us. And now once again let us
turn our attention to the epistle of Paul to the Colossians and
the third chapter and this evening we'll read verses 5 to 8. So the epistle of Paul to the
Colossians chapter 3 and reading verses 5 to 8. 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 the which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them. but now ye also put off these
anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth well we see a very different
wording from that which we meditated upon last week which of course
was the second, third and fourth verses of this third chapter,
which of course directs us so very beautifully to the Lord
Jesus Christ. And just to read it, for we are
dead and your life is hid with Christ in God, when Christ who
is our life shall appear. then shall he also appear with
him in glory. Well, we come now to these words
tonight. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth. And of course to mortify means
that we should put them to death. And it can be sometimes described
as a crucifixion of the flesh. something which is painful to
our flesh. And yet here the Apostle directs
us to this great need there is to mortify because we just read
those beautiful words about the glory and the blessing of the
Lord. And now therefore to realize
that if we really desire those blessings, and I hope we all
do, then we have our body, a body of sin and death, which we read
about in that seventh chapter to the Romans. The apostle Paul
well knew of the continual battle that he had between the flesh
and the spirit. But nonetheless, he's able to
set before us, by the grace of God, this good and right desire
to mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. those
which are of the flesh, not those which are of the spirit. And
therefore he then gives us a comprehensive list. And he says, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness,
which is idolatry. Well, that's a list of very many
important considerations and things which do affect us, our
old nature, our old sinful heart. And as we look at these words,
we won't go into any great detail in them, but fornication really
means adultery, doing those things which are forbidden. Again, as
we read in that seventh chapter to the Romans. And then uncleanness. And uncleanness, of course, is
a very, again, comprehensive statement that whatever we might
think of in our lives, to look and see whether there is any
uncleanness or whether everything that we do and think and say
is clean. And then inordinate affection,
that means wrong affection, in a wrong way. And how easy, perhaps,
some people find this a great problem. Inordinate affection. And then evil concupiscence. And concupiscence really means
lust. It's a fairly comprehensive word
again. Lust in many ways. And it says, therefore, evil
lusts. We can sometimes lust after good
things. but this is evil lusting and
then he says covetousness and how easy it is to become covetous
we see things and we would like things and we become covetous
and the apostle when he wrote to Timothy he spoke about money
and he spoke about that and he said for the love of money covetous
after money is the root of all evil. Money itself is not evil,
but the love of it is. For the love of money is the
root of all evil. It's comprehensive again, all
evil it says, which while some coveted after, they have erred
from the truth and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. And see how the apostle was concerned,
therefore, these Colossians should be aware of these things which
can separate and take us away from the things of God. And then
he goes on in the sixth verse, for which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience? Again, how easy
it is to disobey the things of God. cometh upon the children
of disobedience, those who are disobedient both to the law of
God and the gospel of Christ, who are unbelievers in him. This is a disobedience, who are
rebellious, again saying, rejecting his calls, the persuasions of
his ministers. said it not his counsel and will
have none of his reproof. And so we have this statement
which this wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. We can easily turn aside from
that and we can easily justify ourselves in so many ways but
here we're told categorically, solemnly and truthfully that
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience and
then he says, in the which ye also walked some time when ye
lived in them well there was a time when perhaps we did walk
in those ways and again the Apostle draws our attention to that in
the 1st of Corinthians and the 6th chapter and he tells us In
verses 9 to 11, know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit
the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of
themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor extortioners, should inherit the kingdom of
God. And having set that list before the Corinthians, he then
comes and tells them, and such were some of you. And how true
that is. By nature, we cannot stand aloof
and say, well, I don't come under that condemnation. And the Holy
Spirit touches our hearts and reveals to us what we are like
and how unclean we are. in ourselves. So realize then
this great truth and such were some of you. It's a blessing,
isn't it, if that's in the past tense. But, says the Apostle,
ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus. and by the Spirit of our God. So how true this is, in the which
he also walked sometime when he lived in them. Well, what
a blessing it is to have been brought to the knowledge of what
we are before God. And then he goes on to say, but
now he also put off all these And then he increases that list,
and says, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication,
out of your mouth. Well, what words of instruction
they are, and how the standard is high, and the standard is
right, and good. And the Apostle Paul recognised
something of this when he wrote that seventh chapter in the Romans,
and as you know we read it together this evening. And just to read
really the concluding verses of that, which is so relevant,
he tells us, I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil
is present with me. for I delight in the law of God
after the inward man that means the new man that means our converted
man that means the new life but I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. And then he cries
out, doesn't he? O wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? And I'm sure such
words are not only applicable to the Apostle Paul, but surely
to every true believer, as the Lord shows to us what's in our
hearts. We also have to come and cry
out, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord
so then with a mind I myself serve the law of God but with
a flesh the law of sin and then of course it's very wonderful
and he goes on to that eighth chapter as you well know there
were no chapters in the original And he said, there is therefore
now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. So what a blessing
if God gives us true desires to walk in accordance with his
word and to walk in accordance to the gracious and blessed and
glorious example that he set before us in his life. upon this
earth. And so may such words, as difficult
as they are perhaps to us and hard for us, as we look into
our own hearts, to be thankful that the Lord has recorded such
words for our instruction and we can say really for our encouragement. May God bless his word to us.