We have come to the fifth part in our series on the history of Holy Days, finally making it to the period of the New Testament, the new administration. You remember we took this up because of the season. It is the season of the Christ Mass, and it seems as if all of the world, even the Protestant world, has gone after the way of Rome. But it should not be so with us, and it was not so with our fathers in the faith. We started our discussion with the regulative principle of worship, which is this, that God has limited worship to his own revealed will. We are to do all of the things that he commands in worship. We are not to add to those things or to subtract from them. All of the substance or the matter of worship has been commanded. So, God has commanded us to have the reading, preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word of God, prayer, the singing of the Psalms and the administration of the sacraments. This is the substance of the worship, commanded by God. During this present administration, God has left most of the circumstances flexible. Now you remember how we define circumstances? Those are those things that are necessary for the meeting of any human society. So if we are going to gather together, we need a time and a place, a certain way of seating ourselves. These are all the circumstances of worship. And God has left a great degree of flexibility. These things are all to be determined according to the general rules of the Word. Things governed by love. and also consideration as to what is edifying for the people. But God has regulated some circumstances. We might talk about whether or not we're going to meet at 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock on the Lord's Day, but we are going to meet on the Lord's Day. The Lord's Day is a regulated circumstance. A culture might determine whether or not it's going to wear robes or whether it's going to wear business suits. Unregulated circumstances. But there are some regulated, as far as the covering of the women, a regulated circumstance. And so here has been my argument all the way along, that God has reserved for Himself the hallowing of days. It is a regulated circumstance, and that God has not been pleased by human beings pretending to hallow or set apart days. He's never been pleased with them, as we look at all of His Word. With those principles in view, we started to take a look at the history. From the creation to the time of Moses, 2,500 years, 42% of the Earth's current history, there was only one holy day, hallowed by God himself, and that was the weekly Sabbath. The weekly Sabbath is moral and not ceremonial. You say, well, how can you say that it's moral? There's all sorts of contextual things like we find the fourth commandment in the midst of nine others that are all moral and import and abiding. That's very helpful. But to worship God is a moral requirement. And God teaches us what is the fitting amount of time to do that by a positive precept. And this is moral. Six days you will do all of your labor, but on the seventh day you will come apart to worship the Lord your God. This was the only day that you needed to observe for those 2,500 years in order to please God, and there was no other. We passed on from that time to the Mosaic administration, roughly 25% of the Earth's current history, and God began to add what we call ceremonial Sabbaths. The time for the arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ is approaching. And so the Father in Heaven will have Jesus Christ preached through ceremonial holy days or ceremonial Sabbaths. But we ask the question, and we did a lot with this and how Jesus Christ was preached in these things and why they were added for that time. But we ask the question also, when God began to add by His own authority, And remember that it was only God that could alter the moral institution of six days of work and one day of worship. Only He can grant exceptions to His law. Would He be pleased if we attempted as human beings to add to this, or to change it, or to grant other exceptions to His moral precept? Well, the first indication we got of God's disposition, you'll remember it, was Aaron's Feast. that he appointed for the golden calf. And, of course, God was displeased with it, so displeased that he threatened to wipe out the entire nation and raise up a different one to Moses himself. And it wasn't just the golden calf that incited the anger of the Lord. You remember how Moses' wrath burned, not only when he saw the calf, but when he saw the revelry of the holy day, their feasting and dancing. He was incensed. Now, as we mentioned at that time, this in and of itself doesn't necessarily prove that God detests all human holy days or all holy days of human appointing. But it does prove that the monuments to idolatry ought to be taken down. You remember what Moses did. He cast the whole thing into oblivion. He takes that calf and he melts it down and he grinds it into power and he throws it in the water and he makes them drink it. Gone. no monument to idolatry is left standing but we did get a definitive answer to our question would God be pleased with the addition of holy days with Jeroboam and his substitute holy days in first Kings chapter 12 you remember God had set up his system of holy days Jeroboam was afraid that after having divided the kingdom, that his northern kingdom Israelites were going to be taken away to the sons of David, going up to worship in Jerusalem. So what does he do? Well, he provides different temples, as it were, in Dan and Bethel, and he provides the golden calves, and he assigns certain ordinances for those things, and he appoints his own priesthood, and then he also sets up holy days. not the seventh month as God had commanded, but the eighth month, the substitute holy day. It said there in that text, and for the readers of Deuteronomy, this is pregnant, that he did these things that they had arisen out of his own mind, particularly the appointing of the day. It was not God's mind to do such a thing, but it had arisen out of his own mind. Well, why do I say that the reader of Deuteronomy is going to be interested in that? Do you remember Deuteronomy 12.8? That Moses said, we are not going to do what we have done in times past in this worship, everyone what is right in his own eyes. But you are going to keep the commandments of the Lord. So what was the faithful northern kingdom Israelite to do? He was to depart from this false worship in these false holy days and many did during that time left Jeroboam and went down to Rehoboam so that they could have the pure worship of God. And we are to adhere to the true as those northern kingdom Israelites did when they left the northern kingdom and went down to Hezekiah. for the celebration of the Passover all of those centuries later. What a great encouragement it was to the godly to see these Northern Kingdom Israelites coming down after two full centuries to worship God according to God's commandment. This is a long review, isn't it? One last step in what we looked at It was the special problem of the relationship between holy days and extraordinary days of fasting and thanksgiving and they are not the same thing. You remember it said in 2nd Chronicles 30 that not only did they keep the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread in connection with the Passover but they kept seven other days and that with great gladness. These were not additional holy days of their appointing, but rather this was an extraordinary time of thanksgiving for the people. The kingdoms had been divided. The northern kingdom had been taken away almost completely to Jeroboam's idolatry for these centuries. But now they had returned. The ordinances were re-established in Judah after a time of great darkness under Ahaz. And with all of this they abide together thanking and praising God for what he had done and hearing instruction because indeed they knew very little of what the true worship of God was to look like. What's the difference between a holy day and a day of extraordinary thanksgiving? Well, both of them have this in common that they're appointed by God, but this is where they're different. The holy days have been appointed by God by His positive precept in His word, by positive commandment, you will keep these days holy unto me. The day of fasting and the day of thanksgiving are appointed by God, but by His providence. And usually, when His providence dictates, either through some sin requiring God's judgment or some temporal judgment, When God's providence requires a day of fasting, well then you have the day of fasting and it's not continued annually or from year to year. God's providence dictated it for that time. You remember the example from Zachariah where they ran into a problem of conscience in chapters 7 and 8. We've been carried away into exile these 70 years, lamenting the fall of Jerusalem on certain yearly appointed fast days. But now you're back in Jerusalem and yet we've got a long-standing tradition that we lament the fall of Jerusalem on these days. Should we continue? And the answer is no. God is going to turn your former fasting into days of rejoicing. Were they right to set those things up annually? I'm not altogether sure. But we know that they couldn't fix it perpetually, because when God's providence turned towards them, it was no longer fitting for them to be in the midst of lamentation and fasting. We saw the same things with the Thanksgiving days of Purim, where God delivered Israel, preserving true religion in the midst of his people, and also the Feast of Dedication, when the Seleucids were driven out of the temple by the Maccabees. the temple was cleansed as long as the benefits of those things continued they celebrated those things year by year but when the temple was destroyed and taken away and the Jews largely cut off from true religion of course these feast days were not continued because the benefits of them did not last if you look there on your white page from the directory of public worship the appendix What I have provided for you is an Old Testament sketch of the doctrine of our church. The biblical instruction that's behind what they have taught. This is in the blue. This is in the blue page. I'm sorry. Directory of Public Worship. The appendix. There is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel, but the Lord's Day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called holy days, having no warrant in the Word of God, are not to be continued. Nevertheless, it is lawful and necessary, upon special emergent occasions, to separate a day or days for public fasts or thanksgiving, as the several eminent and extraordinary dispensations of God's providence shall administer cause and opportunity to His people. That's all that we've basically just done, looking at the Old Testament. That's the biblical basis for that church doctrine as they give it to us here. Well, today we've made our long course through four sermons, finally to reach the time of the new administration. We begin with Christ and his apostles, and what do we find them doing? But being under the law, the Mosaic law, and its ceremonies, we find them keeping the feast days, the ceremonial Sabbaths, and of course this was right. What does the Apostle Paul teach us in Galatians except that Jesus was born under the law, keeping those ceremonies. And what do we find in the Gospel of John in particular but that Jesus was faithful to go up to the temple at the time of the feast. This was his practice. It's less clear in the other Gospels but you actually have the mention of seven feast days in the Gospel of John where we find Jesus in the temple according to God's commandments. Seven feasts. Well six of them appear to be the ceremonial Sabbaths and one of them the extraordinary time of Thanksgiving, the day of dedication in John chapter 10. So we find them doing it But with the Lord Jesus Christ completing the work of redemption with his crucifixion to take away the guilt of sins, his resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven, we find the church putting away the ceremonial Sabbaths. A great change indeed. 1,500 years their fathers had been observing these ceremonies, but very quickly the church removes these things out of the way. Well, why would they do that? You have to remember what we did. I've been setting this up. Why were the ceremonial Sabbaths added to begin with? To preach Christ. And as Paul says, we'll look at this in Colossians 2, those things were simply shadows that were pointing forward to the body. But now that the body has come, there's no need to go back to shadows. They had fulfilled their purpose. Well, in general we can say that all of the law, the Mosaic law, was about Jesus Christ, all of the Old Testament. That was his own teaching to his apostles after his resurrection. Luke chapter 24. What was all that stuff about? Well, the law and the prophets and the Psalms. We've been looking at the law and its ceremonial Sabbaths. It was all meant to teach concerning me. that I be crucified for sins that I would be raised from the dead and that this gospel and the remission of sins would be preached to the Gentiles that's what the ceremonial Sabbaths are about in a nutshell that's why we took the time to look at them and we find the apostles doing this kind of thing with the ceremonies with the holy days in their teaching Paul said this to the Corinthian Christians Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." What is Paul saying here? He's not commending them to you know, start up again with the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. But he said this was always meant to teach you spiritual truths. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. The guilt of sin is taken away and the power of sin is broken in your lives. You've been delivered out of Egypt, that kingdom of sin and death. And so let us no longer go on in our sins, symbolized by leaven, but let us keep the feast of unleavened bread, putting away the leaven of sin and living in sincerity and in truth. You see, that's what Paul's doing here with these things. Well, we could go on with the significance, and we have looked at it. Jesus Christ, our Passover. Jesus Christ, our High Priest on the Day of Atonement, once and for all, cleansing the heavenly holy of holies with his own blood, offering an atonement for his sin, for the sins of the people, and then sitting down a completed work. Feast of Pentecost. Our Lord Jesus having ascended on high and received as a reward for his messianic labors the Holy Spirit. Now this is very interesting, but Jesus receives the Spirit for his messianic labors in several different capacities. We find that he was given the Spirit without measure his whole life, but the Spirit descends upon him at his baptism as he undertakes his messianic work properly, his last sufferings. But then he ascends on high and the scriptures teach us he receives the spirit again. But in a different way. This time is a reward for his work. And then he turns around and he pours out that spirit upon his people. The feast of Pentecost. And then brings in the first fruits of this new administration. A great and grand crop of converted souls with Peter's first preaching at that time. We should observe also that with the Lord's Supper, and it's fitting to remember this at this time, you see the giving way of the old administration to the new. It's as if you can see the one waxing old like a garment and the other coming in in its strength. the moon setting of the old administration and the sun rising of the new as they celebrate the Passover and that Passover gives way to a new ordinance, the Lord's Supper. And we should recognize that the significance of the Supper is the same. Those old ceremonial days pointed forward to Christ to come and here we have a remembrance, a pointing back to His work, celebrating the very same things that those saints in ancient times did. Jesus Christ has offered His body, a broken body, and shed blood as an atonement to take away the guilt of our sins, the doctrine of justification. By faith you are united to Jesus Christ, and in that union with Him, He answers for your sins. and pays the debt that was due to the justice of God for them you also receive the benefits of his imputed righteousness to you and more than that he feeds you day by day also signified in the supper he is that bread from heaven spiritual nourishment or as he himself teaches his disciples I am the vine and you are the branches and you must always look to me for that vital spiritual sap that is necessary to live the Christian life in this hostile world. I feed you day by day and I will not lose a single one of you. But my feeding will be effectual until that day when we drink of that same cup in the Father's kingdom, the consummated kingdom. So here in this table we are yet looking forward in one regard to that great feast day when we will all be gathered around the Lord's table, every tribe, tongue and nation represented in that place to give glory to God that He had indeed prosecuted our salvation unto its end. and finished his work of redemption and even his work of judgment. So we find here that Christ is preached in the supper. That's part of what it means to discern the Lord's body. Here through these actions you ought to hear Christ being preached and see Christ being preached even as it was in ancient times. With the completion of Christ's redemptive work, the church enters into a very interesting situation, and one sometimes that we can miss. But if we don't understand the situation, we will not understand what Paul teaches about it, because it seems like in some places he teaches contrary things. But it's only when we understand the context that we see the resolution. The ceremonial Sabbaths had been fulfilled. There was no reason to continue with them. But the temple is still standing. And the Jews are still going up year by year to celebrate the ceremonial Sabbaths. This condition went on for about 40 years. See, the ceremonies have been fulfilled. There are no more holy days, additional ceremony of holy days to be kept. And yet the Jews are still going up. And imagine this. Imagine that you are a first century Jewish Christian. You've just heard the preaching of Jesus Christ. You've received Him. You believe that the ceremonies are fulfilled, but yet there's your temple. You've been going up there all your life. And for century after century, God had punished the Jews. for not keeping his ceremonies. Jonathan Edwards in his sermons on the Sabbath day said, why was God so gentle in his instruction about the change of the day with the Jews? And he said, well it's obvious if you think about the situation. Century after century had rolled by where God had punished them severely for not keeping the Sabbath day. So he's most gentle with them when he changes it. Gives them time to be instructed. and to make the change because it would not be an easy thing for them to do to let go of those things that they had so long been instructed in the same sort of situation exists here turning your Bibles to Romans chapter 14 we have to get this or nothing else about this is going to make sense The ceremonies are taken away, but while the temple is still standing, God gives those believing Jews a space for instruction to let go of the old administration and to embrace the new, fully. Romans chapter 14, beginning in verse 1. Him that is weak in the faith, receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things, another who is weak eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not, and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth, for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. Well, remember our context, and first we can take one thing out of the way. Some have used this chapter as a justification for holy days of human inventing. They say, well, you know, let each one be convinced in his own mind whether or not we ought to keep it. It's an optional thing. But that's not what Paul is talking about. Paul's not talking about days of human inventing. He's talking about the ceremonial law. in both points that he references here some Jews were having a hard time letting go of the dietary regulations that had taught them for so many centuries that they are to be a separate and peculiar people different than the Gentiles, you can talk to them in their diet you're not like the Gentiles and you're going to be different but we know from Ephesians that Jesus Christ had kicked down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles and that separation was no longer to be continued and yet for so many centuries and many of these men for their whole lives had kept this ceremonial law concerning their diet now unless we jump to the conclusion well these poor backwards people they should have gotten it right away it took Peter a little time to get it Peter actually needed special revelation from heaven in a vision to get the idea that I need to let go of the dietary regulation and God in his mercy gave Peter that space to learn that lesson now of course if Peter continued with it after that it's just disobedience and so we find Paul confronting Peter to his face in Galatia but still Peter does get the lesson And what does it teach him? He gets a runner from Cornelius' house, the Gentiles. The Gentiles need the word of God preached, the gospel preached. And he goes and he preaches and he sees the Spirit of God descend upon those people as well. And what is the lesson that he got from this? From dietary regulations being relieved, to the Holy Spirit coming, these people belong with us. God is changing the administration. but I would have you notice here that there is a definitive change that has already occurred because under the old administration you had to keep those dietary regulations and you had to keep those holy days and God was not pleased with you if you didn't but here Paul says now this is a courtesy a mercy that's being granted to those believing Jews to get a time for instruction to let go of the old ceremonies Now, notice what is going on here. The weaker brother, probably believing Jews here or Gentiles that have been long in the Jewish religion, they are less clear about their duty. Less clear about whether or not they are to keep the ceremonial law or not. In other words, they seem confused and have a divided mind about how to go forward here. But the situation is otherwise with those that are called the stronger brethren, probably Gentiles, they understand that the ceremonial law has been taken away with its holy days and they simply leave off. And then Paul gives them practical instruction on how they are to dwell with each other in this situation. The stronger brother actually understands the situation better and we have to understand that about this passage. Their understanding that the ceremonial laws are taken away and they're not observing is a better position. They understand it better. But they are told not to despise the weakness of the weaker brethren. They're not to despise them or look down upon them because of this difficulty. It's one that God in his mercy apparently understands right well. The weaker brother is indeed behind. He is weaker. His position is inferior, but God has given him a space to let go. Dr. John Evan, who wrote the section on Romans and Matthew Henry's commentary, completing the work for that great man, said this, the apostle seems willing to let the ceremonial law wither by degrees and to let it have an honorable burial now these weak Romans seem to be only following it weeping to the grave which is a good characterization in both parts God had given a space to let it wither and have an honorable burial and these Roman Christians are apparently following those things to the grave weeping and God has given them a space for that too There's instruction for the weaker brother that he is not to judge the stronger. In other words, the stronger has the right position in letting the ceremonies go. And the stronger brother ought not to let the weaker brother's tender conscience force him back to the old ceremonies. So he's not to judge him. And as we're going to see with the Colossian Christians, those that have come to the understanding are not to relent and go backwards. in a concession to their tender consciences. Now I mentioned earlier that if we don't understand the context of these things, Paul can sound like he's speaking with a forked tongue. But he's not. What we find is a very different instruction to the Galatian Christians. We find that he doesn't seem to be patient about the holy days at all. So here he's been patient with the Roman Christians but not patient with the Galatian Christians. Turn in your Bibles to Galatians chapter 4. Galatians chapter 4 beginning in verse 8. You remember the context of Galatians. This is very important. Some Judaizing teachers had tried to reimpose the old ceremonies upon the Galatian Christians as necessary for their salvation and inclusion in Christ Jesus. Now this is focused mainly upon the subject of circumcision. Generally speaking, Paul also gave a space for circumcision, to let it go. We see that some in Acts, where he'll actually have a Gentile circumcised as a concession to the Jews because of their tender consciences. But it's not so in Galatia, where these Galatian heretical teachers have been teaching that circumcision is necessary for your salvation. Necessary for your justification. And if you use the holy days or the old ceremonies thinking that they are necessary for your salvation, Paul just says, no. He says, no more circumcision. No. And no holy days. No, you're not going to do it. As a matter of fact, their observance of the holy days leads the Apostle Paul in this text to wonder about the state of their souls. Listen to what he says, verse 8. Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain. You see how he's concerned about the state of their souls because they've gone back to the old ceremonies. Why? Because this is not the problem in Rome. These Roman Christians understand we are justified by faith alone. The question is, does God still want us to go out for the ceremonial Sabbaths? That's different than, if you don't keep the ceremonial Sabbaths, you are still in your sins and not united to Christ. And Paul just says, your observance of these days has led me to question the state of your souls. I have something here from Dr. Evan again. Longer than what I normally like to read, but it's such a good summary or harmony of these two passages that I thought it was worth quoting and it's full. Here in Romans 14, the apostle speaks of the distinction of meets and days as a thing indifferent. when it went no further than the opinion and practice of some particular persons who had been trained up all their days to such observances and therefore were the more excusable if they with difficulty parted with them. But in the epistle to the Galatians where he deals with those that were originally Gentiles but were influenced by some Judaizing teachers not only to believe such a distinction and to practice accordingly but to lay a stress upon it as necessary to salvation and to make the observance of the Jewish festivals public and congregational here the case was altered and it is charged upon them as the frustrating of the design of the gospel and a falling from grace the Romans did it out of weakness the Galatians did it out of willfulness and wickedness and therefore the Apostle handles them thus differently. Romans is supposed to have been written sometime before that to the Galatians. The Apostle seems willing to let the ceremonial law wither by degrees and to let it have an honorable burial. Now these weak Romans seem to be only following it, weeping to the grave, but those Galatians were raking it out of the ashes. You see, being Gentiles, he doesn't expect them to take up the ceremonies now afresh. Not to rake those things out of the ashes at this point. It's one thing to have a group of Jewish Christians struggling to let go. It's another thing for Gentile Christians to go and revive them, you see. So he handles them very differently. But what we're going to see that this situation is not unique to Galatia, but in Colossae as well, Paul will not suffer the imposition of the Holy Days upon the Gentile churches and upon Gentiles. He will not suffer it. Those things he's given a space for the Jews to let go, but they are not going to be imposed upon the Gentiles. Turn to Colossians chapter 2. We're going to be looking at this chapter. I'm just going to run through and point out some highlights because this chapter is notoriously difficult and perplexing. One of the reasons it's so difficult is there's a complex of factors that Paul is dealing with all at once. You have pagan philosophy and the mystery religions intruding upon Colossae. Pagan stuff. And you also have Jewish stuff. all trying to intrude and so it's a very complex situation and Paul deals with it all at one swoop based on this principle and we talked about it recently when we talked about the sufficiency of scripture you have all the wisdom that you need in Jesus Christ all of it He's fully sufficient for you. You want to know how to worship God? Worship the way that Jesus Christ has taught you to worship God through the apostles. That's fully sufficient. You don't have to run after the supposed wisdom and traditions of men. That's not going to do you any good. And you don't have to run after the ceremonies of the old administration. Those aren't going to do you any good. Christ is fully sufficient for you. So we have that very statement in verse 3, in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Fully sufficient for you, you don't need to look anywhere else. And because He is fully sufficient for you, you are to cling to Him. Verse 6, as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. In other words, as you have received Jesus Christ from the apostles, in that way, walk in Him. Verse 7, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith, as he hath been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Basically he's saying Christ is your head, he's fully sufficient wisdom, cling to him as he's been taught to you through my ministry, through the ministry of the apostles. Cling to him in that way. But then he gives a warning, and here we have a turn in the chapter in verse 8. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Really you have three things that he mentions here that are threatening them. Philosophy, pagan philosophy and vain deceit, the traditions of men, probably they are pagan ancestors in this case, and the rudiments of the world, which refer to the old Jewish ceremonies. those temporal and material things that they used to teach Jesus Christ to the people but now you are taught Christ in a spiritual way now don't be spoiled by these things or have your inheritance taken away from you by these things because in Jesus Christ you are complete verse 9 for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power Now, to show that Paul is very much concerned with the old Jewish ceremonies, and that's what the rudiments of the world intends, we see it in verse 11, as Paul begins to argue against the Gentiles taking on circumcision. and whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands." I would just have you observe, isn't this what Paul did with the Corinthian Christians concerning the Passover? That that was meant to teach you spiritual truths? And he does the same thing with circumcision here. He's basically saying you don't need the physical circumcision, you have something far better. You are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. Well, what does that mean? and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. In other words, in your union with Christ, sins have been put away. That is your circumcision. But if they were to protest and say, but what about the external rite? I mean, having the reality of baptism doesn't mean we put away the external rite. And Paul says, you have a better external rite. Verse 12, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Basically, Paul points out here that baptism and circumcision signify the same thing. And you have the external right of baptism as well as its reality. You don't have to go back to the old ceremonies. You have all that you need in Jesus Christ. And more than that, as he goes on in verse 12, he gives another reason. God had redeemed them, that is the Gentiles, without it. And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, have he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. So he's saying, don't you believe for a second that the keeping of the ceremony is necessary for the forgiveness of your sins. He argues in a very similar way in Galatians. When was Abraham justified by faith? When he had circumcision or when he was uncircumcised? when he was in uncircumcision, Genesis 15. Before circumcision had been given, Genesis 17. Abraham was justified without circumcision. And he says the same thing here. He says, when you heard the gospel and you believed the gospel, were you circumcised or uncircumcised? And they're going to say, we were uncircumcised. And what need have you to go back to the old rite? You were justified apart from it. circumcision had been urged by the false teachers as necessary for salvation. And then he reasons in the same way against the entire ceremonial law, verse 14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. What are the handwriting of ordinances? As I was looking at all of these Puritan interpreters, there was a broad consensus. Well, in general it speaks to the whole law, the handwriting of ordinances, all of the mosaic law, moral, ceremonial and judicial. But in particular, in context, the ceremonial law is clearly the focus. We've been talking about circumcision and we're getting ready to talk about the holy days. Ceremonial law is primarily in view. Well, you say, how is it that the ceremonial law was contrary to us? This was great theology from the Puritans. They said in all of it, there was the constant acknowledgement of your sins. Constant. When you laid your head upon your sin offering, what were you doing? But acknowledging your guilt before God. and that this whole ordinance, as it were, was something that was necessary to deal with your sins. But there was a certain futility in it, Hebrews. Futility? Well, you had to keep doing it again and again and again because it wasn't accomplishing that. It was all meant just to preach Christ, one Christ, who would accomplish our redemption and sit down. but it was all contrary to us because year after year a constant reminder of our sinfulness, our sinfulness, our sinfulness and when will Messiah come and take it away deal with it decisively well here it said that the debt is cancelled that the handwriting of the ordinances which were against us, their debt is cancelled and it's nothing short of madness to return to them Do you remember what Peter said at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15? These are ceremonies that neither we nor our fathers could bear. How are we going to impose them upon the Gentiles? It's not a thing to be done. So Paul goes on in verse 16 and he says that the Jewish holy days are not to be imposed. You see the cogency of his reasoning. They've been taken away and nailed to the cross and they are not to be imposed upon the Gentiles. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Now if we're going to understand this, first get the assumption. The assumption here is that they are not observing the holy days. This is the reason why the Judaizing teachers would come and judge them or deal harshly with them. You see that? And Paul is saying, let no man judge you, for you're not keeping of these things. That's the assumption. And he's telling them, don't let anybody judge you. Do not let the hard judgments of the Judaizers trouble you. You see, I hope you're seeing the coherence here. This is also a teaching about their Christian liberty. These are things now of merely human imposition, and no human being can impose these things on you. In ancient times commanded by God, yes, but in this present time taken away by God himself, don't let any human being impose these things upon you. Your conscience is free. Don't let any man judge you with respect to these things, and don't let their censures bind your conscience. Go on in the way that you've been going. You are complete in Christ. Don't let anybody beguile you with the rudiments of the world again. As he says here at the end, don't prefer the shadows to the substance. Those things have passed away. So let us get a brief summary of what we've covered here. From the time of the accomplishment of redemption in Jesus Christ to the fall of Jerusalem, the Jews were given a space of time to let go of the ceremonial Sabbaths. But these ceremonies were not to be imposed upon the Gentile Christians. And this was the condition of the church until the fall of the temple, which would be the decisive death knell against the ceremonial Sabbath. And you say, well, you know, couldn't we still kind of keep a Passover and a feast of unleavened bread? Not according to the word of God. I know that the Jews have done it after their own fancy and have invented their own ceremonies. But at the heart of every single one of the ceremonial Sabbaths was what? Sacrifice. Sacrifice. And in 70 A.D. the Lord Jesus Christ took that away. The ceremonial Sabbaths cannot be kept. I'll just leave you with one final thing. If Paul would treat the old ceremonial Sabbaths, which had been commanded by God, but now taken away as not binding upon the Christian conscience and not to be observed, what do you imagine he would say about ceremonies that never had any warrant in the word of God at all? holy days that were merely a human inventing. Well, I would encourage you to finish Colossians and you'll get a sense of what he thinks about what comes out of the tradition of the Gentiles. He calls it will-worship. He tells them not to be beguiled by the traditions of men and not to suffer those things to be imposed upon them either. I mean, you get the contrast here. Not even the things that had been commanded by God but now taken away. If you won't suffer those things to be imposed, What do you think he's going to say about pagan holy days being imposed upon these people? Well, we already had our answer, didn't we? From Jeroboam and his pagan holy days. He could slap the name of Jehovah on it all he wants, but it didn't make it pleasing to God. And it was right for the people to depart from Jeroboam and go where they could have the true worship of God. Let us pray. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes, and videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email. at SWRB at SWRB.com by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Avenue Edmonton that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta abbreviated capital A capital B Canada T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart, from his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions. since he condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important. When he says, that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.