Turn with me if you would to
Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Last Sunday morning we looked
at the great declaration of verse 11. that Christ is all and in
all. Christ is all and in all. Because of that, we're now gonna
pick up with the instruction of the Apostle Paul in verse
12, where he says, put on therefore. He's talking about putting off
and putting on in these verses. And because Christ is all and
in all, he said, put on, therefore, as the elect of God. That's his instruction to God's
people. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God. Now, I want to start this Bible
study by making something very clear. I wanna make this very
clear. God has an elect people. And I wanna make something very
clear about God's election of his people, okay? God has an
elect people. And I wanna make something very
clear about God's election of his people. Men and women have
tried to deny it since Cain and Abel. Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob
and Esau. Mankind naturally does not like
God having an elect. They hear the word election or
God having an elect and the flesh naturally rejects that and does
not want to hear it. And this is the reason why. It's
because man naturally thinks that God's election is what denies
and alienates some from salvation and eternal life. That is not the case. This is
what I want to make very clear about God's election of His people. That is not the case. God's election
alienated no one from eternal life. No one. Mankind alienated himself. Alright? We did this to ourselves. Our sin I'm a sinner, okay? You are sinners. We are sinners. Our sin, man's sin, is what cut
man off from the life of God. When man sinned, he lost spiritual
life. He retained physical life for
a while, but he lost spiritual life. All have sinned. Therefore, every man and woman
on this earth, all of us, secured the wages of sin, which was eternal
condemnation. We secured that for ourselves
because of our willing rebellion against God. We rebel against
Him willingly. We know we shouldn't do it. We
have things that come to our minds, things that come to our
deeds, and we know we shouldn't do it, and we do it anyway. It's
willing. So we did that to ourselves.
We brought condemnation on ourselves. Two words, but God. If we wanna learn something about
God's election, we can learn it in these two words, but God. We could also say, thank God. Thank God. God chose some to
salvation. That's what 2 Thessalonians 2.13
says. It says, God, from the beginning,
chose his people to salvation. chosen to salvation. That was
the result of God's election. It's not that everybody wants
to be saved. You know, everybody wants to
go to heaven. Everybody wants to be saved. But God, because
of his election, will only let a certain number in. That's not
it. That's not it at all. Because
of man's depravity, nobody wants the free grace of God. Nobody wants God's salvation. Not according to God's Word,
and according to God's will, and according to God's way. God
said there is a way that a sinner can be justified before God.
And man naturally does not want his way. Man wants his own way,
and his own will, and his own works, and his own salvation.
Man naturally does not want it until God Almighty makes a man
or a woman willing to be saved according to God's will, and
God's way, and God's work, and God's honor, and God's glory,
and God's salvation. And that's what He does for all
of His elect. I'm telling you, all of His elect. The Spirit of Christ is given. Faith is created. It causes God's
people to cry out to him for mercy. They say, we are sinners
before you and we need mercy. It causes them to beg him to
be counted as one of his elect. Please let me be one of your
elect, please. They don't assume on his blood,
they beg him for it. They beg Him for it. They look
to Christ. They cast their all on the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that faith in Christ is the
evidence of the fact that they are indeed God's elect. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Every soul who deeply
desires to be one of His elect is one of His elect. I mean deeply
desires, begs, cries, pleads, bows every soul. God is the one who puts that
desire in His people. And not one time has there ever
been nor will there ever be a case where a soul wanted to be one
of God's elect and looked to Christ totally for all of his
or her redemption and justification before God. I mean, said, Christ
is it, Christ is all I have. If he didn't save me, I'm not
gonna be saved. If it's not his blood alone, then I have nothing
else. Not one time has a person ever looked to Christ alone to
be justified before God, and it been said to that soul, sorry,
too bad, you're just not one of the elect. You know, we had a raffle and
your number wasn't chosen. Not one time. Not one time has
it ever been. Not one time will it ever be
the case. If God has put a desire in you for the salvation that
is in Jesus Christ alone, His work alone, not mine, His blood
alone, His glory alone, then you belong to Him. And you are
one of His elect. So Paul said, put on therefore
as one of his elect. If you have risen with Christ,
that's how he started this chapter. If you've risen with Christ and
salvation, it's been revealed to you, salvation's of the Lord.
It's of the Lord. It's finished. If God has given you a desire
for Christ and you see Christ to be all and in all, then you're
one of his elect. And Paul said, strive to put
on the character traits that are becoming of his elect. What character traits are they?
In verse 12, he said they are holy and beloved character traits,
the very character traits of Christ himself. Now, I want to
see this. He's speaking to God's people.
He's speaking to the elect. And I want to see this applying
to us by way of seeing it apply to Christ first. All right? This applies to us. And we're
going to see that by way of seeing it apply to Christ first. In
Isaiah 42, God the Father said, concerning God the Son, He said,
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect. Speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What He's saying is, I choose
Him. We were all chosen in Him, only because of Him. So let's
see this as it applies to Christ first. Verse 12 says, Put on
therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, sinless, spotless,
well-pleasing to God. That's Christ. That's only Christ. But He said, Put on Bowels of
mercies. That's what he told us to do.
Put on bowels of mercies. May God teach us something here. Bowels means a heart full of. It's what the word bowels means. It means from the depths of our
being in desire, in sincerity, in ability, Paul said, put on. Give yourself to, give your attention
to the fullness of mercy. Mercy, mercy from your bowels,
mercy from the depths of you. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did. That's what Christ did. Oh, the depths of his mercy.
There's a song that says, depth of mercy can there be, mercy
still reserved for me. Can my God His wrath forbear
me, the chief of sinners, spare? I have long withstood His grace,
long provoked Him to His face, would not hearken to His calls,
grieved Him by a thousand falls." And what did He do in return?
He covered every bit of that in the depths of His mercy. Isn't
that good? Kind and loving. Blessed is the
man whose iniquities are forgiven. Blessed is the man whose sins
are covered. Covered in the depths of His
mercy. Where was the depths of His mercy found? It was found
in the depths of His blood. That's where all the mercy of
God was found. There was a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. What did he without reservation
or hesitation do with that blood? He poured it on his people. Who
were his people? Who were his people? Who did
he say he came to pour that blood on? Vile, miserable, wretched
sinners. The best part about this sinner
right here is the suit he's wearing. Outside of this, Vile, wretched, miserable sinners. Sinners plunged beneath that
flood. They were the ones who lost all
their guilty stains. Dreadful souls who didn't deserve
it, who did not deserve it. We know that's so because that's
the only type of people that mercy can be poured on. If we're going to understand
something about mercy, we need to understand this. The only people who can receive
mercy are those who do not deserve mercy. There was a man who, and I've
told this to many of you many times, but some have never heard
it, but there was a man who years ago, this is a true story, and
I know the man. His son, he was in a courtroom
with his son who had just been sentenced to prison. And they
were getting ready to carry his son away. And he asked the judge
if he could say something. And the judge allowed him to.
And he said, your honor, is there any room for mercy here? And
the judge said, based on what your son has done, he doesn't
deserve mercy. And the man said, that is so
true, your honor. That is so true. But if he deserved
it, it wouldn't be mercy. And that's the truth. Let's remember
that as we apply this to us. Paul said, put on as the elect
of God, a heart full of mercy. I want that. I truly want that. You can only give mercy to those
who don't deserve it from you. They don't deserve it from you.
If they deserved it in your eyes, it wouldn't be mercy. And that's
who the Lord Jesus Christ gave His mercy to. He gave it to the
wretched, the unlovely. What did Romans 5 call God's
elect people? Ungodly. That is, I'm ashamed to say it,
but that's me, me and you, in our flesh, in our sin before
God. Verse 12 says, Put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies and
kindness. He said put on kindness. Kindness
means goodness. It means graciousness. It means
grace. That's what it means, grace. He said put on mercy and
put on grace. Grace means gift. That's what
the Lord Jesus Christ is toward undeserving sinners. He is God's
free and sovereign grace. Turn with me to Titus chapter
two. It's just five or six pages over
toward revelation. Titus chapter two, verse 13,
it says, Looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior,
Jesus Christ. Verse 14 says, who gave himself
for us? He is the giver. He is the gift
who gave himself. He's the giver. He's the gift.
who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works,
desiring, longing to be like him. Go with me back to Colossians
3. How should God's people be? What
should their character be? How should they treat others?
Based on the example of Christ, their Savior, they should cover
each other's sins. And we should. We should cover
each other's sins, not expose each other's sins like we're
all so prone to do, isn't it? We should cover them. That's
what Christ did for us. He covered them. He showed graciousness to whom
he would show graciousness. He showed mercy and he showed
grace. And we should freely show that
same grace, that same kindness to each other and graciousness
to each other, even when kindness hasn't been earned. Even when kindness is not shown
in return, especially when kindness is not shown in return. That's
what Christ did for us. He gave and He gave and He gave,
expecting nothing in return. And He did that for a people
who could not and would not give Him anything in return. That's
who He did it for. Because He put on that heart
for us, we ought to put that on for each other. That's how
we ought to be toward each other. Verse 12 says, Put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness,
and humbleness of mind. Let's strive to be more humble. Whenever I was a kid, when I
was growing up, I was not humble. I wasn't. I don't really know
that I've overcome too much of that now. I hope, I hope I'm
getting better. But I know, I know I was not
humble. And the Lord finally revealed
to me just how unbecoming it was. I literally saw myself and
saw how I treated others and I saw that. And he convicted
me over it. And he, I didn't humble myself,
he humbled me. And I want to be that way. I
honestly do. Let's strive to be more humble. Let's strive to not have the
last word. That was me. Say what you want
to, and then I'm gonna say what I'm gonna say. Let's strive to not have everything
be about me. How humbling is it to think that
the Lord God Almighty opened not his mouth. As they looked him right in the
eye, spitting, cursing, plucking. This is what you did. This is
what you did. He didn't do it. I did it. I
was in him. He opened not his mouth. Last
Wednesday night in the message that our brother brought, he
read Philippians 2 to us where it says that the Lord God of
heaven humbled himself. Just, this is unthinkable to
me. God, God to maggots and to worms
came down here and made himself of no reputation. Is that not
amazing? He took upon himself the form
of a servant. That is becoming of God's elect. That is the character of God's
elect. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. May the Lord give us the ability
to put that on as God's elect should. Verse 12 says, Put on
therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness. Meekness has never
meant weakness. Never. Moses had the courage
and the strength to walk into the palace of Pharaoh with all
of his soldiers, with all of his guards standing there, and
in absolute boldness, he said, thus saith the Lord, You let
my people go. And with that, Numbers 12, verse
three says, Moses was the meekest man on earth. I would like, I
will look forward to meeting him. He was the meekest man on
earth. Meek does not mean weak. It means
calm. It means quiet. It means mild. It means gentle. You can be calm
and quiet and be full of pride and have no humility about you.
Lord, give us humility, but give us a calm quietness. Our Lord
said, learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart
and you'll find rest. You'll find peace. You'll find
quietness for your souls. Thank God. Our Lord is not swift
to anger. Thank God our Lord is slow to
wrath. Aren't you so glad for that?
We ought to be the same way. As God's elect, we ought to be
the same way. Hold your place right here and go with me to
James chapter 1. James 1, verse 18. It says, "...of His own will
begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind
of firstfruits of His creatures. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. For the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, lay apart all filthiness
and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word which is able to save your souls. But be ye
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves,
For if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's likened
to a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholdeth
himself and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner
of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect
law of liberty and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful
hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in
his deeds. What is the work he's talking
about doing right there? Standing in that liberty wherein
Christ has made us free. Stay right there. Lord, teach
us as followers of Christ to be meek, mild, humble, patient,
standing in the liberty where Christ has made us free. Go back
to Colossians 3. Almost finished. Colossians 3,
verse 12, it says, Put on, therefore, is the elect
of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering. Long-suffering means patience.
Patience. Oh, how patient the Lord has
been with us. How patient. How patient the
Lord has been with us. Can't we be patient with each
other? Shouldn't we be patient with each other? I asked myself that question
honestly, considering the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ toward
me, can't I be patient with my brethren? Really? Rather than
this just being instruction and just being doctrine and such
on and so forth, can't I be patient with my brethren? I beg of you,
honestly, considering the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ to you,
would you please be patient with me? I'm being serious. 2 Peter 3, 9 says, The Lord is
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering. He's patient to His elect. Usward. Not willing that any
of his elect should perish, but that all of his elect should
come to repentance." A new mind in the knowledge of Christ our
Savior. Peter went on to say, and account
that the long-suffering, the patience of the Lord is salvation. That's salvation. Our Lord has
been so patient with us. If we could really get a hold
of that, we'd be more patient with each other. Verse 13, this
is where I'll wrap it up here. It says, forbearing one another,
that means holding each other up, supporting each other. The
Lord is our rock and we stand on him. He's the one that will
not suffer our foot to be moved. He's the one that will keep us
and will not utterly let us fall. Psalm 37 says the steps of a
good man, that means a man or a woman in Christ, none good
but God. They are ordered by the Lord
and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not
be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. David said, I've been young and
now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous for a second. The
Lord will not forsake his people whom he upholds. He'll forbear
them to the end. A vessel, a ship was wrecked
one stormy night off the coast of England. All were drowned except an Irish
boy. Because the waves swept him onto
a great rock. In the morning he was rescued
and they asked him, lad, didn't you tremble out there on the
rock during the night? He said, sure I trembled. But
the rock didn't tremble once all night long. Did I tremble? Absolutely. But my rock didn't. He didn't. That's Christ's upholding
power for His people. May God give us a desire to do
for each other as Christ has done for us. I'm serious. May
He give me a desire to support you, to hold you up, to build
you up. For Christ's sake, go to Galatians
6 with me. Galatians chapter 6. Verse one says, brethren, if
a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore
such in one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself,
lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to
be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. If I stand,
it's only because Christ is keeping me. If he takes his hand off
me, I will fall in a heartbeat. So Paul said, and I'll close
with this, Paul said in verse 13, back in our text, he said,
forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. That word quarrel means complaint. If you have a complaint against
someone, If you see a fault in someone that brings you to a
place of complaining about that person, Paul said, here's what
you do. Forgive them. Forgive them. As Christ forgave you, you forgive
them. And I was gonna have you turn
to this place, but I'm not going to, because I said I was gonna
close and we'll close. But this is what our Lord said
in Matthew 11. Matthew 11, 29 and 30. He said, take my yoke upon you
and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, my
burden is light. Now this is what I want us to
understand about that. Mercy, grace, humility, meekness,
patience, forgiveness is the easy way. That's the easy way. Let's just
remember that. According to the word of our
Lord, it makes life easier and more restful. Forgiveness is
the easier way. Being a brawler, like the scripture
talks about, holding to a hard, we're just gonna hold to the
hard way. That makes for a hard life. It really does. Makes for
difficulties. That yoke is not easy. That yoke
is not light. Our Lord said, learn of me. Learn
of me. As he has forgiven us for our
good, may he teach us to do the same for each other. May he teach
us honestly to bear the character of God's elect.