Let us turn again to that portion
of God's Word that we were considering this morning, turning to Colossians,
Paul's epistle to the Colossians, and there in chapter 3, and reading
verses 12 to 14, put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all
these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Colossians 3 12 to 14 and as
I said this morning we have here a list of Christian races and
we were considering these verses but in particular that's grace
of love that's that is the the chief and the primary Christian
grace as we see in verse 14 above all these things put on charity
which is the bond of perfectness and it is that strong word in
the original the word agape the most noble form of love that
we can ever conceive put on love which is the bond of perfectness We referred to the 13th chapter
of 1 Corinthians this morning, where of course the Apostle has
much to say with regards to this charity or love. And at the end
of that chapter, he declares, now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three, but the greatest of these is charity. The greatest of all then is love. All the law is fulfilled in one
word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. We read those words earlier there
in Galatians 5.14. There is the sum, there is the
substance of the law of God. The law, of course, divided into
two tables. The first table, speaks of God,
those first four commandments, speak of the relationship with
God, and then the second table, those last six commandments,
speak of duties towards our fellow men. And the table is summed
up really in love. Love to God is primary, but then
also love to the neighbor. And that's what the apostle is
speaking of in that 14th verse there in Galatians chapter 5.
He's speaking of how we are to love our neighbors. The law is
fulfilled in one word, even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself. And so he goes on there of course
to speak also of the fruit of the Spirit at the end of that
fifth chapter. Speaks of the awful works of
the flesh at verse 19, 20 and 21. Verse 22, but the fruit of the
Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such there is no law, and the first of that fruit of the Spirit
is love. And so in verse 14, here back
in Colossians chapter 3, And we concentrated on these words
in the morning hour, above all these things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness. Oh, it is love that binds all
these graces, all this fruit of the Spirit together. It's
all bound together by this love. And we're told we have it there
twice in John's first epistle that God is love God is love
and love is not just an attribute in God we do speak of it often
times of one of God's attributes but it is really much more than
that love is the very essence of God because God is a trinity
of persons and God is love in himself without reference to
any object outside of himself. The mutual love between God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Remember how
Christ, there in Proverbs 8, we see him as the wisdom of God. And what does he say then? Was
I by him as one brought up with him? I was daily his delight.
rejoicing always before Him. All the love between God the
Father and God the Son, the love between the Father and the Holy
Spirit, the love between the Son and the Holy Spirit, the
very doctrine of God, teaches us that God is love in Himself,
in His very essence. And God makes man in his own
image, after his own likeness, and man, of course, alas, so
quickly falls there in the paradise that was the Garden of Eden.
Genesis chapter 3, that dreadful account of the transgression
of our first parents. And so that image that was in
man, he made man in his image, he made man after his likeness,
And that image so disfigured, so defaced. And so all who come
from Adam and Eve were all born dead in trespasses and in sins. Conceived in sin, shapen in iniquity,
as David says in Psalm 51. But what does Paul say here concerning
these Christians at Colossae? verse 10 that to put on the new
man he says the new man which is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him there is the restoration
of that divine image and that image of course is very much
in the Lord Jesus Christ how he is spoken of as that one who
is the image of the invisible God here in the opening chapter. Oh, that image is renewed in
Christ. That one who ever delights in
the Father as the Father delights in Him. And so, those who are
new creatures in Christ Jesus, Peter says they are partakers
of the divine nature. And this is what we have here,
these various graces that the believer is to put on, in verses 12, 13 and 14. And
I want us to consider these other Christian graces for a while
this evening. Put on therefore, he says, as
the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do you." Seven graces
that I want to endeavor to say a little about this evening. First of all, He makes mention
of what he calls bowels of mercies. Here in verse 12, bowels of mercies. Put on, as the elect of God,
holy and beloved, bowels of mercies. Now, it's a Hebrew expression. Paul, of course, very much a
Hebrew of the Hebrews. of the tribe of Benjamin and
whereas we in the West tend to think more in in abstract terms
the Hebrews of the East have that tendency to to think in
concrete terms and we see that here we would probably use a
different expression we might speak of a heart of compassion
But the biblical expression, the words that Paul is using
here, is bowels of mercies. And it is a very concrete expression
when we think about it because it indicates to us something
of the idea of depth of feeling. It's those feelings that are
in the very pit of one's stomach. And Paul is very much a Hebrew, as
we've said, and we see it again in the way in which he addresses
himself, when he writes, for example, to the church at Philippi, and mentions something of his
yearnings and his longings after them. Philippians 1.8, he says,
God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels
of Jesus Christ. How he feels these things so
intensely in the very depth of his being. And we see it, we
see it in the language of the Old Testament. Remember when
Joseph's brethren come the second time to him. They had been previously. They'd not recognized him. He'd
recognized them. He'd been able to meet their
needs in that time of great dearth. He was the man of great power
and authority in Egypt next to Pharaoh. And he'd made it plain
they would never see his face again except they brought their
younger brother. And in due course, of course,
they must go back and they have to take Benjamin. And Benjamin
and Joseph are brethren. They are the sons of Rachel.
And how, when Joseph sees his brother, how he yearns over him. Look at the language that we
have there in the 43rd chapter. Genesis chapter
43. We read of Joseph and Benjamin. Verse 29, he lifted
up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and
said, Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke unto me? And
he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made
haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother, and his thoughts
were to weep. And he entered into his chamber
and wept there." All the intensity of the feeling that must have
been there in the very pit of Joseph's stomach as he looks
upon his brother. This is the Hebrews, you see.
We see it also in the case of Jeremiah, when he writes there
in his book of Lamentations, he is witness to the desolations
of Jerusalem. Oh, you've seen what the Babylonians
have done, the city destroyed, the temple desecrated, razed
to the ground. Lamentations chapter 2 and verse
11 he says, My eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled,
my liver is poured upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter
of my people. How these men knew what real
feeling was. How Jeremiah is yearning over
Jerusalem. in his awful desolate condition
just as Joseph is yearning over his brother Benjamin. Now, what
do we know of any intensity of feelings with regards to the
needs of our fellow believers? This is what Paul is speaking
of, you see. This is how the elect these holy
people of the Lord, these who are the Lord's beloved ones,
this is how they are to live their lives, how to be those
who know something of these bowels of mercies. They long after one
another, they yearn for one another, they only desire the good of
each other. And so he goes on in the second
place to speak of kindness. Put on kindness, he says. Of
course it's a very opposite of what's to be put off. As I said
this morning, there's a putting off as well as a putting on.
There's to be that mortifying, that putting to death. As he
says in verse 5, mortify therefore your members which are upon the
earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetousness which is idolatry. All these things are to be crucified,
put to death. And again at verse 80 says, now
you also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication out of your mouth, lie not one to another, seeing
that you put off the old man with his deeds. Well, when he
speaks of these things at the beginning of verse 8. Anger,
wrath, malice. Isn't kindness the antidote of
those things? There's not just a putting off,
there must also be that putting on. And what's put on, you see, acts
as an antidote to those things that we have to put off. Kindness. And of course the Lord
tells that parable concerning kindness, the well-known parable
of the Good Samaritan. And there was no real love between
the Jews and the Samaritans. but he tells of that man who
on his journey falls amongst thieves and there he is and they've taken such advantage
of him left him it seems in a half-dead condition and the priest passes
and ignores goes on the other side of the street as it were
the Levite the same and eventually it is the Samaritan who sees
the man and comes and ministers to him." Now the Lord is answering
one of the Pharisees who was a lawyer, an expert in other
words in the law of God who had inquired what he must do to inherit
eternal life and the Lord had told him what the sum and substance
of the commandments Amounts to, it's love God and love your neighbor,
but then he says, well who is my neighbor? And that's how the
Lord comes to tell the parable. And then the Lord asks that man
at the end, Which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor
to him that fell among thieves? And the answer is so obvious,
it's the Good Samaritan, it's kindness. It's what the man manifests,
kindness. how he seeks to show some compassion
to this man who's been left half dead. And do we not read also
in the Acts of the Apostles of one called Barnabas who's said
to be the son of consolation? Or to be those who would seek
to console others who are in great need. This is what the
believer is to do. This is the calling of the child
of God. This is how he dresses himself. He puts on bowels of
mercies, kindness. Thirdly, there's humbleness of
mind. Humbleness of mind. Now, the
great pattern of this is evident in the Lord Jesus Christ himself
as we see in Philippians chapter 2. What does Paul say there at verse 3. Let
nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness
of mind. 4. Let each esteem other better
than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. 5. Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Here is
the example then of humbleness of mind, lowliness of mind, and
then what follows at verse Six, and subsequent verses, is a tremendous
statement concerning Christ in the form of God. He thought it not robbery
to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness
of man. Oh, how the Lord humbles himself. He is the great pattern
of that humbleness of mind, and it's a genuine humility. There's nothing feigned, there's
nothing forged about it. We read of something quite different
here in chapter 2. The feigned humility, we might
call it. He says at verse 20, If ye be
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though
living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, touch not, taste
not, handle not, which are all to perish with the using, after
the commandments and doctrines of men, which things have indeed
a show of wisdom in will-worship and humility, and neglecting
of the body, not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. Or there is a fine humility,
a Uriah Heap type of humility. It's not genuine, that's not
what Paul is speaking of at all. It's something quite different,
quite distinct, humbleness of mind. When we see it in those
that the Lord ministers to, The Lord performs a miracle for that
centurion whose servant was so sick. What does the man say?
I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. He feels himself really below
the notice of Christ. Why should Christ take any account
of me? I'm not worthy. There is certain
humility surely in the faith of that man when he comes to
the Lord. He feels so unworthy that Christ should ever enter
into his house. And we see it so strikingly again
in the faith of the publican, who stands afar off, who cannot
lift up his eyes to heaven, who's so ashamed, who smites upon his
breast and cries, God be merciful to me, a sinner. The faith of
these men, it's very much associated with a sense of humility. Why? Why was I made to hear his voice?
and enter whilst there's room when thousands make a wretched
choice and rather die than come. Humbleness of minds be clothed
with humility says Peter for God resisteth the proud but giveth
grace unto the humble humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God Here is the mark of the elect. For those
who would give diligence to make our calling and our election
sure, here is the evidence. This is how the elect conduct
themselves. They put on bells of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness. Meekness. Wasn't that very much the mark
of the man Moses? It's interesting we read of the
faith of Abraham. We read of the patience or the
endurance of Job. We read of the meekness of Moses. It doesn't mean that these men
had no other graces. What it does mean is that these
particular graces were so conspicuous in them. And of Moses we're told,
Numbers 12.3, now the man Moses was very meek. above all the
men that were upon the face of the earth." Now, what is this
meekness? Well, we're not to confuse it with weakness. There's
nothing weak about Moses. What is this meekness? It's that
submissiveness of spirit in the midst of sufferings. And we certainly see that in
the faith of Moses. He's there in Hebrews chapter
11. Verse 24, by Faith, Moses, when
he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's
daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people
of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming
the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in
Egypt. For he had respect unto the recompense
of the reward. Oh, what meekness this man! He
will suffer afflictions. He will esteem the reproach of
Christ. There is that submissiveness
of spirit in the way in which he conducts himself. How do we
come to the Word of God? Are we not to come to God's Word
with that same spirit of meekness if we're going to profit by the
Word of God? we are not to rebel against the
Word of God, we are to come with that submissiveness and with
meekness, receiving as the engrafted Word that is able to save our
souls. We know God's Word is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished
unto every good work. As Paul says to Timothy, it's
profitable but sometimes it profits us when he comes to reprove us
and correct us when we feel the Lord rebuking us and we might
want to kick against it then we know how that Saul when the
Lord begins dealing with him how he kicks against the pricks,
the goads, his conscience troubling him oh we need meekness before
the word of God before the Lord's dealings with us if we're going
to receive the word we must know something of this blessed grace
of meekness and then next he speaks of long-suffering long-suffering
is very much a divine attribute long-suffering is part of God's
name when God is proclaiming his name to Moses we see that
long-suffering is very much part and parcel of that blessed name
by which the Lord God reveals himself in Exodus 34 Moses wanted that God should
show him his glory. And God condescends to that request. And we're told there, verse 5
of Exodus 34, the Lord descended in the clouds and stood with
him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord
passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord The Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children,
unto the third and to the fourth generation. And what's Moses'
reaction? He makes haste, he bows towards
the earth, he worships, and he says, now I have found grace
in thy sight, O Lord. Or the Lord proclaims his name,
reveals himself, and in that name, he is the Lord, the Lord
God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering. It's an attribute of God. It's one of God's characteristics.
It marks God out. He's a long-suffering God. And
now the psalmist rejoices in that. Psalm 86, 15, Thou, O Lord,
art to God full of compassion and gracious, long-suffering
and plenteous in mercy and truth. Is it not a comfort to us that
our God is a long-suffering God, how He suffers long with us,
and our sin. Long-suffering then is part of
God's name, it's an attribute of God, but it's a communicable
attribute. There are attributes in God that
are incommunicable. What we mean is that there are
certain characteristics of God that will be evident in his people.
Now God, of course, is omnipotent. But that attribute is not communicated
to us. We're not all-powerful. The same
as God is the omniscient, the all-knowing one, or the omnipresent
one. We cannot imagine that any of
those attributes could be communicated to us, but Evidently, here is
one of those attributes that belongs to God that should be
evident in the lives of those who are new creatures in Christ
Jesus, and have put on the new man, renewed in knowledge after
the image that Him that created Him. And amongst these graces of the
Spirit then there is this of long-suffering, where to be long-suffering. Long-suffering with one another,
patient with one another. As God himself is so patient
in his dealings with us. And so he goes on, sixthly, to
speak of forbearance. Forbearing one another. How we need to be forbearing,
we're all different. And I often think like this,
you know, when we find ourselves gathered together in a local
church, left to ourselves, in our natural condition, would
the people that we find ourselves in fellowship with be those that
we would have chosen to be our intimate friends? What is it
that binds us together? It's something outside of ourselves, really.
It's the grace of God. It's what God has done in us.
And He brings all different types of people and personalities together
and brings them into the local church. And we have to be forbearing
then. Forbearing one another. And again,
isn't the Lord Jesus Christ that one who is the great pattern
of forbearance? How, Peter, makes mention of
that there in in the first epistle in verse
20 of chapter of chapter 1 1 Peter 1 20 if I got the right no chapter 2
chapter 2 of 1 Peter and verse 20 For what glory is it if, when
ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But
if, when ye do well and suffer for it, ye take it patiently,
this is acceptable with God. For even Christ, for even hereunto
were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving
us an example. that ye should follow his steps,
who did no sin, neither was guilt found in his mouth, who when
he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness, by whose
stripes ye were healed. Oh how forbearing was the Lord
Jesus. Reviled he reviled not again,
suffered he threatened not. He is that one again who is the
pattern. And how forbearing was the Lord
in his dealings with that man Saul of Tarsus. And Paul was
very much aware of it. When he speaks of himself there
in the opening chapter of 1 Timothy, a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe. He says, For this cause I obtained
mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering. For a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Though the Lord
did bear long with that man. in all his persecutions against
the disciples of Christ. Forbearance, another of the graces
that we are to put on. And then that spirit of forgiveness,
forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
you. Doesn't the Lord teach us in
that pattern prayer that we're to pray concerning this matter
of forgiveness? We need the forgiveness of God.
We come before Him and we make our confessions to Him and we
sue again for mercy and we ask the pardon of all our sins and
Christ has given us that instruction in the pattern prayer. forgive
us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And we can maybe misinterpret
that and think that the basis on which we can enjoy forgiveness
is because we forgive others. But that's not what the Lord
is saying. The grounds of God forgiving any of us is not because
we are ready to forgive others. The only basis of forgiveness
is Christ and the work of Christ. He is the propitiation for our
sins, we're told. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. What is that propitiation? We
remarked on it this morning. Yes, it's a technical, a theological
word, and it has to do with that Godward aspect of our sin. Against thee, the only of our
sin, we sin against others. Certainly, David sinned grievously
against poor Uriah the Hittite, and he also sinned against Bathsheba,
although she was in the sin with him. But it's not so much the manward
aspect, it's that Godward aspect. Against God he had sinned. All
sin is a great offence to God. And there's always that Godward
aspect when he comes to the forgiveness of sins and Christ is the propitiation. God is angry with the wicked
every day. He will by no means clear the
guilty. And what is Christ doing there upon the cross? He is bearing
the wrath of God against the sins of His people. He is suffering
all God's righteous indignation. He is a just God and a holy and
a righteous God and He will not clear the guilty. And Christ
is the propitiation. There is the only grounds. that
Christ isn't just the ground of our forgiveness, is he not
that one who is the motivation that we should also be a forgiving
people? Ephesians 4.32 We read, Be ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. There's the reason why we are
to be forgiven, because God, for the sake of the Lord Jesus
Christ, has forgiven us. And that's what we have here.
If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you,
so also do ye. What is this calling then of
the Christian? What is it that the Christian
is to put on? well really is to put on the
Lord Jesus Christ. All these graces of the Spirit
they come by Him who is the Spirit of Christ. They are those then who have
put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of Him that created him. Christ is that one who is the
image of the invisible God. and they are renewed in knowledge.
What is this knowledge? Why? Doesn't the Lord say there
in John 17 it's life eternal? To know! To know thee the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. It's that knowledge
of Christ. And it's not just a matter of
our minds and an intellectual understanding. It's that that
reaches into the very depths of a man's soul. That's where
we began. Bow. of mercy. Oh, that the Lord would come
then and work so mightily and effectually, not only in our
minds, illuminating us in the midst of our native darkness.
We are so ignorant of God by nature. We know nothing of God. We can only know God as God reveals
Himself to us. Christianity is a revelation,
isn't it? Paul says he pleased God to reveal
His Son in man. That's what he did when he called
him by his grace. But we need not just to have
that revelation in our understanding, the knowledge in our head as
it were, but we need that this should all permeate every part
of our being. With meekness receiving it as
the engrafted word saving us all, touching us not only in
our understanding but also with regards to our hearts or the
great promise of the new covenant a new heart also I will give
thee a new spirit I will put within thee I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh I will give you a heart of flesh and also that mind that is a
willing mind Christ's people are made that willing people
in the day of His power or that it might be us that it might
be me that it might be you also to enter in some measure into
what the Apostle is saying in this chapter the necessity of
the mortifying the members which are upon the earth or the putting
off all those evils Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication,
lying, putting off the old man, putting on the new man. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving
one another, if any man have a quarrel against any, even as
Christ forgave you, so also do you. And above all these things
put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Oh, the Lord be pleased then
to accomplish in us all His goodwill and pleasure, and to write His
word in our hearts. Amen.