Latest / Providence Baptist Church - Sermons / Colossians 3:5-9

Transcript

Colossians 3:5-9 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

0:00
I decided to change a bit what I will cover specifically this morning, and this being verses 5-9.
0:07
Because there are just way too many implications to pull out of this, to rush right past it.
0:13
Many of you who attend here regularly know that I've said before to you that my notes for approximately a 45-minute sermon are usually about 5 pages.
0:24
And you'll appreciate my decision to do this by knowing that I copy and pasted three pages worth out in the trimming down of verse 10 and 11 this morning.
0:36
So, I believe it's wise for us to proceed in this manner.
0:41
And you just have to stick with me.
0:42
Try to follow my logic and my reason as we look at verses 5-17, today being part 1.
0:50
And then we'll develop upon it in the coming weeks.
0:54
I appreciate Ash reading already to us verses 5-17.
0:58
Let me remind you that this is God's Word to us.
1:03
It has meaning and bearing for us today and that we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
1:11
The primary exhortation of the text this morning, I believe, is found in the last part of verse 9 and the first part of verse 10.
1:21
Seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self.
1:31
So there are two driving points here.
1:35
Firstly, that we are to put off the old self.
1:38
Stated in the negative.
1:40
Do not do these things.
1:44
Do not do sins of commission.
1:47
Those things that we are told not to do.
1:51
Stated in the positive, the other major point of verses 5-17 is that we ought to put on the new self.
2:00
Instead of doing these things, rather live in this way.
2:06
And this morning we're going to talk about putting off the old self and in the coming weeks what it looks like,
2:11
what it means to put on the new self.
2:14
So you have essentially this morning a single point for part one and that is put off the old self.
2:23
We see it there in the last part of verse 9.
2:25
Also stated in verse 5, Paul says,
2:30
Put to death, therefore what is earthly in you.
2:35
And he doesn't mean this literally, but rather figuratively.
2:39
There have been men throughout history who have misunderstood this and misunderstood the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 5, 29-30.
2:50
Where he said,
2:51
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.
2:56
For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
3:02
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
3:05
For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
3:11
We have seen Paul's warning.
3:13
Kyle did a wonderful job of speaking to us about the pointlessness of asceticism,
3:21
of disciplining ourselves in the external.
3:25
And they have no real value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
3:31
But Jesus isn't speaking literally in Matthew 5, 29-30.
3:35
And neither is Paul in verse 5 here of chapter 3.
3:40
I'm thankful for verse 8.
3:42
He gives us some help and some clearer understanding as he says,
3:47
But you now must put them all away.
3:51
He helps us to understand that this is not a literal putting to death,
3:56
killing our bodies, but rather figuratively killing that sin that so easily ensnares.
4:04
Paul wrote in Romans 8, 13,
4:05
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.
4:09
But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
4:15
Not the actual body, but rather the deeds of the body we are meant to put to death.
4:21
And Paul in our text gives us two lists of sins that are to be put off or to be killed in us.
4:29
And these are certainly not exhaustive lists of all sins that ever needed to be put to death.
4:35
But he gives us these two lists and he gives them to us categorically.
4:39
Firstly, we see a set of sins that are sins of unrighteous love.
4:45
Sins of unrighteous love or misplaced or perverted love, if you prefer.
4:55
And these are sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
5:05
The phrase here in the Greek for sexual immorality is the word that we get our English word for pornography from.
5:14
It's a very broad word.
5:16
It includes any form of illicit sex.
5:21
Sex is given to us as a good gift when it's exercised in its proper context.
5:29
In case anybody has any doubt about what context that is,
5:33
sex is a good and a perfect gift that should be done with joy
5:37
in a committed relationship with a single person of the opposite sex bound together in covenant marriage.
5:47
This is when it's a good and perfect and beautiful and wonderful gift.
5:52
Any other form of it, any other form of it is not.
5:57
It's sexual immorality.
5:59
It's an offense to God and His good design in the world.
6:03
Paul then says we're to put off impurity.
6:07
And the word means filthiness or uncleanliness.
6:12
It's a broader term than sexual immorality in that it includes thoughts and intentions.
6:20
So not simply the acts, but also the thinking about or the intentions of our hearts.
6:26
Jesus refers to this sin in Matthew 5.28 when He says,
6:30
But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent
6:34
has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
6:39
And to further compound Paul's exhortation here to put off these types of sin,
6:46
he talks about passion and evil desire.
6:50
There's not a great distinction in these original terms from the previous two.
6:55
And I wrestled and turned them over and tried to figure out why specifically Paul listed them out in this way.
7:02
I think he's just driving his point.
7:05
He's giving us a slightly different flavor to the way in which they would have read these words.
7:11
We do the very same thing when we preach on Sunday morning.
7:14
We give you multiple definitions.
7:16
We give you multiple words to help you wrap your mind around and understand.
7:20
As an example, I said to you that the first list of sins are sins of unrighteous love.
7:26
And I said, or misplaced or perverted love.
7:29
So he's piling up the descriptors to help us understand how it is we're meant to not live.
7:38
Passion means sexual passion set loose.
7:43
And somebody's passions being acted out upon.
7:46
And then the evil desire in this context, meaning the sexual lust created in the mind.
7:54
Paul goes really hard against these types of sins.
7:59
And these are sins that are running rampant in our world.
8:02
They always have, certainly to be true.
8:05
But today, they are certainly running rampant.
8:09
Not just outside the borders of our church, but within as well.
8:16
Spend a little bit of time with the men in our church and you know that this is true.
8:20
And this should not be so.
8:25
Paul also says that we're to put off covetousness, which is related.
8:29
The insatiable desire to have more or to have what is forbidden.
8:36
To have things that don't belong to us.
8:39
The final and tenth commandment that was given to Moses.
8:44
This covetousness is idolatry.
8:48
And it's idolatry because it places selfish desire above obedience to God.
8:55
We worship the thing created when we covet it, rather than the one who creates all things.
9:06
To speak of covetousness is to speak of a very broad sin.
9:10
We could put many things, lump many more specific sins underneath this sin of covetousness.
9:16
William Barclay, who is a 20th century Scottish theologian that I would commend to you,
9:21
wrote, covetousness is a sin with a very wide range.
9:27
If it is the desire for money, it leads to theft.
9:31
If it is the desire for prestige, it leads to evil ambition.
9:35
If it is the desire for power, it leads to sadistic tyranny.
9:39
If it is the desire for a person, it leads to sexual sin.
9:45
And clearly what's being said here is not just the thing it leads to is sin,
9:49
but the desire for it is sin itself.
9:53
And we should have nothing to do with these things as Christian people.
9:59
Secondly, Paul gives us a list of sins of unrighteous hate.
10:06
Or wicked hate, if you prefer.
10:08
There are certainly things that we should, as Christian people, hate.
10:13
My own sin is a thing that I should despise.
10:17
This would be a righteous hatred.
10:20
Paul here is listing for us things that are of an unrighteous or wicked nature.
10:25
Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk, and lying.
10:34
Anger is this idea in the Greek of a deep, smoldering, resentful bitterness.
10:43
Those of you who have camped, I hope all of you have,
10:46
and seen a fire when you wake up in the morning and it's still burning down in the deep in the embers
10:52
and all it takes is stirring them and laying a little bit of wood back on top
10:55
and it bursts right back into flame.
10:57
This is kind of the picture going on here.
10:59
This is the anger that's being spoken of.
11:02
This is the kind of anger that characterizes an angry person.
11:08
Provocation of this person is not what causes the anger.
11:13
It's merely the thing that gives vent to the anger that already exists.
11:18
This is a state of being that Paul's talking about here.
11:23
James 1.19-20 says,
11:25
Know this, my beloved brothers,
11:28
let every person be quick to hear,
11:30
slow to speak,
11:32
slow to anger,
11:34
for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
11:39
And this is that term.
11:40
This is what he's trying to communicate to us.
11:42
That we ought not be people that smolder in this way.
11:46
And all that it takes is somebody to give us a little fan
11:49
and we burst into flame.
11:51
That is what wrath means.
11:55
The next thing that he warns us against.
11:57
The next thing he tells us to put off.
12:00
Wrath in the Greek is the sudden outburst of anger.
12:05
It's that little handful of leaves you throw on the fire
12:07
that bursts into flame immediately.
12:10
Bursts up and then goes out.
12:13
The two are very closely related.
12:15
Anger and wrath.
12:16
Anger lying below the surface.
12:19
Wrath its vent.
12:21
Thirdly, Paul tells us to put off malice.
12:26
And this is just a general term
12:27
for moral evil aimed at another person.
12:33
Malice.
12:33
Evil intent toward other people.
12:37
In this context,
12:38
it likely refers to harmful speech.
12:43
Speech that's aimed at causing hurt to other people.
12:48
And we can see the very next thing he tells us to put off
12:50
as slander.
12:52
It's the Greek word blasphemia,
12:54
which we get our term blasphemy from.
12:58
In relation to God,
13:00
it's translated in our Scriptures as blasphemy.
13:04
In relation to man,
13:05
slander is the word that English translators have chosen to use.
13:09
And hear this, beloved,
13:11
to slander an individual created in the image of God
13:15
is to blaspheme God,
13:17
the one who created the individual.
13:21
For blasphemy is to speak irreverently about God or sacred things,
13:27
those things that he created,
13:29
which are good and bear his image.
13:31
James 3, again,
13:33
James writing verses 9 and 10,
13:37
speaking of our tongue,
13:38
with it we bless our Lord and Father,
13:41
and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.
13:45
From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.
13:48
My brothers,
13:50
these things ought not be so.
13:53
Paul goes on in his list,
13:56
fifthly,
13:57
to speak of obscene talk,
14:00
which is foul-mouthed abuse of another person,
14:05
which is in so many places expressly forbidden in the Scriptures.
14:08
Ephesians 5.4
14:09
As an example,
14:10
let there be no filthiness,
14:13
nor foolish talk,
14:14
nor crude joking,
14:15
which are out of place,
14:16
but instead,
14:18
let there be thanksgiving.
14:20
Jesus warns us in Matthew 12.36,
14:23
I tell you,
14:24
on the day of judgment,
14:26
people will give an account for every careless word they speak.
14:33
And lastly in this list,
14:34
Paul says to us we are to put off lying or deceit.
14:39
He says do not lie to one another.
14:43
Lying characterizes Satan.
14:47
John 8.44
14:48
Jesus speaking of Satan says
14:51
he was a murderer from the beginning,
14:53
and does not stand in the truth,
14:55
because there is no truth in him.
14:57
When he lies,
14:58
he speaks out of his own character,
14:59
for he is a liar and the father of lies.
15:02
And just before this,
15:03
he has accused the Pharisees of being of their father.
15:09
If we are not of Satan,
15:10
then we ought not lie to one another.
15:14
Truth characterizes God.
15:16
And as people of God,
15:18
we should tell the truth.
15:20
Titus 1.2
15:22
Here Paul refers to God
15:25
who never lies.
15:29
And Paul gives us in our text,
15:31
as he's telling us to put off these things,
15:33
to put these sins to death in our lives,
15:36
he gives us two reasons
15:38
why we should do so.
15:40
You'll find these in verse 6 and verse 7.
15:43
Firstly, sin brings God's judgment.
15:50
Sin brings God's judgment.
15:52
Verse 6.
15:53
Paul writes,
15:54
On account of these,
15:56
the wrath of God is coming.
15:59
The wrath of God is coming
16:01
because of these sins
16:02
that should be put to death
16:04
in the life of a believer.
16:06
A.W. Pink described God's wrath
16:08
and the attributes of God like this.
16:10
His eternal detestation of all unrighteousness.
16:15
It is the displeasure of God
16:17
stirred into activity against sin.
16:21
What a frightening thing.
16:23
The unbeliever's life
16:25
invites the wrath of God.
16:28
The unbeliever stands in defiance of God.
16:31
Shakes its fist at God
16:33
and says,
16:34
I hate you.
16:36
It invites the wrath of God.
16:38
Romans 2.5, Paul says,
16:39
But because of your hard
16:41
and impetent heart,
16:43
you are storing up wrath for yourself
16:45
on the day of wrath
16:46
when God's righteous judgment
16:48
will be revealed.
16:50
This is the thing
16:51
that those who are enemies of God
16:53
deserve.
16:54
That is,
16:55
the wrath of God.
16:56
Because of these sins,
16:58
because of this offense
17:00
to who God is,
17:01
the way in which He's revealed Himself to us,
17:03
and the way in which we ought to live
17:05
to glorify Him,
17:06
God's wrath is coming.
17:09
Now, Paul is not warning believers
17:10
that if we sin,
17:12
we will feel the wrath of God.
17:14
This is not what he's saying at all.
17:16
Those of us who are found in Christ
17:18
have had our sins struck clean.
17:21
God has poured out His wrath
17:23
justly to be fully just
17:25
for our sin in Jesus Christ.
17:28
This is why we need the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.
17:32
That perfect life that He led.
17:34
All of His stored up righteousness
17:36
so that He could bear the eternal wrath
17:38
that was due us on the cross.
17:40
This is the glorious thing
17:41
about the cross, beloved.
17:43
That we are giving away to Jesus
17:45
our sin
17:47
and we are taking on His righteousness.
17:49
So this is not what Paul is saying to us.
17:52
Right?
17:52
In 1 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10,
17:55
he says this,
17:55
For they themselves report concerning us
17:58
the kind of reception we had among you
18:00
and how you turn to God from idols
18:03
to serve the living and true God.
18:05
So here's a report
18:06
that these people have put aside idols
18:08
and they now serve the true and living God.
18:11
And then in verse 10 he says,
18:12
And to wait for His Son from heaven
18:14
whom He raised from the dead,
18:16
Jesus,
18:16
who delivers us from the wrath to come.
18:21
So Paul's being consistent
18:22
in his theology here.
18:23
He's not saying that as believers
18:25
we're going to incur wrath if we sin.
18:29
Jesus has bore the wrath for those sins
18:31
in His person on the cross.
18:33
But rather, Paul is saying
18:34
that those who profess faith in Jesus Christ
18:37
who have been delivered from the wrath to come
18:40
should want no part in the activity
18:44
which calls down God's wrath.
18:48
We should recognize the great thing
18:50
that we've been delivered from.
18:52
This sin that is such a deep offense to Him
18:55
and He will one day punish and judge.
18:58
We should now want nothing to do with it any longer.
19:02
We should want to avoid altogether
19:04
those things that incur God's wrath on the world.
19:06
The children of God
19:07
should not behave as the children of wrath.
19:11
We should look differently.
19:14
So Paul gives us these reasons.
19:15
Firstly, that sin brings God's judgment.
19:18
Secondly, that sin is part of a believer's past.
19:25
Verse 7 says,
19:26
in these you too once walked
19:29
when you were living in them.
19:31
When you were this pre-God honoring version of yourself,
19:36
you walked in these things.
19:37
This was who you were.
19:39
But no longer.
19:41
The last part of verse 9
19:43
which I read to you earlier says,
19:44
seeing that you have put off the old self
19:47
with its practices
19:48
because you have been delivered
19:50
from the wrath to come
19:51
because your heart has been changed.
19:55
You've put these things away.
19:56
You've put them off.
19:57
Therefore, continue to do this very thing.
20:00
You have changed positionally.
20:03
Not in degree.
20:04
You hear me say this all the time.
20:05
We haven't gotten a little better
20:07
when we place our faith in Jesus Christ.
20:09
We have changed entirely.
20:11
We were once children of wrath.
20:14
We were once enemies of God.
20:15
We once incurred His judgment.
20:18
But now, if we've believed in Christ,
20:21
we're different entirely.
20:23
We're now children of God.
20:25
We now incur His blessing
20:27
instead of His wrath.
20:30
This is part of our past.
20:33
Verse 5 of chapter 3 in Colossians
20:36
in the New American Standard Version,
20:38
which just at times really edges out the ESV,
20:42
which most of us use,
20:43
says it this way,
20:45
Therefore, consider the members
20:47
of your earthly body as dead.
20:50
Rather than saying,
20:51
put to death therefore,
20:53
NASB says,
20:54
therefore, consider yourself already dead
20:57
to these things.
20:58
And this is the truth
20:59
that Paul is trying to communicate to us.
21:01
Because of who we are,
21:03
we no longer live in such and such way.
21:06
We have been saved.
21:08
We have been set free from sin.
21:11
It's an accomplished work done by Christ.
21:15
We have had our image-bearing potential
21:17
restored in us.
21:18
Why would we ever go on sinning?
21:22
Why do we proceed to do the very thing
21:25
that we've been delivered from?
21:28
We just so easily forget the Gospel,
21:30
I think sometimes,
21:31
that death was ours.
21:33
It had already been purchased by our sin.
21:35
eternal damnation.
21:37
We've been delivered from this thing.
21:39
Why would we go back and do it once again?
21:44
2 Corinthians 5.17,
21:46
Paul says,
21:47
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,
21:49
he is a new creation.
21:51
The old has passed away.
21:52
Behold, the new has come.
21:57
Charles Spurgeon,
21:57
in a book called Evening by Evening,
21:59
wrote this.
22:01
I want to do my best to read it well to you.
22:03
Christian,
22:05
what hast thou to do with sin?
22:09
Hath it not cost thee enough already?
22:12
Burnt child,
22:13
wilt thou play with the fire?
22:16
What,
22:17
when thou hast already been
22:18
between the jaws of the lion,
22:21
wilt thou step a second time
22:23
into his den?
22:25
Hast thou not had enough
22:26
of the old serpent?
22:28
Did he not poison
22:29
all thy veins at once?
22:31
And wilt thou play upon
22:32
the hole of the asp?
22:34
And put thy hand
22:35
upon the cockatrice's den
22:37
a second time?
22:38
A cockatrice is a mythical creature
22:40
that's like a dragon
22:41
with the head of a chicken.
22:42
I had to look it up.
22:46
I didn't just know that.
22:49
Oh, be not so mad,
22:51
so foolish.
22:53
Did sin ever yield thee real pleasure?
22:56
Didst thou find solid satisfaction in it?
22:59
If so,
23:00
go back to thine old drudgery
23:02
and wear the chain again
23:04
if it delight thee.
23:06
But inasmuch as sin did never give thee
23:08
what it promised to bestow,
23:10
but deluded thee with lies,
23:11
be not a second time
23:13
snared by the old fowler.
23:15
Be free,
23:16
and let the remembrance
23:17
of thy ancient bondage
23:19
forbid thee to enter the net again.
23:22
I hope his language
23:24
sticks in your head
23:25
as I try to read it to you.
23:28
Sin was never good for us,
23:30
and we know this to be true.
23:32
Why do we once again
23:34
return to it?
23:35
So then,
23:38
we're to put off the old self.
23:42
We're to put to death
23:43
what is earthly in us.
23:45
We're to put them all away
23:47
because we have put off the old self
23:50
with its practices
23:51
if we have faith in Christ.
23:55
John Owen,
23:57
the 17th century English pastor
23:59
and theologian wrote
23:59
of the mortification of sin
24:01
and believers,
24:01
which I would encourage you to read.
24:04
And mortify means
24:05
to subdue or to put to death.
24:08
He says,
24:08
Do you mortify?
24:10
Do you make it your daily work?
24:13
Be always at it whilst you live.
24:16
Cease not a day from this work.
24:19
Be killing sin,
24:21
or it will be killing you.
24:24
If you go on to read
24:26
the rest of John Owen's writing,
24:28
you'll know that he's not suggesting
24:30
that if we're not actively
24:31
putting to death sin,
24:33
that that means that sin
24:35
actually has some killing effect on us
24:37
in an eternal way.
24:39
What he means is that sin
24:40
will be constantly making us miserable.
24:43
It will be constantly like a dog
24:45
going back to its vomit
24:46
and getting sick over and over
24:48
and over again.
24:50
And we must engage in the work
24:53
of mortifying our flesh,
24:55
of putting to death sin.
24:59
But how are we to do this?
25:02
How are we to do this?
25:04
We have answered what we are to put off,
25:06
at least in some part,
25:08
with some brief explanation.
25:10
What we are to put off
25:12
and why we are to do so.
25:15
Does Paul tell us how
25:17
here in the book of Colossians?
25:20
He does,
25:21
but we have to back up
25:22
just a little bit.
25:24
So back up, if you will,
25:25
to Colossians 3, 1-4.
25:28
John Hoffman did a good job
25:30
of divulging to us last week.
25:33
It says,
25:33
If then,
25:35
you have been raised with Christ,
25:36
if you are found in Him,
25:37
if you are a Christian,
25:38
seek the things that are above,
25:40
where Christ is,
25:42
seated at the right hand of God.
25:44
Set your minds on things
25:46
that are above,
25:47
not on things that are on earth.
25:50
For you have died,
25:51
and your life is hidden
25:52
with Christ and God.
25:54
When Christ who is your life appears,
25:55
then you also will appear
25:57
with Him in glory.
25:59
And then the rest that follows,
26:00
what we're into now,
26:01
what we will be into
26:02
until the end of the book,
26:04
is a treatise on Paul's part
26:05
on what that should look like.
26:08
What is it supposed to look like
26:09
if we set our minds
26:10
on things that are above
26:11
and not on things
26:12
that are on earth?
26:15
Now join me a little bit
26:16
backing up just a bit more
26:19
to Colossians 2-6.
26:25
Paul here writes,
26:26
Therefore,
26:27
as you received Christ Jesus,
26:29
the Lord,
26:30
so walk in Him.
26:34
What does he mean
26:34
when he says,
26:35
therefore?
26:36
As they've received,
26:38
because they've received,
26:39
in this particular way,
26:40
Christ Jesus,
26:41
the Lord,
26:41
so walk in Him.
26:42
So, what does he mean by that?
26:44
A few more verses.
26:44
Back up.
26:46
Chapter 2.
26:47
Verses 2-3.
26:49
Paul prays that the Colossian believers
26:51
will reach all the riches
26:54
of full assurance
26:56
of understanding
26:58
and the knowledge
27:00
of God's mystery,
27:02
which is Christ,
27:04
in whom are hidden
27:05
all the treasures
27:05
of wisdom
27:06
and knowledge.
27:10
Verse 8.
27:11
Chapter 2.
27:12
Paul warns the Colossian believers
27:14
not to be taken captive
27:15
by philosophy
27:17
and empty deceit.
27:20
So, what he's saying
27:21
is he says,
27:22
therefore,
27:23
verse 6,
27:23
as you receive Christ Jesus,
27:24
so walk in Him.
27:26
He's saying,
27:26
you have received Christ,
27:29
the teaching of Jesus,
27:31
and have settled convictions
27:32
about His deity
27:34
and His sufficiency,
27:35
which is what he's been driving
27:36
and teaching
27:37
in the entire book so far,
27:39
correcting some type of heresy
27:40
that was happening
27:41
in the church of Colossae.
27:43
You have these settled convictions
27:44
about His deity
27:45
and His sufficiency.
27:47
This is working
27:48
our lives
27:49
in good order.
27:50
This is what's happening
27:51
because of the things
27:52
you believe,
27:53
the way in which
27:53
you've engaged your mind
27:54
with who Jesus Christ is
27:55
and what He's accomplished
27:56
on your behalf.
27:58
Don't stop.
27:59
Continue to walk.
28:00
Continue to do this thing
28:01
referring to our daily conduct
28:04
and all these things
28:05
that He's listing off.
28:05
Now, all of this
28:06
putting off
28:07
of these sins
28:08
is a result of
28:10
who we believe
28:12
Jesus Christ is.
28:15
Continue to believe
28:15
the truth
28:16
concerning Christ.
28:17
Have an unwavering
28:19
Christology.
28:21
Believe that Jesus
28:23
is the Christ.
28:25
Let's back up even further
28:27
in Colossians.
28:28
It's going to drive the point
28:29
which I haven't quite made yet,
28:30
but I will.
28:31
I promise.
28:33
Chapter 1,
28:33
verse 9 and 10.
28:35
And so,
28:36
from the day we heard,
28:37
Lord, we have not ceased
28:39
to pray for you,
28:40
asking that you may be
28:42
filled with the knowledge
28:44
of His will
28:45
in all spiritual wisdom
28:46
and understanding,
28:48
so as to walk
28:49
in a manner worthy
28:50
of the Lord,
28:51
fully pleasing to Him,
28:52
bearing fruit
28:53
in every good work
28:54
and increasing
28:55
in the knowledge
28:56
of God.
28:58
Have you heard
28:58
how many times now,
29:00
just in the book
29:01
of Colossians,
29:02
Paul has talked about
29:03
knowledge,
29:04
understanding,
29:05
and wisdom?
29:06
Have you seen this?
29:07
These are all activities
29:08
of our minds.
29:12
Beginning of chapter 3,
29:14
set your minds
29:16
on things
29:17
that are above.
29:19
There's far too much
29:21
in American Christianity
29:23
what's called mysticism.
29:25
This divorce of our minds
29:27
from our hearts.
29:28
Lots of talk about feeling.
29:30
And feelings are real.
29:31
And we experience them.
29:32
The book of Psalms
29:33
is a book of feelings.
29:34
But properly corralled
29:39
by the mind.
29:41
Read the book of Psalms
29:42
from front to back.
29:43
I challenge you to do so.
29:45
And see the anguish
29:46
and the joy
29:48
and the bitterness.
29:49
All of the emotion
29:50
that runs through that book
29:52
and see how it's corrected.
29:54
By remembering
29:55
who God is.
29:56
The promises that He's made.
29:58
The obedience
29:58
that He's required of us.
30:00
by taking the mind
30:01
and filtering out
30:02
the mess
30:03
that our emotions
30:04
can cause.
30:07
We're often
30:07
far too emotional.
30:10
And hear me beloved,
30:10
I know that if I err,
30:12
I err on the side
30:13
of ration.
30:14
I just,
30:15
ration isn't even a word,
30:16
of being too rational.
30:18
Right?
30:18
I know that about myself.
30:24
I know that that's my error.
30:26
But too many people
30:27
err in the opposite direction.
30:30
Right?
30:30
Directed by every little
30:31
feeling that they have.
30:33
As if the Lord
30:34
is confusing to us.
30:36
As if He hasn't
30:37
written us a book
30:38
that tells us
30:39
exactly who He is
30:41
and exactly how
30:42
we're meant to live
30:43
to please Him.
30:45
That's why this exists.
30:47
You know that the word
30:48
Bible
30:48
is simply a word
30:50
that means
30:50
any work
30:52
that is the authority
30:53
on a particular subject.
30:56
So,
30:56
growing up,
30:57
I used to have,
30:57
I've been a rock climber
30:58
for a bunch of years,
30:59
a book called
31:00
The Climber's Bible.
31:02
And I always felt
31:03
a little sacrilegious
31:04
having it.
31:05
But it was
31:06
the definitive source.
31:07
It had a lot of
31:07
fantastic information in it
31:09
and I came to find out
31:10
that that was a perfectly
31:11
acceptable title
31:11
for it.
31:12
That's why
31:13
this book
31:14
is most often called
31:15
The Holy Bible.
31:17
Because it's the
31:18
source,
31:19
the direction,
31:20
the instruction
31:21
sufficient for
31:23
holy living.
31:24
It tells us about
31:25
our holy God
31:26
and how we're meant
31:26
to live
31:27
in light
31:28
of His holiness.
31:30
So our minds
31:31
are so key
31:32
to this very thing.
31:35
And you're seeing
31:36
this pattern emerge,
31:37
I hope.
31:38
Beloved,
31:39
theology is not
31:40
just for the high-minded.
31:42
It's not just
31:42
for the high-minded.
31:43
The reason I did
31:44
the Tyndale story,
31:45
which I think the kids
31:45
totally lost the point of,
31:47
but just the same,
31:49
is that he saw this
31:50
to be true.
31:51
At the great risk
31:51
of his life,
31:52
he knew that the people
31:53
needed the Word of God
31:54
in their hands.
31:55
That the Word of God
31:56
was not just for
31:57
the high-minded,
31:58
those who could speak
31:59
Latin.
32:01
It is for the Christian
32:02
to learn about God
32:03
and to understand Him
32:05
and His requirements
32:06
for us.
32:07
Every Christian doctrine,
32:09
every one of them,
32:09
every truth contained
32:10
within the Scriptures,
32:11
rightly understood
32:12
and exercised,
32:14
gives way to proper living.
32:16
There's a whole category
32:17
of Christian study
32:19
called practical theology,
32:21
which I just find
32:21
so frustrating
32:22
because all theology
32:23
is practical.
32:26
If you're learning
32:27
about things
32:27
that are highly philosophical
32:29
and have no real point
32:30
in bearing in today
32:32
or tomorrow
32:33
or the next,
32:34
then why are you studying it?
32:36
What a waste of time.
32:38
All theology
32:39
is practical
32:40
and important
32:41
and all of us
32:42
are meant to be
32:43
about the work
32:44
of doing theology,
32:45
understanding God,
32:47
getting it.
32:47
That's why I say to you,
32:48
this is the Word of God
32:49
written for us,
32:50
right?
32:51
That we can understand
32:52
this thing
32:53
by the illumination
32:54
of the Spirit
32:54
that we might rightly apply it.
32:56
We can believe
32:57
its promises,
32:58
obey its commands.
33:00
It's good for us
33:00
to do so.
33:01
God wrote us a book
33:02
to help us with this.
33:04
Condescended.
33:05
Came down off a throne
33:06
to the minds of men
33:08
to write a book for us,
33:09
beloved.
33:09
We should know
33:10
this book.
33:13
Charles Spurgeon said,
33:14
good works
33:15
are not the root of faith,
33:17
but they are its fruit.
33:20
And faith is not blind.
33:23
It is if it's not saving faith,
33:25
right?
33:25
If it's blind faith,
33:27
if it's Indiana Jones
33:28
stepping into the gap
33:29
not knowing what's going
33:30
to catch in faith,
33:31
then it's not saving faith.
33:34
For the object of our faith
33:36
is of the utmost importance.
33:38
What we believe in
33:39
matters massively.
33:42
And the evidence
33:43
of that faith
33:45
should always be
33:46
carefully measured
33:48
and tested.
33:50
It's of eternal weight,
33:52
beloved,
33:53
that you say
33:54
that you're a believer
33:55
to constantly check
33:57
and say,
33:58
does my life
33:59
give the evidence
34:00
of that?
34:00
I am an apple tree.
34:02
I should produce apples.
34:03
I should be checking
34:04
for that kind of thing.
34:06
Again,
34:08
in the book of James.
34:09
I want you to turn here
34:10
with me.
34:12
James chapter 2.
34:22
Speaking about works
34:23
as evidence
34:24
of our salvation
34:25
does not negate
34:27
that our salvation
34:27
comes by faith alone.
34:30
And we are justified
34:31
by our faith.
34:35
And I'm always so scared
34:36
to make you think
34:37
that works are
34:38
the salvific thing.
34:39
They're not.
34:39
As Charles Bergen said,
34:40
I just read it to you,
34:41
good works
34:41
are not the root of faith,
34:43
but they are its fruit.
34:45
And James says that
34:45
very well here.
34:47
Of interesting historical note,
34:49
Martin Luther did not want
34:50
the book of James
34:51
to be canonized.
34:52
You know that?
34:54
Because he was so fighting
34:55
this battle
34:55
with the Catholic Church
34:57
against justification
34:58
by works
34:58
and he thought
34:59
it was too easy
35:00
to understand James' writing
35:02
to be saying that.
35:03
But follow it along with me
35:04
beginning in verse 14
35:05
of James 2.
35:06
What good is it,
35:06
my brothers,
35:07
if someone says
35:08
he has faith
35:09
but does not have works?
35:11
Someone just says,
35:12
I'm a Christian,
35:14
but there's no real evidence
35:15
in their lives.
35:15
Can that faith save him?
35:17
If a brother or sister
35:19
is poorly clothed
35:20
and lacking in daily food
35:21
and one of you says to them,
35:23
go in peace,
35:24
be warmed and filled
35:26
without giving them
35:26
the things needed
35:27
for the body,
35:28
what good is that?
35:30
Just saying it
35:31
doesn't mean anything
35:32
for those people.
35:34
So also,
35:34
faith by itself,
35:35
if it does not have works,
35:37
is dead.
35:38
It's non-existent.
35:40
But someone will say,
35:41
you have faith
35:42
and I have works.
35:44
Show me your faith
35:45
apart from your works
35:47
and I will show you
35:48
my faith by my works.
35:50
And I will show you
35:51
that I believe
35:52
that Jesus is the Christ
35:52
because I live
35:54
as Jesus is the Christ.
35:56
You believe that God
35:57
is one,
35:58
you do well.
36:00
Even the demons believe
36:01
and shudder.
36:03
Do you want to be shown,
36:04
you foolish person,
36:05
that faith apart from works
36:07
is useless?
36:09
And then as all good preachers do,
36:11
he begins to access
36:11
the Scriptures.
36:13
Verse 21,
36:14
Was not Abraham our father
36:16
justified by works
36:17
when he offered up
36:18
his son Isaac on the altar?
36:20
You see,
36:21
that faith was active
36:23
along with his works
36:24
and faith was completed
36:26
by his works.
36:28
And the Scripture
36:29
was fulfilled
36:30
that says,
36:31
Abraham believed
36:32
and it was counted to him
36:33
as righteousness.
36:35
And he was called
36:36
a friend of God.
36:38
The evidence of his faith,
36:40
he believed God
36:41
and in so doing,
36:43
almost sacrificed
36:44
his son.
36:47
Verse 24,
36:48
You see that a person
36:48
is justified by works
36:49
and not by faith alone.
36:52
And in the same way
36:52
was not also Rahab,
36:54
the prostitute,
36:55
justified by works
36:56
when she received
36:56
the messengers
36:57
and sent them out
36:58
by another way?
36:59
For as the body
37:00
apart from the Spirit
37:02
is dead,
37:02
so also faith
37:03
apart from works
37:05
is dead.
37:06
So you're tracking
37:07
what he's saying here.
37:08
Right?
37:08
That the works themselves
37:09
give evidence
37:10
to the faith
37:11
that does save us.
37:15
We must be so careful
37:16
at this point.
37:18
We must be so careful
37:19
to see
37:20
that the faith
37:20
produces the works.
37:23
We're told in the Scriptures
37:24
to test ourselves.
37:26
We're told in the Scriptures
37:27
to be careful
37:28
lest we're led astray.
37:31
And we live in a culture
37:32
of easy-believe-ism
37:33
that makes the Gospel
37:34
just so simple.
37:35
Right?
37:35
It's about an activity.
37:36
It's about walking an aisle.
37:37
It's about repeating a prayer.
37:39
This simple little
37:40
formulaic thing.
37:41
It's about making sure
37:42
that you go on
37:43
at least a summer
37:44
mission trip a year.
37:45
You'll feel so good
37:47
about yourself
37:48
on your way to hell
37:49
if this is what you base
37:50
your salvation in.
37:53
We're justified by faith
37:55
and it yields results.
37:56
We will be about the work,
37:58
the continuing work
37:59
to the day we die
38:00
of constantly putting to death
38:02
sin in our lives.
38:05
Be killing sin
38:05
in your life.
38:07
Let me show you again
38:09
another place.
38:10
Romans chapter 8.
38:11
So we have to be careful.
38:28
We have to engage our minds.
38:29
We have to see the commands
38:30
given to us in the Scriptures.
38:31
Like, am I walking
38:33
in the way of God?
38:33
Do I believe the truth?
38:35
And therefore,
38:36
it's evidenced in my life.
38:37
Am I engaging my mind
38:38
around that?
38:39
I hope you're seeing
38:41
the need for that.
38:41
Just in case you're not,
38:43
Romans chapter 8,
38:44
verses 1-11.
38:45
Listen to the language.
38:49
There is therefore now
38:50
no condemnation
38:51
for those who are
38:52
in Christ Jesus.
38:53
We have been set free
38:55
from the just punishment
38:57
of sin.
38:58
No condemnation
38:58
for those who are
38:59
in Christ Jesus.
39:00
For the law of the Spirit
39:01
of life has set you free
39:02
in Christ Jesus
39:03
from the law
39:04
of sin and death.
39:06
For God has done
39:07
what the law
39:08
weakened by the flesh
39:09
could not do
39:10
by sending his own Son
39:11
in the likeness
39:12
of sinful flesh
39:13
and for sin
39:14
he condemned sin
39:15
in the flesh
39:16
in order that
39:17
the righteous requirement
39:18
of the law
39:19
might be fulfilled in us
39:20
who walk not according
39:21
to the flesh
39:21
but according to the Spirit.
39:23
Okay.
39:23
Right?
39:24
Sent his Son
39:25
who lived a perfect
39:26
righteous life
39:26
he punished sin
39:28
in him.
39:28
Right?
39:29
So that we
39:29
by faith in Christ
39:31
can fulfill
39:32
the requirement of the law.
39:33
Right?
39:33
Because Jesus was righteous
39:34
and he gave us
39:34
his righteousness.
39:36
Verse 5
39:37
For those who live
39:39
according to the flesh
39:39
set their minds
39:42
on the things
39:43
of the flesh
39:44
but those who live
39:45
according to the Spirit
39:46
set their minds
39:47
on the things
39:48
of the Spirit
39:49
for to set the mind
39:50
on the flesh
39:51
is death
39:52
but to set the mind
39:53
on the Spirit
39:53
is life
39:54
and peace
39:55
for the mind
39:56
that is set
39:57
on the flesh
39:57
is hostile
39:58
toward God
39:59
for it does not
39:59
submit to God's law
40:00
indeed
40:01
it cannot.
40:02
Those who are
40:04
in the flesh
40:04
cannot
40:05
please God.
40:07
So you start to get this
40:07
it's like understanding
40:09
we're just taught
40:09
this one scripture
40:10
we're supposed to walk
40:11
by the Spirit
40:11
in order to put off
40:13
these things
40:14
to put to death
40:15
sin in us
40:15
to put off
40:16
these desires
40:16
of the flesh
40:17
for to walk
40:18
in the Spirit
40:18
how do you do that?
40:19
Hold hands
40:20
with the Spirit
40:20
what does that look like?
40:21
And a lot of people
40:22
have resorted
40:22
to this idea
40:23
of feeling
40:24
I feel this way
40:26
I'm compulsed
40:27
one way or the other
40:28
by this Spirit
40:29
that lives within me
40:31
but Paul has driven
40:32
the point
40:32
that we're to set
40:33
our minds
40:34
on the things
40:35
of the Spirit
40:36
which are
40:39
the Word of God
40:41
those things revealed
40:42
by the Spirit
40:45
verse 9
40:46
you however
40:47
are not in the flesh
40:48
but in the Spirit
40:49
if in fact
40:50
the Spirit of God
40:51
dwells in you
40:52
anyone who does not
40:54
have the Spirit of Christ
40:55
does not belong
40:55
to him
40:56
but if Christ is in you
40:58
although the body
40:58
is dead because of sin
40:59
the Spirit is life
41:00
because of righteousness
41:02
if the Spirit of him
41:03
who raised Jesus
41:04
from the dead
41:04
dwells in you
41:05
he who raised
41:07
Christ Jesus
41:07
from the dead
41:08
will also give life
41:09
to your mortal bodies
41:09
through his Spirit
41:10
who dwells in you
41:11
how?
41:13
through the working
41:14
of our minds
41:15
beloved
41:17
understand
41:18
the truth
41:20
and live
41:20
in accordance
41:21
with it
41:23
you ready for another one?
41:25
Philippians chapter 4
41:26
I've only got
41:31
three more
41:31
they're really short
41:36
I'm laughing
41:36
because they're really short
41:37
I know it's getting late
41:37
and it's getting hot in here
41:40
Philippians chapter 4
41:50
beginning in verse 4
41:51
rejoice in the Lord always
41:52
again I will say
41:54
rejoice
41:55
what do we rejoice in?
41:56
the truth of God
41:57
let your reasonableness
41:58
be known to everyone
41:59
your reasonableness
42:00
with your mind
42:01
the Lord is at hand
42:02
there are whole denominations
42:03
that are extremely unreasonable
42:05
have you met some of these people?
42:07
they don't even make sense
42:08
their minds aren't engaged at all
42:10
on the things of God
42:11
the Lord is at hand
42:13
do not be anxious about anything
42:14
but in everything
42:15
by prayer and supplication
42:17
with thanksgiving
42:18
let your requests
42:19
be made known to God
42:20
and the peace of God
42:21
which surpasses all understanding
42:24
will guard your hearts
42:25
and your minds
42:27
in Christ Jesus
42:29
and I think that we're really familiar
42:32
with those verses
42:32
and I think we're really familiar
42:34
with verse 8
42:36
but often apart from one another
42:37
so what does Paul go on to say?
42:39
finally brothers
42:40
whatever is true
42:41
whatever is honorable
42:43
whatever is just
42:45
whatever is pure
42:46
whatever is lovely
42:47
whatever is commendable
42:48
if there is any excellence
42:50
if there is anything
42:51
worthy of praise
42:52
think about these things
42:56
meditate on these things
43:00
and you will put to death
43:02
the deeds of the flesh
43:04
another example
43:06
you don't have to turn
43:07
first part of Romans 12
43:08
2
43:09
do not be conformed
43:10
to this world
43:11
but be transformed
43:13
by the renewal
43:14
of your mind
43:16
and then finally
43:18
back in Colossians
43:19
verse 16
43:20
the beginning part
43:21
says
43:22
let the word
43:23
of Christ
43:24
dwell
43:25
in you richly
43:27
you see
43:29
the thread
43:30
you see the pattern
43:31
through
43:31
and the reason
43:32
that I jumped you
43:32
to different places
43:33
is because I don't want you
43:34
to think
43:35
that this is just
43:36
found here
43:37
but it's found
43:38
across
43:39
the scriptures
43:40
the inspired
43:41
word of God
43:42
not just with Paul
43:43
but with others
43:43
as well
43:45
so we must
43:47
put to death
43:47
the sin in our lives
43:48
because it is not
43:50
fitting that those
43:51
who have been
43:52
delivered from sin
43:52
should go on sinning
43:54
and we do so
43:56
by the power
43:56
of the spirit of God
43:57
in the renewal
43:59
of our minds
44:01
this is the way
44:01
this comes
44:02
to pass
44:04
and to make our
44:05
theology
44:06
practical
44:07
how do we put to death
44:09
the deeds of the flesh
44:11
we get in our Bibles
44:13
and we study them
44:15
and we meditate
44:16
upon them
44:16
we allow it to
44:17
influence and affect
44:18
every part
44:19
of our thinking
44:20
we allow it to
44:22
cause us
44:23
as Christian people
44:24
to stand firm
44:26
in the midst
44:27
of ways
44:28
we
44:29
so know it
44:31
that we can
44:32
contend
44:32
for the truth
44:33
and that has
44:34
meaning for us
44:36
as individuals
44:37
as well
44:37
I have to contend
44:38
for the truth
44:38
in my own life
44:39
all the time
44:41
my sin
44:41
is always
44:42
deceiving me
44:43
my emotions
44:46
betray me
44:47
constantly
44:48
I have to
44:49
preach to myself
44:50
the truth
44:51
of God
44:52
we have to
44:52
preach the truth
44:53
to one another
44:54
I don't need
44:56
your counsel
44:56
if it's not
44:57
biblical counsel
44:58
you tell me
44:59
what the scriptures
45:00
say
45:00
I want that
45:02
I'm hungry
45:02
for that
45:03
when I'm dealing
45:04
with the problems
45:05
of life
45:05
I want you to
45:06
tell me
45:06
what almighty
45:07
God says
45:08
in his
45:08
inerrant
45:08
sufficient scripture
45:09
concerning the
45:10
matter
45:10
it has
45:11
everything in it
45:12
that we need
45:12
to hear
45:13
and know
45:13
for our
45:14
well being
45:15
if you just
45:16
got some
45:17
trite piece
45:17
of advice
45:18
just keep
45:19
your mouth
45:19
shut
45:19
I want to
45:19
know what
45:20
the scriptures
45:20
say
45:20
you have to
45:22
learn the
45:22
scriptures
45:23
to be able
45:23
to do that
45:24
and be able
45:24
to stand
45:24
firm
45:25
and to put
45:25
off
45:25
these types
45:26
of deeds
45:27
and beloved
45:28
it should be
45:28
our great
45:28
desire to
45:29
do so
45:29
because we
45:30
have a great
45:30
deliverer
45:31
that we
45:31
should want
45:32
to exalt
45:33
in the way
45:34
that we
45:35
live
45:35
let's pray
45:36
together
45:36
let's종