Let us turn once again to God's
word in that portion we were considering this morning in Colossians. Colossians chapter 3 and I'll read the first five
verses. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry. We were considering then the
opening part of this chapter and the exhortation. It's that
part of the epistle, remember, the normal pattern in Paul's
epistles is that in the former part he will set forth the great
verities of the faith, the great doctrines of the gospel, and
then in the latter part we come to the practical adverse and
the implication of those doctrines if we are those who truly believe
and embrace them. And so with this epistle, the
opening two chapters, as I said this morning declare to us great
truths concerning Christ in his person and Christ in his work. And then in chapter 3 following
we come to what we might describe as that more practical part of
the epistle. And so we have an exhortation
and we were considering that exhortation. The exhortation
to seek and the exhortation to set. Seek those things which
are above. Set your affection on things
above. And I remarked on what lies behind
the exhortation. And we see in verse 3 what it
is that leads Paul to issue such a word of command, he says, for
ye are dead and your life is hedged with Christ in God. The exhortation then that we
have in the opening verses is a consequence that has come because
of that spiritual and that experimental union that they now have with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Ye are dead, he says, and we
remarked that of course there is that sense in which by nature
all are dead, all are dead in trespasses and in sins and we said also that those opening
words in the chapter if ye then be risen with Christ only have
any real meaning if we know what it is to be dead, to be risen
we must first of all be those who were dead. And that, as I
say, was our natural state, our natural condition. We were those
who were in that state where there was no spiritual life in
us. We were dead in our sins. We were enemies of God, alienated
from God. And it was necessary that that
great power that God demonstrated when he raised Christ from the
dead should be put forth in the soul of the sinner. In the previous
chapter, remember, in chapter 2 and verse 12, he says, ye are
risen with him. Again, at verse 13 there, he
speaks about they were quickens together with him. But we also went on to say this
morning that this expression in verse 3, ye are dead, is not
so much a reference to what their condition was before they were
born again of the Spirit of God. Certainly they were dead previous
to that communication of new life, spiritual life, but In
verse 3 he's not speaking of what they were before they were
born again, but speaking of their condition after they were born
again. Literally he says, for you died
when they were born again, born again of the spirits, they died. The result of that new birth,
whilst it was the communication of spiritual life to their souls,
also meant that they died, they were dead to the world. They
died to this present evil world and we remarked on the strength
of the verb that is being used, it's that action that is a single
action, a once for all action. In conversion the believer has
died to this world. Back in chapter 2 and verse 20,
wherefore If ye be dead with Christ, or if ye died with Christ
from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the
world, are ye subject to ordinances? The believer has died to this
world and to the ways of the world. He no more wants to conform
to this present evil world. It lies in the wicked one. He
has received a new life, a spiritual life. And those old things have
passed away and all things have become new. And he is a new creature
now in the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only is he one who has
died, he is dead, but also remember how Paul goes on to say concerning
that spiritual life that it is hid. Hid with Christ in God. Calvin, I said, makes the statement
that that spiritual life is buried under all the ignominy that this
world can pour upon the Christian. His life is in Christ. Christ is his life. all that he has, he has received
in and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We observe the significance then
of those prepositions at the end of verse three. The life
is headed, it says, with Christ, with Christ. And also in God. As strong as
this statement, there is a real union. a spiritual union between
the believer and the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that life that
is the believer's is one that is safe and secure. It can never
be destroyed. There is that double security,
it's with Christ, it's in God. Christ says concerning His sheep,
I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
No man is able to pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all. No man can pluck them out
of my Father's hand." Here is the basis then of the exhortations
that we have in those first two verses. This is their condition,
this is their state, they are dead, they died to this world
and the ways of this world, their life is here with Christ in God,
what then are they to do? If then 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. Oh, how the child of God is so
wholehearted in his seeking after the Lord Jesus Christ. The promise
of Jeremiah 29, 13, You shall seek me and find me when you
shall search after me with all your heart. Are we those who
are wholehearted in our religion? Is it everything to us, all things
to us? This is the one thing we desire
above everything else, to seek Christ, to set our affections
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We're looking for Him, and we
see Him now as that One who is in heaven, in that heart and
that holy place. And there we behold Him as that
One who is a glorious and a gracious Saviour. that one who has all
power, all authority, who is able to say to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him. Is that where our citizenship
is? Remember what Paul says when
he writes to the Philippians. In Philippians 3, verse 20, he
says, our conversation, our citizenship, it says in the margin, is in
heaven. From whence also we look for
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself. Oh, is that where our affections
are tonight? We're looking to Christ, we're
looking to heaven. Our citizenship is there. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above. May Christ sit on the right hand
of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. Well, is that our attitude with
regards to heaven? What What is our duty here upon
the earth? Well, we have it in verse 5,
and it's verse 5 that I want to really centre your attention
upon this evening. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth. Mortify therefore your members,
he says, which are upon the earth. fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry. These are those sins that he
speaks of that we need to be mortifying. And so I want us to consider
something of the mortification of sin. Two things to consider. First of all the doctrine of
mortification and then we'll come to the practice of mortification. First of all, the doctrine. The word that we have here, to
mortify, simply means to put to death. Put to death your members
which are upon the earth. Now, you might say, isn't there
some contradiction here? Certainly there's an apparent
contradiction. Because as I just said, from what we were considering
this morning, he's already said in verse 3, ye are dead. You died. And you died to the
things of this world. Remember verse 20 in the previous
chapter. Wherefore if ye be dead, if ye
died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, Why are you so
living in the world? Are you subject to ordinances? The believer, as we've said,
has died to this world. His thoughts, his affections
don't run after the things of this time state anymore. He has
also, in a sense, died to himself, died to sinful self. That great
statement of the Apostle in Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20, I am
crucified with Christ. This is a believer, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. The believer's life is that life
of faith he is living on and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so he has died to sinful self, he has died to the world. Why
then is this exhortation given in verse 5? Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth. Now in order to answer the question
why, we have to distinguish two particular things. We have to
take account of the believer's state, the believer's standing
on the one hand, and then we have to look at the believer's
condition on the other hand. Now what is the believer's state
before God? Well, he is there to sin as sin
would damn him. Sin cannot damn the believer
because, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ has already borne
that punishment that was his just deserved. God has visited
upon the Lord Jesus Christ the iniquities of his people and
punished the Lord Jesus Christ in the believer's room and stage
and so he is dead to sin sin can no more damn the believer
and he is also dead to the law the law can no more condemn him remember the strength of sin
is the law but the believer He's freed now from that condemnation
of the Holy Lord of God because Christ when he came was made
of a woman and made under the law, understood in the very law
place of his people and has borne that punishment that was there
just as it is answered, all the demands of the law. for his people. He's not only born their just
punishment but he's also honoured and magnified the law in a positive
sense by obeying it in that sinless life that he lived. And so the believer with regards
to his state, with regards to his standing, he's dead. there to send heads to the condemnation
of the Lord. Isn't that what Paul is saying
in the portion that we read in that great seventh chapter of
the epistle to the Romans? He says in verse 5, When we were
in the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the Lord did
work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now
We are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in
the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? God forbid. Nay, I have not known
sin, but by the law. For I have not known lust, except
the Lord had said, Thou shalt not covet. See how he speaks
here. of the believer and his relationship
to the Lord of God. In verse 6 he says, we were delivered
from the Lord, that being dead wherein we were held. Or the
margin says, being dead to that wherein we were held. The believer
has died to the Lord. No more can the Lord of God condemn
him. He says it quite plainly there
in verse 4 of chapter 7, My brethren, ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit unto God. Here is the believer then, here
is the believer's standing. So far as sin, and the Lord is
concerned He has died to these. Again, if we go back into the
previous chapter of Romans, in the opening verses, He says,
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? Here is the believer
standing there. With regards to sin, it can no
more damn him. With regards to the law of God,
it can no more condemn him. But I said we have to distinguish
these two things. We have to distinguish between
the believer's standing and his condition. What is the believer's
condition? Well, the believer still has
an old nature. And he knows he's got an old
nature. The Apostle Paul certainly knew
it when he penned those words in the 7th chapter of Romans. Having said all of that in the
former part of the chapter concerning the believer Stanley, And the
fact that he is free from the condemnation of the law, because
he is free now from sin, he then goes on at the end of that chapter
to say much with regards to those things that he is experiencing
in his own soul. And what does he feel himself
to be? He feels himself as a believer
to be a wretched man. because he has a body of sin
or doesn't he say as much there at the end of that seventh chapter
O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body
of this death that is the all nature that he is constantly
carrying about with him and this is true of every Believer is
he not? Every believer has died. Died to the world, died to sinful
self. And the believer's life is here
with Christ in God. And he is free from all condemnation
and all damnation. And yet he feels that sin that
is yet in his fallen nature, the old nature. The Lord Jesus
has told us that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that
which is born of the spirit is spirit. And the flesh can never become
the spirit. The flesh is the flesh. and it
never improves. There is no such thing you see
as that progressive sanctification as if the sinful nature is some
way or other by degrees improving and changing. No, the flesh lusts
against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are
contrary one to the other says the apostle. He is only echoing
the words of Christ. All flesh and spirit are contrary
one to the other. And Paul says he cannot do the
thing that he would. This is why the believer, you
see, is called to a certain life. And it is this life, not only
of seeking things above and setting his affection on things above,
and fleeing to Christ in heaven at God's right hand and looking
to Christ as that one who has all power and all authority,
but he also, in this world, is to be seeking to mortify the
deeds of the modern. And so, in the second place,
let's turn to this practice of mortification. Mortify therefore
your members which are upon the earth. fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection and concupiscence, evil concupiscence and covetousness,
he says, which is idolatry. Now again, we didn't just read
the 7th chapter of Romans, but we read through into the 8th
chapter. And there in chapter 8 of Romans
you see how Paul also speaks of this mortification, this putting
to death. to which the believer is called
in his life. Romans 8 verse 13 he says, If
ye live after the flesh ye shall die, but if ye through the spirits
do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live. If we live after the flesh, if
we live after this world's ways, if we live after the emotions
of our fallen nature, that's death. But if we, through the
spirits, are mortifying, putting to death the deeds of the body,
oh, that's the evidence of spiritual life. But observe just what he
says there in Romans 8.13, he makes it quite plain that we
are completely and utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit in mortification. We cannot have ourselves mortified,
put to death, the deeds of the bodily. If ye through the Spirit,
he says, We need the constant help of the Holy Spirit. We need to be experiencing those
sovereign operations of the Holy Spirit at every turn of our lives. And if we have not the Spirit
of Christ, He tells us we're none of His. Oh friends, are
we such as feel that? You feel that, your need, your
constant need of the Holy Spirit. Not just at the beginning, not
just in that spiritual birth, that new birth, when the sinner
is born from above, born by the Spirit of God, but that constant
need of the Spirit to come, that we might be those who are enabled
to heed and to obey such exhortations as we find in the opening verses
of this chapter. We need the Spirit's enabling
his help. And we are to be those, you see,
who are practicing, practicing this mortification. And we are
to practice it because of the sin which yet clings to the old
nature. And what we have at the end of
verse 5, these various sins that are spoken of, and they are very
much sins of the flesh, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and sexual desire, as you say, and then
covetousness, he says, which is idolatry. These are all members of the
old nation. All these sins are in our very
hearts as those who are the sinful sons and daughters of Adam and
Eve. They are as part and parcel of
our fallen nature as our feet and our legs and our arms and
our hands and our heads and our eyes are all members of our body. And remember what the Lord Jesus
Christ said during the course of his earthly ministry with
regards to these things. Doesn't Christ himself speak
of the importance of mortification? In Matthew 18 verse 8 he says,
Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off. Cast them from thee. It is better
for thee to enter into life halt or maid, rather than having two
hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, cast it from thee. It
is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than
having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Christ isn't saying
that we are literally to mutilate our bodies. He is simply teaching
the same truth as we find here in Colossians 3.5. He is teaching
the need, the necessity of mortification, putting to death those motions
of the old nature. It's interesting what he says
at the end. He speaks of those sins of the body, sexual sins,
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and then he speaks of covetousness. Covetousness, which is idolatry. When he writes to the Corinthians,
he tells them to flee from idolatry. And when we read of the children
of Israel in the Old Testament, And remember what lay behind
the 70 years of exile in Babylon? It was because they became such
an idolatrous people. And they followed the ways of
the nations round about them. And they went after their idols
and they were committing really a spiritual adultery when they
were departing from the Lord their God. So often in the worship
of those idols there was so much evil bound up with the very worship,
with the temple prostitutes and all that went with that. And he speaks, you see, of the
need here in the New Testament, right into the Corinthians, that
they are to flee from idolatry. Now, sure, we don't have idols
of gold and silver or either stone or wood. We are not idolaters
in that sense, but we can still be guilty of idolatry, covetousness
of idolatry. If we set our affection on anything
before or above God, that is idolatry. Set your affection
on things above. This is to be our chief concern,
to be seeking God. and seeking God with all our
hearts. And if we're not seeking Him in that wholehearted fashion,
if we're only half-hearted, that is idolatry. Again, when he writes to the
Philippians, he speaks of some whose end is destruction, whose
God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things. Those who mind earthly things,
you see. their God is their belief, their
idolatry. We're not to mind the things of this world. And yet we have this fallen nature,
this old nature that wants to cling and cleave to the things
of this present world. And we're to mortify those things,
we're to destroy them, we're to kill them, because of that sin. which is
so bound up with our fallen nature, but also in this practice of
mortification, it is because there is a day of judgment to
come. Look at the connection here with
the previous verse. Verse 40 says, When Christ who
is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him
in glory. Mortify therefore, your members
which are upon the earth. Observe how he draws a conclusion,
he uses the word therefore. Having stated in verse 4 that
the Lord Jesus Christ is going to appear, the Lord is to come
the second time and will usher in, of course that's great day
of judgment, we shall appear before him. In the light of that,
he says, mortify your members which are upon the earth. Oh, the consequences of the fact
that there is to be a day of judgment should move us to this.
We should be mortifying our members here upon the earth. That is
the mark, that is the mark of the true Christian. And the true
Christian is that one who is looking for and hastening the
day of the Lord, longing for it, waiting for his appearing. But not waiting in some passive,
some vain fashion, but whilst waiting all the time mortifying
the deeds of the body. That's the mark of the Christian.
In distinction of course to the unbeliever. In verse 6 we read,
for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children
of disobedience. These children of disobedience,
they are not mortifying the deeds of the body, they want their
fill in this life. They are pursuing the ways of
the world, they are seeking to satisfy the lust of the flesh
and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. There is a
distinction you see. between the believer and the
unbeliever. And it is the mark of the believer.
You say to me tonight, how can I know whether I'm truly a believer? Is my faith real? Is it saving
faith? Is it just notional faith? And
nothing more than that? But are you concerned to die? To die to sin, to die to self,
to die to the world? Because you want simply to live
to Christ. Your affections soar. You seek
after Him. You set your affections on Christ
in those heavenly places. There is then to be this pursuit,
this practice of mortification, because of that sin which is
yet cleaving to the old nature, because there is a day of judgment
that will come, most surely, and then also It's because of
the old way of life. It's because of our old way of
life. Verse 7, "...in the which ye also walked some time when
ye lived in them." Oh, there was that old way of
life that we once pursued. Again, Paul speaks of that old life,
does he not? In Ephesians chapter 2, you as
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, he says,
wherein in time past ye walked according to the cause of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Or
can we come in there, in time past? Is it really in the past
with us? Was it in the past that we walked
according to the course of this world, or are we still pursuing
the course of this world? These, you see, that he writes
to at Ephesus, they were clearly quickened, they were dead in
trespasses and sins, and having been quickened by the Spirit
of God, there is that change in them, that was their past
life, When they walk according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that ne'er worketh in the children of disobedience, that's no more
their life. The old life has passed. If any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature, he's a new creation.
Old things are passed away. All things are become new. There's new life. There's new
life. And what is the evidence of that
new life? There is this mortifying the
members which are upon the earth. They that are Christ's have crucified
the flesh with its affections and lusts. Are we those who are
truly Christ? We are the Lord. And therefore,
if we are the Lords, we actually bear these marks. These are the badges, as it were,
of our Christian profession. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse
10, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body
for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus
sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh always at the back of our profession always bearing
about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus and mortifying
the mortifying the deeds of the body. It is the mark, I say,
of the Christian and it is the mark of the Christian because
there has been such a fundamental change in his life. All things
are gone, all things are new. He is a new creation in which he also walked some
time when he lived in the... no more I was living there. No
more are we to pursue that way of life. Whosoever is born of God, says
John, doth not sin, because his seed abideth in him, and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God. Now what John means there, of
course, has to do with that new nature, that's the seed that's
in him, that's the new man. He's a partaker of the divine
nature. Whosoever is born of God does
not sin because God's seed is in him. That seed can never sin.
Or there's the old nature. The old nature still loves sin,
still pursues the life of sin. I'm not saying for a moment that
if we're mortifying the deeds of the body that we'll never
sin. Alas, we sin often times, we
fall many times. Satan tempts us and then traps
our feet. But this is not our normal way
of living. This is not the life that we
are pursuing. The Puritan Thomas Goodwin says,
Believers are at best bunglers at sinning. Believers are at
best bunglers of sinning. That's not the life that we want
to pursue. We do sin, alas, and it grieves
us. In contrast, what are believers? They are those who are well-practiced
in mortification. That's the calling that we have
here in the text. This is the life that we are
to be pursuing then, mortifying. put into death the deeds of the
body. Mortify therefore, he says, your
members which are upon the earth fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection and evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry. Or we flee all idolatry and we
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God, and we set our affections on things above, not on things
of the earth. O God's grand friends, that we
might have grace to live as Christians ought to live. The Lord bless
his word to us.