Good evening. If you will turn
with me in your Bibles to Colossians 3. Colossians 3. I believe I forgot to say it
this morning, but it really goes without saying, but Gabe and
your brethren in Kingsport send their love and greetings. We
were disappointed to miss the annual conference, but our Lord
knows what's best, doesn't He? He's on His throne. Colossians
chapter 3, look with me at verse 1. 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." Now
I have what I believe and pray to be a real hope, a real message
of comfort for us this evening. The title of my message is, Seek
Christ. Seek Christ. Now this message
is for a particular people. Verse 1 says, If ye then be risen
with Christ. And the truth of the matter is,
if we've not been risen with Christ, that means we are yet
in our sin and there's no comfort there. If we're yet dead in our
sin, we have no reason to rejoice, no reason to hope, and no reason
to be comforted. All true comfort is found in
the Lord Jesus Christ and in being risen with Him." Well,
that begs the question, who's been risen with Him? Have I been
risen with Him? Well, let's take a look. Look
back with me at Colossians chapter 1. Colossians 1 verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ
by the will of God, and Timotheus, our brother, to the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ, which are at Colossae, grace
be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ, who has been risen with Christ, the saints and faithful
brethren In Christ. Well, who are the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ? We read in Ephesians 1 that God
chose to save a people from before the foundation of the world.
And He chose them in Christ. Ephesians 1 is all about in Christ,
in Christ. The only hope is in Christ. We
must be in Christ. Well, who did God choose to save
in Christ? Look here in Colossians 1, down
at verse 12, it says, "...giving thanks unto the Father, which
hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom
we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of
sins." Who's been risen with Christ? Sinners. Sinners need redemption. Sinners
need forgiveness. Sinners need to be made worthy
to be saints, partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light. Sinners need to be delivered, don't they? We need to be delivered
from the power of darkness. Those whom God chose to save
are unworthy, wicked, hell-deserving sinners. Are you a sinner? Am I a sinner? We must take our
place right there. We're no better than anyone.
Paul said, I'm the worst of them all. He said, I'm the chief of
sinners. I pray we could identify ourselves right there. Look here
in chapter 1 at verse 20. This is good news for sinners.
Colossians 1.20 says, And having made peace through the blood
of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him
I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven,
and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in His sight." Is that good news to you? Does that sound like
something that you need? If you're a sinner, that's good
news. We were alienated. We were strangers to God. We did not know God. We did not
know Christ. We were His enemies. That's who
he reconciled to himself. That's who he perfected forever
before God. That's who he came to save. Sinners. Sinners. Sinners have been risen
with Christ. Are you a sinner? Well, how are
we risen with Christ? Look over in Colossians 2 verse
8. Or wrote, Beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye
are complete in him, which is the head of all principality
and power, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the
flesh by the circumcision of Christ. buried with him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God who hath raised him from the dead." How are we
risen with Christ? Through the faith of the operation
of God. What that means, we heard it
this morning. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is how we identify
ourselves with Christ. We say, I'm with Him. I'm looking
to Him. I'm trusting in Him. God has
given us a new heart to hear Him, to believe on Him, and nothing
else. We were just dead in our sin,
weren't we? There we sat, polluted in our own blood, and God came
to us and said, live. Robed us in the righteousness
of Christ, said, live. I love this, it says in Ephesians
2 verse 5 and 6 that God has quickened us together. I'll write the key word together.
God has quickened us together with Christ. Raised us up together
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I can't get enough of that. God
has made us together. You know, two people get together
in marriage. It's a beautiful thing. Two people
get together. Can you imagine a sinner being
made together, one, with God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ?
It's amazing, isn't it? That God would be pleased to
do such a thing for sinners. Here in verse 10 of chapter 2,
we read, You are complete in Him. which is the head of all
principality and power, we're complete in Christ. Our brother
just said it. It's finished. Salvation is accomplished. There's
nothing for us to do but rest in Him. Trust in Him. Our acceptance
is in Him. We don't have to wonder when
we stand before God in that day, well, will I be accepted? I don't
know. If we're in Christ, we know. He's written these things
to us that we might know that we have life in Christ and that
we might have it more abundantly. We know, we don't have to wonder.
We're complete in Him. Look back in chapter 1 at verse
18. This is Christ and He is the
head of the body, the church. who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. We're one with Him. We've been
eternally united to Him in God's covenant of grace. And He's the
firstborn from the dead. You know why we will rise from
the dead? Because we're in Him. Christ arose from the dead. We're
risen in Him. And we shall rise forever in
Him. He's the firstborn from the dead
and He's the firstborn among many brethren. We're His brethren. That's who's been risen with
Him. His brethren. Alright, now look back in our
text, Colossians 3. That's who's been risen with
Christ. Sinners. Unworthy sinners chosen in Him that we might be
to the praise of the glory of His grace saved in Christ. Now,
Here's our comfort. Here's our exhortation. Colossians
3 verse 1, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above. You know, there is something
God has given us that we ought to constantly seek, put our mind
to, consider. And it's not the things of this
world. Seek the things which are above, not the things that
are below. Everything we see with these eyes are things below.
And as we seek things here and seek things there, all these
things that we can see, you know what that's going to bring us?
I promise it's not going to bring comfort and hope. Just walk out
the doors, turn on your TV, look online. I don't see any comfort
there. I don't see any hope out there. All hope is in Christ. It's all in Him. Seek those things
which are above. We need to stop seeking things
here. I know we live here. We can't not think about things
here. I understand that. We have a lot of things we go
through. We have needs. We have responsibilities. Let's
not seek these things. Let's not be consumed with these
things. Let's not be consumed with things
that just don't matter. Earthly things. Everything here
is temporary. We brought nothing in here and
we can carry nothing out. Let's seek things above. Let's not
seek ourselves. It's a dangerous thing to seek.
You know, by nature, we're consumed with ourselves. Everything I
do is for me. You get married, we're supposed
to do everything for our spouse, aren't we? How rarely do we.
I mean, honestly. How rarely. Colossians 3 verse
1 again says, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth, on the right hand of
God. We have come here tonight. We've
come into this house and gathered in His name by the grace of God
to worship Him. I believe we've come here with
a true heart of faith by God's grace to seek Him, haven't we?
You don't want me to stand here and fill your head with useless
knowledge, do you? Or my opinions. You want to hear of Him. I want
to hear of Him. May we seek Him. Christ said,
seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. He
said, all these things that you're worried about, everything, just
run to and fro. You've got to do this. You've
got to do that. He said, your Heavenly Father knoweth you have
need of all these things. You seek the Kingdom of God and
His righteousness. All these things shall be added unto you.
Don't worry about that. God knows what we need. God will provide
everything. He shall supply all our needs
through Christ, won't He? The riches in Christ Jesus. He
said, fear not little flock. That's a good term for us, isn't
it? Little flock. Little birds. But we're His little
birds. We're His flock. He said, it's
your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. He's given
us His kingdom. He's given us everything. Why
is it we're so afraid? What are we sad about? God's
given us all things in Christ. Colossians 3 verse 2 says, Set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Affection
means mind. Set your mind. Set your heart. on things above, I'll give you
something to think about. You have a hope laid up for you
in heaven. If you've been risen with Christ,
you just think about our brethren that have gone before us. It
hasn't been that long, has it? Someone you've loved who's known
Christ has departed this world, and you miss them, and we miss
them. But praise the Lord, it is well
with their souls, and very soon we shall follow them. Our Lord
Himself said, He said, where I'm going, you can't follow Me
now, but you shall hereafter. He's our forerunner. He's prepared
the way. We're going to follow Him in
the glory. Footsteps of Jesus. We're following right in His
footsteps by God's grace and soon we'll be with Him forever.
Turn over with me to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. Verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled,
and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time." Child of God, set your mind on that. Chew on
that. Think about that. Verse 3, think
of the blessings. God has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. God has bestowed His
abundant mercy, His infinite mercy to us. God has given us
a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
We have a true hope. A good hope through the grace
of God, the mercy of God in Christ. Praise His name. Verse 4, it
says He's given us an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled. I thought
about this. Think about the inheritance.
You know, I'm young. At some point in life, most people
receive some sort of inheritance, right? What do we do to earn
our inheritance? Nothing. I can't. It's not our
choice. Now, we're selfish and we want
the biggest inheritance we can have. Well, second things above,
we have the biggest inheritance we could possibly have. Our inheritance
is God. It's Christ. It's the Kingdom. Everything. Well, what an inheritance. What an inheritance. And I love
what it says there in verse 4. It says, "...that fadeth not
away." All these earthly things, Think about on the daily. May
those things fade, fade, fade, each earthly joy. Oh, may we
honestly mean that when we sing that. Jesus is mine. The Lord
Jesus Christ is mine. We get Him. We get Him. Forever and ever. Reserved in
heaven for you. Turn over with me to John chapter
14. John 14, verse 1. The Lord said, let not your heart
be troubled. He had just told His disciples
that He was going away. They couldn't come with Him.
He had just told them, one of you is going to betray Me. They
all said, is it I? Imagine the trouble that would
put in your heart. One of you is going to betray me. Lord,
is it I? He told Peter, you know, Peter
got lifted up in pride like we all do, constantly. And he said,
Lord, I'll never leave you. I'll never deny you, Lord. I'm
with you to the end. And Lord told him, Peter, Peter,
before the cock crows, you're going to deny me three times.
And then he said, let not your heart be troubled. You mean I'm
going to do things? I'm going to be sitting here
loathing myself? I'm going to feel like Job. Oh,
I repent in dust and ashes. Like Paul, oh wretched man that
I am. But let not your heart be troubled. I realize I'm young
and I don't know anything about trouble. I acknowledge that.
But I'm looking at some people who have endured some serious
trouble. And my heart breaks for you when you're in trouble.
But we have this Word from our Lord. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God." He said,
you believe in God. Believe also in Me. We need to
be reminded our Lord and Savior died for us. He gave Himself
for us. Believe in Him. He said to His
disciples in the world, you shall have tribulation. We shall have
tribulation. Again, I'm young. I don't know
anything about this, but I know it's coming. It's coming. You
shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I've overcome
the world." That's our hoping. Whatever we go through, consider
what Christ went through. And then that puts our troubles
into perspective. Consider Him. John 14 verse 1,
Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in Me. In My Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you." I'm so thankful that
Christ did it. He said, I go. He didn't tell
His disciples anything to do. I'll tell you what He told them
to do. Come unto Me and rest. Come unto Me and I'll give you
rest. He went to the cross. I'll never have to. Two thieves
stood on his side. And one of those thieves, by
the grace of God, cried, Lord, remember me. When Thou comest
into Thy kingdom, it was revealed to him in his dying moments,
this is God beside me and He's hanging here for me. I deserve
to die. I'm receiving the due reward
of my deeds. In Him is no sin. He's done nothing
amiss. This is my Savior, my Lord, and
my God. He went to the grave. We'll never
have to. Not the grave of the second death.
Not to face the wrath and judgment of God. He took our sin upon
Himself. He took it Himself. And He gave
us His righteousness. He took our shame and what shame
it is. And He gave us His glory. He gave us His glory. He said,
in my Father's house are many mansions. Brethren, there's a
mansion with your name on it. And I believe our mansions are
going to be located right at His feet. That way we're always
looking up to Him, praising Him, worshiping Him, not the mansion. Verse 3, And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. When I read this, the
preeminent thought that crosses my mind is heaven is a person.
Heaven is a place, yes, but heaven is a person. Heaven is Christ.
What are we going to do in heaven? We're going to sing His praises.
We're going to worship. We're going to gather around
the throne and worship Him. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain.
That's what we're going to do. But here's what jumped out to
me reading this this time. Look what He said. He said, I
will come again and receive you unto Myself. I just can't get
over the fact He said, I'm coming for you. I will receive you. Why in the world would He receive
me? Why would He receive me? I wouldn't
receive Him. People want to talk about receiving
Jesus. I wouldn't receive Him. I rejected Him. How can it be? How can it be
that God should love a soul like me? Honestly. How in the world
could that possibly be? The only way it could possibly
be is according to God's purpose for the glory of His Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ's sake, may we seek
this. He said, I'm coming again. I'm
going to receive you. You're coming with me. He said, you're
going to be with me forever, where I am. There you'll be also.
May we seek that, brethren. We're back in our text, Colossians
3. Verse 2, "...Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead." What does that
mean, you're dead? It means we're dead to the world. Christ said, you're not of the
world. I've chosen you out of the world. This world is not
our home. We're just pilgrims passing through. It's sad how well we fit into
the world, isn't it? It's because of our sin. We're
not better than anybody else. But Christ said, you're not of
the world. We're dead to the world. We're dead to the law.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? Being made a
curse for us. We're not under the law. We're
under grace. We're not saved by keeping the law. We're saved
by looking to Christ. We're saved by grace through
faith in Christ. And we're dead to sin. You say,
oh well, I still sin every day. Yeah, me too. I'm sinning right
now. That shocks some people. Sinning right now. I can't not
sin because sin is what I am. After conversion is when Paul
said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Not before. But God's Word declares sin does
not have dominion over us. Sin does not reign over us. Christ
reigns over us. We're children of God. We're
not slaves to sin anymore because Christ put our sin away. He took
it upon Himself. He nailed it to His cross. They're
gone forever as far as the east is from the west. So let us reckon
ourselves dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. We've been risen with Him. We
have eternal life in Him. Verse 3 here in Colossians 3,
it says, for you are dead and your life is hidden with Christ
and God. Now that might confuse you upon
first glance. He said you're dead, but you're
alive. How in the world do you explain
that? You're dead. This body of sin, this old man is dead. But the new man, created in Christ
Jesus, the new man is alive in Christ Jesus. I'll show you this.
Turn with me to Galatians 2. Galatians chapter 2. This is
a glorious verse. Galatians 2 verse 20. And this is true for every child
of God. 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." How one are we with Christ? Paul said, I'm crucified with
Him. When Christ died, I died. Everything He did, I did in Him. We're commanded to love the Lord
our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Who here
has done that? Nobody. But Christ did. And when He did, so did we in
Him. We're commanded to love our neighbor as ourself. Who's
done that? You ever just walk outside and
hand your neighbor the key to your house, the keys to your
car, give them your job? I've not. Christ loved His neighbor
as Himself. We're commanded to love our enemies.
I've certainly not done that. We get angry at them, chew them
out, don't we? Christ loved His enemies even unto death, made
His enemies to be His friends. We're commanded to fully obey
God's holy law. And we've not just fallen short,
we've flat out fallen as low as we could go. We've never kept
one law one time. I think you have, deceiving ourselves. But in Christ, In Christ, we
have satisfied God. In Christ, we are loved of God
with the same love we're with. He loves Christ. He's given us
His glory, He told us. My soul. And this life which
we're living in the flesh right now, here's how we live it. By
the faith of the Son of God. You know, it's not my faith.
My faith is not worth mentioning. That's what my faith is worth.
We live by the faith of Christ who loved us and gave Himself
for us. Our life from start to finish is in Him. It's only in
Him. Turn over with me to Colossians
1. Colossians 1.26. Even the mystery which hath been
hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His
saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory." Christ in us is our hope. Christ in
us is our life. We're in Him. God chose us in
Him. Christ is in us. And that's the only hope of eternal
glory. He's not the most important thing
in my life. He is my life. I pray God would
let us get a hold of that. All the times Paul talked about
Christ being his life, to live as Christ, to depart and be with
Christ, that's what we're waiting for. We're pressing toward the
mark. We're running a race right now. Christ is our prize. He's our exceeding great reward.
We're waiting for Him. Our joy is going to be fulfilled
when we see Him. Here in verse 4 of Colossians
3, He said, When Christ, who is our life, Christ is our life,
He shall appear. Our Lord, brethren, is coming
back. I said Christ is our life. Are
you ready to live? So, I'm living right now. No,
we're not. I'm telling you, this world and everything in it, myself
included, this is death. This is nothing but death. But
soon we're going to live. Christ is coming back to receive
us to Himself. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
9. I mention our brethren, our loved
ones that have gone before. I tell you what, I can't begin
to understand what this means, but I know this, they're living.
Oh, they're living. We drive over to the cemetery,
we see their grave, we put some flowers there, we cry, we mourn,
they're living. They're living. Why? Because
they've been risen with Christ. They're living in Him. Hebrews
9, look with me at verse 27. It says, And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. And I'll just
mention, Christ died our death. Christ bore our judgment. We're
accepted in Him. It's appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall
He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Does that
encourage you like it does me? He's coming back. He's going
to appear a second time without sin. Yes, Christ was made sin,
but He's coming back with no sin because He put that sin away.
Gosh, I might suffer His Holy One to see corruption. Christ
is seated on His throne in glory right now, and soon we're going
to be right there with Him. Titus 2.13 says, looking for
that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. What do we say to that? Lord,
come quickly. Oh, Lord, come quickly. He can't
come soon enough, can He? Back in our text, Colossians
3 verse 4. Our brother Paul wrote, when
Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear
with Him in glory. Not only is Christ coming back,
not only shall every eye see Him, not only shall His people
rise and be lifted up with Him in the air and forever be with
the Lord, we shall appear with Him in glory. That means we shall
be with Him in glory. At the Mount of Transfiguration,
it says, the Moses and Elijah, it said they appeared in glory. They were glorified, and so we
shall be. I love this verse. You can turn
with me if you'd like. 1 John 3, verse 2. It says, Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know. that when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." We read that
verse about being conformed to the image of Christ. We're going
to awake with His likeness. We're going to behold His face
in righteousness. And I don't know about you, but
I'm going to be satisfied. We don't reach satisfaction in
this life. We're constantly trying. We get stuff. We sell stuff.
Get some acclamations on our resume. I tell you, satisfaction
is awakening with Him, beholding Him, being one with Him in glory
forever. I don't know what's going to
happen this evening. Hopefully a little peace and rest for all
of us. I don't know what tomorrow brings
forth, but I know this, our Lord's coming back. I don't know if it'll be before
I breathe my last breath or not, but He's coming. And when He
does, He's going to receive you unto Himself forever if you've
been risen with Him. I want to close reading the words
of a song. It's a song I've only ever heard sung here, sung by
those three women we just heard sing so beautifully. They call
them the Boring Sisters. I don't think they're so boring. But this song, bless my heart,
from the first time I ever heard it, I can't wait to hear it again. You don't have to sing it by
me. This song, bless my heart, it says, what a day that will
be when my Jesus I shall see and I look upon His face, the
one who saved me by His grace, when He takes me by the hand
and leads me through the promised land. What a day, glorious day
that will be. Now brethren, seek that. May
God enable us to seek Christ. Christ alone. Amen.