Live Free Or Die
The Book of Colossians
February 25, 2024
Live free or die. Death is not the greatest of evils. —General John Stark
JESUS CHRIST PURCHASED OUR FREEDOM
1 So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. —Galatians 5:1
Legalism: To trust in anything other than Christ and His finished work for one’s standing before God.
16 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. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. —Colossians 2:16-17
1.) LEGALISM MISSES THE POINT
17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. —Colossians 2:17
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. —Hebrews 10:1
Legalism creates a standard where God does not.
18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. —Colossians 2:18
2.) LEGALISM LEADS TO PRIDE
19 They have 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.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.
23 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. —Colossians 2:19-23
3.) LEGALISM DOESN’T WORK
23b …but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. —Colossians 2:23b
18 “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? 19 Food doesn’t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.” (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God’s eyes.)
20 And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” —Mark 7:18b-23
WHERE YOU HAVE STRONG CONVICTIONS OTHERS MAY NOT
13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. —Galatians 5:13