now let's stay right there in
Colossians chapter 3 this morning and my subject this morning is
found beginning at verse 12 concerning the character of God's elect
the character of God's elect and of course what we're talking
about is the character of of believers, sinners saved by the
grace of God, who are identified in verse 12 as the elect of God,
put on therefore as the elect of God. So we're going to be
talking about that great truth that many people who claim to
believe the Bible find offensive. But it shouldn't be offensive
at all. In fact, it should be a The doctrine
of hope, and it is if you understand what the Bible says about us
by nature. When we consider the doctrine
of election, who are the elect, I'm going to deal with that.
But I want to start with this. He says, put on therefore. That word therefore. You've heard
me say it, I heard an old preacher years ago say, if you see a therefore
in the Bible, find out what is therefore. What does it mean? Well, what Paul is about to do,
as he's inspired by the Holy Spirit, he's about to encourage
believers in the exercise of godliness, in the exercise of
behavior, attitude, character, conduct. That's what he's going
to do. But in doing that, he has to
remind them of the ground and the basis and the motivation
for doing so. And that's the gospel. That's
the grace of God. That's what God has done for
us and in us by Christ who died for us on the cross, who put
away our sins, and who sent his spirit to give us life. It's
all based upon this, you say. A young man asked me one time,
he said he was considering the ministry, preaching, and he asked
me, he says, do we have to preach the gospel every time we preach?
I was sort of disappointed that he even asked me that question.
But I said, well, of course. I said, every sermon ought to
evangelize and every sermon ought to edify, both. It's not always
an easy task, I grant you that. But I said, look at it this way.
I said, if you go out and buy the best car in the world, the
prettiest, the shiniest, the best built car, and you go to
start the car up and it won't start because there's no gas
in the tank, what have you got? You got a good-looking car, but
it won't go, because there's no gas in the tank. And preaching
obedience, character, conduct, godliness, without preaching
the gospel is like trying to run a car with no gas. There's
nothing to spark it, there's nothing to build the fire, there's
nothing to motivate it, except what man has naturally, which
is either legalism, fear of punishment, promise of earned reward, or
something. Dangling the carrot before them
all of that and that's evil in God's sight So Paul says therefore
put on therefore and what he's doing He's reaching back to everything
that he'd stated of a believer's completeness in Christ You remember
over in in chapter 2 and verse 9. He says for in him in Christ
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. The fullness
of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is found in the person
of Christ, who is God in human flesh, who is Jesus Christ. You
see, this thing about salvation, this thing about character and
conduct, it's really not about us, it's all about Christ. You
understand that, don't you? And that's what he says in verse
10 of chapter two, and you're complete in him. which is the
head of all principality and power. So here's what I know
about obedience, Christian obedience, true Christian obedience. I'm
not just talking about human morality. Because human morality
crosses all kinds of different beliefs. You say, well, I know
somebody will look at a person and say, well, a person who gives
to charity. And they say, well, I know that
person's a Christian because they give a lot of money to charity.
But what do you find out later? He's a Buddhist. or he's some other religion. Are you foolish enough to believe
that no other religions preach charity and almsgiving? So we're not just talking about
human morality here. All right? You need to understand
that. What we're talking about is true
godliness, true character of a believer. And what he's telling
us right away is this. I ought to put out with every
fiber of my being efforts to live a godly life in every way. In every way. To be the best
I can be. As a pastor, as a preacher, as
a husband, as a father, as a brother in Christ, I ought to be the
best I can be. There's no excuse for me being
anything less. But, first of all, at my best,
my efforts do not make me complete before God. I'm complete in Christ. He's my completing My efforts
do not make me righteous in God's sight. You see, only Christ is
my righteousness. Back over in chapter three, that's
why I had Brother Jim read the whole chapter. We've been studying
this, but look at what he says in verse one, if you then be
risen with Christ. That means when, as you said
it, when Christ rose from the dead, I arose because He was
my representative. He was my surety. He is my surety. He's my substitute. He's my redeemer. Now, I didn't have anything to
do with that. The only thing I had to do with
anything that He did in that sense is as represented by fallen
humanity, I crucified the Lord of Glory. That's what human nature
does. Somebody said, I heard a preacher
say up in, he was preaching up in Toledo, Ohio. He was talking
about the experience of Christ going to the cross, and he had
the whole audience crying, and it is a sad thing when you think
about humanity. And he was crying, and he looked
at the crowd, and he said, oh, if I'd have been there, I would
have stopped it. I thought, are you kidding me? My friend, that was the sovereign
purpose of God from the beginning. You're going to stop that? That's
the pride of man. But how was I risen? When Christ
died, listen, he said, seek those things which are above where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. That speaks of a finished
work. Christ sitting at the right hand
of God, the right hand of justice, the right hand of acceptance,
the right hand of fellowship. Christ is seated there because
Christ finished the work. He put away my sins. He brought
in everlasting righteousness. He completed me in that sense. And so he says, set your affection
on things above, not on things for you're dead. How am I dead? I'm dead legally to sins condemnation
because Christ died in my stead. My sins were charged to him.
He put them away. He washed me clean in his blood.
When he died, I died. I wasn't there personally, but
I was there in him, in the mind and the purpose of God. When
he was buried, I was buried. When he arose again, I arose
again. And so, I'm dead. I'm dead to the law. The law
cannot condemn me. I'm dead to sin. Sin cannot condemn
me. I have a righteousness that answers
the demands of God's law and justice, and I didn't have anything
to do with it. It was all Christ. And so my
life is hid with Christ in God. That means I'm protected. That
means I'm preserved. I'm safe, safe in Christ. He's my refuge. He's my high
tower. He's my foundation. He's my rock. He's my fortress. And he concludes that whole issue
in verse 11. He says, Christ is all and in
all. Now, therefore, not in order to be, but because
you already are put on as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
verse 12. And then he lists several things
that we should strive for in godliness, not in order to be
saved, but because we already are complete.
Not in order to be made righteous in God so as to be accepted with
God. We strive to be righteous, but
not to be accepted with God, Christ. We're accepted in the
beloved. You see what I'm saying? So not
in order to be made righteous and be accepted with God, but
because you already are. Not in order to earn God's favor. First of all, you cannot earn
God's favor. The Bible teaches that God never
puts himself in a position where he owes us anything by the way
of salvation and all of its blessings and benefits. It's always a free,
free gift. And that's what the natural man
doesn't understand and want. Remember 1 Corinthians 2, the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
They're foolishness to him, he cannot know them. Well, back
up in verse 12 of that chapter, it says, what he won't accept
are the things that are freely given. And what are those things? Everything
in salvation and blessedness, everything in eternity, it's
freely given, unconditionally. I didn't earn it, didn't deserve
it. It's all a free gift. I'm a grace recipient. And that's the therefore. This union, our union with Christ. wherein we see that we're righteous
in Christ, we're washed in his blood, we're forgiven, we're
certain for heaven's glory, because he's seated at the right hand
of God. That's the ground, that's the motivation for all godly
living, all godliness, all fruit unto God. That's why I say we
don't produce fruit, we bear it, like the tree bears the fruit.
All acceptable obedience. Anything that's accepted with
God, it's in Christ. It's washed in the blood of Christ.
Did you know that? All good works. They're not good
because they're meritorious or because we do them or we're trying
to do them or do the best we can. They're only good because
God accepts them through His Son. Our prayers. I'll never
forget the first few months that I started sitting under the true
gospel as an unbeliever. I was an unbeliever. And I heard a pastor preaching
on the, a true gospel preacher preaching on the issue of prayer,
and he made a statement. And he said, there's enough sin
in the best prayer I've ever prayed to sink a world to hell.
And I thought he was crazy. I almost got up and left. But
by the providence of God, unbeknownst to me, I sat right there and
I kept coming back. But when I understood what the
Bible says about us by nature, what we are, sinful and depraved
by nature. And then even as believers, how
we struggle with the flesh. My prayers, going through this
with my son, my prayers, they haven't always been God honoring
prayers because they've come out of my anger, they've come
out of my self-pity, even my self-righteousness. And I have
to pray, God, forgive me. God, forgive me. Thank God He
keeps us. Thank God He will not let us
go. I can tell you that right now. You say, you believe in
once saved? Well, of course I do. If God
saves you, Now if you save yourself, you're not saved to begin with,
and you won't stay there, but God saves his people to the uttermost. He not only saves us, he keeps
us, and I know that. You know why God accepts our
prayers? Because we have a great high priest who's passed through
into the heavens, Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteous. He intercedes
for us right now. None of living or doing that
we do is to rival Christ and His blood
and righteousness. His righteousness imputed. That's
a perfect righteousness that cannot be taken away from His
people and cannot be contaminated with the struggles we have in
the flesh. That's his work for us. So that's our whole ground
of salvation. That's our whole ground of justification. And that establishes the motivation
of grace and gratitude and love. If you look down there at verse
15 of Colossians 3, he says, let the peace of God rule in
your hearts. Who made peace with God? Somebody said, well, he's
making his peace with God. You know, Christ already did
that. on the cross. The Holy Spirit brings you to
be at peace with God by leading you to Christ for salvation,
for righteousness, for holiness. And he says, to the which you
are called in one body and be ye thankful. Oh, thank you, Lord,
for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me thy great salvation so rich. and so free. Every act of obedience,
every act of service, every act of praise ought to be, thank
you, Lord. That's what it ought to be. Thank
you, Lord. I didn't deserve it. Don't earn
it. Oh, you've blessed me. Blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Thank you, Lord. And then here we're commanded
to obedience, but before we're exhorted to the obedience, we're
said to be the elect of God. Listen to what he says here in
verse 12. Put on therefore as the elect of God. And he says
holy and beloved. This is the reality from which
all godliness, all acceptable obedience, all service to God
is to be done. That is These are not goals we're
trying to reach by our obedience. It's not do this in order to
become God's elect. It's not do this in order to
become holy or in order to get God to love you.
No. No. It's because this is what
you are by God's grace in Christ. This is what we are because of
His grace. Totally. Sovereignly. In Christ,
the obedience of a sinner saved by grace is the fruit, not of
our own goodness, but of God's goodness. Did you know that?
The obedience of a sinner saved by grace is the fruit, not of
our own power, but God's power. Paul said that in Galatians chapter
two. He said, it's not I that do it, but Christ that dwelleth
in me. The obedience of a sinner saved
by grace is the fruit of God's grace in Christ, through the
Holy Spirit, by the Word of God, and it's the proper ethical response
to God's grace. Grace, love, and gratitude. Paul
called it, in Romans 12, a reasonable service. It's only reasonable. If somebody gave you a million
dollars today, wouldn't it be reasonable for you to say, thank
you? Wouldn't that be reasonable? I'm talking about a million that
you didn't earn or deserve. In fact, let's say you went up
and slapped him in the face and then he gave you the million.
Because that's what we've done. We slapped God in the face when
we fell in at him. Born dead in trespasses and sins,
sin against God. What are we? We're sinners saved
by grace. Walking in this world by nature
in our self-righteousness and pride, we're all recovering Pharisees. You say, well, I'm not. Well,
then you don't have to fight it like I do. Who are the elect of God? put
on therefore as the elect of God." Now, according to the Bible,
and like I said, the Bible reveals that God has an elect people. And according to the Bible, the
elect of God, and I don't have time to go into all of the scriptures
here that deal with that, but according to the Bible, the elect
are those whom God sovereignly and unconditionally chose to
save before the foundation of the world. Look over to Ephesians
chapter one. And there's many, many verses
we can go. But now these are verses that people like to ignore
now, because it just doesn't rub us the right way naturally. It affects our pride. You know,
they say there's two views of election. One is that God looks
down through the telescope of time and he foresaw what you
would do as far as accepting him or rejecting him, and therefore
he made his choice that way. Now there's a big, big, there's
several problems with that. Number one, it's not in the Bible.
And number two, it makes salvation conditioned on the sinner and
not on Christ, not on God alone. So it's not in the Bible. And
then others say the Augustinian view, that's based upon a man
named Augustine and his view of the scripture. Here's the
problem was, the doctrine of election predates Augustine quite
a bit. But here it is, look at verse
three of Ephesians one. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated,
there's another word people don't like, but there it is in the
Bible, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will. In the Bible, the elect are those
whom God gave to Christ and made Him their surety, chosen in Him. You see, when God does something,
He must do it on a just ground. And the just ground cannot be
what you would do in the future. God is not a crystal ball gazer.
He's not a fortune teller. He's a determiner, the scripture
says. Somebody said, well, I can't wrap my mind all around that.
Well, join the club. We'll get badges. You see, here's the point. God
is high above us. And the secret things belong
to Him. Now what belongs to us down here
on this earth? The revealed things. What God
tells us, lets us in on. Somebody says, well that's not
fair, it's just not fair, it's not just, read Romans 9, you'll
get your answer to that. And by the way, it's the only
answer the Bible gives. Who are you? That's what it says,
who do you think you are? Parents, you ever had an argument
with your kids and you come down to it and say, who do you think
you are? I'm the head of the household, I'm the father, I'm
the mother. Because I said so. That's how God teaches us sometimes
in the scripture. You say, I don't believe that.
Well, if God said it, I believe it. I've told you about the church
marquee sign that I saw up in West Virginia one time. It said,
God said it, I believe it, that settles it. Wrong. God said it,
that settles it. Whether you believe it or not.
Whether I believe it or not. Our believing it doesn't put
any authority to it. All God has to do is say it.
That settles it. Isn't that right? The Bible says the elect are
those for whom Christ died. He called them his sheep. They
are those whom Christ gifts spiritual life by the Holy Spirit under
the preaching of the true gospel. Now not a false gospel. but the
true gospel. Now he says, put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved. What is it, who are
the holy? Well, the holy here are not those
who are sinlessly perfect in themselves, none of us are. If the holy refers to a person
who is sinlessly perfect in themselves, there's no such thing as holiness
among men. Now, if we're believers, if we're
in Christ, we are sinlessly perfect in Him. Because in Him we're washed in
His blood. We're clothed in His righteousness.
That's our legal, objective, forensic standing before Almighty
God. God will not charge sin to me. Why? Because He charged them
to Christ. Sin cannot condemn me. Why? Because it condemned Christ in
my stead. He died for my sin. The Lord
laid upon him the iniquity of us all. You see that? So I stand
before God righteous, perfectly righteous, complete, not in myself,
not by my works, but in Christ. So what does this word holy mean?
Well it's sometimes referred to as sanctified. What does that
mean? It means set apart. Turn to 2
Thessalonians, just over a few pages, chapter two. Who are the
elect? Who are the holy? Well, look
at 2 Thessalonians 2.13. He says, but we are bound to
give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the
Lord. Who are the beloved? Right here. Because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation, there's election,
through sanctification, setting apart by the Spirit and belief
of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Set apart in Christ,
by the grace of God, in the power of the Spirit, under belief of
the truth. Do you believe the gospel? The
true gospel? where in the righteousness of
God is revealed? Well, look over at Colossians,
or 1 Thessalonians chapter one. That's just right across the
page for most Bibles from our text. Listen to what Paul writes
here in verse four, 1 Thessalonians chapter one. Knowing brethren,
be loved. There you go. Your election of
God, that God chose you. I know you're loved of God and
God chose you. Verse five, for our gospel came
not unto you in word only, it wasn't just words falling on
dead ears, but also in power. And in the Holy Ghost and in
much assurance as you know what manner of men we were among you
for your sake. You heard the gospel, you believed
it. The gospel is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believe it. Do you believe? If you believe,
what is that? That's a gift of God. Isn't that
right? You wouldn't have done that on
your own. You don't get, listen, if you truly believe the gospel,
you're not gonna give credit to yourself. Look at me, I believed. Thank God I believed. Thank God
he didn't leave me in my unbelief. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourself, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, I'm
not a self-made person, I'm his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus, my surety, my substitute, my redeemer, my intercessor. Unto, not because of, unto good
works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Now that's the therefore. Look
back at Colossians 3. Did God choose me before the
foundation? Is my name written in the Lamb's
book of life? The Lamb slain from the foundation.
Did God justify me? Do I have Christ as my righteousness? Is his righteousness imputed
to me? Did Christ die for me? Does God love me with an everlasting
love from which I cannot be separated according to Romans chapter 8? The redemptive love of God. Do
you know that no one can be separated from his redemptive love? That's
what the Bible teaches. They'll cling to Christ. They'll
persevere because he won't let them go. And how can we know all this?
Well, do we believe the gospel? Do we set our affection on things
above? Do we trust Christ for all of
our salvation, all of our forgiveness, all of our righteousness? And then he says in verse 12,
all true believers are to put on Look at that verse 12, put
on therefore. This putting on is like wearing
clothes. Now he's not speaking literally here, he's using a
metaphor. He's not telling us to try to be something on the
outside that we're not on the inside. So what he's saying here
is this, these things should characterize our lives as we
are the children of God. These things do not save us,
they do not make us children of God, but they should characterize
us as the children of God. Now, in the next messages that
I preach, I'll be gone next week, but I'm gonna go through these
things in some detail. But let's just read them, look
at it, verse 12. He said, put on therefore, as
the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy. What's he talking
about? He's talking about compassion, be a compassionate people. Pitiful
people. Kindness. You know what kindness
is? Be kind. Humbleness of mind. You know
what brings humbleness of mind? When God shows us what we are.
You look at that person and you say, well I know they're not
a Christian because they did this. Let me tell you something,
you better be aware of yourself. And what he says in Galatians
6, we'll look at that in more detail. What am I capable of? I'll tell you, I'm capable of
anything any sinner's capable of but for the grace of God. Meekness, what is meekness? That's
submission to the will and the word of God. Long-suffering and
forbearing, that's putting up with a lot. You say, well, I
put up with enough. No, you haven't. We gotta put
up with a lot. Forbearing one another, forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as
Christ forgave you, as so also do you." That's unconditional
forgiveness. We're to forgive. How many times? Seventy times seventy? Infinitely. Verse 14, above all these things
put on charity. That's not just charitable giving,
but that's included, but it's love. And it's a godly love,
which is the bond of perfectness. In other words, that's what keeps
us together. We love Christ, we love his truth, we love his
people, in spite of our faults. And he says in verse 15, let
the peace of God rule in your hearts. The peace of God comes
through the cross of Christ. It's not sitting down at the
end of the day and say, well, I finally made it, I did what
I was supposed to do, and I'm at peace with God. No. Christ
did it all. to the which you are called in
one body, and be ye thankful." Gratitude. Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom. That's what believers do. Our
faith is not based on speculation, opinion, different denominations.
It's what is God's words. If God says he chose a people,
I believe it. How about you? And he says, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, that's worship,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you
do, he says, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the
Lord, Jesus. It is recognizing that we're
complete in Him and have nothing of our own to boast in and giving
thanks to God and the Father by Him. Now we'll look at those
more in detail in another message. But that's the character of God's
elect. And you understand that in everything
that He admonishes God's people to do there, none of it and any expression
of it is a compromise of the gospel. And the reason I say
that is because you need to recognize that if by the grace of God we
refuse to compromise the gospel and speak peace where there is
no peace, you will be accused of being mean and unkind. But
that's not what God says. We'll look at that in another
message.