Turn back to Colossians chapter
3. There is a whole host in glory that know, perfectly know and
adore Jesus Christ as all in all. He has perfect worship there
from them. He has all their attention. He has all their love. Could
you imagine tonight if you really could, and I at this hour, really
could give all our attention and thoughts to Him right now? I read to you over in Revelation,
they sang, Worthy is the Lamb. They're still singing it. They
are still singing it. And he is everything there. Everything. When John looked at the throne,
he said, I saw a lamb as it had been slain. He is praised in
his sacrificial character. He's the lamb. Now, Paul is exhorting the believers
here in Colossae to seek, to put forth real effort, to really strive, as Paul said
in Philippians, press toward the mark. To really strive for
those things which are above. Those things that are eternal. I know that I spend a lot of
my during the day, and you do too, out working, and you're
having to take care of these temporal things. And these temporal
things get in the way. And the more stuff you have,
the more stuff gets in the way. And sometimes it gets hard to
set your mind on these things. But that's why being here as
often as we can helps us. It really helps us to set our
minds once again. It's kind of like setting the
clock once again, getting the time right. It's setting it once
again on things above. And it's my responsibility as
a pastor to stand here and exhort you and myself to set our minds
on things above and to seek them, to seek them. Seek these things
earnestly. Seek these heavenly things. These
earthly things are temporary. Oh, how temporary they are. Just
temporary. Seek these things as peace and
the love of God that's in Christ. What would you give for that?
What would you give for just peace with God? What would you give to have the
love of God shed abroad in the heart? Well, a person who puts
great value upon that will strive for it, seek it. They'll lay
themselves out to it, to finding it. And set your heart, because
there's no other way to seek them. The only way to seek these
things which are above is to set the heart. See, that set,
you know, you set something. This is like when Paul went to
Corinth, he said, I am determined not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Be determined. You ever hear, you know, I know
you've heard this, that person is set in his ways. Be set in
your way to this. Be set in it. Set your heart,
your mind. You see, everything has to pass
through the mind if it's going to get to the heart anyway. But
set your very being to this. Your affection, set your affection
on things above. Our affection is to be set on
Christ and His kingdom. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and His righteousness and all these things will be added
to you. How much, I can ask myself this, how much more simple Would
life be if I would actually do that? How much more simple would
it be? If I could set my heart to seek
those things which are above, to seek His kingdom, to seek
His face, to seek His love and seek His peace, the journey wouldn't be nearly
as hard. I make it hard. I've learned this after 53 years.
I make this journey harder than it should be. I add a lot of
afflictions to it. But set your heart to it. And
to seek these things with the whole heart. Seek it with the
whole heart. Proverbs 23, 26 says this, My
son, give Me thine heart. Give Me thine heart. Whoever
or whatever has your heart has you. That's who has you, who
has your heart. And we need to continually be
reminded, and this is why God sends trials and heartaches,
we need to continually be reminded to hold to these earthly things
loosely. They come and they go. They come and they go. perishing
things of clay. And here's another reason. Seek
those things which are above, for you're dead. You're dead. You're dead to this world. You're
dead to sin. That's what Paul says over in
Romans 6. You're dead. You're dead to the moral law.
You're dead to the ceremonial law. You're dead to the judicial
law. You're dead to these things by
the body of Christ. They have no claims on you. Only a person who has been given
life in Christ knows what that means. They know what it means
to be free from the law. Free from the curse of the law.
Free from the demands of the law. Free from it. When the Son sets free, He's
free indeed. Free. Free. And dead to sin's damning power,
through Christ bearing it on the cross. He bore our sins in
His body on the tree. When He was in the garden of
Gethsemane and He sweat great drops of blood and He said, Father,
if it will, if Thou wilt, let this cup pass from Me. He wasn't
talking about that death because He came to die. But this thing
of being made sin This thing of being made sin
and God dealing with him as a sinner under his wrath. He set us free from that. We're
set free from that. Free from it. And Paul is exhorting
them and us, now live like you're dead to these things. Live like
you're dead to them. Don't let them get a hold of
you. Don't let them grab you and keep you. No, live like you're
dead to these things. And live like you're alive to
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Live unto Him. You can do that
while you go to work, while you go to the mall. You can do that.
He says live like it. Live like you're dead to these
things and alive to God Almighty. Because your life Your real life
is hid. Don't you think Satan would like
to get a hold of that? But he can't touch it. It's hid with
Christ in God. It's not hid someplace in a corner. It's not hid someplace in a safe.
Our life is hid in God Almighty. It can't be touched. It's the
life of God. Your life, he says, is the life
of God. It's hid, and it's hid in Him. Your eternal life that you have
in Christ, it's real. It's not something I'm going
to have. It's something I do have. And the more you realize
that, the more you can enjoy it. It's real, and it's in Christ
who is our life. And it's to be enjoyed now. And it's to be enjoyed in God. This also shows us the safety
of it. If it were hid in a safe, somebody
would crack it. But here's the safety of our
life that we have in Christ. It's in God. There's the safety
of it. Can't be destroyed. Satan cannot
touch you. Satan went to God over Job. He said, all right, you can touch.
You can touch what he had. But you know what he said? You
don't touch his life. You can't touch his life. It's
hid. It's in God. It's in God. No one can touch
you. And God's the source of it. God
is the source of this life that he's speaking of here. He's the
source of it. And when Christ, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, when Christ who is our life, He said,
because I live, you shall live also. The life we have is His
life. It's Him. It's Him. When He shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory. Christ, who is eternal life, is our life. He is our life here
and He is our life hereafter. And when He shall appear, we
cannot see Him now. He is in heaven. He is seated
at God's right hand. But soon, soon, the Lord shall
appear. He's going to appear again. He's
going to come and be admired of all His servants, by all His
servants, all His saints. And when this happens, we shall
appear with Him in glory with a new glorified body. I'm glad to get rid of this one.
I'm wearing it out quick. It's wearing out quick on me.
I'm glad to get rid of it. This body doesn't get better,
never will get better. It's just going down, down, down.
It decays. It decays every day. I don't
care how hard we work at it, how hard we exercise at it, it's
going down. This building is coming down.
This body of clay is coming down. But when He shall appear, We
are going to appear with Him in glory. We are going to share
in His glory. And we are going to have a glorified
body like His. Then shall we appear with Him.
Then we shall enjoy the full perfection, the full perfection
of our union with Him. Oh, we're going to enjoy that
full perfection of our union to Him. And then we'll really
know what it's all about. And because of this, Paul says
here, In verse 5, he said, now because of this, is what he's
leading up to, mortified therefore. Therefore, because of this, mortify. Therefore, your members which
are upon the earth, mortify the body of indwelling sin. He's talking about these men.
He's not talking about my arms or my legs. He's talking about
that body of indwelling sin which uses my bodily members. He says,
put the dead. That old man, that old nature,
don't feed it. That's what he's saying. It's
like feeding the bears. Sooner or later, it will bite
you. Stand too close to a fire, it
will burn you. And that's what Paul's saying
here. Mortify, fight against it. It's not dead, and you have
to fight against it. And what he gives us here in
these next few verses is that there is a distinct nature that's
evil. And there's one that's born of
God. that does not sin. And that's the one you feed.
That's the one you nourish. Mortify the body of indwelling
sin, which uses this old body, this old clay body, to fulfill
its lusts and desires. He says put it to death. Put
it to death. And then he mentions the sins
here. And it's the sins of that old nature That old rotten Adamic
nature that we were born with, that original sin, sinful nature. He says here, which are upon
the earth, mortified therefore your members, which are upon
the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
and covetous, which is idolatry. Nothing good is said about it,
is it? There's not one good thing said about that old nature we
were born with. Everything about it is absolutely
corrupt. Everything about it is wretched.
It has to be laid into grave. It has to be. He said put it
to death because this is what brings the wrath of God on the
children of disobedience. That's why, you know, God's wrath
is coming against sin. It was taken out on our substitute.
This is what he was This is what he suffered and died for. That
same wrath that's coming on the children of disobedience came
and fell on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't have to bear that.
We don't have to bear that, because He put it away. He put it away. "...into which you also walked."
You were just as guilty. You say, well, I didn't have
done any of those things. Paul says you walked in them.
If you didn't do it outwardly, you did it inwardly. You can
mark it down. You walked in them. You lived
in them. You even gloried in your shame
in them. It says he said here, into which
you also walked sometime when you lived in them. You wallowed
in it. You know, believers face up to
sin, don't they? They do. our sinfulness, our
wretchedness, and we seek mercy and grace and forgiveness. You're
right. We lived in it. Drink iniquity
like water at one time. At one time. But now also, he
says, put off all these. Put these off also. Sins of the
tongue and of the spirit. Anger. Do you ever get angry? We still get angry, don't we?
Man's born of God. Never going to get angry again.
Oh, you'll get angry again. You'll get angry again. He says,
put it off. Fight against it. Recognize where it's coming from.
Recognize which nature it's coming from. You ever think of something
and you say, that's not of God. You have thoughts and you say,
I know that's not of God. That thought's not of the Lord. Wrath. The wrath of man doesn't work
with the righteousness of God. Malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. We're not capable of any of this
now. Yes, we are. Yes, we are. We still have that old nature.
And I'll tell you what, if you feed it, that's what's going
to come out. That's what you're going to get
tripped up with, these things. Lie not one to another. Be honest
with one another. I don't lie anymore. God saved
me. I tell you what, only by the
grace of God are we honest. God's people are honest people
by His grace. By His grace. Seeing you have put off You've
put off, you don't wear this old man. He's not the dominant
person. That's why he's saying he's not
the dominant person. Anyway, put off the old man with
his deeds. These are his trademarks. This
is how you will know him. By these things that Paul has
mentioned. Put him off. And put on. Put on. Just like you would Clean
suit. You put off a dirty suit, you
put on a clean suit. He says, put on, wear, feed,
nourish, take care of this new man. And have put on the new
man, which is renewed, that is regenerated, created. That's what he's saying there.
This new man, he is regenerated. He's a regenerated man. He's
the new created man. He says, put him on which is
renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.
This new man is created, it says over in Ephesians 4, in righteousness
and true holiness. Put him on, feed him, nourish
him. This is the man to feed. This
is. This is the man from the Lord.
This is the man that's renewed in knowledge and daily, daily
renewed and daily he grows in grace and knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And his life is continually coming
from the Lord Jesus Christ. Continually coming from Christ. And Paul says here in verse 11. As far as this new man is concerned,
that's created in the image of Him who created Him. In this new man, Christ is all. Christ is all. He's all in all
to this new man. All in all. In Him, He says here
in verse 11, where there is neither Greek nor Jew. There's no religious differences. No intellectual differences.
Circumcision or uncircumcision? Barbarians or the Scythians? Bond? Those who are enslaved
or free? Those who are the masters. There's
no difference in Christ. Because he says, in Christ, all
are one and Christ is all. In Christ, all are one and Christ
is all. He's all and in all. And if we
are going to make any progress in salvation, if we'll make any
progress in prayer, if we make any progress at all in grace
and in knowledge of Christ, it will be when Christ is all. Man will not be saved until Christ
is all and in all. He is the sum and substance of
the gospel. He's the very heart of the gospel. He is the good news of the gospel. Christ is. He's all. In the Scriptures,
the Lord Jesus Christ is all. It says in Acts 10.43, to Him
give all the prophets witness. This book is a revelation of
Jesus Christ. And in the Scripture we find
that Christ is all in eternity. Listen to this in Proverbs 8.30.
Then I was by him as one brought up with him. I
was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. Before the
heavens and the earth were created, before anything existed, he was
the delight of the Father. He delighted in Him. He rejoiced
in Him. In eternity, He's all. And the
Scriptures teach us that in creation, He's all. He's all and in all. The Scripture says all things
were made by Him. And without Him was not anything
made that was made. Everything that exists was made
by that man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He's all. Not only were all things
made by Him, all things it says were made for Him. Look over
here in Colossians 1, verse 16. For by Him, that is Christ, were
all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him." God didn't make this world for
me. He made it for His Son. That's who He made it for. All things were made By Jesus
Christ, all things were made for Jesus Christ, all things
are for His glory. Even the wicked were made for
Him to serve His purpose. The Scriptures teach us that
Christ is also all, and a man will make no progress in salvation
until he learns this. He is all in every way. in salvation. It's not his part
and my part. It's not he did most of it and
I've got to do some of it. He is absolutely, absolutely,
1,000% all in salvation. He is all in the accomplishment
of salvation. He had no partner in this. He
had no partner in it. And when he walked this earth
and it says he tread the winepress alone. along. I didn't help him. You didn't
help him. No one during that day helped him. The whole accomplishment of salvation
was laid upon his shoulders. God said, God the Father said,
I have laid help upon one that is mighty. It's all in His. It's all on His shoulders. Thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall, not we shall, not us,
but He shall save His people from their sins. That's good
news. That's good news. He's all in
all in reconciliation. It says in 2 Corinthians 5.18,
and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to Himself
by Jesus Christ. Look over here, let me see if
I can find it, over here in verse 20 of chapter 1, verse 19. For
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell,
all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Jesus Christ, and have
Him made peace through the blood of His cross by Him, by Christ,
to reconcile all things unto Himself. You know, usually The
person who does the reconciling, or tries to do the reconciling,
is the one who did the offending. And they try to reconcile and
make amends. But here, the offended one is
the one who steps forward and does the reconciling. We were
enemies in our minds, it says, by wicked works. He reconciled
us. He reconciled us to God's law.
He reconciled us to justice. And then He reconciled us to
Himself Gave us a new birth. Brought us to Himself. Gave us
a nature to love Him. Gave us a nature that was reconciled
to Him. He's all in all in reconciliation. And you that were sometime alienated,
in verse 21, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you. And here's how He presents you.
Unblameable, unreprovable in His sight. He reconciled you. That's how you stand before God.
That's how God sees you. And that's exactly the way it
is, the way God sees it. You stand before God reconciled. You stand before God in Christ,
holy, unblameable, unreprovable. Now, that's the way you stand.
now in Christ before God. And then he's all in all in satisfaction. He's the one who satisfied justice.
It wasn't me and him. It was him. He's the one who
pleased the Father. He's the one who gave obedience,
a satisfactory obedience. He's the one who gave it. That He's all in all in our justification. We are justified in Him. In Christ
we're justified. Completely cleared of all charges. Justified. He's all in all in
election. He's the elect and we were chosen
in Him. We were chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ, but He's the
elect. He's the one that we were chosen in. He's all in all in faith. He's
the author of it, and He's the finisher of it. He starts it,
and He'll finish it. He'll finish it. And faith lives
upon Him. He's the object of it. The just
shall live by faith. But they live by faith. They
live upon Him. They live looking to Him daily. Daily we look to Him. He's all in all in our preaching. Take Christ out of our preaching,
we have nothing to say. We have no hope. We have no good
news. We have nothing to leave here
and talk about. If you take Christ out of preaching, He's all we
have to preach. He's all of it. And He's all that we need. I'll
wind this up. He's all that we need under all
circumstances. He's all we need under all trials. It does not matter how severe
the trial is. Christ is all I need. He can
care. When you go through the waters,
He said, I'll go with you. I won't stand on the other side
and watch you and make sure nothing happens. No, I'll go with you. Are you sick? Is He not the Great
Physician? Is He not the Great Physician? Your heart broke? Is He not the
Comforter? Is He not the God of all comfort?
Poor? Is He not rich? Weary? Is He not rest? Troubled is He
not our peace? He's all we need under all circumstances. He's my sin offering. He's my
advocate. He's my great high priest. He's
my hope. He's my life. Whatever I need,
I have in Him. whatever I need. And God sends
trials along to make us realize this and find it out. We believe
it and then you have to live it. Then you find it out. He's all I need. And then Christ
is all. He's all in all in glory. We will spend eternity worshiping
the Lamb of God who redeemed us from our sins. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. Worthy. He's all in all in heaven. It says in Hebrews 1, 6, He saith
that all the angels of God worship Him. That all the angels of God
fall bow down and worship the Lord Jesus Christ who is all
and in all.