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We had on Saturday, I'd like to suggest.
The third chapter of Colossians.
It is a little different doctrinally than what we had, but it's along the same principle.
3rd chapter of Colossians.
Lesson Chapter 3.
If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth 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 and God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
00:05:01
Mortified, therefore, your members, which are upon the earth on occasion uncleanness, and ordinate affection.
Kupison and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God, cometh on the children of disobedience.
In the which ye also wilt some time when he lived in them, but now ye also put off all these anger, rats, malice, blasphemy, guilty, communication. Out of your mouth lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision, nor uncircumcision, Barbarian Scythian banned more free, but Christ is all and in all.
But I'm therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye, and above all these things put on charity, which is a band of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts. To the witch also ye are called in one body.
And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in Word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving things to God and the Father by him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord husband, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
Fathers, provoking out your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. Servants, obey in all things. Your master is according to the flesh, not with thy service as men pleasers, but in singleness of hard fearing God. And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord, he shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he has done, And there is no respect of persons.
I believe it's very instructive to see where this official is placed.
Realized that the Bible is we have our hands today. Particularly the New Testament was not put in this arrangement till about the 4th century AD. For I believe just as God used man to write the word of God, God used man by the power of his spirit to arrange it. And it's interesting how these epistles are arranged. I won't go through them, but let's look not turn to it, but look for a moment at the epistle of Ephesians. Ephesians, we are in Christ.
Freedom and glory. We come back to Philippians, which brings us right back to earth. And Philippians is a normal, ordinary Christian pathway through this world, the path laid out by God. For a Christian, it's a normal Christian path. Colossians were still on earth. Ephesians were in Christ. Colossians is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's the first chapter.
And as to the character of the Epistle in Colossians, the first chapter, there is no there is no chapter in the book in our hands, in the Bible that takes us into a higher position of glory than the first chapter called. You want to see glory in its highest sense, that God has concluded, man. Look at the first chapter of Flush. And so now in the third chapter, I believe it's because of the glory that's demonstrated to us in the first chapter.
That the third chapter now brings us to a practical sense. What is our position in this world? How should we walk? What should we do? How should we serve?
We say David that summarize how we should serve in the 24th verse. He served the Lord Christ. He kept that before us, things involved in place for the day.
00:10:00
There's a lot of Earth in this chapter.
Tribal.
Suppose we can go through it. I'd like to get a couple of high points in one of them that I'm afraid very few Christians, including those that are gathered, really. Consider this in the 4th chapter of Ephesians. We have almost the same expression and I'll read the two places that are here. Verse 9. Let's not line up one to another. And.
I'll read it in a better translation scene, having put off the old man and having put on the new, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of human created these two verses.
Are absolutely nothing that we can do, and I I trust I'm not offending anyone. And what this was done at Calvary Cross when the Lord Jesus died. At Calvary Cross the ninth verse was fulfilled and the 10th verse was fulfilled. Now the putting off and the putting on are given to us prior to this the eighth verse, but now he also put off and then in the.
12Th work.
Put on, therefore and these are instructions to us that we can do and should do and ought to do. But don't be confused as to their standing. Our standing is the 9th and 10th verse.
Romans 6 Know ye not that the your old man was crucified with Christ?
2nd Corinthians 517.
ER, a new creation. Behold, all things are passed away. All things are become new.
With that for the basis for a Christian, now we can walk, but without that we can't walk.
We've already been placed in that position, a new position. We're a new creation. And as such we can now do the things that are required of us in this third chapter, putting off and putting off not. We never put on the We never put out the old man. We couldn't possibly do it. We never put on the new man. We couldn't possibly do it. That was gonna calculate once and for all.
In verse, one is our position as well. It's if then you be risen with Christ.
You might read that sense because we are risen with Christ. Go back to the second chapter.
And verse 12 It says, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, hath raised him from the dead. So every true believer this is his position.
Risen with Christ. Somebody has illustrated it as across the Jordan.
On the entrance of the land of Canaan, not having.
Yet gone in to possess it. But we are risen with Christ, and the land is before us.
And so we're told to seek those things which are above.
Our portion is heavenly, and that's what should be our occupation as well.
But brethren, I have to confess.
That when I get through a day's.
Of my living here in this world. So often I look back over the day. What percentage of this day have I been seeking? Those things which are above and I have to confess.
I have to say that it's a very small percentage that I was really occupied with those things that are above. We should be interested. We're going momentarily. We're going to be raptured out of this world to leave it all behind, to be there forever. That's what we profess to believe, brethren.
Don't we have any interest?
In being occupied with those things.
Now.
O brethren, it really exercises my heart, and I trust you don't think I'm exhorting you, brethren, This comes home to my own soul. Seek those things which are above. We are risen. If you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, that's your position. Now given that the exhortation is seek those things which are above.
00:15:13
Where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Oh, how wonderful. There's our Lord Jesus.
You look through scripture. It is a book that occupies us with heaven.
And heavenly things. And there's a lot that scripture says about heaven.
Last year when we were here, we were talking about the 21St chapter of Revelation.
The Heavenly City.
And I realized that.
Our concept, our ability to lay hold on those heavenly things, is severely limited by our earthly way of thinking. Still the scripture exhorts seek those things which are above.
Can I ask you, brother and sister in the Lord Jesus, to make a little inventory?
At the end of this day, how much have you been seeking those things which are above even in meetings down here, Like here, we're thinking of our friends, we're thinking of who we're going to eat dinner with and all the things that go along with it. Nothing wrong in those things in themselves, but they're not heavenly things.
And, brethren, we're called to heavenly glory. I am.
Convinced, Brethren, When we get there to heaven, I'm going to look back and I'm going to say, what in the world was I so occupied with those puny little things down there when heavenly glory is so tremendous?
I'm convinced of it. Remember Albert Hayhoe?
Giving illustration, he said one day when his boy Danny was small.
He was hanging up his pants after he'd gone to bed and out fell some junk out of his pocket.
And he picked it up and he said, Danny, what are you doing with this junk?
Danny says. Daddy, that's not junk. Those are my treasures.
You know how little boys have treasures in their pockets?
I'm afraid that's what's going to be like when we get home to glory, brethren. We're going to look back down there and say, what in the world Was I so occupied with those things when I'm called to heavenly glory?
Lord, help us, brethren.
To be seeking those things that are above.
It really wants us to have an enjoyment of heaven before we get there. We think, and we were speaking yesterday, of how wonderful it will be to be there and to come into the full good of these things, and to see that full blaze of glory in the presence of the Lord Jesus, and to look unhindered into his lovely and blessed face. But, brethren, I say he wants us to have an enjoyment of heaven before we get there, and it tells us in First Corinthians chapter 2.
I have not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him.
But the very next verse tells us something else. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.
And so we have these things brought before us in the word of God and the Spirit of God, to take of these precious things brethren, and make them good to our souls. And it ought to exercise us as we go about from day-to-day, that we don't grieve the Spirit of God. Why is it so often I don't seem to have in my soul the enjoyment of these precious things? Well, it's perhaps a number of reasons, occupation with things that are temporal things down here.
But sometimes, too, brethren, it's because we allow things in our lives that grieve the spirit of God, and he can't minister these precious things to us so that we have an enjoyment of them now in our souls. And I believe that's really what Canaan in the Old Testament pictures to us. It's that vast panorama of heavenly and spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ now. It's not something we have to wait for until we get home to glory.
Sometimes people think of Canaan as after the Jordan after death, something we have to wait to enjoy until we until we leave this world. But it's interesting with the children of Israel when they cross the Jordan. Maybe I'll just back up a moment to something that was helpful to me when I was younger. It's helpful to see that in the crossing of the Red Sea we see the end of our sins, but in the crossing of the Jordan we see the end of sin.
00:20:27
We see the end of the old man, the end of ourselves. And it's helpful to see that because when they came out up out of the Jordan, as it were, they were on resurrection ground, and the whole land was before them, and now they could go in and possess it. But if they had only remained on the banks of the Jordan after going through on dry ground, they never would have enjoyed what God had for them.
And brethren, are we content to remain on the banks of the Jordan? And so there's an exhortation in Joshua chapter one.
To the people of God, they were to go in and possess the land.
And it says every place that the soul of your foot credits upon that have I given to you for an inheritance. It was all theirs. But the question now was, were they going to go forward and enjoy what God had set before them? And sometimes I'm afraid there are many Christians, and maybe I have to speak to my own heart. We're content to know that we're saved. We're content to know that judgment is behind us.
We're content to know that heaven is before us when we leave this world. But, brethren, are we just content with that really, or do we really have that desire? Do our affections go out to Christ? Are we occupied with the man at the right hand of God that is brought before us in this first verse? And is our desire really to drink of these things, to take them in and enjoy them in our souls Now it's true we know in part, and we prophecy in part. We're not going to fully know until we get there.
But I say again, he wants us to have an enjoyment of heaven in our souls now before we get there. What a day it's going to be, but what an enjoyment we can have now.
Oh, object in Christ, isn't it?
And that's what draws our heart. Keep those things which are above where Christ set up and Christ be.
All God's thoughts are centered in Him, it's been said. And I believe it's true, that every page of the book that we hold in our hands.
In some way has a picture of the person of Christ and God. Thoughts are wrapped up in his Son.
And he wants children in his house like his Son. And so our thoughts should be wrapped up in the same. The fourth verse says, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall he also appear with him in glory. That corresponds with first John chapter 3, verse two. We know not what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. What a beautiful thing.
When he shall appear Christ, then we shall be like him, and with him but.
We shouldn't be waiting for that. Just for that moment. Our hearts and our thoughts should be occupied with his person, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
And that's what it says in verse 2, isn't it? It sets your the margin, says your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
You might say, well, how do you set your affections? It's setting your mind. It's a definite.
Control of your thinking set.
Your mind on things above you know how it is to let your mind gravitate.
To things down here in this world, to one thing and another. Not necessarily bad things.
But just occupation of things down here. Now scripture says take your mind and set it on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of God. And there if you really stop and think about it, brethren, in relation with the Lord Jesus and glory, there are many things to set our minds on that heavenly city, the tree of life, the river of the water of life.
Clear as crystal flowing out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, there's.
00:25:05
Things you can set your mind on, We're going into that scene of Glory.
Soon. And we're going to enjoy it. God wants us to be familiar with it right here and now. Set your mind on things above. Somebody has said you set your mind there. Your affections will follow. But then notice in verses 3:00 and 4:00, because I think it is beautiful to see in verse three your life is hid.
Verse 4.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, there is a difference.
Present tense. Our life is hid in other words.
The world looks at us today and says what do those people get out of sitting in a room on Labor Day? Why don't they get out and have a good time at the park or something? Get out and do something.
I don't understand those people. They are so different, so weird.
And that's what it means. Our life is hid, brethren. They don't understand. And I say if you're living as a Christian should live, you will never be understood by the world. If they do understand you, they might You must be living as a worldly lives.
Because they understand their own.
But our light is hid now, but just think of that future day.
That is refers to in verse 4, when Christ, who is our life and isn't that beautiful brethren, to be able to look up into the glory, to see a man earn the glory, and to say there's my light.
My life is not down here. My life is up there in the glory. Christ, who is our light. When he shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. In other words, and I like to think of it in this way, the appearing is at the end of the great tribulation.
Christ comes heaven and open, and Christ comes back riding that White Horse.
And the armies of heaven which are the redeemed come back with him riding on white horses.
That's disappearing and it says in Revelation chapter one every eye shall see him.
And they also who pierced him. And if they see him, surely they will see those that follow him. We are going to appear with him in glory. And in that day perhaps that unsaved neighbor that never understood us down here, when they see us coming with Christ in glory, they will say.
Oh, now I understand.
Why that neighbor lives so differently? Why he lived the way he did?
Now I see our life is going to be manifested.
In that day. But we should never expect to be understood down here.
Our life is hid now, but our life will be manifested in Christ.
Is our life, brethren, what you say, Bob, is the basis?
For the rest of the chapter.
And those first four verses give us the foundation by which and on which.
We can do the next.
1234 verses.
Mortified.
What would be the purpose or the reason to mortify our flesh if we didn't have some object to look to to do it?
And so the 1St 4 verses set the platform, set the basis for our Christian walk. In the next 4 verses which don't sound too good, but we're to mortify that which is of the flesh, that which is, as Bob's already brought out, that which is nothing but of this world. And so where do we get the power? Where do we get the strength? Where do we get the desire to do the next 4 verses? It's the first four.
The person of Christ and his glory and what he has in.
In view for us what a marvelous thing that he's going to display us again, Ephesians 5 and verse 25 and 26 and 27 that he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. This is the prospect that we have. We're still here on earth and that's what Colossians is. We're here on earth, and so we have an object in heaven that directs our hearts, that causes us and gives us the strength.
00:30:32
To walk and do the things which would mortify the flesh. And that's what we have in the next 4 verses.
There are two things that are intimately connected in connection with our hope.
We often speak of the proper hope of the believer as the to the to the rapture, the Lord's coming for his Saints, and certainly that's what we're looking for at any moment. But there are two things that are very intimately connected in Thessalonians chapter 2 or, I'm sorry, in Titus Chapter 2, where it says looking for that blessed hope. That's what we've been Speaking of earlier in these meetings, the hope of being raptured from this world at any moment.
But he doesn't stop there. And the glorious appearing brethren, it's really part of our hope, is it not?
To think that there's a day coming when not only are we going to be with and like Christ, but everything is going to be manifested in the light of His presence.
Our brother Bob was bringing before us yesterday afternoon the thoughts concerning the judgment seat of Christ.
And how everything will be manifested there, and He will place His proper value evaluation and sense of what was done for His glory. And brethren, we ought to live in the light of that of that moment. And as our brother Dave said, if we did that more it would take care of the things that were exhorted against here, things that are not in keeping with those who are dead and risen with Christ.
Not in keeping with those of us who are a heavenly people. And so we need to bear in mind that it's not only that we're going to be raptured out of this world, but there's a wonderful day of manifestation both for us at the judgment seat of Christ. And then it says in Thessalonians he's coming to be glorified in His Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day. Does a verse like that thrill and stir your soul? It ought to.
There's a day coming, brethren, when he is not, not only he is going to have his rightful place in this world, but as Bob said, we're going to come with him and we're going to. The world is going to look on. They're going to see these ones that were rejected and despised here as the followers of a rejected and despised Christ. And what are we going to reflect in that day? We're going to reflect Christ.
Oh, what a day it's going to be. But, brethren, in the meantime, may this exercise us.
And I would like to just without going back or belaboring a point you'll bear with me for a minute, I would like to say another comment or two in connection with this expression. Set your mind. I believe it's something, brethren, that we need to be very exercised about in the day in which we live. I have children who are in the public school system and I never realized until I had children and young people in the public school system.
What an attack there is on the mind in the day in which we live. And I'd like to just say this as a warning, particularly to those of us who are parents. It's good to try to keep a check on these things. There's a great deal today to teach our young people to empty their minds.
I don't believe, brethren, we ever have a precept in scripture that would encourage us to empty our minds. Because if we empty our minds, the enemy is right there with plenty to fill the vacuum. Now this is perhaps more subtle and insidious than we sometimes realize.
Because sometimes it's done under the guise of relaxation or meditation. But I have seen and heard some very appalling things that have taken place in the classroom with our children and young people. But David said, thou anointest my head, that's the mind with oil. And I believe it speaks to us of bringing every thought into captivity under the obedience of Christ. That's what we're to do, brethren. We're to fill our minds with Christ.
00:35:05
Because if you fill a cup with wheat, there isn't any room for the chaff. If you fill a glass with water, there isn't room for anything else. And maybe I could just draw a little application from an incident in John's Gospel that I know has a prophetic character. And what I'm about to say is certainly not the the meaning of this of this portion. But you remember in John's Gospel chapter 2, the Lord Jesus and his disciples were called to the marriage at Canaan of Galilee.
And there were six water pots there. And we know that vessels, as we had in 2nd Corinthians 4, are often used as a figure of the human body. We noticed which treasure we have in earthen vessels. And you remember, when they wanted wine, those vessels were empty and they wanted wine, which speaks of joy and praise, speaks perhaps for our purposes of the enjoyment of Christ in our souls.
What was the answer? Well, the Lord told them to fill the water pots with water.
Now, Brother Dave has mentioned that the way we fill our lives with Christ is to read this blessed book, and we can't stress that enough. Every line in this book brings before us some aspect of the person and work of Christ and young people. When you open the Bible, whether you open to the Old Testament or the New Testament, read Christ in every line. That's where you're going to receive a blessing.
And so they filled them with water, which often speaks to us of the word of God, the washing of water by the Word. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word? But you know scriptures tremendously accurate. And you notice the Lord, he simply told them to fill the water pot. And they had the faith even to go beyond that, because when they filled them, it says they filled them to the brim. I think that's that's good for us to realize.
Because again, when you fill something to the brim, there isn't room for anything else and brethren.
The remedy for worldliness, for worldly mindedness before being earthly minded, for being taken up with some of the things that were exhorted concerning in this chapter. The answer is to fill the water pot and to fill it to the brim. Don't just fill it part way, that leaves room for something else. Open this book every day of your life. Fill the water pot to the brim with Christ.
And I say that'll take care of everything else. If the mind is full of Christ, the affections are going to go out to him, and we're going to walk for his glory in the path of obedience.
I wonder if we could just look at one more verse and the first first Peter chapter 3 regarding the mind that.
Belabor the point. We do want to move on, but I'm not quite sure if this person that touched on.
First peterschet of one verse 13.
Because wherefore you're not the one of your mind be sober. These two things go absolutely hand in hand.
God is reminding us absolutely necessary that we take control with His health of our minds, because the enemy wants to use our minds to to draw us away from Lord Jesus, to get us our hearts off of Him as our objects. But if we first of all.
Come under the influence.
Of things we lose being so the opposite of being sober is being intoxicated. The more intoxicated we're no longer in control of our minds. There's something else that our minds run and influence us that can it can become intoxicated by by many, thank you, become intoxicated by entertainment. We can become incarnated by having fun, even laughter, I think.
And when we're intoxicated, there's no chance of being in control. And so first of all, we must be aware of the fact that we can't let something else control come in and control our minds and then.
00:40:10
We have the responsibility of little Lord to turn off the loin of our mind, not just allow our minds to be loose, to just take in everything, to occupy our thoughts. Because we do that right, December, not to play our thoughts. Now, I would just like to tell you that's an encouragement to me is that God never asked us to do something that is impossible, that he can't give the grace to. Do you know we as natural men?
We could never control our mind. Absolutely impossible. But when God asked and imports us to do something, we know that it is possible that he can give the drink that we have the Spirit of God indwelling us. This is an encouragement to us that is possible for us to set our mind on heavenly things. Sometimes we might think as we go through the world and we're affected by the world around us. It just seems like it's impossible.
What God says to do it? It is possible, and so this is an encouragement to his brother. But if we do, if if we allow ourselves to be under unoving, influence of faith, world and intoxicated. But we'll never be able to gear up for one to remind, let's never be able to gather up so the box and direct those into.
Just the engages of the Lord wants us to have.
Something that I found helpful.
Brother Phil, in doing that, in controlling my thoughts, because sometimes, especially when I was younger, I found it to be so bad. Thoughts come up flying into your mind.
And it's like somebody says you can't keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from making nests in your hair.
And so you maybe can't control the thoughts. But what I found very helpful is as soon as those bad thoughts want to plague me, just start quoting scripture. Just put your mind on Jesus and tell you there's just no place for those bad thoughts when you do that, that's one way to gird up the loins of your mind. And that's very important exhortation. It's interesting that the first exhortation.
In connection with the armor of God in Ephesians 6 is that he says stand therefore and gird up. Gird the loins of your mind with truth. I'll read it. I'm not quoting it correctly, just turn to it in Ephesians.
Chapter 6 and verse 14.
Therefore, having your loins gird about with truth isn't that interesting that that's the first exhortation in connection with the utilization of the armor. We can't really take up the armor of God and use it properly unless our minds are gird about with truth, the word of God, and it's interesting just a little aside, but he ends by saying praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Holy Spirit.
So we begin by having our loins gird about by with truth, and then he ends by exhorting us for the need of prayer. And prayer is not one of the pieces of the armor. It's the spirit and attitude in which we take up the armor, and we use it in a proper way. But there's another way in our chapter 2 That I believe we can practically carry out what we've been Speaking of. Notice verse 16 of chapter 3 of Colossians. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.
Teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And what has been a help to me is that when these thoughts come into your mind, think of some verse of a hymn. You know, brethren, we have a rich, vast heritage of good Christ exalting hymns. They're found here in the little flock hymn book The Echoes of Grace. There are other hymns that we sometimes sing on other occasions.
And these hymns, in a very real way, bring before us the person and work of Christ. They occupy us with the Lord Jesus. And what was a real help to me when I was younger, by the grace of God, I took time to memorize many of these hymns that we sing. And I want to encourage you, you young people, your minds are keen. We're getting autonomous, are getting a little further along. And you have to admit that things are slipping a little bit sometimes. And it is, it's, I find it a little harder now.
00:45:26
To sit down and memorize A hymn or a portion of scripture, your minds are at their peak. Open this blessed hymn book. Open the Echoes of Grace hymn book in your room. Discipline yourself. It takes discipline, but discipline yourself to learn a hymn each week or a certain time period. You'll find that these hymns will come back to you at times when you really need them. Maybe you're faced with some difficulty, some problem.
The words of a hymn come back and it's a real help. Maybe some bad thought comes to your mind and your preoccupied with things of this life, some him. And as you drive down the highway sing maybe nobody me with those good Christ exalting hymns, keep Christ before my soul. So I just want to encourage you learn to value these hymns, take them up, learn them, and I believe they'll be precious to you as you get older and very real.
We have a very solid foundation here in this chapter.
And it's interesting that when God tells us something, he gives us an anchor to anchor to.
And so the 1St 8 verses, we start out with Christ, we come to the next four and it's practical exercise as to our walk. And then we come to verses 9 and 10. And I want to emphasize this, that everyone gets a hold of this, that this is our actual basis of standing. This is what God has done for every Christian.
Verse nine, he put away the old man. Verse 10 he gave you a new man.
This is where you and I as Christians stand if we don't have this for the basis for a solid foundation.
We're at sea without a rudder. And then the next verse is again give us an application of practicality.
It gets even further than that. When we get down into a little further on in the 14th and 15th and 16th versus, we get things that bring us back up to the glory. But we have to have an anchor. And in the Hebrews it's we're told we have an anchor, sure, and steadfast.
That entrance in the veil, within the veil, well, that's the work of Christ on Calvary. That's our anchor. That's where the work was done. That's where a Christian now stands. He stands on a finished work He's saved for eternity. But there are practical things in our lives has already been brought out Saturday and today. Things that we ought to put away and things that we ought to do. But we must have that basis first. We must know that.
God has done the work for us. The person of Christ has finished the work. We now have a foundation on which to stand, from which we go from either putting away what's bad or putting on what's good.
Go back to what we were talking about a moment ago, about bad thoughts at Mark 833. But when he had turned about and looked under the cycle through beautiful Peter saying you have to be behind these victims without favorite not The thing is the bee of God, but The thing is to be of men. But things like that come to my mind. That's what I say. Just be behind me. Immediately as we're through a hammer, something comes to mind.
I think the what you were mentioning brother Dave earlier.
That it connects somewhat with what we had in Two Corinthians 4.
Where it says in the 10th verse, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
That the light also of Jesus might be made manifest. Now this verse five it talks about putting to death. Mortifying is putting to death. That's the dying. Jesus died and we died with him buried in his grave. We lay and now we are resurrected with him and what should appear is not what we have in verse 5-6.
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But it is what we have.
In verses.
12 Forward it is those the life of Christ in US, and that's why he's exhorting in this way. So it corresponds in that way with what we had yesterday and the day before. But these are things to be put to death. These are serious things. And versus verse 5 and also verse 8 my recently with the Lord my father-in-law.
Norman Berry, in the Second World War, was in the Canadian Navy.
There's an officer and he kind of thought sometimes along those lines and he said it's like here having a change of command on board ship.
There was a bad captain. Now there's a new captain, so.
When the new captain comes on board, there are some of those shipmates that are so bad they have to be put to death.
There are others that are bad as well. In verse eight they are put off the ship and then there are others that are put on. That's the way he looked at it. And I think it's somewhat apropos rather and.
There are things in life that are to be put to death. These are pretty serious things. In verse five starts the list with fornication.
There's anything that plagues our culture today. It's sexual.
Perversion.
Sex outside of the marriage bond is what fornication means.
And we are to mortify that. Does it crop up in my mind? Yes, I have to confess it does. What do I do with it? Mortify it? Put it to death? Don't give any place to it.
And that's a serious thing. But they're not only stops, they're uncleanness. Oh, the amount of uncleanness in this world. Not only moral uncleanness, but spiritual uncleanness.
Inordinate affection. That means affections that are not ordered by the Word of God.
Evil Concupiscence. Concupiscence is uncontrolled lust and covetousness. That's the world we live in to always want more and more and more. And it's idolatry.
United States of America is one of the most idolatrous nations on the face of the earth.
But it's not idols of wooden stone, it's the idolatry that it speaks about here.
Covetousness, which is idolatry. These things, brethren, are to be mortified, to be put to death. No mercy shown to these things. Oh come on, can't you have a little bit of mercy? Let them go. No. Mortify them. The scripture says if you don't, it will get the better of you.
It's interesting that Saul in the Old Testament is a picture of a man in the flesh.
Head and shoulders above the rest to be admired, but.
When God told him to go and completely exterminate the Amalekites, he went and slaughtered a good bit of them, but he reserved the best.
And who was it that ended up killing Saul? Remember, it was in the battle with the Philistines.
But you remember who ended up killing Saul was not a Philistine.
It was an Amalekite because he didn't put them to death, they put him to death. And isn't that a solemn warning? If we don't do what scripture tells us to do to mortify these things, they will get the best of us. Sooner or later. They will, Lord, help us, brethren.
To mortify these things, it's something that.
Doesn't just disappear if you don't? No.
Saul was commissioned to destroy the Amalekites, and 600 years later an Amalekite rises up and wants to destroy all of the children of Israel.
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Haman, the aggregate. He was of the King's seed who Saul preserved. And so it's true that Samuel slew A gag. But one of his children got away, and he shows up 600 years later. If we don't mortify the things of the flesh, they're going to crop up and they're going to come to our sorrow.
Sin has consequences, as we've been saying, and I think this is perhaps something we don't fully realize in the day in which we live. Because sometimes we see those who go on in a course and it seems like nobody stops them. They just get away with things, even sometimes young people or those that are not so young who know the Lord, maybe even in the assembly. And you say, well, I've done that and nobody caught me, I got away with it. But sin does have consequences in our in our lives.
And we often quote in the gospel that verse that says whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. And we apply that in the gospel. And certainly that's true. And in the sixth verse of our chapter he talks about consequences here for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. But what about for the the believer? We know the end consequence for the unbeliever will be held, but what about for the believer?
Fornication, moral evil. It is a sin. Brethren, young people, it is a sin that when allowed in our lives, leaves a mark on a person for the rest of their life. It says in Proverbs A wound and dishonor shall he get. And you see it with David. In the Old Testament David sinned and he sinned grievously in connection with Bathsheba.
And David was happily restored to the Lord. Just read, I think it's the 51St Psalm. And you'll find David was happily restored to the Lord and the joy of his salvation restored and so on. But a sword never departed from his house forever. Wasn't that a solemn consequence brought on David and his household? And sin in our lives can have consequences not just on us, but it may affect my family as well.
And I think we lose the sense of this. In a day when sin is so readily accepted, we've almost become an amoral society where anything goes. There's to be no standard, no limits. If it feels good, do it, they say, men following the lusts of the flesh and of of the mind. But what about David? I've been struck in the 73rd Psalm, where the psalmist looks out and he sees the prosperity of the wicked.
They go their own way, he says. Nobody stops them. They don't seem to have any restraint.
But later in that Psalm, he gets into the sanctuary, he said. When I got into the sanctuary, then understood either end, and it's interesting. At the end of the Psalm, he appreciates a sense of the Lord's presence. He says, Nevertheless, I'm continually with thee. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. So he said, Sin separates now sin will never separate us from God for eternity. We're saved, That's true. If we're truly saved, we're saved for eternity.
But sin spoils our communion and is it worth it? Is it worth going on in a path of sin to lose the sense of joy and communion in our soul? So sin is costly. I remember Brother Paul Jeviden stood up to take a gospel. I think it was at a Montreal or an Ottawa conference when I was a young person and I'll never forget the opening statement of that gospel. He looked around and he said sin is costly.
And, brethren, sin is costly if we allow these things in our lives, not to belabor the point, but.
How interesting and how true that is.
David.
When he was accosted.
And he was very angry when he heard the parable.
He says he's going to pay fourfold.
David lost four sons.
He paid for.
As has already been said, we.
We don't get away with anything.
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God is gracious and.
And David at the end of his life, when he numbered the people, he said, let me fall into the hands of God.
For he is gracious and merciful. That's true.
But God also has a government.
And each and everyone of his children are going to pass through that government.
And be not perceived, it's already been quoted whatsoever a man so if that shall he also read. And the world will reap it in eternity and hell, but the Saint of God will reap.
Here on Earth.
Don't be deceived. Don't be fooled.
As has already been said, God lets us get away with nothing.
And the harvest is always greater than that which is sown.
So it's something to be We need to walk in fear and lowliness of mind and humbleness, brethren. We all have the flesh in us. We can't point to somebody else and say there it is over there. I've got it right here. And if I allow it to act, there will be in God's government consequences. Yes, he forgives sin, but God when he sees there's a weakness in a certain area in my life.
Puts his government in my life to help me so that I might not go in that direction again.
His government is for our own good. It's not to be feared in the sense that you fear the judgment of God, but it is something that we need to walk before God in all lowliness of mind.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. That fear is a little different, isn't it? It's the fear of displeasing him.
Verse 8 tells of things that are to be put off.
Anger.
Wrath up and wondered what the difference between those two was.
It was explained to me. Perhaps someone else has thought about it. Anger is the emotion, perhaps.
Wrath is more than just the emotion, it's taking consequences into consideration as well.
Wrath. Those are to be put off malice. Blasphemy. Filthy communication. Is he talking to Christians here?
Brother Dave, is he talking to Christians here? Absolutely. This book is.
Colossians AS2 Christians.
Entirely in this shocking it is, but that's what we are capable of it Ephesians 4, He that stole.
Feel not again.
And verse 9 why not?
Christians Do they lie?
Oh, what a story, brethren.
That's what we are naturally speaking, and if we allow the flush to act, these are some of the things that will manifest themselves. But these are to be put off.
I think it's helpful if we consider those things mentioned in eight verse as a progression. Anger is something that I may, as Brother Bob has referred to, experience at a moment in time. In fact, anger can be good in the sense that it tells us be angry and sin not. So we may be repulsed by certain things that we experience in this life and we're to stay away from them. But sometimes.
Anger may flare up.
Within me and I don't deal with it. Scripture speaks of.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, and I believe for myself anyway.
Anger is something, or wrath is something that is a seed of anger. I may be angry at someone if I don't.
Judge that before the Lord. That anger is there, and it continues to.
Marinate. It continues to grow, and so the anger becomes greater, and then it grows into wrath.
And with Wrath, I believe again, there's that sense that I want to get back at my brother or my sister.
Then if there is the.
Allowing of that that raft to continue then it turns into malice and that is.
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A very serious offense, which I'm trying to I make it my motive to get back at someone or something that I've experienced.
The next thing in that list.
Is blasphemy.
I think some of us in this room may know even some servants of the Lord that have held some anger in their hearts towards a brother or sister and it has resulted in their blasphemy of that person slandering a person. God does not allow. Those allow us to get away with those types of things, those feelings towards our brothers and our sisters and I believe.
In the Old Testament we have a very good example of that.
We're Aaron and his sister Miriam spoke against Moses.
Aaron was not long in his life. Miriam became a leper. So there are very serious consequences that we may have to pay. If we allow these feelings of anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, then it also speaks then next of filthy communication.
Be not deceived.
Tells us in First Corinthians filthy communications, corrupt good manners, our whole.
Life, our whole testimony is going to be destroyed, wanted if we allow filthy communications.
What is the seed starts, goes back to anger. So I believe that there are feelings.
Amongst those that profess to be gathered to the Lord's name that have been sown in in times past, some of those feelings still linger amongst us and it.
Effects and infects our children and our young people. And we see some of those feelings that are perpetuated even today that it becomes like a cancer amongst God's people in the assembly. I believe we need to be very cognizant of them within ourselves, that we don't allow those feelings to crop up and then if they do that we don't check them and they.
Get progressed along what we have in this verse.
Isn't it interesting that?
What you say is certainly right and correct.
And if we harbor these things, it does become as a cancer and it's.
Very difficult to get rid of, but how interesting that we have a.
Swinging point, as it were in the 9th and 10th verses. And after that, until we get down later in the chapter, we have what's beautiful and good.
Put on therefore, the elect of God, holy and blood, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any. And here's the key, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye, And besides these put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. This is the beautiful side of this.
The work of Christ 9:00 and 10:00, one side putting away those things that are bad on the other side.
We put on which is before God, beauty.
Beautiful things. They're like Christ. They're like first Peter, first second chapter.
Leaving us an example in whose steps we should follow. And so this is what we have in these verses.
And then what a an anchor in the 15th verse and left the peace of Christ. It should be ruled in your heart the peace of Christ.
If we have that.
If we're occupied with Christ and we have the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts, the verses we've just read, 12 and 13 and 14 are going to be manifest in our life.
It really begins with the expression in the end of the 11Th verse, which we don't want to Passover.
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Where it says Christ is all and in all. Or if you notice Mr. Darby's translation.
It simply says Christ is everything, brethren. I think that's a good statement to just pause for a moment and consider.
In a practical way, can we really say that in our hearts is Christ everything to you? Have I so set my mind on things? Above that, Christ is everything to me. He's everything to us. As far as being able to carry out the exhortations that follow in these verses, as someone said, we can't do it in our own strength, but we have Christ as our life. We have the Spirit of God. We have Christ brought before us in the word of God.
He's everything. But is he really practically in my heart, everything.
If Christ is everything in my heart, then the things that follow here are going to be manifested in my life.
In a practical way, and it's interesting, in Philippians 2 we often read those scriptures on Lord's Day morning in connection with the death of the Lord Jesus and the remembrance of him, and then his exaltation and so on. But if you notice the context, the real context of those verses in verse five, it says let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Now that's the real context of what follows there.
In other words, it's given to us to follow as an example that the Spirit and the life and Spirit of Christ might be manifested in your life and mine. He humbled Himself. Do we know what it is to humble ourselves, brethren? We're to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. If we don't, the God may have to humble us, but He wants us to humble ourselves, made Himself of no reputation.
You know, we all usually have a reputation for something. Might be a good reputation, it might be a bad reputation, but most of us develop some kind of a reputation. Here's one. Just take the phrase that as it appears, he made himself of no reputation. He was here for the glory of God. He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, and so on. But that is left as an example for you and for me. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. But it cannot be brethren unless in a practical way.
We can truly say Christ is everything.
So these are things that should be evident in the life of believers. Vowels of mercy, kindness, this is the life of Jesus, manifest in our bodies, humbleness of mind.
Naturally speaking, we're all proud. Somebody has said pride is the last thing that dies within the human breast.
Humbleness of mind is not natural. It is the life of Christ and the believer.
Meekness not taking offense. Sometimes people may be humble, but not me.
And we need to think about this sometimes. We take offense at the least little thing, brother, and we need to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus. He was meek and lowly in heart.
Long-suffering, forbearing one another. This is self-discipline here, brother. Sometimes we talk about discipline of our brethren, the assembly, but this is self-discipline.
Forbearing. Forbearing is simply there's something in my brother that rubs me the wrong way. It's not that serious. Perhaps it just rubs me the wrong way, what I'm going to do about it.
Forebear that's important to exercise.
And forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against him, here's a quarrel.
Mention.
And then I like to think of verse 14 as the overcoat.
Above all, these things put on love.
O brethren, what should characterize believers above all else? Is this. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. If ye have love one to another, that should be in evidence in our lives together. And I like to think of it, brethren, When it speaks of love, it's the agape love. It's the love of decision. It's the love.
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That doesn't depend on what the object is. It is more a question of what the source is. In other words, God so loved the world. Why did he love the world? Because God is love. It's the source, not the object. There was nothing lovable in the world to love it. But God so loved the world because God is loved.
And so often when you go around, I hear the complaint, oh, there's no love in this meeting.
And I sometimes say the person that's complaining is the first person guilty.
You know why? Because if there's no love in that meeting, you should start loving then. Then there would be some love there.
So you can't point the finger in any other direction except at your own soul.
Above all things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Isn't that beautiful?
And so it's in the end of verse 13. Even as Christ forgave, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye, and above all these things put on love, Because to whom much is forgiven the same love as much. And brethren, if we could just keep before our souls that great love of the Lord Jesus in going to Calvary's cross to die for us, and that great debt that we owe, that he took care of in those hours of darkness.
Wouldn't that make a difference in our relationships one to another? You say that brother did something against me and I.
I just can't find the love to forgive them. Oh, how much did Christ forgive you? What has he forgiven you?
How much has he born with me in my pathway as a Christian? And so just to remember that, to keep that in focus, I believe then that in the measure in which I enjoy in my own soul, appreciate in my own soul what Christ has done for me and the love that motivated him to do it, That is the springboard then in my forgiveness and love in my relationship to my brethren.
This scripture here and.
The 13th verse is reminiscent, is it not of.
Ephesians 4 in the last two verses.
Everyone knows them, I'm sure, by heart, and what a marvelous picture here it says.
Even as Christ forgave you. And there it says, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. And So what a picture we have.
Has anyone ever been so?
Unkind to any of us that we could ever fit into the picture of the love of God towards us. Never. Never.
Even as God, for Christ sake, has forgiven you.
At the cross, the Lord Jesus could say, Father, forgive them.
Amazing.
Well, they know not what they do. Well, each and everyone of us were in a position of opposition to God at one time in our lives, and God and his mercy and His grace forgave us.
Is there ever a time when our brother or our sister could ever go beyond what God has forgiven us for? Never.
We ought to keep that in mind when we have a controversy with any of our brethren.
As we know they work in that verse, thanks a lot against security and garbage is love that. I heard that the meaning of charity is here is sort of like what we think of as all the letters. We get the mail when it's giving money to them as a charity. In other words, then we give something that we don't necessarily get anything bad. It's not a matter of all of you if you love me, it's a matter that.
Neither does would have a. Have a look.
And we're told to provoke unto love and to good works. What provokes to love is love. That's what provokes love. So we need to be exercised in putting on that.
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Charity that it speaks of her love. Just to get down to verse 16. I think it's so beautiful. Before we close, I think somebody mentioned verse 15 already. Let the word of Christ.
Dwell in you richly in all wisdom. I think that's so beautiful, brethren. It's not merely reading the Word. Let's let it dwell in you. Someone has said read the Word. Let the Word form your thoughts. So much so saturate your mind with the Word of God that you no longer think your own thoughts, but you think God's thoughts.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
In First John chapter two we have the young men spoken about.
And young men like to think of themselves as strong.
They glory in their strength. The glory of young men is their strength. And there it says that they are strong, and the word of God abideth in them, and they have overcome the wicked one. There is nothing that will make you strong, dear young brother and dear young sister in the Lord, as well as any of us who are older, as letting our minds be filled with the word of God.
Oh, the blessedness of it.
And may the Lord help us that we not only read the word of God.
But that the Word of God dwell in US richly in all wisdom, That's the only source of wisdom, isn't it?
No other source. In closing, I'd like to read that 17th verse as an encouragement to the young.
This is a touchstone whereby we can prove and know.
If what we're doing is pleasing to God, verse 17 and whatsoever ye do.
In Word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Now here's the point.
If what you do, you can pray to God and thank him for what you're doing, it's acceptable to God.
If you can't do something and actually thank God that you're doing it, it's not acceptable to God. And bear this in mind, young people, if you have a thought in your mind as to whether this is right or wrong, can I thank God for it? Can I be thankful that I'm going to do this or I've been doing this if you can't?
Don't do it. And this verse is God's touchstone to tell you that he either can't accept or reject.
If you can't thank him for what you're doing, don't do it.
Don't do it.
And the word of God is the bottom line, isn't it? Because the Philadelphian Saints were given a commendation, they kept his word and had not denied his name. So if it's in accordance to the word of God, and then, as brother Dave says, you can thank him for it, for doing it, then we can be assured that it's according to his mind. And if we do, then he says, in the end of the chapter, you'll get a reward. Not with I service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ. Just leave the results with him. Don't look for a pat on the back down here.
Don't look for man's commendation, but look to the Lord for his approval. And as Brother Bob brought out the other afternoon, every man in that day will have praise of God according not to our sense of it or our brethren sense of it, but according to his sense of what was right and commendable.
#288.
O thou whose mercy?
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I knew my face before the whole house or condition.