Clothes Make the Man (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. Mike Abendroth here, Michael Lee Abendroth. Looks like Abendroth, but we say Abendroth. Junk mail says Haverhorf. No Compromise Radio is a ministry here coming from Bethlehem Bible Church.

That's where I'm recording this. And we talk about the Lord Jesus. And we used to say, well, always provocative, always biblical, always provocative, always in that order. And I do hope to provoke you to think about the Lord Jesus rightly.

We can automatically think about laws in our life because we are having the law on our hearts and consciences. And you're going to need someone from the outside to proclaim to you the good news about Lord Jesus.

It's a proclamation. It's news. And therefore, I like to remind you. I've thought over the years, do I make the show not a daily show, but a weekly show? We're just going to keep going. It's not that hard.

Mondays is a sermon, so that's easy. Fridays a rerun. Sometimes there's a little more Arminian in the reruns. Maybe not as nice. Maybe much more self-righteous. But anyway, it is what it is. Tuesdays, I like to have Steve on.

Wednesdays, I have interviews. As a matter of fact, I finally have another interview scheduled. Shane Rosenthal, who used to be with the White Horse Inn, has his own podcast called Humble Skeptic. So we're back on because I can figure out how to do the Bluetooth through the Rodecaster Pro 2.

So I've got that figured out. Don't forget, if you want to go to the website and order books, I think you can still get Sexual Fidelity there. If you order Sexual Fidelity, I'll give you a free Things That Go Bump in the Night.

So you don't have to click on it or do anything. If you just order Sexual Fidelity, I'll go ahead and send you the other book, Things That Go Bump in the Night. It's kind of scary doctrines for new believers.

I'll just put that in there for free. I think I probably have 500 more Sexual Fidelity books in the garage. And once I get rid of those, which I don't think I ever will before I die, but if I do, I might rewrite it.

You know, add a little bit more gospel-centered, etc. So anyway, it is what it is, but I'm not going to do anything more until that. I have some other ideas for 31-day guides and devotionals. I have a book that I'm working on that talks about kind of a pilgrimage.

I don't know what to call it yet, but I wrote the article for the Heidel blog last year. It actually was in three articles, from Lordship to Law Gospel. And that will be a chapter in the book from Synergistic Salvation, Sanctification to Monergistic.

That'll be a chapter from Biblicism to Confessionalism. That'll be a chapter. Anyway, we're just trying to work on that as we go. If you don't have any goals, you don't really ever set them. I mean, you don't ever make them.

So, that's that. One thing I do want to say is that I've got on the Roadhouse Caster Pro 2 something that I'm going to play. And I want you to see if you can guess where it comes from or what the scenario is with this.

Ready? You belong in the circus, Spock, right next to the dog-faced boy. I remember the episode. I think he was under some spell, Spock was. And Kirk, if he got mad, then you'd break out of the spell.

Some kind of plutonic spell, some type of Saturn spell out in space. But anyway, when I saw that little snippet, I thought, I need that. I need that. Anyway, on No Compromise Radio Ministry today, we're going to continue to talk about how clothes make the man.

Clothes making the man. You kind of act like what you dress as. Try not to end a sentence in as. Aslan. And they've got all kinds of psychology studies. And Erasmus quoted this. Mark Twain quoted this.

You know, the apparel of a man makes the man and all that. And we're talking about the righteous robes of Christ Jesus that He earned for us by meriting righteousness as He obeyed the law on earth. And He then gave it to us by imputation.

It was received by the non-meritorious instrument called faith, which includes knowledge, assent, and trust. Anyway, we have been talking about Christ clothing us with His righteousness. And then in light of that, like Ephesians 4 language and Colossians 3 language, then live up to who you are.

He never is saying just be something you're not. He's saying, well, you are, to use Romans 6 language, dead with Jesus when He died and dead to your old self. You're alive with Christ when He was raised.

And so you, you know, live to the newness of life so that you're able to obey. And we ended the show last time just saying, you know, dear Christian, when God calls you to mortify, kill, put to death, sins, sexual immorality, and passions, and greeds, and greediness, and blasphemy, and lying to one another, and all these other things, you have the ability to do it.

And we talked for a long time. I tried to be as kind as possible. People saying, I can't do something. I just can't do it. Well, really what you're saying, if you're really a Christian, truly a Christian, you just don't want to do it.

I don't want to. You can. You have all the resources in Christ Jesus. Union with Christ. Spirit of God dwelling in you. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace. You're able to. Colossians 3 talks about bearing with one another.

You're like, I just can't do that, man. This person just, the weight is too much. Forgiving one another. I can't forgive my spouse. I can't act like this never happened. Really? You can't? Or you won't?

So, that was kind of our conversation last time. And I've been going through the book of Colossians in Sunday worship services here at Bethlehem Bible Church. You can get the sermons at bbchurch .org, or I guess they show up at No Compromise Radio on Monday.

And just big, big themes. And here we have the turning point in chapter 3, verse 5, of course. From doctrine to duty. From credenda to agenda. From creeds to conduct. From, I think there's one more. From faith to faithful.

I don't know if I want to use that. I don't know if I want to use it. Well, what we're doing is I'm trying to remind you that who you are in Christ can help you with your living. That's what I'm after.

All right. Back to Colossians chapter 3 on No Compromise Radio. Before we get into the dead to sin and alive to righteousness, which we call mortification and vivification. The response to God's sanctifying work that's here in Colossians.

He says in chapter 3, verse 1,. And we briefly talked last show about the ascended Christ. Of course, we often talk about his pre-existence, right? The eternal son. And then we talk about the incarnation.

And we talk about his life of law-keeping, meriting righteousness for us. Not for himself. He's inherently righteous and he doesn't need to do it for him. But he's come to earth for us and for our salvation.

As the creeds say. And then, of course, he dies on the cross. That is something that is crucial, no pun intended, to the Christian faith. First Corinthians 15 talks about how he was buried. He really died.

And he was raised again on the third day. That's true. And we think about him and his session. He's seated at the right hand and he's praying for us when we look at Hebrews 7, of course. And so you have to ask yourself, okay, where is Christ?

And this is assuming the ascension. The ascension matters. And so what Paul wants the Colossians to do in this little tiny town that's being affected and infected by false teachers of both Greek and Jewish influences.

And they're saying don't touch and don't taste and be a monk and asceticism is the way to go. Or visions or experiences or angels or whatever. No, no. You've been raised with Christ. So instead of seeking other things, seek things that are above.

Where Christ is. You need to have this heavenly mindset. He says in verse 2, set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. And he's moving toward, there needs to be a consistency. You call yourself an officer, conduct befitting an officer.

You call yourself a gentleman, conduct befitting a gentleman. You call yourself a lady, conduct befitting a lady. And you want to live in light of who you are. Here, you want to live in light of the fact that you were raised with Christ.

And different people say, well, Jesus is the object of faith. But also, he's the source of your life as you live a holy life and a godly life. Back in chapter 2, he was talking about if with Christ you died to the elementary principles or the rudiments of the world.

You can't get saved by your own works. And you can't be sanctified by your own works. It's God who sanctifies and you respond. Jesus died, he was resurrected, he ascends. And that should do something for you.

Seeking those things. Alright, let's just settle down and settle in and settle up. Saddle up. What's going on here? Jesus has been raised. Jesus ascended. What should that tell you? Hey, I am forgiven for certain.

If he wasn't raised from the dead. If he didn't be raised from the dead, he ain't got nothing going on.

You want answers? I think I'm entitled. You want answers. I want the truth. You can't handle the truth.

Well, I can't handle speaking English because I grew up in Nebraska. Master's monarch school. I can't believe I've been to master's elementary school. Start off with Laura Dodge. Maybe Laura MP Dodge, is that right?

And we had other, I went to Morton High School. I don't know who Morton was. We used to go over to Monroe and play them in basketball and swim tournaments and stuff like that. And I went to Northwest High School.

And then went to University of Nebraska at Lincoln, UNL. Nebraska Cornhuskers. Then I went to Cal State Long Beach to try to get an MBA. And I just dropped out. It was too hard. Management information systems just killed me.

I didn't even get the grade to get the money back from Duracell Batteries who said they'd pay me to go. How stupid was that? Talk about, you know, living a life on drugs. That was literally true. And then I went to the Master's Seminary.

And that was for my Master's of Divinity. And then I went to Southern Seminary for a doctorate in ministry and expository preaching. Took some classes at Ligonier. Didn't get a demon there. Why? Too many demons around.

You don't want more than one demon. That's for certain. Back to the point. You are certainly forgiven. You are certainly pardoned. You are certainly given all the resources that you need for holy living.

Because Jesus is in heaven. It's guaranteed that. If He wasn't in heaven, well, you wouldn't be forgiven. You wouldn't have any power to do anything. He is in heaven. And He has pardoned you. And He is going to make sure that you're getting purified.

Doesn't He want that for you? Of course He does. The power of Christ's resurrection. Union with Christ. And so you should be seeking those things. You should be discovering those things. You should be thinking, He's the object of all my seeking.

And I want to obtain more truth. And I want to do what the Lord says. One writer said, This comforting truth of the ascension of the Lord and His coronation at the Father's right hand as a fountain of blessing for His people was foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

Psalm 8, which is interpreted in Hebrews 2, etc. This is important. You've got all these false teachers saying all kinds of things. And Paul is saying, you know what? The cross. Burial. Resurrection. Ascension.

Even that. You say there was a death. A death, a sin. A resurrection. Resurrection to newness of life. This is important. Ascension follows a resurrection. And what Jesus did is true and right. Remember the ascension account in Acts 1.

And when He had said these things, as they were looking on, He was lifted up. And a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes and said, I love it that what they're seeing is now commented upon because what you see with your eyes, you might not understand.

So God gives us revelation to interpret the experience. Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.

Jesus did what He said He was going to do. And so He goes to the Father. Everything He needed to do, accomplished. Everything He was sent to do, He finished it. Right? Paid in full. He's going to, what, John 14, prepare a place for us.

He is going to pray for us as high priest. He's going to come back. Jesus is in heaven. Where? At a place of honor and authority and exaltation at the right hand. That's what we should get our minds on.

We need to keep seeking those things. Because what are we going to try to seek? What's the backdrop to all this? Seeking sinful philosophies and rituals and legalistic things and mysticism and self-denial.

Everybody else is saying, that's what you need to seek. The higher life is found basically here by don't taste, don't touch, don't handle, have an experience. And you can't do that. Because there's one response to that.

I normally don't do this, but it's just right here. It's just right here. Right there. You've been raised with Christ. Dear Christian, you, just stop and think about it for a second. You've been raised with Christ.

And you're to be thinking about that. You're to be thinking about, okay, I need to remember who Jesus is. Yeah, there's my loved ones that have died in Christ are in heaven. My inheritance is in heaven.

No tears in heaven. Shining like the sun in heaven. That's good. But we're talking about who Jesus is and where he is. Who and where. And if you're not going to be seeking those things, you'll seek something else.

People are seekers. And therefore, as J .C. Ryle said, if you don't seek something, then you'll seek something else. Right? So, if you don't seek Jesus, you're going to seek sports, work, fun, environment, over those things.

Obviously, sports, work, and fun. There's nothing wrong with any of those things unless they take the preeminent place. R. Ryle said the other problem is, if you're not seeking Christ, you become idle.

He said idleness is the devil's best friend. It's the surest way to give him an opportunity of doing us harm. An idle mind is like an open door. And if Satan does not enter it by himself, he will certainly throw in something to raise bad thoughts in our souls.

We must have our hands filled. Our minds occupied with something, or else our imaginations will soon ferment and breed mischief. And so, therefore, we need to be thinking about Jesus who's seated at the right hand of God.

Jesus did it. I'm forgiven. Jesus sent his Spirit. It's true. Jesus is exalted. And I know for certain that I can just think about who he is. Because if I want to be more godly, if I want to be saying no to sin, the answer is found in Jesus.

He's the source. Right? It's not like I can go someplace else. Remember Psalm 73? Whom have I in heaven but thee? And besides thee I desire nothing on earth. This is the language that we see in Hebrews 11.

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeying by going out to a place where he was to receive for an inheritance. And he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he lives as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.

For he was looking for the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Skip ahead a little bit. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own.

And indeed, they had been thinking of that country from which they went out. They would have had an opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to call them their God.

For he has prepared a city for them. So we want to fix our eyes on Jesus to talk about, to use the language of Hebrews chapter 12. Set in your mind on things above. He could just as easily said, fix your eyes on Jesus.

And then he gives you the reason in verse 3. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. You are safe. You are hidden. Your identity is with God. And you have great security. This is the language of Isaiah.

He made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he hid me. He made me a polished arrow. In his quiver he hid me away. This is the language of protection in Psalm 27. He will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble.

He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon the rock. And of course if we are dead to sin and dead to the world, then why would we want to seek it? This is great motivation.

He says even in verse 4, when Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory. People are saying bad things about you now. There will be a public vindication. And his glory is going to be your glory.

You are going to be with him when he appears. Sometimes the word, when you think about Jesus coming back, it could be the word for his coming, second coming. It could be an appearance like an epiphany.

It could be a revelation like apocalyptic thing. And this word here is an open display of Christ in his coming. When Jesus comes back, people that persecute now, despise now, when he's revealed, you're going to be revealed.

And when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. What Paul is doing is saying, when it comes to the Christian life, it's never outside of Jesus.

When it comes to the sanctification of the Christian, God sanctifies, applied by the Holy Spirit, energized by him. He dwelling in the Christian. It's through the work of the Son that the Father sent.

And now the Spirit's applying and then sanctifying. And so when you want to obey, I just don't want you to say, I've already had Jesus. I know him enough and he's my friend and we're good. Now I got to get on to what I need to get on to.

There's never the unhitching. Justification and sanctification are different in many ways, but they're similar that God does the work. And that one will follow the other, although they're different. One's imputing, one's imparting, if you want to use that language.

And so you have to say to yourself, okay, I thought the way I'd live my Christian life was saying, don't touch this. I need to have an experience with that. I need to have a higher life with that. But I've forgotten that all those things make my mind go away from Jesus.

So he says, Christ is your life, right? You could fill in the blank. I've heard preachers say this, you know, blank is my life. Shopping is my life. Music is my life. Sports is my life. Grandchildren are my life.

Motorcycles are my life. Cars are my life. Bicycles are my life. No. Well, maybe that's true. We say, Lord, please forgive me. I don't want that to be true. Live up to what Christ has done for you. The clothes make the man.

You're full in him. So live out that fullness. Don't live to shop. Live for him. Don't, you know, he lives for his work. Where is Jesus? He's in heaven. He ascended. That's where our minds need to be.

And then in light of our minds being there, then he moves, Paul does, to saying, kill sin. Kill sin in your life. Deal with sin. Don't live in it anymore. There are ethics involved. There are sins to be killed and mortified.

There's repentance to be had. This comes, verse five, this is where we get the ethical section. This is where we get the morals. But I don't want you to have that detached. I'm almost, they probably did a disservice in one way when they had the chapter break at the end of chapter two, verse 22, 23, and then Colossians 3 .1.

That's where they made the chapter break, duh. Chapter three is where they made the chapter break. They probably could have made it in 3 .5, therefore, where we get the ethical section. But in one sense, I'm glad they didn't, because now in this ethical section, for now and forever, because these Bible verse demarcations are never going away, you see verses one through four are tied in.

So you see that Jesus himself is tied into all this. We don't just say, well, just tell me what to do. For to God Jesus down, just tell me what to do. You say, put to death these things. Fine, I'm going to put them to death.

Well, I'm glad you want to put them to death, but it can't be outside of union with Christ. It can't be anything outside of Romans 6 .11. So you must consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

And for us as Christians, there are some things we need to kill, right? We need to put to death. We need to say, you know what? What we used to be like in the old days, we don't want to be that anymore.

And in this first section here, verses five and following, a lot of sexual sins are listed. And he talks about immorality, which is fornication. And this is all illicit sex, all sex outside of a marriage between a man and a woman who was born a man and born a woman.

This is sexual sins, evil deeds and evil thoughts and uncleanness. What we think about filthy things, all that needs to go. We need to get rid of that because that's really deep down self-worship, self-satisfaction, everything for us.

And so we've got to kill that. If you're listening today and you have sexual sins in your life, you need to say no. You're like, I can't. No, it's just, you won't. You can't. You can. You're able to, by God's grace, obey these commands because you have different clothes on.

You have the righteous robes of Christ and you died and you were raised. You're united with Christ. The power is in you. You have the Holy Spirit. No more enslavement. Put them to death. This is the last day you should look at pornography.

This is the last day you should look at a woman with lust. This is the last day you should say to yourself, you know what? I'm going to continue flirting on Facebook with my old high school sweetheart.

This is the last day. This is the last day I'm going to read these smutty romance novels that just make my heart flutter. This is the last day. This is the last day you should be sleeping with your girlfriend.

This is the last day. You need to kill that. Kill it. Because you know what? Those kind of sins, if it wasn't for our Savior, we'd go to hell for those kind of sins. Verse 6, on account of these, the wrath of God is coming.

In other words, sin's a big deal. If Jesus didn't pay for those sins of yours, you would have gone to hell for those. So why go back to them? This, as Calvin said, is to deter you from sin. That's what this is all about.

There's a great day of the Lord and it's near. Near and hastening fast, Zephaniah says. The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter. The mighty man cries aloud there. The day of wrath is that day. A day of distress and anguish.

A day of ruin and devastation. A day of darkness and gloom. A day of clouds and thick darkness. A day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty embankments. We don't want to do that.

Anyway, my name is Mike Ebenroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. We're talking about sanctification, are we not? And we are talking about God's sanctifying work. And now we say no to sin and yes to righteousness.

Because after all, the clothes do make the man. You can write me, Mike, at NoCompromiseRadio .com. If you want to talk to Spencer, you can. I'm Spencer at NoCompromiseRadio .com. We're working on t-shirts and hats and all that because I just can't have the pactum have all the cool stuff.