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Colossians 2:20-3:5 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Good morning. If you can take your copy of God's Word and turn to Colossians 3 for me.
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If you will pray with me before we begin this time in the Word.
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Father God, we thank you that you have set your love upon us and sent your Son to die for us.
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And we thank you that we have life in Christ.
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Lord, during this time, as your Word is opened, we ask that we be convicted in truth.
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That your Spirit would work and move in us to love and rejoice in your Word.
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Help us have minds set towards you and the world to come. In Jesus' name, amen.
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In the late 1600s, there was a famous allegory, which we love here at Christ's Family, called Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.
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In this allegory that John Bunyan produced, he is picturing the Christian's life pre-Christ, during his life, and his journey to heaven.
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So he gets his place in the city of destruction, the cross where he was saved, and his journey until he gets to the celestial gate.
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As he comes to the cross, and as he receives salvation, he feels the weight of his sin leave him, and he is put into glorious robes.
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And he has a mark on his face that is extinguished from the world, and he has a scroll to give him assurance.
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And as he continues his journey, he comes to this beautiful palace.
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It is glorious.
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And he looks, and he calls it the house beautiful.
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And through watchfulness and verification, he gets into the house.
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This house is the church.
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And he spends many days there, enjoying the rest and the fellowship of the people there.
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And this time, they have meals together.
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They have lively conversations.
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That he reads good books.
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He reads scripture.
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And he feels full.
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And as his time was coming to an end, and how it's beautiful, they took him to the top of the palace.
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And they pointed and looked and said, over there is the delectable mountains.
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With the intention of showing them to encourage them of where they were going.
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And it says, when Christians saw the delectable mountains, that they were the most pleasant and mountainous country.
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Beautiful with woods, vineyards, fruits of all sorts, flowers, springs, and fountains.
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Very delectable to behold.
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And when he asked the name of this country, he was told that it was Emmanuel's land.
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And like this hill, this church, this palace they're at, it is for the pilgrims.
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And when you go there, you will see the celestial gate.
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So my intention in our time together today is, as we are in our house beautiful, that you'll be encouraged and comforted.
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And as we're in Colossians 3, 1 through 2, that you'll be captivated with the most beautiful mountains.
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And ultimately, your heart will be inspired for a deep love in King Emmanuel and the kingdom to come.
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So I intend to show you this through one point and three charges.
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Prior to these three points, let's look, let's read Colossians 3 and look at the immediate context.
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We're going to start in 2.20 and go to 3.5.
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If with Christ you have died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?
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Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.
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Referring to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings.
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These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body.
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But they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
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If then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
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Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth.
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For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God.
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When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.
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Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you.
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In this text, in the immediate context, you see two important words that provide transition.
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You see two therefores.
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It's translated in ESV, if then, or if with.
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But in verse 220, you see, therefore, since you have died with Christ.
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And in Colossians 3.1, you see, therefore, since you have been raised with Christ.
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The therefores are a word used to transition.
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They're saying, in light of what was just said, therefore, this.
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Typically, when you see therefores, they're going from doctrine to duty.
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From theology to doxology.
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It's going from, in light of this beautiful truth I've just told you, do this.
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So in Romans, the book of Romans, we see chapters 1 through 11 with rich content of the gospel.
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When we get to Romans 12, it says, therefore.
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And then you see a beautiful call for us to live as living sacrifices.
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So in our text here today, we have therefores.
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And the urge is for us to go from doctrine to duty, belief, practice, and that our knowledge of God will lead to praise of him.
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So the therefore, the first one says, therefore, since you have died with Christ.
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This is communicating that you are no longer living in this world or for this world.
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When Christ died, your life died with him.
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All the things of the old man, all the sinful patterns in which you were born and lived for in your life have died.
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They are no longer.
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So he's urging them in this text not to be focused on worldly things.
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As if you were still alive to this world.
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He's saying you're no longer alive to this world.
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You have died.
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The importance is that we've been delivered from our sin and are now alive to Christ.
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Which leads us to the second, therefore.
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Therefore, since you have been raised.
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So we have died to our sin and now we are raised to resurrection life.
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This transition is communicating security and resurrection power in life.
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We are born into this world as a baby.
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But we all need a second birth to go to the next world.
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We all need a new birth to be born again.
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We all need the spirit to resurrect our hearts.
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And just as Jesus Christ died and was resurrected, in him when we die and are resurrected, we receive justification.
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So this leads us to our first point.
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Point number one is entrance into the beloved kingdom.
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Entrance into the beloved kingdom.
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This point we will survey a little bit of Colossians 1-3.
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Specifically looking at the passage to describe our salvation.
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The hope in this time is that we'll answer the question of how do we get into the kingdom of God?
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How do we become Christians?
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How do we experience this dying and this resurrection?
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And I believe through Colossians 1-2 that access into the beloved kingdom comes through the king in his life, death, and resurrection.
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And this is portrayed through his redemption, his reconciliation, and his resurrection.
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So we're going to spend time looking at his redemption, his reconciliation, and his resurrection.
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So read Colossians 1-14 with me.
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He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
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In this passage, we see lots of kingdom language.
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We see a dominion and we see a kingdom.
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There are two kingdoms here.
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And these kingdoms are not based on geography, on circumstance.
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It's not that there is a kingdom in this world that we are a part of that we're entering into.
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These are spiritual kingdoms.
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These are kingdoms that are in the minds and the hearts of men.
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These kingdoms are in the thoughts and the affections.
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And this is the kingdoms that Augustine picks up on in his two cities.
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He says,
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Two cities have been formed by two loves.
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The earthly by the love of self and the heavenly by the love of God.
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Sadly, we are all born into the kingdom of darkness.
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We are all born as citizens in the kingdom of darkness with desires for this kingdom.
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Naturally, we are hostile to God and we do not follow his will.
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Naturally, we delight in our autonomy and our rebellion.
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We love our evil deeds and we do not see our need to be rescued in our flesh, in our natural disposition.
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But we do.
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We need to be rescued from the deceptical, tyrannical rule of Satan.
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Satan is the god of this world.
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He is the ruler of the kingdom of darkness.
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But verse 3 communicates this.
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It demonstrates how we are rescued.
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We see prior to knowing Jesus, we were citizens of this earthly kingdom.
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Citizens of the kingdom of darkness.
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And that we were sons of the devil.
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In this kingdom, we were enslaved to our sin.
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We listened to sergeant sin in our lives.
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And from an outside perspective, we thought we were in charge.
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We did what we want.
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We did as we pleased.
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And that was satisfying to us.
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But we did not see.
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We were blinded that we had two masters.
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That our first master was sin and our second was Satan.
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We did not know of the danger we were in.
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We did not know that we were following our sinful ways.
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And that we, like Christians, were in the city of destruction.
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But by God's grace, he worked in our lives.
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By God's grace, he rescued us from the kingdom of darkness.
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The text says that he has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.
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This word delivered is like the word rescued.
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It's a salvific term.
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So we, in this kingdom, were set up for our own ruin.
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We could not do anything to save ourselves.
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If we stayed here, we would all be destroyed.
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But Christ has come and he's rescued us.
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And he did this by laying down his life for us.
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He did this by taking on the weight of sin for us.
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In Colossians 2, it talks about how our sin was canceled and our record debt is no more.
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And how our sins were nailed to Jesus.
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So Christ came and he rescued us from our state in the kingdom of darkness.
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And he has placed us in the kingdom of the beloved son.
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We now have security.
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We are now placed in this new kingdom.
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And we are no longer under Satan's rule.
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We are no longer enslaved to our sin.
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We are a new man in a new kingdom with new allegiances.
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And we are citizens there.
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As we think about this kingdom, this reminds us of the theology of kingdom.
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The theology of the two kingdoms.
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So when I talked about it in the beginning, I said that the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of the beloved son are kingdoms that are in the minds and the heart of man.
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And they are in our thoughts and our affections.
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When Christ takes us and places us in his kingdom, he gives us a new spirit.
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We are part of a new kingdom.
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And now Christ reigns in our heart.
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This is what we call the already of the kingdom of God.
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The already of the kingdom of Christ.
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So currently now, Christ is ruling in our hearts.
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Currently now, Christ is reigning over our hearts and our minds.
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But we talk about the not yet of the kingdom.
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The already not yet.
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The not yet of the kingdom of the kingdom to come.
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While Christ is currently reigning now in our hearts, there is a kingdom to come when Jesus Christ will come back and he will receive us.
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And we will be brought to heaven.
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That we will receive the glory that awaits us in this new kingdom.
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In the kingdom of God that is to come.
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So that is our redemption that we have through Christ.
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Our reconciliation is in Colossians 1, 20-22.
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It says,
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And through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross.
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And you who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in the body of his flesh by his death.
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In order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach.
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So our natural condition, we were in the kingdom of darkness.
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Now, in this picture, in our natural condition, we are enemies of God.
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We did not like God's reign.
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We were hostile to God.
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And we wanted to live our own self-governing lifestyles for our own glory.
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We were filled with self-love and self-interest.
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And in this natural state, God's wrathful gaze is upon us.
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We were in his crosshairs.
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Because the Bible says that the wages of sin is death.
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We will die for a sin without someone taking our sin for us.
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But Romans 5, 8 says,
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But God demonstrated his love for us in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.
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It goes on in that passage to talk about how we have peace through this death.
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So through Christ, our sin was propitiated.
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Through Christ, our sin was taken.
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And the wrathful gaze of God left us and was aimed at Christ.
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And he received the weight of the wrath for our sin.
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And because of that, by his blood, we now have peace.
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We are no longer enemies, but we are friends.
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We are no longer against God, but with him.
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And at peace with him.
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Number three, resurrection.
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Colossians 2, 11 through 13 says,
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In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands,
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by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ,
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having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him,
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through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised us from the dead.
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And you, who were dead in your trespasses and uncircumcision of the flesh,
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God made alive together with him, having forgiven all of our trespasses.
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The third aspect of this work of God in our lives is that we had dead hearts.
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In the natural man, without Christ, our hearts were dead and did not respond to God.
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They could not respond to God.
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In our natural state, in our natural hearts, we were inclined to self-love and self-ture.
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We were inclined to live for ourselves.
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And we could not see Christ's glory.
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We could not experience the sweetness of his word.
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We could not see the wonders of his work.
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But the text tells us that God has made us alive.
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By the power that raised Jesus from the dead, he has raised us from the dead.
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God spoke new creation into our hearts.
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Our dead hearts received the wind of the Spirit and were made alive.
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They were dead and now they're living.
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They were hard and now they're soft.
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They were stone and now they're flesh.
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This is the wonderful doctrine of regeneration,
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that we have received a spiritual resurrection.
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And we have been born again a second time.
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So entrance into the kingdom is through God's redemption.
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It is through God's reconciliation and it is through God's resurrection.
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These are one work accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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And because of this work that he's done in our lives,
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and because we have new hearts and we're a new creation, a new person in a new kingdom,
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we now have new allegiances.
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We have new responsibilities.
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We are now citizens of a different kingdom.
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And these new allegiances is we no longer love to live for ourselves.
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We want to live for God.
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We delight in living for God and for his glory.
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We have new responsibilities.
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Now that we have been received resurrection life,
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now that we've been changed, we're called to a new way of living.
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We have new responsibilities to be a new citizen, a new kingdom.
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Three of these responsibilities we will see in the text today.
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Number one, the first charge, the first command, responsibility we see,
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is that we should seek King Jesus.
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We see this in Colossians 3.1.
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It says,
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If then you've been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above,
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where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
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The word here, seek, is an imperative, meaning it is a command.
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It is a charge from our King that we should aim or pursue something.
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That we should have serious devotion to a goal, to an aim.
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This devotion, this seeking, this looking for, this desiring, is an ongoing action.
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It is a keep on always seeking, is what Paul is saying here.
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He's saying, be always preoccupied with.
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This is not bound by circumstance.
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This is a every moment of every day.
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So the charge here is that every moment of every day, we need to seek King Jesus.
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We need to seek Christ and the kingdom to come.
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Our desire should be for the world to come, not for this world.
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And this is hard.
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I think about my day.
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Sometimes I'm so busy that I have goals to accomplish.
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I don't want to stop and think and meditate on scripture.
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Because I'm going.
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I'm being productive.
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Sometimes we have hard days with kids.
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That we feel as if we're disciplining all day long.
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And we feel like we're beating our head against the wall.
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And in those moments, this command is still active.
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In those moments, we shouldn't, we're not bound by that circumstance.
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In those busy days, we're not bound by our busyness.
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The seeking is all the time.
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So even in the hardest days of discipline, even in the days where our soul is down, even in our most productive and busy days, we have a priority.
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A charge to seek Jesus.
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An example, I was thinking of ways to describe this seeking.
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It made me think of when I courted Cheyenne.
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When I decided to pursue her.
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I saw her as a beautiful and godly woman.
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I wanted to set my time to pursue her.
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And as I got to know her, I realized how much more beautiful she was than I thought.
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I saw her godliness and her character.
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And it just drew my heart to her.
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So then, things changed.
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I now had a new goal.
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A new reality.
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I wanted to marry Cheyenne.
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So what did this lead me to do?
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It lead me to act differently.
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Before, I was eating salmon.
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I was enjoying the best coffee that I loved.
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I was living in such a way that I got what I wanted.
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I spent my money how I wanted.
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And in some ways, it was not healthy.
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But when I knew I was going to have a wife and a daughter.
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And I was pursuing to marry them.
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I now live differently.
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I counted every single dollar.
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I bought tilapia.
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I drank Folgers.
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And all this for the aim that I can marry Cheyenne and be a good husband and a good father.
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Take on these new responsibilities.
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And that example to help us think that with Christ, we have responsibility.
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It's not a work.
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It's through grace.
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But it's a call.
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A command for us to seek our King.
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To enjoy Him.
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To enjoy what He has given us.
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This should remind us.
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Make us thankful for the three R's of redemption.
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Reconciliation.
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Resurrection.
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It should cause us to rejoice in our salvation.
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That we are now part of His kingdom.
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We are now His child.
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And this seeking is motivated by these new desires we have through His Spirit.
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And these new commitments we have as His citizen.
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Christ shapes our whole lives.
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And it changes it.
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And it's by His grace and for His glory.
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Samuel Rutherford has this quote.
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I'm going to repeat it twice.
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And I found it really helpful.
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Desires or more grace and groaning, which cannot be uttered, are growing pains.
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And we should wish to feel them more and more.
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Desires or more grace and groanings, which cannot be uttered, are growing pains.
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And we should wish to feel them more and more.
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We should long to desire.
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We should long to desire our King.
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And long to desire His promises.
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And it should cause emotion and affection in us.
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Christ loved us.
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Therefore, we should love Him.
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The fruits of the Spirit are joy, peace, patience.
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We're commanded to have joy.
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Because of Christ's life, death, and resurrection,
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it should cause us to rejoice and desire Him more and more.
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Our life should be for Christ.
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And when we receive Him, it should be gain.
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So, set your desires on Jesus.
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Your longings on the things above.
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Have ambition to know the things of God more deeply,
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and the heavenly realities even greater.
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Ask God for the grace and spiritual inclination for Him and His purposes.
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So, we see in the text, the command is for us to seek.
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What is the object of that seeking?
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We see it's the things above, but then it has some things after that.
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It says, seek the things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand.
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So, while the things above encompass heaven,
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the things of heaven to come,
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the promises we have for heaven,
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the promises we have in salvation,
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the object is the King of heaven.
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The object is King Jesus.
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We should seek Him in all of His benefits.
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Let's look at how it's pictured Him in the text now.
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It says, seek the things above where Christ is,
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seated at the right hand of God.
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Christ is seated at God's right hand.
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This is the highest place of honor.
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Does it harken your mind back to think of Matthew,
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where the disciples are like,
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can I sit at your right hand?
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What about me?
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And they're all getting mad at each other.
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Christ is at the right hand,
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and God's going to determine who sits next to them.
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But this place is a place of honor.
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Those disciples wanted the highest honor.
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They were thinking about themselves.
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But here, Christ is at that highest place of honor.
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There's nothing higher,
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there's nothing greater than our King.
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As we think of His majesty,
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let's think of some texts that happened
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after He resurrected and went to heaven.
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It says that He has given all power and authority
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in Matthew 28.
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In Philippians 2, it says that God has exalted Him
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and bestowed upon Him the name that is above every name.
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In Ephesians 1.21, it says that
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far above all rule and authority and power and dominion
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and above every name that is named,
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not only in this age, but also in the age to come.
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We see that Jesus Christ has the highest rule and authority.
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He has the greatest power,
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and He has the most worthy name to be named,
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in which every knee will bow.
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So today, we should bow our hearts to our King
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and seek Him and love Him and treasure Him
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and rejoice in Him.
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So we see that the command is to seek.
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The object of the command is Christ.
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The end of the command is that we would enjoy Him.
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And we see this in Philippians 3.
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But when we think of Bunyan's, his allegory,
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when we think of that story,
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they're called to look over at Emmanuel's land,
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the most delectable mountains.
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But what makes them delectable?
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What makes them beautiful?
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What is the vineyard picturing there?
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It's picturing that it is Emmanuel's land.
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That is the land of the King.
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And we should long to be with Him.
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Long to see Him face to face
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as a man sees his bride.
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Because what we get in weddings,
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when we see our bride,
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it is such sweet joy.
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But when we see Christ,
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that joy will be so much more abundant
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and so much more greater.
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What a beautiful thing
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that our picture of the sweetnesses of this earth
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point to a much greater picture to come.
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So in Philippians 3,
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Paul says that
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whatever gain I had,
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I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
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Indeed, I count everything as loss
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because of the surpassing worth
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of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
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For His sake,
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I've suffered the loss of all things
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and count them as rubbish
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in order that I may gain Christ.
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So in this,
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we see that our life is for Christ.
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To die is gain.
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And even now,
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as we seek Him,
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He is of surpassing worth.
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He is our treasure and our joy.
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In this passage,
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the word here for rubbish is dung.
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It's trash.
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The idea isn't that our earthly things,
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these other things aren't good.
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It's that in light of Christ,
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they're nothing.
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In light of Christ,
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they are not worthy of our attention and time.
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So all of the gifts of God
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that we have on this earth
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are but a taste of the joy
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we will have in Christ when we get to heaven.
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That means all our possessions
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and pleasures
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our marriage and our families,
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our friends and our hobbies,
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our taste of the everlasting joy
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that is before us.
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I read this quote of the Lord's Supper.
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I'm going to read it again
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because it pictures this so well.
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Jonathan Edwards said
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of our enjoyment of God
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that God is the highest good
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of the reasonable creature.
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The enjoyment of Him
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is the only happiness
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with which our souls can be satisfied.
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Does that make you think
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of the living water incident?
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That if you come to this well
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and drink from this water,
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you will be satisfied
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and need to drink no more.
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He continues,
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to go to heaven fully to enjoy God
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is infinitely better
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than the most pleasant accommodations here.
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Fathers and mothers,
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husbands,
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wives,
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children,
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or company of friends
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are but shadows,
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but the enjoyment of God
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is the substance.
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These are but scattered beams,
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but God is the sun.
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These are but streams,
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but God is the fountain.
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These are but drops,
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but God is the ocean.
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So brothers and sisters,
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let us enjoy these rays
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and these streams
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and these drops now.
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And let us praise God
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who's given them
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until we enjoy the ocean
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and the fountain
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and the sun
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in the kingdom to come.
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Charge number two,
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set your minds
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on the things above.
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That we should saturate our heart
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in the heavenly realities to come
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is our second charge.
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This command is also
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a command that is ongoing,
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that is active,
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that we should always be doing.
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This idea of setting
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is a heart set.
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It is not just
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we put it before us,
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but it is that
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our thoughts are consumed with it.
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We set our mind upon Jesus,
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his promises,
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and his will.
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Our lives should be
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forward-looking,
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present living.
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We should be looking
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for what's to come,
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living for what's to come,
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but living in the present,
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in this world,
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because we are pilgrims
27:17
going to our heavenly home.
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We should meditate
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and contemplate
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Christ and his promises.
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And as we do,
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our lives will reflect them.
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Stephen Lawson said,
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what we set our minds on,
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therein flows
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the entirety of our lives.
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So as we consume
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our hearts with Christ,
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and as we consume
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our affections
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and our thoughts
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with Jesus
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and his promises to us,
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our actions will reflect it.
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In our discipline,
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it will reflect it.
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In our job,
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it will reflect it
27:46
in our marriage.
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If we have the mind of Christ,
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we don't consider
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our own interests
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but the interests of others
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and lay down our lives.
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It will reflect it.
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So let us set our minds
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upon Christ
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and his promises.
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During my time
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at Redeemer,
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there was this sweet
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old lady.
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Her name was Louise.
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And I grew to love her.
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She comes from
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Presbyterian background,
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loves Jay Adams.
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And when I was talking
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with her one time,
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she coined this term
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the uplook.
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And this term,
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the uplook,
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became a term
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that was used often.
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And her thought behind it
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is that in this present life,
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in these temporary shacks,
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we should have an uplook
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in everything
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all the time.
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She indicated
28:26
that in this present life
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that our thoughts,
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our motives,
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our commitments
28:30
should be invested
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upward,
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not downward.
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Heavenly,
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not earthly.
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So brothers and sisters,
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my question
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just to challenge you today
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would be,
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where are your concerns at?
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How often do you think
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upon this world?
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Obviously we need you,
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but how often?
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What would you
28:51
consider yourself,
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would you consider yourself
28:52
to be heavenly minded?
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Is the use of your time,
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energy,
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and money
28:56
pointing towards
28:57
a permanent earthly lifestyle
28:59
or a permanent
29:00
heavenly home?
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The final charge
29:04
in the last few minutes
29:04
for our time today
29:05
would be,
29:06
put to death
29:07
what is earthly in you.
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Read Colossians 3, 5
29:10
with me,
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the beginning of it.
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Put to death,
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therefore,
29:13
what is earthly in you.
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So as we set our minds
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upon the things above,
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and as we set our minds
29:19
upon heaven
29:20
and living for our king,
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the earthly things in us,
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the things that reflect
29:24
our old man,
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the sinful things,
29:26
need to be put to death.
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These things have died
29:29
when we died to the world.
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When we lived to this world,
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we lived for sinful thought
29:36
and action.
29:37
We lived for sexual morality,
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impurity,
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passion,
29:41
evil desire,
29:41
and covetousness.
29:43
We lived for idolatry.
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We lived for anger,
29:46
wrath,
29:46
malice,
29:47
slander,
29:47
obscene talk.
29:48
We lied to one another.
29:50
But what is the command here
29:51
is that the old man
29:52
needs to be put off,
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that these things
29:54
need to die.
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We should be people
29:56
who are often killing sin,
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often reflecting
29:59
on our hearts
30:00
to put sin to death
30:01
because we delight in Jesus.
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We don't just put
30:04
our sin out there.
30:05
We don't just act
30:06
like it's not there.
30:07
We don't pretend
30:08
it's there.
30:09
We don't vent.
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Putting sin to death
30:11
is we put it to death
30:12
and we put on Christlikeness.
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We get rid of our sin.
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We don't think that way
30:17
when I have a thought
30:19
about my wife
30:19
that is not good
30:21
or about my daughter
30:22
that is not right.
30:23
I need to reflect on my heart.
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I need to write it down.
30:26
I need to talk
30:27
to my wife about it.
30:28
And I need to remember truth.
30:30
And I need to fill my mind
30:31
with the things of God
30:33
that my mind and heart
30:34
are set upon him
30:35
and his word.
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So as we close today,
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let us be those
30:41
who shine the light of Christ
30:43
and do not let sin
30:44
dwell in us.
30:45
We do not let it have
30:46
a living place in our hearts,
30:47
but it is killed.
30:48
Let us kill our sin
30:50
and all its faults
30:50
and deceptive pleasures.
30:52
We have a new master
30:54
and this new master
30:54
is King Jesus.
30:56
Let us seek him
30:57
and enjoy him forevermore.
30:59
In him is the fullness of joy
31:01
and at his right hand
31:03
are pleasures forevermore.
31:06
Therefore,
31:07
let your hearts be set
31:08
on the King
31:08
and the heavenly realities
31:09
that come.
31:10
And one day
31:11
when Jesus does come
31:12
and our hope is fulfilled,
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our faith is realized
31:15
and our joy is inexpressible,
31:16
we will enjoy the ocean
31:17
and the sun.
31:19
Let's pray.
31:19
Amen.