Alright, good morning brethren. Let's go to Colossians chapter 2. Picking up in verse 8, Paul warns the believers. He's warning us of man's philosophy. He's warning us of the ideas, the thoughts that man has. He calls them vain deceits. Vain deceits. He describes or speaks of the traditions that we have in the flesh and the forms that we adopt and think, this is righteousness, this is for our good, this is for our salvation. But what Paul does here in Colossians 2 is after speaking of that, after warning us of this, he goes on to show us the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, for our righteousness, for our acceptance and justification with holy God. And so what our Lord is teaching us, what He's showing to you that are His beloved children, what He's showing us here is that there's nothing more that you need besides the Lord Jesus Christ. He's making you to know that Christ is sufficient to save his people to the uttermost. So don't look to all these other things that men naturally trust in. So Paul writes in verse 8, Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit. These are strong words. He wants us to hear it, vain deceit, worthless things that are deceitful things that take us away from the truth. They're made after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Do you think that our focus and attention is to be on the Lord Jesus Christ? Absolutely. Absolutely. Do you mean that when we come to worship God, we come in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He's our entrance unto the Father? Yes, that's exactly right. Turn over to Luke. We go here a lot, but it's good. It's good to be reminded of this. Luke 24. Luke 24, and we're gonna pick up in verse 44, and read together down to verse 48. This is the risen Savior. This is Christ after he's accomplished the redemption of his people on the cross. He was buried and he's raised from the dead and he comes to his disciples. And he said unto them, verse 44, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you. that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me." He's reminding them, he's bringing them to understand and to know these are the things, this word here is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luke 24, the whole of this Bible is speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, having said that, then opened he their understanding, verse 45, that they might understand the Scriptures. We have an understanding of this Word. We see nice stories, moral stories, good things for us to know and tell our kids about, but that's not salvation. When the Lord opens your understanding, you're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ in this word. That's who this word testifies of. Verse 46, And he said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day. All this word is testifying to us the need for the Son of God, the Christ of God to come. in the flesh and to lay down his life for our salvation." All this word is testifying, showing us that we're sinners and our salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. And that repentance and remission of sins, forgiveness of sins, should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. And he says, ye, my church, are witnesses of these things. That's what we're here to witness of, to bear witness of, the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is the salvation of God. There's no sense in playing little games, little religious games. They're not salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the salvation of God for his people. Therefore, Paul was wise to warn us in verse 8, Colossians 2.8, 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. So I was thinking of that word rudiments or elements. It's also spoken of in Galatians. These elements, these rudiments of the world. And what it means is these are the base forms of religion. For the Jews, it was the law. It was the form and the practice of the law. All the little pieces, all the things laid out in the law, these were elemental, rudimentary things. For the Gentiles, it was their pagan idolatry. They're bowing down before stumps and rocks, coating these things with silver and gold. They're looking at the wind and dancing under trees, under the moonlight, and worshiping the sun. They're looking at the elements, the rudimentary things, and they're not coming to a knowledge of God. Now we can look at some of those things and we can see pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't worship those things, we worship Christ. For example, I was recently with a brother, and we were driving down the highway. And at the end of the highway, we could see the fullness of the sun. It was gigantic. It was massive. And it's there at the end of the highway, just sitting there right on the horizon. And he said, you know, when the sun is in the sky, In all its brilliant glory, we can't look at the sun without frying our eyes. They burn our eyes. We can't behold the glory and the beauty of the sun. But as it comes down, down, down, down, and it kisses the earth, it touches the horizon, now we can look at it. I was looking at a big, massive, orange-y glowing sun, and it was beautiful. That's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't now run and worship the sun. No, we worship Christ of whom the elemental things picture and show us a beautiful picture of the son of God laying aside his glory and coming to the earth in the flesh to obtain our redemption. to bless his people in himself. So Paul's warning, he's saying don't give ear to the Greeks and to the Jews who come in after we've preached the gospel to you and turn you back now to elemental things. They're taking you away from Christ and they're turning you back to the forms of religion, and to do this thing, and you gotta do that thing, and this is your righteousness. He's saying, look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything that you and I need. He's everything that a sinner needs to stand before holy God, accepted of Him. That's how precious, how wonderful the Lord Jesus Christ is. Men speak of various forms of religion because they don't know the mystery of God revealed in Christ. And that's why there's so much religion in the world, and so many varieties of it. And that's why men even become preachers in our day, and they're nothing more than motivational speakers. And they're just trying to give you an inspired life. And others, they'll come and they'll teach you doctrine out of this book. Many doctrines that are good and are true and are profitable. but they miss Christ. They miss Christ and they put all your attention on the doctrine and the need to know the doctrine but it has no tie, no relation to Christ and what He's done for us and are not showing you the beauty and the sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1.18 that the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it's the power of God. It's how, it's what God declared to us and opened our ear and opened our heart to hear Christ and what he's accomplished for us. And that's what he's saying. He's saying, look to Christ, hear what Christ has done on the cross for his people, because this is where God blesses his people with every spiritual blessing. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. You know, that verse there, that's Ephesians 1, 3, that verse there, heavenly places, again, it takes us right back to the foundation of the world. We go right back to Genesis chapter 1, and we're reminded of day 2, when God made the firmament. That firmament, that heavens there, is that covering in which all living things dwell. Without this covering, we could not live, we could not exist. But under this firmament which God put around the earth, over the earth, we live and we move and have our being. And it's a picture of the covering, the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a picture of Christ. And so, we can go to the Old Testament, we can look at the elemental and the rudimentary things, but not like the pagans and the idolaters do, who aren't profited by it at all. They end up worshiping sticks and stones and doing weird, kooky things. We see Jesus. We see the Lord Jesus Christ. and he's being testified to us from the very foundation of the world. His blood redemption is being testified to us right in the very beginning. And every day of creation we can see Christ, some picture of what Christ accomplished for us. Even so, the law of Moses, it's made up of elemental things. There's baptisms and washings, there's robes and phylacteries, there's an altar and a temple and there's sacrifices and all these things. Man looks at and thinks, oh, this is how I'm to make myself righteous. And they don't see it's speaking of Christ. It's testifying of Christ who must lay down His life for our life. He must shed His blood to obtain forgiveness for us. Paul said, because they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The law is satisfied. It's accomplished its purpose. It's shown us our sin and shown us our need of Christ. Look to him. look to the one whom the Father had sent to save his people from their sins." Our Lord did not shed his blood to make us enlightened little Pharisees to now take another shot at the law and do a little better than our dead fathers did under the law. The forefathers did. That's not why Christ saved us. He's given us his life, to give us life, to give us salvation and a hope, a good hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 6, 49 through 51, our Lord said to the Jews that were there, he said, your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. They are spiritually dead. They ate of the elemental rudimentary things, this little component which God gave to the Jews under the law. They ate the manna and all them are dead. They're all dead. This, he said, is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. What, the little coriander seed like bread, this manna thing? No. Christ, the Father sent Christ to save you. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, any man, doesn't matter what race he is, if any man is a sinner and eats of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give, the bread that I'm talking about, Christ says, is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world. Every, all my chosen people, Jew or Gentile, doesn't matter. They are saved one way, by the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, our Lord's teaching us, if any man will be saved, he's going to be saved entirely by the Lord Jesus Christ, because Christ is all and in all. He's everything. Everything. Sinner? Only Jesus Christ is able to save them to the uttermost who come unto God by Him. He is able. He is able. Doubt no more. He's able to save you to the uttermost. Those who come to God by any other way, by another gospel, we're instructed in this word, is no gospel at all. It's not good news. It's works, it's labor, it's bondage, it's suffering, it's death. If you add in any of the elemental and rudimentary religious things for your righteousness, such as the law for righteousness, What our Lord is saying to us is, you're striving to come in on the broad way that leadeth to destruction. And many there be that go in there at. Look at the world and all its religions, what men are working for and doing and all their various forms. These are all the rudimentary things, the elemental things. They're all vain deceits. And it's a broad road. It's a wide road that takes in all the religions of man, all the religions of the flesh. And it's not going to save them. Christ is the narrow way. How narrow is the narrow way? It's as wide as Christ's shoulders are wide. And it's as tall as he is. We follow the Lord Jesus Christ. We come on Christ. That's how narrow the narrow way. It's following Christ. It's not bringing, there's no room for any other baggage. There's no room for any other hope. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the simplicity of the Lord Jesus Christ. So don't be taken away with vain deceits. Don't be caught up in all the extras and all the other lights and shiny objects. They're not salvation. They take away our eyes from looking at the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And so, those who do walk that way, they're called in the scriptures the remnant according to the election of grace. It's a gracious work that God does for them and not for others. If it's by grace, Paul said in Romans 11, 6 and 7, if it's by grace, then it's no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. What then Israel who partook in the rudiments of the law, they were partakers, they even ate the manna, hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. And so to strive to come to God in the law now, to have heard of Christ and what he's accomplished for his people, it's done. The victory is won in Christ. And so to come now to God through the law for righteousness is to come that same path, to walk that same way that those with slumbering eyes, closed eyes and ears so full of fat and stuff, they couldn't hear the truth, to go the way that they went. And Paul tells us in that same chapter of Romans 11, verse nine, that it's a snare. It's a trap. It's a stumbling stone. It's a stumbling block. Don't go that way. Well, if my form of religion doesn't bring me nearer to God, how then am I to approach God? People will still have that question. After hearing me declare Christ, Christ, Christ, they still have that question. How am I to come? by faith, believing, resting in the righteousness of Christ, that God is satisfied with the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, all the grace of God is given. In Him, all the spiritual blessings of God are received. You don't need to go anywhere else outside of Christ. It's all given in Him. Jesus Christ is the day star that rises in the heart of the sinner that when he shines that light we see him and behold his glory and That burden that weight of sin rolls off the back because we see he's everything He's obtained salvation for me. He's obtained my righteousness. I have everything I need to stand before God for all eternity in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what God is saying. Believe Him. Trust Him. Have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Stop looking to your work. Stop looking to what you do or don't do. Our Lord said this in John 12, verse 45 and 46, he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. He's saying I'm the very manifestation of God's gracious will and purpose for you. Look to me. and you'll know exactly what God purposes for you as child. You look to Christ. I am come a light into the world that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. You know, in the next hour we'll be back in Genesis and we'll see in Babel, when Babel was being set up, all that darkness, that false religion just spread throughout the world. Christ has come, the light of God, to bring light to our dark hearts, to show us that He is the way of salvation, to look to Him. We don't know God by nature. We don't know how to worship Him. We don't come to Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth. We come in form, in the outward form of things. We come thinking this is salvation. And we're not going to find God by dipping ourselves in various rivers for righteousness and doing various works to save ourselves and to give us some understanding. Lighting candles and standing before stations and pictures of spiritual looking things or worshipping in great stone cathedrals with stained glass under crosses. That's not salvation. I don't need to wear a robe. I don't even need to wear a suit. I just do it to at least look respectable to you. But that's not our salvation. That's not our hope, these things. Our hope is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's blessed us to hear this message, to hear this word, how that God is just to be merciful and gracious to you who are sinners. And it's all in the Lord Jesus Christ. That simple. It wasn't simple. He gave his life. He suffered under the wrath of God, but what he did delivered his people from death once and for all. And by this word, this gospel word, our Savior, our God, calls his people out of that darkness to see him, to see Christ, and to rest Christ to rest in him back in Colossians 2 9 it says for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily the fullness of God Father Son and Holy Ghost is all Right there in Christ saying this is salvation. This is your Savior. This is your salvation your Lord in Christ Come to him believe him rest in him You know, we could take another rudimentary picture that God gives us in the Old Testament. We read it because this is the gospel right here. And it speaks of the temple, right? That's a rudimentary thing. There's a temple that God had them build. And Israel worshiped God there in that temple. And this is where God met with his people in a special and in a peculiar way, in that temple. And he established a priesthood for them, another rudimentary thing. He gave them a priesthood and they ministered to the people the things of God. And they had an altar that they built there. And they had animals that they would offer and sacrifice to make an atonement for the sins of the people. And they were all pictures, rudimentary, elemental pictures of what our savior does for his people. God is in Christ. All the fullness of God is in Christ. He's accomplished all those things that we see described for us, that gave us pictures of salvation. It's all fulfilled in Christ. John, when he was writing of the heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation 21 verse 22, he said, I saw no temple. I saw no temple there. For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. In Christ Jesus is where our God meets with us. we worship God in the Lord Jesus Christ. For in Him, it pleased the Father that all fullness dwell. And so with this gracious purpose of our God completely fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, is there anything that we're gonna be gained by? Is there anything to gain by going back to rudimentary and elemental things? Would there be anything gained by us by going and building a temple, and setting up another priesthood, and setting up an altar, and sacrificing animals on that, just to give us another picture? There's people that profess the Lord Jesus Christ that go out and are still blowing trumpets in the evening. For what? What are they doing in that? Look to Christ. hear his voice, hear him, look to him. It doesn't add anything to our salvation. It just slips our neck under a yoking bondage. It weighs us down. It turns us from our Lord. And so in our day, there's only a few that would think we'd be profited by a temple to worship God, and yet There's many millions that think that they were to come to God in the law for our righteousness, that we are doing things to sanctify ourselves and to set ourselves up to be more savable by God and to put ourselves in better circumstances. Just come and hear the word. Just come and hear the word. Your good works aren't going to do anything. You'll be profited in hearing the word of hearing of Christ. That's where you'll be profited in that simple thing of just hearing Christ, resting in Him, praying to Him, reading His word, asking Him for mercy and grace, asking Him to help me in my studies and to preach the word clearly, faithfully to you of the Lord Jesus Christ because He is all our salvation. He's all our hope. He's all we need. And the sinner saved by his grace wants for nothing more. And when we do, he's gracious and merciful to forgive and to turn us back to Christ. Of him, Paul wrote, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. He's everything. That according as it's written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Don't glory in what you've done, glory in what Christ has done. And so it follows in Colossians 2.10, and ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power. He's over everything. If you were looking to do something and the president of your company bypassed four managers between you and them and said, you do this, do it. And if you get in trouble, it's going to go right back up to the top that your boss is the one who told you to do it, and you were doing what he or she said to do. And so that's what it is. We listen to our Lord. We trust Him. We believe Him. He's everything for us. We're not going back to elemental, rudimentary things. For what the law could not do, Paul wrote in Romans 8, 3 and 4, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, enforcing condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the law. And so Christ came. He is the surety of God for his people. He's paid all the debts. There's nothing more you need to pay. Rest in Him. Believe Him. Our Lord sent His Son. He came as the shorty, laying down His life to settle all debts for us, to obtain eternal forgiveness for us. He died in the place of His people as their substitute, was buried, and God raised Him again to declare our justification. We're justified in Him. You that believe Christ and rest in Him, You're justified of God. You have eternal life. You have all the blessings of God in Christ. And He'll continue to reveal Him to your hearts more and more. Shine that light more and more in our dark hearts and minds to know Christ really is everything. He really is the salvation of God. He really is sufficient to save me to the uttermost. And that's what our Lord is saying here is don't be turned by the philosophies and the vain deceits. Believe the Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything you need. He is sufficient to save you to the uttermost. Rest in Him. Believe Him. I pray the Lord bless that word to your hearts. Amen. Our gracious Lord, we thank you for your grace and your mercy, fully, freely, abundantly provided in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, grow us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We don't want to stop. We want to follow, and we want to follow Christ. We want to see him. Lord, call us to him. Keep us looking to him, walking on that narrow way that's as wide and as tall as he is. Lord, let us follow Him. Keep us in that perfect way, that right way, that way of righteousness, in Christ, in Christ alone. It's in Christ's name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Yeah, it says... Did I? I'm sorry. Hold on. Let me see how it's written in here. I mean, I copied it. For what the law could not do, and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in likeness as sinful flesh, and forcing condemnation in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. What did I say? I thought you said law, so. Who walk not after the flesh, but after the law? Yeah, that's what I thought you said. And I thought, well, mine doesn't say that. No, no, no. It says spirit there, so. OK. OK. No, no, all right, that was just a... Yeah, sorry.