When you turn back to Colossians
chapter 3, I have entitled this message, How God's Elect Dress. How God's Elect Dress. Now, how you dress can say a
lot about your character and your personality. Do you dress provocatively? That
says something about you, doesn't it? Do you dress conservatively? That can say something about
you. Do you dress flamboyantly? That can say something about
you. In a sloppy and slovenly way? Well, that can say something
about you, too. You know, I pay attention to the way a preacher
dresses. I do. When I see these preachers
preaching Without a coat and tie, I can't tell you how much
it irritates me. Because they're speaking of,
this is casual. This is contemporary. And there's
nothing casual and there's nothing contemporary about worship. That's
why I do not like that kind of stuff. How would you dress if you were
going to meet the President of the United States of America?
I would be very careful in the way I dress to meet the President
of the United States of America. I wouldn't wear gym shorts and
a t-shirt. Somebody says, well, I wouldn't
bother me a bit to be that way. Well, if that's the case, that
means you're being disrespectful. That's all that is, is being
disrespectful. Two things regarding dress. I'm not preaching on how
we ought to dress for worship. This is not the subject. But
let me say two things. One, dress respectfully. I've seen people come in here
in scrubs from the hospital. Fine, that's great. I'm glad
you're here. Don't worry about that. Well, I can't come if I'm
dressed. Yeah, you can. If that's the
only way you can come, that's fine. That's fine. I don't think a
thing about that. But dress respectfully and dress
so as not to call attention to yourself. Either too dressed
up or too underdressed. Don't dress to call attention
to yourself. When people dress in a way to
make a religious statement about themselves, like you see some
of these guys, they've got a collar on, you know, the white collar.
Or maybe a robe. It's almost like putting a neon
sign on, there's nothing to me. Because if you have to prove
something, religiously, you prove that you don't have anything
on your inside. Somebody who tries to dress in
such a way as people can see how religious I am. All you prove
by that is there's nothing to you. You almost put a neon sign
saying that. Well, how do God's elect dress?
Colossians chapter 3 verse 12 says, put on therefore, he talked
about these things were to put off, take off, and put on therefore
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. And on down through
that passage of Scripture. Now, some people present election
as something that creates carelessness and fatalism and apathy and indifference. And as long as we believe election,
as long as we come, everything's fine. It doesn't create that
with a believer. Never does. Never has. Never
will. Now, if you're fatalistic, you'll
take it that way. If you're careless, you'll be careless. But it doesn't. have that effect on a true believer. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God, holy and beloved. Now, there are two words used
to describe elect. Holy. Now, we know we're not
holy by nature, but in Christ, I am holy. That is the heritage
of every believer. Sometimes we're afraid to say
it. Seems like it almost be presumptuous to say it, doesn't it? For me
to say I'm holy? Well, if you're in Christ, you're holy. That's
how God sees you and how God sees you is how you really are.
You have a holy nature. You have a holy nature that loves
God, that loves the gospel, that loves his word. Holy and beloved. Beloved of God. Behold, I love
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. Now, put on is the word used
for putting on clothing. And remember, our clothing is
what can be seen. Our clothing speaks sometimes
of our character. Now, I know you can't take this
too far. You can take it too far because sometimes you haven't.
But I can think of what the Lord wore. He wore a seamless robe,
didn't he? Very expensive, very costly.
They wouldn't tear it apart. But it speaks of his seamless
character. No weak points, no parts that
could be ripped. You can't receive a part of him.
You must receive him wholly. Now, the first thing he mentioned
when he says put on as the elect of God, I love this what comes
first. Put on therefore, verse 12, as the elect of God, holy
and beloved. Here's the first article of clothing.
Vowels of mercies. If you're one of God's elect.
This you're sure of. You have been saved by the sheer,
free mercy of God. You know it has absolutely nothing
to do with your works. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. You know you were saved by the
sheer mercy of God. Oh, what mercy in your salvation. And if you've experienced the
mercy of God, if I've experienced the mercy of God, we will be
merciful people, won't we? Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy. An unmerciful person has not
experienced God's mercy. You can just write that down. He says, put on, as the elect
of God, kindness. Here's another beautiful article
of clothing. Kindness. Also translated gentleness. And
easiness. And goodness. It means graciousness,
being easy with people rather than hard-nosed. That's what
it means. You know, when the same word or something similar
to the same word is used of the Lord when he says, my yoke is
easy. And my burden is light, easy,
if you're around somebody who had sent you ill at ease, you
don't like that, do you? Be easy, kind. Isn't that a beautiful piece
of this? This is the way God's elect dress. Vows of mercy, kindness. And next, he says, humbleness
of mind. Humility. What is humility? I've given several definitions.
I know it's a just estimate of yourself. I think that's a great
definition. But humility, more than anything else, is some awareness
of my present sinfulness. Not the way I used to be, but
my present sinfulness that makes me need Christ just as much now
as I did when I first looked to Him. It's a need of His grace. That's what humility is. If you
have a right view of yourself, if I have a right view of myself,
I see the end of myself, I am nothing but sin. I know that
about myself. And it makes me see everybody
else that I see, I esteem them. If I have the right attitude,
I esteem them as better than me. Not just on the same level,
but better. I think nobody's as bad as me,
not really. And the most hypocritical thing about all that is, if you
agree with me, I'll get mad at you, you know. But still, I believe
that I'm the most sinful. It's easy to esteem you as better
than me because you don't know what goes on in my heart. That's
what humility is in the sense of it's a just estimate of yourself. And it causes us to see ourselves
as the chief of sinners and esteem others as better. Now, don't
you love being around people who have humility, true humility?
Isn't it a beautiful piece of clothing? Put on, therefore,
as the elect of God, humbleness of mind. And next, meekness. Meekness, put on as the elect
of God, meekness. Now, what is meekness? Meekness
is an attitude toward God. It's a Godward attitude. And
in this attitude toward God, I believe that whatever He sends
my way is right. And I submit, if He sent it,
it's right. Now, here's an example of meekness.
Samuel says to Eli, God's going to kill your two sons. How did
Eli reply? It's the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. Shemai's cursing David. Joab
says, you want me to go take off his head? David looks down
and says, no. The Lord said to him, curse David. The reason he's cursing me is
because the Lord caused him to do it. That is meekness. Whatever the Lord sends my way
is right. Oh, isn't meekness beautiful? Then. Long suffering. If I'm merciful, if I'm kind,
if I'm humble, if I'm meek, I will also be long suffering and patient. We don't feel it's necessary
to defend ourselves or avenge ourselves. We believe God's on
the throne and we are long suffering. I like the way he says, put this
on because he talks about putting off these things and putting
on these things. Well, I need to do it right now. I need to do it.
I need this right now. It's not like, well, I've already
got it on. I don't need that. No, you don't feel that way, do you?
Well, I'm good there. No, no, I want to put it on right
now. Then he says in verse 14, or
verse 13, I love this. forbearing one another and forgiving
one another. If any man have a quarrel against
thee, any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Now, it is impossible to emphasize
enough the importance of forgiveness. You remember the words of the
Lord? If you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will
your Heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses. That gives
us some idea of the importance of forgiveness. Now, I love these
two words he uses, forbear and forgive. Forbear and forgive. Now, what does it mean to forbear?
How many times have you been misrepresented? How many times
have you been done wrong? How many times have you been
treated in a cruel way? How many times has someone misunderstood
what you did and gave it a different spin than it really was? What
do you do? Forbear and forgive. That's what you do. Forbear and
forgive. You know, as long as we're in
the flesh, there will be hurt feelings, there will be misunderstandings,
There will be injustices. There will be misrepresentations.
We will feel our rights have been violated and others have
been wrong in how they treated us and what they said and what
they've done. What are we to do? Forbear. Don't retaliate. Don't defend
yourself. Don't seek revenge. Just forbear. Put up with one another. For Christ's sake. Whoever has
done you wrong, you've done somebody else worse, for one thing. You
have, many times, many times. Anybody, anytime somebody says
something bad about you, you said something bad about somebody
else, probably more often than they have. I mean, just go on. And really, any criticism anybody
has against you, this is hard. I mean, we say it, but any criticism
anybody has against you, in reality, is worse than they presented
it. It really is. I mean, if the truth were known
about us now, that's hard to take. And it's so. So what do I do? I forbear. I forbear. I look at that person
and know, by the grace of God, I'd be worse than them, that
I have done worse. And I, for Christ's sake, you
forbear. Forbearing one another, Paul
said, in love. Forbearing and forgiving. Put it out of mind. and restore
a state of love and fellowship. Well, I want to be able to do
that. I want to forget. I don't remember. I'm sorry about
what I did two weeks ago. I don't remember. I don't remember.
Isn't that a blessed state to be able to forget that which
is done? Forgive and forbear. And how are we to do it? If any
man have a quarrel against any, a justified reason for doing,
even as Christ forgave you. So also do ye. How did Christ
forgive you? I know the answer to that freely.
Absolutely freely. There wasn't anything in me that
merited forgiveness. He did it for his own sake. Now,
that is the only reason I need to forgive. May God give me the
grace to practice. And let me tell you, don't you
all put me in a position where I have to put this into practice.
I don't want to have to be tried here. So, everybody be nice to
me, but the point I'm making, I want to have this kind of attitude
of forgiveness. Verse 14. Isn't this beautiful
clothing? And we talk about beautiful clothing.
We're not talking about cotton, linen, and fabric. We're talking
about beautiful clothing. 14, and above all these things,
here's what's most important. Put on charity, which is the
bond of perfectness. This is truly the tie that binds. Put on charity. Turn over to
1 Corinthians 13, and we ought to look at this chapter quite
often. Paul said though I, he said,
covet earnestly, verse 31 of chapter 12, he talks about these
gifts. And I'd like to have gifts. I'd like to have the gift to
preach. I'd like to have the gift to witness, to expound the
scriptures. I'd like to have all these different
gifts of ministry. He says, covet earnestly these
best gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way, something
that is better than any gift. Though I speak with the tongues
of men of angels and have not charity, I've become as a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though
I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned for
the cause of God and truth, is what he's talking about, and
have not charity, it profits me nothing. Charity is long-suffering
and is kind. Charity envies not. You don't
envy somebody you love. Charity doesn't vaunt itself.
It doesn't push itself forward. It's not puffed up with pride.
It's humble. It doesn't behave itself unseemly.
It's not rude. It seeks not her own. It's not
easily provoked. It's not touchy. It thinketh
no evil. It rejoices not in iniquity,
but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes
all things. It doesn't keep records. It believes
all things. It hopes all things. It endures
all things. It never fails. Look in chapter
14, verse 1. Follow after charity. Pursue
it. Make it your aim. Make this your
ambition. Back to our text in Colossians. He says in verse 15, and let
the peace of God rule. Umpire is the word. Be the decision
maker in your hearts to the which you're called. You're called
to this peace of God. The peace of God. Let the peace
of God rule in your heart. You're called to peace. Now,
when we talk about peace, the first thing I need to talk about
is objective peace. I'm not talking about a feeling
of peace. I love a peaceful feeling, don't you? Don't you love it
when you feel at peace rather than in turmoil and anguish and
worrying when you just feel peaceful? That's great. That feeling's
great. But let's talk about objective peace first. Christ made my peace
with God. Having made peace by the blood
of his cross. Now that peace that he made It
has nothing to do with any feeling I have of peace. It's totally
objective. He made that peace by putting
away my sins, by saving me by His grace. And you know what
I get out of that? A peaceful feeling. God's at
peace with me. I don't need anything else. All that God requires of me,
I have. There's nothing else needed.
You know what that makes me feel? Peace. And I'm at peace with
my brothers and sisters in Christ. We're not competing. We're not trying to take what
each other, no, we love each other. And if you're promoted,
I'm promoted. If you hurt, I hurt. That's a
peace, a peace within, knowing all. Peace with the world in the sense
that what the world has, we don't want really. We don't want, we're
fine the way we are. Peace. Let the peace of God rule
in your heart. We're called upon to have peace,
to be peacemakers, to have peace. in our homes. Let the peace of
God rule in your heart. And then he says next in verse
15, and be thankful. Isn't that the word that should
describe every believer? Thankful. Luke read that passage
of scripture in Psalm 126, and he told me that David Edmondson
preached a message on that and had five points. The Lord was
the number one point. Number two was, have done. Have
done. And I like to think about what
the Lord's done, don't you? You know, I remember this one
guy, he said to me, he said, he said, I want to know, what's
the Lord doing in your life? I said, I don't know. You know,
he kept asking me, what's the Lord doing in your life? I said,
I know what He's done. That's what I get confidence
in. I don't know what He's doing, but I know what He's done. He's
put a weight on it. The Lord has done. But what's
He done? Great things. He justified me. He put away my sin. He chose
me. He redeemed me. He regenerated me. He called
me. He keeps me. He's done great things for us. If God be for us, His people.
And you know what? We're glad. I bet that was a
good message. I just know it was. That's a
powerful outline. And we're thankful, aren't we? Aren't you thankful that salvation
Totally, freely by His grace. Be ye thankful. And He says in
verse 16, 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. Now, this is our relationship
with the word of God dwelling in us. Now, hear the word. Study the word, not just to amass
information and to have more knowledge so you can know more
than somebody else. That doesn't have anything to
do with it. No, it's you want the word of God to dwell in your
heart, to give you true wisdom. by His grace. And it will help
you to encourage and help and admonish one another. And with
His word in our hearts, we sing with grace in our hearts to the
Lord. I love the thought of that, singing
to the Lord. You're singing to the Lord. I
mean, He's your audience and you love Him and you sing in
your heart to Him. That's what happens when His
word is in your heart. Verse 17, He says, And whatsoever
you do, In word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Now, I love it. I do not like the term practical
exhortations because everything in the Bible is practical. If
it's not practical, it's not real. Everything in the Bible
is to be put into practice, isn't it? But in the midst of this,
for lack of a better term, We'll call it practical exhortations.
I don't know what else to call it. But in the midst of this,
he goes right back to the gospel, whatever you do, do in the name
of Christ. When we pray, what do we do? We come into God's
presence in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We come saying,
hear this prayer as He presents it. I'm not coming in my own
name. I'm not coming in my own works. I'm coming in his name.
And whatsoever we do, we do in his name. Look at the way he
speaks. He says, and whatsoever you do
in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
giving thanks to God the Father by him. I mean, when you thank
God, you know that thankfulness will only be accepted by him.
You come in his presence. No man comes to the Father, but
by me. We're always aware of that, aren't
we? The only way I can come into His presence is if the Lord comes
into His presence. When He comes, I come because
I'm united to Him. That's how I come by Him. Yes,
I come pleading His name, but the way I come into the presence
of the Father is He comes into the presence of the Father and
I come with Him because I'm in Him. And even giving thanks,
we only do so by Him. I love the way Peter said, who
by Him do believe in God. The faith we have. We know it
comes from him, doesn't it? He says in verse 18, wives, submit
yourselves unto your own husbands as is fit, fitting in the Lord. Now, this clothing that we wear
affects our relationships. This is what God's elect do. He speaks first to the wives.
He says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it
is fit in the Lord. The woman subjects herself to
her husband, his wishes, his desires, as long as it's not
contrary to the scripture. You realize that. But she submits
herself to his wishes and his desires for Christ's sake. And this wears well, doesn't
it? This fits well. It's fit in the Lord. Wives,
submit yourselves to your own husbands for the Lord's sake,
as it's fit in the Lord. Verse 19, he says, Husbands,
you love your wives and be not bitter against them. How do you
love your wives? As Christ loved the church. And
how did he love the church? He gave himself, he gave everything.
Husbands, you love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Don't be critical about them. Don't be harsh toward them. A
man can more likely be that way, and we're told, don't be bitter
against your wives. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 3 for
a moment. Likewise, you wives, verse 1,
Likewise, your wives be in subjection to your own husbands, that if
they may obey not the word, they may also without the word be
won by the conversation of the wives, while they behold your
chaste conversation." coupled with fear, whose adorning, let
it not be the outward adorning of the plaiting of the hair,
or wearing of gold, or putting on of apparel, but let it be
the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible,
even the ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit, which is in the
sight of God of great price. For after this manner in the
old time, holy women also who trusted in God adored themselves,
being in subjection unto their own husbands, even as Sarah obeyed
Abraham, calling him Lord. whose daughters you are, as long
as you do well, are not afraid with any amazement. Likewise,
you husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, according
to love, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel,
and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your
prayers be not hindered. Do you know that if Our relationship
with our spouse is wrong if we're not treating our spouse wrong.
It hinders our prayers. And it says that, that your prayers
be not hindered. Now let's go on reading. Back
to our text in Colossians 3. Children, obey your parents in
all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Children, do what
your parents tell you to do. Always. This is well-pleasing. to the Lord. Honor your father
and mother. That's what God says for children
to do. Be obedient to your parents and
your parents. Fathers, verse 21, provoke not
your children to anger lest they be discouraged. Don't abuse parental
authority. Now, there's two dangerous directions
we can go as parents. We can either be too harsh and
provoke them to anger that way, or we can be too lenient and
we hurt them Either way, may God give us grace to wear the
clothing of a good parent for His glory. He's giving us this
direction. Servants, verse 22, obey in all
things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service
as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart. Fearing God on the
job, do your best not only when you're being watched, but when
you're not being watched. Remember, what we're doing is
as unto the Lord, not with eye service as men pleasers, but
in singleness of heart, fearing God. You know what that means
that everything I do, there's nothing that's mundane. There's
nothing that's mundane. It's all important. I don't care
what it is, because whatever I'm doing, I'm doing it as unto
the Lord. If I'm digging a ditch, I'm digging a ditch as unto the
Lord. That's There's nothing mundane in the life of a believer.
So be the best. A believer ought to be absolutely
the best employee there all the time. No doubt about that. Verse
23, and whatsoever you do. Do it heartily. As to the Lord
and not to me, and this is our rule of life, this is this is
going to govern all of our relationships. He's been talking about husbands
and wives. employees, parents, whatever we do, do it heartily
as unto the Lord and not to men, knowing that of the Lord you
shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you see, receive
the Lord Christ not. Serving the Lord, look what an
inheritance we have. Join heirs with the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a reward every believer
as waiting on him. Verse 25, but, and this is so
important, but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong
which ye have done, and there is no respect of persons. If
you do wrong as a husband, as a wife, as a parent, as a child,
as an employee, as an employer, You will reap what you sow, whether
you're a believer or non-believer. That's what he's saying. There's
no respect of persons. He that doeth wrong shall receive
of the wrong. Masters, chapter 4, verse 1,
he talks to the bosses now. Give unto your servants that
which is just and equal. Pay them right, knowing that
you also have a master in heaven. Now, do you see how this clothing
that he's speaking of, It affects our inside, our inside attitude,
and it affects how we treat everybody else. I mean, this is, and it
is beautiful clothing. This is the apparel I want to
be wearing, put on as the elect of God, holy and beloved, all
these beautiful pieces of clothes. May the Lord enable us. to put
on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh.
Let's pray together.