Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Colossians chapter 3 and reading
for our text the first four verses. Colossians chapter 3 and verses
1 to 4. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand 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. Colossians chapter 3 in the first
four verses. This word is to those that are
risen with Christ. It is not put in the way of a
questioning of it, but saying if this is the case, if ye are
risen with Christ, these are the exhortations, this is the
path set before you. What does it mean? Risen with
Christ. The Apostle, when he writes to
the Ephesians, he tells those believers that it was the same
power that was wrought in Christ when God raised him from the
dead, as is put forth in them that believe. A believer is a
miracle of the power of God. There's nothing but the power
of God that can create a believer and give him his crown, and that
is inseparably joined with our Lord Jesus Christ, reflected
in the ordinance of baptism, buried with him by baptism into
death and risen again in newness of life. The ordinance ordained
by our Lord so clearly sets forth that union of his people and
of himself and tracing their spiritual life, their quickening
to his quickening, his life from the dead, his people's life from
the dead, bringing up from the grave and then being brought
up from the grave of corruption and from being dead in trespasses
and in sins. He's speaking then to those that
here, the Colossians, are believers. In the very beginning of the
epistle, he writes to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ,
which are at Colossae, and he gives thanks for them. He says,
we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ
Jesus and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven. And in our text is
pointing, pointing those believers, pointing them above, pointing
them to where Christ is, In just these few verses of our
text, how much does Christ feature in it? If ye 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. And all the time it is centering
in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the Christ, the seed
of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head, he that should
come into the world. And as he goes through this chapter,
so he again is emphasizing again and again what Christ is. In Christ, in verse 11, there
is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian,
Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all. And in Ephesians,
He sets forth our Lord as breaking down that middle wall of petition,
that barrier between Jew and Gentile, those two folds that
Christ said, there another fold them also I must bring, there
shall be one fold and one shepherd. And so Christ is emphasised right
through this chapter. Really the secret of vital godliness
and religion is our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of mine hand. Without me ye can do nothing. I am the vine, ye are the branches.
The branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in
the vine, neither can ye except ye abide in me. And our Lord
then is still setting forth all fruitfulness and everything to
come forth from himself. So this message, these verses,
are to those that are born again of the Spirit, those that have
been risen with Christ, those that have been partakers of His
death, their sins, born by our Lord Jesus Christ, and born away,
and the sacrifice that He has made, appeasing the wrath of
God, satisfying justice, and paying the debt that they owed.
And so Christ has risen and given assurance unto all men in that
He has raised Him, from the dead. Sometimes we might think if we
are risen with Christ, if we are blessed with a new birth,
if we are converted, then everything will be automatic. We will automatically
have the fruits of righteousness and walk in a right way. But surely the Epistles of the
Apostle, the exhortations that are in them, show very clearly,
like with the Corinthian church, many things wrong, they needed
to be addressed and reproved. The churches needed to be exhorted. They needed to be shown the right
way, warned of the wrong way, directed in the way. But what's
the difference between doing this to the people of God or
doing this to the world in general that lies in wickedness? That
God has given to his people life. He's given to them a hearing
ear. He's given them faith so that
the word profits them. And he's not said, like the children
of Israel, the word did not profit them, being not mixed with faith
in them that heard it. And so the Apostle can write
to these Colossians, he can exhort them, he can warn them, he can
set things before them knowing that they are those that have
a hearing ear and that they have a love to the Lord, they have
a desire, a willingness to walk in his ways and to do that which
is right in his sight. Right at the very start when
the Apostle Paul was converted on that Damascus road, he immediately
says, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord certainly
had that which he had to do, what he must do. Go into the
city, and shall be told thee what thou must do. Not just,
well, you can take it or leave it. You might be able to do it,
might not. No, the Lord had to work for
him and that which he was. to do and it is a great blessing
when we hear of those whose first thoughts were about themselves
suddenly have that desire that mirrors our Lord, nevertheless
not my will but thy will be done. And so we have here These verses
that are written to those that have a hearing ear and to those
that are desirous of walking in a way that pleases the Lord
and that seek to be instructed and taught in the ways of the
Lord. Dear friends, don't shut yourselves out from these words
or these exhortations if you say, well, I don't yet. have
assurance that I'm one of the Lord's children or not. We read
of those that were blessed in the Day of Pentecost that they
that gladly received the word were baptized. And we shouldn't
think, well, we're hearing the word, we're receiving it, and
then suddenly this thought comes into our mind, but perhaps I'm
not elect, perhaps I'm not one of the children of God, perhaps
I'm not risen with Christ. And immediately this barrier
comes down, I can't listen to this, I can't hearken to this,
because it might not belong to me. But if the Lord has given
you that hearing ear, and that desire to hear, you know, dear
Samuel, we are told that He did not yet know the Lord, but the
Lord began to speak to him. And when he began to speak to
him, he did not know it was the Lord that was speaking to him.
You think surely the Lord's people would know when the Lord is speaking
to them. They wouldn't think it's someone
they knew very well. Samuel would have known Eli's
voice very well. You know your pastor's voice
very well, a minister's voice very well. And you say, well,
I think it was just a minister. But when it goes, happens again
and again, and the beautiful thing, and quite often it's reflected
in the testimonies of the Lord's people, that the Lord doesn't
bless them just from one of his servants. It's more than one. They have to realize that it's
the Lord speaking through the man. He's not just coming from
one man. He's coming from the Lord. Let there not be a hindrance
or that which stops the ear or makes the word to be shut out
this evening. May we listen to the word and
if we have that hearing ear and that word is, it drops into our
heart, it enters in, it remains there. Remember with the parable
of the sower, the Lord said to the disciples when they said
they didn't know it, if you do not know this parable, how will
you know any parables? Because that was a secret parable. That was concerning hearing,
concerning hearing the word, and concerning the effect that
word had. It was the same word in each
case. But only one brought forth fruit. And that is the secret. What effect? Does the word have
upon us? Well, may it have that effect
that only God can give this evening and bless that word to us. On to with the Lord's help. Firstly, then, look at the exhortations
that are set forth in our text. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. But before that, seek. Seek those
things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand
of God. Seek and set are the two exhortations
here. Secondly, there is a reason given. For ye are dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. And then lastly, there is a prospect
that is set before us. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. That is the prospect set before
us. Firstly, the exhortations. Seek those things which are above. Are there any here that thought,
well, the only time that you seek in your life is when you
are first beginning, when you are first seeking. And as soon
as you have risen with Christ, as soon as you believe, then
you don't need to seek anymore. Well, the Lord has said that
they that seek shall find, ask and it shall be given thee, seek
and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.
that this word implies this, which is a true fact, that we
never were out seeking. Paul is writing to believers,
he's writing to those that are in Christ, and he says to them,
seek those things which are above. Seek them. How do we seek them? Seek them by prayer. Seek them
in the house of God. Seek them in the Word of God. Seek them amongst the people
of God. It's emphasised here, not just
any things which are above, but those things which are above
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. I'm often marvelled
at the wonderful plans purpose of the Lord in ascending up above. I would speak reverently, but
it could have been the Lord would have said he would set up a throne
somewhere on this earth. He said it was needful that I
go away. If I go not away, the Holy Spirit
shall not come unto you. If I go, I will pray the Father,
he shall give you another comforter, which shall abide with you forever. And the Lord then has ordained
that his beloved son go as the firstfruits, as he first begotten
from the dead, to be in heaven, to be at the right hand of God,
to be in the midst of the throne as a lamb, as it had been slain. to not only rise, but ascend. Ascend, bringing that cloud of
captives, bringing that assurance of the first fruits that there
shall be those that follow after. There shall be those that are
brought to be with Him. And so He can pray, Father, I
will that they whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory. How different that would be if
He was somewhere upon this earth. How localized it would be. And
yet with the Holy Spirit given and with His grace, His presence
that is everywhere, in every nation, kindred and tongue, in
every place, the Lord is there. His promise, where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
He is with us, lo, I am with you all the way, even unto the
end of the world. That He is, as we say it in our
articles of faith, the very bones and flesh that hung upon the
cross are now glorified in heaven. We emphasize the reality of Christ's
resurrection and ascension. His body, His bones, they are
nowhere else. And we hold fast to that truth. Those that viewed him ascending
up bodily, the angel who stood by them, why stand ye gazing
up into heaven? He that thou hast seen ascend
into heaven shall come again in like manner. And at the end
of the world he shall come. while we are here below in this
time of the Gospel, the time of the preaching of the Gospel,
the Church of God have always set before them the Lord Jesus
Christ, not on earth, but in heaven. And for this one reason,
that they are to seek those things above where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God. What a clear separation between
the world and heaven, where Christ was and where he suffered and
bled and died and where he is now in glory at the right hand
of the Father. The Apostle takes it up in several
different ways. In Hebrews, he says, let us run
the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. And again,
there is that looking above. The expectation of the people
of God is above. The apostle says of the Thessalonians,
and to wait for his son. Where from? From heaven. Those
that thought that their loved ones had perished, that had died.
He says, no, they haven't. They are with Christ. Where?
Somewhere on this earth? No, in heaven. Their souls are
in heaven, absent from the body, present with the Lord. Not on
earth, but in heaven, where the Lord is. And when the Lord comes
again at the end of the world, them also shall he bring with
him. And the dead in Christ shall
rise first, and we which are alive shall be caught up with
them in the heavens. So shall we be forever with the
Lord. And so the exhortation is that
we seek those things that are not of earth but are above. Seek Christ himself. Seek the teaching of the cross,
the doctrines of the cross, the blessedness of the resurrection
as the apostle sets it forth to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians
15 and all that is bound up with that. The blessings that Peter
sets forth and inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, reserved in heaven
for you who are kept by the power of God unto salvation, ready
to be revealed in the last day. We are to see those things, that
we might get little glimpses of them through the Word, through
the ministry, in prayer. Seek those things which are above. where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. The second part of the exhortation
is, set your affection on things above, or mind, as it says in
the margin, on things above, not on things on the earth. Now
often in the Word of God, the Lord does a contrast, and He's
very specific with the people of God. They cannot serve God
and mammon. You cannot serve two masters. You can't have your hope below
and your hope above. The evidence of faith in Hebrews
11 is that those that had faith, they embraced the promises that
they saw afar off. They were persuaded of them.
And they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in
the earth. And they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country. And so when there
is a setting affections on things above, it is joined together
with how we have our affections on things below. The Lord in effect says you can't
have your affections or your mind fully set onto places. is either in one or the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot be a friend of the
world. Whosoever is a friend of the
world is an enemy of God. Know you not that the friendship
of the world is enmity with God? And the Lord says that there
is not a middle road, there is not a halfway, and if you cannot
see that your affections are on things above, maybe it can
be seen clearer that the Lord has taken your affections off
things on the world. I know when the Lord first began
with me, and I didn't understand it at that time, But he did bring
me to seek and to attend every service I could, desiring to
know the ways of the Lord, feeling my great ignorance, and wanting
to learn the things of God. But at the same time, the Lord
dealt with me in my life, the rest of my life, my hobbies,
my music, the choirs, the orchestras, the things that I mixed with
the world and with those that did not know the Lord. And there
were things that started then to jar, to come between us. And
even without that, I used to love to go to the great auditoriums
to hear the orchestras and love the atmosphere of the crowds.
And I couldn't work out why I didn't like that anymore. Why wasn't I happy? Why didn't
I feel at home? Why didn't I want to go anymore?
I couldn't work it out. I didn't know why. But now I
do, the Lord worked on both sides. As well as putting a desire and
longing for the things of God, he was putting a blight on the
things on the earth. And Solomon says, vanity of vanity
saith the preacher, all is vanity, emptiness, vanity. They are not
my God. They're not what satisfies my
soul. It's a wilderness. It becomes
a wilderness. It becomes to have the curse
upon it. And the Lord uses things, sometimes
things that go wrong, one after another, disappointments and
sorrows, to put a blight on the things below, as if the Lord
had questioned us. Have you had your affection on
these? Is this where your hopes have
been or has been above? Is it but? divided, and no, it's
a very searching word. You think of the case of Jehu,
most solemn, a case where he could say to people, come and
see my zeal for the Lord. But his heart was not right with
the Lord. He was doing the Lord's will
in an outward way, but not with a pure heart. who know Caleb,
Joshua, they followed the Lord fully. Fully, we need it. The redemption is a whole redemption
of our whole body and soul and mind and affects every aspect
of our lives. And so the exhortation is where
our affections are to be and where they are not to be. They
are to be above our mind above and not on things on the earth.
Dear David says, I prevent the night watchers that I might meditate
upon thy word. Jeremiah says, thy words were
found and I did eat them. They were to the joy and rejoicing
of my soul. They be with us. We've had that. And then this distinction is
blurred. And we need the exhortation again. We need to be reminded again. We need to realize and remember
maybe where we've left our first love. The world has began to
take a hold where it should not. And our minds and our affections
are not on things above. Don't deceive ourselves by outward
things, especially where we are in any form of service, of ministry,
evangelism or whatever it is. Outward activity in the things
of God can mask a great leanness and barrenness and emptiness.
Don't ever replace works for the Lord, for inward work of
the heart, a close walk with the Lord. Don't be deceived at
that. The Lord is not. He sees the
heart. And so the need of the exhortations
that come, these exhortations are not saying, do this, do that,
walk in this way, walk in that way. Yes, later on there are
things that that are to be put off, and things that are to be
put on, and all the works of the flesh, and how many of them,
they start inwardly, they start at the heart, they start with
the affections, they start on where we seek. It is not, and
though there should be with a Christian those fruits that are seen and
known and read of all men, yet the Lord says, out of the heart.
That is where the Lord begins. That is where his work is. And
that's where the true fruits flow forth. And so that's why
the affections are so important. And the seeking is so important. And we're not to just calm our
consciences and think, well, I did seek years ago. I found
the Lord. I was blessed. I made profession. The Apostle still writes to believers,
still seek, still set your affection. He that endureth unto the end
shall be saved. Well there's a reason then in
the second place that is given. And the reason is this, for ye
are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. Really there
are three reasons. Firstly, it is where Christ is. Why we are to seek those things
above and why we are to set our affection there is because Christ
is there. You know, if you had a boyfriend,
a girlfriend, and they're in another country, then if you
had affection towards them, you would have that affection where
they were. You would think where they were.
You'd be mindful of where they were. And if we have affection
to the Lord, it is here, emphasize Christ is above. And so because
Christ is there, that's why we seek the things above. That's
why we set our affection on things above. Because the one that we
love is there. The one that redeemed us is there. The one that has gone before
us is there. The one whose righteousness is
imputed to us is there. And that is why, the first reason
that is given, why we should set and seek those things above,
set our affection on them. The second is this, that we are
dead, for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. As dead to the world, the Apostle
puts it as the way of being crucified with Christ. When our Lord was
crucified, there were two thieves, one each side. A very big difference. in how they had recourse unto
Christ. One said, save thyself and us,
come down from the cross. And his thought was of the world
and the things of the world. The other one prayed, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And his thought was
above. His petitions were above. His
asking was above. And really, he knew he was dying. He was on that cross. He was
already dead to the world. He wasn't fully dead, but he
was as crucified to it, and he knew it would issue in death. And you know, we all are dying,
and we all are dead spiritually. But when we are quickened into
life, we are not dead spiritually anymore, but we are dead to the
world. We are dead to the law. in the
sense that Christ has made it honourable, that he has suffered
to put away the condemnation due to a broken law, and that
law never has then a demand over us to condemn. The beautiful
way that Romans 8 begins, there is therefore now no condemnation
To them that are in Christ Jesus, you say, but aren't they still
in the flesh? Do not they still have the law
of God? Are they not still sinners? Yet
there is no condemnation. The law doesn't come to hail
them to prison, to condemn them. Why not? Because Christ has died
and Christ has fulfilled the law and made it honorable. He's
nailed it to his cross. People of God, in the beginning
of this chapter, if ye be risen with Christ, but risen, risen
from what? Risen from dead in sin, but they
are risen from their state and condition in this world. And so, dead to this world, and
dead to its calls, and dead to Satan's calls, And it does call. And the old nature loves it.
And so the realization will be the same as the apostle. The
good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would, not that
I do. O wretched man that I am. He
sees another law in his members. And you and I will find that
as well. An opposition within. But we are to be as dead. unto
that call as if as much as before we were called we were dead to
anything that was spoken to us from the Lord and from the Word
of God we're dead spiritually now that we're alive spiritually
it is as if we are dead to what we before had our ears open to
and so the Lord opens up the blessings that were once hidden
from us and we never heard and never saw. And then says to us,
it is to be as if now you are dead to all that you once listened
to and followed and went after and loved. And this is to be
how you view it, how you look upon yourself as being dead to
the world. The third thing is this, that
Christ is our life. For ye are dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. The Lord has said, because I
live, ye shall live also. There's one thing I think we
so easily lose sight of. We think that we can get on without
prayer. We think we can get on with being
severed from the vine and not have a daily and hourly supply
from the Lord. That the Lord will teach us,
and sometimes very painfully, that we cannot do that. We cannot run kind of like a
half-Christian. There is that in us, that we'd
love to have the world and Christ too, old nature would. But the
Lord will teach His people, and sometimes very painfully, you
cannot. You cannot have Christ and the world. You cannot have
them both. In that way, Christ, when Christ
is our life, your life is hid with Christ in God. Because I live, ye shall live
also. We spoke of the vine. The branch cannot bring forth
fruit of itself, neither can ye, except ye abide in me. And the Lord exhorted to that
constant prayer. Constant access, constant going
to the throne of grace, the constant communion. The children of Israel,
they had the manna every day except the seventh day, that
they had a provision of that manna. He withheld not the manna
from their mouths. They drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. In the
wilderness, you take away the miracles of the manna, take away
the miracles of the water, what are they going to feed on? They
need that from heaven. And you and I, we need that from
heaven. No man can keep alive his own
soul. No man can. It needs the Lord. The Lord should do that. To keep
alive that which he has first quickened. And that is the reason
given, the third reason given, why we are to seek those things
above, and why we are to set our affection there, because
that's where our life is. That's where the provision comes
from. I think Mr. Amesbottom in his
book, The Bible Doctrine, simply explained, there's a question
asked, how shall we know our election and there was an old
soldier there and he said to the assembly, he said as you
know, he says I'm an old soldier and because of that he says my
name is enrolled in a book in London and he said every month
I get a pension. He said I've never been to London,
I've never seen the book But because every month I get my
pension, I know there is a book, and I know my name is there.
And he applied it. He said, I've never been to heaven.
I've never seen the Lamb's book of life. I've never seen my name
there. But because I get regular communication
from God, because he feeds my soul, because he speaks to me
through his word, I know that my name is there. That way I
know my election. Receiving of that fullness of
Christ. Receiving that which comes from
heaven. And it's a blessed thing. You might have asked the Lord,
Lord let me not be deceived. Let my religion not be a natural
religion. And the way the Lord has answered
it, He's withheld His presence, His blessing, His word. He's
left us to ourselves. And we say, what's happened?
I feel so worldly, so earthbound, so carnal, so dead, so far off,
so barren. And the Lord is teaching us,
this is what you are in yourself. This is what you are without
me. Without that communication from heaven, you are nothing.
You have nothing. You have no religion, no life,
no faith. The word doesn't profit you.
Nothing is of any value. But once the Lord visits again,
then the heart is softened, and then the ears open, and then
the word is held forth, and then there is that flow of the sap,
the life, that comes from God. You know, with the parable of
the five wise and five foolish virgins, those that were foolish,
they had lamps, they had a profession, but they didn't have any oil
in their vessels with their lamps. They didn't have a supply outside
of themselves. The people of God have to prove
here below that the supply must be outside of themselves. Now
if you went to a young child and you said, where's your supply? Where are you going to get your
next meal? Where are you going to get your next lot of clothes
from? Let's see your supply. My parents, they've got it and
they give it to me. I hope there's other ways that
parents show their love and that those children are theirs. But
a child that is watched over and fed and clothed and corrected
and cared for, they've got a daily evidence that those Parents are
theirs, and their children, they don't do that to the neighbour.
They don't do that down the road. And the Lord cares for His children
and His people, and He supplies them. And this is the reason
why we set our affections on things above, and seek those
things above, because Christ is our life. For you are dead
and your life is hid with here with Christ in God. On then to look lastly at the
prospect, the prospect. We read in verse four, when Christ
who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. And in that prospect is a binding
together of Christ who is our life. In Psalm 84 we read that
he shall give grace and glory. No good things shall he withhold
from him that walketh uprightly. Those that are seeking the Lord
and seeking his word. The provision is in Christ. He giveth grace and more grace
and graceful grace. And he says, as he said to the
apostle, my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made
perfect in weakness. So where Christ is our life here
below, the blessed prospect is this. When he shall appear, whether
it be in our death, whether it be at the end of the world, Then
shall ye also appear with him in glory. At the end of the world,
his people shall appear with him, coming with him in the clouds
of heaven. And those that are his on earth
shall meet him in the air. So shall we forever be with the
Lord. I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also. An inheritance that is incorruptible
and undefiled and reserved in heaven for you. A prepared place
for a prepared people. A reward in heaven that which
awaits beyond the grave. and that which faith esteems
worth waiting for, worth seeking, worth setting affection on, worth
counting as dung and dross all things below, that we may win
Christ and be found in Him. How much do we walk here below,
seeking those things above and setting our affection on those
things above. What prospect has the Lord given
us? And what basis is the prospect
we may profess to have? Do we have the Lord as our life,
and we prove that we cannot do without him? I language one of
our hymns, isn't it? I could from all things parted
be. but never, never, Lord, from
Thee. The one that realises this will
realise how vital our Lord is, to first quicken them and then
to keep them alive, preserve them and to present them at last. Behold I and the children whom
Thou hast given me, not a hoof left behind, but all brought
safely to glory. Where there affections have been
set, so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. The Lord
add his blessing. Amen.