Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. A man made this statement years
ago, and it's such a true statement. But
he said that the scriptures are bifocal. And they are. The scriptures
are bifocal. What that means is in them we
see both physical things and spiritual things. And it takes
God's spirit to reveal the spiritual things. The physical flesh cannot
know the spiritual things until God's spirit reveals the spiritual
things. Until that happens, all that
the flesh can do is see the physical things, and that's what religion
is. It's the physical things. False
religion. Man comes together, and they
look into this Word, and they see physical things, and they
teach physical things, and they preach physical things, because
God's Spirit hasn't revealed the spiritual things. Spiritual
life comes when God's Spirit brings the Spirit of life. And
you see the reality of the Spirit in the Word. Alright, with that
being said, for our good, our eternal good and our temporal
good, our life in glory and our life on this earth, we need to
see both. We do. The physical things in
the scripture will always point us to spiritual things. There's only one reason why God
told Noah, build an ark. That ark is Christ. There's only
one reason why God told Moses, make a serpent of brass and lift
it on the pole, and you tell everybody to look to that serpent
on the pole and they'll live. Only one reason, it's Christ. And you go through every physical
story in the scripture, and every physical thing that is said,
the physical will always point us to the spiritual. It will
always point us to Christ. But in the process, we should
not overlook the physical things. just because they are pointing
us to spiritual things, we should not just write off the physical
things as irrelevant. We need both. We need both. God has given to us the hidden
mystery of Christ in the Word. Every page in this book speaks
of Jesus Christ crucified. Genesis 1-1 is all about Jesus
Christ crucified. All right, but we need to see
along with the hidden mystery of Christ in the word, all of
his instruction to us. He has given us good, wise, simple
instruction. I want us to see both as we go
through the text here. Now we've been going through
Colossians. The last time we were in the book, we ended with
verse 17. But before we go to verse 18, Everything that he has to say
at the end of this chapter is built on what he said at the
beginning of the chapter. So let's read it again and get
what he said back in our minds, alright? Colossians 3 verse 1
says, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Everything
that he has to say to us is in light of things above where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. And that does not mean that
God has two thrones. There's only one throne. The
right hand is the seat of honor itself, the throne of God. Everything is in light of that.
Verse two says, set your affection on things above, not on things
on the earth, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ
in God. Men and women are one of two
things, dead to Christ or dead to the world. They're one of
two things. They start out dead to God, dead
to Christ. You were spiritually dead in
sin. That's what Ephesians 2 says.
And when that spirit comes and gives life, men and women become
dead to the world. All right, so verse 3, he said,
you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, this world is not our life. Christ
is. For a believer, this world is
not our life. This is a temporary, it's so
temporary. It's more temporary compared
to eternity than the womb is for a human being that's gonna
live through this earth. So temporary. And it's not our
life. It says in verse four, when Christ,
who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with
Him in glory. Mortify therefore, that means
kill. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry. All of this is describing the
deadness of our sin. And we went through all this
and I was going over this this morning and I thought I'd love
to take the time and do it again. but we just looked at this and
we'll move on, but this is us. It's saying, kill all of these
things. And if we could, we would. If we had the ability to stop
sinning, we would, but I don't. I just don't. Verse six, it says,
which things sake the wrath of God cometh upon the children
of disobedience, in the which you also walked sometime when
you lived in them, But now you also put off all these, anger,
don't you wish you could put off anger? Wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
that you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image
of him that created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all and in all." And that's the heart of
a child of God. That's the state of a child of
God. Christ is all and in all. Verse 12 says, put on therefore
as the elect of God. God has an elect people. He always has. He has a chosen
people that he chose before the foundation of the world. And
everything that he has to say from here on describes the elect
of God, that new man that God gives. All right, this is what he desires
to be, and this is what his or her character should strive for.
This is what he wants to be, and this is what he should strive
for. Verse 12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and
beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
long suffering. Why should God's elect strive
for that? Because that's what God has shown
to them. That's exactly what God has shown
to them. Why do God's elect desire to
be that so much? They don't just know that they
should strive for it. That's one thing. Well, you know,
I really ought to be doing better. Why do they desire it so much?
It's because that is the character of Christ their Lord. They see
Christ in that and they want to be just like Him. They truly
do desire to one day, knowing that that day is not going to
come until they're in glory with Him. Until this body of sin is
laid down, the day will not come until we're with Him. But one
day, God's people want to be just like Jesus Christ. What
is he like? He is holy. Verse 12. And we're going to see something
about that in just a moment. He's holy. He's beloved. He's
full of mercy. He's full of kindness. He's full
of humbleness. He's full of meekness. He's full
of patience. A child of God sees Christ in
that and therefore is drawn to it. and desires it. Verse 13 says, 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 is a bifocal
verse. Spiritually speaking, he said,
Christ forgave you. Physically speaking, he said,
you should forgive each other. Verse 14 says, and above all
these things, put on love. Charity means love. Just put
it on. Love each other. I know that
we don't give each other any good reason to love each other.
I know we don't. We didn't give Christ one good
reason to love us. We did not give Christ one good
reason to love us, but He did it anyway. We have so much reason, and this
is the truth, we have so much valid reason. I want to emphasize
the word valid. We have so much valid reason
to judge each other and be critical of each other and condemn each
other, but Christ had all of those reasons infinitely more. And he chose, he determined,
he purposed in his heart to put on love. And we should do the
same. In the same way that when we
wake up in the morning and make the choice to put on clothes. That's a choice we make. We could,
it is possible, we could go out into the world one of two ways.
With clothes or without clothes. We wake up in the morning, and
we purpose in our heart, we determine to put that on. In the same way
as God's elect, every morning, let's be determined to put on
love. Just put it on, love for the
brethren. Verse 14 says, and above all these things, put on
charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace
of God rule in your hearts. The apostle Paul said, There
is a war going on inside me. That war does not come until
God's spirit comes. You can tell men and women that
there is a war that goes on inside because of sin. And they will
not understand a word of what you're talking about until God's
spirit brings the war. He puts a new man in with the
old man and they are at war. I mean, they are at war. One
wants war, one wants peace. And what he's saying right here
is, fight the good fight and see that peace reigns. If we
have risen with Christ, then that means peace has been made
with God. All right, I'm gonna repeat that.
If we have risen with Christ, then peace has been made with
God. If we have, Christ secured peace with God. Christ is our
peace. In Him, we have eternal peace.
He said, let's see that we have temporal peace, temporary peace. Verse 15, and let the peace of
God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called in
one body and be ye thankful. Lord, forgive us how unthankful
we are. Verse 16 says, let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing
one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord. May grace reign in
us. We are recipients of grace. If we ever get a hold of what
God has done for us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, if
we ever get a hold of it, and we understand what recipients
of grace we are, then we will be gracious. We
will be. If we have risen with Christ,
it means God shed his grace on us. crowned our good with brotherhood. God shed his grace on thee. We did not deserve it. We did
not deserve it. While men stand up lying to people
saying, you deserve this, we did not. We did not deserve it. We were so unworthy of it. Everything
about us was the exact opposite of what a recipient of grace
should be. but He showed it to us anyway.
Therefore, we ought to be the most gracious people on this
earth. We really should be. Verse 17 says, and whatsoever
you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. And I want to
emphasize, whatever we do in word or deed, We do it in the
name of the Lord Jesus. What that means is everything
is for Christ's sake. Everything we do. It's because
Christ has already done all of this for us. He's already finished
salvation and finished all these things for us. It is a response
to what He's done. It's in His name. It's for His
glory. And that's why He says in verse
18, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it
is fit in the Lord. He just spoke of mercy and kindness,
humbleness, meekness, peace, grace, love, thankfulness, all
these things, and then he said, Wives, submit yourselves unto
your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Now, nobody likes
the word submit. Nobody. I would say it's one
of the most offensive words in the English language. I really
believe it is. If you would like to produce
If you have a goal, you set your heart and mind to produce absolute
rebellion in somebody, tell that person to submit to you. If that's the goal, tell that
person to submit. Nothing brings defiance, nothing
brings resistance like telling somebody to submit to you does. But here's something we need
to know about that word. Number one, it's God's word. It's God's word. That word is
not coming from a husband to a wife. It's not coming, that word is
not coming from a husband to a wife. It should not come from a husband
to a wife. It should never come from a husband. A husband should never ever say
to his wife, you better submit to me. It should not come from
a husband to his wife. And the reason is because that
word is not from a husband to a wife. That word is from God
to a wife. The second thing is, as we think
on what submission truly is, we think on it in light of the
church. This, I am looking at the bride of Christ. I'm looking
at the Lamb's wife. There's no male, there's no female,
there's no bond, there's no free, there's no circumcision, there's
no uncircumcision. This is the Lamb's wife. And seeing this physically points
us spiritually to the wife submitting to the husband who is Christ.
The husband of the church. That is something that the church
desperately wants to do. Desperately wants to do. God
causes the bride to be willing in the day of his power. They're
all willing. All of them. The bride's submission
to Christ is a willing, happy, joyful, thank God, we wouldn't
want it any other way, submission. Would you want it any other way
than to submit yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ? It's not bondage
at all. It's freedom. It's freedom. The third thing to understand
about this word is submission is the exact opposite of bondage. True submission could never be
bondage. A husband can force his wife
into bondage. He can. He can do that. But submission
is an inner desire of willingness. Submission comes from within. Bondage comes from without. Submission is a willing Giving
in, it's a willing giving over. It's a willing giving to. And you notice the wording in
verse 18, it says, wives submit yourselves. It does not say husbands
make your wives submit. It says, wives submit yourselves. A husband can't do that. A husband
can force captivity. but he cannot produce submission. Submission willingly gives over,
gives in to the other. It willingly adapts itself. The word of our God to wives
is willingly be this way towards your husband, willingly. The
husband that respects his wife doesn't just love her. You know,
we ought to love our wives, shouldn't we? but doesn't just love her,
but respects his wife, respects her opinion, not only considers
her his equal, but lifts her up on a pedestal above himself.
The husband that proves to her that they truly are one, one,
and has her best interest at heart and loves her as he loves
himself. I love me and you love you. And the husband that loves his
wife as he loves himself and is absolutely committed to protecting
her and providing for her everything she needs, not just money, but
every single thing that she needs. The husband that considers her
needs before his own, that husband is easy to submit to. So easy
to submit to. That's Christ. That is, I just
spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great husband. Verse 19 says,
husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them. Christ
loved his bride. If any husband had a reason to
be bitter against his wife, it was the Lord Jesus Christ. He
would have been justified. We are Gomer. If you know that
story, that's what we are. Christ loved his bride, and listen
to this, he submitted himself to her. He submitted himself to her needs,
willingly. It was an inner thing. Happily,
he submitted himself to her long before she submitted herself
to him. We submit to Him only because He first submitted Himself
to us. He submitted Himself to our condition.
He submitted Himself to our debt. We had a sin debt against Him,
but He was not bitter toward us. He loved us and He gave Himself
for us. And physically speaking, if a
husband would love his wife If a husband, you know, we look
at wives as though now you've got the real commandment here
you're supposed to submit. If a husband would love his wife
and give himself to and give himself for his wife and be not
bitter against her as Christ loved and was not bitter against
his wife. And if a wife would willingly
submit herself to the husband that God's given to her, as the
bride of Christ has willingly submitted herself to Christ.
If that would happen, physically speaking, you'd have a happy
marriage on your hands. You would have a very, very happy
marriage. If the physical relationship
reflected the spiritual relationship, we would all have happy marriages.
Now let's close this, seeing the spiritual application of
the submission of the bride, all of our reason for bringing
the physical. Let's see the spiritual application
of the submission of the bride and the love of the husband. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
2. Philippians 2 verse 5 says, let this mind be in you which
was also in Christ Jesus. That's submission. That is submission. Let his mind be your mind. Adapt your mind to his mind. That's the bride's submission
to Christ. Verse five, let this mind be
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Now here
comes Christ's love for his bride, his submission, his love for
her and his submission to her need. Verse six, who being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation. and took upon Him the form of
a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found
in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross." That's something for
a man to look up to, isn't it? A husband. This husband Did it all. He did the loving. He did the
submitting. He did it all. Verse nine says, where for God
also has highly exalted him and given him a name, which is above
every name. God, the father exalted him. God, the father exalted him.
I have a question for us. Where is his bride? Right there with him. The scripture
says, seated with him. That is, the scripture says,
reigning with him. You talk about not look down
on. Verse 9 says, wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name. His name is above every name. What's her name? This love and this submission
is a beautiful thing. It is so beautiful. It's glorious. His name is her name. He gave her. You know, a lot
of ladies today, they think it's disgraceful to have to give up
your name. Well, I had to give up my name. Oh, the bride says,
His name is above every name. The most glorious name ever spoken. Every time His name is mentioned,
all of creation falls and bows. And He gave me that name. You
talk about a privilege to take the name of your husband. His
name is her name. Verse 9 says, God also has highly
exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. With Christ and the beauty of
the gospel being our example, with that being our example, You get to submit yourselves
unto the husband God has given you, and husbands, you get to
love your wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for
it. That's a privilege in both directions. That's a privilege and a joy.
All right, you're dismissed.