Sweet, sweet fellowship. I hope everybody here will plan
to stay for lunch. I think we have plenty of food. And you know, it's natural for
all of us to feel more comfortable with people that we know. But
I want to encourage you at lunch to resist the temptation of sitting
next to somebody that you already know and get to know someone
else. Maybe somebody already in our
fellowship that you don't know that well. I know we have some
brethren here from Lakeland and from St. Pete. So let's do that. It'll be good for us. Tom's gonna come. Billy, thank
you for that message. That was clear and it was a blessing
in my heart. Number 37 in your hardback teminal. And look with me at, look at
me at the third stanza for just a moment. And when I think, and
I hope that we will think about this, that the Lord will give
us a a heart to meditate on this. And when I think that God, his
son not sparing, sent him to die, I scarce can take it in
that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, he went willingly
to the cross. He gladly bore the sins of all
of his people. He gladly laid down his life,
no man took it from him. He bled and died to take away
my sin. That's what he did. He put them
away once and for all by the sacrifice of himself so that
sinners can come before the throne of grace boldly to find help
in their time of need. Let's stand together. Tom, you
come please. Number 37. We'll skip verse 2, so just sing
verse 1, 3, and 4. Lord, my God, when I in awe so
wonder Consider all the works Thy hands have made See the stars,
I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout the universe
displayed Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great
Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings
my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, my spares can take it in. That on the cross my burden gladly
bearing, He planned and died to take away my sin. ? Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee ? How great Thou art, how great Thou art ? Then
sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee ? How great Thou art,
how great Thou art ? When Christ shall come with shouts
of acclamation ? ? And bring you home, what joy shall fill
my heart ? ? Then I shall bow in awful adoration ? ? And there
proclaim, my God, how great Thou art ? Then sings my soul, my
Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee How great Thou art,
how great Please be seated. We can only see a glimpse of
his glory right now. We sing that hymn, How Great
Thou Art, and we know that he's holy. And we know that he's full
of mercy, delights in showing mercy toward his children. that
the fullness of his glory and greatness cannot be known from
our perspective. One day, we'll see him as he
is, be made like him. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 103 for our call to worship. Psalm 103. The Psalm of David. Bless the Lord. That's what we've come here to
do. I think, well, I came here to
get a blessing. And the blessing will come as
a result of him enabling us to bless him. We delight ourselves
in the Lord. And then he gives us the desires
of our heart, which is more of himself. I am thy exceeding great
reward. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. And the greatest
of which is, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth
all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who
crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfy
thy mouth with good things, so that thy youth is renewed like
the eagles. The Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. Sinners are oppressed
by their sin, and God Almighty executed his righteous judgment
at Calvary's cross to deliver us from that oppression. He made known his ways unto Moses,
his acts unto the children of Israel. The children of Israel
saw what God was doing. Moses knew why he was doing it.
Many, many people see what God has done, but few see why he
did it. that comes by divine revelation. The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always
chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy
toward them that fear him. As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like
a father pitieth his Children, so the Lord pitieth them that
fear him. I've heard men say, I don't want
to be pitied. I do. I need God's pity. I'm a pitiful person. What a
blessing to know that he is pitiful, that he pitieth his children. For he knoweth our frame, and
he remembereth that we are dust. We'll stop there. Let's pray
together. Our gracious, glorious, merciful
Heavenly Father, We are thankful that we can come
into thy holy presence. No, Lord, that we are not only
accepted but loved, pitied, shown mercy, grace. Coming before the
in the person of the idea, son, all that he has and is is ours. Lord, we ask that you would send
your spirit in power again. She would cause us to set our
affections on things above where Christ seated at that right,
thy right hand. Lord, we confess that we. That
we spend so much of our time and energy. Setting our affections
on the things of this Earth. Or give us this hour. A revelation
of thy mercy, thy grace, thy love, cause us, Lord, to have
our hearts turned. Lord, we know that if you turn
us, if you turn us, we shall be turned. Bless your word. We ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. Tom's going to come and
lead us in one more hymn. And then Sean Reynolds. Sean
pastors Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Mulberry, Florida,
just south side of Lakeland. I met Sean, where are you Sean? I met you, was that 10 years
ago or so? About 10 years ago, he and I
went to lunch together. And we lost contact after that. And
then recently I reached out to Sean after listening to him preach
and he called me immediately and he said you don't remember
me and I said no he said well we met about he reminded me and
I of course I remember very well then about that that experience
that we had ten years ago and what a blessing it's been to
fellowship with him now and to hear him preach and Sean, we're
thankful that you're here. Stephanie, thankful that you're
here. And Sean's brought us some folks
from his congregation with him. We're happy that you all are
here. And Sean, we're going to sing another hymn, and then you
come and bring the message the Lord's put on your heart. Tom. Let's all stand together. We'll
sing hymn number 158. and the hardback tenor, 158.
? The Holy Spirit have laid down ? With all thy quickening powers,
Kindle a flame of sacred love In these cold parts of ours. Look how we travel near, below, In vain we do our mortal song. can vainly strive to rise. Hosannas languish upon our tongues,
and our devotion dies. Dear Lord and Savior, at this poor dying rate. Our love so faint, so cold to
thee, and mine to us so great. Come, Holy Spirit, ? With all thy quickening powers
? Come shed abroad the Savior's love ? And that shall end all
powers Please be seated. As I'm getting prepared up here,
I can say the great joy it is to be here to preach Christ to
you today. And I'm thankful for his faithfulness,
because I surely am not. It's customary for me, I like
to introduce my text, and then I like to ask the Lord's blessing
upon it. So this morning will be no different.
Our text, if you'll turn with me and your Bibles to Colossians
3, our text will be verse 1 of Colossians 3. I also am equally nervous. I've
ran my whole life from public speaking. But the Lord caught
me and said, you will speak my son. And I'm so thankful that
he did. Our text this morning, Colossians
3, 1, And it reads this way, if you
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Let us pray. Oh, Lord, I thank thee. I praise
thy holy name. I thank thee, Lord, that you
have brought us here, that you've brought us here together to worship
in thy name. Lord, I thank thee for thy promise.
Where two or three are gathered, you will be here in the midst
of us, Lord, and we need thee. We need thee, Lord, to open our
hearts. We need thee to draw us to thy feet. We need thee,
Lord, to settle us. And Lord, may you give us a thirst
and a desire for the one thing needful. We pray, O Lord, that
you would fill our souls with thyself. Be with these stammering
lips, Lord, and settle me in thy truth. Please take over. Make me a vessel for thy glory
and for thy name's sake. For this I ask in Jesus' name,
amen. As we look at our text this morning,
the very first thing and the very first word that grips us
is the word if. If can be a very searching word.
It could be a very examining word. The devil used it when
tempting Christ. He used it even mocking. He said,
if you be the son of God, change the stones into bread. I know
the devil's used it many times in my life, but the Lord has
overruled him. Because when I'm brought to our
text this morning, the word if is comforting to me because it's
confirming. It confirms what Christ has done
in the soul. If you are risen with Christ,
you will seek Him because of Him. He's the power. He's the life. He's the everything
for the child of God. If you then be risen with Christ,
and we're going to stop right there for a while and camp there
on that terminology that's used here by Paul, ye then be risen
with Christ. What does it mean to be risen
with Christ? Well, as Brother Bill mentioned,
when he died, we died. When he rose out of the grave,
we rose with him. When he ascended up into heaven,
we ascended with him. These things are too high for
me to understand, too high for me even to start to think upon. But he is faithful. He is faithful
to show me over and over what it does mean to die in this life. What is it that we're dead to?
And we're going to speak a lot about that this morning. Because
he tells us in verse 3 here in Colossians 3, for ye are dead. Well, that seems like a paradox
because we know that we've been quickened because as the people
of God, we were dead in trespasses and sins. And then the Lord has
made us alive. And then Paul says again, you're
dead. And we don't feel dead because
Christ lives in us. But yet there are times that
we do feel dead in that old nature that we carry around with us
every day. But praise God that he's greater than that nature.
He came up out of the grave and with that he's victorious. And
this morning I want to look at a few things that make up if
ye then be risen with Christ. And we're not going to go too
far, we're just going to go, well it's over the page to me,
in Colossians 2. And if we begin in verse 10 with
me, reading with me, listen to these words, we're told right
first and foremost, Paul says, and ye are complete in him. I've
thought about that lately. I've thought about that in light
of where the Lord has brought me from and where I used to preach. The freedom that I have now to
understand the scriptures and to be given the scriptures in
a deeper way to understand what a complete salvation it is. That
He has promised and He has provided everything for my spiritual good,
for this body that's riddled with sin, that one day He will
change this vile body and raise it again to house the soul and
the spirit that will always be forever eternally with Him. That's
a complete salvation. Nothing, nothing that Christ
has ever done has been incomplete. And I pray the Lord impresses
that upon us this morning as Paul says, you are complete in
Him, which is the head of all principality
and power. I hope the Lord has revealed
to you this morning that He is your head and that He is your
power. As Brother Bill said in Psalm
110.3, we will be willing in the day, we're made willing in
the day of His power. And I have learned in the 53
years now that I've been upon this earth, it isn't going to
happen any other way. I can have all the greatest intentions
to sit in front of the Word. I can have the greatest intentions
to come and pray to the Lord. But without the Lord, I'm nothing.
Without the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I won't come to
Him. My mind wanders too much. The
fears of this life, the trouble in this life, the hardship in
this life, the trials in this life beat me down every day.
But praise God, we keep coming. We keep coming because we're
drawn every day. He's faithful. And He is the
head of all principality and power. In whom? Right there.
I love those words. We get it all in Ephesians. Because
it shows us of our union that we have in Christ. I mentioned
that when when he died, we died with him. That's that eternal,
vital union. Without it, we don't exist. We
exist as the rest of the world, hopeless in dead religion. But Christ has made a difference.
Christ has made life living for us because he is the energizing
principle of life. He is life. We are complete in Him, in whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ. He has given us a new heart. This isn't a physical circumcision. It's what the Lord has done in
us. When He has birthed us into His
kingdom and given us the new birth, we see things so different
now. So different. We are so dependent
upon the Lord. I love that Galatians 2.20 is
because Paul says, Yet not I. He knows that the Lord is impressed
upon him and taught him in the school of Christ that it's all
of him. What does that mean for us? I
have preached messages like this before in the face of opposition. I have heard the opposition come
up to me afterwards and tell me, yes, but. You preach too
much Christ because there's things we need other than Christ. Well,
dear ones, I ask you this morning, is there anything you need other
than Christ? No. And the Lord has quickened
you into life to understand that He is life. He is the way. He
is the truth. And there's no mixture in it. And so in Him, He's given us
a heart to love Him, verse 11 says. And then He tells us, buried
with Him in baptism. Wherein also you are risen with
Him through the faith of the operation of God. By the faith
of the Son of God we live. By the faith we are buried with
Him and we're risen with Him. But then we go to verse 13, who
has raised Him from the dead. Verse 13 says, and you, being
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened
together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Our sins
are buried in Him. He took them all away. He took
them away as far as the east is from the west. And as Brother
Bill said, I too understand now that when the Father looks at
me, He sees me robed in a robe of righteousness that my Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ wrought for me. That He has put it upon
me in His perfect obedience. The man Christ who never sinned
and I'm perfectly obedient in Him. And that's hard for me to
understand because every day I fall short to the glory of
God. I sin constantly in these members. And there was a time in my life
I had to be brought to the end and stripped of all the things
that I would try to do and I must do and I had to do. And the Lord
set me free. And He set me free. Our text
over here tells us that if we're risen with Christ, and then as
I said, verse 3 said we're dead. What are we dead to? The very
first thing Paul tells us prior here in 13, we're dead to sin. Sin doesn't have dominion in
our life anymore. The Lord reveals to us that we
have a sin nature. But that He's greater than that
sin nature. That sin nature will be destroyed one day. But this
isn't heaven where you and I are dwelling today. But we have enough. We have Christ in us, the hope
of glory. We have Christ in us to put down
the sin and put them away and show us that we're free from
the burden of sin. If you will with me, turn over
to Romans 6. Love to hear Bibles being turned
because that's a healthy place to be. But if you'll turn with
me to Romans 6. Romans 6 says this, what shall
we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? And that's that old nature that
sneaks up on us and it's always prevalent in our lives. Well,
we're saved by grace. God's grace, His blood will cover
the multitude of our sins. And that old nature comes up
and says, why don't you go and do this? And the wicked one comes
and communes with that old nature and says, follow me over here.
And Paul says, what do we say to that? Do we continue in sin
that God's grace would be shed upon us? God forbid it. God forbid that thought to come
into our mind that we would be presumptuous that way. That we
would trample the grace and the blood of Christ that he shed
for us. God forbid it. How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know you not that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into
his death? That's what we celebrate today.
In a few minutes, we're going to see Brother Bill immersed. We're going to see him putting
forth his spiritual life that Christ has worked in him. The
picture of going down into the water, dead in your sins, being
raised again in the newness of life to walk in Christ. And if you're like me, as I sat
out there listening to Brother Bill, I saw the newness of Christ
in him. And when he was shedding tears
for where the Lord has brought him, I'm shedding tears because
I felt the unity of the Spirit. I know what it's like to be dead
and what it's like to be made alive. Know you not that so many of
us as we're baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his
death? Therefore, we're buried with him by baptism into death,
that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. The same power that God the Trinity
used in raising Christ from the grave is the same power used
to make you and I believe, to believe in Christ, It's a miracle. If you're ever shown the depravity
of yourself, the wickedness of yourself, that there's nothing
good in you at all, you understand the miracle of faith, the miracle
of the new birth, the miracle what Christ has saved you from
because you could never do it on your own. You wouldn't even
have the desire to do it on your own. That's a religious man. The Lord has saved us from religion.
And he set us free in Christ. Christ is our religion. Christ
is our life. Like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life, and that is what we walk in, dear
ones, in Christ Jesus. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. I don't know about you, but when
I see the shalls of the scriptures, my heart just leaps because I
know it's in his absolute sovereign will that it's written, therefore
it is, therefore it shall be. And as the Lord says to me, we
shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. We shall partake
in the resurrection spiritually and physically, no matter what
man says. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. Of course, I'm reminded
too of Galatians 2.20 there. where Paul said, I am crucified
with Christ. That's what he said. He said,
I, he's looking at his life and he says, I am now crucified with
Christ. I died with him. And Paul told
us that he said, I've had the sentence of death upon myself.
He said, I've been dead in deaths oft. And yes, we can look at
the physicality of those deaths and how many times he was beaten
and the shipwrecked and the asp being on his hand and all the
things that he went through. But I believe it was deeper than
that. I believe Paul was talking about being made new in Christ
and what it is to be translated from death to life. Paul said,
for me to live as Christ, And to die is gain. He equated the
two things together. In death, He gained Christ 24-7. Unbroken communion. Always with
His Lord. For me to live is Christ, and
yet to die is Christ. It's gain. And you and I, all
our lives, we're told we're subject to the fear of that great specter,
death. But the Lord has swollen it up
in victory. And Paul understood that. And
you and I, by the same spirit and by the same faith, we understand
it. And when he said, I was crucified
with Christ, he said, nevertheless, I live. Yes, I died with him,
but today I live, he says. But then immediately he says,
yet not I. There's no glory for me. I've
done nothing for this life. I've done nothing to procure
salvation. I've done nothing to be given
life. Yet not I. Don't look at me. Don't put the
preacher on a pedestal. We're all men and women of like
passions. We're all sinners. I appreciated
that so much yesterday. Greg sent us a text to tell us
Tell me and Bill that he was praying for us, that the Lord
would give us a word, and reminded us that we were all just sinners,
wanting to hear Christ in the gospel. And I thought about that,
and I said, that's right, because like I said, I'm a nervous person.
I get nervous about, I get nervous speaking in the name of the Lord.
I tremble at the word, because it is holy to me. It is life
to me, and I don't see myself as any kind of worthy to speak
it. But I see worthiness in him. I see worthiness in his word.
And when Paul said, yet not I, I can understand that. No, Lord,
not unto me, unto your name give glory. Yet not I, but Christ
that lives in me, the hope of glory. He's the reason I believe. He's the reason I preach Christ.
He's the reason I live. but Christ that liveth in me
and the life which I now live in the flesh, the life I live
here on the face of this earth, I live by the faith of the Son
of God. As was said, I don't live by
my faith. My faith will take me to the
next trial. It'll take me to the next hardship. It'll take me to the next fear,
and it won't get me through it. But Christ has proven that to
me, that it's his faith that must be imputed to me, not once,
not just at the new birth, but every day of my life to cast
all upon him. He's life. He's the reason for
living. He's the reason for dying. I live by the faith of the Son
of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Because that's
the only way I can love him, is because he first loved me
first. Praise God for that. Every day, I think, sometimes
I see the love of Christ in my wife, in times that I'm not being
very loving, and I thank my Lord for that love. Because I know,
too, without him, she wouldn't have that for me. And you and
I together today, as we sit, and all you gracious people who
have come up to meet me and my family already, to see the love
of Christ in your face, we're not used to that. We're a small
group. We came out of a place that didn't
appreciate Christ being preached. So it's been very hard. And I
just want to stand up here and weep. Weep for the happiness
that the Lord has filled my heart and soul with. To be with people
who love the Lord as I love the Lord is priceless. So yes, I'm very appreciative
of this day. Back in Romans 6 again, verse
7, for he that is dead is freed from sin. We don't have the bondage
or the persecution of those sins or the condemnation of them hanging
over us anymore because we're free in Christ. I tell you, it's
been a while since I've experienced the attacks that I went through
in the last couple of days coming up to this day. The things that
the wicked one would suggest to my mind were very powerful. But the Lord set me free. He
set me free by showing me the blood that cleansed me all my
sins and all the doubts and unbelief that I have. He nailed them to
the tree. I'm forgiven in Christ Jesus. He that is dead is freed from
sin. Now, if he be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also, if we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with him. That's what we're celebrating
today. Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more. Death has been defeated. It has
no hold on him. And it's got no hold on you and
I. Death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. That's what I pray for you and
I today as we go from this place, as we meet one another. We live
in the life of Christ and we love in the life of Christ and
the love of Christ for one another. Verse 11 says, Likewise reckon.
Think about this. Sit down and do your pros and
cons, but come up with this. Reckon yourselves dead indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When we go turn back over to
Galatians 2 now. Where we were. Not Galatians 2, I'm sorry. We're
in Colossians 2. If we turn back over to Colossians
2, where we were. So verse 13, Paul is talking
about we're dead to sin. Verse 14, he comes and tells
us what else we're dead to. blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Our Lord fulfilled
the law. All of the jot and tittle is
fulfilled in Him. He has kept every bit of it.
That is the righteous robe that He has woven and made for you
and I, that He puts upon His people. He is perfectly obedient. And when I see those words in
the Scriptures and I say, when it says, Be ye holy for I am
holy. I know that my holiness is in
Christ. He is my representative. He has
clothed me with that holiness. And I'm only holy in Him. And that law can have such a
hold on us. And we don't even realize it.
We get into the groove of the have to and must to and I have
to do this and that. The Lord has set us free. He
set us free to live in him, and it's not a licentious living.
I use this analogy a lot. I think of I've seen the baby
birds in the nest as they're as they're looking up and their
mouths are open. And the mama bird comes and drops
the food into the baby's mouth. I see myself that way every morning
of my life when the Lord reveals to me that I have life in Christ.
I see, I'm in that position just subjected unto Him. Lord, drop
down whatever Your grace has for me today. Feed me, Lord. Feed me upon Your body. Feed me upon Thee. Feed me upon
Christ because I know that He is sufficient for life. And all
that will come into my day or come into my week or come into
my thoughts, the Lord is sufficient to put them down, to mortify
them, to show me that He is fulfilled and made the law honorable. Paul
said the law is spiritual and praise God that it is. How would
I know not to covet if the Lord didn't reveal to me thou shalt
not covet? But the law can't save me. It's
a schoolmaster. It could tell me what I'm doing
wrong, but it's not the remedy. Christ is. And he fulfilled the
law. And so as we're risen with Christ,
We no longer have the bondage of the law on us. We don't have
the bondage of sin. And that's not all, because then
we go to 15, where he says, having spoiled principalities and powers,
he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. The
Lord has defeated the wicked one. He was manifested to defeat
the devil. And when he came up out of that
grave, everything that the wicked one and all of man could do,
they couldn't keep him in there. And when he came up out of there,
the wicked one was defeated. And we know he's still active
in the world today, but he's defeated. I don't have that bondage anymore.
I'm not his servant. I'm a servant of Christ. And
it's Him who I need every day to say, get thee behind me, Satan. Get thee hence. Go from me. He's the only one who could bid
Him to go and to go and He will go. If only for a season. But He's faithful to be there
over and over again. If we be risen with Him. This
is resurrection life. This is what we have. This is
what we praise God for today. All these enemies line up for
our souls. And our Lord has defeated every
one of them. And the last one is mentioned in 16. Let no man
therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy
day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days. You know what
that is? The world and its religion. The
Lord has set us free from that. The Lord has conquered that.
He's put that away and all the opposition that met with him
on the face of this earth. And we still have it today. The
pharisaical religion is all around us. Wanting to bring you back under
the law. But in Christ, we are victorious.
In Christ, we've been risen anew. And when our text says, if you
then be risen with Christ, that's that that examination of the
if. Have we been risen with Christ?
Has He set us free from the things that I've mentioned to you? It reminds me of the Lord's baptism. If you'll turn with me over to
Matthew real quick, it's the last place we'll go. If you'll turn with me to Matthew
3, I'm reminded that the baptism of Jesus, beginning in verse
13, Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized
of him. But John forbade him. I know
we probably look at that sometimes and we say, how can you forbid
the Lord? But I understand it. I understand the unworthiness
that John felt at the time. I understood as he looked at
Christ and said, I'm not worthy even to be next to you. But the
Lord told him. Well, John said it forbade him
saying, I have need to be baptized of thee and comest thou to me. I hope the Lord brings you to
the end of yourself every time he reveals himself to you. He
must increase. We must decrease. And he does
that by grace, the grace of his power to put down. Us. To bring us to his feet, as he
did Mary. who had the one thing needful,
impressed upon her heart, impressed upon her mind, and impressed
upon her spirit. And the Lord drew her to Him.
And there's Martha, equally a child of God, but cumbered about with
so many things. If you're like me, you're cumbered
about with many things. You're cumbered right now. Well,
only the Lord can bid you to come, can set you at His feet
to reveal Himself, because that's where our freedom That's where
our forgiveness, that's where our life lies. And Jesus answering
said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. I read that this morning and
I thought about that word us because my wife likes to kid
me. She likes to call me Jonah sometimes
because I make comments about running, running away from things
like preaching. When I see that word us, I know
that the Lord has a plan for every one of his children. And
we're never alone. We're never alone. And the Lord
impressed upon me that he would be with me. And when he told
John this, he said, it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.
He is the fulfiller of righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
when Jesus went up, when He was baptized, He went up straightway
out of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened
unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and lighting upon Him. And then this, and lo, a voice
from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased. As I said, We are going to take
part in this and Bill said I've waited three years for this. If Christ isn't in the ordinance,
it's not worth it. I remember vividly, of course,
I was baptized when I was a child in the Methodist Church. I was
sprinkled. When the Lord revealed himself to me, adult life, and
I desired to be immersed. And we went to a person in the
fellowship whose house had a pool. So this was outside. And the
only thing to this day that I remember about it, and praise God, it's
the only thing I remember. I remember being taken down in
the water. And when they brought me up out
of the water, I couldn't see because the sun was so bright
in my eyes. I'll never forget that because
the Lord quickened to me then, this is where you always want
to be. Seeing the sun. If we see the
sun, everything else melts away. When he's revealed to us, all
the fears are gone. All the temptations are gone.
All the trials are gone. And we see Christ. That's what
Paul said, but we see Jesus. I want to see him more and more.
And I pray that for Bill when he comes up out of that, all
he sees is Jesus. All he sees is the light. Because
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And as the
father is pleased with his son. As the Holy Spirit is pleased
to testify of all that the son has done and said. May we also
be pleased with only Christ. And we need Him. We need Him
to fill our hearts, our minds, to be our joy, to be our love,
and to be our life. And He's faithful to do it. Let's
go back to our text now, Colossians 3. If ye then be risen with Christ,
And now we cover the last little bit. Seek those things which
are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. And
that's the first thing we look at. We're told to seek those
things that are above. And I'm sure most of you have
heard the songs about pearly gates and golden roads. And that's not what's being said
here. In fact, he tells us, if you're
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. And why is he sitting? Because it is finished. Are those three blessed words
to you? It is finished. Sean, put down
your arms. Put down your have-tos in the
middle. I've finished it. And it's a complete salvation.
In Hebrews 1.3, Paul writes, who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself, he did
it, purged our sins, took them away, sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. And so I picture him reigning
today And I know He's reigning today. Not only does He reign
in this fallen world, He's never lost control of it, but He reigns
in my heart. He reigns in the church's minds
and hearts and lives. And that's where we see Him reigning.
May the Lord give us faith to see Him reigning in one another
as well as in ourselves. In 10-12 Hebrews again, He says,
But this man, After he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God. It shows he's sitting with
power. He's reigning with power. I'm
often reminded, though, as I as I speak of him sitting, I think
of Brother Stephen. As he was stoned. Just for testimony. Just for preaching Christ. And
there was one there that was consenting unto his death that
the Lord also would save by grace. And he held the coats for them
to pelt his head and to throw those stones at his head and
to kill a brother. And it wasn't even known to Paul
at that time, or Saul actually. But what did Christ do? He stood
and Stephen saw him as he received him to himself. That's our Lord
standing triumphant over death, standing triumphant over all
of Stephen's enemies and standing triumphant in grace that he would
reveal later to Paul. How great is our God? How great
is his son? How great is the Holy Spirit
to reveal his son to us today? If you 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 the things of the earth. And that's what Christ
changes your vision. He changes your line of sight.
Because from the moment you wake up, if Christ be in you, the
hope of glory, the Holy Spirit has you looking for him. looking
for him in his word, looking for Christ in prayer, coming
boldly before him to his throne of grace to obtain that sweet
mercy, because we're always in a time of need. Oh, Lord, set
my affection upon things above, not on the things of this earth,
for ye are dead. And we've heard this morning
the things we're dead to. May it be our testimony. that
we are dead to those things because of the life of Christ. For you
are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. Where else
would you want it to be? You know, when I hear those words,
we're hid, our lives are hid with Christ in God. I have such
a sweet preservation come over me. I am preserved in Christ
Jesus and I'm hidden in God. What man could pluck me out of
that hand? What principality, what power,
and even the unbelief in myself? None of it. He's victorious. That's the resurrection life
that we have in Christ Jesus. And that's the last verse here
in 4 that I'll read. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, Then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. And
that's twofold, dear ones. Of course, we know that we think
of that day when the Lord comes again. We think of the time that
we will be with Him when we're absent from this world, when
the Lord takes us from this earth to be with Him. He is our life. When He appears, we will be with
Him in glory. But that's not all. That's His
promise for this life. When He appears, He takes our
minds and our hearts to glory with Him. We need that, dear
ones, because this is a wicked world. But He is the light. He is the salvation. He is the
Lord of glory. He is all and in all. Dear Heavenly
Father, add Thy power and add thy clarity to thy word. For
this I ask in Jesus' name, amen. We're gonna stand together and
sing a congregational hymn that's printed on the back of your bulletin,
and then we're gonna take our seats to allow the kids to come
over before baptism, and Adam will bring special music. So
let's sing that hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. is Thy footsteps we follow to Thou
in the time, And are buried with Thee in the death Thou hast died. Then wake in thy lightness to
walk in the way That brightens and brightens through shadowless
day. O Jesus, our Savior! O Jesus, our Lord! By the life of thy passion The
grace of Thy Word, accept us, redeem us, dwell ever within,
to keep by Thy Spirit our spirits from sin. with thy glory and waving the
palm, our garments all white from head to toe. Please be seated. Complete in Thee, no work of
mine Could take, dear Lord, the place of Thine Thy blood hath
pardon bought for me, And I shall stand complete in thee. Yea, justify, O blessed thought,
and sanctified. Salvation wrought, thy blood
hath pardoned, bought for me and glorified. My God shall be complete in thee. No more shall sin be all I do,
and am within. Thy grace hath set this prisoner
free, and I shall stand complete in thee. Yea, justified, O blessed
thought, And sanctified, salvation wrought, Thy blood hath pardoned,
bought for me, And glorified my God shall be. Complete in
Thee Each need supplied And no good thing To me denied Since
Thou my portion, Lord, will be I need none else Complete in
Thee Yea, justified, O blessed thought, And sanctified, salvation
wrought, Thy blood hath pardoned, bought for me, And glorified
my God shall be. Dear Savior, when before Thy
bar All tribes and tongues assembled are Among Thy chosen will I be
At Thy right hand, complete in Thee Yea, justified, O blessed
thought, And sanctified, salvation wrought, Thy blood hath pardoned,
bought from me, And glorified I too shall be. Tough getting old, isn't it? I'm just glad I don't have to
do that. What a special time. When Billy first asked me about
baptizing him, we were trying to work out our calendar so that
we could do this like we are now. And it seemed like every
week something was going on. He said, well, I'll just come
over here tomorrow and you and I'll just do it. He was so anxious
to be baptized. And I said, well, that kind of
defeats the purpose, doesn't it? This is a testimony to God's
people of a brother who is confessing what we've heard in both messages.
You know, we prayed for today and it's just been beyond my,
My expectations have been so low. They always are when it
comes to the Lord, isn't it? We don't expect things as good
as they are. Today's been a blessing. Adam,
that song was just a great close to the messages that we heard.
Sean, your message was spot on. And I was thinking about And
I don't like biographies, especially about dead preachers, because
every time I've read one, the writer always presents the dead
preacher a lot better than he probably was in real life. And
I feel like I don't measure up. And I can't imagine why a man
would write an autobiography. But you know, the Bible is an
autobiography. It is, it is. It's the Lord revealing himself
in the fullness of his glory. And what the Bible is as an autobiography
is my biography. Because as he is, so are we. That's what baptism is all about.
It's all about union with Christ. buried with Christ in baptism,
raised to walk a new life. And His life is our life. He
is our life. His perfect obedience is our
obedience before God. His resurrection is our resurrection. His ascension into glory is the
hope of our eternal rest. And so, brother, It's a great
joy for us as your brothers and sisters in Christ to baptize
you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk a new life.
in Christ Jesus. And all God's people said, Amen. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, thank you for the testimony of baptism. Thank you for the
picture of the gospel that you've given us. Lord, thank you for
these messages. Thank you for this time of worship.
We pray your blessing on our fellowship together that you
would knit our hearts together in Christ. Father, we pray for
your continued hand of blessing to be upon Billy and the fellowship
in St. Pete. Grow them in your grace. Enable him to declare your gospel. Call out your lost sheep. Build
your church. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.