power that raised Jesus from the grave. Romans 8, 10, If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the body is going to die, yet the Spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, which Paul talked about earlier, He who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit. Through His Spirit He gives life to us. His Spirit who dwells in you. Now look, while only God can bestow new life on a person, from our perspective, the road toward possession and enjoyment of these blessings has to include a couple things. First is faith. Believe Him. And then genuine sorrow for our sin. And a yearning desire to forsake that sin, to turn away, to change the way we're living. I have a question here. I read this. We've got a Sunday school teacher asking a class. What does it mean to repent? A little boy answered. To repent means to be sorry enough to quit doing what is wrong. From the mouths of babes. God has not only made us alive together with Christ, He declares that at the very moment of the new birth. I told you this was a rich passage. At the very moment of the new birth, what else happened? Not only were we raised from spiritual death, our sins are declared forgiven. The debt we owe Him because of our sin against Him is canceled out. Nailed to the cross. We've broken His law. We're all guilty. Every one of us. But He has granted us mercy. We stand before Him and He grants us mercy. He's already done it. And He has forgiven all our crimes against Him. Who does that for nothing in return? the price of our sin, as we know, was paid on the cross by His own Son. He served our sentence. And it was a brutal, brutal sentence. Well, God did something else in this saving work. And this is another remarkable verse, verse 15. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He says that almost in passing. He disarmed the spiritual, wicked, authorities and rulers. He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through him. Here Paul reveals for us the glorious victory of Christ over sin, Satan, and all the wicked spirits who followed Satan. Yeah, they're still out there. They are limited folks. Notice the word Paul uses. He disarmed the rulers and authorities. took away some of their weaponry. We learn throughout Scripture that while Satan does have power, his power is at all times limited by God. We saw this prominently, where? In the first two chapters of Job, where Job goes before God and says, Job would not serve you if you didn't bless him so abundantly. And God says, He's going to let him cause harm to Job, but you can't kill him. He puts a limit on what Satan could do to Job. And at the cross, folks, this is another thing we don't talk about enough. There was a further reduction of the power of Satan and his minions. Jesus spoke of this. He does it in a parable here in Matthew 12, 28. If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then what? What does that mean? That means the kingdom of God has come upon you. And then he uses the picture, illustration of the binding of a strong man to describe what he was doing. Or how can anyone enter the strongman's house and carry off his property unless he first binds the strongman? And then he will plunder his house. We're going to look at that binding again here in another second. Luke 10, 17 though, look what happens. He sends his disciples out and gives them authority over the demons. They return with joy saying, Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I was watching Satan fall like lightning. Christ did great damage to the power of Satan when he came the first time. And he says, Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, pictures of evil spirits, over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. So in what way were Satan and his evil spirits disarmed? They could no longer suppress the truth. That's the biggest thing. In a matter of weeks after the crucifixion, the gospel of salvation had exploded all over the world. First in Jerusalem, then in Judea, then into Samaria. Within a few years, it literally was into Asia and Europe. the disarming of Satan and the spirits of evil, I believe is expressed here in John's vision in Revelation 20 in this way. He says, I saw an angel coming down from heaven. He laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and he bound him for a thousand years. Now, people argue about what that thousand years means and when it is and if it's literal, but that's not the point. Look at verse 3. He bound him so that he would deceive the nations no longer. Christ caused enormous damage to Satan in his victory over him at the cross, in his disarming of him. So in the last hundred years or so, I know many view this passage in Revelation as describing events yet to come. But Paul shows us here that Satan has already been disarmed, that his power has already been severely curtailed by Jesus on the cross. And whatever you want to believe about Revelation 20, Those things are true. Satan has been disarmed. And his power has been severely limited. And third, he cannot deceive the nations. That's why you're all believers now. When there weren't churches filled with believers before Christ came and died on the cross. Yes, Satan can still tempt people. But he cannot stop the gospel from going forward. The last time I looked, I believe it was the Pew study said 650 million professing Christians over the world right now. By far the most ever. Do you know in 1950 that number was 80 million? That's just 68 years ago. Now it's 650 million. Satan is losing folks. Revelation 12.9 we see something else that happens. Satan can no longer accuse those who are in Christ of their sin before God. You see, before Christ came, Satan could walk up to the judgment seat and say, this one's guilty. And he'd be right. He'd bring me up in front and he'd say, he's guilty. Prosecute him. He'd be right. Not any longer. Not any longer. Revelation 12, 9 pictures this. The great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and Satan. who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth and His angels were thrown down with Him. And then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come. I'm telling you, they've come already. And look what He says, For the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, and He who accuses them before our God day and night. He can't accuse you any longer. Do you understand that? He cannot accuse you before God. Why? Because you're not guilty. If you're in Christ, you are not guilty. Yeah, this has already occurred. Christ has already defeated Satan. He just hasn't put him away in his final resting place yet. Look what Christ did in his life. What did he do first? He resisted Satan's temptation in the wilderness. He conquered sin personally. by refusing to submit to temptation. Matthew 4.1, He was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He passed the test. Then He exercised authority over Satan's demons on earth. How did He do that? He cast demons out of people by a word. He gave authority over wicked spirits to His disciples. And he's limited Satan so that he can no longer deceive the Gentiles from believing the gospel. And now, that's not all, now Christ has been seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places, all things. placed in subjection to Him. Look at Ephesians, beginning in the latter part of chapter 1, verse 19. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might, which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places... Now look at this. ...far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet. Those rulers and authorities and power and dominion are referenced to spiritual beings. Victory is won. And not only that, but because Christ has brought about the removal of the guilt and the stain of sin from our hearts, Satan can no longer accuse us before God. Because those who are joined to Christ are no longer guilty. How can you not love this passage? So what's the application of these truths for the saints at Colossae? What do they mean for us? Well, Paul answers the question for both of us. And the answer is the same for us as it was for them. But he gives us the answer here, beginning in verse 16. Therefore, he says, in light of all of this, Satan defeated, Christ raised up, you raised up with him. You made alive, rescued from spiritual death, your sins forgiven. Don't let anyone act as your judge and tell you you've got to eat these foods or drink these things or do this festival or that new moon or Sabbath day. And by the way, that reference to Sabbath day has to do with a legal requirement. It doesn't mean you don't come before God and worship Him. It's not a rejection of the worship of God on the Lord's Day, now the first day of the week. It isn't a law that gets you in like it was to give them God's favor in those days. It's a gathering of His people that shows they desire to worship Him, that they are thankful for His blessing. That's why He's called us to do it and commanded us, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. But all those things in the Jewish law were just shadows, he says, of what is to come. The reality, the substance is Christ. They were all pictures of Him. He says, don't let anyone tell you you're not safe with God because you're not engaging in these rituals. Because you're not following these rules. The rules and the rituals, the ceremonies, were mere foreshadowings of Christ. Not my words, Paul's words, inspired by the Holy Spirit. And as we read in the book of Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 13, all of that has been rendered obsolete. By what? Christ's sacrifice on the cross. Look at Paul's words. A mere shadow these Levitical sacrifices were. A mere shadow of what was to come. Salvation is in him and in him alone. His work of salvation is complete. As he said before he breathed his last, it is finished. The sacrifices and ceremonies had served a purpose. They pointed to Christ. But now that Christ had come, there was no further purpose to those shadows. And this was true in respect to the Old Testament regulations God had given them. It was certainly true with respect to all those regulations the Pharisees had added. And this is also obviously true regarding any and all pagan rituals, which were never anything other than idolatry. Wicked practices such as self-abasement in the worship of angels or spirits. Anything which purports to be necessary in addition to Christ, takes away from Him. Paul writes that over and over again in Galatians. So he says in exhorting them at the end. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement in the worship of angels. taking his stand on visions he claims to have seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, not holding fast to the head from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God. See, some were involved in angel worship. Others sought to gain divine favor by inflicting physical pain on themselves. Some pretended or perhaps even believed they saw visions. And then they sought to gain a following to share those visions with. We have some of those on the TV today. But Paul says, don't be fooled by anything apart from what you've heard from Christ. God has given us His Word, and there alone do we find the truth. What do we take from all this? Well, first of all, he who does not cling to Christ, he who does not hold fast to the head, as Paul puts it, he who fails to see that Christ is all sufficient for salvation and that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him, not only misses out on all of the glorious blessings and the glorious eternity Christ has made possible, he puts himself in grave danger. And that's Paul's message for us this morning. Hold fast to Christ. Look at all He's done. And if you've not come to Him for forgiveness and new life, come to Him. Take hold of Him. Take Him into your heart and never let go. We who are part of His body, we who are called to live our lives trusting in Him for the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life need look nowhere else for truth or salvation. We don't need to look for any other source to overcome sin or to increase in our knowledge, our virtue, our joy, or contentment. Our hope and our only hope is in holding fast to Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray even in this instant you are speaking to the heart of everyone gathered here. If anyone, Lord, has not come to you for forgiveness and new life, I pray you would urge them to do it and proclaim that even in this moment. And Lord, those of us who have seen your blessings and the work of your Spirit, I pray you would impact our hearts greatly by this incredible word. The knowledge of You is the source of our life, not only in our physical birth, but Lord, our spiritual rebirth. We thank You that You've joined us to our Lord and Savior, who we don't deserve. And we thank You, Lord, that You've already won the victory for us and equipped us to fight that battle for Your kingdom and for Your glory. In Christ's name, Amen.