That was good, Ruth, thank you. Colossians 3, brethren, it's
always good to be with you. I'm always so eager when I get
to come here, and I'm so thankful to be here with you. My subject is mortified thereby,
mortified thereby. Preach on this subject a few
times in the past year, and I'm going to try to, by God's grace,
give it another shot this morning. Mortify thereby. Now, Paul is
going to set forth here some instruction for believers to
put off our old man and put on the new man. And he's going to
list some deeds of the flesh here, some thoughts of the flesh
and deeds of the flesh to put off and he's going to list some
graces, some fruit of the spirit to put on. Now there is some
preaching you will hear in this world that would spend about
40 minutes telling you how to put off these deeds of the flesh
and how to put on these fruit of the spirit. And then at the
end they tack on about five minutes of something about Christ and
everybody go home thinking that if they put these deeds off and
they do these positive things, that's how they'll be made righteous,
or that's how they'll be made holy, that's how they'll be saved.
And all of that, really, if anybody leaves here thinking they can
make themselves righteous or holy by any of these things that
are spoken of here, that is actually committing everything spiritually
that we're being told to put off here. If we leave thinking
we can be made righteous or holy by doing any of these things,
that's actually committing spiritually everything here we're told to
put off. Now, I want to pick up in Colossians 2, and I want
to read my text, and I want you to see the context, and I think
you'll see why I'm saying, I'm tired of this mortified thereby.
Watch now, Colossians 2.20. Paul said, if you be dead with
Christ, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world. In other places, he calls the
rudiments of the world the elements of the law or the laws of God,
the ordinances and things. That's the rudiments of the world,
the dietary laws and different things. He says, now, if you're
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though
living in the world, Why are you acting as though your life's
in this world? And here's what he means. Why, as though living in the
world, are you subject to ordinances? Touch not, taste not, handle
not, which are all to perish with the using, after the commandments
and doctrines of men. which things have indeed a show
of wisdom in will worship and humility, that is false humility,
and a neglecting of the body, but not any honor to the satisfying
of the flesh. He's saying these things not
only do not mortify your flesh, But if you mind the things of
the flesh, if you mind touch not, taste not, handle not, try
to focus on putting off this and putting on that and acting
a certain way, you focus your attention on the things of this
flesh, and it'll actually inflame your flesh. The flesh loves that. Our flesh loves a good show of
will worship. And it's nothing but a vain show. That's all it is, is a vain show.
But look here what he says next. Verse 1, Colossians 3, 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. Notice it's singular there. This
is the simplicity of Christ. This is the singularity of Christ.
Have your heart set in one place on Christ above, not on things
on the earth, Not focusing on touch, not taste, not handle,
not. For you are dead and your life
is hid with Christ in God. Now he's only speaking to God's
saints here. This only applies to those that
trust Christ to be there all. But for you, this applies to
you. You are dead with Christ. You are risen with Christ and
Christ is your life at God's right hand. And when Christ who
is our life shall appear, then shall you also appear with him
in glory. That's when our flesh is going to be put off. And we're
going to be perfectly conformed to Christ and we'll be with him
in glory. Mortify therefore. And the word here could be translated
mortified thereby. By looking to Christ. By having
your affection set on Christ. That's how you mortify your members
which are upon this earth. Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, all of which are
idolatry, all of those are idolatry. For which things sake the wrath
of God cometh on the children of disobedience, into which you
also walked sometime when you lived in them. But now you also
put off all these, anger, wrath, madness, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
that you've put off the old man with his deeds and have put on
the new, which is renewed in knowledge after the image that
created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is
all and in all. You see, this is how the Spirit
of God is saying that we mortify the deeds of the flesh. It's
not, it's a paradox, really. Natural religion, thanks to the
way that you mortify the deeds of your flesh is, they stand
up and preach these messages on how to mortify the deeds of
your flesh, what you need to be doing to mortify the deeds
of your flesh, what you need to be doing to put on the new
man. Paul said, if you want to mortify the deeds of your flesh,
you set your heart on Christ above. Let me ask you, when you hear
the gospel preached, Do you regard yourself at all? When you hear
Christ magnified, do you even regard yourself at all? You treat
yourself as a dead thing. And that's how our flesh is mortified.
When the Spirit of the Lord does this through returning you to
Christ, then the Spirit of God will make us put off the old
man and put on the new. But we'll give him the glory
for doing it. So I want to focus our attention this morning on
Christ and we'll see We'll seek those things above, and we'll
look at these things together. Paul said up in Colossians 2
verse 9, he said, in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you're complete in him, complete in him, which is
the head of all principality and power. Paul knew these brethren
had been called by the Lord. He knew they had been given faith
by the Lord, and he knew that they trusted Christ as all their
salvation. But just like with every church
Paul preached to, some folks had come in and they were saying
that, that's all right, but you need to be looking at yourself
and you need to be doing this and that and the other and mortifying
the flesh. And Paul keeps telling them,
you don't just go to these things he says here in chapter three,
go back to what he began with. He began telling these saints
that you're meat for heaven. He said, God the Father has made
you meet for heaven. Look back at Colossians chapter
1. Colossians chapter 1. He said, verse 3, we give thanks
to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying for
you always since we heard of your faith, for the hope laid
up for you in heaven. And then look at, look at, At first, let me figure out where
I put it. Right here, verse 12. Given thanks
to the Father which has made us meet. See that? Given thanks
to the Father which has made us meet. That word is fit. Fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. That thief on the cross, as soon
as the Lord gave him faith, and he asked the Lord to have mercy
on him, remember him. Our Lord said, you'll be with
me today in paradise. That thief didn't have to do
a thing. He had his feet and his hand nailed to a cross. He
was meat. He was fit for heaven. How'd he get so? by what God
the Father did for him in Christ Jesus our Lord. He said, God
the Father's made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. He's delivered us from the power
of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son. You see how that's past tense? He hath delivered us. He hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. And in Christ, we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. You see how Paul is
pointing them to Christ above? This is where he starts. He points
them to Christ above. Look over here now at Colossians
2. Look at Colossians 2 and verse 11. How did we come to be fit
for heaven? How did we come to be complete
in Christ? Colossians 2 11. He says. In Christ, you 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 you're risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God who has raised him from the
dead. Now look at Christ on the cross right here. This is the
circumcision made without hands. In Christ on the cross, our Lord
Jesus Christ bore all the sins of all God's elect, and God poured
out on him the curse. He made him a curse in place
of his people, and he did it justly. He was bearing the sin
of his people. And because he bore that curse,
he was immersed, baptized in the judgment of God. That's the
judgment that the Lord Jesus Christ said, I have a baptism
to be baptized with and how I'm straight until it be accomplished.
That's the circumcision made without hands. Christ was burying
our sins in his body on the tree and he bore the curse so that
in Christ, the old man that sent each one of God's saints and
each of you that are born of God, your old man, You still
have an old man, but before the law, before the law of God, before
the judgment seat of God, your old man was judged in Christ
on Calvary's cross. And whenever Christ cried, it's
finished, he had satisfied the justice of God for his people.
And our old man died in Christ and was buried when Christ went
that tomb. And when Christ came out of that tomb, Our new man
came out of that tomb in Christ and we arose in Christ and we
sat down in Christ at God's right hand. That's why Paul says, if
you're risen with Christ, that's how we came to be risen with
Christ. It was the faith of the operation of God. And then our
Lord came to us. We were dead in our sins. And
he came to us through the preaching of the gospel of Christ. And
verse 13 says, And you, being dead in your sins, and the earth's
circumcision your flesh, if ye quicken together with him, He
gave you faith to trust Christ, and through faith in Christ,
he's forgiven you all your trespasses. He blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took the law out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made sure of them,
openly triumphing over them in it. So the spirit of God came
to us when the gospel was being preached. You sat in there one
day, like you are today, Hearing the gospel preached. I tried
every way in the world not to hear the gospel. Before the Lord
saved me, I tried every way in the world not to hear what was
being preached. I had to go. My grandfather was preaching
the gospel. But I didn't want to go. And
I sat there and tried to make paper airplanes and everything
else and sit as far back in the back as I could and not hear
a word. I had my heart was like the walls of Jericho and I wasn't
going to hear. But the Lord could bring those
walls down. And he sent forth the gospel. And that's what happened
to each one of you. The Lord sent the gospel into
your heart. He made you hear for the first
time. He made you hear. He made you agree with God that,
yes, I am the sinner. And he made you agree with God
that I have to have Christ. That's the only way I can be
accepted of God. There's nothing I can do to be
accepted. That's what happened to that thief on the cross. He's
cussing the Lord one minute and the next minute he turns around
to that other thief and says, we're in the same shape and us
justly. This man done nothing wrong.
He's bearing somebody's sin. That's what that thief was saying.
And that thief said, Lord, remember me. And that's where you were
brought. You were brought to fall down at Christ's feet and
say, Lord, just remember me. What happened? The Spirit of
God circumcised you in the heart. None of this was by your hands,
was it? Paul's going to talk about putting off the old man,
put on the new. How were you made to do it the very first
hour? He sent this gospel to you, and he declared to you what
Christ had done for you, and he worked in your heart and turned
you from you entirely to Christ alone, and he brought you to
bow and cast all your care on Christ and trust him. Well, how
do you think he's gonna do it from then on? Why would we go to something
else if that's how he did it in the first hour? If that's
how he did it for 3,000 people on the day of Pentecost, why
would we preach anything else? Oh, let's look, let's look at
this thought right here. You died in Christ and you arose
in Christ. Verse one, Colossians 3, 1. If
you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above
where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead. Now look at the, look at how
emphatic Paul says it, for you are dead. And your life is here
with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall you appear with him in glory. How can we
be both dead and alive? That's what we are. Brethren,
we really died in Christ. We really died in Christ. We
really were in the Lord Jesus Christ. We really were judged
in Christ. We really did bear the wrath
of God in Christ. You remember whenever the Hebrew
writer, he said way back there, when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek,
Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek. He really did. It's not just
as if he did. He really paid tithes to Melchizedek. How? He
was in Abraham's loins. Well brethren, it wasn't just
as if you were in the garden. You were in the garden. I was
in the garden. And when Adam took that fruit
and sinned against God, you and me took that fruit and sinned
against God. When God imputed sin to us, he
wasn't just treating you as if you was a sinner. He imputed
sin to you because in Adam all died. We really sinned in Adam. That's why he imputed sin to
us. And brethren, just as good news is when he imputes righteousness
to you, when he's given you faith to trust Christ and he imputes
righteousness to you, he's not treating you as if you're righteous.
You are dead in Christ. You really died in Christ. You
were really in him when he went to that cross and you were really
in him when he arose from the grave. And that's what he came and taught
you in the first hour, and that's what he continues to teach us,
brethren. We really died in Christ, and we really arose in Christ.
We're both dead, and we're both alive. Go to Galatians chapter
6. I want you to see this. Paul,
when he talks about this, this is where I got this from, because
when Paul talks about this, he He does not say it's as if. He
never says that in the scriptures. He says it as real and as true
as it can possibly be. And listen to this. Where'd I say turn to? I think
I said Galatians 6, didn't I? But that's not where I want you
to go. I got all discombobulated this morning when I was writing
my scriptures down. Hold on a minute, I'll tell you
where I'm at. Let me find it. I want you to go to Galatians
2 and verse 20. Galatians 2, 20. Just what Paul
said, I am crucified with Christ. You see that? I am. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. In the life I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me. The same Lord Jesus, I was
in him at Calvary, and I died in him at Calvary. I was crucified
in him. Justice fell on me in him, and I died. And that same
Lord, by the very same faithfulness, now abides in me, and that's
the only way I live now. You realize our flesh contributes
absolutely nothing. We like to think we contribute
something. We know better, but we still have these thoughts
that we somehow contribute something. What did Christ say? The flesh
profits nothing. That's why he said all of these
things are going to perish with the using. If all our hope is
what I've done with my hands. are not done with my hands. If
that's where my hope lies, when this body lies dead in the grave,
all my work should be dead in the grave with it. That's not
my hope. My hope is in Christ. My hope
is what Christ did by his obedience. By one man's obedience, many
were made righteous. That's my hope. Go to Romans
6. I didn't write that down either,
right? I wrote Romans 7. I'm telling you, this morning
I was, I wasn't paying much attention, was I? Romans, let's go to Romans
6. Romans chapter 6, in verse 6. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Christ. You see that? It is. that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. That means
justified. Justified. Now, if we be dead
with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him,
knowing that Christ being raised from the dead doth no more. Death
has no more dominion over him, for in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Now
listen to what he says here. Likewise, Reckon ye, impute ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body that you obey it unless thereof. How are you
gonna have the power to not let sin reign in your mortal body?
It's by Christ continually making you know, your old man's already
died in me. And now you live by my faithfulness
living in you and by my power in you and it's by that power
he keeps turning you to him and making you see the wretchedness
of your sin and the wretchedness of your nature and make you want
to put off the old man and put on the new. That's how he keeps
us from putting confidence in ourselves. Some people read these
things and hear these things and they think that They think
that, well, my old man was crucified at Calvary, so I don't have an
old sin nature anymore. If you're born of God, you know
better. If you're born of the Spirit of God, you know you have
a sin nature in you. Yes, your old man was crucified
in Christ at Calvary, and justice was satisfied, but you still
have a sin nature in you, and you and I'll never, ever, as
long as we live in this body, ever be able to come to the point
where we say, I've arrived now. Sin don't have a problem. I don't
have a problem with sin anymore. I've arrived. No, you won't get
there. We'll have to deal with this
sin of nature the rest of our days. And I'm just convinced by my own experience that if
you get too proud, the Lord will just take his hand off enough
to let you see, no, you still got a sin of nature. You still
need him and his everlasting arms under you every hour holding
you and carrying you the whole way. You need him at God's right
hand interceding for you so that God continually forgives you
of your sin. Now, now let's get to Colossians
3, 5. Mortify thereby your members
which are upon earth. Do you see why I'm saying it
could be translated thereby? It's because It's by looking
to Christ. It's by setting your affection
on things above. It's not by focusing your mind
and your attention on you. When you start focusing on you,
you may put off some sins, but you're going to be so proud you
did it. And I'm telling you, brethren, this, look here, this
fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
covetousness, every bit of that's idolatry. It's not just covetousness
that's idolatry. All of that's idolatry, because
every bit of that is, if a man's living in that, and he's living
in that just in his flesh, he's worshiping himself. And it's
no different for a religious man who doesn't do any of those
things outwardly and looks at himself and is proud that he
don't do them. He's living in idolatry just the same as the
man who does those outwardly. It's spiritual fornication because
he's not looking to Christ only and trusting Christ only. You
get what I'm saying? Anytime we're putting confidence in our
strength and putting confidence in our goodness, brethren, we
commit all those sins spiritually. When Paul said he was a When
he was Saul and he said he was a Pharisee of Pharisees and touching
the law, he was blameless. In Romans chapter 7, he said,
sin was taking occasion. Sin was taking advantage of me,
using the law. And by all my keeping of the
law, he said, I was committing all manner of evil concupiscence.
Just what he says to put off right here, concupiscence. He
said, I was committing all manner of evil. And if you'd have looked
at Paul outwardly, you'd have thought that's one of the holiest
men you ever saw in your life when he was Saul. And he said
every bit of it was sin. And he said when the commandment
came, sin revived, and all good Saul that I thought was benefiting
me and giving me some profit with God, he said, Saul died.
I died. I saw I was the sinner. Well,
let's read on here now. The Spirit of God is going to
enable you to put off the old man and put on the new, but it's
going to be this way. He's going to renew you inwardly
through this gospel and keep you looking to Christ and not
at yourself. Hey, look here, verse nine, seeing
you've put out, you have put off the old man with his deeds
and have put on the new, which is renewed in knowledge after
the images of him that created him, whether it's neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all in all. By the Spirit of God, when He
regenerated you, He created a new man in you, and when that new
man's created in us, we don't look at ourselves. That's when
we see our flesh is nothing but sin, and that's when we start
looking to Christ alone, and trusting Christ alone, His righteousness. He becomes your wisdom. He becomes
your righteousness. He becomes your holiness. He
becomes your redemption. We start looking to Him. But
that regenerating work, That's a one-time work. He just regenerates
you one time. But you know why we keep coming
here? Because through this message,
the Spirit of God keeps renewing us in a new man. Our old man
is being mortified day by day by the Spirit, but it's by the
Spirit renewing the inward man. That new man is created in the
image of Christ. And this is so wise of God, it
keeps you having to hear the gospel, because this is the food
for your soul. This is the food by where the
Spirit of God keeps giving you life and renewing you inwardly
and making you know Christ is your all. And one day, and not
until that day, but one day when we put off this body, Christ
is gonna come and see in him, right now we see him by faith
and it has a transforming effect on us, but that day we're gonna
see him face to face And it's going to, we're going to be perfectly
conformed to him, but not until that day, not until this body's
put off, not until this body's put off. All of these things
he lists here in Christ, there's neither Greek nor Jew. And you
know what Paul was talking, he was talking to the Corinthians.
And he said, he said, there was some Corinthians who were glorying
in appearance and not, not in faith. And what they were doing
was they were judging men after the flesh, what they could see
with these eyes. And if we just judge by these eyes what we see,
that's a pretty good indication we probably don't even know God.
That's a dangerous thing. Paul said, because we've been
born in the spirit of God, We know no man after the flesh anymore. We don't even know Christ after
the flesh anymore. One time you just had a historical understanding
of Christ, that's it. Now you know him in spirit. Now
you know him in truth. And you see, all these things
right here, there was one time, Greek and Jew, there was a time
when Paul thought that because he was a natural born Jew, that
made him to differ from those Gentile dogs. But he said, now
I realize It wasn't anything outward. It wasn't where I was
born. It wasn't my race. It wasn't me being a Greek or
a Jew that made me to differ. It's the grace of God that made
me to differ. He says here, circumcision, uncircumcision. There was a time
we thought keeping the law, circumcision, we thought keeping the law is
what made us to differ from others. And we looked down on those that
we didn't think kept the law. Now the Lord showed you, I'm
glad that none of you here think that you're saved by the law.
You're the uncircumcision in that regard. You don't think
you're saved by the law. But listen to what Paul says now.
Just because you believe that you're not saved by the law don't
save you. Circumcision is saying, I think I'm saved by the law.
To rejoice in uncircumcision is to say, well, I don't believe
I'm saved by the law. That's why I know I'm saved. No, no,
no, no, no. It's not circumcision or an uncircumcision.
It's Christ. It's being made a new creature
by Christ. That's what makes us to differ.
Nothing we did, nothing we've, not our knowledge, not, look
here, he says barbarian, Scythian, that's educated, uneducated.
See, all these things are things we looked at at one point, and
we still, you and me know this, we still far too often judge
by appearance. We still far too often look at
the outward and try to discern things. Especially if a brother
or sister falls. But it's not educated or uneducated. It's not your natural understanding
or your lack of natural understanding. It's the spirit of God making
you see we're all ignorant by nature. And it's the spirit renewing
us and teaching us inwardly in the heart that makes us to differ.
That's it. We didn't do it. You didn't educate
yourself in the kingdom of God. The spirit of God birthed you
into the kingdom and he revealed its revelation. It's not, it's
not an acquired knowledge. Bond nor free. He made us see
that in our, in Adam, we was all bound. We was all in prison
and couldn't free ourselves. But now he's made us see in Christ,
we're his free men, made willing bond servants. All of these things, brethren,
we once gloried in, but now in Christ, none of that matters.
What is the new man? In this new man where Christ
abides now, Christ is all in all. What's your hope? Christ. What else? Ain't nothing
else. Just Christ. So verse 12, put
on therefore. And all this right here, this
putting on, he's gonna make you see this is only by God's grace.
And when he makes us see this again and again, this is what
makes us put it on. You're the elect of God by His
grace. You're holy by His grace. You're beloved just because God
loved you. He loved you before the foundation
of the world. Put on bowels of mercy, mercies from within, humbleness
of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. We ought to be
the most forgiving people there are. Because we're the most forgiven
people there are. And above all these things, put
on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace
of God rule in your hearts, to which you're also called in one
body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord, whatsoever you do in word or
deed, do all in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to God and
the Father by Him. That's, you see, that's why Paul
said to the Corinthians, I was determined to know nothing among
you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He, Paul knew all
that division that was going on at Corinth. Why didn't he
want to know that? Because he knew what caused it
all. Just pride and sin and self-righteousness has caused it all. He said, I
don't want to know any of that. Your pastor used to tell me if
men call him and want to try to tell him something, he'd tell
them, I don't want to know it. I want to hear you. I want to help you
any way I can, but I don't want to know it. Just come here to
gospel preach. That's what I tell people. They
come in and try to tell me something and I'll say, I tell you what,
hold up. You're about to tell me something I don't want to
know about. How about you just come hear the gospel, and let's
see if God don't answer your question in about the next two
or three messages. That way you won't think I'm
preaching at you. And whoever you're telling on won't think
I'm preaching at them. But both of you can just sit
and hear this gospel preach and know it's God speaking to you.
And that's how God will teach you. He said, I've determined
there's nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
So you let folks, you let them have this whole thing of just
preaching on put this off, put that off, and touch this, and
don't touch that. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's
not what our religion's about. He said if you're risen with
Christ, you seek Christ above. You set your heart on Christ
above. You get in these scriptures, you find what you're looking
for in these scriptures. If you're looking for Christ, God did that
if you're looking for Christ, and God will make you find Christ.
You go to this book looking for how you can have life by the
works of your hands. God didn't work that, and that's
all you'll see in this book is what you need to be doing to
make yourself righteous and holy. Go to this book seeking Christ,
and seek him above. Ask God to give you an understanding, and keep your heart set on him
because It's only through and keep coming to hear this gospel.
This is more than your necessary. This more than the bread you
got on your table every day. You need this more than that.
And as you hear it, the Lord will keep turning you to him
and you'll walk out of here knowing my flesh is a dead thing not
worth trusting. And that's how I make you put
it off. And he'll renew you inwardly. So you walk out of here walking
by faith, not by sight. Knowing your brethren in spirit,
not after the flesh. Knowing they're sinner just like
you are. Being saved by God's grace just like you are. Righteous
in Christ and complete in Christ just like you are. So when they
fall, you want to be merciful to them just like God's merciful
to you. All right, we'll come back Tuesday night, Lord willing,
and look more at A similar subject.