Turn with me, if you would, to
Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. We have spent much time recently
establishing the fact that the works of the flesh don't save
us. We've spent much, much time recently
establishing that fact. The works of the flesh don't
save us. Christ saved us. He is the one
who saved us. He blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. That's
what we read in Colossians chapter two, verse 14. Well, Colossians three, verse
one says, if you then be risen with Christ, if you then be risen,
saved, spared, made complete. If you are risen, if Christ did
indeed finish the work, and he has, he has, if he did, and he most certainly has, if you
look at the end of verse 11, it says, Christ is all and in
all. That means, that means he's it. He's the end of it all. He is
all that a sinner needs to stand before God. Now, if that is so,
the Apostle Paul's instruction to us is strive to physically
be what Christ and his blood has caused us to spiritually
be. Strive to physically, if it's
finished, if that be so, if you are indeed risen with Christ,
then strive to physically be what he and his blood has caused
us to spiritually be. Spiritually speaking, in Christ,
this is what we have been made to be. All right, let me show
you our current spiritual condition in Christ. Turn with me over
to 1 John 3. First John chapter three. Verse six. It says, whosoever
abideth in him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, neither known him. But whoever abides in him, spiritually
speaking, sinneth not. Now what does he mean, sinneth
not? Here's what he means, verse nine.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Does not commit sin. For his
seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he's born
of God. He cannot, he's born of God.
Well, then I must not be born of God because I sin every single
day. If that is so, then that must
be saying I'm not born of God. Well, chapter five right here
tells us whether or not we're born of God. Look at 1 John 5,
verse one. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, whoever believes that he is God manifest in the
flesh, God come down, the Messiah, the only mediator between God
and man, the only one who could finish the work, whoever believes
that he's the Christ, not just that he came and whoever believes
that he is the Christ, is born of God. Whoever believes he is
the Christ is born of God. Well, how is this possible? Go with me to first Corinthians
chapter six. First Corinthians six. Verse 9, it says, Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Sinners are not going
to heaven. They're just not. Sinners cannot
enter into heaven. The unrighteous are not going
to inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
and that's, You know, man and woman coming together outside
of the covenant of marriage. Fornicators are not going. They're
just not going. Nor idolaters, anybody who puts
anything above the importance of God. Nor adulterers, anybody
who leaves the covenant of marriage. Nor effeminate, if a person is
effeminate, he's not going in. Nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, that's homosexuality, not going in. Nor thieves, if
a person has ever stolen something, he's not going in. Nor covetous,
if you've ever desired something that you don't have, you're not
going in. Nor drunkards, they're not going in. Revilers, extortioners,
none of them are going to inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 11
says, and such were some of you. But here's the thing. It goes
on to say, you are washed. But you are sanctified. But you
are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit
of our God. That is the spiritual state of
all of God's people. They have been cleansed. I mean, all sin, all filth is
washed away. It is gone. It was washed away
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. When his blood flowed
out of him, so did all of the sin of his people that that blood
bore. Gone. Spiritually before God,
We're perfect in Christ. We are spotless, we are pure,
we are holy. That's spiritually before God because
of the blood of Christ, it says, as he is, so are we in this world. That's what it says, because
of the blood of Christ in this world. Now, because of that,
The Apostle Paul said to the Colossians, and he's telling
us too, he's telling all believers, he's saying, let's strive to
physically be what Christ and his blood has caused us to spiritually
be. Go with me back to Colossians
3. Colossians 3, verse 12, it says,
Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved. He's saying this is how God's
people ought to be. God chose us. He included us
in his election and we ought not to, and we never will, get
over the amazing wonder of the fact that He chose to include
us. He chose to include us in His election. Through His work
of redemption, the work of regeneration, He has caused us to be holy and
beloved. Therefore, He said in verse 12,
put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved. Put on Bowels of mercies. Put on bowels of mercies. Bowels
means heart. Have a merciful heart. I really
have enjoyed going through these and I pray the Lord would give
me these things. I want these things. Paul says,
have a merciful heart. Just put that on. It is obvious
that we ought to have a merciful heart. We ought to have a pitiful
heart. We ought to have a compassionate
heart. The reason is because pity and
compassion and mercy has been shown to us. Completely shown
to us. Therefore, he said, we need to
show that to others. And we do need to show it to
others. Our Lord said in Matthew 5 verse 7, blessed are the merciful
for they shall obtain mercy. And what that means is those
who have obtained mercy have a heart to be merciful. So if
God gives us that desire to be merciful, that's a great blessing.
He said right here in verse 12, put on therefore as the elect
of God, holy and beloved bowels of mercies, kindness, put on
kindness, put on kindness. We have, there are one or two
ways we can react to every situation. There are one or two ways we
can react to people. We can react to things that people
say to us. One or two ways. Paul said, put
on kindness. Just put on kindness because
of the kindness of God to us through the person of his son.
How many things have we done? How many things have we said? We need to put on kindness. We
don't have any reason to not put on kindness. Glory, heaven,
eternity is going to be the kindest place that could ever be imagined. It is the kindest place. And
as God's people, we would do well to consciously put that
on right here on this earth. Let's have kind dealings out
in the community. We're sinners, they're sinners,
but we need to be kind to people. We need to not develop any type
of arrogancy. Nowhere is boasting then over
being God's elect or, you know, well, they're just out there
in false religion. Well, so could we be, but for
the grace of God, and who knows, He may call them out. We need
to be kind with people. We need to deal very kindly to
the community. Let's speak kindly to each other
in this congregation. You know, God's people, the scripture
says, they're not easily offended. And that's because we did all the offending and
Christ was not easily offended. And then he puts that spirit
in his people. And as things happen and somebody says something
deep down, if two people love Christ, they don't mean anything
by it. They don't mean what they said. Let's be kind. Let's speak kindly. Let's be
kind in the home. Husbands and wives, parents and
children, let's be kind. You know, sharpen. Let's just
be kind. Kindness. Let's deal kindly with
each other. Verse 12, he said, put on a humbleness
of mind. If we really do see ourselves
to be the chief of sinners, either we do see ourselves to be that
or we don't see ourselves to be that. If we do, that ought
to be easy for us to do. If we see ourselves to be the
worst, the chief, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4, what do we have
that we have not received? Why would we glory in anything
as though we didn't receive it? So he said, put on that humbleness
of mine. Verse 12 says, put on meekness. One man said this, he said, meekness
is the opposite of pride and arrogance. It destroys envy,
jealousy, and quarrels. It is a quiet spirit that will
lead to patience and the last word in that verse is long-suffering. Meekness will never feel it necessary
to avenge itself or even to defend itself. If a man is meek, when
the accusations come and the lies come, meekness will not
feel any need to avenge itself or even to defend itself. That's
good, isn't it? What we just read, that's our
Lord. If we want to see our Lord, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Merciful, kind, humble. Oh, he humbled himself. Meek,
he said, learn of me. I'm meek. Long-suffering, that
means patient. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter
3. First Peter 3, these are things, what we're
about to read, all everything we're reading, these are things
only Christ can accomplish to the fullest. Only Christ can
do these things, but this verse of scripture ought to motivate
us to try anyway, even though we'll never fulfill it like he
does. Verse 4, First Peter 3, verse
4, it says, but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that
which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet
spirit which is in the sight of God of great price." God says
this merciful, kind, humble, meek, patient spirit is of great
price to Him. It's very dear to Him. The Apostle Paul said, let's
strive to put it on then. If he said that, let's strive
to put it on. Go with me back to Colossians
3. Verse 12 says, put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, Verse 13 says,
forbearing one another. Forbearing means putting up with
one another. Putting up with one another.
In the flesh, we are going to have differences. I wish it wasn't
so. I don't want to have any differences
with anyone here. I do not. And I believe everybody
feels the same way. We just do not want to have differences. but it's going to happen. There
is still sin in the body of this death. Sometimes we will not
be merciful and kind and humble and meek and patient with each
other. Sometimes we're going to be harsh,
cold, sharp, arrogant, and impatient. And it's gonna be that way until
we get rid of this. Until this goes away, it's gonna
be there. So Paul said, put on, keep in
mind, keep close, consciously wear. If someone is having a bad day,
or if someone's having a bad week or a bad month, and this
one starts snapping at that one, and that one's complaining to
this one, what should we do? The flesh says, knock each other's
block off. No. Well, I'm going to deal with
him. No. This is what we should do. Verse 13 says, forbearing one
another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, that means a complaint, forgive it and forget it. Forgive it and forget it. That's
how God's elect ought to be. That's how God's people ought
to act. Forgive it and forget it. This
is what the sinfulness of the flesh says. It says, I'm not
gonna let anybody speak to me that way. You're not gonna speak
to me that way. Nobody is going to treat me that
way, nobody. That is pride, and that's the
foolishness of sin. That's a fool in sin, captive
to sin speaking. We say, yeah, I'll forgive it,
but you better believe this, I'll never forget it. Listen
to what the almighty judge of heaven said concerning a bunch
of hateful, proud, arrogant, backbiting, lashing out sinful
people. I'll just read this to you. This
is Hebrews 8, verses 10 to 12. He said, for this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days. He
just said, they sinned against me. And he said, this is the
covenant I'm gonna make, saith the Lord, I will put my laws
into their mind. This is what I'm gonna do, I'm
gonna put my laws into their mind. And I'm gonna write them
in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall
be to me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, know the
Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. For
I will be merciful, to their unrighteousness and their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more. So that's forbearing and forgiving. Paul said we need to put that
on. That's just how we ought to treat each other for Christ's
sake. Colossians 3 verse 13, 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,
more importantly than all these things, he said, everything that's
been mentioned, more importantly, he said, put on love. Charity. Above all these things
put on charity means love. Purposefully put that grace on. That lawyer came to the Lord
one time and he said, Master, what's the greatest commandment?
The Lord said, Love. Love your God. Love his people. Paul told the Corinthians, 1
Corinthians 13, he said, Faith is important. We're about to
see it's vital. And hope is extremely important,
but more important than both of those is love. Love. Our Lord said in John 13, 35,
by this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you have
love one to another. So Paul said, let's put it on.
put on love because, he said in verse 14, it is the bond of
perfectness. It's what binds us to Christ
and it's what binds us to each other. And this is important. This is important. Love is what
binds us to Christ and it's what binds us to each other. Knowledge
won't do it. Men get so wrapped up in knowledge. Knowledge, knowledge, knowledge.
They want to impress with their knowledge. Men love to, you know,
iron sharpeneth iron, so let's get together and out-doctrine
each other. All right? Knowledge won't do
it. We can have the most extensive
knowledge of Calvinism and election and all of these doctrinal truths,
but knowledge won't do it. It will not do it. It is not
the bond of perfectness. Doctrine will not do it. Morality
and the law will not do it. I heard, I heard two fellows
one time thinking that they were doing, you know, right by the
Lord. And they said, we're going to, we're going to make each
other accountable to the law and to, uh, you know, if I see
you doing something, I'll point it out to you. And if you see
me doing something, you pointed out to me, that's not the bond
of that's you're about to make an enemy. Love is what binds us to Christ. And love is what binds us to
each other. That's the glue of this congregation. The love of God in us, in his
people. Verse 14, above all these things
put on charity which is the bond of perfectness and let the peace
of God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called
in one body. Let the peace of God, which is
Christ, the peace of God is Christ. Romans 5 says we have peaced
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And the reason is because
Ephesians 2.14 says he is our peace. Our peace is through him
because he is our peace. And we've been called to make
peace because he is our peace. He said in verse 15, let the
peace of God rule in your hearts. Be peacemakers. At all costs,
whenever a situation comes up, how should we handle this? Whatever
way makes peace. Be peacemakers. Our Lord said,
blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God. Let the peace of God rule in
your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body, and
be ye thankful. Be thankful. Far above all people
on this earth, God's people ought to be the most thankful. We ought
to be the most thankful. Let's put on thankfulness and
appreciation to God for salvation, for life, for every good thing
that he's done for us, and to each other. Let's be kind to each other,
let's be generous with each other, hospitable to each other, and
then let's be thankful in return. Very, very thankful people. 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,
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. That's how God's elect ought
to be. May the Lord help us with that. All right, you're dismissed. Thank you.