Colossians chapter 3. I have
in the first two chapters did the best I can do to show
you the gospel hope as it's set forth in the Word of God. And
as it's manifested in the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's what each one of these
epistles are written to do. This man Jesus who was born in
a stable in Jerusalem, that He is very God of very God. Despite
His humble beginnings and His humble parents, born of poor
parents. Think about that, taking your
newborn and laying them in a manger. That's poverty. His Godhead was manifested in
the creation of the world, Paul said. This One who was laid in
that stable created everything that is. God first appointed Him. He is
before all things. He not only created all things,
but He is before all things. God first appointed Him and then
through Him created all things. Then in Colossians 1.15, it tells
us that He is the firstborn of every creature. They have their
being because of Him. He is the firstborn. By Him were
all things created, verse 16, that are in heaven, 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. Colossians 1, 16, 15, and 16. He is God. But He is God manifest
in the flesh. This is God in man in one person. God in union with men, a permanent,
unbroken, Irreversible union, a saving union, a covenant union,
promised of God, appointed of God before the world's work.
A union pictured in marriage. These two shall be joined together
and be one flesh. God manifests in the flesh and
His coming here is to save. That's why He came. He came to
save, to redeem, to sanctify, to justify. all those given to
Him by the Father before the world began. That's why He didn't
come to judge. He is the judge. He shall judge. He shall sit upon His throne
with His people and judge this world in righteousness. He is
the judge. He is very God of very God. Yet
He came here not to judge but to save. He didn't come here
to condemn. We're condemned already. We fell
in Adam. The judgment of God was passed
upon all men. And we're under the condemnation
of God whether we realize it or whether we acknowledge it
or not. We're under the condemnation
of God. That's why I preach to men and women as sinners. That's
what we are. We're sinners. And His coming
here was to save. It's to save, to redeem, to sanctify,
and to justify all those given to Him by the Father before the
world began. You cannot from the Scriptures,
I'm talking about this book that I hold in my hand. I will acknowledge
this as the Word of God. And you cannot from the Scriptures
make anything else out of the life, death, and resurrection
of Christ. If anything He did, be reasoned
in the light of a universal object, then everything He did is of
none effect. It's of none effect. If the Father
manifested a universal love to all men through the person and
work of Christ, then His love makes no difference. His love is not effectual. It makes no difference in the
lives of men and women, because some, after all, will perish.
So if He loved all men, He loved some that will perish. And yet the Scripture says, nothing
shall be able to separate us from the love of God. If Christ
came into the world representing all men, then His work was in
vain, because some, after all, will perish in their sins. If
Christ was made of God to be wisdom for all men, then He failed
in His work because to some He is foolishness. Jesus Christ
came and lived, died, rose, and even now reigns in glory as the
Savior and Redeemer of a people given to Him by God the Father. Therefore, the hope of every
believer is Christ in them, in them by faith. in them by the
Spirit of Christ, in them as their hope, and their rest, and
their confidence, and their Lord. Colossians 1.18, He is the head
of the body, the church who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. The church is exhorted to be
rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith. The
more grounded and mature faith is, the more single-minded it
becomes. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
and said, this is 2 Corinthians 11, verse 2, he said, For I am
jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused
you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means,
as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should
be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." Now, that
word simplicity does not mean simple. That word simplicity
means it doesn't mean easy. It means singleness is what he
is talking about here. When he talks about the simplicity
of Christ, he is talking about the singleness of Christ. That
your mind should be corrupted from the singleness of Christ. Everything God has for sinners
is in this one man. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him. There is
in Him a full sufficiency of love. You need look no further
for love. All the love of God is in Him. He is incarnate love. There is
in Him the full sufficiency of power. All power in heaven and
earth is given unto Me. Full sufficiency of power. There
is in Him a full sufficiency of forgiveness of sin. He'd go
no further. In Him, we have redemption, the
forgiveness of sin. There is in Him the full sufficiency
of righteousness. Paul said in his dying breath
that I might be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,
but to have His. Be found in Him, having His righteousness. There is in Him a full sufficiency
of wisdom. He's all wise. He is all wise. There is in Him a full sufficiency
of justice. Justice is satisfied. There is
no compromise of justice in the salvation of a sinner. Christ
satisfied that justice by His death on the cross. And there
is in Him a full sufficiency of inspiration. How are men and
women inspired in the Kingdom of God? Through their Savior. Through their Savior. Paul said,
the love of Christ constrains us. My friend, if I can't motivate
you and inspire you in the preaching of Christ, you're without hope.
I can't inspire you at all. If you cannot find peace through
the blood of His cross, you'll never find it. You'll never find
it. If you cannot find in Him a righteousness
that supersedes anything in you and anything that you can produce,
you'll never find a righteousness acceptable to God. The simplicity
of Christ is salvation in Him alone, being justified freely
by His grace. Now listen, through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be the propitiation
for our sins, through faith in His blood. Believers are in Christ by the
eternal union of covenant grace. We arose with Him when He arose. And in Him, we've taken possession
of our promised inheritance. And by the faith of the operation
of God, we've been raised from spiritual death to walk in newness
of life. We walk with the mind of Christ.
Now look here at my text. I said all that to say this.
Look here at our text in Colossians chapter 3, verse 1. If you then be risen with Christ. Are you? Are you? If you then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above. Isn't that where
your hope is? In Him? Isn't that where your
life is? In Him. Isn't that where your
righteousness is? In Him. Isn't that where your future
is? In Him. All things are in Him. He is
everything. And if we then be risen with
Him by the faith of the operation of God, if we be risen with Him, And we understand that in our
minds and hearts. Listen to what he said. Seek
those things which are above. There is nothing down here to
seek. Seek those things which are above
where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. What are these things
above? What in the world is he talking
about, seek those things which are above? First of all, he is
talking about the presence of Christ. The very presence of Christ.
Listen to this, John 14, verse 1. These disciples came to love
the Lord. He walked with them. He put His arm around them. He
spoke to them. He sat around the campfire, John,
and talked to them. He ate with them. He drank with
them. He celebrated marriages with them. He was one of them. And they were one with Him, and
He was one with them. And then He came to them, and
He said, Now I'm leaving. And boy, their hearts bottomed
out. Just bottomed out. Well, listen to this, John 14,
verse 1. He said, Let not your heart be troubled, You believe
in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Now listen, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. Huh? To be with Him. To be with Him. What are these
things above? The very presence of Christ.
The very presence of Christ. You might be with Him. Well,
you think about that. The disciples had forsaken all
to follow Him. Families, friends, jobs, everything
they had ever known as home was gone. Where he went, they went. And
they found a contentment in doing this. And now he was leaving. Now he himself would not be there. And so he tells them, he said,
now listen. He said, I'm going to send to
you the Comforter. The Comforter. One to take of
the things of mine and show them unto you. One to enlighten the
heart and comfort their fears and give them confidence in the presence of doubt and
trial and trouble. But his absence, though expedient,
would not be permanent. He said, I'm going to come again.
I'll come again and receive you unto myself. And until that day
come, we have this gracious promise that to be absent from the body
is to be present with the Lord. His presence, that ought to be
enough all by itself. To be with Him where He is. We know, Paul said, that if our
earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building
of God. A house not made with hands eternal
in the heavens. Do we know that? Set your mind
on this. One day I shall stand in a glorified
body in the presence of my Savior and Lord, and know as I am known."
Set your affection, Paul said, on things above, if you be risen
with Him. If you be not risen with Him,
I don't guess it much matters where you put your affection. Set your affection on things
above. What things? The absolute and total eradication of all
sin. What would that be like? What
would that be like? We don't have a clue. I've had
sin in me since I was born. Since I was born. I don't have
a clue what that would be. with a pure mind and a pure heart,
without a foolish thought or notion, without a doubt or a
fear, to stand perfect before Him. Perfect. Absolute, total
eradication of all sin. Not even a trace of the serpent's
slime shall be found in glory. Not a doubt or a fear, not a
care or a burden, not a tear shall appear in that place. The
saints in that day shall have every one, every one, the very
image of Christ. I tell you, what we see and know
leaves the angels spellbound. What shall it be in that day
when we shall know as we are known? Or what else among these
heavenly things? No disappointment. No disappointment. Heaven's glory will so far exceed
everything that we can imagine that every heart will be perfectly
satisfied. Perfectly satisfied. All we know
now is disappointment in it. Disappointment. If we could just
focus our minds a little on the glory and suffering a sufficiency
of God our Savior. I think we might even say with
Paul, we're confident and willing, willing to be absent from this
body and be present with the Lord. And then fourthly, what else
is up there? Seek those things which are above.
What else is up there? No more death. No more death. I don't care how old you are,
you know you're going to die. You know you're going to die.
The old must die and the young may. No more death. Death is swallowed
up in victory. In a moment, Paul said, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trump where the trumpet shall
sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. And we shall be
changed. Time's not going to mean anything
there. It means everything here, but it doesn't mean anything
there. No aging will take place. No wore out bones and muscles.
No more death. And then fifthly, what else is
up there? Seek those things which are above.
There's no hate up there. There's no hate. Or you say, Preacher, I don't
hate anybody. You need to look yourself in the mirror and see
if you can say that again. I'm sure you do. No hard feelings. No refusing to speak to somebody. No separations. No offenses. Just perfect love. No hate. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth at the right
hand of God. What else is up there? Perfect
wisdom. You will understand all things
in glory. You'll understand all things.
We don't understand sometimes why a little child is taken out
of this world. A little child lives in its infancy
or dies at childbirth. We don't understand those things,
do we? We don't understand how that 16-year-old, how they reacted
and died. We don't understand those things.
We just sit back and puzzle. You won't be puzzled then. You'll
understand it all. You understand it all. All wisdom. All wisdom. If you then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth at the right hand of God. Seek His honor. Seek His
glory in all things. Seek His will and approval in
all things. Seek His power and presence in
all things. Set your affection, your affection
on things above. Not on things of the earth. This
earth and everything in it are doomed to be burned. This earth
as we know it is but a temporary dwelling place. That's it. This
earth is nothing more than a black backdrop on which the Lord is
using to manifest His glory. That's all it is. You ever seen
a diamond in a jewelry store? You buy that diamond, you don't
keep that backdrop, do you? No, they just put it there to
display the diamond. Put it there to display the pearl
of great price. They put that black backdrop
there. You get that diamond out and put it on your finger or
that pearl and put it around your neck. You don't save that
little old black felt. You throw it in the garbage can.
That was just there so that you might see His glory. And that's all this earth is.
It's just a black backdrop on which the Lord uses to manifest
His glory. Now look here at Colossians 3,
verse 3. For you're dead. You're dead. If you were risen
with Christ, you died with Him too. For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. That ultimate judgment that shall
fall upon this world has already fallen upon the believer and
his substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ye are dead. Dead to
the law. Dead to the curse. This cursed
world ought not to continue to occupy our interest We are dead. We ought to see it accursed of
God and hope to stay no longer than He sees fit. Well, where
is our life? Our life is with Him. Our life
is with Christ in God. Our life, eternal life, everlasting
life, is placed safely in the bosom of our risen Redeemer.
Now, we have here the earnest of it. The earnest of it. When a man is born again, He
has the earnest of His inheritance. He is born of God. We have the
earnest of it. We have the seal of His promise. But in that day, we will have
it. We will have it. Completely have
it. Have it in its fullness. Now
watch this. Verse 5. Mortify therefore your
members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry,
for which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children
of disobedience. If our life, our hope, our confidence
is above, then that's where our affection
ought to be. That's where our affection belongs, not here in
this world and not in pampering the flesh or giving in to these
cursed desires of the flesh. When He tells us to mortify our
members, He's not talking here about bodily harm. He's not talking
here about, you know, when the Lord said, if your right eye
thins, you pluck it. He's not talking about literally
plucking out your eye. Or if your hand thins, you cut
it off. He's not talking about that. And He's not talking about
here. He's not talking about doing bodily harm or mutilation
to the flesh. But He speaks of the body of
our sin. The old man, reckon him dead. Ignore or suppress his desires. Resist his passions and desires. Knowing this, what we are right now, everything
we know about one another right now is not going to be that way
in glory. We're going to shed this flesh.
We're going to shed this body of sin. It's going to be gone. So quit pampering it. It's dead. We died. We died. That old man
died. Is he still alive? Oh, yeah.
He's very much alive. But by faith, we reckon him dead. We see him dead. We see his end. And he tells us, quit pampering
it. Quit giving in to it. All our hope and expectation
is in heaven, secured in the person of our Redeemer. And so
Paul tells us, if you then be risen within, seek those things.