I invite you this morning to
turn with me to Colossians chapter 3. So let's read together my text
over here in Colossians chapter 3 verse 1. I'll be preaching
from the first four verses, Colossians chapter 3. 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 of the earth. For you're 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. And I hope it is God's message
to every one of us. Not just from me to you, but
to me and you. A Savior sitting with God. That's what these verses are
talking about. They're talking about a Savior, not one who wants
to sit with God or hopes to sit with God, but a Savior who's
sitting with God. Now God warns us that in the
last days, that's what we're living in, it's been the last
days since Christ appeared on this earth. Scripture said, once
in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of himself. We're living in the end of the
world. And God warns us that in these
last days perilous times shall come. We're living in those days. Men should be lovers of them
own selves. That is love themselves. All
you got to do is listen to them, you can see that. They're lovers
of them own selves. They're covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents. unthankful, unholy, without natural
effect. He said there'll be truth breakers
and false accusers, that is liars, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good. They're traitors. Hitty. Look down their nose at you.
Always think they're above you. Hitty. high-minded and lovers
of pleasures more than lovers of God. They'll put their pleasures
above God every time. They'll have a form of godliness.
Oh, I thought you was talking about men of the world. I ain't. I ain't. Because a man says I'm
a Christian don't mean that he's a believer. They'll have a form of godliness,
but in that form they will deny the power thereof. The power
of the transformation, the power of regeneration, the power of
a new heart and a new mind. The power of God that works in
believers. It's God that worketh in you
both to will and to do of His good pleasure. They deny the power thereof.
Now listen, from such, turn away. Don't cultivate their friendship. Don't cultivate their company. Stay away from them. Do you know the Lord called this
world that we live in this present evil world? When he talked about our looking
forward in time, what did he say? Don't do it. Why? Because sufficient is the
what? Evil of the day. You've got enough
to deal with today, and most of it is evil. Sufficient is
the evil of the day. You just deal with today. You
be thankful for today. Don't boast about tomorrow. He calls it this present evil
world. He tells us that all that's in
the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. It's of the world. And the world
before the flood is the same as it is right now. Now let that sink in. They didn't
think that anything was coming to, anything was going to happen. They weren't at home saying,
what are we going to do? God was going to flood the world.
It had never rained. They didn't do that. But what
did they do? They went out and made fun of
God's preaching. That's what they did. Crazy old man building an office. But the condition of the world
at that time is the same as it is now. Exactly the same. That's what Peter said. It's
exactly the same. As the world was then, the world
is now, condemned under the curse of God and awaiting judgment. We have but one hope, and that
is a Savior sitting with God. That's the only hope we have. All these other hopes have been
misproven. All these other hopes have been
shot down, discovered a failure. The Holy Ghost said in Romans
8, 34, who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather,
who is even at the right hand of God. He's sitting with God. And he's not just sitting in
a room with God, he's sitting at the right hand of God. The
right hand of fellowship, the right hand of favor, the right
hand of authority, the right hand of power. He's sitting at
the right hand of God. Now listen, this sitting Savior
also maketh intercession for us. That's why He's sitting there. Now here's our hope of Savior
sitting with God. Let's look carefully at these
verses and I'll point out as much time will allow. The apostle
begins his exhortation with an if, an if. There are many ifs in the scriptures.
I'll give you a couple. He's presented us, I quoted that
to you this morning out of Colossians, he presented us who were enemies in our mind
by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of
his flesh through death to present us holy, unblameable, unreprovable,
if, if we continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not
moved away from the hope of the gospel, which we've heard. Paul said Christ is a son over
his own house, whose house we are in. if we hold fast the confidence
and rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. And there's many
such passages in the Word of God. But here's what I want you
to see. They're not there to cause doubts
and fears. That's not why he put them there.
That's not what the if is all about. They're not inspired of
God to keep God's people from having assurance. Paul told the
Thessalonians that he knew their election of God because they
had much assurance. They heard his gospel, it came
in power, it came in the Holy Spirit, and it came with much
assurance. If God didn't mean for you to
have assurance, Paul certainly wouldn't have used that as evidence
of their election. And he tells them that he's looking
and understanding and perceiving but their assurance before the
Savior, and he proves that. God the Holy Spirit has put these
ifs into the Scriptures to expose false hopes. That's why those
ifs are there. They expose a false hope, false
refuges, deceitful men who teach such things. That's why the ifs
are there. Brother Tim James said one time
in a meeting, if you take all these ifs and put them on a silver
chain and just hang them around the neck of the sacred, all the
ifs, he satisfied all the ifs, didn't he? He fulfilled all the
ifs. Our hope is a sure, effectual,
accomplished redemption being fully reconciled to God by the
death of his son. Colossians 1.20 said, we are
reconciled in the body of his flesh through death. And he presents
us as such holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in God's sight. And the if that follows this
verse is simply telling us that our hope is a sufficient hope
and we have no reason to ever abandon it. We're not of them
who draw back to perdition. Brother Fortner used to say,
God's children should never be discovered a miscarriage. And that's what he's talking
about. Everybody that God has purposed
to save, He has saved and He will save. Not one going to be
left behind. Because our great high priest
has a continuing priesthood, He is able to save to the uttermost. Them that come unto God by Him.
And there's no other way to come unto God but by Him. There's nothing in Him or about
Him to cause any believer to ever leave Him. If you leave
Him, it has nothing to do with Him. It has to do with you. He's God come into the flesh.
Jesus Christ is love incarnate. Personified love. That's what
He is. Think about it. This is love
walking among men. Active love. He's the very embodiment of mercy. and grace. And the riches of His grace is
revealed to us, His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus, Ephesians
1 says. We're His workmanship, Paul said
in Ephesians 2, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. What
he's talking about, he's talking about faith, talking about repentance,
talking about worship, talking about love. We're his workmanship. Trials are not sent to prove
your worthiness, but to prove your faith to be genuine work
of God. That's what he's proving in the
trial. The only thing a trial's gonna burn away, we're gonna
be tried by fire, but the only thing a fire's gonna do is get
rid of the grass. Now if you're all grass, you're
all gone. You won't stand up to the trial.
But if you have the pure gold of faith, that's what's gonna
be left after the trial. Yeah, you see what I'm saying
here? Yeah. Secondly, he talks about being
risen with Christ. One of the great mysteries hidden
from the world and revealed in the gospel is the believer's
union with Christ. He's one with Christ. It's not Christ and then over
here is you. It's Christ in you. That's the
hope of glory. You're one. One with him. To be in Christ is to be counted
as one with Him. He chose us, He said, in Christ,
before the foundation of the world. Of Him, He said, are you
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. You see what I'm saying? This
is all about our union with Him. You, Hathi Quicken, who were
dead in trespasses, you see. He chose us in Christ. And to be in Christ is to be
counted as one with Him. There are certain laws and standards
by which salvation with man or of man is proven impossible. And now what our Lord said, with
man, this is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. And to be in Christ means that
you're a new creature. Old things are passed away. Old
laws, old standards, old situations, old conditions. I'm not tied
down anymore. If I'm in Christ, I'm not tied
down by the curse. I've had provision made for me
in Christ. I'm not subject to those things.
I'm not shut up to those things. New provision has been made for
me in Christ. Old things have passed away and
behold all things have become new. A new hope. I tell you, there's nothing worse
than when God reveals to you what you are and convinces you
of it. There's no hope in that. Oh, I tell you what. People can
talk all they want. One of these days I'm going to
get my life straightened out. No, you're not. No, you're not. You may rearrange
it, but you ain't going to straighten it out. You'll be as much an
enemy as God as you are right now. There's only one way for things
to change and that's to discover yourself to be in Christ. Well
how do you discover that? Through faith. Where does faith come? It comes
from hearing. And hearing by the word of the
Lord. Jesus Christ came into this world
as a representative man and as a substitute, and when he lived
that perfect life under the law and the holy demands of God,
I lived that life in him. He counts that life my life,
because I'm in union with him. When he died, satisfied God's
justice, I died. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised again for our justification. And in Ephesians 2.4, he said,
but God, we were by nature children of wrath, even as others. We
walked in our spiritual death, we walked according according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, spent
all of our days in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh, and were by nature children of
wrath, even as others, but God, who's rich in mercy for his great
love where when he loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
now watch this, I quickened us together, what's that mean? Made
us alive in one. That's what that means, quickened
us together with Christ. And then he puts this little
paraphrase after it, by grace ye are saved. All those He quickened together
with His Son, put into covenant union with His Son. That's it. He hasn't died yet. He will. He hasn't manifested a righteousness
yet. Yeah, He will. That's why He
can. That's why He did what He did. He quickened us together with
Christ by grace you're saved. Now watch this. verse 6, and
hath raised us up together in that union, and made us sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, the Savior, who now sitting
with God, I'm seated within. We sit together in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus via our union with Christ, And then he says
that, or in order that, in the ages to come he might show the
exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. How's he going to show it to
you? By your union with him. You see the connection? If you
then be risen with Christ. Who was risen with him? Those
that were chosen in him. Risen with Christ presupposes
our election in him, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, and to the praise of the glory
of his grace, wherein he made us accepted in the blood. All
of these things is all about our union with Christ. of God
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And these things cannot be, they
cannot be apart from a union with Christ. There's no way you
can explain them, no way you can define them. Everything begins
with our union with Him. And then thirdly, If you then be risen with Christ,
he said, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Two
things I want us to see here. First of all, that Christ is
sitting on the throne. You're not going to sit with
God unless you sit on the throne, because that's where he sits.
Absolute power, absolute sovereignty. He's not trying to get elected.
He's not out trying to get your vote or your decision. And He's
not out trying to get your old sinful heart. God hath made that same Jesus,
this is what was preached to those Jews at Pentecost who murdered
the Son of God. God hath made that same Jesus
whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Huh? The titles Lord and Christ are
both offices. He's Lord. What's that mean?
That means he's in charge. That means he runs the show. He dictates the terms. He's Lord. Who's he Lord of? Doesn't that
let him? No, he's Lord of the dead and the living. He arranges all things, brings
all things to pass. He's the Lord. And he's Lord
to the glory of God. Everything he does, he does according
to the will of God, his Father. I come to do thy will, O God. Our hope is secured in the sovereign
Christ, and Christ is the office of the promised Savior, the promised
Redeemer. Whenever you see that term Christ,
that's what he's talking about, the promised Redeemer, the one
God promised. Christ is the office of Him in
whom all the promises are now yea and amen, all the promises. A man, Brother Mahan, went to
seminary with. He'd been out of seminary for
a long time, probably 20 years. And he was pastoring that church
up in Ashland, 13th Street Baptist Church. And he lived about three
blocks away, and he was walking to church one spring morning.
And this man that he went to seminary with was also there
in Ashland. either visiting or pastoring
a church there. I forget which. I think he was
visiting. He was a visiting preacher. And he was walking the church.
And he spied Brother Mahan, recognized him, and came over to his side
of the street and introduced himself. Brother Mahan
remembered him, and he said, Brother Henry, he said, are you
still saved? And Henry said, well, I don't
know. He said, is Christ still on the throne? Because that's my Savior. If
He's not on the throne, I'm not saved. If there's something or
someone more powerful than Him, then I'm not saved. Everything's still up in the
air. But if He's seated at the right
hand of God, I'm saved. I'm saved. These things all being so, and
they are concerning every true believer, the gospel is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. He's the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Everyone
that is of the truth, he said, heareth my voice. And these things
being so, Paul said, set your affection on things above. Why do we love what God's going
to burn up? Huh? It's set for destruction. And
we ought to know it. We're believers. Set your affection on things
above. This life, I'm telling you, the
older I get, the more I realize it. It's just a vapor. It's just
here for a minute and then it's gone. One day you're strong,
you can do this, you can do that, next day you can't do anything. Set your affection on things
above. Why? Because things up there
don't change. There's no age up there, Russell.
That's immortality. This mortal must put on immortality. Things up there are not going
to change. Things up there are permanent. Everything down here
changes. Change, change, change. All around
me I see. Most things on earth are marked
out for destruction. Peter said, The day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night, into which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat. The earth also, and all the works
that are therein shall be burned up. What manner of things? If we
know this is so, and it is, what manner of persons ought we to
be? All the glorious inventions and
buildings and technology and natural wonders will be dissolved
in a minute. The only things that shall escape
this judgment are such things as enter into the ark, Christ
Jesus. Everyone chosen in Him, called
to Him, shall come to Him. And there is but one eternal
hope, and that hope is our sitting Lord. And those who know Him,
and know His will, and know His doctrine, and know His people,
they know their end. They love Him, and they love
His gospel, and they love His ministers, and they love one
another. Oh, but He said this, He said this. Oh, give me a break. My soul, they haven't done anything
to you. compared to what you've done
to the Lord, have they? You can't even compare what somebody's
done to you to what you've done to him. Be kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Oh, you should have
heard what he said. Get over it. Get over it. My soul, what if
God treated you by those same standards? Be you kind one to
another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, now
listen, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. Is there any reason for us to
divide? Nothing. Yeah, but I forgave
him and then he did it again. How many times do I have to forgive
him? Seven times seventy. How many times the Lord forgive
you? Set your affection on things
above, not, you hear me, not on the things of this earth.
Why? All kinds of reasons, but chiefly because we're dead. Isn't
that what he says there in that verse? And our life is hid with
Christ in God. Where's he at in heaven? Our death and burial has already
come to pass. The vanity of our treasures has
already been revealed. Everything holy, heavenly, and
eternal has been given us in Christ Jesus. And this world
has nothing in comparison to offer. better than our Lord has
with heaven itself. The Lord took Brother Larry Brown
home. There was a lot of things that he loved. You couldn't convince
him with all, if you had complete command of the English language,
you could not convince him by anything to come back. God has hidden our life where
it's the most secured, in His Son. In His Son. He's hidden our life where no
enemy can penetrate. Not the flesh, not the world,
not satanic religion. None of these things can touch
the believer's life. God said to Satan, you can do
anything you want to do to the devil, but you can't touch his
life. His life is secure. His life is hid with Christ and
God. And then lastly, when Christ
hears our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. Somebody said there's going to
be three surprises. Going to be three surprises.
He said, first of all, when you get to heaven, all them folks
you thought was going to be there won't be there. The next surprise is all them
folks that you knew wasn't going to heaven will be there. But the biggest surprise is if
you're in heaven. That'll be the big surprise.
Huh? Oh. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. What will that be? Huh? Not just to be in heaven, not
just to have everlasting life, but to be with Him. in heaven,
the very glory of heaven, the very Son of God to be with him. Our Lord appeared in eternity
past in the book of Revelation chapter 5 and he said he took
the book of God's eternal counsel and will and opened the seals. He's the only one of good. Much
weeping. John went. Nobody was worthy
to take that book, but Christ appeared. He was worthy. He was
worthy. He appeared as he was promised,
being virgin born. A child was born, a son was given. He appeared in this earth as
he was promised of God. He appeared one time in the end
of the world as a substitute for chosen sinners. By his own
blood he entered in once into the holy place and obtained eternal
redemption for us. He appeared to Moses and Elijah,
with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. And one more time shall he appear. And he's going to appear without
sin unto salvation. And when he shall appear, It
says, then shall you also appear with him in glory. This is the hope of every saved
sinner. Christ in you. What Christ? That Christ who's sitting with
God. That's the Christ. When will
sinners lay aside this earthly thing and lay hold of Christ? Something better. And that something
better is in Christ. I've told you many times, the
Stoniker family owned a seafood restaurant down in Louisiana. And my first wife and I were
in there eating. They had a seafood kind of smorgasbord
and we was all in there eating. This family was over there and
it was wintertime They'd finished eating, and boy, that little
boy, they had these little half ears of corn, and they was in
a spiced butter. There was nothing better than
them, I'll skip. And that little kid had that,
he'd been eating on it for 20 minutes. And he was down to the
cob, and he was still getting butter out of that cob. And they
was ready to go, and they tried to get him to drop that ear of
corn and put his coat on, and he wouldn't do it. And after
a while, the dad budded in. The mama couldn't do it, and
the dad budded in, and he started threatening that little boy.
And that little boy just, he'd grab that ear of corn and squeeze
both hands, and he'd just shake all over. He wasn't gonna turn
loose that ear of corn. And we'd been watching and watching and
watching. Finally, Marvin's daddy came over. And he said, I don't
normally bud in, but he said, I think I can get him to turn
loose with that corn. And they said, well, we tried
everything. You go ahead. He pulled out a Hershey bar.
And boy, that kid turned loose with that corn and reached for
that Hershey bar. When you see something better,
I mean see it. Know what it is. Perceive what
it is. When you see something better,
oh, now you're going to reach out for it. Now you're going
to seek him. Now you're going to come to Him.
Now you're going to bow to Him when you see something better.