Thank you, Robin. Thank you, John. That's a scriptural hymn, isn't it? May the mind of Christ my Savior live in me. Let this mind be in you, he said. May the word of God dwell richly in me. That's Colossians 3. May the peace of God my Father rule my life in everything. Let the peace of God rule, he said in Colossians 3. The love of Christ, feel me. Him exalting, self-abasing. That's good, isn't it? May I run the race before me, looking only unto Jesus. That's Hebrews 12. That's a good hymn, very good.

Thank you. Go back to Colossians 3 now. Colossians chapter 3. Read verses one and two. And 9 and 10 with me. Colossians 3, 1 and 2, if you then be risen with Christ, if you'd be risen or since you are, seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God.

Set your affection, your heart, your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Verse 9. Lie not one to another, seeing you put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, a new mind after the image of him that created him. This is the title and the subject, things to seek and set your heart on. This is biblical, I didn't make this up. This is scriptures, things to put off, things to put on, things. Things, things to seek. What things? Things above. Things to set your heart and affection on, your mind. What things? Where Christ is. Him, Him.

Listen to 1 Corinthians chapter two. Paul writes about these things, okay? And he's not really writing about material things at all, but the things of God. Listen, it says, In Colossians, or 1 Corinthians 2, it says, that I have not seen or ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God had prepared for them that love him.

Things above, which you're gonna enjoy. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, right? We do, we know in part, but we do know something. And the Spirit searches all things and reveals the deep things of God. Listen to this. The natural man receiveth not the things of God. Man doesn't believe anything he can't see, right? Their foolishness doesn't do it, but he that is spiritual. judges or understands and discerns all things. He himself is understood of no one. He doesn't really understand himself.

Listen to this. You remember last week, 2 Corinthians 4, I missed it. I'm sure you remember every word I know. 2 Corinthians 4 says, we look not at things which are seen, but things which are not seen. The things which are seen are temporal. The things which you're not seeing are eternal. So this is good, good counseling. Don't look on things below, look on things above. Set your affection, things to seek, seek after, go after. And things to think on, set your affection on.

Things of God are spiritual. The things of man are material, fleshly, sensual, okay? The things of God are things above. The things of man are things on the earth, aren't they? Things below. One time our Lord said, I'm from above, you're from beneath. That's like a worm, isn't it?

We can't help but, we sing that song, look how we grovel here below. fond of these earthly toys. Our souls, how heavily they go to reach eternal joy. In vain we tune our formal song. In vain we strive to rise. Hosannas languish on our tongue and our devotion dies.

You feel that way? I love that hymn. Well, set your affection on things above, not below, earthly. Things below, this is, earth means dirt, doesn't it? Everything goes back to the dirt. What a thing to set all your hopes on. Set your affection on things. Things of God are life, pertaining to life.

He said more abundant. We love joy. We love peace. We love these things. You're not going to have much of it here. But up there, oh my, one of these days, joy unspeakable, full of glory, never ending, never ceasing. That's where we need to have our minds on it. Things on earth are death, dead and dying. The things of God are eternal. We just read that. The things of man are temporal. Things of God are glorious. The things of man are shameful. Man glories in his shame.

I keep saying this because Scripture said man hates God. And so God said, there's not going to be any peace, didn't it? No lasting peace. No matter what man does, if he rejects his creator, he's not going to have any peace, any lasting peace. It's all going to end in shame.

Things of God are full of glory. Things of man are empty vanity. Things of God are Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. The scripture says that the kingdom of heaven is not in meat and drink. That's what man thinks about. And it all goes out in a draft and you have to do it again. Never fills you up. But the kingdom of God is righteousness. We're going to be in a place wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Pack your bags. That's what our Lord said. Provide bags that wax not old. Get ready. Think on it. Peter said, hasten is coming. That means when you look forward to going somewhere, you pack your bags, you make preparations, don't you? And you start thinking about it. And it makes it more real. It makes it more near, doesn't it? You're thinking about it. And Mindy, we go on a trip, and Mindy starts packing days beforehand. You know how long I, you know, when I start. You mean, yeah, about 10 minutes before you get in the car. And subsequently, I leave my belt, I leave my socks.

Think on things above, and the more we think about it, The more real, the more near it becomes, the more we look forward to it. And this thing, our Lord said, you don't know when he's coming. He said, but this thing's not going to overtake you. You're not in darkness as others. Righteousness and peace. A land wherein dwelleth righteousness. Are you like Locke, vexed? With the filthy conversation. It's getting worse. And vexed with that old man within.

Oh, the things of God are the things of God. The things of this world are of the God of this world. Delusions, strong delusions. Believe a lie. Satan says, this is good. God says, no, it's not. This is good, isn't it? Look, this is satisfaction. Oh, no, it's not.

God said, it's the opposite. Things of God are things of salvation. Salvation, the things of man, damnation, lead to destruction. There's a way that seems right to man. Any way man thinks, it's wrong. It's destruction, leads to destruction. The things of God are true. God is true. The things of man are all a lie. The things of God build you up. The things of this world break you down, tear you down. The things of God comfort you. The things of this world depress you, leave you empty, let you holler. The things of God are eternal gain and glory. The things of man is eternal loss forever. Set your affection on things of that.

We all need this, don't we? from our father. We all need to set our mind, get our minds, as it were, out of the gutter. Things that are higher, things that are nobler. That's why we sung that song. These by God's grace, by God's spirit have allured my sight. I will hasten to him. I thought about this. I wrote down a few things.

If you want to be full of fear, and full of unrest and full of despair, think on this world. Think on world events. Start thinking about politics. It'll just tear you up. Think about man. Think about yourself. If you want peace, if you want rest, if you want comfort, Think about eternal things, eternal things. Listen to this.

In Philippians four, we'll turn there, turn there. Philippians four. Philippians four. I started to preach on this. We'll just read some of it instead. Verse four, don't you love this? Don't you love this? Rejoice in the Lord always, our Lord reigns. But we love that song, it says, though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.

Remember that, don't look at these things as being out of control. Don't do it, our God's in control. And he's making you restless, like the children of Israel in Egypt, making you want out. Let your moderation be known unto all men. That is, that you really don't care everything for this world. Let it be known. The Lord's at hand. That's who you're waiting for. Be careful. Don't be full of anxious care for anything.

But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, always with thanksgiving, Your complaints will lessen greatly if your thanks increases. You know that? If you're more thankful, you'd realize that these are light afflictions compared to what all the Lord's done for. Let your requests be made known unto God.

He'll either give them or He won't. The peace of God, which passeth understanding. We've seen it, haven't we? People go through deep trial, going through deep trial. How can you take it? God did it. Job, how? How could Job get through that? He lost everything. No, no, no he didn't. See, the Lord has told us we are gonna lose all this. We need to get that in our mind and seek things you can't lose. What thing? Him. Job said, I've lost everything, but I know my Redeemer liveth. So the peace of God, which passes, understands, shall keep your hearts and minds. from being, like Paul said, in distress and despair, through Jesus, through Christ Jesus, he's Lord.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things, where was Paul when he wrote this? In prison. And it wasn't a minimum security prison with all the comforts of a country club. At Philippi is where they beat him and Silas almost to death. and threw him in a dungeon and wrapped chains around their necks. Had, and this is where he wrote this poem, too. He wrote it from prison, not then, but the Lord got him out of that. How'd they get him out of it?

He said, Silas, we're not here by accident. We're not here because men hate us. We're here because the Lord put us here. There's gotta be a reason or we wouldn't be here. So Silas, let's start singing. What we gonna sing? Oh, how merciful. Chains fell off. The prison, the bondage, they came out of bondage to darkness and despair and distress. Why were they there? God had a jailer to save. Would you do it again, Paul? I sure would. Isn't that what Christ did? For the joy set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, turned into glory then.

Whatever things, brethren, are true, oh my, God is true. Whatever things are honest, hmm, trustworthy. Whatsoever things are just, you know justice in this earth. You're looking for justice, you're not gonna get it, are you? What's right, what's fair? Only from our God above. Whatsoever things are pure. There's nothing pure in this earth. It's just pure sin. Evil. Whatsoever things are lovely. Isn't this earth getting more ugly and ugly to you?

Whatsoever things are of good report. You hear any good news on the news? It wouldn't sell newspapers if it was good news. Would it? If there be any virtue. Praise, think on these things. See that? Are you with me? I always say that, don't I? Why? Because this is good for you. I want you to hear this. I want to know you heard it. After this is over, I want you to know, I want to know.

When you feed your children, when you cook a meal, do you want them to enjoy it? How are you going to know if they enjoyed it? Irene, I'm the best person you, I'm the best person you ever feed, aren't you? Don't you love feeding me? I go on and on and on, and I ain't flattering you. It's good food. And she says, you want to take something home with you? Yes. And she loads me down and I eat it later. I think of you. This is good. There's nothing better. hungry, thirsty for righteousness?

So if you want peace, think on things above. If you want to be bitter and full of despair and hopeless, think on this world. Think on how wrong this world is and all the wrong that people have caused you You'll be full of bitterness, won't you? If you want some hope, some peace, instead of bitterness, sweetness, think on all the wrong you've done to your Lord and think on all the right he's done for you.

You think on how good he's been to you in spite of you and promise to continue to do so. You'll quit complaining. You'll say, you'll think whatever anybody does to me is less than I deserve. You know that? That's what Jacob said to taking stock of himself and taking stock of what all God had done for him and promised for him. He said, I'm not worthy of the least of thy mercies.

And all the truth that you keep telling me. Should have kicked me out long ago. But he didn't. Keeps telling you, keeps promising you. Unworthy though we be. Alright? That's just the first verse or two. Go back to Colossians 3. That's the intro. This is the outro.

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things that are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection, your heart, your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. Now, as we go through here, let this be the underlying, your underlying faith and belief.

Without him, you can do nothing. Prayer, in everything by prayer and supplication. Without him, you can do nothing. Remember that. I love Martin Luther's hymn, I love it. It says, did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side, and he is. He said, I'm a very present help in time of trouble.

When is that? Every day. Every moment. He said, call on me. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's not a one-time thing, it's a continual thing. Saved. from temptation, save from despair, save. Set your affection on things above. Lord, set my affection on things above, right?

You're dead. John, I'll stay right here if I'm not careful, but that'd be all right, wouldn't it? We've looked at this one verse several times before. You're dead. Your life is hid with Christ in God. Look at verse, the previous chapter, right across the page, verse 12. You're buried with Christ in baptism, wherein also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God.

When you confessed Christ, what you're confessing is Christ crucified, that he took your sins in his body on a tree, that he paid for your sins. You feel guilt, you felt guilty, you felt... sinful and wretched and you need mercy. He asked, he called, Lord, please forgive me. And he showed you the gospel of Christ as he went to the cross and put away your sin by the sacrifice for himself. And then he was buried and says he separated our sins, the scripture said, from as far as from the east, east from the west.

And he says, like the scapegoat, Christ, Is that scapegoat? We confess all our sins on the head. Christ is the fit man. This is an Old Testament type. Are you with me? Leviticus 16. The fit man, that's Christ. The scapegoat, that's Christ. We confess our heads. He does. It was the high priesthood. On the head of the scapegoat.

And that fit man took that scapegoat out in the wilderness so far that he'll never come back. And that's a picture of Christ separating our sins from us. And he says, there are sins and iniquities I will remember no more. Why? Because Christ paid for them. Christ put away. Who shall lay anything in the charge of God? It's God to justify. Who is he that condemneth? Christ died.

Remember that. This is the basis for all of this. This is, because you can't If you don't believe Christ died for you and paid for your sins, you'll try to fight sin and do away with it on your own. And if you get any victory over it, you'll be proud of it and think, now he's going to accept it. And you accept it and you love it. God's well pleased for his righteous sin. We don't try to establish one. But this fighting sin, people, is love. It's not legal. It's not to be saved.

It's because God has. Are you with me? All right. It says you're dead, verse 12, buried with him in baptism. You're saying when you're confessing that I want this old man, I want Paul Mahan, buried, gone, out of sight, put away forever. Romans six says rise, buried with him at baptism, rise to walk in newness of life. I want to be just like Jesus Christ. And he said, I believe Christ did. He put away my sin and I'm trusting that he's going to bruise Satan under my feet shortly and take me to glory.

And in verse 13, you being dead in your sin, the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances against you, contrary to it, took it out of the way, nailed it to the cross. On and on it goes. That's good news isn't it? Who's that for? Sinners. Sinners. And so out of great, appreciation and love to Him. That's how we fight sin, in Him. Verse, and I'll tell you, it says your life is hid with Christ in God.

That means not only is it hid from the natural man, even we at times find it hard to believe that we're a new creature. No way. It says, it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be with him and be like him. Your life is hid with Christ. That's the secrecy of it. And that means the safety of it. Nobody can, can, can, no man can pluck you out of his hand. It's hidden.

In the cleft of the rock, in Christ, with Christ, in God. Verse four, when Christ our life, and notice I left off who is, Christ our life. Christ our life. Is he? That's what verse one says. If you're risen with Christ, seek those things. You will. Who is, if Christ is your life, When he shall appear, then shall you appear with him in glory. Does that sound good to you?

Let me just tell you what the Lord says about glory. It says then, this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain under the company of the Lord shall not go before them which are asleep. So don't sorrow for those. who sleep as if we had no hope. But the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. Who's gonna shout?

We all are. The voice of the archangel with a trump of God. That's what I'm saying. Rahab was that trump, and that's what I'm doing right now, blowing this trumpet. It's a prelude to the trump. Get ready. Rahab listened to that Trump seven days. There's music to her ears. There's noise to the world. But it was her.

Remember in Luke 21, when you see all these things, lift up your head, look up. Your redemption draw nigh. Says the Lord himself shall descend with a shout, the voice of the archangel. He's here, the bridegroom. Trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Think about that. We're gonna watch that. We'll watch your dad come out of the grave.

Hello, Steven. Hello, Mary. Hello, Helen. Really? Brenda, look at you. That's right, I ain't making this up. It happened when our Lord was crucified, you know that? The graves opened, didn't they, Vicki? You've read the scripture. They're all gonna open up now. Ain't that gonna be something?

And we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the cloud. To do what? Meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord. Comfort one doesn't even. You want more? Listen to this. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. He will dwell with them. God, Christ, they'll be his people. God himself shall be with them and be their God. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death.

Death's sad, isn't it? We lose loved ones. I told you one time, John Chapman, I was here and John was not pastor yet. He was with my dad, burying yet another brother. And by the way, we've got 21 people in this congregation in their seventies and eighties. We're going to be burying a lot of people. Do you hear me?

21. Not counting my mother. I'm going to be burying a lot of people. It's sad. It's sad. I don't want to, I'm not, you know, John, I don't want to see you go. I don't. I'm being selfish. It's going to happen. It's sad. Dad said to John walking away from the grave, he said, I'll sure be glad when we stop burying people. No more death. No more sorrow. No crying. Neither shall there be any more pain. Everything in this life gives us pain. Eventually, joy turns to sorrow. Happiness turns to sadness, doesn't it? Good health turns to pain and suffering. The former things are passed away.

And he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. He said, write this down. These words are true and faithful. He said, it's done. He said, it's done. But wait a minute, it's not. Yes, it is. Eternal justification. It's done. I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

I'll give unto him that's a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. So that, our text says, when Christ our life shall appear, then he shall appear with him and glory. Isn't that something? I dwelt there because that's where I'm dwelling on. He is.

Set your affection. What's not to look forward to? About what I just read you. What's to hang on to? Why would we set our hopes and dreams and happiness and all that, on perishing things of clay, born but for one brief day. Pass from my heart away, Lord Jesus, you're my portion. Mortify, therefore, your members. You see the context here. Kill it, these members on the earth, these fleshly thoughts and desires upon the earth, and he lists these These things that the world is just so full of it. It's just, it's just, this world is, it's just eaten up with this. I want out. I want out of it. I want it out of me. Don't you? Do you?

If you're risen with Christ, you do. mortified there for fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Covetousness. Anything or anyone, home, job, family, recreation, that we spend more time thinking of, that's idolatry. More money and more of our efforts and energy on, that's idolatry. Don't love anything more than your Lord. For which thing's sake, look at verse six now. The wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.

That's what it said. That ain't the only time he says this. Over and over again, he reminds us. In the which you also walk. That's what, when you lived in them, lived for them, isn't that true? But now, there's more. Put off. Here's some things to put off. Put off all these. And the first three are sins of the heart. The other ones are mouth. James sure talks a lot about that. Put off all these.

Anger. We get angry, don't we? I said, be angry, but don't sin. Don't let it spill out into wrath, that's taking vengeance, wrath. Malice, intent to do evil. Joseph's brethren, Joseph said to them, remember what he said? You meant it for evil. So you see, that's what we need to think about. Anytime we think malice, anger, or wrath, think about here. You meant it for evil, but bless God, he meant it for good. He's not ashamed to call us brethren. Ah, boy. You see, love is the motive and the rule.

Put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy. Filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another. Deceit. Up front, honest, seeing you put off the old man with his deed. Put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge. Let this mind be in you, Christ, Paul said in Philippians 2, after the image of him that created him.

And there's neither, in Christ, listen, There's not Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all. There's no, we're all equal in Christ, aren't we? All equal. Christ is all and in all his people, in their hearts. their minds, their affection, in all the scriptures.

Read on. Let me get through this. Put on therefore, put on. I need to put off, and it says, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved. Paul said in Ephesians, what worthy of vocation you are in your call, sons of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy. Isn't that our Lord toward us? So merciful and kind. We'll be that way. Kindness, love is kind. Humbleness of mind. We ought to think low thoughts of ourselves. You know that? Why? Because we are low. We shouldn't think too highly of ourselves. Why? Because there ain't nothing high about us.

Worms. And to a worm, those that think themselves worms, they'll think other people are better than them. Right? They'll think they're unworthy of the Lord saving such a worm. And they'll hear from the Lord, fear not thou worm, Jacob, I've redeemed you. You're honorable. Honorable? Ephraim? Is Ephraim pleasant child? Not much.

Well, God says he is. Why? Christ. That's why. If he could think about me like that, why, how could I not think that way about my fellow worm? Kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, that's taking whatever God sends you. Long-suffering. The long-suffering of the Lord is our salvation. You know that? He said, how long must I suffer with you? How long must he suffer, John? The rest of our days. Will he?

Yes. That's our salvation. You do the same. He said, forbearing one another, putting up with one another, covering one another's faults, forgiving one another. That doesn't just mean pardon. Well, I forgive you. Okay. That means forgetting it, putting it away.

Isn't that what the Lord did? If any have a quarrel against any, as Christ forgave you, so also do you. And here it is, above all these things put on charity, That's the bond, that's what's gonna keep us together. That's the bond of perfectness, of Christ-likeness, of maturity.

Manhood like Christ. A real man is loving, is kind, is gracious. I could've said so many times, it's not manhood in the size of your bicep, size of your heart. Manhood isn't being able to put a fellow on the ground, he's picking him up. Manhood and exacting vengeance is showing mercy. That's our Lord. So this is the bond. Why is it called charity? Doesn't he say love? He uses love other places. Well, I've told you before. Charity, what do you think of charity? What do you think of? Giving? How do we know the Lord loves us?

Gave himself for us. That's the ultimate proof. Prove the sincerity of your love. He gave himself for us. Gave all, didn't he? Gave up all. Left his father to cleave unto his bride. That's charity. That's love. That's the bond, it's the bond of perfectness, of maturity, of Christ-likeness. It'll keep us all together. If there's love there, we will stay together. We will.

If you're risen with Christ, if you're in Christ, if the love of God is in you, if you realize, if you keep in mind how he's loved you, how he's had mercy on you, how he's been so gracious to you, so kind to you, so long-suffering, he's covered your sins, he hasn't exposed you, you'll do the same. If you love, if you don't love, he won't last. If you don't love Christ, the gospel, you will leave, you will leave. So he said, verse 15 and 16, let the peace of God rule in your heart. That'll keep you from anger and wrath and malice, peace of God. Our Lord was full of peace and comfort.

He knew, Sister Helen, from the day he was born, he knew he was going to the cross. He knew his whole life he would be despised and rejected to men. He knew that this whole world would hate him and want to kill him. He'd have very few friends on it. He knew that when he was going to that cross, God was going to forsake him. His father was going to forsake him. He had to. He had to. But he had peace, didn't he? Why?

It's God's purpose. Everything, it's God's purpose. Like he said, we all meant it for evil. We with wicked hands took and crucified the Lord of glory, but God meant it for good. The greatest display of goodness, Christ crucified. This is the peace of God that will keep your minds and hearts no matter what happens. Let it rule in your heart to the which you're called, peace in one body. called to peace, make peace. Be thankful for whatever the Lord sends, for everything and everything, give thanks. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.

Go back and go through this. You know, there's a hundred years experience in preaching and pastor that went into this message. My pastor and I did this. commentary over and over and over. I heard him preach for years between the two of us about a hundred years and that it goes way back beyond that thousands of years.

The word of God let these things rule in your hearts don't be given And this goes right back to the beginning, don't get your mind, your affection off things down here or you're gonna be full of trouble. Get your mind, your heart, your nose in the book. And let the peace of God rule and the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Teaching, admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns. Everybody's not called to be a teacher or a preacher, but we can do it in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing, with grace in your hearts, the Lord. A good testimony, a happy countenance, a peaceful testimony and enduring these things with grace in your heart is a good, is very encouraging and comforting to your brethren that are going through the same thing.

The old saying, misery loves company. And I don't want to be around somebody miserable. So comfort one another, he swore. There is no comfort anywhere else. None. He's a God of all comfort. There is no comfort, no counsel, no comfort from anybody or anything, so stop listening to him. Anybody but our Lord, he swore. Stop, shut your ears. Let your affection, let the word of God dwell in your rich life.

Singing. I keep telling us this, sing. If you're feeling down, start singing. But I'm too sad to sing. Yeah, you are. Our Lord was going to the cross. They just got up from the, he's gonna go in there and sweat blood. He said, let's sing. They sang a hymn, didn't they? I don't know, marching desire? It's just short. These troubles are just short. And that's eternal. Is this a help to you? I hope. Stand with me.