I have a passage I want to read
over in Colossians chapter 3. I want you to look with me there
at verses 1 through 4. Colossians chapter 3, verses
1 through 4. Let me read that in your presence
this afternoon. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above. Where Christ set up on the right
hand of God, set your affection on things above, not on things
on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. I want us to look tonight, for
just a few minutes, maybe think about this, if you wanted to
entitle this, encouragement to seek those things which are above. I've been trying lately, a few
weeks ago I preached on encouragement to pray, and encouragement to
do good work. One Sunday, just the other day,
I preached on, just be encouraged. You and I need encouragement,
don't we? And we need encouragement to
seek those things which are there. You know it's difficult to seek.
I lost my notes. Out in my office, I lost my notes
for the message tonight. And I looked and I got so frustrated
with myself. I looked and I didn't know where
else to look. I thought, you know, where else
am I going to look? My van, my office, the house. And I tell
you what, it's difficult to be a seeker-seeker. I thought about
it last night as I was So frustrated, didn't think where else I could
look to find these notes. And I'm just writing stuff and
lay them down and they're gone. They're gone. I saw this little
cartoon. A fellow looked out his window
and the neighbor was down on his hands and knees out in the
street, under the street light. And he went out and he said,
the neighbor, did you lose something? He said, I lost my wallet. And
he said, but whereabouts did you lose it at here? He said,
I don't know if I lost it here or not. He said, why are you
looking here? He said, the light's better.
So, I looked everywhere I knew to look. And finally, it just
popped up. You know, it just popped up.
But it's difficult to see. We need encouragement to see. We encourage each other to see.
But I tell you, it's wonderful when the Lord encourages us to
seek. When He comes here and by this
inspired apostle, He says to us, seek those things which are
of thy. And I've noticed something in
the Holy Scriptures about this business of seeking. When the
Lord intends to give us something, sometimes He puts it in our hearts
to seek it. Sometimes, when he's already
given us something, he puts it in our hearts to seek to know
that he's given us that. You remember that familiar scripture
over in Ezekiel chapter 37. I think 36 or 37. The Lord was
talking about the covenant. And he said, I'm going to take
you from among the nations. I'm going to gather you out from
among the people. I'm going to sprinkle clean water
upon you, and you're going to be clean from all your idols
and all your filthiness while I cleanse you. I'm going to put
a new heart in you. I'm going to give you a new spirit.
I'm going to put my spirit in you, I'm going to cause you to
walk in my statues and keep my judgments and do them. This he
said is what I'm going to do for you. And then in the very
same breath he turns around and says this, I will yet for this
be sought of by the house of Israel to do it for them. It
seems like when the Lord is ready to do something for his people,
he puts it in their hearts to seek for that very thing. How
many times have you prayed, Lord give me in your heart, since
he gave it to you? How many times have you felt
the pollution of your sins, and you said, Lord cleanse me from
my sins? When he's ready to do something,
or when he's given you something, so often he says to you, seek
it, seek it, seek it. You remember when David had fallen
into that awful sin with Bathsheba, and Nathan the prophet came to
him and confronted him with it. And finally David realized what
he did, and he said, Oh, I sinned against God. I've sinned against
God. And I imagine the thought came
to his heart, I'm going to die. And Nathan said, yes, you've
sinned against God, but you'll all die. You ain't going to die.
The Lord has put away your sin. But you know, just a while after
that, you find David on his face saying, Lord, wash me. Lord,
purge me. If the Lord had already said,
I'll put away your sin, why did David find himself on his face
seek Him for it. I think sometimes when the Lord
gives us something like that, makes us, tells us something
like that, He puts it in our heart to want us to know. If
the Lord has gave me this, I want to know that. If He has forgiven
me, I want to know that. If he has put away my sin, I
want him to tell me. I want him to give me the shanty.
So he finds himself on his face saying, Lord, wash me. Lord,
purge me from my sin. The Lord tells us that he's our
strength, and then he turns right around and says, seek ye the
Lord and his strength. That's strange language. The
Lord speaks in strange language, doesn't he? He does some strange
things. The Lord promised Abraham and his seed a heavenly country. Not only promised it to them,
he said, I've got it prepared for you. He hath prepared for
them a city. And you know Abraham and his
children spent all their lives looking for that place. Ain't
that amazing? And you know they're there now?
And they're enjoying that holy and happy place while you and
I are here in this place. And you know something? Not only
he's promised that to them, we're told that we have no continuing
city here. The place we live is just temporary. It's fading away. But you know
we seek one to come, do we not? We're seeking a city, a country
to come. And what I'm saying tonight is
this, that God has put all spiritual blessings in his holy child,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Every blessing God has put in
him. Eternal life, pardon for sins. The peace of God that passes
all understanding, the love of God, rest for a man's soul, that
eternal inheritance, he's put it all in his Son. And then he turns right around
here to us and he says, seek it. Knock and I'll open. Seek and you shall find. Ask
and it shall be given unto you. Seek those things which are of
God. But he adds something to this
seeking. Notice here in verse 2 what he says. He first tells
us to seek. Now he adds something to it.
Look what he says in verse 2. Set your affection on things
of God. Seek those things of God. And
the way I understand this, he's saying you seek those things
until you have such a hard knowledge of those things that they win
your affection. Seek to know these things that
are above until you become tenderly attached to these things. Until these things of God and
of Christ and of the Holy Spirit and these things of Ellen become
your treasure, where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also. I tell you what, you can take
a man who has a treasure, something, a real treasure to his heart,
he can't get his mind off of that. He thinks about it all the time.
He keeps it put up in a safe place. He locks it away. If he has to, he'll bury it.
Why? It's his treasure. He values
that thing. His affections is set upon it.
I remember one time years ago, my dad's dead now, but years
ago, he wanted me to come down. I'd go down every month or so
and spend a few days with him. And he said, I've got something
I want to show you. And he tucked me down in an old
garage. Had an old garage. Didn't even
use it anymore. And he said, he gave me a shovel and said,
I want you to dig. He stepped off so many steps
from the wall and the back of the wall and said, now start
digging right here. I said, what have you got there? What are
you digging? What am I digging for? He said, just dig. And I
dug around and I hit something. And I said, what do you got you?
Got an old big plastic bag. In the plastic bag had a bunch
of rags and papers and I unrolled it and there was a wad of money
like I've never seen in my life. I said, what do you got? He said,
well, let's go and sit at the kitchen table and we'll count
it and see how much I saved. I went and I started counting.
I started counting. I kept counting. Fifty thousand
dollars. And I just kept counting. I counted
again. I looked at it. I mean, I'm not
very financially well off now, but I was worse then than I am
now. I had never seen $50,000. I had my hands on it, and I kept
counting it. And when I finally left there,
after we buried it again or something, I couldn't get my mind off it.
Fifty thousand dollars. And it almost became a treasure
to me. But when my dear dad died, I
got some of it. But you know it's gone. It stayed
around for a while like a little bird on a limb, but it made itself
wings and flew away. It's gone. It's gone. But you know something about
these things that are above? They're abiding. These things
that are above are lasting. They're eternal. Those things
that are above, they're real. And those things that are above,
you'll never wear them out. They'll never diminish, they'll
never corrupt, and they'll satisfy your soul. And this is part of
what the Apostle says here, seek it, set your affections upon
it. Let your heart be tenderly attached
to those things. Let them become your treasure. I tell you, we may hear about
these things of today. And we may read about them. But
I tell you, when they get in our hearts, that's when they
affect us. When we get tenderly attached
to these things, that's when they affect us. We may hear them
and give a little thought to them, but oh, when we set our
affections upon those things of ours, I tell you, the world
will see our backsides when that happens. And they'll hear us
singing, Faith, faith, each breath of joy, Jesus is mine. All that my soul has tried, all
of these worldly things and all these temporal advantages, I
tried them. And what happened? They left
this void, dismal void. But Jesus has satisfied. Jesus is mine. Not only seek these things which
are mine, but oh, seek to understand them. Seek to know what they
are. And then get them in your heart. And when they become your
treasure, you set your heart upon them. And then you can live. Then you can really live. in
this temporal world. Set your affections. I want to
see two things right quickly. In verse 1, two things. I want to see what goes ahead
of this, seeking those things which are above, and then I want
to look at what follows. Look what goes before this. If
you then be risen with Christ, If you be risen with Christ.
Now, Paul is not saying, I doubt that you're really risen. He's
not saying that. If I was writing this today to
you, I would probably say, since you are risen with Christ, seek
those things which are good. But what does this mean? This
will encourage us to seek those things which are good. And that's
why he told them, if you be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are good. What does it mean to be risen
with Christ? What does that statement mean?
Let me give you three things quickly it means. First of all,
to be risen with Christ means we have union with him. Because
he said, you are risen with Christ. That tells us union, doesn't
it? I don't know who first came up with a statement, union, vital
union, but it's a wonderful concept. that the church has this vital
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus has a body. He
has a physical body that he was born in. The Father gave to him
a physical body and a physical soul. He lived in that body. He suffered in that body. He
died in that body. He's in heaven in that glorified
body. But he has a mystical body. That's
his church, his people. It's union with him. Listen to what Paul said in Ephesians
chapter 1. God hath given him to be head
over all things to the church which is his body. mystical body
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what he says in Ephesians
5. We are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. This is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ
and the church. And one of the mysteries of this
mystical body is that there has never been a time when the church
did not have union with its head. It's always been in the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to show you a passage
of Scripture. Look with me over in Psalm 139. It's a very familiar Scripture.
Psalm 139. Look in verse 13. Psalm 139. Look in verse 13. David said, Thou hast possessed
my reins, Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise
Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are
Thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was
not hid from Thee when I was made in secret. and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see
my substance, yet being unperfect, unformed. And in thy book all
my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them." Now, there are different
ways you can understand this scripture. You can understand
this scripture as David speaking of himself. He said, Lord, when
my mother conceived me in her belly, you knew me then. You
saw all my members as they were farming in my mother's belly.
You can look at it that way. You can look at it this way,
that this was the Lord Jesus speaking of his physical body. The Father prepared him a body
in that virgin's womb. And the Father watched that holy
body as it farmed in the womb, and came forth from her womb,
that holy body. But you know the way I love to
look at this, and the way some of the old theologians love to
look at this? This is Jesus Christ speaking
of his mystical body. This is his church. He's saying
to her what he said of Jeremiah, before I farmed thee in the womb,
I knew you. Before there was ever a world,
before there was ever a time, the church was in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, all my members are written
in that book. What does the Scripture tell
us? Doesn't the Scripture tell us that every elect soul's name
was in the book of life before the foundation of the world?
This is the mystical body of Christ, and she has this eternal
union with her head. Now, what's the blessing behind
that? Well, the blessing behind it is this. Everything the head
did, the body did. When the head came into this
world and lived a holy life, the body lived it. When the head
suffered and died upon Calvary's tree and put away the sin, the
body did it. When the head died and was buried
in the tomb, the body died with him. When the head arose from
the grave, the body arose with him. Paul said, you are risen
with Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ raised
from the dead, who rose with Him? The Church rose with Him.
She rose with Him. Oh, Bruce, you say, I just can't
understand that. That's a great mystery. You can't grasp this
eternal union. You just believe it. You just
believe it. I think it was Augustine who
said, We're not looking for some new thing to believe, we're just
trying to believe what we already know. And that's it. In all this
union, you are in Christ before the foundation of the world.
This is why we believe election so strongly. Do away with election,
you do away with union. And I love to think, brothers
and sisters, that our representative came into this world, and we
were in him. And he lived for us, and he suffered
for us, and he died for us, and we rose in him. If you'd be risen
in Christ, oh, vital union, vital union. He's our spiritual head. And secondly, we've got to consider
if you be risen with Christ this way, it means this. When you
are regenerated, if you are regenerated, if you are spiritually raised
from the dead, if you are born again, seek those things which
are there. There was a time when you and
I were dead in trespasses and sin. We had no life in us at
all, did we? We were just as dead Spiritually,
it's the body of Christ that was dead physically when it laid
lifeless in that tomb. He was dead. That's why they
buried him. He was dead. And you and I were dead in trespasses
and our sins. But that same life that came
into that body in that tomb is the very same life that came
to us. Not a separate life, the same
life. God has given Jesus Christ life
from the dead. Did he not? That's the life of
God. And the same life of God is the
same life that every regenerate soul has in them. It's not a different life. God
has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. That same life. He sent forth
the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Father, Father. Oh, what a life. It's not just
the length of it. My goodness, what a blessing
that is. Eternal life. But it's the life of Christ.
That's a holy life, an incorruptible life, a happy life. Oh my, we have life, a life that's
far above this world and it's corruption and it's decay and
diminishing. It's a life, a life, oh a life. I am the life and the life that
I have is the life I've given you. I give unto them eternal
life. And I tell you, when He gives
you that life, you're a new creature. You have risen from the grave. You're no longer dead. And you'll
never die. He that heareth my words, and
believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
never come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto
life. And you'll never perish. You'll
never die again. These people that are telling
us they might and they may, I tell you, when the Son of God lays
breathless on His throne, then we'll start talking about a believer
perishing. But until that happens, until He loses His life, you
ain't going to lose your life, dear Charles. Now, ain't that
so? If you be risen with Christ, if He's given you His life, then
seek those things which are there. And thirdly, when he talks here
about risen with Christ, isn't this what water baptism symbolizes? He tells us in chapter 2 in verse
12, buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of That's what baptism
teaches us. It shows us the death of Christ,
the burial of Christ, and the resurrection of Christ. I wish
I'd have known more about water baptism when I was baptized.
All I knew about it, Brother Wayne, is I should be baptized.
The Lord said, be baptized. I confessed it. I wish I knew
more about what it symbolizes. Brother Bill Harris, we baptized
him the other day, and I don't even know if the congregation
understood what I said, but Bill was standing there and I was
ready to dunk him, bury him, and I said, here stands Christ.
Here stands Christ. Right here before you. And he's
dead. He's dead. And what are we going
to do with him? We're going to bury him. Bury
him. Then what's going to happen?
He's going to raise. This is Christ. Well, it's not
really Christ, but it's symbolic of Christ. And that's what our
baptism shows. Have you been baptized? Has the
pastor put you down on the water and brought you back up? Then
you're risen with Christ symbolically. Seek those things which are love. That's the first thing, if you
be risen with Christ. But look what follows after this.
Boy, this will encourage us, too, to seek those things which
are above. And I say we need encouragement
to seek. Because it's difficult to seek. It's difficult to seek. You get tired of seeking. We
need encouragement to seek. Are you risen with Christ? Do
you have the life of Christ in your bosom? Let that encourage
you to seek. Get out of this world. Get out
of this world. But look in the last part of
verse 1, and look at this, what he says in Colossians chapter
3, in verse 1. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right
hand of God." Now, he obviously said this to encourage them to
seek. But what does this mean, where Christ sits on the right
hand of God? Well, let's consider just a minute,
what does that mean? When Christ is seated at God's
right hand, well, it means this. Does it mean this, that our sins
are purged? Doesn't it mean that? You say,
Bruce, what do you mean? How does it mean that? Well,
don't we remember when the priest used to go into the holiest of
all with blood of animals? And they'd go in there once a
year and they'd sprinkle the holy place, they'd sprinkle the
altar in front of the altar with blood. And every day they went
into the holy places and they'd sprinkle blood. But they kept going in there,
didn't they? Every day. And every year they
kept going in and sprinkling blood. And the Hebrew writer
said the priests stand daily Daily they stand and minister
often, often the sacrifices that can never take away sin. But
this man, but this man, he was a man, he was a real man, he
was God's man. This man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, what did he do? He sat down. How could he sit down? The work
was finished. He tells us in Hebrews chapter
1 what a glorious person the Lord Jesus was. He was the very
expressed image of God. He's the creator of all things,
and he upholds all things. And the apostle says, when he
by himself purged our sins, he sat down. They didn't have any
chairs in the holy place. They didn't need any. They weren't
allowed to sit, because the work was never done. But the Lord
Jesus Christ, the blessed Son of God, he purged our sins away. Isn't that encouraging? The next
time you begin to sit those things which are above, and the knowledge
of your sins comes to your conscience, And it seems somewhat to discourage
you and get you down. Well, look! Who is that seated
on the right hand of the Father? That's Him that in the days of
His flesh touched your sins in His own body and suffered for
those sins, and when He says it's finished, He put those sins
away. And you and I can be assured
that if he had not purged our sins, he would not be sitting
there at the right hand of God. The fact that he's there says
to you and me, my sins are purged. One dear man made a statement
that I've never forgotten. I love it. He said, There is
a sense in which The children of God are only allowed to think
of their sins, and it's this. They've been purged. Even when
we confess them, they've been purged. When we repent of them,
when we're sorry and broken over, they've been purged. Isn't that
true now? If that's so, then what would
stand in our way from seeking those things which are It also
means this, that Jesus Christ is seated on the right hand of
God. He's still working there. He ceased to work here at Pershing,
but listen to what he's doing there. Romans 8.34, let me read
this. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died, yea, brother, that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, and what's he doing? Making intercessions
for us. If you've ever had the misfortune
to go to court, you know what I'm talking about when I say
it's a frightful thing. It's a frightful thing. When
you stand there and you look at that judge sitting there on
his bench, and he asks you some questions. It's a frightful thing. I had to go to court one time.
I never want to go back again. And I tell you, I left there
having appreciation. I know we don't have a high opinion
for lawyers, but I tell you what, when you need one, you will have.
And I left there thinking that one that day, he was there to
represent me. I didn't know the procedures.
I didn't know how to plead my own case if I'd have got up and
tried to. I'd have been called down, found in contempt of court.
Aren't you glad, brothers and sisters? In the court of heaven,
there's someone there representing you to plead and maintain your
cause. He is able to save to the uttermost
them that come to God by him. Because he ever liveth to make
intercessions for him. This is the only thing to save
poor Peter. Peter, I pray for you. You don't even know it.
You're so ignorant and presumptuous, you don't even know what I've
done, but you will. And you'll be glad to know that you have
a mediator. All access. Access. Free, full,
complete access. We have access by Jesus Christ. Do we not? Then we can seek those things
which are above. He's removed everything. There's no sin there
to bar God receiving you. There's no knowledge of sin that
can discourage us from coming. He's there to plead our cause,
to make us accepted in the Father's sight, and to make our seeking
effectual. Oh, seek those things which are
above. Because Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God. I tell you, sometimes I feel
so bad. I get down so easy. And I ain't going into that.
You don't want to hear that anyway. But I tell you this. The one
thing that encourages me more than anything else, and has for
several years now, is this. That I have access. And it's
not by my merit. It's not by the strength of my
faith. It's not by the depths of my
understanding. It's through Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. And I can give me great joy and
assurance and confidence to know that God has set Him there on
purpose so that I and so you could have access into His presence.
What a wonderful truth that is. Be encouraged to seek those things
which are What does it mean thirdly? It
means this, for Jesus Christ to be seated on the right hand
of God, it means that he has universal control and dominion
and sovereign rule over everything. Now, what can keep you from seeking? If he's seated there, the one
that encourages you to seek holds the wind in his fist. who has
his foot upon the devil's neck, who has power over all flesh,
who rules the desires and the will. All power is given to me
in heaven and in earth." Listen to Ephesians 1.20. God has raised
him from the dead and set him on his own right hand, and here's
what that means, far above all principalities. and power, and
might, and dominion, and every name that's named, not only in
this world, but that which is to come, and has put all things
under his feet." Don't ask us to worship a little puny Jesus.
We just ain't going to do it, are we? We ain't going to do
it. We worship a sovereign, triumphant
Christ. And there's nothing that can
keep us from seeking those things which are God, when we know he
controls it all. All angels, principalities, and
powers, Peter said, are subject to him, under him. And lastly and finally is this. What does it mean? Well, this
is serious. It means this, the Lord said
unto my Lord, the Father said to his Son, set
at my right hand until I make your enemies your bestowal. Oh, it means that. It means something
wonderful for the redeemed. It's encouraging for the believer.
But oh my, it's awful for the lost. It's awful for the enemies
of the Lord. My son, sit at my right hand, and I'm going to put all your
enemies under your feet. You're going to crush them. You're going to rule them with
a rod of iron. You're going to damn them at last. You're going
to overwhelm them. You're going to overcome them.
You're going to defeat them at last. They're your enemies. And
you know what the Lord Jesus does to His enemies? He breaks
them now and saves them by His grace now, or He damns them yonder. You'll not find any other options.
Charles Spurgeon said we must be saved by Christ, or we'll
be damned by Christ. And God, when He said He would,
that was His purpose. Oh, if there's anybody here tonight
in that you're yet His enemy, I tell you, you've got no cause
to be His enemy. What's He ever did to you? You're
His enemy? Tell me one time, He ever mistreated
you? You got up this morning. You
went about your business. Everything you have that's good
and decent and right, He's given it to you. Everything that would
have damned you this morning, He's withheld it from you. He's
did that. He's given you fruitful seasons.
He's filled your heart with gladness. Oh, He's given you everything.
What's He done to you? And you're His enemy? He's altogether
loved me, and you're His enemy? You've got no cause to be his
enemy. And I tell you this, it's a war you can't win. You can't
win this war. You'll fight with all your might.
You won't wound him one time. You'll never hurt him. You'll
never get to him to do him any harm. He's out of your reach. He's in heaven on the right hand
of God. The best thing you can do tonight,
if you're the enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ, pile all your weapons
up at your feet. Get your white flag of surrender
out and say, Lord, I'll fight you no more. I give up. I surrender. I give up what I am. I give up
what I've done. I give up my hopes, my aspirations. I lay them all in ashes at your
feet. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. I'll fight you no longer." If
you don't, if you don't, and he lets you go on as his enemy,
I'll tell you what he'll do. He may be good to you in this
life, give you a lot of things in this life, but he'll bring
you to judgment, and he'll crush the life out of you. And He that
was so merciful here will unleash His wrath against you yonder. His enemy. Don't live His enemy
any longer. Come and give yourself up to
the Son of God. Draw near to Him and kiss Him.
And then seek those things which are not. God bless you.