3, Colossians chapter 3. We'll continue our study tonight
through the book of Colossians. Now we're going to be looking
at verse 12, but we'll be looking at three words that are found
in that text, and then we'll finish up the rest of that verse
next week. The name of the message is elect
holy beloved. Elect holy beloved. Let's look at Colossians chapter
3, we'll read verses 10 to 14. And have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all
these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness."
Now in our study thus far, we've seen how Paul has been exalting
the Lord Jesus Christ. And all through chapter 1 and
2, and continuing in 3, he's exalted the supremacy of Christ,
how Christ is supreme. He's over everything. Everything
is under his feet. Because he's God incarnate in
the flesh. He's the Son of God. He's God
himself, the Almighty, the Everlasting One, incarnate in the flesh.
Fully man. and yet fully God. And we've
also seen how Paul's bought out that Christ must have all the
preeminence. He must have all the preeminence.
That means men gets put down and Christ gets raised up. And that's what happens in grace.
In grace, the Lord Jesus Christ shows us our desperate need for
him, that we are sinners by birth, nature, and choice in desperate
need Now we don't see that in our natural state, do we? But
God reveals that to us. And so Paul has been exalting
the supremacy of Christ, the preeminence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And in our first chapter, verses 15 to 29 of this book,
which is inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, Paul sets out
to magnify and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ as the all-sufficient
Lord. The all-sufficient Lord. That
He is all-sufficient. for all who trust and rest in
him. He is the creator. He's the one whom by all things
consist. All things consist by him. He's
the creator. He's the one who made it all.
He spoke it all into existence. Christ himself. Now, some people
don't believe that, but it doesn't change the fact that it's absolutely
true. And the very reason we have breath to breathe, the enemies
of God and those who are beloved of God, is because of the mercy
of God. In this chapter, Paul is bringing
forth the believer's conduct with those in the church and
those outside the church. And he brings forth before us
How we as believers are new creatures in Christ. We're not who we used
to be. Now people still see us. My family
still sees me. And they think, well, you're
still the same, Wayne. No, I'm not. I'm not. I'm a new creature in Christ.
I'm born again of the Holy Spirit of God. Sure, my frame is still
the same and it's gotten older, but I'm a new creature in Christ.
Now I'm alive. I was dead in trespasses and
sins and had no care for God at all, but now I love Christ. He's everything to me. Who made
me change? Who made me to differ from my
brothers? And we've all talked about from our family members.
Who made us to differ? God. Only him. By his power,
by his might, by him having mercy upon whom here have mercy. And
it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Remember the
short outline I gave us of what Brother Henry Mahan had mentioned
about this chapter, and how it is about the attitude and conduct
of the believer's life is put forth in front of us, and how
it deals with nearly every area of our lives, and we see that
What should be our attitude towards the material world and towards
spiritual things in verses one to four? And in verses five to
nine, we see our attitude towards sin and toward the flesh, toward
the old man and his deeds. In verses 10 to 15, which is
the section we're in now, we have our attitude toward other
people. And in verses 16 and 17, we have our attitude toward
the word of God and toward worship and toward the ministry of the
word. And in the last eight verses, verses 18 to 25, We have our
attitude towards those to whom we are joined to in human relationships. So set forth before us is what
our attitude should be with others, what our attitude should be with
others. And so far in this chapter, we've seen the believer's responsibility
before God too. If we see Jesus Christ seated
on his throne in heaven, and if we have seen him through the
eye of faith, And if we've been made to sit, made to sit in heavenly
places in Him, we are to seek those things which are above.
We are to seek those things which are above. We're to set our affection
on heavenly things, on Christ and on Him alone. We're to mortify,
put to death the sinful desires of the flesh. How do we do that?
Well, we look at how sin begins in the heart, doesn't it? And
in our thoughts. And if we entertain sinful thoughts,
they're oftentimes surface and become sinful deeds. If we replace
those evil thoughts and those sinful desires, and if we enter
with good thoughts, if we think on those things that are true
and honest, and who's true and honest? Who's true and honest?
Only Christ. So we're to fill our hearts and
minds with the things of Christ, not other things in this world,
not other things in this world. He is the epitome of truth. He is the epitome of honesty.
He's the just one. He's the pure one. He's altogether
lovely to the believer. And he is sinless. Jesus Christ
is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. All of us here are sinners.
All of us. All the people in this world
are sinners. Christ was the only one who was absolutely sinless.
Because he's God and man. He's the God-man mediator. Fully
God and fully man. He's the only one who's sinless.
And as we ponder more and more what God has done for us, for
His people, dying on the cross for my sins. I'm a sinner. And Christ died on the cross
for my sins. And what He's doing right now.
What's He doing right now for you, Brother Newell? He's your
mediator. Right now, with the Father. It's
wonderful. He's interceding for us. and
what he will do for us when we die. Sister Ruth, when you die,
he's gonna take you home to glory. It's wonderful. It's magnificent. And it just leaves us in awe.
It leaves us in awe. We don't get what we deserve.
What do we deserve? We deserve wrath. Did you catch
in Psalms that Brother Tim read how Moses, the wrath of God was
turned? That's a picture of Christ. As
he was reading that, I'm like, there's Christ. There's a picture
of our Savior right there before us. He turned away the wrath
of God from his people. He took it all. He bore it all,
we were ruined by the fall, weren't we? Every one of us, dead in
trespasses and sins. But he saves his people. And
you know, I was reading Pink today on the sovereignty of God. And I mentioned it to Joshua
and to Vicki when I got home. I said, this is absolutely amazing.
You know where it says, as many were ordained to eternal life
believed in scripture? Do you know that Pink brought
out how that ordination that many were ordained to eternal
life, that wasn't the cause. The cause was Christ chose them
in eternity. The consequence was they believed. See, that destroys Arminianism,
doesn't it? Where it says God looked down
through time and saw who would believe him. That destroys that.
because those who believe are those who were ordained by God.
And we'll look at that tonight, chosen of God, chosen of God
in eternity. So as we ponder more and more
of what he does for us currently, what he's doing in the world,
and that by his power and by the Holy Spirit who dwells within
us, we're able to mortify evil desires. We know that, we know
now we're sinners, aren't we? We know their surface again and
again, we know that. Every believer has this ongoing
struggle, the never-ending civil war within them. Until our Lord
Jesus Christ delivers us from this sinful body, I'll struggle
till the day I die. But I pray for grace and strength,
don't you? Every day, Lord, just give me grace and strength. Help
me, help me. And in our last study, We looked
at verse 11 where it says, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. So we saw the diversity
of the body of Christ, how the body of Christ is believers from
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And how all believers,
to all believers in the body, Christ is all. He's everything
to you. He's everything to you, brother
John. He's everything to us. If He's not everything to us,
we're not saved. Christ is everything to us. He's all my salvation. He's all my redemption. He's
my holiness. I'm made holy in Him. Without
Him, I have nothing. Without Him, I'm clothed in my
self-righteousness. But oh, praise God, I'm clothed
in the righteousness of Christ, the righteousness of another. Now I'd like us to take note
of the phrase in verses 9 and 10. Look at this, lie not one
to another seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds
and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him. This old man being put off
and the new man being put on happens in regeneration when
we're born again of the Holy Spirit of God. And it's all done
by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's His work. It's not our work. And our last lesson took us down
to verse 11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is
all and in all. Again, Christ is everything to
the believer. And if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. He's a new creature. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. In the Old Testament, it's proclaimed this. And I will give
them one heart. What's that? That means we have
unity in Christ. We have one heart. Our heart
beats for Christ, for Christ alone. One heart. And here give
us that heart that longs and hungers and thirsts after righteousness. And I will put a new spirit within
you, born again of the Holy Spirit of God, Ezekiel 11, verses 19
and 20. And I will take the stony heart
of your flesh. You know how religion always
says, just give Jesus your heart? They'll give you a new heart.
You don't want your old heart. They'll give you a new heart.
A heart that thirsts and hungers for him and the things of him. and will give them a heart of
flesh, that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances,
and do them, and they shall be my people. Isn't that wonderful? They shall be. It's not dependent
upon us. God will get his sheep. We know
that one. He will. He will. They shall
be my people, and I will be their God. Think of how we were before
the Lord saved us. Did we think of God as our God?
I didn't. Not at all. Now, he's my God. He's my Lord. He's my Savior. Who gave me that desire? Who
gave you that desire to serve? To follow after him? Oh, the
Holy Spirit dwelling within us. It's a work of God. The new man
is the creating work of the sovereign God four times God says in Ezekiel
11 19 and 24 times he says I will I Will He says I will give them
one heart. I will put a new spirit within
you I will take the stony heart of their flesh and will give
them a heart of flesh that they may Walk in my statutes to keep
my ordinances and do them and they shall be my people and I
will be their God There's no doubt. God's people follow him. We desire it. We love him. We
love him. God's will shall be done. And
God's people are his workmanship. If you're here saved, you're
his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus. Ordained
to good works, that we should walk in them. So this new creation,
this new man delights, delights in the things that glorify the
Lord Jesus Christ, that honor him. Not just those glorious
gospel truths that reveal Jesus Christ and his finished work,
but those truths concerning what is called practical godliness,
the believer's responsibilities before God. And let us remember
that the scriptures apply to every believer. And let us remember
that those who get angry and rebel against the holy scriptures
And people do. The holy scriptures that teach
us to conduct ourselves in this life are just as guilty as those
who get angry and rebel against the scriptures that clearly set
forth God's sovereign electing grace. His redeeming, sanctifying
grace for a particular people. Here's a little article written
by Brother Henry Mahan in which he questions, what is true faith? What is true faith? What is true
faith? True faith throbs in a person's
pulse, looks out of his eyes, lights up his countenance, softens
his touch, mellows his voice, bows his head, bends his knees,
opens his hand, humbles his heart, curbs his tongue, orders his
steps, and opens his ears to the world. forgives and forgets the offense
and gives his conscience peace. I believe it has peace. Peace. So let us keep this in mind in
the next few weeks as we look at these verses. Let's look at
verses 12 and 13 right now, as I like to read 12 in the context
with 13. Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
vows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering,
forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. And let us remember, as I mentioned
earlier in our study, that there is an important truth which is
teaching practical godliness without preaching the gospel
will only promote self-righteousness. It just makes a bunch of Pharisees.
We must preach the gospel all the time. All the time, we must. We must seek to glorify God in
all the things that we do right here. and even out in our homes
and in our workplaces. And we will exalt and proclaim
the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. This building, this place
is a refuge for sinners because our refuge is found in Christ,
isn't it? And the gospel is preached here. Christ is preached and
proclaimed here. It's an oasis for believers to
come and to hear about Christ, who is our refuge, who is our
refuge, our strength. And Christ must be proclaimed
here. Christ crucified by the preaching of the gospel. And
who is the gospel all about? The gospel is not good news without
Christ. There is no good news without
Christ. It tells all about what our Savior did, leaving the glories
and splendor of heaven, coming here to redeem ruined, lost sinners. Sinners who could not save themselves.
You and I cannot save ourselves. No matter what people think,
we cannot save ourselves. But Christ saves sinners, doesn't
He? And He did. He's a successful
Savior. He died upon Calvary's cross
for His people. And He redeemed all who came
to redeem. And then that becomes a reality
when He grants us faith and repentance for the believer. And we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. So we are to do all things here
for the glory, honor, and praise of our wonderful Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. We don't glory in ourselves,
do we? We glory in Christ. We glory in what He's done. We
glory in how marvelous He is, how wonderful He is. Give unto
us, O Lord, all ye mighty. Give unto the Lord glory and
strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness, Psalm 29, 1
and 2. So I want us to look at three
things from the first part of the text tonight, which I believe
will give glory, honor, and praise to our great God and King. It
says, put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God. Now Paul's writing to the Colossian
believers, isn't he? He's writing to the believers.
And he says here, put on, therefore, as the elect, the elect of God,
holy and beloved. And I want us to note tonight,
These three words, elect, holy, beloved. Here is the mercy of
God on full display. Now Paul's writing to Colossian
believers, and we saw earlier in our text, earlier in the chapter,
what they'd been saved from, didn't we? And we know we're
all there too. And he gave them a list of things
that they used to do. Look at verses 5 and 6. Mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness
which is idolatry, for which sake the wrath of God cometh
on the children of disobedience. Here we see mercy. They don't
get what they deserve, the wrath of God. And that's the same for us. Look
at verse 7 to 9. in which also ye walked some time when ye lived
in them." We lived in those things, beloved. But now, ye also put
off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. Now I am not one to another seeing
that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. We're born
again of the Holy Spirit of God. So contrast what we just read
there with what Paul puts forth in In verse 12, he puts forth that they are the
elect of God, that they are holy. Sinners are made holy and beloved. So he contrasts in the previous
verses with what they are now. The Colossian brethren are born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. They put on the new man. And
he brings forth this precious truth before them. They are elect
of God. And this is for us, too. They
are elect of God. They are holy. They don't feel
holy. We know that, don't we? I don't
feel holy. But scripture says that I'm holy.
We'll look at what that word means in the Greek. They're beloved. And it's all, it's all by the
work of Christ in him alone. The only reason they are like
this is because the work of Christ. So Paul's writing to the Colossian
believers and telling them that they are God's people, that they
are elect, the chosen of God. That word elect there, right
there in the text, And I know most folks hate this, but for
the believer, we just love this. Because we know, we never chose
God on our own, would we? We know that. But look what it
says here. It says that they are elect. Elect. Do you know the Greek
word for elect means chosen out. Selected. Selected. Do you remember I said earlier
that that verse in Acts, as many as were ordained to eternal life,
was the consequence? The consequence of being elected
in eternity. The only reason you and I believe,
you and I who believe here, we believe because God chose us
in eternity. Isn't that amazing? It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. Because as I said, we know we
never would have chosen God on our own. We never would have.
And it also goes on to say in the Greek, chosen as a recipient
of special privilege to receive the grace of God in Christ. Elect. Elect 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. Ephesians 1.4. Turn
if you would to 2 Timothy 1.9. May this precious truth just
sink in for us tonight. And I know we've looked at election
before, but it never gets old, does it? It never gets old. It
never does. May it just sink in for us tonight,
though, as we look at a couple of these verses here. It's just
beautiful that Christ's love, that God chose us in Christ before
the world was created, and that his love was set upon us in eternity. God has chosen you to himself. and received you into his love. Look at 2 Timothy 1.9, who has
saved us and called us within holy calling, not according to
our works. We who are saved here tonight
and redeemed, we know that our salvation is not dependent upon
our works, is it? Scripture declares that. Our
salvation is dependent upon Christ's work. And what he's done, the
merits of another beloved. We are saved by the merits of
another. By what Christ has done, but according to and look at
this, but according to his own purpose, God purposed this and
grace. Remember, we looked at how Noah
Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So have we belong.
We're recipients of the grace of God in Christ because it was
all according to His purpose. Did you know that when you were
born? I had no clue. It's marvelous. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. Which
was given us in Christ when? Before the world began. That's in eternity. You see,
God really is God. He's not what some people cook
up in their minds saying, oh, he wants to save you, but he's
just, he can't save you unless you let him. That's not God. That's not the God of the Bible.
The God of the Bible is a sovereign almighty king. If he rules and
he reigns and he saves whomever he pleases, and the recipients
of that grace, we cry out, my goodness, me? I was talking to Brother Billy,
and I said, I'm still amazed. Today I was talking to Brother
Billy. I said, I'm still amazed that God saved me. He said, me
too, brother. I'm still in awe that the Lord Jesus
Christ saved me, and that it was all according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before
the foundation of the world. This is pure, free, and sovereign
grace. from a God who's in absolute
control. And He chooses whom to give His
grace to, and it's all in Christ. It's all in Christ. And that's
the reason Christ left the glories of heaven. As I said on Sunday,
if we could save ourselves, there's no reason for Christ to come
here. But we can't save ourselves. We're in desperate need of a
Savior. Christ is God himself Come to save sinners, and I'm
a sinner who testifies he saved me And I know scripture declares
all who flee to him he saves them He saves them And we know those who flee to
him were given to him by the father and God chose us in Christ. He gave his beloved son to redeem
us, beloved, to redeem us. He didn't leave us in our sins,
but he called us to himself with cords of love, with cords of
love, beloved, by the Holy Spirit of God, showing us. Do you know that scripture says
it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance? when
we see what mercy he's had upon us in Christ? Oh, we get mercy. We don't get wrath. We receive
mercy, pure mercy, marvelous grace. Now, folks pop off about election
and how it's not fair. But yet it's set forth right
from scripture and it's all through the Bible. What would have happened
if God had left us where we were? We'd all went to hell. But God had mercy on us, didn't
he? He had mercy on us. God, think of this. God chose
to save Noah and his family while all others perished. We saw why
on Sunday, didn't we? Because he found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. God chose Abraham, leaving all
his family in idolatry. See, folks who say God's not
a chosen God, they don't know the Bible. God chose Israel and
left all those other nations in darkness behind. And He chose Israel to be the
recipients of His law and of all His blessings. What a picture of us. The recipients
of His marvelous, wonderful, free and sovereign grace in Christ. God chose to save Rahab and all
that were within her house and all the others perished. And there's many, many more instances.
But one thing is clear in all those cases, just as with the
elect of God being chosen in Christ, there was absolutely
no merit in us. No merit in this sinner to be
saved. And I know it's so with you guys, too. I know it's so. No merit. No merit. Nothing in them who we looked
at that deserved mercy, and nothing in me that deserved mercy. We are saved by the free and
sovereign grace of God and it's His distinguishing grace, isn't
it? It's Him who distinguishes us. It's Him who makes us to
differ. And it's all by His sovereign
will and purpose. We who are the elect of God,
the redeemed of God, we don't boast that we are holy and that
we're chosen of God because we know what we are. We're but sinners. by birth, nature, and choice,
who have been made holy in Christ, who are chosen in Christ, who
are chosen to be recipients of this marvelous grace of God in
Christ, and it's all because of God's distinguishing, sovereign
mercy. Mercy. What a word. Mercy. Peter said this about the elect
of God. Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, In holy nation,
a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And let us remember that Paul
pens in Ephesians 5, verses 8 and 10, ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light in the Lord. walk as children of the light,
for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness,
proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. So God's elect, who
were given to Christ by the Father, and whom He redeemed upon Calvary's
cross, and who have been born again by God's sovereign power
by the Holy Spirit of God, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling
within us. And the Holy Spirit teaches the elect of God the
things of Christ. He reveals to us Christ and Him
alone. He reveals to us Christ from
the Scripture and He conforms us to the image of Christ. The
same purpose of God chose us in Christ is the same purpose
of God that predestinates us unto the adoption of children
and also predestinates us to be conformed to the image of
His Son. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that we might be the firstborn
among many brethren. The grace of God that created
the new man in us by the power of the Holy Spirit will manifest
itself in our outward conduct, in our walk before others. Now
we know that our walk can never be as it should be. We know that. We know that, because we're sinners,
aren't we? Because we're sinners. It'll never be what we desire
it to be. Do you desire to sin? I don't. I know none of us do,
but we don't. We don't desire that. I hate
sin in myself more than anyone else. But it's by God's amazing grace
that we walk in the newness of life, isn't it? It's by His grace. Scripture declares here, put
on therefore as the elect of God, so the chosen of God. And
the next word we'll look at is holy. The Greek word defines
holy as most holy thing. A saint, that's right in the
definition. Remember I told you on Sunday
when I told my mom that I was a saint, she just about lost
it. But that's the actual Greek definition. The Greek definition
is most holy thing, a saint. sacred, physically, pure, morally,
blameless, or religious ceremony consecrated. So before God, we
are blameless before God. How am I blameless before God?
I'm a sinner. How are we blameless before God? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Only by his precious blood. He's
my propitiation. If I don't have Christ, I have
no propitiation. I have nothing to turn away the
wrath of God from me. But in Christ, the wrath of God
has been appeased. God is satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ. The sacrifice of Christ. Now
we know that there is nothing holy about the old man, as the
colonel man is nothing but sin from top, the top of our head
to the bottom of our feet, right? We're sinners. Scripture declares
that. and it will never ever get any
better. This flesh is just, all it wants to do is sin. The old man, our old nature is
what wars against the Spirit of God who dwells in us, and
it is a constant battle. It's a civil war within the believer. The old man struggles for supremacy,
and we must crucify him daily. Unsafe people don't understand.
They have no idea about it. But man, it's a struggle. A new man in Christ in us, the
hope of glory is a new creation, is holy. And the apostle said,
John said, whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for
his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born
of God. Now he's not saying, he's not
talking sinless perfection there, because he knows we're sinners.
Because he even said, wrote, he said, if we sin, if we confess
our sin, he's faithful and just to cleanse us from all righteousness.
But God looks at us in Christ. And we're blameless in Christ.
It's amazing. We're holy. We're set apart in
Christ. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves. So if a person says they're not
a sinner, they're deceiving themselves. And scripture says the truth's
not in them. We know what we are, don't we?
But praise God, we're not what we used to be.
And we're not what we're gonna be. Boy, it's going to be amazing
when we see our great king. The apostle Paul was saying the
same thing in the book of Romans. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 7. Oh, he talks about the battle. He talks about the
battle with the old man. Romans 7. Now, some foolish people
have said this is before Paul was saved, but no, it's not. Look at verses 15 to 18. 15 to 18. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would do, that do
I not. But what I hate, that do I. Paul's got a battle going on. If then I do that which I would
not, I can send unto the law that it is good. Now then it
is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For
I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
For the will is present with me, but how to perform that which
is good I find not." Look at verse 19, we'll continue reading.
For the good that I would, I do not, but the evil which I would
not, that I do. Now if I do that, I would not,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find
then the law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. I can relate to this. For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, after the man who's been
born again, the one who delights in God, but this flesh, Just
wars against them. For I see another law in my members,
in my flesh, warring against the law of my mind and bringing
me into the captivity, bringing me into captivity to the law
of sin, which is in my members. And look at this. Is this not
the believers cry? Oh, wretched man that I am. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? Who will deliver me? Who will deliver me from this
body of sin, this body of death? Verse 25, I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. There's
a constant war going. And then look at verse eight,
we gotta finish with verse one of chapter eight. There is therefore
now no condemnation, again which means judgment, to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after
the spirit. And we know that there's no judgment for us because
Christ took all our judgment upon himself for our sins. That's good news, that's good
news. So we battle every day. And let
us remember that we do not sin that grace may abound. We do
not practice sin. It's not our lifestyle. Unfortunately,
we don't stop sinning until we go home to be with the Lord.
But we don't sin to draw attention to ourselves. We seek to draw
attention to Christ, who gives us the grace and the strength
to overcome sin. And He does. We cry out to Him. Sometimes we cry out, Lord, please
help me. Help me with this. And He gives us strength. He
gives us strength and grace. So we are chosen in Christ and
we are made holy by Christ in Him alone. This is all His doing.
Because in ourselves, we're unholy. In ourselves, we'd never seek
God. Lastly tonight, I'd like to look
at how God's elect are His beloved. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved. Now the Greek word for beloved
is defined as this. Now let this be balm to your
soul for this week. If you get down, because we get
down, don't we? We get down and we start to think,
oh man, I'm not worthy of this and we're not worthy of this
grace and this love. But the Greek word for beloved
is defined as this, to love dearly. God loves his people dearly in
Christ. Dearly. Now, I didn't have a
great relationship with my dad. I knew he loved me, but we didn't
have a great relationship. We didn't. But for me to read
this, that God my father loves me dearly. That is honey to my soul. He loves me dearly. And then
it goes on to value, esteem. He values me. He values me so
much. He values his people so much.
He loves his people so dearly that he sent his own son to die
on a cross in my place and in your place and in the place of
all his people. That's love unmeasurable. To value, esteem, feel or manifest
generous concern for, to be faithful towards, to delight in. God delights
in His people, in Christ. That's wonderful. He delights
in His people. Do you know that we're Christ's
reward? It's amazing. Pink bought that
out in the Sovereignty of God today. He said, we're His reward.
We're given to Him by the Father. Sinners. But He redeemed us. He purchased us with His own
precious blood on Calvary's cross. He died in our place. That which was deserving us fell
upon Him. And I look at this, this word
beloved. And I thank God the Father, He
loved me dearly, and He still loves me dearly. And that love's not based upon
what I do. That love comes to me in Christ. And if you're a believer, to
you in Christ. Ezekiel 16.8 says this, Now,
when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was
the time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swore unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord, the Lord God, and thou
becamest mine. Why the Lord's? were His. Thou becamest mine. When did He enter into a covenant
with us? In eternity in Christ. May this just sink in. May we
leave this place rejoicing, beloved, that God has chosen His people. He has elected His people in
Christ and that they are made holy in Christ. And that the
ones His love is set upon, His love has been set upon them,
set upon you who believe, from eternity. From eternity. That you were dear to Him. From
eternity. Is there any love like this?
No. Nothing on this earth even comes
close to it. I love my wife, I love my kids,
but that love comes nowhere near this love. To be beloved of God and all
whose love is set upon will flee to Christ, will come to Christ. They all will. They all will.
They'll be drawn by the Holy Spirit of God. Jeremiah 31.3
says this. The scripture says this. The
Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. Why is his love called everlasting? Because God himself dwells in
eternity. There's no time in eternity. Remember we saw on Sunday, he
knows the end and the beginning, the backwards of what we know
things. And his love was set upon his
people for maternity. And he says this, therefore with
loving kindness have I drawn thee. The only reason, beloved
of God, the only reason you or I fled to Christ is because we
were drawn with loving kindness. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And what
did Christ do? He laid down his life for his
friends, for his people. And he did it willingly. He willingly
died upon the cross for those his love was set upon. And the
New Testament proclaims this wonderful truth that God has
loved us. from eternity, that he loved
us before we even loved him. 1 John 4, 19 says this, we love
him because he first loved us. We love him because he first
loved us. So think upon this, beloved God. Our Holy Father
loves all his chosen blood-bought children as much as he loves
his darling son. Because we're loved in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. We are
chosen in Him, we are made holy in Him, and we are beloved in
Him. To all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called to be saints, we know that means to be made
holy. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 1-7. So let us consider this
love for us And our love for Him is what constrains us, what
motivates us to serve Him. What motivates us to serve Him
and to obey Him as we belong to Him. We belong to Him. Why do we belong to Him? Because
He chose us. Because we're the elect of God, we're picked out
by God Himself for His glory, to be recipients of His free
grace in Christ based upon absolutely nothing in us. Nothing in us
at all. Nothing in us. We are objects
of his love. Objects of his love, beloved.
And he has set us apart for himself. And what constrains us? What
constrains us? The love of Christ. The love
of Christ. And we marvel, and we cry, Oh,
what wondrous love is this? Oh, my soul. Oh, my soul. What wondrous love is this? So
next week, we'll look at how in knowing Christ is our all
in all, that we're to put on, therefore, as the elect of God,
vows of mercy, kindness. humbleness of mind, meekness,
long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another.
If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you,
so also do ye. May God be glorified in the preaching
of his gospel. Heavenly Father, we just come
before you in absolute awe, we who are redeemed, we who are
saved by the Lord Jesus Christ, in absolute awe that you chose
us. that we who were running as far
away from you as we possibly could get. Oh, but your love
was set upon us from eternity. And with loving kindness, you
drew us to the Savior and gave us eyes to see and ears to hear
this wonderful good news about grace, the free grace of God
in you, Lord Jesus, and what you did, how you died and bled
on Calvary's cross for sinners. And you redeemed and purchased
your people with your own precious blood. And we pray that you would
use this message to draw on your lost sheep. And may you be glorified
and magnified. And may we just meditate upon
these precious, wonderful truths this week. May they be honey
to our souls. In Jesus' name, amen. Brother
John, can you come?