Welcome to a summer Sunday night, first Sunday of August. So glad you're here. We're going to spend some time in God's Word together. Let's just jump in and get started. If you have your Bibles or you're open a Bible app, there are Bibles in the back of the pews. Colossians chapter 2 is where we're looking tonight, verses 16 and 17. Colossians chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. This is the 12th message going through the book of Colossians. I haven't said this in a while. If you miss Sunday night or so when I'm preaching every message is a standalone message So don't feel like you know, I'm not going to be able to know where you're at or those sort of things Every message we pray will be stand alone and and we can you can just jump right back in this entire book We're calling the unsurpassed Savior because Jesus is that he is the unsurpassed Savior. That is what Paul is letting this church he never visited the church at Colossae know and tonight's message is called freedom fighters and Freedom fighters Colossians 2 verses 16 and 17 says this So let no one judge you that's really important right there So let no one judge you in Food or in drink or regarding to a festival or a new moon or Sabbath's which are a shadow of things to come but the substance of is of Christ. The substance is of Christ. Lord, we love you and we are so grateful that we have liberty and freedom in you. Thank you that through the power of your Holy Spirit, we have been set free to follow you, to obey your word, to grow into Christlikeness. Lord, thank you for the freedoms we have, but we know the freedoms we have in you are always under attack. And how we pray tonight, you would help us as a church to see in our own lives, our own families, in our own hearts, how the enemy wants to rob us of the grace and the freedom and the joy, Jesus, that we have in you. Lord, give us understanding what your word is saying to us to help us grow to become more like you. And thank you, dear Lord, as you know every heart here, if there would be one who needs to come to a saving knowledge of you to say yes to you for the first time. Lord Jesus, we are so grateful that you're gonna call people to yourself. We thank you for today already, our services this morning. We are grateful for the additions. We're grateful how you're moving and changing lives and saving souls. And just, Lord, thank you for your goodness to us as your church. We belong to you. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. The freedom of Christianity is under attack. All of us know the stories. There are so many stories, it's almost daily. You can go current, you can go years back. A few years ago, a school in California would not allow the fellowship of Christian athletes to meet on their campus. Well, the Supreme Court had passed equal access, which means if you have a chess club, an archery club, you have to allow a Fellowship of Christian Athletes club. So you know what the church did? They kicked out every one of their clubs. Rather than have a Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the school superintendent said, quote, blame it on the Christians. We know the stories of a policeman in Texas fired for wearing a cross pin, a librarian in Kentucky fired for wearing a cross pin. We know the stories of high school graduations where students can't say Jesus, can't say God bless you, or can't pray. You know, sometimes in our nation, when things happen, people say that they wonder where God is. Where is God in the United States? Well, you can't wonder where God is if you spend all your time ignoring Him and trying to kick Him out of everything. We know the stories of someone who, out of their faith, very loving and kind, but because of their faith, won't bake a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage ceremony. They stood up in love for what they believe and how they received tons of negative publicity and even legal action. The Daily Signal reminds us that hostility towards Christianity is rising like floodwater. From 2011 to 2017, those who track these sort of things about religious liberty, from 2011 to 2017, attacks on religious liberty has doubled in the United States of America. Just the past couple weeks, maybe you saw the story out of, I think it's pronounced Higa City in South Carolina, There was a monument to fallen police officers, a monument talking about the heroism of those officers who paid the ultimate price to protect the citizens. And on that monument, it had the word Lord listed three times. Well, the first thing that the city government did is they etched out the word Lord. You could see where it had been, but they just erased the word Lord because they didn't want to be offensive. Well, that offends me. They erased the word Lord. Well that caused a backlash. So then they just took out the monument altogether That gave backlash. So they finally I think last week or two weeks ago put the monument back with the word Lord replaced in it They were back where they started We all know this I could go on and on and on if you believe the freedoms of those who follow Jesus are under attack would you say amen and We know that. We know that there are others, though, who want to attack our freedom. What I've just shared with you are those who want to attack our freedom we have in Christ from outside the church, but please hear me. There is an even greater threat to the church, not on the outside of the church, but on the inside of the church. As fired up as we get, When the outside world attacks Christianity, attacks the church, we should have the equal same passion for those who attack the church from the inside. I am here to tell you that the attack from the inside of the church is even more dangerous than the attacks of our freedom on the outside of the church. There are those on the inside of the church who want to destroy the freedom we have in Jesus. There are those on the inside of the church who want to hinder our growth as believers. There are those on the inside of the church who would hinder the spread of the gospel. Outside the church, those who attack our freedoms, which the stories we just shared, are those who are involved in atheism or humanism. Inside the church that attacks the freedom of the church of Jesus Christ is called legalism legalism has destroyed more churches and more young people from dropping out of their faith and The spread of the gospel legalism has destroyed more churches and destroyed the freedom of believers far more than outside persecution ever will The church of Colossae has been invaded, and Paul is going to fight. They've been invaded by false teachers. They've been invaded by Judaism. They've been invaded by legalists. And the goal of these false teachers and those in Judaism and those legalists that have invaded this church is they want these believers in the Roman city of Colossae to lose their freedom, to lose the liberty that they have in Jesus Christ. If you look at verse 16, the verse we just read, it says, Paul says this, so let no one judge you. It says basically the same thing at the beginning of verse 18, which we'll look at next week. So let no one judge you. Paul is saying, be observant and learn. Don't let anyone, anyone rob you of the liberty that you have in your salvation in Jesus Christ. Know what to look for. Just as you and I want to be a freedom fighter for religious liberty by those who would try to squash our faith in Jesus from the outside, we should also know what to look for and have a passion to be freedom fighters to protect our liberty from those who practice legalism on the inside. This text, really it's verses 16 through 23, but we're only gonna tackle verses 16 and 17 tonight. Paul is reminding us what to look for and what to do as freedom fighters in our faith. First of all, let me say a little bit about legalism and what true Christianity is opposed to legalism to make sure we're all on the same page. Legalism is a dangerous thing. It's something we always think somebody else has, but we never have. It's kind of like a cold, it can be subtle and you have a few sniffles and it's really contagious and it spreads fast. Legalism is this, it's trusting in an activity to get saved. So someone who doesn't know Christ, legalism is I'm going to trust in my activity or my performance or doing certain things a certain way that's going to make me right with God. And then it's trusting in activity to be spiritual and please God after you are saved. Jack Deere says this, the essence of legalism is trusting in a religious activity rather than trusting in God. It is putting our confidence in a practice rather than in a person. And without fail, it will lead us to love the practice more than the person. Typically, legalism is when a believer makes an external list outside the bounds of scripture to define what it means to be spiritual. Anything in the world can be on that list. The list that a believer makes, when a believer makes an external list, by the way, legalists never have an internal list. Their list is never things like gossip or lust or anger or pride. It's always outward external things that can be seen by other people. The reason why we tend to drift towards legalism and drift away from grace is because outward things can make us feel more spiritual. Legalism does three things. Legalism is basically, I have this external list, and if I keep this list, I feel spiritual about me. Number two, other people who have the same list I have are gonna think I'm spiritual. And number three, if you don't keep my list, I can judge you because I'm more spiritual than you are. The Bible teaches us that legalism makes God sick. Now, we've got to remember the balance here we're talking about. Every road has a ditch, okay? One ditch on the road of Christianity is legalism. It's, I'm going to make, outside the bounds of Scripture, an external list that makes me feel good about me, makes other people look at me, and allows me to judge others because I'm more superior than they are because they don't keep my list. But the other ditch, which is just as dangerous, is license. Just because we don't have an external list to guide us outside the boundaries of the Word of God, nowhere in the Bible does it say that I can come to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and live any way I want, do anything I want, talk any way I want. There's not license that says, because of the grace of God in my life, I can just live anywhere I want to and do anything I want to, and who cares? So legalism is one ditch. License is the other ditch. The biblical thing that God wants us to do is not to be in either ditch, but it's called liberty. Liberty means that I have been set free in Jesus Christ to obey the Word of God I do not need an external list to make me appear spiritual to me or spiritual to others or see myself as Superior to other people. This is my list right here. I've got the Word of God Both are wrong. Both are condemned in the Bible of legalism and and license True Christianity is this, in my salvation in Jesus, I want to live with genuine Christ-like behavior, dependent on the Holy Spirit working in me, and my motivation is love for the glory and the honor of God. Ray Stedman reminds us that true Christianity has three parts once we're saved. We want to live under the authority of Scripture. We want to be Christ-like in our life, which means we obey the Word of God. The second part of that is we don't have the power to do that. The power to live under the authority of Scripture, to have a Christ-like life for His glory is only by surrendering to the Holy Spirit that's in us. And the third part of true Christianity, not legalism, the motivation for all that is God's glory. Now, the three parts of legalism are the exact opposite of that. A legalist, their externalist outside the Bible is how you and I are to live. And they do it not in the power of the Holy Spirit, but in the power of their flesh. And their motivation is to feel and appear to be more spiritual than other people. It's selfish ambition. Legalism kills liberty. Legalism kills, dulls, freezes the joy and passion and zeal that a church has for Jesus Christ. Liberty is true Christianity. True Christianity is my salvation in Jesus Christ. I live under the authority of Scripture, following Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit that indwells me by God's grace, and I want to do it for the glory of God. I've been saved and now I'm free. I'm not free to do what I want to do whenever I want to do it or how I want to do it. I'm free in the love and the grace by the power of the Holy Spirit to do what Jesus in his word tells me to do. I don't need your list to tell me what to do and you don't need my list to tell me what to do. I'm going to let God's list in the Bible tell me what to do. In gratitude to the grace, goodness, and gospel of Jesus Christ, we want to obey his word, surrender to the Holy Spirit for his glory. Freedom fighters, that's what God's word is teaching us. Let me share with you a couple lessons for living from verses 16 and 17 about legalism. Number one, to be a freedom fighter, refuse to judge your eternal life by someone else's external list. Number one, refuse to judge your eternal life by someone else's external list. So let no one judge you. And look, he says, in food or drink, regarding a festival, a new moon, or the Sabbaths, which are the shadow of things to come, but the substances of Christ. Again, there are some, their spiritual life is based on religious activity of an external list. It's not based on Jesus and the Bible. If you keep their list, it's how you please God and gain favor with God. If you keep the list, it proves how spiritual you really are. If you keep this external list, You can judge others' walk with God. How do I know if someone is spiritual or not spiritual? Well, if they don't keep the list that I keep, they're obviously not as spiritual as me. I mean, there's a million examples. You don't close your eyes when you pray. The only way to please God and be spiritual is to be like me. You've got to close your eyes when you pray. I could go on and on. The list is, if I keep my list, I can please God, I can prove I'm spiritual. The list can be anything. The list can be food. The list can be how a person dresses. The list can be a translation of the Bible. The list can be music. The list can be appearance. The list can be technology. The list has no end. Perhaps you heard Elizabeth Elliot shares in her book, The Liberty of Obedience. She shares this, I am in earnest about forsaking the world and following Christ, but I am puzzled about worldly things. What must I forsake, a young man asked. What must I forsake to follow Christ? This was the response he was given. You must forsake colored clothes for one thing. Get rid of everything in your wardrobe that's not white. Stop sleeping on a soft pillow, sell your musical instruments, and don't eat any more white bread. You cannot, if you are sincere about obeying Christ, take warm baths or shave your beard. To shave is to lie against Him who created us and attempt to improve His work. Elizabeth Elliot says that dialogue I just shared with you at the number one Christian school in the second century, that's what they taught their students. If you wanted to be spiritual, you got to sleep on a hard pillow. If you want to be spiritual, don't eat white bread. We eat 100% wheat, so our family's good with that. We're in. And whatever you do, don't shave your beard. Isn't it funny? We went a while where you don't have facial hair, but the number one Christian school in the second century said you can't shave your beard. Elizabeth Elliot says this about that dialogue. Doesn't that seem absurd? Doesn't it seem absurd to give an answer from the most celebrated Christian school of the second century? Then she says this, is it possible that the rules we have adopted in the 21st century, 20th century Christians will sound just absurd to other believers on down the road? No external list can make a person closer to God. No outside of the Bible rituals and rules that make us feel religious or feel superior, they don't make us closer to God. The list we follow, once again, is the one Jesus gave us in Scripture. Our spiritual life is based on Jesus and the Bible. It's not based upon someone else's do's or someone else's don'ts. Again, be careful because our tendency is always to drift towards legalism and away from grace. Now in verse 16, it says, so let no one judge you in food or drink regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths. Paul is referring to their Jewish past. The Jews were teaching in that day that there were certain holidays and certain traditions and certain laws and different things and they all dealt with external activity because once again, I'll say it again, Believing that if I look a certain way or do a certain thing a certain way that somehow I'm more spiritual than anyone else Legalism never deals with the internal stuff. I've never seen someone have a legalistic list that says about gossip lust or pride or anger None of it deals with the heart. It's always outward appearance or active things that has nothing to do with the heart and And Paul was telling the church of Colossae, don't fall into what Judaism is trying to do to you. Don't fall into what these legalists are trying to do to you with all their do's and don'ts list. Joseph Stowell says this, this is what Paul is fighting against. The Pharisees had developed a system of 613 laws. 365 negative commands, one for every day of the year, bless God, and 248 positive laws. By the time Christ came, it had produced a heartless, cold, arrogant brand of righteousness. As such, it contained 10 tragic falls, and Dr. Stoll shares the 10 tragic falls that the Pharisees and their legalism had created. Number one, new laws continually need to be invented for new situations. Once you start, you can't stop. 2. Accountability to God is replaced by accountability to men. 3. It reduces a person's ability to personally discern things. 4. It creates a judgmental spirit that I'm better than someone else. 5. The Pharisees confused personal preferences with divine law. 6. It produces inconsistencies. Number seven, it created a false standard of righteousness outside of scripture. Number eight, it became a burden and a weight to the Jews. And number nine, it is strictly external. Once again, it has nothing to do with the heart. And number 10, most important, it was totally rejected by Christ. Why did Jesus say to these Pharisees with all their legalistic do's and don'ts, their 613 rules and laws of what it means to please God and be right with God outside of scripture? Well, Jesus said in Matthew 23, 27, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are like whitewashed tombs. Indeed, you appear beautiful outwardly, but on the inside, you are full of dead man's bones and all Uncleanness he tells us see the outward side the list the Pharisees. Look how spiritual I am. Look how wonderful I am Look at my checklist. You can check every box. I don't do this. Don't do that. Don't do this. I do this I do this I do that look how spiritual and godly I am and look how unspiritual you are because bless your little old heart You're not like me. Jesus said you're like walking over a grave. You've got this shiny tombstone on the outside But inside you are rotting I wish Jesus would say what he really thought. Mark chapter 7 verse 8 says, For laying aside the commandment of God, what's in the Bible, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and love your neighbor as yourself, and the other things we see in scripture about being Christ-like. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men. the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things that you do. Be aware, freedom fighters, that the legalist will absolutely ambush you. That's what's happening in Colossae. The absolute funnest thing I ever did as a zookeeper was catch kangaroos. In the winter we would have to catch them because their feet would get frostbite and we would set up these bells of hay and You would push the kangaroos around this yard a big square paddock and they would go around this yard and you would hide behind the bell of hay and right when the kangaroo got close to you would jump out on it and tackle it and and grab it by its tail, and it would be doing like this, and then you would kind of walk it into the barn. The key to the whole thing was the ambush. They wouldn't see you coming, and that's the picture Paul is presenting here, that you're moving along in your Christian life, you're growing in Jesus, you have a desire to be like Jesus, you're learning what the word of God says, then boom, a legalist will jump you, and they'll say, here's my list. And they'll say, you're wrong. If you wanna be right and spiritual, you've gotta follow my list. You're not doing. They're the self-appointed church spiritual police force that wanna pull you over in the hallway before your Sunday morning Bible class and write you a ticket for not being as spiritual as they are. Legalism will always use guilt to try to get you to change your beliefs. They'll always use guilt. I read the story of a woman, the ladies in the church, she hadn't been there very long, they kept confronting her because she did not wear a long-sleeved dress. She was letting her arms show. And they're saying, if you allow your arms to show, it could cause a man to lust. Well, she said, I'm 86 years old. I'm not making it up. I'm not making it up. So she went out and bought a long sleeve dress. She thought it was really pretty, had bright red strawberries and bright red flowers on it. And she came to church, the same lady shook their head and said, now with that bright red colors, you're drawing attention to yourself. It never ends. to guilt you into doing what they think you should do. Chuck Swindoll said that the legalists are grace killers. We are saved by grace. The power for the Christian life is by grace that we can't earn or deserve. We stand and live by grace. The legalist destroys the grace of God in the life of God's people. The legalist destroys grace in the life of God's church. Their goal is to get you to live by their list rather than living by the word of God. Their goal is to make you like them instead of like Christ. Their goal is to rob you of the freedom and the liberty that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. The legalist portrays God as this red-faced, high-blood-pressure, fist-clenched drill sergeant. They don't portray God as a loving Savior of grace. Let me say it again for a thousand, thousand, thousand times. This message is not about license. It's not about that I can live any way I want, talk any way I want, I'll act any way I want. I've been saved by the blood of Jesus and I am to live under the authority of scripture to be Christ-like in my life through the surrendering to the power of the Holy Spirit in me for the glory of God to be conformed to the image of Christ. The Bible says do not lie. I'm not to lie. The Bible says do not steal. I'm not to steal. The Bible says do not commit adultery. I'm not to commit adultery. The Bible says do not have filthy talk from your mouth. Hear me again. Maybe I didn't mention this before. This message is not about we can live any way we want, do anything we want, talk any way we want. This is about people who make an external list to make themselves look spiritual, to judge so other people, they worry about what other people think about them more than what other people think about God. They want to look spiritual to other people, and they want to judge you as not being as spiritual as them, and it destroys your liberty. If you've ever been connected to a legalistic church, you will not find joy. You will not find gospel passion. You will find an absolutely frozen, dull religion that absolutely attracts no one. The Bible says in Romans 14, 5, one person esteems one day above another, and another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. There may be something that's not breaking the bounds of scripture, which you don't have a piece about doing, don't do it. But don't try to force other people not to do it just to be like you. Again, if it's not breaking anything in scripture. We somehow think that we want everyone to be like us because what we're doing has to be right. Romans 14 also teaches us be sure that your actions are not causing a stumbling block to other believers. If they are, not to do it. See, the legalist is basically taking the place of Jesus. The legalist wants to call the shots on what's important. The externals are important, not Jesus and his word. The legalist enjoys a superficial spiritual power. I feel good about me because I please God because I keep my list. I don't have sideburns, wear sandals, or drink caffeine. Yet inside, gossip and lust. I never watch television. It's of the devil. But man, my heart burns for lust for my neighbor. I've got all my religious do's and all my religious don'ts. Look like this. Walk like this. Dress like this. Do this. Do that. Have this. Here's my do's and don'ts. But I haven't witnessed anyone in about 10 years. I don't tithe. care or comfort someone who's hurting. I haven't helped someone who's poor. My heart is proud and I'm addicted to my bitterness and my attitude. Outwardly, I am so spiritual. Outwardly, everyone should be like me. Outwardly, I hope when I walk through the church, everyone is staring at me saying, there goes a man or a woman of God. And how dare you not be like me? Oh, beware, freedom fighters. Beware. The legalist wants your Christian freedom and the church freedom to be under their control. This is the goal of the legalist. They want you to live and want the church to exist in their self-made religious tunnel rather than the liberty that follows Christ and His Word. This is one of the times where it's of benefit to be part of a larger church like ours. We're not any better, any worse than any of our sweet sister churches. We're different because we have thousands of members. The average church in America is 86 people. And if you get three or four people on some sort of legalistic bent, Their goal was to make everyone in the church start doing what they do, the way they do it, and how they do it. And when you're running 50, 60, 80, 100 people, man, it can happen. We're a little bit protected for that, because hypothetically, you could have a legalistic list. You should think that every believer in Jesus should wear a mohawk, and every believer in Jesus should only wear high-top tennis shoes. and you can knock yourself out trying to get 2,000 or 3,000 people to follow you. But if you're in a church of 40 people, it's a lot easier. Let me give you some examples. I think you get it, but I'm having fun, so let me give you some examples. I pastored in southwest Missouri, and I know a fellow Baptist pastor. It was a church where women would never wear pants. Hear me. You're do and don'ts between you and the Lord. It's not wrong if you want to wear a dress. It's between you and the Lord. But in this church, the women never wore pants. The pastor's daughter always wore a dress, always wore a skirt, even to school. That's fine. Every day at the store or whatever, she wore a dress. That's fine. We had one of our good southwest Missouri winters. The wind chill was way below zero, and that sweet little girl had to wait at a bus stop. For the first time in her life, publicly, her dad let her wear a pair of pants because the weather was so cold. I wish I was making it up. Wednesday night, the church leadership met him and said, you either resign or we're going to fire you. Norman Noble, a good friend of mine, is with the Lord. Pastor Gerald and Miss Verlina know Norman Noble well. He pastored in Southwest Missouri at Broadway Baptist Church, now Crossway Baptist. When he retired, he became the interim at a church right across the river in Illinois. I'm not making this up. You might find it hard to believe. Out in the lobby, they had hangers. And on the hangers was a variety of sizes of white shirts and black ties. No man could enter the auditorium of this Baptist church unless you first put on a white shirt and a black tie." That's the church where Norman told me they were having a business meeting and it was horrible. And one of the members kept trying to speak and they kept telling him, you're not on the board, you're not on the board, you're not on the board. He was a construction guy and went out to his pickup truck, brought in a two by four, laid it on the floor and said, now I'm on the board, can I talk? I'm serious. I said, Norman, what did you do in this church where they made you wear white shirts and black ties? He said, I preached from the book of Galatians on the freedom that we have in Jesus. The church I was saved in, Hamlin Memorial Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri, we were celebrating, I think it was either our 90th or 100th anniversary or something, and one of our past pastors came back to preach. His name is Emory Wallace. Brother Emory, a tremendous man of God, had a great ministry at Hamlin Memorial Baptist Church. He was then, when he came to speak at Hamlin, where Don and I were a member, he was pastoring in Louisiana, and he preached a message. The title of his message was How the Church Can Go into the Future. He was listing things that can kill the church and one of his church killers was legalism He shared a story. I will not forget. He said there was a man in our little town of Louisiana He was the town bully everyone know he abused his wife. He was a drug addict. He used cocaine He sold cocaine. He was mean and ornery He looked like a wild man with his hair and his beard and just wild cussing fighting horrible to his family horrible to his kids and Emory Wallace's heart was broken for him. He prayed for him. He he prayed for his family prayed for his kids He slowly developed a friendship with this the meanest guy in town. He was a wreck Emory said I I talked to him and told him about Jesus and I told him about the cross and there was no response for months after months after months Emory befriended this this man and and Prayed for him and loved him and shared and then the day came the man gloriously gave his life to Jesus Christ and was saved he walked away from all the drug dealing and cocaine and Hatefulness in the community and bully and the way he treated his wife. He walked away from all of it He came to church for the first time at this church in Louisiana where Emory Wallace was the pastor and they gave an invitation here came this man Ford Still had his real long matted hair and his shaggy, shaggy beard. But Emory said his face was glowing. Tears were in his eyes because Jesus had saved him. And Emory introduced the man to the church and told everyone his story. And Emory said, I could have died when one of our church men came up and shook his hand and said, I'm so glad you got saved. Now, when are you going to get your hair cut? One more story, John Phillips, great Bible teacher, was doing ministry in a town in Canada. John Phillips tells the story that a young man got saved in that church, and this young man said that his physical body, his spiritual body was changed, and he just had a conviction he needed to take care of his entire self, so he made a commitment to take care of his physical body now that his spiritual body had been redeemed, and so he went on a special diet. He said by going on this special diet, it made his arthritis better. This special diet, he was a new picture of health. He was so excited when he joined the church, he began to push his diet on the church saying, and the diet was you don't mix carbs and proteins. Other members of the church began to take this special diet and they began to feel better. Again, I'm not making it up. After time, the church said we should incorporate this special diet into the doctrine of our church. The reason is we serve Jesus. And if we're serving Jesus, we need a witness to our community. We need healthy bodies. If we don't have healthy bodies, we can't serve Jesus. We should put into what it means to be part of this church that you can't mix your carbs and your proteins. See, it was on his list. It was to be for everyone was to do it because he did it. It was legalism. But at the meeting where they were deciding this, it was all shut down, John Phillips said, by a very wise young man. A young man stood up and said, do we believe that Jesus is the creator? And the church said, yes. The young man says, does Jesus know our bodies better than everyone? And the church said, yes. The young man said, well, the Lord fed the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. Jesus mixed his carbs and his proteins. You follow a list or you follow Jesus. Our final lesson for living, we're about there, number two. Freedom fighters know the difference between a shadow and substance. Know the difference between a shadow and the substance. There were those trying to take the Church of Colossae back to the rituals and rules and the external things of the Jews and the Pharisees to prove they were spiritual so they could gain favor with God. They were trying to destroy the liberty that God's grace had given the Church of Colossae. Again, it's the same today. Verse 17 is teaching us that legalism is a shadow, but the substance is Christ. He's teaching there where he says this legalism stuff is just a shadow. Jesus is the substance. A shadow is not the real thing. Substance is the real thing. See, Judaism in that day was if If there's a ritual, if you do this ritual, you'll have authority and a sense of spirituality. He says, if you're involved in this ritual and it becomes your authority and it becomes how you feel spiritual, Paul's saying you've just plugged yourself into a shadow. not the substance, which is Jesus. Legalism is a shadow. If you place your authority and your spirituality and you gauge your spirituality and your loyalty and your priority to God based on your external outward list, the Bible's teaching it's just a shadow. It's not the real thing. Jesus is the substance. A shadow cannot change your life. A shadow cannot change your heart. A shadow cannot grow you closer to God. Only the substance can do that. Folks, there's a world of difference between a shadow and substance. My wife Donna is there. I will not have her do this because it would embarrass her. But if I was to have Donna come up here and stand right here by me, if you look how the light hits us here, you have about five shadows. But let's say Donna was standing right here, and if she was standing like I am, Donna's shadow would be going just like this. Okay? So here's Donna. And here's Donna's shadow. If you're with me, say amen. Oh, we're getting deep here, we're getting deep here. Here's Donna, here's her shadow. Now let's say Donna's standing there and I walk up to her shadow and I go... I look at her shadow and I go, man, oh man, you are one pretty girl. I'm going to give you a hug and I'm going to give you a big kiss and I'm going to give you all my loyalty. It's her shadow. You'd be thinking, why would you give your loyalty and your love to a shadow when the real thing is standing right there? That's exactly what Paul's saying. Legalism is like walking up to a shadow and giving your loyalty and giving your devotion and the authority and your spirituality to just a shadow when Jesus is the real thing standing right there. Legalism is a shadow. It's not real. Jesus is real. The Bible is real. It's substance. And that's what we follow for liberty, and that's what we follow for freedom. And all God's people said, amen. And after this service, we're going to take your shirt sizes because we're going to have white shirts and black ties hanging outside the hall for next Sunday. Let's pray. Lord, we want to thank you that you died on the cross and you arose from the dead to pay the price for our sins, and that's all by grace. There's nothing we could do to earn it or deserve it. You did it. You did it. Thank you for your word. Thank you that we can just look at what Paul was teaching the church then, and we know it's your word, it's what you're teaching us today. God, I thank you. I thank you that you allow us to be part of a church that enjoys the freedom we have in you. God, I thank you that this church, only by your grace, is not dominated by legalism. May we be freedom fighters. The passion we have to fight for our freedom from those on the outside who would try to hinder the gospel, may we have that same passion to fight for the freedoms we have in you by those who would try to attack this church on the inside. Lord Jesus, thank you. We know what true Christianity is. It's not some person's external list. Thank you, Lord Jesus. We know what true Christianity really is. It's to grow in Christ-likeness, being transformed to your image, living under the authority and obedience to the word of God. That only can happen, Lord, when we surrender to the power of your Holy Spirit in us. And the only motivation we have is your glory and your honor because we love you. We want the world to know you. Lord, thank you for the liberty we have. Thank you, God, for how you've reminded us. You've not called us to legalism. You've not called us to license. We do not live, act, talk any way we want to. We have your Bible. We've been set free. Thank you for grace. Thank you for your love. Lord, in this room tonight, Are there some who know you and God, maybe they've been judging their spirituality by things outside the bounds of scripture instead of by you and by your word. They've been chasing the shadow when the real thing's been there all along. Lord, are there those here tonight who would say yes to you because they really believe the way to be right with you, the way to get into heaven one of these days is their works, it's their religion, it's their righteousness, it's their religious activity can make them right with you. Lord Jesus, thank you that it's your alone activity of the cross and your resurrection's the only thing that can make us right with the heavenly Father. Lord, is there one who needs to be saved, one who needs to be baptized, one who needs to come into fellowship with this church? Lord, again, we praise you for decades of protecting this church from being taken over by some sort of legalistic spirit. We pray, Lord, that the liberty we have in Jesus will go forward until you come back or until you call us home, that people would see the grace and the goodness that you've given to us, again, as we are spirit-empowered people walking under the authority of Scripture. Lord Jesus, make us more like you, because this world needs you. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for being here tonight, but we're not quite through. Would you stand, please? In your heart, Between you and God, is there something you need to respond to this message about? We want to give you a chance to do that right now in the privacy on the altar of faith, which is inside of you, which is your own heart. Maybe there's a public decision you need to make concerning this church, coming into membership of this church, baptism. But most of all, knowing Christ as your personal Savior, knowing that you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Settle that tonight if you've never done that. We're going to sing. We invite you to come. We invite you to come. We won't embarrass you. We invite you to come and take a stand and make a decision for Jesus and obey Him in something He's called you to do. Let's sing. ♪ I'm forgiven because you were forsaken ♪ I'm accepted, you were condemned And I'm alive and well, your spirit lives within me Because you died and rose again Amazing love, how can it be That you, my King, should die for me Amazing love, I know it's true And it's my joy to honor you In all I do God's been so good to us today. It's been a wonderful day to be in the house of the Lord. We praise him. Next Sunday, if the Lord allows it, we'll continue in our series on Sunday morning of who Jesus is, talking about the way, the truth, and life. That word way means road. Jesus is the road. And what that means is just so encouraging. It's so exciting. Next week, we'll pick back up in the book of Colossians, beginning in verse 18 through 23. That's the goal anyway. God bless you. Thank you. Sure do love you. Have a wonderful, wonderful week in Jesus. Tell someone about Jesus this week. Donna and I appreciate your prayers. We fly out early in the morning. Going to Atlanta with the North American Mission Board representing our state there. Be back Wednesday afternoon. And just thank you for your prayers as we have a chance to hear and see what God's doing around our entire nation for the cause of the gospel.