Colossians chapter 3. The name of the message is mortify
your members. Mortify your members. Colossians
chapter 3 will be in verse 5, but let's read the context of
the verse. Starting in verse 1 and we'll read the verse 9.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify,
therefore, your members which are upon the earth. fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in which ye
also walked some time when ye lived in them. Now ye also put
off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. Lie not one to another. seeing
that you have put out the old man with his deeds. When we began this chapter, I
mentioned for us to consider the breakdown of this chapter
before us, which Brother Henry Mahan had made. And tonight we'll
start to look at the section, the second portion of that breakdown,
which is found in verses five to nine. And here in verses five
to nine, we see our attitude towards sin, our attitude towards
sin and toward the flesh, toward the old man and towards his deeds. Last week we looked at verse
4 and our subject was Christ who is our life. Christ who is
our life. And so far we've looked at in
this chapter that the Lord is seated on the right hand of God.
He is seated upon his sovereign throne of power, beloved. He
is set there. And we are to set our minds and
our hearts, our affections, verse 2 says, upon him. Upon him. Not upon the things
of this earth. Not upon the things of this earth.
And we also looked at it in verse three and we considered how we
are dead to the law. Dead to the law of God. Dead
to it. Dead to touch not, taste not,
handle not. What freedom the believer has
in Christ. And how are we dead to the law?
Now we don't cast the law aside, do we? We're not Antinomians. We're not against the law. But
we set our minds and we set our affections upon the one who fulfilled
the law in our place. And that's Christ. And that's
Christ alone. He has fulfilled it in our place.
And we who believe, we're a hidden Christ, right? We saw that in
verse three. We're a hidden Christ. And he
is our life, verse four. He's our life. Our Lord is seated
upon his throne in heaven. He's seated upon his throne in
heaven. And we'd be made to sit with him. We looked at it in
Ephesians when we did that study there. We're already there representatively
in him. In him. Now let us remember that
this world is not our home. It's not our home, beloved. We
who believe, we're just passing through. We're just passing through. Our citizenship is where? In
heaven. Where our head is. Where Christ
is. That's where our citizenship
is. And one day, one day, and it won't be long, It really won't
be long, because Brother Matt and I were talking this week
about how our life is just like a vapor. Remember when you were
kids and you go out in the cold? Vapor goes out. That's what that
means. And it just goes away in like a millisecond. That's
what our lives are like. Think of this. Think of this.
In light of eternity, we may live, what, 70, 80 years, 60
years, some of us less, right? What is that in the scope of
eternity? You see how scripture brings
out how our life is like a vapor? It's just like a vapor. It's
here and gone. Here and gone. So we're just
pilgrims here. One day we'll be holding our
Savior face to face. One day we will see Him face
to face. And by God's grace and providence
and by His Spirit working in us, We set our affection upon
Christ while we're here, while we're pilgrimaging through this
world. And the Lord has the preeminence in our life. He has the preeminence. We have been taught of God, we
who are believers have been taught of God, who Christ is. Who Christ
is, who he really is. Not who we think he is. Not who we cooked up in the imagination
of our mind. But who he is, a sovereign God.
in absolute control, who came down, left heaven to come down
to redeem his people from their sins. And we've also been taught
that the things of this world, they're just temporal. They're
just temporal. Everything we see in this world
is one day going to fade away. Everything. And they don't have the hold
on us, they once did. Think of this, we bought nothing into
this world, and we'll take nothing with us. We'll take nothing with
us. And we as believers, we have
this hope. We have this hope. This hope
which is set before us that when Christ will appear, when Christ
will appear, Christ who is our life, Then shall we appear with
Him in glory. Then shall we appear with Him
in glory. All our hope is in Christ. All our hope is in Christ. He alone is the Savior of our
soul. And all spiritual riches and blessings are found in Christ
and Him alone. And the believer proclaims this.
He proclaims, my entire acceptance before God is in Christ. my entire acceptance before.
It's not in anything I do. It's not. I heard a fellow this
week. Well, I'm good, Wayne. Well, there's none good, the
scripture says. Heard another fellow say, says he told me,
he said, well, we seek God and then we're born again. But the
scripture says there's none that seek after God. He must seek
us. And the shepherd does this through
the preaching of the word. And we are regenerated by the
Holy Spirit of God and we flee to Christ. He is all our hope. He's alone as the Savior of our
soul. And my entire acceptance before God is in Christ and Him
alone. And nothing in this world, nothing in this world, or nothing
of this world can compare with Him. He is my Redeemer. He is my Savior. And every believer says it's
so, isn't it? We all do. We all do. So with that brief
overview, let us consider the verse before us tonight. Mortify
therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. Now the word mortify here means
to deaden, to put to death, to subdue. And here in our text,
Paul brings forth what went on before our life was hit in Christ
and how we are to mortify the flesh after we're saved. After
we're saved. Now, the only way we can mortify
the flesh. Is through the grace of God in
Christ. Is through the grace of God in Christ, and that must
be obtained from God and it must be given by God. Through the
regenerating power of the Holy Spirit of God, you see, The scripture
is true when it says salvation is of the Lord. It's all His
doing. We must be born again, we who
are by nature spiritually dead, blind, deaf to the things of
God. must be given grace and strength
in and through the Holy Spirit of God. We must be born again,
and that's the only way we will subdue all the corrupt affections
of our members, which are earthly and fleshy and here before us.
Paul brings that out. We are to mortify, mortify these
things before us. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter eight, and let us remember that Paul what Paul has taught
us elsewhere by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, and that
it is by the Spirit believers mortify the deeds of the body.
And it's only in him we live. Look at this. Romans 8, 12 to
15. Look at this. Therefore, brethren,
we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh. Verse
12, verse 13. For if you live after the flesh,
ye shall die. ye shall die. But if ye live
through the Spirit, do you mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall
live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God are the sons of God. For ye have not received
the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Look at verse 13. But if ye through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. We
can't do this on our own. And ask yourself this, did sin
bother you before the Lord saved you? Not at all, he brought it. Not at all. Now, we might have
thought about it and felt bad here and there, but it didn't
bother us like it does now. It didn't bother us like it does
now. So by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, the elect, God's
people, are enabled to mortify the deeds of the body. Not in
our own strength. For what does scripture say about
our strength? We don't have any. Not by our own efforts, for we
will be found weak in the day of temptation. God, the Holy
Spirit, which by his grace bears up the child of God and carries
him through all the paths of each trial that comes before
us, and he does it every day, day after day after day after
day, we are continuously delivered, continuously. And when we sin,
what do we do? Oh, Lord, please forgive me. Please forgive me. Now we who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, we're still trapped in this sinful body, aren't we?
We have a new nature in us. We have the Holy Spirit within
us, but we are trapped in this body of sin. And we will be until the day
the Lord takes us home. Our natural body can still be
aroused to sinful desires by our flesh that is still with
us. And that is true of every single blood-bought saint of
God. I don't care how old you are. We are all plagued by sin. Every
single, if not by deed, by thought. So what is this? This is a constant
reminder. Think of this, of our need for
Christ. It's a constant reminder for
us, isn't it? Because who do we go to? Who do we confess our
sin to? And he's faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, right? Well, our sins are paid for,
but we still confess our sins. Oh Lord, please forgive me. I
shouldn't have thought that, right? I shouldn't have done
that. Cleanse me by thy precious blood. Oh my. So we who believe on Christ
Jesus, turn if you would to 2 Peter 1, 3, and 4. We who believe on
Christ Jesus our Lord have been made partakers of God's divine
nature. We have a new nature. We're born again of the Holy
Spirit of God. Well, we come into this world,
right, dead in trespasses and sins. Spiritually dead, but now
we who believe, we're made alive. made alive in Christ look at
look at 2nd Peter 1 3 & 4 according as his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through
the knowledge of him that that hath called us to glory and virtue
whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that
by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature heaven escaped
the corruption that is in the world through lust By His glory,
by His power, by His righteousness, Christ has given us exceeding
great and precious promises. And the promises of the new and
everlasting covenant are what? Forgiveness. Of how many of my
sins? Just a few? All my sins. Past, present, and future. And Christ is what? He's all my sanctification. The promises of the new and everlasting
covenant are forgiveness, sanctification. We're made holy. Now, I don't
feel holy, but in Christ I am. In Christ I am. I'm made holy
in Him. And then justification. Justification,
to be justified before God. And do you know this? Think of
this. I was reading something this week and it blessed my heart
so much. The writer said, those who are
justified by God can never be unjustified. Never. Those who are redeemed by God
can never be unredeemed. You know why? I know you know
why. I'm gonna say it anyways. Because
we're in Christ. Because of what he's in, not
by anything we do. See, religion tells you what you gotta do.
You make a decision. You walk an aisle. You pray a
prayer. No. The believer flees to Christ. Just looks to him. Look and live. Look and live. Look to Christ
and live. It's about what he's done. It's
all about what he's done. And then, a promise of the new and everlasting
covenant in Christ is eternal life. To live for eternity in his presence. In his presence. Sinners made
holy. and accepted in Christ, spend
eternity with Him. My, this is good news. This is
good news. And you think everyone would
run to it, don't you? And it's free! But no man seeks
God. No man. Unless you're made willing. And then you, oh my, you just,
you run so fast. And if you're saved, give them
all the glory for making you willing for making you willing.
Oh, my. By these promises of which are
in Christ and him alone, we are made partakers of a new nature,
a new man, a new life, which is Christ formed in us by the
presence and ruling power of this new nature. We escape not
not the corruption and depravity of human nature. We still have
the flesh with us, don't we? But we have this new nature within
us now. which hates sin, which hates sin. But the corrupt manners,
vices, conduct, and principles of this world are what our text
speaks of tonight. And our new nature, our new nature
makes us inwardly seek holiness and outwardly avoid the predominant
corruption of the times that we live in as we are strengthened
by the Holy Spirit of God. as we are strengthened by the
Holy Spirit of God. The believer in Christ has received,
turn if you would to Colossians 1, a couple of chapters over
from where we are. The believer in Christ has received the spirit
of adoption. The spirit of adoption. Christ
dwells in the heart of every believer. And Jesus Christ is
our one and only blessed hope. Look at Colossians 1. verses
27 to 29, to whom God would make known, now he makes known this
to his people, what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,
whom we preach, warning every man, verse 28, teaching every
man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in
Christ Jesus. Whereunto I also labor, strive,
and according to his working, look at this, which worketh in
me. Holy Spirit works within believers,
works in us. Salvation's of the Lord, beloved.
And he preserves his people, doesn't he? He keeps us, he's
the one who keeps us. Otherwise, we'd be gone. We'd
be gone. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
life, which we looked at last week. Therefore, we are to put
to death these fleshy members that desire the sinful things
of this world. Pastor Henry Mahan says this
at this verse in Colossians 3.5, since we seek things above, are mindful of things above,
are dead to the things of this world, which we saw in Colossians
2, and are one with Christ, we must constantly, we must constantly
put to death these sinful desires that remain in our flesh. Let
us face our bodily members and their sinful desires with honesty
and truth, putting them down and refusing to yield to them
when they appear. And they will appear. Because
we're sinners. Now we're redeemed. We who believe
are redeemed sinners. But we're sinners. And they appear
every day, don't they? Do you not have a civil war within
you? Every day. Every day. Even in
my sleep. My. The struggle that is going on
between the flesh and the spirit is an ongoing battle. I love
what Brother John said one time. We need to we need to tell young
Christians, man, you're in for it now because here you go. The battle begins. The battle
begins. And it is a civil war within
the believer. Turn, if you would, to Romans 7. I'm not the only
one who feels like this. Look what Paul wrote here. And
here's Paul, an apostle. It's an ongoing battle, beloved.
An ongoing battle, a civil war within the believer. And it will
continue until we are delivered from this body of death. Look
at this, Romans 7, 24 and 25. Romans 7, 24 and 25. Romans 7 is the autobiography
of the believer. If you read that in your own
time, it's what we go through. But look what Paul says in Romans
7, 24 and 25, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? This is the Apostle Paul writing
this. 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. And then we know in Romans chapter
eight, he writes in the first verse, there is therefore now
no condemnation. That word condemnation is judgment. There is no judgment. To them,
which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but
after the spirit, and then look at the latter part. What will
separate us from the love? What will separate us? Can anything
separate us from the love of God in Christ? No, no. God's love is set upon his people
in Christ. Look at this, verse 38. For I'm
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. So neither
death, Christ has conquered death. Life, not anything that comes
at us in this life will never separate us from the love of
Christ, we who believe in Christ. Nor angels or principalities,
no outside power, nor powers, nor things present, nothing that's
now in the now, nor things to come, nothing in eternity will
separate us. will separate Christ from his
elect, from his people, who he redeemed with his precious blood.
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, nothing, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. What love, what love, beloved. Oh, my. So Paul himself dealt
with this. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? Romans 7, 24. Here's
a good comment on Colossians 3, verse 5. The truth of the
Christian mortification is found in this. The judgment or assessment
a believer makes concerning himself and his sinful attitude and behavior,
that he is for this worthy of the death of Christ, that we're
worthy of death for our sins, but Christ died in our place.
He died in our place. But we are deserving of that
death. He's our substitute. He died on the cross, and the
penalty, our penalty for sin, Christ suffered in our place.
In Christian mortification, the believer puts to death the deeds
of his sinful life by seeing himself as deserving what Christ
endured for him. So that's what makes us mortify
the flesh. Because we know it's our sins
that he went to the cross and died in our place. Judging himself,
the believer, judging himself accordingly and thus finding
his life, not in himself, but in Christ and his righteousness.
Here the believer discontinues sinful activity. Now we know
that will never stop until we get home to glory, but this is
part of that mortification. This is part of that mortification
where we're like, oh Lord, please deliver me from this. Deliver
me from this. Not for the fear of impending
judgment, because our sins have been judged in Christ already.
But in a confident knowledge, all judgment has occurred by
Christ's sacrifice, and he will not be judged for what he determines
is worthy of death, as Jesus Christ has died and risen for
him." And so this is why we seek to mortify our flesh. Because
when we consider what Christ did for us, oh, it brings us
low. So we see then that the believer
in Christ now has a hatred for sin that he never had before,
or she never had before. And we who believe, men and women,
Now have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling us. We're convicted
of our sin. We never were before. Now we're
convicted of our sin. Now we hate it. We used to love
sin at one time. We used to drink it like water
at one time. But now we hate it within ourselves. Now we hate it within ourselves
and we hate all sin, don't we? We hate religious lies. We hate
religious lies, even more than we hate the lies of politicians,
don't we? When a man gets up in the pulpit and he lies on
Christ, I hate that. I hate that. We hate spiritual
adultery when people promote laws which are contrary to this
word. We who believe. We hate false
preaching as they're leading millions, millions to their doom. We hate books that are written
by false preachers, promoting lies and telling people what
they must do, thus leading to their eternal doom. And we hate
sin, all of it, especially the part of us that sins against
our gracious, merciful, and wonderful God. So Romans 7 is the autobiography
of the believer. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? 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. So
the struggle is like a civil war within us. A civil war within
us. Now we do not look to the law,
do we? We do not look to the law for justification. All our
justification is in Christ. Neither can we look to the law
for sanctification. All our sanctification is in
Christ. So the believer in Christ looks to him for both justification
and sanctification. And Paul proved from his past
experience that the law cannot make a sinner righteous. And
he proves from his present experience that the law cannot Cannot save
a man, cannot make him holy. All it does is exposes our sin,
doesn't it? The law is like a mirror. And
it shows us what we are, and we are just in a desperate state. And the Holy Spirit regenerates
us, and we look to Christ. We look to Him. We look to the
one who fulfilled the law in our lives. So both justification
and sanctification are in Christ. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30, and also put your finger in Acts 13. 1 Corinthians
1 and Acts 13. We'll go to 1 Corinthians 1 first,
and then we'll go to Acts 13. Our justification is in Christ
and Him alone. Our sanctification is in Christ.
Look at this, 1 Corinthians 1, 30 and 31. Now we grow in the
grace and knowledge and truth of Christ. We do, we grow as
believers. And we grow, you know what we
grow to learn? When we grow in grace, we learn
we're more and more sinners. We see our sin more and more,
and we see the holiness and the righteousness of God. I've told
you guys the story about me calling Donnie one time and saying, oh,
Donnie, I'm worse than I was before. And he said, brother,
you're growing in grace. You're growing in grace. And remember
it was so with Paul, on the least of all saints, the end of his
ministry, I'm the chief of sinners. I'm the chief of sinners. But
oh, what a great God we have. What a great God we have. Look
at this, 1 Corinthians 1, 30 and 31. But of him are ye in
Christ Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And then over in
Acts chapter 13, it says this. So we see that we saw in 1 Corinthians
there, he's our wisdom, he's our righteousness, he's our sanctification,
and he's our redemption. And look at Acts 13, verses 38
and 39. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren,
that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
The forgiveness of sins is only in Christ and him alone. It's
nowhere else. It's nowhere else. It's only in Christ. And by him,
look at this. All that believe are what? Justified. Oh, there's a good word. Justified
from all things. From all my sins. From which he could not be justified
by what? By the law of Moses. It never justifies. Never. But the one who fulfilled the
law justifies us. So the believer in Christ again
has a civil war within us. Let's go back to our text in
Colossians chapter 3. A civil war which never bothered
us. We never had it before. Sin never
bothered us before conversion. But now we hate sin. And so Paul
here before us in our text lists some of the fleshy temptations
which we are to put down and to deaden. Fornication, impurity,
sensual appetites, unholy desires, and imaginations, and all greed
and covetousness. Look at this. Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry.
Now we know that this work of mortification is not perfected
in an instant, is it? It's a battle that's gonna go
on until we breathe our last life, or our last breath, beloved. And we will only be sinless when
we're in the presence of the Lord. Imagine that, we're gonna
be sinless. No sin by thought, no sin by
deed, no sin spoken, perfect. Sinless, spotless. This body of sin and death remains
with us until our dying day. So we must make it our daily
task to put down evil thoughts and desires, right? We do. We
battle all the time. The Lord's people are still human.
We're still sinners. And we have a struggle, a struggle
with the flesh. However, God gives grace and
mercy for every need. every need, and in our time of
need. And the very fact that we are
exhorted to mortify these fleshy appetites indicates that they
still exist to some degree in the believer. And we see by the
following verse that God's wrath, look at verse six, that God's
wrath is upon the children of disobedience because this is
their way of life. And it was my way of life before
the Lord saved me. And the only reason I'm saved
is the mercy of God in Christ. That's the only reason. That's
the only reason. Look at this. For which sakes
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. So
how do we mortify our flesh? Only through the spirit of God.
Only through the spirit of God who dwells in us can we mortify,
put to death the deeds of the flesh. And and. Our God is glorified. Our God is glorified. So how
do we do this? You must be born again. You must
be. The only way, the only way we
can do this is by God's power. You must be born again. You must
be. You must be. Rehab centers are not the answer,
as people can stop smoking, they can stop drinking, they can stop
using drugs through rehabilitation, and that's a good thing, isn't
it? We're not saying it's not. That's a good thing. but they
can never find peace with God. Never find peace with God by
rehabilitating their lives. They must be born again. Education. Education. Gives students
worldly wisdom. And many, many prosper in this
life because of their schooling. And we encourage education. We
encourage that, don't we? But God will bring to nothing
the wisdom of this world. God will bring to nothing the
wisdom. It can't save you. You can have all the knowledge
in the world and perish in your sins. The most educated person
that ever walked on this earth will spend eternity in hell if
they don't have Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. He
must be born again. Bible colleges, man, they're
all over. They believe they can educate
people into the kingdom. You must be born again. Monks and all them guys, those
folks that go off in the middle of nowhere, they believe by whipping
themselves or punishing their physical bodies or by becoming
recluse, oh, that they can gain merit and favor with God. But
I'm here to tell you, that none of those things can mortify the
deeds of the flesh. They can't. Those things cannot
put to silence the guilty conscience. The guilty conscience and those
things cannot bring peace to the heart of a guilty sinner.
He must be born again. He must be. He must flee to Christ. So here's a question. How do
we mortify our members which are upon the earth? Our members
is referring not to the members of our natural body, but of the
body of sin and dwelling the flesh, the flesh, the flesh,
the. The Holy Spirit moved Paul, the
apostle, to give a partial list of these members here. He calls
the members because they belong to us. They belong to us. Now, some
point the finger at others. The self-righteous religionist
always does this. I know a guy in town here, man,
all he does is complain about what other people are doing. But never about himself. So the self-righteous religionist
always points the fingers at others. Remember the Pharisee?
Oh, I thank God that I'm not like that publican. Where was
he looking? He's looking at the publican, isn't he? He's not
looking up to God. And there's the publican. He didn't even lift his head
up. God, be merciful to me. This is called your members and
applies to each individual believer in a personal way. Fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. So how do we mortify these members? How do we put these things to
death? Brother Henry says it in a more
A little more easy to understand, fornication, impurity, sensual
appetites, unholy desires, and imaginations, and all greed and
covetousness. How do we mortify these things?
How? As long as we're in this body
of death, these members, which are called the law of sin, Romans
7.23, will be at war against the law of the enlightened mind,
and will capture our attention if we allow them to. All of God's
children from personal experience know this is true, don't we?
We all know it. We all know it. And when this happens, whether
it's in thought or in deed, both are sinful, right? Whether it's
a thought sin or a spoken sin or something we do in deed. What
do I do? How do I mortify these things?
How do I put them to death? By looking to Christ. By looking
to Christ. By looking through Christ, through
the eye of faith. That by believing that we are
dead and that our life is hidden in Christ. By trusting that Christ
alone is our life. He alone is our life. by believing
that all my sins, that all my sins, every single one of them,
in thought, in word, in deed, were laid upon Christ, my suffering
substitute. And that He paid everything that
God demanded when He died upon that cross for all my sins. And how do I mortify these things?
By believing that Christ died as my substitute. And that all
my sins died with Him. All. There's not one. Now I'm living
in this body of flesh. And I'm a saved sinner. But Christ
has redeemed me and paid for all my sins by the shedding of
His precious blood. by believing that Jesus Christ
by himself purged all our sins, all our sins from God's sight
forever. They are gone as far as the east
is from the west. And that'll help us when we set
our mind upon him. See, that's why Paul wrote all
that before. Set your mind, set your affection on Christ. Keep
your eyes on him, on him alone. Go to him and confess our sin.
That's what scripture tells us, right? Tells us to do that. We know our sins are forgiven,
but we still go to him. We still go to him. How do we mortify the flesh by
believing that Jesus Christ is is my only hope for acceptance
with God? He's my only hope, my only hope. Which hope we have is an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, in which entereth into that within
the veil. Whether the forerunner is for
us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek. By believing that these words
from God through John the Apostle, beloved, now are we the sons
of God. We are now. And every man that hath this
hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure. Oh, beloved. This is how we mortify the flesh.
This is how we mortify the flesh, by seeking Him as we walk through
this life. He alone is the author and the
finisher of our faith. He alone is our trust. He is
the anchor of our soul, the refuge, the city of refuge for us. He's
the ark of our safety from God's wrath. And the believer in Christ
lives a life of looking to Him. Looking to Him by faith alone,
which works by love. which works by love. This is
the believer's rule of life. And this faith and this love
is set upon Christ and Him alone. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love. Galatians 5.6. The love of Christ
constrains us now. The restraining grace of God
in Christ restrains us. And the fact that Christ has
loved me from eternity Before I loved Him, when I was a sinner
dead in trespasses and sins, and now I'm redeemed, I'm purchased
by His precious blood, to know that, to know that that love
is being set upon me from eternity, oh, it makes me desire to mortify
the flesh. It constrains the believer. 2
Corinthians 5, turn with me if you would there, 2 Corinthians
5. This civil war was well known
to Paul. He said in Galatians this, this
I say, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust
of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit
against the flesh. And these are contrary one to
another. So that you cannot do the things that you would. We're
sinners, we're trapped in this body of sin. Look at 2 Corinthians
5 verses 14 to 17. For the love of Christ constraineth
us. Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're
all dead. And that he died for all, that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. We don't
live unto ourselves anymore, but unto him which died for them
and rose again. Wherefore, henceforth know we
no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are
passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Now we desire to mortify the flesh we didn't before. Now
we have a new nature in us. And let us remember this, beloved,
that teaching practical godliness, which Paul's setting before us
here, isn't he? But preaching just that alone
will do nothing but create religious Pharisees. We must preach the
gospel. We must preach the gospel. I know this. I know that this
teaching of practical godliness without the gospel creates Pharisees,
because I was one of them. But now I'm redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, and I stand fast in the
liberty in which Christ hath made me free. So God delivers
his blood-bought children out of darkness by the preaching
of the gospel, by the preaching of the gospel. The miracle of
the new birth is performed by the sovereign power of God the
Holy Spirit, by God's sovereign mercy. He teaches us that Jesus
Christ is Jehovah, God incarnate in the flesh. He teaches us that
we are helpless, hopeless, totally depraved sinners in need of God's
sovereign mercy. God teaches us that Jesus Christ,
the God-man, paid the ransom in full. It's complete. It's
complete, beloved. And He paid the ransom for His
elect, for His people. God, the Holy Spirit, teaches
us that by Christ's perfect redeeming work at Calvary in the place
of sinners, that Christ paid all that was demanded by God.
There ain't nothing left. For His people, in their place,
is the substitute of sinners. We are saved when the Holy Spirit
regenerates us, born again, and grants us faith and repentance.
Some guy told me this week, tried to tell me that, I told you earlier,
tried to tell me that you believe and then you're regenerated.
That's impossible. You believe because you're regenerated. That's the truth. The Holy Spirit,
and if that wasn't the case, if what that man said was true,
then salvation's not of the Lord. Salvation's of His decision.
But we know that the scriptures declare salvation's of the Lord.
It's His work, it's His doing. And we believe because we're
regenerated. We repent because we're regenerated. And we trust Christ. We're not
puppets. We trust Christ willingly, don't
we? Willingly. Because he makes us willing.
And when we're born again, we flee to Christ. And we see our
Lord and Savior as seated in the heavens on his sovereign
throne of power, Lord of all, Lord of all. And this is revealed
through the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And those he saves, those he regenerates, their lives will
never be the same. And we preach that Christ, Jesus
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, his full name, the Lord Jesus
Christ, is our only righteousness before God. And we boldly declare
that Christ, who is our life, shall appear. And then we shall
appear with him in glory. And most professing Christians
will say amen to that. They'll say amen to that. And
we proclaim that our standing before God is perfect in Christ.
Perfect in Christ. And nothing we do, good or bad,
will or can alter our perfect standing before God. We preach
and proclaim that. And we preach and proclaim that
those who are justified by God can never be unjustified. Those
who are redeemed by Christ can never be unredeemed. And they
are kept by the power of God. And now when we proclaim that
we are complete in Christ, and that nothing we do, good or bad,
can alter our standing with God in Christ, all the self-righteous,
religious Pharisees, they just blow a gasket. They get so mad, they get worked
up, and some of them vocally display their hatred for the
perfect, redeeming work And that's what we preach, the perfect,
redeeming work of Christ. It's perfect. Now a quick word,
and we're close. God's preachers don't encourage
the believer to continue in sin. I've not ever heard a preacher
say that. Never. We don't encourage the believer
to continue in sin that grace may abound. But because we believe
and preach, the truth of completeness in Christ will be accused of
being antinomians. But let me say this, that God's
preachers believe that the law of God is holy and good. It's
holy and good because it comes from God. But we believe and
preach that the believer is not under the law of Moses, that
Christ has fulfilled the law in our place. We have seen in
this study, it's been made evident for us in this study, that in no way are we against
the law of God, but we rest in the one who's fulfilled the law
for us. We rest in Christ. We are constrained by the love
of Christ. One grace preacher commented
this way, encouraging God the living for the glory of Jesus
Christ will get an amen out of the majority of professing Christians.
but take away their false hope of more stars in their crown
or more rewards in heaven, because they were more obedient than
others, and their reason for serving their false God will
manifest itself by their hatred for the truth. I am complete
in Christ. And if you believe, so are you.
That's a hope, beloved. That's a hope. What a hope. We're to put off the old man
with the sinful deeds of the flesh. We're to mortify our members
which are upon the earth. We're to be renewed in the spirit
of your mind and put on the new man which after God is created
in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians chapter 23 or 4, Ephesians
chapter 4 verses 23 and 24. Be not conformed to this world,
right? Grace is transforming grace, isn't it? It is. We'll
never be the same. Be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed by a renewing of your mind that ye may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, Romans
12, 2. The worldly man seeks the praise
of man. The believer seeks the praise of God. The worldly man
thinks only of himself. The believer considers others.
The worldly man cares for the body. The believer cares for
the soul. The worldly man looks upon only
upon that which is seen. The believer looks upon that
which is unseen. The worldly man cares for what
he shall eat, drink, and wear. The believer seeks first the
kingdom of God. and His righteousness. So let
us, beloved, rest and repose. Let us rest and repose in our
wonderful Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we are complete. Complete. And let us pray for
grace and strength. We're sinners, redeemed, but
we live in this world and we struggle with sin until we go
home to be with the Lord. So let us pray for grace and
strength from our great God, from our great God as we pilgrimage,
as we pilgrimage through this world. Gracious Heavenly Father,
we just are so thankful for the redemptive work of Christ, that
Christ has fulfilled the law in our place, and we stand in
awe. We who are redeemed stand in awe at your mercy and your
grace, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. O Lord, I pray that
you give us grace and strength each day as we pilgrimage through
this world, that you give us grace and strength in time of
need to overcome and to mortify the members in our body. In Jesus'
name, amen. Brother John, can you close us
in a song?