Alright, turn with me now to
Colossians chapter 3. This morning I want us to focus
on verses 5 through 11 in Colossians chapter 3. So let's read through
those verses. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry, for which
things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,
in the which ye also walked sometime when you lived in them. But now
ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, born nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. Now, chapter 3 begins with
a word that has a direct bearing on this whole chapter. A little
tiny word with a great big meaning. If. If. If you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord. if you've been circumcised with
a circumcision made without hands, if you've been buried with Him
in baptism and risen with Him through the faith of the operation
of God, if you be dead with Christ. That sentence, that first sentence
in that first verse is a summation of everything that Paul said
in chapter 2. If you be dead with Christ from
the rudiments of this world, And if you then be risen with
Christ, then seek those things which are above where Christ
sitteth, at the right hand of God." He tells us our life is
hid with Christ in God, and our hope is that when Christ shall
appear, we shall appear with Him in glory. Colossians 3 verse
4, when Christ, who is our life, is it? You see what a meaning
that little word if has and what kind of bearing it has on what
he's about to say? If. If. Well, if he is, and he is to
all that believe, then our lives here in this world ought to reflect
that. That's what he's telling us.
It ought to reflect that. If God has shown you sovereign
mercy, for no other reason than the grace of God, because He
would, then we ought to be gracious and merciful. Our lives here
on this earth, in this world, ought to reflect this. Believers
have been set apart by God from all eternity, chosen in Christ
and blessed with all spiritual blessings in Him. predestinated,
Paul tells us in Ephesians 1, unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself. Where men and women called out
of darkness made meat to be partakers of this inheritance. And saved
by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Yet still, we live in a body of flesh. We are partakers of all these
things. And God, by His grace, has raised
us to walk in newness of life. He has. But we are still in a
body of flesh. Still in a body of flesh. There
was a time when sin and Satan ruled over us. Ruled over everything you did.
Every thought you had. Every step you took. Every decision
you made. Every desire you had. He ruled.
He reigned. He sat on the throne of our hearts
and He ruled. Deceitfully ruled. In some cases
making some of us feel like we were already partakers when we
weren't in fact. That we had a righteousness when
in fact we didn't. He ruled over everything we did.
Everything we did. We walked in times past in the
lust of our flesh. fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind and were by nature children of wrath,
even as others. And we walked like the Gentiles
in the vanity of our minds. We walked according to the course
of this world and according to the prince of the power of the
air. And then we received the calling
of God, that irresistible calling, that effectual calling through
the gospel. And we were led to repentance
and given the gift of faith. Is that your story? That's what
Paul's asking here. If, if you then be risen with
Him, is that your story? Is that where God found you?
Is that your testimony? If you then be risen with Christ,
my life ought to reflect it. Not imperfection. I'm not perfect. Not 100% because I'm not all
100% holy. If I was, I wouldn't have to
be told these things. I wouldn't have to be exhorted
to do these things. I'd just do them. There ought to be a
resisting of these carnal desires. The children of Israel, when
God came down and delivered them out of Egypt, they rejoiced. They thought that was it. They
thought they were delivered. And they were delivered out of
Egypt, but Egypt was still in their hearts. Egypt was still
in their hearts. And I tell you, we think sometimes,
and I'm exhorting you to do these things, to resist these things,
but a denial of these things. at the same time. Now, I realize
I'm going back and forth, but that's how this thing is. It
goes back and forth. And to simply deny these things
in an outward sense makes me a Pharisee. And a denial of these things
is not godliness. We must honestly face our sins. We've got to face them and face
them honestly. We've got to confess our sins
and resist them, knowing what they are. These sensual appetites
and unholy desires and imaginations and especially greed and covetousness,
which is nothing in the world but idolatry. That's all it is. Sin still dwells in us, but it
doesn't reign like it once did. And this is where folks get in
trouble, right here. We begin trying to compare ourselves
and our lives with others. And then we begin to make judgments. Well, he's not saved. I'll just
tell you that. Because he don't attend church
as regular as I do. He don't give like I do. He don't
pray like I do. He don't read like I do. He don't
study like I do. So he can't be saved. Religious men call these fruit
inspectors. And it's not godly behavior,
brethren. It's not godly behavior at all.
There's nobody in this place whose life could even hold a
candle to the Apostle Paul. And twice in Scriptures, he refers
to himself once as the chief of sinners. The second time,
he said, oh, wretched man that I am. Not that I used to be.
That I am. Believers all different. Now,
here's what I want you to see. We all differ in maturity. We all differ in strength of
faith. Believers all different in the
degree of knowledge that they have. Believers all vary in their
backgrounds and temperament, and believers all differ in situations
and stress and things they're going through and not going through.
We all differ in this respect. And I like to use David as an
example of this, because if you were to be sitting on that mountainside
and you saw that big Canaanite giant, Goliath, down in that
valley, had the whole Israelite army trembling on the hillside. And David comes along, a little
shepherd boy, with a sling and five smooth stones and goes down
and slays that giant. You'd say, there's the prophet
of God right there. That is the prophet of God. Or
if you saw him out on the alone penning the 23rd Psalm,
boy, there's a prophet. He's a prophet. This is God's
King. You see Him mounting up on the
throne and God raised Him from that little shepherd boy and
put Him on the throne. There's God's prophet. But suppose
you walked in on Him as He was looking down off that roof at
Bathsheba. And you could read His heart.
You could see what was on His mind. And then you saw Him as
He betrayed one of His most faithful soldiers. and planned his murder
and sent him out and had him murdered, that can't be the prophet
of God. You see what I'm saying? You
can't take isolated events, I don't care how severe they are, you
can't take isolated events out of a believer's life and judge
whether or not he's a saved man. And the Lord knows how ignorant
we are on this matter, and He tells us, you let the wheat and
the tares grow together, because when you start picking out the
tares, you're going to pull up the wheat. So don't do it. Don't do it. Do not be judgmental
of men and women based on isolated acts in their lives. And yet
it's to be our practice to resist the desires of the flesh and
live gracious and merciful and sympathetic lives. Listen to
what he tells us. And you'll never go wrong doing
this. Be ye kind one to another. Tender hearted. Don't be hard
hearted. Be tender hearted. Forgiving
one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. You do
that, you'll never go wrong. You'll never go wrong. I wonder, can you even picture
in your mind Bartimaeus being critical of the blind? Huh? No. He sat there blind on that
blanket and begged for years and years and years. And God
come along and give him a sight. He's not going to be critical
of the blind. He'll be sympathetic toward them. Do you think that
filthy leper Christ cleansed was prejudiced toward lepers?
Well, I don't want to go out there. They're lepers. I ain't
going over there. Not this man. This man will go
right on over there. You think old Legion, God cast
out all those demons? You think He made fun of the
mad? You think He made fun of those
demons possessed in His day? I think He was sympathetic to
them. And my friend, if you and I believe this gospel, If you're a believer, you are
what you are by the grace of God. You are whatever that is. Paul said, I'm not what I want
to be, but I'm not what I was. But I am what I am by the grace
of God. I like what that old hymn writer
said, boasting excluded, pride I base, I'm only a sinner saved
by grace. Are you? Then live that way. That's what each one of these
epistles teaches us. He lays that strong foundation
of the gospel and the grace of God, and then He exhorts the
people. Having established that, He exhorts
the people. Live that way. Live that way. Has God in sovereign mercy brought
you to Christ? Have you bowed to Him, believed
on Him, submitted to Him? Then walk that way. Walk that
way. Colossians 3, 9. Lie not one to another, saying
that you put off the old man with his deeds. And this putting off the old
man, that's the cleansing of regeneration. We're a new creature
in Christ, a new creation, new motives. new attitudes, new principles. And he's telling us the difference
between this new man and this old man. And he's telling us,
don't feed that old man. Don't feed him. Don't care for
him. Don't follow him. But put on
this new man. Christ in you, the hope of glory. And this new man within will
grow in grace and knowledge of Christ. This new man will be
purged from the dross of that old man through trials and tribulations. God's work will be glorified
and manifested in all who believe. For we're His workmanship, Paul
said, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. And this lying
to one another based on the putting off of the old man primarily
has to do with the lying ways of religion. Now, we're not to
lie one another. There's no reason for me to lie
to you. I've got nothing to hide. I've
got nothing to hide. I know what I am. I'm a sinner.
I'm a sinner. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 2, Paul said,
we have renounced. Now listen to this. We have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. In other words, I was in religion. I was raised in
it. Some of you were. And men will give testimonies,
and they'll call you, and they're looking for that same experience
in you that they had, whatever it was, those same feelings and
things. And they'll kind of push you into a corner, and pretty
soon, you'll start admitting, yeah, yes, I had that. Yes, amen,
I know what you're talking about. And pretty soon, they're lying
to one another, lying to one another. Same thing with speaking
in tongues. They push and push and push and
push. And they're teaching you all along the way. Teaching you
how to do it. And pretty soon somebody does it. Lying to one
another. He said, lie not to one another.
Of all men, you and I don't have anything to hide. We're sinners.
We're sinners. And we can be truthful and honest
with one another. And we really need to be truthful
and honest when we come in here to worship God. This is based on that putting
off of that old man. And it primarily has to do with
the lying ways of religion. We no longer defend the lies
we were taught. We no longer defend our old professions. We no longer hide the truth. Believers all stand in the grace
of God and have nothing to hide. Put off the old man with his
deeds. Verse 10. and have put on the
new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him." Now, let me tell you something. Gracious affections arise from
spiritual understanding. That's where it comes from. Believers
are taught of God. They're taught of God. In John
6, verse 45, he said, it's written in the prophets, and they shall
all be taught of God. Now that's a quote. That's a
quote. Whenever he says it is written,
you need to start looking around on your Bible for a reference,
and it will take you back to where that was quoted from. And
that particular verse was quoted out of Isaiah 54, where he talks
about gathering in his elect. He was talking about the wayward
ways of Israel, and in that day, he is going to gather his true
Israel back to himself. And he makes statements like
this as he goes along. He said, For a small moment have
I forsaken thee, but with great mercies I will gather thee. In
a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee. My kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither the covenant of my peace be removed."
Isaiah 54, 13. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. When God teaches, gracious affections
arise from it. Believers are taught of God and
His teaching is a spiritual revelation. You remember when the Lord was
talking about, except you eat of My flesh and drink of My blood,
you have no life in you. And the multitude heard what
He said. They heard exactly what they said and they took Him literal.
And they all walked away saying, this man teaching cannibalism.
And they said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? And
they just turned and walked away. And he turned to his twelve and
he said, will you go also? And they said, to whom shall
we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And here's what
he told them. He said, my words are spirit
and they are life. His words have spiritual, a spiritual
revelation. They have a spiritual application in the hearts and
minds of his elect. And affections which arise from
external impressions like images and pictures or even the imaginations
of men, they don't yield gracious affections. They're not affected
by them. That affection that comes from
that is phony. It's cold. Affections which come
from the letter of the word, like moral stories or teaching
of the law, thou shalt and thou shalt not. There's no gracious
affections that arise from that. Those men are cruel and mean. Those men who thought they were
moral men by that outward I'm trying to think of the word
he used, the dead letter of the law. Those men who were affected
by that, they were cold. They had no compassion. They
had no love. There was no mercy in them. And
affections that come from feelings aroused in us from music or moving
testimonies or visual aid, it doesn't yield gracious affections. Gracious affections come through
spiritual understanding. Because when God teaches, He
teaches by experience. By experience. He makes you to
know what it is to be a sinner. And then He makes you to know
what it is to receive the grace and mercy of God. Listen to these scriptures. 1
John 4, 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God,
and everyone that loveth is born of God," now listen, "...and
knoweth God." You see what I'm saying? He that loveth not knoweth not
God. Philippians 1 verse 9, And this
I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge
and in all judgment. And that word judgment there
means understanding. Spiritual understanding finds
its way to the heart, and the result is a gracious attitude
and spirit. Now let me read these two verses
together back here in Colossians 3 beginning with verse 10. and have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all in all. The gospel unites chosen sinners
under one head, the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter if
you're a Greek or a Jew. It doesn't make any difference.
You know, you might hold that against yourself, being raised
this way or from the looseness of your past life or whatever.
You might hold judgments on yourself, but God don't. We're united under
one head, the Lord Jesus Christ. All nations, colors, class, and
rank are no longer to even be considered. And if you still
consider those things and you're still prejudiced in your heart
toward those things, it's a problem. It's a problem. And you need
to resist that. You need to correct that. We're all one in Christ. That's
what He's telling us here. Christ is all and in all. He's all. All that we are and
all that we have and all in which we hope is by Him, through Him,
and for Him. Christ is all and in all. Now look at verses 12 through
15 and I'll quit. Put on therefore, if Christ is
all, if that's where our life is, if that's what our life is,
then put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved,
vows of mercies. kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another.
And if any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave
you, so also do you." How did Christ forgive you? Freely. Freely. Huh? He didn't say, now
you do this and I'll forgive you. No. He forgave you freely. Freely. Now you do the same. You do the same. And above all
these things, he said, put on charity, which is the bond of
perfectness. And let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to the which also you are called in one body,
and be ye thankful. This is what the new man strives
to be, and this is the predestinated end of all the chosen of God,
and all who have this hope. in the purify themselves even
as they are pure. And that's what this purification
is. It's a purification of mind and heart.