Go now to Colossians chapter
2, Colossians 2. As you remember, Sunday we looked
at verse 11. That is the message. Christ is
all. But in reading this, a couple
of other verses really stood out to me, and I want to deal
with them tonight. Chapter 2, verses 12 and 13,
says that you are buried with Christ in baptism, wherein also
ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, or faith that God gave. God who raised him from the dead,
and you being dead in your sins in the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened. God quickened together, made
alive with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses. It says, If ye then be risen
with Christ, if it so, seek those things which are above, where
Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection, your
mind, your heart on things above, not on things on the earth, for
you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. who is our life shall appear,
then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore
your members." And so on. This is written to believers.
That's how the letter begins, to the saints and faithful, those
who have faith in Christ, true to Him and believe Him, truly
believe Him and be faithful in Christ in the same. Those who
have been quickened. That's who this is written to.
It says you're dead, but you have life. And that life is hidden. The title of this, the subject
of it, It's a hidden life. A hidden life. Now this is extremely
difficult to deal with, let alone understand. So I hope you'll
pray, not only for me, but for yourself right now. That the
Lord will quicken you by this Word. Make you alive to this. These are words of life. If you're
alive, it's going to be a savor of life. But if not, and there's
some in here that are dead, dead. No, because the words of life
have no effect. Things, Scripture says, with
life-giving sound, a trumpet. Scripture speaks of a trumpet
that gives two sounds. One is to warn, and those that
are warned move with fear like Noah did, prepared an ark. And
then the trumpet also sounded jubilee. Jubilee. Free. So somebody's really worn fear.
Here's the word of fear. And they move with fear and run
to the city of refuge. Somebody that hears the freedom
of the gospel, they rejoice. So I know some are dead because
it has no effect like that on them. But to them, I say, call. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. While the door of the ark is open, call. He is merciful. And to us, I say, pray for them
that the Lord will give life. But to those in Christ, to those
who have Christ in them, life. He says in verse 3, you are dead
and your life is hid with Christ in God. You're dead. You're dead. It didn't say as
good as dead. It said you're dead. And you have life, though. This is a mystery. And it really
can't be explained on experience, but I'm going to try to explain
it. There's two deaths spoken of here in verse 13 of chapter
2. It says you being dead in your
sins. See that? It sounds like Ephesians
2.1, doesn't it? It sounds just like it. That's
because it is. And you had to be quickened who
were dead in trespassing the sin. And, you know, you don't know you're
dead until you've been quickened. You didn't know you were dead
until the Lord gave you life. You didn't know you were blind
until the Lord made you sick. Right? You have to be quick in
who were dead. There was a time when you were
dead and trespassed in sin, dead to the things of God, had no
interest, like some are now. You had no guilt when a man stood
up and said repent, when a man stood up and preached how we've
sinned against the holy God and God's anger had no effect. No
effect. No fear. No guilt. No shame.
No repentance. Had no effect. It's like going
to a graveyard. and warning a man who's dead,
and he won't respond. He's dead. That was me. That
was you, some of you. Dead. No guilt, no shame. Dead. And when you're dead, you're
blind, aren't you? You're deaf. Can't see anything. Can't see
God. Can't see any beauty in Christ.
Can't see yourself. Can't see the danger in you.
You're deaf. Can't hear His voice. Christ
said, My sheep hear My voice. Couldn't hear it. Couldn't hear
it. You're dumb. Can't thank God. About all you
can do with this mouth when you're dead in sin is curse God. Dead. That's dead, isn't it? No feeling.
Word come, won't touch you. Won't move you. Dead. Cold. Dead. No pulse. No heart. No
heart. No heart beats. No life. But
God. who is rich in mercy, the scripture
said, for his great love. Whoever he loves, he quickens. He sends the gospel, words of
life. That's what Peter called it then.
You have words of life. We were dead, Lord, until you
came by and you quickened us by your word, raised us like
that child in the field of Ezekiel. It was a time of love. So when
I passed by, here's what I said. Live. Ask Lazarus. how he came out of that grave.
The Lord called him. The word of the gospel. The gospel
is this. And here's the gospel. And I've
already lost some of it. Already. That's why this is so important. The gospel is this. And it's
not going to be here forever. It's like the door of the ark
is open. Just seven days. Just seven days it was over,
and then the flood came, carried them all away. But Noah and his
people were in Christ, were saved. They were alive, raised up. The gospel is Christ and Him
crucified. The gospel is how God, who is
holy and righteous and just, whom we've sinned against, the
gospel The Word of God comes and tells us how we've sinned
against a holy and righteous God. Against Him and Him only
have we sinned and done this evil in His sight. God makes
us to see that, our sin. It's the first thing He does.
Convict us of our sin against God. How we see how we're guilty
against God. We've sinned. And then the good
news comes that God sent His Son for guilty sinners. A man
stands up and tells you how that God sent His Son to be made that
sin for you. He who knew no sin. How God laid
on Him the iniquity of His people. Made Him a substitute for our
sin. And how God gave Him our sin
and how God gave us His righteousness. Substitution. And if you feel
naked and exposed because of your sin, that clothing, that
righteousness sure does And if you feel guilty and ashamed before
God, that pardon for sin through the blood of Christ sure does
rejoice your heart. Christ and Him crucified. Verse
13 of chapter 2 says, ìHeís forgiven you.î So He quickens us by the
gospel, the Word of life, and Heís forgiven you all your trespasses. And now look down at verse 20.
So it says, ìYouíre dead with Christ.î Dead with pride. All right? Now, here's another
deadness. You were dead and trespassed
the same. Dead to God. Dead to the things of God. No
entry. And the gospel comes and quickens you. And you're no longer
dead. You hear. You see. You feel. Your heart beats. You love Him. You have repentance. You have faith. But here's another
death. It says in verse 20, you're dead
with Christ from the rudiments of the world. Up in verse 14,
it says he's blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us, contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing
it to the cross, spoiled principalities and power. In other words, when
Christ was crucified, you were crucified, the believer. When Christ was crucified, That
was you hanging on the cross to God. God saw you in Christ
and punished you in Christ. Once dead to sin and now he died
to it. Dead to the law. The law has
no claims on it. It's like a man who's been found
guilty of murder or some crime. And he's been sentenced. And
the sentence has been carried out. They send him to the electric
chair. They send him to the hangman's noose. And they hang him, and
he's dead. He's dead, right? You can't dig
him up and try him for those same crimes. He's dead. The law
has no more claim on him. That's what this is saying. Those
that are in crime were crucified with Christ. Dead. Dead. And we're not chargeable. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. God
says they're free from those crimes. They've paid that penalty.
But not them. Christ did it for them. And I
accept that. I accept that. And who was he
that condemned them? Christ died. Christ died. All right? They're dead to the
law. The law has no more claim on us. And we need to get a hold
of this because the law is what makes us feel guilty. And if
we see how Christ fulfilled the law and Christ was punished by
that law, it will give you some comfort, great comfort. And we're
dead to sin. Now, stay with me. Dead to sin.
What's dead in sin? That is, sin reigned. The men read in the study Romans
6. Go over there real quickly. Romans
6. We read this in a study where once dead in sin, that is, all
we could do was sin. That's all we wanted to do. But
now, our Lord says, we're dead to sin. Dead to sin. Now, stay with me, because this
will help you if you don't understand that. Verse 4, we are buried with Christ
by baptism in death, like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father. Even so, we also should walk
in newness of life. We are planted together in the
likeness of His death. We shall also be in the likeness
of His resurrection. Knowing this, our old man is
crucified with Him. But this body of sin, remember
Paul said in chapter 7, who shall deliver me from this body of
death? Well, Christ did that. He paid punishment that our flesh
has earned. The wages of sin is death. Well,
Christ took that punishment and He was punished for our sin.
All right? And that old man, that's who
God put in Christ and crucified. All right? That the body of sin
might be destroyed. That we should henceforth no
more serve sin. And down in verse 14 says, sin
shall not have dominion over you. Not under the law. Strength
of sin is the law. The law says don't do it. What
does the flesh say? That's exactly what I want to do. You're not under the law. You're
under grace. Christ said don't do it. And
we say, well, I can't. He says, come to me. I'll help
you. I did it for you. And I'll give
you grace to help in time of need. So there's a... Verse 18 says be made free from
sin. Free from the penalty of it.
free from the reigning power of it. We once lived for it. Our Lord said it won't have dominion
over you. It won't have dominion over you. We think it does sometimes,
but He said it won't. And it doesn't. There was a time
when you didn't give it a thought. That's what you lived for. Once
dead in it, live for it. Now, tell me, is this not so? Your heart's desire is to be
done with it. Before, you were dead in it.
That's what you lived for. You were dead in it. And now,
you want to be done with it. You want to be done with it.
Done with it. So that's what that means. Paul
said, O wretched man that I am. He didn't say that before. Before
life came, didn't it? And you didn't either. You didn't
either. All right, now let's look at
this hidden life. This hidden life. I hope I'm not muddying
the waters. I'm trying my best. Spirit of
God, help us. The hidden life. Look at chapter
3, verse 3. It says you're dead and your life is hid with Christ
in God. It says your life, this new life,
This new man created in Christ Jesus unto good work, this new
man is hidden. Hidden from the world and much
of the time, hidden from you. It's hidden from the world. Hidden
from the world. Worldly men who are dead, as
you were, don't see this new man in you.
They don't see it. They don't see it. The world
didn't know Christ, did it? Christ had the life of God in
Him. God was manifest in His flesh. They didn't see Him. No
matter how holy He was, they didn't see Him. People say this
all the time, don't they? Let others see Jesus in you.
Well, you know, we're to let our light shine and good works
for the glory of our Father, but they won't see anything in
you. They didn't see anything in him. He's a good man, they
said. He's just a man. You know what
they said? He's just a man. The life, John said, the life
was manifested, but men didn't recognize it. Light was in this
world. Christ said, but this is condemnation.
They love darkness rather than light. Darkness hates light. Doesn't it? Because light exposes.
But John said this. Now here's what John said. The
we. He came into the world and they
didn't recognize it. But John said we beheld his glory
as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John said the life was manifested. We touched him. We handled him.
We beheld him. The life. We have fellowship
with him. Peter said, you have words of
life. You're our life. You're our Christ. Everybody
else didn't say that. Why? They weren't quickened.
They weren't quickened. Why'd John say that? He was quickened. Is the words of Christ life to
you? Are they? I'm going to talk to somebody
that's alive. Savior of life to life. Did what Christ say,
is it life to you? Or is it just dead doctrine? Does this interest you? If you're
alive it does. One time he didn't. We're dead. God came into this world, but
he was hidden to the world. Then and now. Even now. In spite of his person, in spite
of his works, in spite of his glory, in spite of his power,
his majesty, his miracles, it didn't matter what he did. It
didn't matter what he did, what he said. It didn't matter. They
said things like this, no man can do the things you do except
God be with him. They didn't say you're God. They
said he's a great man. He's a good man. He's a miracle
worker. But what did Thomas say? You're my Lord and you're my
God. I say God. Christ said he that hath seen
me hath seen the Father. God. Why? Because God gave him
life. Christ gave him life. We see
Christ as God. Alright, now this life that He
puts in us, people can't see that in us. People can't see
that in us. Go to 2 Corinthians 5, and I'll
read to you 1 John 4. 2 Corinthians 5, if you go there.
But here's what John wrote, 1 John chapter 4. Listen to this. It says in verse 4, ìYou are
of God, little children.î He says, ìThey are of the world,
and speak of the world, and the world hears us.î Weíre of God.
Weíre of God. In another place he said, ìNow weíre the sons of God, but
it doth not yet appear what we shall be.î He says, ìThe world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not.î Alright, look at 2
Corinthians 5, look at verse 15. It says, Christ died for
all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them rose again. Wherefore, henceforth
know we no man after the flesh. In other words, there are new creatures in here
right now, new creatures. I see the same old John Cheeser
that I saw years ago when it first came in. He's pretty much
the same fellow that I knew when it first came in. And me too,
right? But that's not what God says. He's a new creature. We look like flesh and blood,
don't we? Well, look at this. It says in verse 17, if any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed away.
Old things have become new. Verse 16 says we don't know Christ
after the flesh now. He's in a glorified body. Can't
see Him, can you? Can't see Him. They didn't recognize
Him when He arose. His disciples didn't recognize
Him when He arose from the ground. And men can't see this new creature
in us, in you. The world can't see it. They
think you've just got religion. That's what my brother-in-law
said to my wife when the Lord began to deal with me. He said,
he'll change, he'll change. He won't laugh. He's just getting
religion. He's just changing his ways.
He's just changing his ways. He's just cleaning up his acts. Now, if you'd asked me, I'd have
said, I ain't cleaned up nothing. I didn't do anything. Something
happened to me. The operation of God upon me.
It's like a newborn baby was born, doesn't realize it's born
until sometime later, right? Newborn baby. I love it when
babies, you know, they're born, aren't they? When they're born,
they're alive. When the seed is planted, they're alive. And
then they start developing. It's slow, isn't it? It doth
not yet appear what we shall be. And it's slow. It's so slow,
this growth, it's almost imperceptible. And we can't hardly see it in
each other. A little bit. It takes years
of them. But a newborn baby, you know, it takes months and
months until finally, don't you love it when they finally, they're
laying there in bed and, you know, about all they've got eyes
for is mama or daddy, right? And the milk. What a picture
that is of life. Sincere milk of the Word. It's
a new creature that has this desire for the gospel. It never
had it before. Just loves to hear it. Doesn't
know they're alive. Don't know they're saved. But
love it. Love it. See Christ. He'd love to hear God proclaim.
See Christ. See beauty in Him. Desire Him
and all that. And like that baby one day starts
noticing itself. What's this? I'm alive. Same with us. I've got this faith. I really believe. I really do
believe. Not because of my parents, but
I believe. I believe. I love this gospel. Alive. Alive under God. Oh, my. Alive. New creature. Old things begin to pass away.
And we're hidden. So we're hidden to the world,
and we're also hidden to ourselves. hidden to ourselves. It says,
it does not yet appear what we shall be. And here's some reasons
why it's hidden to us. This new man is hidden to us
because of the flesh. There's an old man that's still
in us and still thinks the same thoughts, still does many of
the same things. This old man. So we think, and
this is all we can seem to dwell on, which we shouldn't, but we
do and we think, how could I be a child of God? How could I be a new creature
and still do those things? Well, didn't Paul write that
in Romans 7 for our comfort? Didn't he say that? Didn't he
say, I see a law warring in my memory? The things I would, that's
what I don't do. The things I would not, that's
what I do. He said, so then. Listen to him. He said, so then.
If you have that struggle, that means there's two creatures in
there. Two men in there. An old one. He's always going
to be there until the day. Who shall deliver me, Paul said,
from this body of death? I can't get rid of this old man. Well, you preach, I don't understand. Well, I really don't either.
But he said he's crucified with Christ. God doesn't hold you
accountable for that old fellow. He held Christ accountable for
him. But there's a new creature in there that loves God. It loves
holiness. It loves Christ. That's in his image. He cannot
sin. That's what John was writing about. He said his seed that's
in us cannot sin. The new creature. That's the
one that loves the truth. That's the one that loves the
gospel. That's the one that has faith,
that new creature. But we think because of this
flesh, I must be dead. No. No, there's life, but it's
just hidden. And it's hidden because of our
infirmities, the weakness of the flesh, our inability. Tell
me, is it difficult for you to read the Scripture? Anybody? You think it's easy for me, don't
you? I know better than you. Not one
whit better than you. It's so difficult because the
flesh wars against the Spirit. This whole world and everything,
and my old man fights against this new creature. I want to
read this book. There was a time when I did not
want to read this book. I had no interest in it. I found
nothing in this that I needed. There was a time. But now I want
to read this book. That's life. That's life. My old man wants to read crap. But my new man wants to read
this book, alright? There's a war going on. Do you
have trouble praying? Anybody? Do you have trouble
praying? Anybody? About all I can find
to say most of the time. You know, I have to pray for
you, and you men have to pray for everybody, too. And the Lord
blesses sometimes for us to pray and give some words to say. But
most of the time in private, about all I can say is, have
mercy. Help. Groanings. All I can do all the time is
groan. Well, doesn't that scripture say that? Doesn't Romans 8 say
that? That there's a new creature,
life given, spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
And we have groanings that cannot be uttered. And the Father hears
them, like a baby crying, infirmity. You have trouble hearing the
gospel? You're having trouble right now. You want to hear it? There was a time I didn't want
to hear it. I didn't want to hear it. And I didn't. I wasn't
here. I'm trying to give you some hope
here. There was a time when I didn't
want to hear it, and I didn't. I didn't come. And there's people
that don't come. Why? They don't have ears. They
don't have a heart. They don't have the eyes. They don't have life. It's nothing
to them. You want to come? Here's what
I'm getting at. If there's a pulse at all, no
matter how weak, there's a heart. There's a heart. You're nurses
that have been in on traumas, that bring a body in on a gurney
or whatever. It looks lifeless, doesn't it?
That's the way some of you look when you come in here, lifeless.
That's the way you feel, isn't it? And the nurse gets her stethoscope. What's the first thing you do?
What's the first thing you do? You get a stethoscope and you
put it on there. We've got a pulse. He's not dead. We've got life here. If you've
got just any of this, he wasn't there before. He wasn't there
before. We're dead. But we think because we're so
weak. Weak-faced faith. We think because we can't pray.
You want to? You're praying. You're praying. You called Him.
It was time He didn't call. You want to hear? Try Him. And I can't emphasize enough
the need to pray before you get here. without ceasing, because
we won't hear a thing if the Lord doesn't help us. But for
your comfort, if you have the slightest pulse, slightest heart
that beats desire for these things, slightest longing, you have life. It never was there before. And
we think because of our unbelief, unbelief, why can't I believe?
Why can't I trust? Anybody have any doubts? Anybody
have any fears? Anybody have any worries? Anybody
have perfect faith? Anybody in here completely and
wholly and 100% trust the Lord and you just rest and just don't
worry about anything? Anybody? Nobody. There's not one single brother
anywhere. Ask the disciples. After all
they saw, after all they heard for three and a half years in
the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord said to
them, Where is your faith? Are you yet without understanding?
That gives me hope. It gives me hope. But life is
hid. It's hid. It does not yet appear. But verse
4 says, When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
you appear with Him in glory. A glorified body. A glorified
Christ who is our life. Christ who is our life. Is Christ
your life? Christ your life. When you have life, you see,
you hear, you touch, you smell, you taste. Do you see Him? Do you hear Him?
Does the gospel touch you ever? You know, smell. Smell. When you smell your wife cooking
something, what's that do? Makes you hungry.
You want to taste it. It's kind of like anticipation.
Do you look forward to coming here? Anticipation. Some of you
ask me at times, what are you going to preach on? I love it.
I love it when somebody asks me what I'm going to preach on.
That means I have an interest. I have an interest. I ask my
wife, what's for dinner tonight? Why? Because I'm hungry. I want
to know what you're going to do. Smell. It's anticipation. Taste. It's just gospel sweet to you.
That's hunger and thirst. Our Lord said, blessed is he
that is hungry and thirst. And let me close with this. Our
Lord said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you
have no part in that. That's hunger and thirst. And
if you say, I've got to have this gospel, I've got to have
it. I've got to have it. That's a good sign. A sign of
life. And he said it's a sure life.
He says your life is hid with Christ. Didn't he say, he that
believeth on me shall have everlasting life? Didn't he say that? That's
sure. He can't lie. He believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you say with Peter, we are We believe and are sure thou art
the Christ, the Son of the Living God. You believe that? John,
do you say that? You have life. But what? But he, didn't he say that? Don't
look to yourself. Don't look at this time. Half-life.
He didn't trust Him before. He didn't believe. It's a sure
life. It's head with Christ in God. Christ said, I give unto
them eternal life. I give it. Nobody's going to
take it away. It's a safe life. You're dead.
Your life is hid with Christ in God. It's hid. Your sins are
hid. They'll never be brought up again.
They're hidden. Buried. Put away. Separated. Your life is hid. Kept. Preserved until that last day. Nobody can do anything that can
change that. Not even you. Isn't that good
news? Your life is hid with Christ.
He has it. He has your life in His hand. And He said, I give
it, and nobody will pluck them out of My hand. Safe. And it's soon to be glorified. Perfect. He said, you'll appear
with Him in glory. Didn't He say that? Did you notice
how many times He said that in John 6? I kept emphasizing. He
said, I will raise Him up at the last day. I will raise Him
up at the last day. I will raise him or her up at
the last day. Didn't it? Over and over again.
I will. He that believeth, I will raise
you. And you'll be perfect. Be glorified. Be just like Christ. Oh, my. Do you long for that? So he says,
mortify your members. And I was going to go into that.
But set your affection on things above. You know, if God's given
you an affection, a heart, it is on things above. But he does
say that we're to to seek those things, would have set our affection
on it and mortify our members. Consider yourself dead. Consider
these things dead. Consider yourself dead. Good
as dead. Your life's over. But we have
life more abundant than crime. Just waiting to be glorified. And consider these things dead.
Dead things. I don't need dead. Vanity. And you starve that old man is
what you need to do. Starve that old man, feed the
new. These things deaden us, but these
things quicken us. The new man grows. Alright, stand
with me. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word in spite of our limitations, in spite of our Total inability
to understand these things, to teach these things. If you take
one word and season and apply it, we'll be blessed. Comfort,
Lord, by Your Word. Show those whom You've given
life, show that they have life. And show us clearly that we're
dead. This world is dead. Everything
in it. Christ is soon to come, and those who are in Him, like
that ark of old, those who are in Him shall very soon awaken
in a new place, change in a moment, and quickly lie glorified, be
without sin, holy, righteous, just like Him. Oh, Lord. Let us desire these things. Set
our affection on things above, not on things of the earth. Deliver
us from these deadening, soul-deadening things of the flesh. Set our
minds and hearts on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look unto Him,
we pray. In Christ's name, amen.