JESUS IS SUFFICIENT Colossians 2:8-15
THE WARNING: Watch out for those who distort the truth of Jesus Christ.
COLOSSIANS 2:4,8 4 I am saying this so that no one will deceive you with persuasive arguments… 8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ.
COLOSSIANS 2:5 5 For I may be absent in body, but I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see how well ordered you are and the strength of your faith in Christ.
ACTS 20:25-31 25 “And now I know that none of you will ever see my face again —everyone I went about preaching the kingdom to. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of everyone’s blood, 27 for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole plan of God. 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as
overseers , to shepherd the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 And men will rise up from your own number with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following them. 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears.
QUESTION: Why is false teaching such a big deal?
Principle: What you believe affects your behavior.
QUESTION: What was the false teaching that was being propagated in the church?
COLOSSIANS 2:8, 16 8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ… 16 Therefore, don’t let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
THE FALSE TEACHING: Jesus plus something
QUESTION: What in particular was threatened through the heretical teachings in Colossae?
THE THREAT: The sufficiency of Jesus
2 CORINTHIANS 11:3 3 But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete and pure devotion to Christ.
COLOSSIANS 2:8 8 Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elemental forces of the world, and not based on Christ…
COLOSSIANS 2:9-10 9 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
BIG IDEA: Jesus is sufficient for salvation
1 PETER 1:3-4 3 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. 4 By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires.
THE QUESTION: How do we know that Jesus is sufficient?
THREE REASONS 1. In Him we have received the true circumcision. (v.11-12)
COLOSSIANS 2:11 11 You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah.
GENESIS 17:9-14 9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep My covenant. 10 This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised. 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant
between Me and you. 12 Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised. This includes a slave born in your house and one purchased with money from any foreigner. The one who is not your offspring, 13 a slave born in your house, as well as one purchased with money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be
marked in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. 14 If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
JEREMIAH 4:4 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it because of your evil deeds.
DEUTERONOMY 4:4 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, men of Judah and residents of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it because of your evil deeds.
DEUTERONOMY 10:15-16 15 Yet the Lord was devoted to your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—He chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff- necked any longer.
ROMANS 2:25-29 25 For circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore if an uncircumcised man keeps the law’s requirements, will his uncircumcision not be counted as circumcision? 27 A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who fulfills the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in
spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. 29 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart —by the Spirit, not the letter. That man’s praise is not from men but from God.
COLOSSIANS 2:11 11 You were also circumcised in Him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of the Messiah.
COLOSSIANS 2:11 (NIV) 11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature.
ROMANS 6:6-7 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims.
COLOSSIANS 2:12 12 Having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-13 12 For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body —so also is Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body —whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free —and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
COLOSSIANS 2:13 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him
EPHESIANS 2:1-10 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and
thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, 5 made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens, 7 so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His
grace through His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are His creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.
THREE REASONS 1. In Him we have received the true circumcision. (v.11-12) 2. In Him we have been completely forgiven. (v.13-14)
COLOSSIANS 2:13-14 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive with Him and forgave us all our trespasses. 14 He erased the certificate of debt, with its obligations, that was against us and opposed to us, and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross.
QUESTION TO THINK ABOUT: How much of your obedience to Christ is really in response to make up for your sin rather than in response to forgiveness for your sin?
THREE REASONS 1. In Him we have received the true circumcision. (v.11-12) 2. In Him we have been completely forgiven. (v.13-14) 3. In Him we are victorious because He is victorious (v.15)
COLOSSIANS 2:15 (HCSB) 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly; He triumphed over them by Him.
JOHN 12:31 31 Now is the judgement of this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
HEBREWS 2:14-15 14 Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death —that is, the Devil— 15 and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.
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