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I'd like to speak to you this morning of God's goal for every Christian. God's goal for every Christian. We look back at the last year and we see how faithful God is in bringing us this far. Yesterday's gone.
There's nothing we can do about that now, but we have today. We have today.
Today's the day of salvation.
Today we can do something about it because God's given us another opportunity. Last year we looked at, on New Year's Day, the greatest goal of all, which is to know God. That is the greatest goal, is to know God personally.
I spoke from Psalm 42, As the deer pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after thee, O God. We must follow hard after God. That's our responsibility, to pursue God. I believe the pursuit of God is the greatest thing that we can do.
This is, to know God, this is the believer's greatest goal, is to know Him personally. Jesus said this as He prayed in John 17, 3, And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.
Wonderful, wonderful verse. To know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.
But I'd like to reverse that.
That's on this side of eternity. What does God have in mind for us? What is God's goal for us? What is God's goal for the believer? Another question, and to rephrase that, would be, What is God's best for you?
You ever thought about that? What's God's best in this life, for each and every one of us? Now, as we go forward and journey to the unknown, and the unknown future is unknown, And it's only known to God, because God knows everything from past, present, future.
We don't know. We're creatures of the dirt. God is the creator. He's all-knowing, all-wise, ever-present God. We put our trust in Him. So, there is a blessedness of the unknown. There are some things we can know.
We can have an assurance that's in Jesus Christ, and know Him. Luther said, I may not know where I may go, but I know the One who leads me. That's really all that matters. There is a blessed assurance that we can have, and a peace that passes all understanding.
A joy unspeakable that's full of glory. As we looked at last Lord's Day, John 3, 16, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.
I'd like to draw from that, and use that as a premises, because that speaks of regeneration. That speaks of new birth. God is the unchanging God. He's immutable, as Brother Keith has already mentioned.
He remains the same. God is never going to change. We're the ones that need changing. And I'm not talking about just a new leaf. You have a lot of people making resolutions today, turning over new leaves, reforming.
But the change I'm talking about is a change of heart. There has to be a transformation. There must be a change of mind. That's really the Greek word of repentance. There's a change of mind, a change of direction, a 180 degree change.
So starting from that point, you know, the Lord says, I am the Lord, I change not. Isn't it wonderful to know that we go into an ever-changing world, but God is never changing. He never changes. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He is the same God that was when He created the earth over 6 ,000 years ago.
Isn't that wonderful?
The same God that led Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and the patriarchs, and the prophets. It's the same God that leads us today. There's no compromise with God. He never changes. So if anybody's going to change, it's going to be on our end.
We must change toward Him. And that change, that's what I'm going to speak to you about today. I'm going to be speaking to you about what to put off and what to put on. But the Creator God never changes.
The change must be on our part, and we must change. You know, Jesus said, as I spoke last week to Nicodemus, Nicodemus needed changing, didn't he? Jesus told him, most assuredly, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
That's the greatest miracle there is. Everybody wants miracles. But the greatest miracle is a changed heart, a transformed heart. And Jesus said to him, unless this happens, you cannot see the kingdom of God.
You cannot enter into God's kingdom unless you are born from above. That is regeneration. That is the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. That is an act of God. That is something that God does. Now, in link with regeneration, there is conversion.
Conversion is somewhat on our end of the repentance. Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. They are tied together. They're very closely related. Now, conversion is that change. That means repentance.
2 Corinthians 5 .17, Paul says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. Think about that. All things have become new. What a great transformation.
What a great truth. An amazing change. Beloved, this is the greatest of all miracles. Regeneration. When old things have passed away, all things have become new. All things. Don't miss that. All things.
Not some things. Everything. So, how does that look like? Now, that's what we're going to look at. God's goal for every Christian is this. And it's found in Romans chapter 8. Isn't that a wonderful chapter?
Don't you love the book of Romans? So, go with me to Romans chapter 8. Now, I'd like to find... I'm not going to exposit this, but I'd like for us to look at this. And I want to break it down just a little bit as a foundational verse.
And then we're going to go to Colossians chapter 3. But I want you to notice with me in verse... Let me start with verse 28, because that seems to be one of the great promises that God makes for His children, for His beloved.
And verse 29 is really where I'm going to. But notice what it says in verse 28. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose.
Isn't that an amazing verse? It's a verse that we could stand on. Notice what he says. We. That's God's elect. That's God's children. We, every believer in Jesus Christ. We know. We know that's assurance.
That is the blessed assurance that the believer has. We know that... What? All things, not some things, but all things in this life, whether it be good or bad, whether they be crosses or losses, whether it be sunshine or rain or mountaintops and valleys, we know that all things, whatever life may hit us with, we know that all things under God's loving care and His providence will work out for the good.
Who's good? God's good. It's God's good ultimately, but God's good is our good. Because you and I are part of the family of God. If you're God's elect. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ. And it is what God has ordained.
Let's not miss this. That whatever God has ordained providentially that comes our way.
In life's journey.
We would have never known this as a youngster, what God has for us in the future, would we? And by the way, think of it. Even as a child, and if God were to come up to you as a child and tell you all that was to come your way, it would overwhelm us.
We could not handle it. But God lovingly guides us and leads us and cares for us one step at a time. Because He's gracious, and He knows, and He can handle it. We can't do it alone, can we? But notice what He says.
Whatever comes our way, all things, all things work together. They work together for what? For good. No matter what kind of suffering, what kind of heartache, what kind of pain, what kind of hardship comes our way.
As a child of God, it is always for the good.
Always.
Because God is good.
What has marred us is sin. What has marred us is sin. And that's what's blinded people's eyes. The goodness of God is what really leads us to repentance.
David said it. I love this.
Me and Brother Keith talk about this quite often, but surely goodness and mercy, two hounds of heaven. Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
And that's talking about God's eternal home. Goodness and mercy follows you. David knew, didn't he? He knew that God was good, and he knew God was merciful. He knew that everything God did was always good, and he knew everything God did out of His heart, out of His deep heart of love, was always tender, compassionate.
Always toward Him. For the good, to those who love God. See, this promise is not for everybody. It's to the elect. It's to those who love God.
And I don't know about you, when I was singing, My Jesus, I love Thee, I think to myself, Oh, I've come so short of loving God as I should. But God can help us make up the difference by the Holy Spirit.
And this is a promise from God to His people. And notice this, it's to those who are the called, according to His purpose. Now we're getting a little bit closer to verse 29. The called, according to His purpose.
This calling is the effectual calling. You know, in John 3, 16, it speaks about the general call. That the gospel is for all peoples. God does not exclude no one from His common grace. But here, the effectual calling is talking about this love that God has for His own.
There's a special love. A good way to illustrate this is, you and I have a special intimacy within our own family. That we don't have of those that are outside of our family. And it's the same with God.
God has a special love to those that are His children, His beloved, than He does those that are outside. Even though God is love, and He loves all, and He does not desire anyone to perish, but He does have a special love for His own.
And that's what He's talking about here. Those that are effectually called, those are God's hand-picked children, I like to put it, those that God has marked out to be His own. His elect that He brings to salvation.
Isn't that wonderful? Think about that.
You're hand-picked.
You're marked out. If you're in God, in Christ Jesus. If you're God's child today. Now notice with me, Paul ends in verse 28, and then in verse 29, he talks about predestination. Predestination. Look at verse 29, and this is a starting point in which we are looking at.
For whom He foreknew, that's God's people, He also predestined. What did He predestine them to be? Listen, to be conformed to the image of His Son. That He might be the firstborn among the brethren.
He foreknew.
God is, that is a very controversial word, but it's a very important word. And the reason why I say it's controversial, there's a lot of different views among theologians today of this word. A lot of theologians believe that this refers simply to God's omniscience, that in eternity past, He knew who would come to Christ.
Now He does. But rather, in the context here, Paul is basically saying it speaks of a predetermined choice that God has made in the past, eternal past. It's not that God is just looking in the future who's going to be saved.
God has already, in the past, the eternal past, has handpicked His people. And a lot of people within the church has a hard time grasping this, because they feel, how can God show more love to a group of people than to this people?
How can He show more compassion to a group here than He does over here? And the way people are thinking is, God somewhat owes them that God has no, in a sense, has no right to do that.
But He does.
Isn't it amazing? And that's why in Romans 9, that God says, and Paul speaks of Moses, and quoting Moses, that God will have compassion on whom He desires to have compassion. He will have mercy on whom He wants to have mercy on.
And He talks about Esau, and Jacob. Esau, I hated.
Jacob, I loved.
And a lot of people said, they think, I have a hard time getting my mind around, why does God hate Esau?
But the question really is,.
Why did God love Jacob?
That's the question.
Why does God love any of us? Why does God have compassion on any of us? And when you really look at it, from a biblical viewpoint, when you and I see our sin, that we are deserving of hell, God owes us nothing but death and hell in the grave, folks.
He owes us justice.
Amen.
Now, this is where actually He goes to, and then eventually, there's like a trail, that there's an order, and the next verse is the golden chain of redemption. I don't want to get into this, but He talks about more of whom He predestined, these He also called, whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
The golden chain of salvation, of redemption.
Isn't that beautiful?
You cannot disconnect that. It's linked. There is the predestined, marked out, the called, the justified, and whom He justifies, He will glorify. It will eventually lead to heaven, because when one is truly a child of God, born of the Spirit of God, He will be justified, He will be glorified.
Eventually. That's the perseverance of the saints.
Now,.
We're talking about some really deep, deep waters here, and I don't have time to go into that, that's for another time. But, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ is the goal that God has predestined, in His purpose, for His own people, and that is, summed up in one sentence, and I'm going to say it, to be like Jesus Christ.
Folks, that's God's goal for each and every one of us. Now, as I was studying this, I was thinking, I need this so much, this is such an important message, not because I'm preaching it, folks, it's because of what God has to say, because our sanctification should be a primary goal in our life as a Christian.
I like the way Pastor John MacArthur put it, there's a wonderful message he's preaching, I would encourage you to listen to it. He calls it the honorable obsession, sanctification. Isn't that beautiful?
The honorable obsession. It is an honorable obsession. We should be obsessed with sanctification. Sanctification means our cleansing, but it also means to be set apart from the world unto God. And, the more you grow as a Christian, you know this, and the more passionate you become in love with Jesus, and the more God just lavishes you with His love, the less you want to be part of this world.
Now, you want to share it with the world and tell the world about it, but this passion that God shares with you burns away all the desires of the flesh. This is what Paul called the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Now, we're going to see how this looks like. Ephesians chapter 1. Turn with me very quickly to Ephesians 1 and look at verse 3 and 4. I'm going to connect this with Romans 8 .29. Ephesians chapter 1. Look at verse 3 and 4.
Paul begins a wonderful, almost like a long, beautiful praise to God. And he begins by saying, Blessed be the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy.
There it is.
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy. This is God's purpose. And without blame, before Him in love. So God not only predestines our salvation, He also predestines your sanctification.
It says it. And this again is the upward call of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. To be conformed into the image of His dear Son. Now, if we are to seek God and pursue God, it is God that has first pursued us.
I love what Jesus said in Matthew 6 .33, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added unto you. But did you know, before we seek God, before we seek His righteousness, He's already sought us.
He was there.
I like what A .W. Pink says, and he put it this way, It was not Adam who sought God, but God sought Adam. And this has been the order ever since.
Amen?
That's been the order. Man does not seek God. How many times in Scripture Paul says, No one seeks God. No one. No one. No one. Then why does God tell us to seek Him? Well, because He desires us to come to know Him.
And I like Spurgeon kind of put this together. He said the only reason we seek God is because He's first sought us. And if we are seeking Him, and as we look back when we sought Him, we think at first it was us seeking God, but God has already been there and He sought us.
Now that's deep waters because.
God is there first. He's always first.
That's why the writer to the Hebrews said in Hebrews 12 .1, Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. He's the beginner.
He's the perfecter.
Basically, as Romans 8 .28 has said, as a result of God's choosing those who will be saved, John MacArthur says in his commentary concerning the statement of Romans 8 .29, unrighteous persons are declared righteous, unworthy sinners are declared worthy of salvation, and all because they were chosen in Him and in Christ.
This refers to Christ's imputed righteousness granted to us a perfect righteousness which places the believers in a holy and a blameless position before God through daily living. Inevitably, fall short of His holy standard.
Now, end quote. We do fall short of His holy standard, don't we? But in Jesus, in Jesus, when God looks at us in Jesus,.
It's perfection.
That just absolutely boggles my mind that if you're covered in the righteousness of Christ, His righteousness is imputed to you. When God looks at you, He does not see you.
He sees Christ.
And by the way, that's the only way you and I can get into heaven.
No other way,.
Because our righteousness is filthy rags. They're dirt. Dirty. Before a holy God. And to enter into heaven, one must be perfect.
Perfect.
And how can people go around and say, I'm such a good person. I've gone to church all my life. I have prayed prayers all my life. I've done this. And the Bible says in one statement, by grace are you saved.
Through faith.
That not of yourselves,.
It is the gift of God.
Not of works, lest anyone should boast. No one will boast on that day.
When we enter into heaven.
Listen to this.
Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 and 13. Talking about sanctification. Therefore my beloved, Paul again. My beloved. He's talking to God's people. As you have always obeyed. He's talking about those who have obeyed God.
Not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation.
With fear and trembling.
Now what he's talking about there is not working for your salvation. He says work it out. It's first in you through regeneration. Now he's talking about sanctification. He says you work it out.
Work it out.
Now folks, this is the hard part. This is the hard part about Christian life. Let's just be honest. The Christian life is hard in sanctifying us. I found it very difficult. But I like what Thomas A. Kempis said this.
I never would have forgotten this. I read this years ago. He says carry the cross patiently and in the end, the cross will carry you. Hallelujah. In other words, you yoke up to Jesus Christ and he said that come unto me all you labor and heavy laden and I'll give you rest.
If we're yoked with Christ and not with the law, we're not condemned but we're yoked with God's gracious son. Jesus has taken all of it. And no matter how hard life hits me and what I go through in this life, I know I can lean on him and he can carry me through.
Isn't that wonderful? Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. And then he says this. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. It's all about God's good pleasure.
God's working in you but you work out your salvation and we do it with an attitude of what? Fear and trembling. Well, we need to see that, don't we? I need to see it in my own life. Sanctification, folks, is never passive.
It's always active.
In other words, when you and I receive the grace of God, we don't sit back and say, okay, God, you've done it all. Yes, he has done it all and I do nothing. No, no, no. Again, like I mentioned this last week, you have the sovereignty of God and you have man's responsibility.
They are parallel but they never intersect.
Never.
Now, with saying all that, there's much more to be said about our sanctification because sanctification is God's working in us but it is also us working. It's our cooperation in this sense, not in salvation now.
Salvation is not cooperation with God. God has done it all through Jesus Christ. But sanctification is a cooperation with God. It's synergistic.
Salvation is monergistic. Basically, that means that God has done it all. Synergistic means I have a responsibility in this. That's why the Bible says cleanse yourselves in the fear of God, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Sanctify yourselves. It speaks to us as commands to do something. And as you grow as a Christian, you're more and more concerned or I should say obsessed as Pastor MacArthur says with your sanctification.
1 Corinthians 6, 18 -20 says this. Here's a command. It's strong now.
Buckle your seatbelts.
Flee sexual immorality. Does that not hit people today?
He's speaking to a church.
Flee sexual immorality. In other words, what he's saying, run from it. Why is he saying that? Because he knows the desires of the flesh. The pleasure of sin is attractive. The Bible doesn't hold back from that.
Scripture says there's pleasure in sin but for a season. And eventually, it would be a ruin toward you. Just all you got to do is look at the life of Samson. Look at the life of Solomon. Look at what happened to those men.
They were the richest man, the most wisest man. The most wisest man, Solomon,.
Fell.
Fell into idolatry. He knew better. He had the fear of the Lord. Samson, he had a knowledge of God but yet, a Delilah came along and took him away from his God. And you know the story. Flee sexual immorality.
Every sin, Paul says, does is outside of the body but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body, the body matters, is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own?
In other words, if you're a child of God, that body does not belong to you. What he's saying is, the eyes, the ears, every member, every part belongs to God. Be careful what you hear. I like the children song.
How's it go? Be careful. Little ears, what I hear. Be careful eyes, what you see. And even as a child of God growing up in the Lord and maturing in the Lord by God's grace, I still have to remember that because so much is thrown out in front of us.
Is it not? Just cut the TV on. Cut the phone on.
Put it on Facebook.
Next thing you know, you got all kinds of lewd and flaunting and fleshly desires and sensuality. It's everywhere. It's in the books, in the stores, on the billboards. It's thrown out constantly and folks, you got to flee it.
You see this, look. For you were bought with a price.
What's the price?
It cost the blood of God's Son to purchase you and me.
Jesus paid a heavy,.
God paid a heavy price for our salvation. But also, you must see this. Not only your spirit belongs to God, but your body belongs to God.
And he says this,.
Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are whose?
God's.
Now, sanctification. I got to move on because we got a lot to cover here. We got to see how this looks like. Go with me to the book of Colossians now. Colossians chapter 3. How does sanctification look like?
How does being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ look like? These verses tell us. Now, I'm going to break it down as I go. And this is powerful, folks. This is so powerful because, look where he begins.
The starting point. The starting point is in verse 1. If you then have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above. Where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. This is the basics.
This is the foundation. Paul calls for a different ethical standard for the living for the Christian. He says seek those things which are where?
Above.
We talked about that. If you're born from above, you're born of God, you're going to seek those things which are from above, right? Why? Because you have a new heart. God has written his laws in your heart.
Now, that means you have new desires. You have new affections. You have new everything. All things, old things have become, has been passed. All things have become new. Seek those things which are from above.
Jesus said it. Seek first the kingdom of God. Then he says, not only seek in verse 2,.
He says set,.
Seek and set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Seek, set.
Above, above.
In other words, we should be eternally minded. We must be heavenly minded. This will take the church a long way if we do this and obey it, folks. If we have been born from above, again, we seek and we set our things, our mind on things above, where Christ is.
Sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind. This could be translated, think, think. The illustration here comes to mind,.
It's like a compass.
MacArthur brings this out. It's like a compass that points north. The believer's entire disposition, he says, should point itself toward the things of God and heaven. Amen? It's like the compass pointing north.
Pointing north. Heavenly thoughts comes by what? Saturating ourselves in the word of God. And, now we must remember this. We must beware of having a form of godliness. Because the Pharisees and the scribes had a form of godliness.
They searched the scriptures,.
But Jesus says,.
You searched the scriptures.
And you have not seen that they testify of me. That's what Jesus is saying to them. In other words, they were looking at all these great things in the scriptures by the prophets, but they missed who God really was in flesh, Jesus.
And they ended up crucifying him, right?
Well, there's a communion with God that we are to have. Notice what in verse 3. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. In other words, you have already died in Jesus Christ and buried with him and risen again.
Isn't that what the Christian life is about? Galatians 2 .20, Paul says, I've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Hallelujah.
What a statement.
I've mentioned this before and this is nothing to me, folks. But when I was first converted to Jesus Christ, I was quoting this out loud all the time. And I didn't realize that it was a girl in church that was committing fornication.
And I'm telling you, she didn't tell me that, but we pretty much had a feeling because she was constantly, and her boyfriend was constantly going to her house when the parents would leave. And she told me this later on.
She said, David, you had no idea. Every time you quoted that verse, it hit my heart. She said, it convicted me so much, and I was going to church, going to church, play acting. And I was committing fornication.
Sexual immorality. And she said, every time you mentioned that I had been crucified with Christ, I was pricked to the heart. She said, that was a verse that as you were constantly speaking it out loud, not knowing that I was lost, the power of the Word of God.
Took a hold of her heart,.
And she was later on born again.
Because of that seed.
We don't realize the watching world. We don't realize what they're seeing and they're looking at you. You're the only open Bible. Even people that go to church pretending to be Christians that are not Christians.
And this was one.
She eventually was converted. Glory be to God. Amen? But see, we speak God's Word. You speak God's Word. It has life-giving power. Well, Jesus Christ is the power. He's the one. My question is, have you died?
Have you died with Christ?
The verb's intent indicates that a death has occurred in the past. Have you died with Jesus Christ? Are you buried with Him? Have you arose with Him? Are you risen with Him? Is your life hidden with Christ in God?
And then He says, when Christ who is our life, is Christ your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
You know what that talks about?
That's what we've been talking about in 2 Peter.
The second coming of Jesus.
When He comes back. Does not this tie in with Titus 2, verse 11 -14? Listen to the Word of God. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. God's grace teaches us something. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly and righteously and holy and godly in this present age.
God's grace teaches us to live a holy life. That's what He's saying. And by the way, nowhere in Scriptures will you ever find the grace of God teaching us to live a compromising unholy life. Never will you find it.
Matter of fact, it will time and time again, if you look in the book and read the book of Hebrews, it warns us for trampling the grace of God underfoot and crucifying the Son of God afresh. It teaches us the opposite.
It teaches us that we should be reverent and fear in God. We need this in the church so much and I think church wake up. The grace of God is not for us to live any way we want to.
It's opposite.
God teaches us to live holy and righteous and to be like Jesus. I've even heard some so-called preachers say, oh, I believe if Jesus was here, He'd be doing this. He'd be flying a jet airplane. He'd be living high on the hog.
He'd be doing...
I said, no, sir, read. That's not what the Jesus would be doing,.
The Jesus of the Bible.
They have another Jesus. See, that's the problem. They don't have the Christ of God, the Christ of the Bible. And I'm telling you, folks, if we see the Christ of God and look in the book of Revelation, the apostle John even came to a point, the one that leaned his head on the bosom of Jesus, he felt like a dead man before Jesus.
Paralyzed.
But oh, Jesus put His right hand on him and says, fear not. The God of the Bible is totally, I would say, different of what is being preached in many churches today, sad to say. The Bible teaches us to live holy, doesn't it not?
How many times in the Bible does it speak about living holy? Peter says, be holy for I am holy, says the Lord,.
And he quotes from Leviticus.
That's a command, folks.
Be holy.
Be set apart. This is a command from God. Now, look at Colossians. Look at verse 5. Now, we talked about dying with Christ. That's a past tense. Now, he talks about doing something in the present tense.
Therefore, put to death your members. Now, he's going to sanctification. Put to death your members.
You ever thought,.
What is it that we are to consider dead? The idea here is to reckon it dead. Romans 6, 11 says, for so, even so, reckon yourselves.
Indeed dead, to be dead to sin,.
But alive to God in Christ Jesus. What a statement. That's an imperative statement. You know what imperative means? It's of vital importance. It's extremely important. It is absolutely crucial. It requires immediate action.
It's active, not passive. Again, reckon it. Be constantly counting on it. It's a fact, yourselves, to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Martin Luther said, I died with Christ, but it was not long after I died with Christ, and I was buried with Christ, and I rose again with Christ, that I found out that the old man can swim.
The dead man.
You know what he's saying? That's the struggle. Look at Romans 7. You can read it in your devotional time. Paul had a struggle, a war there. And what he's saying here to the people at Colossae, he says, you need to put to death your members which are on earth.
What are they?
Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness,.
Which is what?
Idolatry. Put to death means to mortify it. In other words, we must hack it up. We must not pet it. We must be hard on it. And folks, this is hard about the Christian life, but it must be happening. And that is something we must learn as Christians is to hate the sin that God hates.
And by the way, when you are born again, you will hate that sin, and you will love righteousness. That is a sure mark of a child of God. To love righteousness, to hate sin. Folks, everything that is against God has to go.
Treat it as dead, put it to death, hack it to death.
As Samuel hacked a gag to pieces. Everything that will keep us from fully surrendering and obeying our Lord must come to a death sentence. It must be put in the electric chair. Colossians 3, 5. Put to death your members which are on earth.
Fornication, uncleanness, passion. What are they? Let's look at them. Immorality refers to any kind of illicit sex, sexual behavior outside of marriage. It is all sexual immorality including adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals.
Can you believe people would go that far? But they do.
Wow.
It must be put to death.
Impurity, uncleanness, filthiness in a moral sense. It is a perverted, immoral lifestyle. Listen, folks. Do we not live in an age that so glorifies the flesh and we see this constantly? And the people of God must be pure and holy and sanctified.
I'm not talking about being self-righteous. I'm talking about being like Jesus. Look at the next one. Passion. Passion. What does that mean? Inordinate affection. A strong drive that does not cease until it's satisfied.
The dictionary says this. Webster, this strong desire can be either good or bad, but in context it indicates depraved passion. This person is a slave to his evil desires. He's driven.
He's a driven person that's obsessed.
By his evil passion, sensuality. Folks, Paul is writing to a church here.
Evil desire.
That means desire, longing for something that is forbidden. A lust for all evil in a broad sense for anything evil. Paul probably includes the word here to cover every inconceivable or I should say conceivable evil thing that is against the holiness of God.
Look at this last one. Covetousness. Covetousness. You know what that means?
Greed.
Insatiable. Being insatiable with the ideal to desire more and more.
To covet.
The more you get, the more you want. I gotta have more. I gotta have more. Don't we live in a world like this? But what about the Christians?
Good night.
Sad to say it's in the church. And a little leaven leavens the whole lot. It is a selfish greed that cannot be satisfied. Here the person who wants that which is forbidden to him, just like Eve desired the fruit that was good to her eyes.
It is beyond his means so he takes it anyhow. And this leads, by the way, to rape, murder, robbery, etc.
Wars and so forth.
You cannot have what you possess by legal means.
So they basically say,.
I will take it anyway. Did not the reformer John Calvin say that the heart is a factory for idols? You know what he's saying? That heart basically.
Is producing and reproducing.
Idols constantly. Folks, we gotta take them idols and if they are being produced and we're fighting and warring against the sin, it must be put to death and only the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Can put it to death.
Moody says, you don't have to go to heathen lands today to find false gods.
America is full of them.
Whatever you love more than God is your idol. Wow, he gets right to it, doesn't he? Whatever we make more time for, spend more time for, one preacher put it this way, let me see where you put your money and what you put your time and I'll show you where your God is.
We gotta move on. Idolatry. Did not God address this that there shall not be no other gods before Him? That He is to be first in all things in our life? Hey, if we're going into the first in the new year, fresh new year, God must be priority in all things.
Greed amounts to idolatry, does it not? Jesus said in Matthew 6, 24, No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one or love the other. Jesus said there's no neutral, there's no neutrality there.
He says you will love the one or hate the other. You cannot be devoted to one and despise the other. And then He basically says you cannot serve God and mammon. That means money. This is really heart-seeking.
And I need this. I need this. And you know, folks, you look at verse 6. Paul basically reminds the people here, the church, for an account of these things, the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.
The wrath of God? The wrath of God? You don't hear much preached about God's wrath, do you? It's a deep-seated anger of God that God hates sin with a fiery anger. And by the way, that anger of God was placed on His Son at the cross of Calvary that Jesus took for you and me.
Would it be different, right?
Would it be different?
Now, I want you to see this. Go to verse 6. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked.
When you lived in them.
In other words, you once walked like this. You're different now, right? You once lived like that. In other words, you're changed. You're different. And then he says, now he tells us what to put off.
I want you to see this.
Put off the old self. But now yourselves are to put off all these. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
Just look at these.
Anger. This is a long-lasting, slow-burning anger. It tends to stay around a long time. It's just outburst of anger. Children of God, we've got to put this aside. We've got to put it off. It's not just what the New Year is about.
We put off the old.
Put on the new.
Put off wrath. That means refers to a burning anger that flares up quickly, burns with intensity of fire. It's an outburst of anger. It just as quickly dies out and then like a burning dry pine straw blazes up quickly and burns itself out.
Paul says in verse 8 that whether our reaction to life are long-lasting or sudden bursts, both are wrong and need to be dealt with. Look at the next one. Malice. What's malice?
What's malice?
It's an all-pervading evil mindset that conceives of evil things to do. It's a vicious nature that is predetermined to do evil to others. This person is just plain out evil, bad and wicked and has a deliberate motive and intention to do evil.
Look at the next one. Slander. Basically blasphemy. This person will use abusive speech to belittle other people and cause them to lose their good reputation.
They insult.
It goes along with gossip. They insult people with their speech. That's why the Bible is so against gossip. Abusive speech. Filthy communication out of our mouth. Christians? I don't know about you. How many Christians you know uses bad language?
Obscene, foul-mouthed, filthy talk and always tell people. And one person said, that I was talking to and had all this Bible knowledge and he claimed like he was another Luther. He says, I'm like a prophet of God and I'm telling you all this and he was using all this foul language.
I said, you have no right to talk to me. And I said, by the way. I said, the tongue. I told him James 3. What the tongue is set on fire from? Hell. I said, and by the way. And then he says, well I got a potty mouth.
I said, yeah you do and you got a potty heart too. Because Jesus says everything that comes out of the mouth comes from the heart. This person was within the church. Had all this Bible knowledge.
Then he says, do not lie to one another since you've laid aside the old self with evil practices. Paul states, imperatively to forbid completely.
These behaviors.
Stop lying. Don't do it. And basically what he's saying here, you are to put off all these things. Now, that's the negative. That's the negative. Let's look to the positive. We're to put off the old man, refers to the old nature, because knowing this, Paul says that our old self was crucified with Christ in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
Romans 6. I got an amen from...
Are you listening?
Take off that old flesh, those sinful attitudes, thoughts, feelings,.
And put it to death.
Be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. Well, he tells us also things we should put on. What are we to put on? Notice this. And have, in verse 10, and have put on the new man who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of him who created him.
There it is. The image of Jesus Christ. The renewed in knowledge, the new man, according to the image of him who created him. Where there is neither great nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, satan, slave nor free, but Christ is all in all.
And now look at verse 12. Verse 12.
Therefore.
Therefore. In other words, that therefore is there for a reason, right? As the elect of God,.
Holy,.
In other words, set apart, beloved, your beloved of God. The first thing he says to put on. Put on tender mercies.
Tender mercies. Now folks, this is like, in a sense, I like you for the picture. Every day you take off the old dirty clothes and put on new clothes. We take a bath. We pamper our body, don't we? But what about our spirit man?
Paul speaks about put on the whole armor of God. We have to put on God's armor to go to war. The breastplate of righteousness. The helmet of salvation. Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Girded with truth. The sword which is the spirit of God, which is the word of God. And the shield which is the shield of faith. That's the soldier. That's the warrior. In other words, we are in a warfare, right?
But here he says, as the elect of God, we are to put on tender mercies. Is not to tender mercies like Jesus? Is not kindness like Jesus? Is not humility like Jesus? Meekness like Jesus? Longsuffering like Jesus?
Absolutely. Ephesians 4, 23, 24 says, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind that you put on the new man, which is after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. If you want to see someone that true holiness is Jesus Christ.
True holiness. Manifest in the flesh. And we are God's people. Kindness. Goodness.
Kindness.
Generosity. I don't know about you, this convicts me. You put on this goodness and kindness, just generosity, always seeking the highest good in others. Kindness is an attitude that always demonstrates itself in action.
It reaches out and touches people's lives. Folks, this is Christianity 101. This is Christianity in shoe leather. This is everyday application. How about humility? It's an attitude of self-evaluation that recognizes one's own weakness and failures, but also it recognizes the power of God working through the person.
This is the kind of person God can use in order for His kingdom.
For His kingdom.
It is a wholesome esteem. It's not self-esteem, but He looks at Himself as He's nothing without Jesus Christ, but in Christ He can do all things. And that all things doesn't mean crazy things, okay? It's talking about being like Jesus.
That's what Paul's referring to.
We must beware of a false humility as well. That's deceitful because the heart's deceitful and it's wicked above all things. What about gentleness? That means meekness. And by the way, meekness is not weakness.
Jesus was the strongest man that ever lived. And I'm not talking about physically, I'm talking about spiritually. So, you know, think of this. Meekness is not weakness. You know what it means? It means power under control.
It's almost like if I were to bring a big horse in here, powerful horse, how many thousands of pounds, and if that horse has been trained and he's been taught and he's been mellowed after riding, and he comes in here gentle, and he's like a big pet, but that horse has the power, you know, that's where we get the word, you know, horse power, and race cars and so forth.
But think of the horse that has tremendous power. If he got out of control, he could probably hurt and kill every one of us in here, kick us to death. But a horse can be used as an example of power under control.
Gentleness is power under control. Meekness does not imply weakness in any way, form or fashion. It means obedient submission to the will of God, gives strength to put on other characteristics in this list.
Fruit of the Spirit.
The attitude of Jesus, I like to put it. Well, patience, long-suffering. When someone provokes us, how many times do you get provoked every day? I get provoked every day, don't you? Just get on the road.
I get it all the time. People are nasty and ugly on the road, and they provoke you. We've got to be patient. Boy, this is so convicting. To endure pressure of life that refuses, and to refuse to retaliate, folks.
In other words, I had a guy the other day, when I was putting up milk, and I didn't even know who he was, and he was trying to get his family by, and I was just stocking milk, and he said, tighten up.
And I thought, what? And I looked around, and I said, excuse me, sir? Hey, I'm trying to get my family by. He said that, I mean, real loud in front of everybody. And I'm thinking, I said, go ahead, sir.
I had no idea.
Well, I'm not, now, the first, you think I'm coming across gentle and patient, but I wasn't at first. At first, I wanted to turn around and say, hold on, mister. Don't you talk to me like that. People says, yeah, but if you're a Christian, are you a doormat?
No, it's not talking about being a doormat. What about being like Jesus?
Oh, wow.
Soft word. Breaks the bones.
Thank you, Keith. And we got to, see, our impulse, naturally, we want to get defensive. And I had to catch myself.
And it was hard.
I want to be honest with you. It was hard, folks. I wanted to strike back, and I saw that person when I was going out, and I almost wanted to go up to him. But he was with his family, and I just let him go, and I said, it's almost as the Lord was saying, don't pick a fight.
Well, we need to bear being like Jesus. I must close this out because my time's gone. Let the peace of Christ rule your hearts.
We put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
Jesus loved His enemies, and He proved it, folks. He prayed for those that crucified Him. The application's very strong, and the Scriptures itself gives us the application.
Watch this.
Verse 14. But above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection, to love the love of God. 1 Corinthians 13. Love never fails. Love never fails. Do we believe that, folks? God's love will never fail.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful. Oh, there's a word.
Be thankful.
And notice. He gives us the instructions of how to do this.
And this is it.
Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom. That's how we do it. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. We must saturate ourselves with the Word of God. Folks, this doesn't mean just knowing it in our head.
What did David say? Thy Word have I hidden in my heart,.
That I what?
That I might not sin against Thee. Let's hide the Word of God in our heart. The Word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom. And what does it do? Teaching and admonishing. Notice this. One another.
That's the church. One another in psalms and in hymns, in spiritual songs, and singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. That's true worship. And he closes it out in verse 17. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
There it is. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. The idea is to let God's Word make itself at home in your heart, hide it in your heart, settle it in your heart. May it be at home with the believer.
It becomes a daily habit. And the presence of Jesus Christ in the believer should govern every attitude, thought, motive, word, behavior, and all we sung about it, take time to be holy. The motive. The motive is whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks through Him.
To God the Father.
It leads us to worship, to love Him, to adore Him. Don't you want to love Him more? I do. And this is God's goal for us. We're to pursue Him, but His goal for us is for us to be conformed to the image of His dear Son.
And we need to daily remind ourselves that we are no longer slaves to sin,.
But slaves to Jesus.
And that we're part of the body of Christ. That's why we're to be thankful, folks. Aren't you so thankful that you're part of the family of God?
I am.
It's by grace. It's no goodness in us, right?
It's the goodness of God.
And by the way,.
That leads us to repent.
Amen? Amen.
Let's pray. Father, we thank You. Lord, we thank You for Your Word. And help us, Lord, to have Thy Word in our hearts that we may not sin against Thee. Lord, as we start this new year, may we draw closer to You and to Jesus Christ.
But most of all, Lord, help us to be more like Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in all that He is, in all of His beauty. And that may we show the beauty of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world that's in darkness, blinded by sin, blinded by the God of this world.
Help us, O Lord, to mortify the deeds of the flesh. Help us, Lord, to put to death the deeds of the flesh.
Through the Spirit. Through the Spirit.
That there's no condemnation to those in Jesus Christ, but it's through Your Spirit. Because if we're in the flesh, we cannot please You. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, and who raised Christ from the dead, will also give life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in us.
So, Lord, it's Your Spirit. We will live according to... If we live according to the flesh, we will die. But if we live by the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body,.
We will live.
Lord, help us.
Help us.
And we look to You,.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,.
Who endeared the cross for the joy that was set before Him.
And we praise You for this. In Jesus' name.