Colossians Lesson 14 Week 3
Colossians · JD McCulley · Sep 7, 2014
Colossians (2014), No. 35
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492643954567

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Let's look at Colossians 2, 20-23. I'm going to read that again for us. We've got two questions to wrap up today and then Courtney will come up and take over the next set of questions. So let me read those verses for us, get started. If you have died with Christ, to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourselves to decrees such as, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, which all refer to things destined to perish with use, in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men. These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom and self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. So before I jump into the last two questions, I wrote a question up on the board that I thought would be important.

We talked quite a bit last week about five errors involved in attempting spirituality by legalistic practices. We also looked at question six, how does God intend for man's sin nature to be controlled? So we talked about that, but one thing that we didn't bring out, and I think it would be good to just remind ourselves, is the answer to this question, what is the Holy Spirit's role in controlling the sin nature? I wanted to kind of give us a chance to think about that for a few minutes, because it didn't quite come up in the degree that I think it might should have.

And we've covered the answer to this question in a number of situations, but What is going on? We talked about this battle of authority that's going on in your heart. You've got the sin nature warring for you to follow the elementary principles of the world. And it's there to remind you, we talked about the megaphone of that deposed monarch who is constantly ringing in your ear and trying to lull you back into these basic ABCs, the rudiments of the world, the fleshly rules of measuring, and monitoring, and all these different kind of legalistic practices. We looked at different aspects of that. The mysticism, the legalistic, the spiritual. Sorry, I said mysticism, legalism, and we talked about traditions of men, and so forth.

And so, we've got this battle going on, and we said we find the ability to control the sin nature first in knowing what the Word of God says about who we are, but we didn't talk about what the Holy Spirit's role is in that. So I wanted to give us a chance to talk about that a little bit. What are your thoughts? What's happening spiritually with this aspect of controlling the sin nature?

He's our discernment. He's our discernment? Okay, what do you mean by that? that he helps us with recognizing what's wrong and right, what's from God and what's not. Discernment. Is it important for you to know what is of legalistic tradition or those things like in this verse, don't handle that, don't touch that, don't taste that. Is it important to know whether or not the word of God actually says that? And is it the Holy Spirit who teaches us through the Word of God, whether or not something like that even applies to us? So discernment, I think, is. But what if it's a brand new believer and they haven't read the Word? And does the Holy Spirit raise a flag spiritually?

It's like, ooh, I haven't read. I don't know. I don't know where in the Bible this is, but there seems to be something wrong in my heart with this. I haven't ever gotten to the point where I understand what's going on, but there seems to be something wrong with it.

Does the Holy Spirit raise flags? Yes. Doesn't our conscience sort of speak to us to let us know if it's glorifying to God or edifying to ourselves? That's a good question. Does he? I think so. I think so too. I think that you have a person. The person of the Holy Spirit is at work.

We often times miss the personal nature of the Spirit. And we think of it as, unfortunately, a lot of times we think of it as a force or something that's kind of mystical, we don't really understand. But this is the person of the Holy Spirit that's, what's the role? What is He, what is His role in your life?

Where is He pointing you? That's right. He is revealing the person of Christ to you. Isn't it interesting that you were placed in Christ. So all your identity, we talked about this Wanda last week. Is my identity what my driver's license says? Is my ID card? I pulled that out and I was like, is this you? Do you live at this location permanently? Eternally? No. We're not permanently. So you may physically live at the address on your identification card, but we have something greater when it comes to identity, right? It's something far more important that we don't carry in our wallet. It's the truth of who we are in Christ, and that's an eternal home. So our identity is found in Christ, and it's the job of the Holy Spirit, here and now, conditionally, to reveal Christ to you.

And as He reveals Christ to you, the sin nature is seen in light of who you are in Christ. Right? And is the comparison one of equality? No. There's the fleshly indulgence to satisfy that sin nature. We have that because of this temporary earthly body that we're still bound by for a time.

But yet the Holy Spirit is, through His Word, revealing Christ, and as you behold who Christ is, your sin nature becomes less interesting over time. If you think about the authority of the world screaming out to you through legalism, mysticism, those things become less interesting because you are beholding Christ instead of beholding this fleshly body that you're still bound by. And when I say less interesting, what's maybe a better way of saying that? Do you entertain fleshly indulgences still?

Yeah. Okay. But do you find yourself in retrospect, you know, you're working through the scripture, the Holy Spirit is revealing Christ to you and you say, I don't know why in the world I had any interest in that when I did. I don't know why in the world I would have entertained that for so long in my heart. And all of a sudden, you start to grow with this desire to see Christ and understand Christ in you. You can't do that apart from the Holy Spirit revealing the Lord through His Word.

And so we have this unique opportunity to behold Christ and the authority of who He is and what He has said in His Word, and that sin nature is controlled by not trying to wrap it up, shackle it, make sure we have our quiet times and our prayer times and all of these things in a certain way. It's not legalism. It's not a controlling that is binding up or boxing up and storing away. It's one that becomes seen for what it is.

What does the Bible say about the decrees that we talked about in Colossians 2? What happens to those? They perish. With use. Here they're getting used and they're working with the flesh. Paul is saying, why in the world would you endure this use of these things that are going to perish to control your sin nature when you have Christ? You're dead. Remember? And so we talked about the fact that there's a reckoning. You remember that word last week?

We went into it. I reckon we sure should think and believe what is true about us. And we looked at Romans 6, 7, and 8. We talked about the story of our identity in Christ having been put to death on the cross, our sin nature. The old man nailed to the cross, being buried. resurrected, ascended, seated, those identification truths, but we can't forget the fact that the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives to reveal Christ to us in that same... when we're reading, when we're learning, when we're spending time with the Lord, He is personally at work in you to reveal Christ. And so, the sin nature is not something that we have to think of as a negative battle in our lives. It is a joyful reckoning and realization of who we are in Christ, and the sin nature takes its place, which meaning, in this life, conditionally, we reckon it to be where? Dead. Separated from us, right?

So question, I just want to make sure, were there any other thoughts on that? I see you working. It's always working over there, isn't it? It's good. All of you. Any other thoughts on that? We could cover this for weeks and weeks at a time, and that's what the Holy Spirit class was for. It was before this one. And I would encourage you to go back and listen to that if you haven't had a chance to study through that, because personal work of the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ in your life is something that's very important to dealing with the sin nature. Any other thoughts?

You know, it's very difficult for me to think about all the stupid stuff that I did. You know, I mean, what was wrong with me? And I'm not supposed to think about it, you know, because Christ is in my heart and I'm now a different person. But then I say, it's like saying, oop, I should have had a V8. Well, you know, it's the same thing with... You know, how could I have done, you know, like putting a spider on an elderly person in the back? What's wrong with me?

The stuff that I did. And it keeps hounding me, even though I know God has forgiven me. I think about all those things. And I can't get rid of them. I've done a lot of stupid things, too. Thank you. Amen. We all share that history, don't we? I mean, before we knew the Lord, and even after coming to know the Lord, we've done a lot of stupid things, meaning things that were not pleasing to the Lord. But what is the reason those things... Why does God allow those things to keep happening? Why do I keep thinking of it? Well, we'll get to that. But why did they happen in the first place? Is it to draw us closer to God and to show, like, so he can use that later to show us, like, this wasn't pleasing to me and this is pleasing to me? Does God use those stupid decisions that we have in our past and we all got our own?

We can call it our baggage. You know, pack it up, here's our baggage, here's what we did. Do we go rummaging through the baggage all the time in terms of like, oh, and then as we pull out this stupid decision and think about it, does the Lord desire us to go back and almost like put ourselves back in that place and wish that we had done something different? We do that, right? We always rummage through baggage, but is that the Lord's desire? No. Why?

Christ put that baggage in its place, didn't he? And it's important to understand where that fits in your life, because you needed that baggage. We each needed the baggage that we have, and it's not that we go back and rummage through it and put it out and hang it up and say, and I've seen this, I've seen it in my own life, I've seen it in others, where you almost romanticize it.

It's like, oh, if you ever even knew what I used to do, let me tell you, and then you go tell them. I mean, you know, we each have our testimonies and we each came through varying degrees of indulging the sin nature in our own way. I did this, you did that. Let's stay up late and talk about what we used to do. There can be a romanticizing the past. I've used that term before.

But is that the Lord's desire for the past and that baggage that you carry? But it can be used and seen as what the Lord allowed in your life to draw you closer to Him. Those were your needs. So, we put them where they belong, but we don't have to feel sorry for them, because that's what the Lord used to draw you to Him. And there'll be more. Didn't you feel right that you leave those things behind? You learn from them and you become closer to God and Jesus and your relationship with them. But isn't there a place in the Bible where he wrote that old thing that you leave behind for the reward, not the reward, maybe the reward, but you look towards the future? Mm-hmm.

Philippians 3.14.

Philippians 3.14, okay. Let's read that real quick. It says, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us keep living by the same standard to which we have attained. And it goes on. So, thank you for sharing that. I think that we all have stupid stuff.

And if you're worrying about it still today, you have an opportunity to actually experience rest in that moving forward. because they don't have those decisions that baggage doesn't have to produce worry and concern and fear for what could have been what might have worked out if I'd have done this or done that those were your needs the Lord used them to draw you to him and you press on in Christ and you rest in who you are but more gets revealed to you and then you say oh my god I forgot all about that you know I'd like to just You know what?

That's the Holy Spirit revealing Christ to you, and that's what happens. That's your growth. That's growth. When you have that experience where you say, oh my goodness, I realize now that this was the sin nature at work, and it wasn't me walking in the Spirit, this was the sin nature, that is a good thing to realize. That's a great thing, because that's the Lord identifying to you where He's leading and guiding you. Isn't that a revelation?

I'm kind of torn in this in that who is doing that? Who's bringing it back up? Is it the old man or the Holy Spirit? If it's dragging you down and saying you have to do more, that's the old man. If it's dragging you down and saying you aren't quite good enough, I believe that's the old man bringing you to a point where you're not worthy. who you are in Christ. And there's a line between the Holy Spirit convicting and using you. I mean, he's allowed you to sin, he's allowed you to do a lot of things. And that, I think, is to show the dependency on the Holy Spirit and on Christ. But when it keeps coming back up, is that the old man bringing it back up? You're not good enough. That's a really good point. Let's ask that question in the class.

Is every recollection of what you did that was baggage, or stupid, or however we define it, is that the Holy Spirit at work in you? Or could that also be the sin nature? Or is it the sin nature? On this side of the authority, the deposed monarch, who has got that megaphone in your ear, I mean, if you are listening to who you were, or what the sin nature did, and that's causing you basically to freeze, is that something that is consistent with who we are in Christ, or is it consistent with the ABCs of the world? I don't know if this applies, but in Romans 8 it says there is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Who's condemning? It's not God. All that condemnation went on in Christ.

I think it's very appropriate. It's even before the condemning part, it shows up in my mind, how did it get there? And when it gets there, what do I do about it? I think right then is when the Spirit of God would have me trust Him in terms of what He's already accomplished.

Did you die to sin or didn't you? It's a real simple question. Am I dead to that or not? If I'm not, I'm going to entertain Him. If I am, I'm going to run away. It's really pretty simple. It's because it's almost like if you're going to be tempted, you can look at the temptation and say, well, you probably need to tempt somebody where it matters. It doesn't matter with me. I died. I'm gone. I'm separated from all that I was in Adam, and only because you told me so, and I believe you.

Does that make sense? We're talking about our history right now. What is your history today? Is your history that baggage? When I say history, and we've talked position and condition, but positional truths have conditional effects. So when we're talking about our history, what is our positional history? Is it your baggage? No. What is it?

Christ. The known in Christ from the foundations of eternity. Our history is Christ's history. Burns says, he uses the term, we are, by growth, catching up to who we are in Christ. We're catching up to our new history. So, when we think about that positional truth of our history, how does that affect our condition?

What does it do? I mean, it's one thing to say, our history is, we share Christ's history. Okay, so what? What does that mean? What does that mean to the things that are coming into your mind about what happened in your history? What is the positional truth of being placed in Christ and sharing His history for eternity, past and eternity future, okay? We have applied to us truths that are eternal now. We have a history that is Christ's history. What does that mean to your condition? Well, you know, it's so amazing that Christ died on the cross for somebody like me. And, you know, you're so in awe of it and then little things creep in your head and you say, oh my God. Do you know that you died there too? Well, let's... Do you know that?

It's hard to swallow. Yes it is. I guess the thing is too, I always come back when that happens. Who's doing it? That's what I bring up. Is it the old man bringing that up? And if God's done with it, why aren't we? That's a really good question. That's really what, when I get those thoughts of, man I did something stupid, God's done with it. And I bring myself back to the point that I don't drag myself down because it's the old man dragging me down. Because who I am in Christ, I'm able to sit at the right hand of God right now. God sees me in Christ. The one who's telling me I'm not worthy and I did all those stupid things is the old man.

And once I start realizing that, it's God's done with it. Why am I not done with it? That's a really good point. I'm glad you brought that up. If God's not troubled by that, if he looks at your baggage and says, it's separated from you. I see you in Christ. I have no problem with you. In fact, it's not even that I don't have a problem with you, I adore and love you, and I am really hoping, and this is not God hoping, but I want your sin, I just want the sin out of the way so that we can be intimate and spend time together. If he's done with that, and he's separated that from you, That is a claim and a reckoning that you can experience as well, and it can have real effect.

But it starts with the mind saying, I consider it true that those things are dead to me. The Lord doesn't have anything to do with that anymore, and neither do I. And any of this screaming and yelling from the flesh is dead to me. And it is the job of the Holy Spirit to comfort your heart in that, and to bring that reckoning into spiritual growth. One of the things that helps me is to remember that we get the authority to understand these things from God Himself. From the word in Galatians we're told that it is the Holy Spirit who is warring against the flesh.

It is not me. It's not my battle, it's His. Do I really believe that? If I don't believe it, then I'm going to say, I've got to pray more, I've got to read more, I've got to do more in order to please God. But if I believe it, then God, according to 1 Corinthians, takes the foolishness, the wisdom of the world, which says don't touch, don't handle, and so forth, and confounds that wisdom with His righteousness, and shows me Christ, When I look at Him, God says here in verse 30, of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God, speaking of Christ, God makes Christ these things, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according to as it is written, He the Glorious, let him glory unto the Lord. He focuses me on the Lord and I rejoice in who he is and who I am because God has put me in him, positionally. So I'm growing to appreciate Christ more and more. Do I make Christ more glorious? No. But it says here God makes him the wisdom, the righteousness, the sanctification and the redemption. We talk about sanctification as our current, what shall I say, state or the way that I am living. Well, if my sanctification is Christ, that's complete. And all I need to do is trust that the Holy Spirit is keeping in check these things in the flesh. But you don't learn that in one passage. You know, we learn here that this is the net result.

But the actual process is 1 Corinthians 3.18 showing us Christ. In John we're told in chapters 17 that the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and gives them to us. And we're told in Galatians that it is the Holy Spirit who wars against the flesh. And if we walk in the Spirit, we will not In other words, if we trust the Holy Spirit to do that, we're not going to obey the voice of the don't touch, don't handle that we're shown here in Colossians.

I think that's important. It's hard to put that all together, isn't it? Yeah. There's a lot to put together there, but it's all the teachings of the Scripture that apply to us today and apply to this issue of how does the sin nature get controlled in our life. I was just thinking, maybe just a little different take, when those things come to your mind, what great confirmation that what God did was the perfect thing, that in me dwelleth no good thing.

He was right. Why would I depend on this guy? There's nothing there to... And where's the focus, if you do indulge in the past, where does the mind go? And it produces sadness, it produces frustration, it produces guilt, sorrow, all of those things. When you're looking at you and how you do or don't measure, that's a form of legalism. And a lot of people get to a point where if they're not feeling sad about something, they don't feel like things are right.

You know? And that is not the place of the believer. Because you have the opportunity to behold Christ, which is a focus on Him. And that's where the joy is, right? So, when we think about that baggage, that stuff comes up, it's like, here is an opportunity the Lord has brought me to turn in trust to the things of Christ and let Him battle this out. I'm not fighting this thing. I'm trusting Him to do the battling for me. And if that has to do with the mind games, then let the Holy Spirit battle the mind games. You just behold Christ. You mentioned wisdom, and that's the question I'm... What do you do in your life that you think has a show of wisdom? This is a good question, and I'm interested to see what the answers are today. Coming to Holly Hills. Okay. Perfect.

No, really, it's, you know, so many other churches, and all the time I was growing up, I kind of felt like I was a rebel, because I didn't do all the things my mother said you can't do. You know, you can't go to a movie, you can't play cards, you can't dance, you can't wear makeup, you can't, can't, can't. And I rebelled. I think the Holy Spirit was working on me even though I didn't know at that time that he was.

But what I like about Holly Hills is the way you teach grace. And it's been so comforting. I mean, you feel like the chains are gone and you're free. So, this is a great opportunity for me to say something that's been on my heart for a while. And I so appreciate you sharing that. Thank you for doing that. Is it Holly Hills? No. It's what they teach. It isn't Holly Hills. It's what they teach.

So this is something that I've been dealing with too. So I'm sharing this with you. We are very privileged here. We're very privileged. We also have our warts as a church, don't we? We have our challenges and our limitations and our inabilities and all the things that someone might see when they visit Holly Hills. And then we have the teaching and we have the focus on grace. What I guess my thought is with this is that there are many local bodies all over the world.

And some shackle you to the pews with the do's and don'ts. They really do. I mean, show of hands for anybody that's ever been shackled? No? Yeah. So we've all been in local bodies where the shackling process is pretty intense. Is God at work in those local bodies? Yes. He is. Is God at work in such a way that you can still learn Him, even in a church where you're shackled down constantly? Can you still behold Christ in that church body?

So what I want to say, and I'm free to talk about this, but the answer to the question was, how do you think What do you do in your life that you think has a show of wisdom? And it was brought up that coming to Holly Hills was a wise choice because you recognized the freedom that you have in grace.

I'd like to rephrase that only so that we can get to the real truth of it, I believe. You were shown Christ here, and that's what freed you. And we're privileged that we beheld Christ in such a way that we could explain it to you, but it was Christ that freed you. Absolutely. And you can find freedom in Christ and other local bodies, not just in Holly Hills. I'm thankful for the privilege that we have. But it's because we look into the Word, and we see Christ, and we understand that to the degree that we do, and we share that to the degree that we do, and it frees people up.

But it's not us, it's Christ, and it's His Word. And so I'm excited that at Holly Hills we have those opportunities, but I'm also excited that He is at work in other bodies as well to reveal Himself in the same way. We're not special. We're not. You might think of Holly Hills as special, but we're not special. Christ is special.

And we just have the privilege of hearing about Him more clearly and more accurately. But other bodies can grow in that as well. So what are some other things that show wisdom? in your life, what do you do in your life that you think has a show of wisdom? There's a really tricky part to this question. And the word is do. What do you do in your life that you think has a show of wisdom?

What do you do? Lead. What? Lead. Hmm. Is that a deed? Well, if you're in the word, yeah, it is a deed. You sit up in the morning, get up and read the book. What if you listen to it on your iPad? Well, you give time. So, time commitment? Yes. Well, because you want to. But you do it. So, belief. We'll come back to that. Go ahead. Belief is like faith in that it focuses the object.

Does it have any merit before God? No. So, you're telling me that, if I take the answers that were mentioned just now, what do you do in your life that you think has a show of wisdom and you say, I believe, and it doesn't have any meritorious value before God, I'm not earning anything, but it somehow triggers wisdom. Is that what you're saying? Jesus was asked that question. What must we do to do the work of God? And the answer, believe on Him. This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. So it's the object of our faith that has the value, the wisdom.

So we're agreeing. Yeah. appearance of wisdom. So I took this question to mean asking me, what am I doing to create a false wisdom in habits? Or am I doing a program? That's what I took out of this question. How did you answer it? I was searching for some answers to it. Well, I think that there's two sides to the question.

There is the, how do you attempt wisdom in the same way that the Colossians attempted wisdom? Through legalistic chains. Don't handle, don't touch, don't even taste it. Don't even think about that. Well, if I do those things, then I will be wise. Because that's what the Colossians were faced with, wasn't it? As long as I follow these rules, my peers will see me as being wise. And what does Paul say about that? Remember, this all hinges on a question that Paul asks in verse 20. What is that question that he starts this whole chain of verses off on? If you've died with Christ, why all this?

So, we could answer this question and we could probably go around the room and say, well, this is how I attempt to show wisdom in this area of my life. But I think the answer to the question is belief, which is the same as the word trust, which is the same as the word faith. And as you believe what is true of you, namely, that you've died with Christ, here in verse 20, who is doing Who is bearing the fruit of wisdom in your life? Say that again? When you believe what is true about you, namely that you've died with Christ, at least in this verse, and there's other identification truths, when you believe that, when you trust that, when you have faith in that truth, who is bringing about the fruit of wisdom in your life?

Christ. Is it your wisdom, ever? It's never been your wisdom, well it could have been, your attempt at it, but from a biblical perspective, wisdom in the believer's life is found in the one who trusts him and Christ's wisdom is made known to that believer. Where have we mentioned wisdom before in Colossians?

I think I taught on it in chapter 1. Listen to this one. Verse 9, 1-9. It says, For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, heard what? That there were those believers, those Colossian believers, that heard the message of the gospel and believed it. That's called what? Faith. For this reason also since the day we heard of your faith, or heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding."

So, what is the source of wisdom? Is it physical wisdom? Is it our mental wisdom? It's spiritual wisdom. Right? This is a spiritual thing. Wisdom is a spiritual thing for you. It's not a mental faculty that belongs to the world. The world does not have wisdom. Biblically speaking, wisdom is not a word that applies to the world. The truest sense of wisdom in the scripture is spiritual.

And it's found in the person of Christ. And it's made possible by believing in the gospel. So every believer has access to spiritual wisdom. Because it's Christ's wisdom. So it's the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. The Holy Spirit's job is to reveal the person of Christ in your life. As you behold Him, you become wise as Christ is wise. It's His wisdom.

Do you not, by worldly knowledge, preclude or hinder spiritual knowledge? The reason I ask that, I've seen a lot of very knowledgeable people... Is knowledge the same? Let's ask this then. Is knowledge the same as wisdom? No. Is knowledge from a worldly authority the same as knowledge from a biblical authority?

No. It's not. See, that's the hard part, is that we can ask questions, but we have to define the terms, and where we get our answers from those terms. You know, I have people that tell me, I know a lot, and I know that I don't need Christ. And I take something like that, and it's like, okay, well you do know a lot then. And I use the example of, you know, we've got the Library of Congress. It's a subset of knowledge. We've got a lot of books in there. Millions of them, I would guess. How many have you read? Like 99%? 1%? And that's knowledgeable. 1%?

You can't even, from a worldly definition of knowledge, you can't even claim to have all-worldly knowledge, much less, from a biblical perspective of knowledge, who founded the earth? Were you there? Did you see it? Job was confronted with this question quite a bit. I can't believe this has been an hour. Almost. It's been good though. I'm excited about what we're learning.

But spiritual wisdom and the knowledge that's mentioned in this verse, knowledge of whose will? So biblical knowledge is knowledge of what? God's will. And Paul was praying that they be filled with the knowledge of his will so that they could also gain spiritual wisdom, and then what comes as a final result of those things combined?

Understanding. This is an exciting link of prayer requests. In fact, this is a prayer that I've adopted myself to pray for myself, for my family, that they would be filled with the knowledge of His will, in spiritual wisdom and understanding. Because that is going to result in a life of freedom and grace. So we can pray for one another in that way. Paul prayed for the body that way in Colossians, and we can pray for one another that way. So what do you do in your life that you think has a show of wisdom? Well, you believe. You gain a knowledge of His will that results in spiritual wisdom and understanding.

It's not a work. It's not meritorious before the Lord. It's an opportunity for the believer to rest in what he has said and to take him at his word. If he says he's not concerned about the past, your opportunity is to believe it. And that will gain spiritual wisdom and understanding in your life. Question 10.

Why do the severe treatments, the legal practices, etc. have no value against fleshly indulgences? All this stuff, legalism, mysticism, the traditions of men, why do they have no value against the fleshly indulgences of the believer? We're dead to those.

Oh, that's a good answer. Where'd you get that? Well, I want to say one thing about that part in your life that shows wisdom. I think that's a trick question. It is. That makes you want to say, oh, let me see, now what have I done? Thanks, Mark. Value.

What is value? I think this question hinges on that term quite a bit. Who values? In the believer's life, where does value come? Does it come from the Denver Mint? Where's the source of value for the believer? Who we are in Christ. Who assigns value? Is it the government? No. Is it you? Yeah. You put value, huge value, the best value on the Bible. How does the world value the death of Christ? How does God value the death of Christ? That He would give His only Son so that you might have life. What's the value of that? We're not talking economics from a worldly perspective. We're talking about economics biblically.

So is it a gift? Oh, it is. Well, that's what I mean. It's the best gift we could have. It's the most valuable thing and it comes for free. Right. So, who assigns value? to the things that we do, to the things that we think, to the things that we say? God. God assigns value. Is what? God assigns value and we see it first like in Genesis where he does his creating and says, it is good. Is that the first time we ever see God assigning value to something? It is. When God says what he has done has value, It is our opportunity to believe the value assignment that God made to something and to claim that, to reckon it.

So why do severe treatments, legal practices, making sure that you do your prayers and your quiet times and don't go here, don't do that, don't drink this, don't eat that. Why do these things have no value? Are they effective in controlling the sin nature? Because it's relying on us to do that instead of the Holy Spirit to take care of the sin problem.

Who's doing it? That's a good point, Mike. Romans 7 is very clear about this issue, that it inflames the sin nature and causes it to become exceedingly sinful. That's why it doesn't have any value. It's not neutral. If you attempt by legal practices to sin, So do this in nature, it's going to bite you. You're firing it up. You're fueling the flame. You try to put law, legalistic practices, mysticism, traditions of men on your fleshly indulgence and it will fuel it. It's like throwing gas on the fire. So God assigns value and the value of your life is measured by you trusting Christ's life. And when he sees you trusting, he sees Christ. Right? And others see Christ. And that's the most valuable expression ever, is Christ. Both internally in your heart, as well as the outward actions of your conditional life on this earth.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the free gift of salvation and the value that you have said that applies to your son's death, burial, and resurrection. Lord, we could not be more thankful for the truths that apply to us now, our history, in Christ is more valuable than any gold or silver, anything that we can attempt to collect on this earth, any wisdom or knowledge that this earth places before us. Father, it is the knowledge of your will and spiritual understanding, spiritual wisdom and understanding that we desire because we want to see you doing the living through us. We want to be at rest. so that the value of Christ's life can be experienced by us and by others. And Father, we thank you for the wonderful truth of your love for us in Christ. It's in your name we pray. Amen.