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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Questions chapter #3 If you'll remember, we saw last week that
Christ is all. That is our theme for 2026.
By the way, that didn't just become true in 2026.
It's always been true, hasn't it?
That Christ is all that didn't just appear in our radar just a
couple weeks ago. That has been the case since
before the foundation of the world.
But yet our theme, our focus for 2026, at least in our morning
services will be that Christ is all.
And looking forward to next week, going through some of the
characteristics of who Jesus Christ is, started with the
Gospels and going to the epistles and seeing.
Where the Lord? Will lead us.
But in the meantime, I still kind of want to set the table
for us here this morning with this idea of Christ being all
back in our passage from last week.
However, I do want to ask the question, if Christ is all, then
what's next? If we say that Christ is all,
well, what does that really mean to us?
How does that affect our life? I think oftentimes it is the
case that we can agree with a theological fact, but really it
doesn't get down too deep into our soul to the place where it
actually effects how we live and how we go through the day today.
I mean, sure, it's one thing for us to say Christ is all.
I mean, I can't imagine anybody would disagree with that
statement. Who is here at Liberty Baptist
Church this morning? It's another.
It's one thing to say that Christ is all.
It's another thing completely different to live your life as
if Christ is all. They are two completely
different things, not just the theology but the reality in your
life as well. We could even.
Ask ourselves this question, What does the Christ is all life
look like? What does the Christ is all life
look like? And so we're going to jump right
back into our text this morning. No real introduction today other
than just give you the idea of what's about to come ahead.
But I want us to read the same passage we read last week,
whereas last week we just focused on verse #11 I really
want us to look at verses one through 10 and kind of build up
to what makes verse #11 verse #11 what makes Christ is all the
pinnacle. The peak of this text and the
things that we need to learn before we even get to verse #11
about the Christ is all life. So would you stand please for
the reading God's Word, Colossians chapter 3.
We'll read our same text again as last week, beginning in verse
#1 The Word of God says, if he then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things in the earth, for ye are dead, and your
life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Mortify therefore your members, which are upon the earth
fornication, uncleanness, and ordinate affection, evil,
concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which
things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of
disobedience, in the which He also walked sometime when you
lived in them. But now you also put off all
these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication.
Out of your mouth lie not one to another, seeing that you have
put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new
man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him
that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor
Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian,
sentient bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.
What does that Christ is all life look like?
Christ is all. But what next?
Why don't you be seated as we pray together?
Heavenly Father, I do thank you for this morning and I do pray
once again that as we ask every week, just humbly, Lord, if
there's someone here that doesn't know Christ as their
Savior, they can't even fathom what it means to make Christ all
because they've not even really regarded Christ in their life at
all. Or may this be the day that they
come to that saving knowledge. Or are there?
Others who have just been discouraged that have been
dealing with difficulty. Lord, there's some that are
dealing with sin that they won't confess.
Or may Your Holy Spirit just work in each of these occasions
so that they may leave and that I may leave being more like
Christ than when we came. Thank you again for this time
and I pray your blessing upon it all in Christ's name, Amen.
It's important for us to take a moment to dwell on why Paul was
writing these things to the church at Coloss in the 1st
place. You might Remember Me saying
this last week. Coloss had once been a
significant city, but by the 1st century it had declined in
prominence, overshadowed by nearby Laodicea and Harapolis.
Its population was ethnically and religiously diverse,
including native Phrygians, Greeks influenced by Hellenistic
culture, and a substantial Jewish community.
This mixture created a setting where ideas from Judaism, Greek
philosophy, and local folk beliefs all came together.
See, this diversity of thought caused a lot of problems within
the church. You say pastor, are you afraid
of diversity? Well, I'm afraid of diversity of
thought when it comes to the word of God.
I am afraid of that. Why is that?
Well, because we are not the ones to be able to make the
interpretation of the word of God.
In fact, it is said that the word of God is of no private
interpretation, meaning this. The word of God doesn't believe
what you want it to believe for you and what I want it to
believe for me. No, what does the Word of God
say? And that's where we must get in
line and not make the word of God be twisted to what we would
rather have it say. And so yes, there is a problem
where there's a diversity of thought within the church
because if there are thoughts that are extra biblical, if
there are thoughts that are unbiblical, well then those are
thoughts that don't believe in this building.
Those are thoughts that don't belong rather here within these
walls here this morning. And so there were a lot of
thoughts that were going on in the Church of Colossus, and a
lot of those thoughts were unbiblical.
A lot of those thoughts had nothing to do with the word of
God because these different people from these different ways
of life had brought their own thinking into the church, some
unwittingly and some very wittingly as well.
There was 1 strand in heresy pressed.
There's one strand rather of people who pressed Jewish style
observances, rituals and legal requirements.
They brought Judaism along with them into the church.
There was another influence in Colossus, which was asceticism,
where adherents believe strict rules about the body would
advance spirituality. There's another element called
mystical spirituality, with focuses on visions and deeper
secrets, worship of angels and special wisdom.
Extra revelation not available to all believers.
In all this Heresy wasn't just coming from one source.
It wasn't just coming from one person or from One Direction.
It was a toxic Stew that had come together.
It was a Mulligan's Stew where everyone kind of threw in their
own thing and cooked it all together.
And by the time you were done, there was something that nobody
would want to eat, touch, or smell because it had turned into
something that was so far from what the word of God had taught.
These people in Colossus had gotten themselves into a real
mess as they had listened to these voices coming from all of
these different directions. So Paul, in Chapter 1 and
Chapter 2 of Colossus, or rather the book of Colossians, talks to
the Church of Colossus and starts chipping away at some of
these problems I've just talked about.
We're not going through Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 this morning.
Don't get nervous on me, all right?
We're not going through there. But you'll find that if you go
to those chapters, Paul's chipping away.
He's chipping away at some of this false doctrine.
By the time you get to chapter #3 he's not chipping away, He's
laying the hammer down. He's not just talking about some
of the issues at the periphery. He's getting right to the heart
of the matter and he's telling the people what their real need
is. And if you could imagine chapter
3 is a mountain, I almost imagine verse #11 Christ is all
and in all kind of as the peak, kind of as the pinnacle of that
mountain, if chapter 3 was a mountain.
And along the way, there's kind of three vistas, there's kind of
three waypoints points where we kind of stop and we take a look
for a minute as we're on our way to that very peak of Christ is
all. And in all, what I want us to do
this morning is to look at each of those three statements, each
of those three stops to be able to consider as we March up
towards Christ is all, how do we get there?
How do we get to the place where Christ truly is all?
How do we get to the place? We're not just saying Christ is
all because it's the theme of the church or it's because
something you believe the preacher wants you to say.
Where do we get to the place where Christ truly is all in our
life? And so as we get to that peak,
there's three different things I want us to see.
Number one, that you must seek #2 you must set, and #3 you must
surrender. We must seek and we must set and
we must surrender. And then and only then can we
reach the pinnacle where Christ truly is all in our life.
So let's take all three of these and look at them individually
this morning for the few minutes that we have.
And #1 is this you must seek? Well where do we get that from
Pastor, you might ask. Well verse #1 it says this, if
he or rather if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. You see that word seek was not
just something that I pulled out of thin air or something that I
was just thinking of that make sound good because you know,
everything starts with the letter S, so.
I'll just pull. Out three words.
Start with the letter S Start preaching on it.
You know that's not what it is. It's the word of God which says
that we are to. Seek.
Those things which are above, but it's starts with this
phrase, if ye then be risen with Christ, if ye then be risen with
Christ. Now Paul is not questioning
their salvation. Paul is not trying to question
whether they truly know the Lord or not, but he is setting them
up for what would be an if then statement.
Now sometimes the word then is understood like it is here, but
the idea is, if the first statement is true, then the
second statement is true if ye then be risen with Christ, And
we could almost say it this way, if ye then be risen with Christ,
then seek those things which are above.
If the first statement is true, then the second statement is
true. For instance, if you don't get
up your grades, then you won't graduate.
I seem to remember. Conversation like that in my
life a few times actually in high school and college.
But anyway, that's not worth us talking about this morning if
you if you keep doing quality work.
Then you will get. Promoted.
If the cop is lenient, then he'll let you off with a
warning. That's an if.
If this one thing is true, then the second must also be true.
And it's important that we understand that because here's
what it says. If ye then be risen with Christ.
Now, let's stop for just a moment.
All right, Take a time out. Are you risen with Christ,
meaning this? Are you saved this morning?
Do you know Jesus Christ your Savior?
All right, Amen. That's a good amount of people
that said that. Thank the Lord for that
testimony. If you then be risen with
Christ, then the second statement must also be true.
If you are as emphatic that you are saved this morning, then you
must be as emphatic to what? Seek those things.
Which are above. If the first is true, you're
saved. Then the second must be true.
Seek those things which are above.
But here's the problem. It's supposed to be true, but
it's not always true, is it? Why do you think he's talking
about it in the first place? If the Colossians had it figured
out, it wouldn't be a point of conversation.
If it was something that we had figured out, it would not be
something we would need to speak of.
But the fact of the matter is, is that we should be doing these
things. We should be seeking those
things which are above. But it's obviously not always
the case. So here's the thing.
What does it mean to seek those things which are above that mean
just stare at the clouds all day.
Mean look for angels, You know, whether you're touched by an
Angel or there's an Angel in the outfield or whatever it might
be. No.
Is that what we're supposed to be doing, to be looking up above
at those things? It almost sounds like it's
something so pie in the sky. It sounds like something that we
can't really attain to or understand today.
It's almost like Paul's making us go hide and seek and he's not
telling us what to seek for. But that's not the case at all.
You know, the best commentary on the Bible is always the Bible.
You have trouble understanding something in the Bible.
Just keep searching the Bible. Sometimes it's found.
Far away you want to find the answers, the Book of Revelation,
you know great place to look the book of Daniel, because the book
of Daniel will help you unlock a lot of the difficulties that
there can be in the Book of Revelation.
Sometimes the answers can be far apart in the Word of God.
Sometimes they're in the same chapter like they are Now what
does it mean to seek things that are above?
Well, look at verse #12 so drop down, same chapter, look down at
verse #12 It says, put on, therefore, as the elect of God,
holy and beloved, bowels of mercies.
Now, we don't often talk about the bowels today when it comes
to ourselves and our spirit. I mean, it's just kind of not
the way that we would talk today.
You know, I love you with all my bowels.
It's like, well, I'd rather you not, all right?
Why keep that to yourself? All right?
But in the word of God, the bowels was as if the seed of the
emotions were found there. Basically, we'd say deep down
inside of you. So was it deep down within you?
What are you to have deep mercy within you?
That's something that's of above, isn't it?
Mercy. You think that comes from this
world? Not lately, not ever.
Kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness.
By the way, meekness is not weakness, it's power that's
contained. Moses was the meekest man, the
Bible says, upon the face of the earth.
Was he a weak man? Hardly.
But he's a man whose power was contained by God, to be used at
the proper time, with the proper motivation, long-suffering,
forbearing one another. Forgiving one another.
If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ
forgave you, so also do you. I don't think I should forgive
them. Well, that's not some talk that
comes from above. Because Christ forgave.
You, they don't deserve it. You didn't deserve it.
I didn't deserve it. We don't deserve the forgiveness
of God. But yet, he says, for your own
sake and for the sake of others, forgive them.
Verse 14 And above all these things put on charity.
That word charity there is the highest form of love.
No, no, we're not trying to change the word of God, but I'm
trying to explain to you that charity is the type of love that
gives, expecting nothing in return.
Just as you would give to the Salvation Army a couch or a
sofa, a lamp, and you wouldn't expect them to give you anything
back. If you go to the Salvation Army
and say I got this couch, I'll give it to you for 30 bucks,
you'll be sorely disappointed. They're not in that business.
Why? Because they're a charity.
You give expecting nothing in return.
And charitable love, the highest form of love, First Corinthians
13 kind of love that's set from above.
This kind of love is this. It's the kind that gives
expecting nothing in return. Well, that's not of this world,
is it? This world will love you if you
love them. They'll give to you if you give
to them. But this kind of love is
different. And let the.
Peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you are
called in one body and be ye thankful.
Basically, if you've been raised with Christ and salvation, these
verses tell us then seek to live like Christ in this world.
If you've been saved by Christ, you were to seek to live like
Christ here in this world. What do you need to do?
We're to seek those things which are above that list that I just
read. You are not things of this
world. They're the things that are
above. For Christ to be all, you must
be seeking those things which are above.
Jesus gave a parable and he said this in Matthew 13 verses 45 and
46. Again, the Kingdom of heaven is
like unto A merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who when he had
found. One Pearl of great price went
and sold all that he had and bought it, meaning this, that he
understood the real economy, he understood the real price of
things, and he was willing to give that which was little in
comparison. For that which was rare and
beyond compare. Now listen, when you seek those
things which are above, you understand I'm willing to give
up the things of this world, my own preferences, my own desires,
my own sin. For that which is above, which
is valued as a Pearl of a great price, Is Christ really all we
got? To seek those things which are
above, not the things of this world.
But not only do we see that, but remember I said #1 do we seek?
But #2 we must set. Now this is similar to what we
just read before and you'll see the wording is similar, but it
is not the same verse #2 set your affection on things above,
not on things on the earth. For you're dead and your life is
hid with Christ and God. Now we have to ask ourselves
this question, what does it mean when we set our affection on
things above? OK, we're to seek those things
that are above, and then we're to set our affection on things
that are above. And This is why it's important
for us to study the Word of God. Again, we're not trying to
change the word of God. The Word of God changes us.
But we also do need to understand that oftentimes our
own phraseology is limited. Our own understanding of the
English language is limited. And so we have to make sure that
our thinking lines up with the word of God.
Now when I hear that word affection, oftentimes what comes
with that is that you have a fondness of something.
If I'm affectionate about someone or I'm affectionate
about something, it means I have a great fondness of that thing.
Now if I was to say to you this morning, you ought to be fond of
the things of God, I think that would be a true statement,
wouldn't it? You ought to be fond of the
things of God. The problem is we're awful fond
of sin. So what I said just a few
moments ago is that we're awful. We ought to be fond of the
things of God, but we're awful fond of sin.
Amen. Amen, Preacher.
The shadow, got it. We're fond of sin, but that's
not the depth of what's being said here.
That is true, but it's not the depth of what's being said.
When you look in in the Greek and you understand the
definition that's there. Again, not changing the word of
God, but broadening our understanding.
It's beyond just being fond of it.
It literally means to exercise your mind and have an intense
interest in meaning this. You are so affectionate of it.
You think about it all the time. It's not just, oh, I'm
affectionate about this thing or I'm affectionate about that
person. Isn't that nice?
Isn't that sweet? Listen, the things of God are
more than just nice and sweet. The Bible says this.
Once you seek them out, the things of God, you got to be
thinking about it all the time. Is it any mistake that in
today's culture that everything screams at us at every second of
every moment? Your phone goes off and what do
you do? Like Pavlov's dog, If you're
like me, your phone goes off and Bing, I got to check it.
And sometimes I have to remind myself, I don't need to know
what it says right now. I don't need to know what's
going on right now. I don't need to respond to that
right now. I don't need to send that e-mail
right now. A few weeks ago, Diane and I
went into Times Square and we were assaulted.
No, not physically. We were assaulted in our senses.
Because you see all the video boards and all the sounds and
all the people and you can't even concentrate on anything.
I just wanted to stop. We went into one of the stores
and I wanted to stop. I couldn't even stop.
There were so many people inside.
It was just like we were all moving like one whole a unit and
I, I want to stop and look at that.
But if I stopped, somebody would have run me over.
So I was like, well, I guess I'll never see that.
I guess I'll just keep going. And and I just kept going
because there's so much it was so distracting.
Listen, this world wants to distract us from the things that
are above. How often do you set your heart
on things that are above? You know, it's not just seeking
it. Once you have found it, you got
to keep thinking about it. Do you remember that old
commercial, that old infomercial?
They Ron Popeil would pull out that, that, that, that
rotisserie and he'd say this, you got to set it and oh man,
that. Guy was a billionaire.
That's the reason why all these years later, we still remember
that. Don't you set it and forget it.
You know, when it comes to the things that are above, you can't
just set it and forget it. You've got to set it and
remember it. You've got to set it and think
about it constantly. You set your affection on things
that are above. Listen, the things we just read
in verses 12 through 15, Your mind's got to be constantly
thinking about it. You know why?
Because the world is going to wash over you each day.
And you know what the world's going to do.
Like the tide. It's going to bring things in
that ought not and pull out things that ought to remain
behind. We were at the on our
anniversary a few years ago. We're at the beach staying there
and, and, and I remember getting up very early one day and we
were just sitting out there. It's very quiet.
At least it was quiet until a tractor came out on the beach.
I don't know a whole lot about the beach.
And funny enough, I lived in Florida all those years, but I'm
not a beach person for the most part.
But I know this. Tractors are for farms, not for
beaches. And so here's a John Deere
that's going back and forth. But the reason why is because
picking up all the seaweed, there was mounds and mounds and
mounds of seaweed. And So what they did was they
would go out and this tractor would sift through the sand,
leave the sand behind and pick up the seaweed, take it away.
But you know what was awful about it?
The very next day, that seaweed was right back where it was.
The old stuff was. Gone.
But new stuff had been deposited there.
And I almost feel like, well, what a thankless job that would
be going out there every day. And it's like, look, it looks
exactly like it did yesterday, just like I wasn't there.
But if that gentleman doesn't come, it is John Deere, what it
will look like in a week, a month, a year, to the point that
it would be unusable as a beach. You know, I think a lot of times
when we think about Sunday services, we think about coming
to church and we think about the things of God and we think, hey,
I put an hour in to my spiritual life this week and it's good.
And by the way, that is good as a start.
The problem is, the world's going to wash over you every
day, and it's going to leave its junk on the shores of your mind.
And what do you need to do every day?
You need to renew your mind. The Bible says in the things of
God. Can we put it this way?
You got to set your affection on things above.
Don't just seek it. Think about it every day.
And as the opposite, don't invite it into your life in the
first place. Nor that we shouldn't invite sin
into our life to fill it with all of the other junk of
society, the junk of entertainment, the junk of this
world. You know, what are we saying?
You know, Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16 says, for
which 'cause we faint not, but though our outward man are this
earthen vessel we have perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. Listen, you have to read your
Bible every day. You say, pastor, you say that
all the time because people still don't do it.
And even those of us who are faithful sometimes have trouble
doing it. You have to read your Bible
every day. Well, I don't feel like reading
it every day. Do you feel like taking your
medications every day? But some of them, you know, if I
don't take this, it's going to be a bad day.
And listen, if you don't take this in in the morning, I'm not
saying you'll have a bad day. I'm not placing that upon you.
And I know that sometimes we miss and sometimes that's OK.
But listen, if your life is marked by, I'm not going to
renew my mind day by day, friend, the world's washing over
you and you can't say Christ is all because you've set your
affection on things of the earth and not on the things of the
Lord. We're to seek and we're to set,
but #3 we're also to surrender. Now we'll say that the word
surrender is not found in this text, and I do have to admit
that, but I believe the principle is very real.
It's very real. Look at verse #4.
The 1st 6 words when Christ who is our life, when Christ who is
our life. The verse I have in my notes
here or the was a verse that brother Dan finished his men's
charge this morning with Philippians 121 where Paul says
for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Can I ask you this, this morning it's going to be invasive.
You're not going to like it, but I've had to wrestle with this
myself, been to wrestle with it for a while because I've known
this is coming for a while. But the burden that I've had, I
want to lay at your feet this morning so you can wrestle with
it and you could try to put it off to the side.
You can try to push it away, but the question still is relevant,
whether you want to think about it or not.
Is Christ your life? No, I didn't say it's Christ
your eternal life. And he ought to be.
He ought to be, but he ought to be your life.
There are people who say, well, music was his life, sports was
his life, the socks was his life, the Pats was his life, the
hobby was her life. These are things that people
say. I've read obituaries where it
talks about people that love fishing and gardening and the
Ladies Club Guild and the Kiwanis Club and video games and
all these different things and it says this.
It is their life meaning this. It's the divining feature of who
they are. When you think of them, you
think of this. When you think of them, you
think of music. When you think of them, you
think of gardening. When you think of them, you
think of bingo. When you think of them, you
think of the Rotary Club. This is what it says when
somebody says this is their life.
But when someone thinks of you, do they think of someone who
loves Christ and believes that Christ is all?
That's a harder question to answer, and from the silence
that we have right now, it makes me think that all of us feel
we're deficient in this. In a way, He's to be our whole,
which means this. You surrender self, and that's
where the word surrender comes from.
If Christ is all, then you have to surrender yourself.
Matthew 1039 This, this is not me saying it.
He that findeth His life shall lose it, and he that loseth his
life for my sake shall save it. You find this record in all the
gospels. It's the same thought.
If you want to win, you lose. If you want victory, you
surrender. So it doesn't make sense,
pastor. It doesn't make sense in this
world, but in the spiritual realm it makes perfect sense,
because Christ surrendered His life for us, and in so was
victorious over death, hell, and the grave.
And if that was the pattern of our Savior, shouldn't it be the
pattern of the Saints? Should it be the pattern of you
and I that we surrender ourselves?
And we say Christ is all? Second Corinthians 5:15 That He
died for all that they which live should not henceforth live
unto themselves, but unto Him which.
Died for them. And rose again all of Civil War
history and Ulysses S Grant was nicknamed US Grant, but for
Ulysses. But that US sometimes people
said, stood for unconditional surrender Grant.
And that really goes back to the Battle of Vicksburg in late June
1863. The Confederate rations in
Vicksburg had fallen to a handful of peas and spoiled
flour. The diary entries record
soldiers boiling mule hides and shoe leather for sustenance.
Union artillery fired thousands of shells in the city, killing
civilians in their homes, driving entire families to live
for weeks in hillside caves, some collapsing under
bombardment. Desertions increased.
Hospitals lack medicines and bandages, and General Pemberton
of the Confederates reported that his men were physically
incapable of breaking out or resisting another assault,
making surrender inevitable. But when General Pemberton asked
for terms meaning this General Grant will surrender, but you
just tell us what you'll give us in return, he said that my only
terms are unconditional surrender.
You give up and I give you nothing.
Guess what? They surrendered because it was
that in exchange for their life. Say, what does the Lord expect
from me? Unconditional surrender.
But may I tell you that you will not find a more benevolent
entity to surrender to than your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
And when you surrender to Him, you will not lose your life.
You won't find life. You will not lose satisfaction.
You'll find satisfaction. You don't lose purpose.
You'll find purpose that what you think you are leaving behind
because you're surrendering to Christ, you actually gain.
And that's why it says if Christ is truly all, then he must
become your life. You must surrender your own
thoughts, your own desires, your own lusts, your own wants, your
own sinful habits. All of these things must be laid
at the feet of Jesus Christ and confessed.
And then and only then is victory possible.
And the world says it's the opposite.
Look what happens when you do this.
Verse 5. Mortify therefore, your members,
which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness,
inordinate affection, evil, concupiscence, and covetousness,
which is idolatry. By the way, a sin is still sin
today. The world doesn't want to call
sin sin, and it doesn't want to say that that sin will lead
someone straight to a devil's hell.
But the fact of the matter is, sin is still sin today.
No matter what the government says, no matter what society
says, no matter what Hollywood says, no matter what programs
they put out in the movie theater or they stream on your
phones or on your computers or on your televisions.
Listen, God decides what's sin, not man Amen.
These things, sake, the wrath of God cometh on the children of
disobedience. By the way, why would a child of
God want to bring into their life the things that God will
have to bring wrath on to the children of disobedience, the
ones who are unsaved? Why would the children who are
saved want to live like the children who are unsaved and
will receive wrath for what they're doing?
It doesn't make sense. In which He also walked sometime
when he lived at them, meaning this.
You used to be like that. It was First Corinthians chapter
4, say and. Such were some of you.
Some of you got some pretty bad stuff in your backgrounds.
Some of you have some stuff you're ashamed of.
You know what I do too? And this is in the competition
to see who was the worst off in their past.
Might be a pretty weird competition, wouldn't it?
Well, you think that was bad. Let me tell you how bad I was.
Like, hey, you know, keep it to yourself, all right?
Bible says the past is supposed to be the past because He's
forgiven us from the past. Amen.
Now, if that past sometimes bubbles up, you think on it,
dwell on it, it comes back. You know what you need to do?
Confess it again. Get right with the Lord again.
Get right with him. That's what he wants from you.
I said that's what he wants from you.
The devil makes you feel like, well you've messed up so many
times, why even get right? Why even go back to church?
Why even do these things? I mean, why would God even
accept Someone Like You anymore? You think that's God speaking to
you? You think that's a Holy Spirit
speaking to you? I think that's Satan.
Who's trying to keep you in the same quagmire that you're in and
trying to get you to send even deeper.
But now put off all these things, anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy. Here's another list.
Filthy communication out of your mouth, line out to one another,
seeing that you have put off the old man of his deeds, but put on
the new man. What's the new man?
Well, it says verse 12. Put on therefore, and then gives
a list which we looked at earlier before.
We're to seek, we're to set, and we're to surrender those 3
vistas as we go up the mountain, which leads us to verse #11 the
pinnacle, the peak. Once we understand that, then
Christ can be. You want to know what the Christ
is all life looks like? That's it right there.
Seek those things which are above.
Verse 12 through 15 gives you the answer.
Set your mind. Meaning that they're not just
nicely affectionate, but that you are so deep in that your
mind dwells on Him and those things from above all the time,
and then surrender. Understand this.
I'm not going to give into my flesh.
I'm not going to give in to my own desires.
I'm going to give in to Him. And when I give in to Him, I
know that I win. And when I give into my flesh
and my desires like I know I'm not supposed to, I'll give in to
Him by confessing to Him. And He's faithful and just to
forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Let me ask you these three questions in regards to the
points I just gave you. We first saw, first of all, that
you must seek. So I want to ask you, what do
you look for? If you must seek, what do you
look for? Do you look for things that are
helpful to your spirit, those things that are above?
You know, some people are so concerned about what they put in
their bodies for food. And by the way, there's nothing
wrong with that. There's probably something
pretty good about that. But some people are far more
concerned about what they put in their body, but not what they
put in their spirit. I found it amazing just this
week that Robert Kennedy Junior was updating the health
standards for food and such. And I'm glad for processed foods
being talked about, ultra processed foods.
We talked about the difficulties with that and all that.
I mean, I'm still going to eat Big Macs.
But anyway, I'm just saying, it's just Marsha, don't listen.
All right. But I actually don't really eat
Big Macs. But it's just funny.
But the idea is, is all that. But then he also relaxed the
idea of alcohol. Say that alcohol was a he called
a social lubricant. And, you know, at least it'd
make people happy and, you know, get together and all that.
Listen. How?
How could you? Understand one thing but not the
other. Bible says wine's a mocker.
Strong drink is raging. Whosoever's deceived thereby is
not wise. But this issue is far beyond
alcohol. What I'm saying is this.
I'm saying, don't miss the forest for the trees.
Listen, this body will someday die and decay, but your spirit,
it lives on. There is a life after this life.
And So what do you look for? What do you look for #2 We saw
that you must set. And so I asked you this, What do
you lock in? What are you locking into your
mind? Do you read the word of God
every day? Do you pray every day?
You take time to meditate upon the word of God?
Again, not talking about Eastern religion meditation where you
cross your legs, then you can't uncross them because you know
you're sick. I really shouldn't be doing
this, but you just think about the word of God that maybe just
sit in your car on your drive and just think, you know, I'm
not going to turn on the radio. I'm not going to listen to the
news, the sports, I'm not going to listen to anything.
I'm just going to think about my Bible reading this morning, how
it affects me. Meditation.
I would suggest you probably do it in some place other than your
car on a regular basis because you can get pretty distracted.
In your car. For good reasons am bad, but
just think about the word of God.
Do you meditate on it daily? We must regain the ground the
devil tries to take. Just like the tide, bringing the
bad stuff in and taking the good stuff out.
What do you need to do daily? Retake the ground that he tries
to take and then you must surrender.
So I ask you this question, what do you love?
What do you love? I found this to be true.
People surrender either because they're forced to.
I think of the people of Vicksburg.
People surrender because of duty.
You know, you might surrender your rights at a job.
You do that at a duty. You do it voluntarily.
No one's forcing you to. Or you can surrender because of
love, like a wedding altar where there's nothing forced.
There's nothing there, but you're actually compelled to
surrender. Not that you do it unwillingly
or unwittingly, but you're compelled to do it because of
love. What kind of surrender is the
Lord looking from you today? Is he looking to strap you down
over a barrel and make your life so miserable that in the end
you're finally going to say, uncle, I'll do whatever you
want, Lord. Now, the chastisement of the
Lord is real. I'm not going to lie.
You read Hebrews chapter 12. It's a real thing.
And he gets the attention of his children if he has to, But is
that his desire, His desires to call us in love, draw us in with
cords of love and that we are to go to him?
And even when he corrects us by the way he corrects us in love,
He has lovingly corrected us. Do that anger doesn't do that
malice. He doesn't fly off the handle
like people do. But will you surrender out of
love? Well, I guess I got to surrender
because the pastor said, well, with that attitude, just don't.
I'm not trying to be, I'm not trying to be weird about it.
I'm saying don't get to the place where you want to
surrender to him, because you realize there's no one better to
surrender to. There's no one better when you
know him, When you truly know him, there's no one better to
surrender to. I think of the story.
I shared it several years ago of a reception where a famous actor
was asked to give a resuscitation.
An old preacher that was there suggested Psalm 23.
He did it with great oratorical skill and sat down to prolonged
applause. Then he turned to the old
preacher and asked him to recite the Psalm as well.
In a weak, trembling voice, the kindly man uttered the same
simple Psalm, but no one applauded.
This time people began to wipe away their tears.
The actor rose again. Ladies and gentlemen, he said
quietly, I communicated with your eyes and your ears.
I know the words, but my preacher friend here
communicated with your hearts and it's because he knows the
shepherd. You know, when you know the
shepherd, it makes all the difference if you don't know
Jesus Christ your Savior. Today I want to remind you what
I tell you every week here at Liberty Baptist Church.
You're a Sinner that only Jesus Christ can save you from your
sin and that you must call upon Him to save you today.
He died on the cross and shed his precious blood so that you
could be saved. Do you know the Shepherd and
salvation? And for those of you that are
saved, is Christ really your all?
Well, as we go up towards that mountain peak, you know, do you
seek Him? You know what are you looking
for? Do you set Him?
What do you lock in? Do you surrender?
Who do you love? The answer to those questions,
and only you can answer those questions, will tell you whether
Christ truly is all. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.