If you turn with me and your Bibles to Colossians, the second chapter, I'd like to read, start reading at verses 6 and read through to the end of the chapter in our text for this evening in verses 20 through 23. Colossians 2, verses 6. So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ. For in Christ all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. In him you are also circumcised in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with the circumcision done by hands of men, but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into detail to what they have seen. And his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the head from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why as though you still belong to it, you submit to its rules? Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These are all destined to perish with use because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. Congregation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Smoking, drinking, dancing, playing cards, watching movies. Why do Christians restrict each other in these matters? We who know liberty in Christ, why do we seek to bind others by rules which are not found in Scripture? The reason is because we are sinful by nature. We are sinful by nature and therefore we are inclined to add to God's rules as we see fit and to bind others in their conscience to which God has not revealed in his word. It's unfortunate that sometimes, even as Christians, our attitude can be similar to the Pharisees who denied the sacrifice, or rather who denied the true meaning of sacrifice and offering, mercy and justice, and rather sought to look at the finer things of the law and even add to them and bound men to them. And our text certainly points us to what is true liberty in Christ, that we are bound to him in death. This is liberty. This is what sets men free. And I'd like to see this evening as our theme is Dead to the World in Christ. The two basic points to this liberty in Christ. First of all, we must see what this principle is that we bind ourselves to and what the world binds us to so that we know what we must die to. That is the death principle of this world. And second of all, our death to the world in Christ. Well, first of all, the death principle of this world. We know in this world, in this age, we look outside our doors, we look at our neighbors, and we see what is called hedonism. Very often people indulging in the gifts of God, in the things that God had created for man to glorify him. And they indulge in them, and they abuse them. But here Paul is telling the Christians in Colossae that there are some who are ascetic in practice. And what I mean by ascetic is that those who glorify actually denying the flesh where the flesh need not be desired or which it may not necessarily need to be denied. And what I mean in just things of food and drink as he speaks of. We have people in this time, obviously, who are binding others to rules of drink and food. You may not touch this, you may not drink this, you may not do that. Because apparently that's not what God requires. And as we read in verses 23 of our text, they have false humility, they have harsh treatment of the body, but it lacks any value in restraining sensual indulgence. The world essentially seeks to make evil what God has called good. We look at religions such as Buddhism, which seeks not to eat meat because somehow that makes them more holy before their God. Or even Roman Catholicism, who exalts virginity and who denies the priest's marriage because somehow that makes them more holy and consecrated to God. And the Colossian Christians were being captivated by those who brought forth rules for eating and drinking. Again, don't touch that. Don't drink that. Don't eat that. Stay away from this or that. However, we read the New Testament principle in Acts chapter 10, verses 15. Peter has revealed to him by God in a vision what is good and what is holy. He sees a vision of all these animals that they were no longer to abstain from, That they were no longer to bind men in the new covenant unto, as they had in the old covenant. God said, do not call anything impure that God has made clean. We see this in Colossians 2, verses 16, where Paul says, Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. Certainly God had required these restrictions in the past to teach the Israelites to be holy. But now again, we had people binding others to these observances, and now in our text as well, binding them to observances which were even beyond which God had required in the Old Covenant. This is the death principle of the world, is to abstain from the things which God has called good. It's to add to the commandments of God and to his regulations. We see one of the principles in the Old Covenant and certainly in the New Covenant, Deuteronomy 4, verses 2, Do not add to my word, nor take away from my word. The death principle of this world is not to be satisfied with God's regulations and with God's requirements and with God's laws. And it is to add to them, and thus to destroy the laws which were given for us to keep. And it is death, as we see in verses 19, that those who go about observing these practices and trying to bind others in their conscience, it speaks of them in verse 19. He has lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. It's the picture here of a man who has had his head cut off in a very graphic sense. Obviously, we know physically that if we are separated from our head, we die. We die. And this is the death principle of the world. To add to the commandments of God is to be cut off from the head, that is Jesus Christ, as we are his body, the church. We see also in verses 22, Paul says that these commandments are destined to perish with use because they are based on human commands and teaching. Food perishes, drink perishes, our bodies perish. There is corruption of the flesh and everything we see around us in the physical world. It reminds us of death. And what benefit do we have when we are dead? None. There's no benefit in death. And all these commandments are based on man's rules. Man the creature, but not the creator. Man in the image of God, but not God. And by seeking to replace God, to become Lord, and to do our own will, we seek to destroy God. And his commandments. Drinking, smoking, eating. How do we judge one another as Christians? We must have moderation, certainly. But we must also have toleration and love. For what benefit is there to bind others according to the rules that which we have invented in our own mind? Paul speaks of an appearance of wisdom. That which appears to be right. That which at outset appears to be something that we should bind ourselves to in others. But such thinking lends itself to looking like the real thing. But it is not. True religion is according to God's word. And true religion is in Jesus Christ, who has set us free. These commandments may look good. But in fact, they are death, as we have seen. And we might wonder, why are we so quick to add to God's commandments? Especially in the church of God, but even in the world itself. And John Calvin notes that human traditions, therefore, please us because they accord with our own minds. For anyone will find in his own brain the first idea of them. In other words, as we have said, we become Lord. We seek to dethrone God. And this is what has happened from the first in the fall. where man himself sought to do his own will and sought to reinterpret what God had given him to do in the garden and so brought ruin upon us all. This is death because we are not the creator. We are the creature. And the church today, unfortunately, has followed this principle far too often. She has been so affected by her culture. We see that in North America where the church seeks to establish worship according to entertainment and establishes the church as some kind of business where we make money and we try to bring people in by various psychological tactics and such but have nothing to do with the gospel, simple and pure as it is preached in God's word. And we might wonder ourselves, have we escaped as a congregation? I fear sometimes that, as we have left the CRC for various reasons and right reasons, that sometimes we focus on that so much, we tend to say, since we have left this church, now we have become pure. Now we have reached the point of, say, holiness, which God has required for us, because we have separated from a church that was not deemed to be holy and was not keeping God's commandments. But I'm afraid we have a long ways to go. If we can only think in our ecclesiastical circles, we have not fought as far as God has fought to keep God's commandments, to continually seek His Word and to study it so that it may inform us as to how we are to live our lives in liberty and in conscience to God. We also see this in our worship. Paul speaks of a self-imposed worship. And Jesus Christ spoke of this as well in Matthew 15, verses 9. If you turn there with me. Matthew 15, verses 3 through 9. Christ is speaking to the Pharisees at this point. And he warns them. He warns them of their worship and their teachings. It says in Matthew 15, verses 3, Jesus replied, And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, Honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses his father and mother must be put to death. But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God. He is not to honor his father with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but rules taught by men. We see that this principle that the world adds to and that the church ascribes to has been found in the church throughout all generations. Isaiah taught and preached this, and so does Christ. He looks at the Pharisees who are binding men to rules and regulations and thus are nullifying or destroying the very regulations which man was to keep. And I do not suggest that we are, as such as these here, revealed in this text. But there is a warning in the scripture, even to those who are God's covenant children, that we do not worship according to our own rules and our own submission. We worship according to the manner in which God has revealed in his word alone. And we need to seek principles and we need to seek elements in worship which clearly glorify him and seek to do his will. The principle of this world, then, can come from the world and from the church because it is anything that comes from man himself and, as Calvin notes, is invented in the mind. Elders and deacons this evening, you are to sign a form of subscription whereby you agree to the doctrines of this church. And I speak here as someone who has not, maybe someday will do that himself. But it is a great charge to be chosen by Christ. And one of our charges is to rule and minister the church as God sees fit and not we ourselves. This is to be in submission to God's word and not to man. It is to be of the wisdom and kingship of Christ. If we were to read throughout the whole book of Colossians, we would see that this is a great theme. The wisdom of Christ, not of man, but of Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of wisdom, who is the fullness of the revelation of the Father. And because the Father has revealed Himself in His Word, He also desires us to seek His Word and His commandments. One of the effects as we see in Colossae of people ascribing to commandments on their own is false humility. And this is in contrast to Colossians 3 verses 12 where Paul speaks about one aspect of Christians which is humility, but not false humility. Those who are seeking to abstain from things so as to appear righteous. It's easy to have this attitude. and it's a dangerous attitude to have. Again, the effect is death. Again, in verses 23 we read that such things attempt to restrain the fleshly desires, but they accomplish very little. We do not want to say, of course, that their desire is not good to restrain the fleshly desires because certainly we are sinful and we realize our sin. But the method itself is evil, where God's law is supplanted by our own. You might even think in the church such a word as sex. I know when I was younger, I had a hard time even mentioning that word. I was embarrassed by it. I was ashamed by it. But we cannot call what God has called good, evil. The children of our church must learn what it means to be bound in marriage, To be holy before God, something that God has made that is holy before him and is good, the gifts that God has given us, we must not call evil. And of course, as we have mentioned, the Colossian Christians did have somewhat of a right attitude in mind. They were worried about overindulgence. They were worried about using the flesh to evil. And if we do seek to do God's will, how do we prevent it? How do we prevent it? Well, that brings us to our second point, the death, our death to the world in Christ. As we read in verse 20, since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why as though you still belong to it do you submit to its rules? He says you died with Christ. This theme of dying is very prevalent in the book of Colossians. It speaks of dying with Christ as we have just read. In Colossians 1, verses 22, we are reconciled through Christ's death to God. In Colossians 2, verses 12, we are buried in baptism. In Colossians 2, verses 13, we who were once dead in our sins are reconciled to God in death. That is Christ's death. And we also see later on in Colossians 3, verses 5, that we are to put to death those sins. which reign in us. We, who were once dead in our sins, we, who were once alienated to God, are now reconciled through death, in Christ's death. In His blood, we are saved. By His atonement. And of course, this brings us to the principle of how we are saved. Are we saved by our observance to the law? Are we saved by simply keeping that which God has required? No, absolutely not. In verses 14 of chapter 2 of Colossians, it speaks of Christ who has canceled the written code with its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to it. He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And the principle of death is that we have died as well. The power of the resurrection is life in us. It is to put to death the fleshly indulgence which the Colossian Christians were so ready to put to death. This is what we seek when we are in sin and when we are in bondage. To look to the resurrection of Christ, to his power, to the faith that we have in him, as the one binding principle, the one law that we keep. Again, some in Colossae thought that they had to keep these regulations, either those that were revealed in the Old Covenant or those that they made up themselves. Paul, however, speaks of God adopting us in Christ alone. This is our imposed religion. This is our worship, and this is our lives. In our adoption, we are no longer to submit to the rules and regulations of the world. We are not to be obedient to the world because we are no longer slaves of sin. We no longer belong to the world. And it's Prince, who is Satan, who captivates the world. We are adopted by God. And this is life. We belong to God. We are not Lord. He is. He is our Father. And He is our Redeemer. And thus the rules of this world, and even those of our own mind, should not have a hold on us. We read these marvelous words in Psalm 119, verses 45. I will walk about in freedom, for I seek your precepts. I will walk about in freedom, because I seek your precepts. We have liberty in Christ to be his willing servants. Our worship to his glory and command, thus we are free. Our doctrine to His glory and command, thus we are free. Our obedience to His glory and His command, thus we are free. And thus also we may begin to enjoy the gifts that our Father has given us, in food, in drink, even the things of this world that God has created and that He has called good. Paul declares elsewhere in Galatians 6, verses 14, speaking in the context of circumcision and how it is unable to purify the ungodly man. And he says, May I boast in nothing but the cross of Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Having been united to Christ in faith, we are crucified to the world. As surely He was nailed to the cross, and as surely as His blood was bled for us, as surely as His legs were broken, and His body was sacrificed as a one sacrifice for all, as surely as that has happened within history, and as revealed in the Gospels, we too are crucified to the world. We no longer belong to the world. We no longer belong to its regulations, its rules. We seek to please God by faith and obedience. What a great motive to live according to God's laws. No longer in bondage to seek His favor simply by doing what He requires, but in thankfulness, coming to God and doing His will. Again, as surely as Christ has been crucified, I have been crucified and set free to love God and to seek His face, for He is my Lord. The world, its wisdom, its false humility, its rules, its regulations are dead to me in Christ because we are cleansed by Him in His blood of any stain of sin. And we must ask ourselves, do I live according to my own standards or God's? Do I impose restrictions on myself and others that are not revealed in His Word? Do I keep the commandments of the Lord that I ought? It's easy to say that we have died with Christ, but do we believe it and practice it? Because the world is ever against us. Whether the world overindulges in the things that God has called good, or they call evil which God has called good, the world is ever against us, always seeking to tear us away, from our faith in Christ. And even our own flesh, our own weakness, we must be reminded, as we were reminded this morning, that we do not have the power to seek God, but that He gives us the power. So we must take care. And God calls us to His Word. He calls us to His sacraments. He calls us to His will and His church. And calls us to faith in Christ alone, by whom we have died, by Christ, to live in His ways, to live in the commandments of our God because these are freedom and not the way of the world. Amen.