When Christ, who is our life appears, that's the second
coming and then you will also appear with Him in glory.
We learnt that on Sunday. We're raptured. 7 years of
tribulation. Israel then begins to do what
they should have been doing for all those years.
War, final, the final war, Armageddon.
Christ returns and when he returns Revelation 19, Jude
tells us we returned with him. Thousand years of ruling and
reigning then sets up with us ruling and reigning or with him.
Paul now says from all that he said, if then you were raised
with Christ, seek those things which above where Christ is
sitting. Set your mind on things above,
not on things of the earth. And now he says in verse 5,
what's the first word? Therefore?
Maybe your Bible has a wherefore.
Whenever you see a therefore or a wherefore, it's Paul saying
based on what I've said now here's what you do.
Paul's method of teaching and writing is theology or doctrine
first, then the how to the practicality.
The application of living is applied on what we now know.
He says in verse 5, Therefore, put to death your members which
are on the earth. That's not members of the church
go down and kill everybody. It means put to death the
functions of your body. And then he clarifies the things
that we are to put to death, fornication, uncleanness,
passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry.
Then he says why? Because of these things, things
he's just mentioned, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons
of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked when you
lived in them, but now you yourselves are to put off all
these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out
of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since
you have put off the old man with his deeds, verse 10, and
have put on the new man who is renewed in the knowledge
according to the image of him who created him in Ephesians
chapter 3. So Paul has taken 2 chapters, 2
chapters to give his doctrine. Remember he he dealt with the
false doctrine of Gnosticism, then he dealt with the false
doctrine of Judaism, the law, and also spiritualizing and
making Jesus less than what he is.
For example, the Jehovah Witnesses, He is our God to
them. He is not the God, Paul says now
He is God totally. He is the Creator.
In him is all God, the fool's God.
He's the icon, the image. In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul did
the same thing as he's done in Colossians.
He uses and sorry, in Ephesians he uses 3 chapters on theology,
on doctrine. This is what we need to know.
Then in chapter 4, after he's given us 3 chapters of this is
what you need to know, this is what you need to know.
This is what you need to learn. This is who you are.
This is who you aren't. This is where you come from.
This is where you are now. Then in chapter 4, verse 1, he
says, therefore, based on chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3,
the prisoner of the Lord, I, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech
you now to walk worthy of the calling with which you were
called the application. Then we're going to see this on
Sunday. Paul tells us how to live with
one another, how to submit to one another.
Our husbands are to live, our wives are to live, our kids are
to live, how where to deal with the enemy, how to, where to
fight the enemy, how to pray. In the book of Romans, Paul
takes 11 chapters to give us doctrine theology 11 chapters
and then not until chapter 12 of Romans does Paul say I beseech
you therefore, based on all that I've said, brethren, now because
of what you know by the mercies of God that you present your
bodies. This is how you to live a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable
service, your logical, which is what you're to do.
So now we reach in Colossians the practical chapter 3.
Paul says therefore put to death your members which are on the
earth tonight. You and I know chapters 1
chapter 2 that we've all died to sins penalty that was over us.
How do we know that? Because Christ took it upon
himself, took it to the cross. He nailed the penalties and
things, the handwriting that were against us on the cross.
Then he rose from the dead the third day, which is God's
exclamation mark to me that my sins are dead and buried and
paid for. Because he's, he's risen the
wages of sin is death. He paid for it.
He rose. But you know each one of us
tonight, maybe you've had it today.
Maybe you've had it to this week.
Each one of us knows sins power. It's still strong, isn't it?
We're in a battle. The ladies on Tuesday are in the
Book of Galatians and Helen's teaching through that great
book. Sins power seeks to hold us.
Our old flesh doesn't like to die.
It likes to come back. And sometimes we feed it.
Sometimes we do things, see things, say things that give it
life, and it gets some muscles back and it tries to dominate us
again because our flesh is weak. In Romans chapter 8, verse 13,
Paul says if you live according to the flesh, you'll die.
But if by the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit you put to death the
deeds, the actions of the body, then you'll live.
And so we have a decision now that we're born again, we have a
choice. This is what we now know.
This is what Jesus has done. So how am I going to live now
like a parent talking to a teenager?
OK, these are the rules. This is what you do.
Clean your house, you do this, you do your homework.
This is what you got to do. You got to do this, this.
Then you can drive the car, then you might get an allowance then.
But these are the rules. You got to do this to be able to
get that when we turn our back on God and go back to our old
habits of sin and you can do that.
It's very easy to go back to the what you used to do.
Someone comes around and says, Hey man, you haven't you haven't
been around for come on out, come on out with the guys again,
coming out with the ladies again.
There's that pull. But what happens is when you go
back to the old ways, you know, it doesn't produce life, it just
makes you miserable. You know, the most miserable
people are those who are the prodigals.
Take the prodigal. How was he living?
I'll look good for a bit. But then it was miserable.
It was so miserable. The people who have walked away
from God, who have made a commitment to God but walked
away, are the most miserable people in the world.
Because our old habits are old ways only offer death.
Sin can only give you death. So we find ourselves turning
into religious Pharisees. We we we do this.
We go through the motion. Oh, yeah, but I'm not, I'm not
doing anything really wrong. But within our minds and our
thoughts and our ways, we're drifting back.
We're not reading the Bible, we're not being refuelled.
We're fellowshipping. Occasionally we pray, we don't
bother praying anymore. We start to drift back.
We still go to church, maybe we still believe in God, but we've
become religious. So our our our Christianity is
purely an outward living. But the Bible tells us we are
saved by the Spirit of God. All foolish Galatians, who has
bewitched you? You started off in the Spirit
and you've gone back to the flesh.
But what we are to do now, we have a choice.
You and I have a choice. I have a choice every day when I
get up. Am I going to walk with the
Spirit of God today? Am I going to obey his
directions? Am I going to open God's word?
Am I going to read it? Am I going to pray and am I
going to give this decision? Am I going to be aware of the
warnings that the Holy Spirit is giving to me as I go about my
don't go there, don't talk to that person, keep away, don't do
that. You go careful.
Remember that's the old, not that way anymore.
Am I listening to the warnings? Am I walking with the Spirit?
Because if I want to grow, I must walk with the Spirit.
If we desire to pursue holiness. And what is holiness?
It's not some person living in Texas who goes to church and
sings Hallelujah all the time. Holiness is living a life
devoted to God is a is a life where you truly are the word St
where you truly now have given you've come.
You've been a soul and you've become a Paul.
You, you, you're now really, you're serious about your walk
with God. You pray because you want to
pray. You read the Bible because you
love reading the Bible. You love going to church because
you love worshipping the Lord. There's been a change.
Paul says therefore put to death.
The word death there is the Greek word nekro, northeast,
double kro, which literally means execute.
It means kill, put to death. We are to be you and I are to be
executioners of our old members, our old ways.
We are to choose to do that. We have a choice.
Verse 5, Paul says therefore put to death your members which are
on the earth, mortify. It's where we get our English
word necrosay or necrosis. Some of you who work in the
medical business, Necrosis, It's the death of a localised Body
Issue tissue. The language here that Paul uses
is strong. It's a command, he says.
You know, I put it to death. Stop.
Grow up, change you can. You're not like you were.
You're somebody else, not now. It's a decisive action like
repentance. It's the about turn mortify,
render as dead, regard as impotent.
In Romans chapter 6 verse 11, Paul says so you also should
consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin.
You can't say, oh, but you know the devil made me do it.
No, he didn't. And alive to God, there's the
choice. You can surrender your members,
your mind, your thoughts, what you watch on TV, what you read,
how you speak. You can surrender it to sin or
you can give your life, your speech, your what you read, what
you watch to God through Christ Jesus.
Sometimes I'm talking to guys and it's usually guys and I'll
say some words and I go excuse the French.
That's not French. I need 2 years of French.
Those words, they're not French. And, and, and these are guys who
go to church and I'm going and see.
And so they roll over it. You can't do that.
That's that's the old you. Romans 611 says so.
You also should consider yourselves to be dead to the
power of sin and alive to God, the new life through Christ
Jesus. Now we can't eradicate my old
body, I this is the only one I have, but we can treat it as
morally impotent, something that no longer has a hold on my life
that these things that I used to live under no longer control me.
And God says, yes, I've broken that.
So by faith, I live now choosing to go.
I don't have to do that anymore. I don't want to do that anymore
because I know what that is. It's wrong.
Before I was just a blithering idiot.
I just live like everybody else. What things specifically?
And he says fornication. It's the Greek word pornian
where we get our word pornographic pornography.
And that's a problem today in church amongst so many people
because of the Internet that at the touch of a finger or the
touch of a screen, there's no rules.
Ponian fornication here means sexual immorality both within
and without the marital union. Adultery is different.
It's the idea of selling bodies for lustful purposes.
It's the selling off of ourselves for sexual pleasures.
I remember talking to Calvary pastor and we were talking about
Hollywood and he said, you know, there's no way that the actors
and actresses can say, well, it's just in the movie and it's
had no part. No, can't do that.
Doesn't work that way. And in Hollywood for me, as far
as I watch Hollywood movie stars, I'm not going to mention
anyone's names, but as far as I'm concerned, they have sold
their souls for fame and glory. They do stuff that you would
think, how can you do that? And they've even say they are
every now. I wouldn't let my kids watch.
I couldn't, couldn't let my mother watch it.
You know what I mean? Uncleanness is the next one,
moral impurity of all forms. It's having a filthy mind full
of sensuality, suggestive thoughts and so called humour.
Isn't it today? Isn't it a struggle today?
Define a comedian to find a comedian.
Yet the world laughs this way, doesn't it?
It's perverted fantasies, uncleanness, it's literature,
movies. Then it says inordinate
affections is the Greek word pathos, and it describes a state
of mind that excites sexual impurity.
The person who cultivates this kind of appetite can always find
an opportunity to satisfy evil concupiscence, which means
wicked desires. The God that God gives us
physical desires and people with evil concupiscence turn them
into evil. They take something that God has
given us that is good, and they turn it into evil when they are
motivated by a sin nature. Paul says to Christians.
He's writing to Christians, eliminate in your life.
You're the executioner, you're the one with the axe, you're the
one with the rope, you're the one with the leather.
Eliminate in your life that which is contrary to godliness.
It's a good thing to perhaps ask in your family if you could ask
your kids, what's the word godliness mean?
What's the word holy mean or holiness?
What's the word righteous mean? They can tell you what all the
other wrong words mean because the world is educating them that
way. It's the same battle we all
fight. Everyone faces these battles.
In Romans Chapter 7, Paul wrote verse 14 to 25.
So the travel is not with the law for the spiritual and good.
The travel is with me. Paul says, for I am all too
human, a slave to sin. I don't really understand myself
or what I want to do is write. I don't do it.
Instead, I do what I hate. He goes on to verse 23.
But there's another power within me that is at war with my mind.
This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.
Or what a miserable person I am who will free me from this life
that is dominated by sin and death.
Thank God the answer is Jesus Christ our Lord.
In him He frees us, He says I'm going to cut the ribbons and the
rope from the enemy and you don't have to dance to his tune.
He no longer pulls your strings. In my mind, I really want to
obey God's law, but because of my sinful nature, I am a slave
to sin. What does he say in verse 1 of
chapter 8 of Romans? There is therefore, because what
Christ has done now, no condemnation to those who are in
Christ Jesus. But here's, here's the part,
here's the choice for you and I who do not walk according to the
flesh. So I don't walk the way I used
to walk. I don't, I don't live that way.
There's been a change in me. God's changed me.
He set me free. He's broke the chains.
We do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit. There's a choice.
We all new creations. The Bible says 2 Corinthians
517. This means that anyone who
belongs to Christ, the new Living Translation puts it this
way, has become a new person. You can't say, well, that's just
me, that's just my old self. The old life is gone.
A new life has begun. What you and I need to do is
realise this and go, this has happened.
I believe it is has has has happened and now I need to obey.
I got a choice. But the problem is we still live
in old bodies. Your body is an instrument.
It's either for righteousness. It used to be just for sin,
didn't do anything but God. It's either for righteousness or
sinfulness. It's one of the two.
The question is tonight to ask yourself, what tune am I playing
with my instrument? This is why Paul wrote in Romans
12. He says based on all that God
has done, who you were, what's happened, the judgement that
will fall upon those who disobey God and we're all sinners, but
by grace you're saved. Romans, Romans, Romans.
Then in Romans 12, he says, so dear brothers and sisters, I
plead with you, I beg you to give you give your bodies to God
because of all he has done. Let them be a living and a holy
sacrifice. Do you do that?
Do you live your life and go, this is what you know what?
No, I'm not doing that. I'll sacrifice that and got to
break up with that. I can't do that.
That's the same. I'm going to go with God.
Paul uses here a figure of speech known as autonomy, where
one thing is it, it's is replaced by another associated
with it. For example, if I mentioned to
you here, gathered here tonight, some of you from England, if I
mentioned 10 Downing St, what do you think it means?
The British government, You just go, oh, it's the British
government. That's where the Prime Minister
lives. When Paul speaks of killing
bodily bodily parts or members, he is referring to the sins
associated with those parts. Verse 5.
Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth
fornication and cleanest passion, evil desire,
covetousness, which is idolatry covetousness.
Notice here is this well dressed sin.
This is the Sunday best sin that comes in and says, look, I'm
good. I'm not dirty like like
pornography and and and these others concubusis.
I'm covetous. It's not that bad.
I just I see something good and I wish I wish I had that.
No, no covetousness that says is as idolatry.
It's greed, it's selfishness. It means our self interest
before God. The previous sins mentioned are
all evil desires for sexual sins.
Covetousness, or to be covetous is the same evil desire, except
that it's fixed on. And here's a change.
So we've gone from bodily sins, now we go to material sins.
Oh, but they're not that bad. It's where you live for your
house, you live for your car, you're living for the material
thing, which is really dumb. Think about it.
Because when you're buried, it's only a little hole that's not
very big. It's the lowest form of
idolatry. For nothing can be lower than
putting out trust in a material thing and making that our God.
Whatever you put your trust in, whatever you put your trust in,
you worship. Materialism is the true religion
of thousands of confession confessing Christians.
Today they come into church, they're here on a Sunday, but
their God is their job, their career, their finances, their
stocks, their shares. Nothing wrong with any in in any
of those, but they worship them. Their life bows down to every
part that happens with those they lived, and they direct and
dictate what, how and what that person feels.
Are you happy? My stocks and shares have gone
up really great. My stocks and shares have gone
down. This is the worst thing.
Their lives are addicted and controlled by materialism.
There is a sense covetousness that is even more dangerous than
sensuality because it has so many.
It's respectable so often it is the successful coveted person
whom we honour. Don't we met so and so I said
this the other day met so and so.
How are they going doing really well.
How do we describe the going well?
We do we say he's good, he's serving God.
He's you know, he's a missionary now and he you know, he's
sacrificing this. No, no, he pulled up.
He's got the latest Mercedes Armani suit, his shoes, tailor
made Rome. He's watch Rolex, he's doing
really, really well. It's interesting in the Book of
Revelation, which we're going to go into our Colossians, there's
the two Babylons, there's a religious Babylon, and there's
the other material Babylon, and both are destroyed.
Remember, the world just breaks down.
Oh no, look at everything's burning.
Everything's just falling down. God's gun told you.
There's an old proverb. If a man is drunk with wine, we
kick him out of the church. If he's drunk with money, we
make him a Deacon. All of these, each one of these
sins provoke and his, his, his, which isn't spoken of much
today. The wrath of God.
You know, we live a world that doesn't believe in the wrath of
God because people go about the Business Today and we see it.
Well, you can't lock me up. I haven't done anything wrong.
And kids, they break the law. Coppers arrest them, take them
down to gaol. Magistrate lets them go.
Parents go. Well, he did nothing wrong.
You shouldn't have arrested him in the 1st place.
He's just having fun. Oh, ran around around and goes
because of these things. Verse 6, The wrath of God is
coming upon the sons of disobedience.
God's wrath. What exactly is that?
Arthur W Pink commentator says It's God's eternal detestation.
That word means intense hatred. You know God hates sin of all
unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and
indignation of divine equity against evil.
It is the holiness of God released into activity against
sin. Let me give you that last line,
God's wrath. It is the holiness of God
released into activity against sin.
We Live Today where church hell is not mentioned because we
don't want to be negative. We don't want to upset anyone.
You know, you know, everyone's gets upset by something, you
know, sorry, did I offend you? Everyone's being offended.
Well, I'm offended because you offended me and I'm offended
because you were offended by me. And we go, everyone's offended
non Christians. And here's our part because we
have a a mission, non Christians will at this time experience the
judgement of God when Christ comes the full force of God's
eternal wrath. We see snippets of it, don't we?
He flooded the earth. How many people left 8 Sodom and
Gomorrah gone. How many got out of there?
What? That's why and two Romans
chapter one verse 18 says, but God shows his anger from heaven
against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by
their wickedness. How does that happen?
People think they're getting away with stuff.
You know, you can't. God's holy.
He doesn't go, Oh yeah, that's all right.
It's all written down when the great white throne judgement
occurs, the second death and death brings and everyone stands
before God. Everything is going to be
revealed, every word, every deed, every action.
People today think they're getting away with living in sin.
You're not getting away with anything.
Hear what the Bible says today, unbelievers is what's happening,
are storing up wrath for themselves for the day of wrath
soon to fall. You know, tonight when we pray
at 7:30 shortly, the Bible says our prayers are filling the
bowls up in heaven. You notice that well, there's
some other things being filled. Every non believer is filling up
their own judgement Ball says in Romans 2 five because you are
stubborn and refused to turn from your sin.
You are storing up terrible punishment for yourself for a
day of anger is coming when God's righteous judgement will
be revealed. Romans 28 but he will pour out
his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves.
You know what that is covetousness who refused to obey
the truth that's Jesus Christ and instead live lives of
wickedness. Wrath comes on the account of
these very things Paul details in verse 5 and 8, sin.
Sin brings with it wrath, not blessing.
These things that we've mentioned that we're to execute
never bring happiness. But Christian believers, you and
I, here's what we need to know as we wrap this up.
We've been delivered from the wrath to come.
One Thessalonians chapter one verse 10 says, and they speak of
how you were looking forward to the coming of God's Son from
heaven, Jesus, whom God raised from the dead, because He's
coming back to judge, but also he's coming back to rescue.
He is the one who has rescued us from the terrors of the coming
judgement. We'll be rescued from that, but
Christians will not experience God's wrath. 1 Thessalonians
chapter 5 verse 9. For God chose to save us through
our Lord Jesus Christ, not to pour out his anger on us.
He poured it out on His Son who took it on our behalf.
Therefore, as Christians, knowing this, we will not want
to have any part with such sinful behaviours or thoughts.
In other words, we don't sin. You know why not?
Because I don't want to get caught.
We don't sin because we don't want to.
It would displease God and I know it would upset me.
There's the reason in verse 7 it says in which you yourselves
once walked when you lived in them.
That was my old life. What Paul ran out.
That was our old life. All of sin come short of the
glory of God. There is none righteous.
No, not one. You know what?
You know what it's like to live in sin.
You've you've been there. Was it good?
It was horrible, wasn't it? How lonely were you?
How disgusted were you with yourself?
You hated your old life. The good old days.
No, it's not the good old days. This is why you came to Christ.
Why? Help me, God for myself.
Rescue me. How can a new creature then act
like the old one? Because we died to our old self,
our old sin. Jesus said.
So if your eye, even your good eye, causes you to lust, gouge
it out, throw it away. It's better for you to lose one
part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into
hell. If your hand, even your strong
hand, causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
It's better for you to lose one part of your body than for your
whole body to be thrown into hell.
Now that's not literal. We know that sin doesn't come
from the eye. It comes from what?
The heart, from the abundance of the heart, the evil within.
Physical dismemberment cannot change the heart.
There was a pickpocket, a thief that cut his right hand off,
stopping thieving. He's still thieved.
They cut his left hand off, he's still thieved.
He was stealing things with his teeth, wasn't Physical
dismemberment doesn't change the heart.
Paul tells you and I tonight to execute where the execution is,
to put to death, to discard, to put off evil practises, get rid
of the evils those that we've read about.
Book of Proverbs says, can a man scoop a flame into his lap and
not have his clothes catch on fire?
Proverbs 627 Often I've had people come to me, you know,
they said, oh man, I've sinned again.
I was involved. How did that happen?
Well, I was reading what I shouldn't have read.
Or I went to this place that I used to go.
So they, they, they went back. I went back.
You know what's back behind us? Sodom and Gomorrah don't turn
into a pillar of salt. Give your life holiness to God.
And you know what? And the joy and the wonder and
the cleanliness that you will have will allow you to sleep
well at night, to know you've got grace and peace, that God
has washed you clean. Why would you ever want to go
back to being dirty?