Who Are We In Christ? Book Of Colossians part 13
Good morning friends and family, and thank you for joining us on another adventure again this week. Here we are, and January is almost gone. Seems like just yesterday we were talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last week, I asked everyone to do an online search to find and study the verses that had "In Him" and then "In Christ." Anyone want to share how many times those two phrase were used and what or how they spoke to you? I also asked for those who attended last week to read and study Hebrews chapter 1, and particularly verse 13. Anyone want to share what you found there? Prayer. If everyone could please turn to Colossians 3:5 and mark that verse and then turn to Romans 8:6. We could do a whole day's study on this passage we are going to read, but I want all of us to get a bit of an understanding of where we are going in our study today from the book of Colossians. Glory to God! Today we are going to be looking at those things that used to be in our old life. Things that weren't pleasant to God and that we repented of when we asked Jesus into our lives. Amen? Our old sinful nature. Are we ready? Romans 8:6-13 KJV For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Let me stop for a moment, to share what carnal means. CARNALLY, adv. In a carnal manner; according to the flesh; in a manner to gratify the flesh or sensual desire. You can see examples if you go to Leviticus 18, but because there is so much to cover today, please do that on your own. (7) Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (9) But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (10) And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (11) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (12) Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. (13) For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Last week we looked at verses 1-4 in Colossians. Paul, being led by the Holy Spirit, said we are to consider ourselves to be dead to sin. We are to reckon ourselves, to see ourselves as dead to these things. Amen? Colossians 3:5 KJV Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Okay friends, here is another way that I read the Bible or should I say study. Remember a couple weeks ago we saw "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Here is what it looks like using a concordance, so that I can see the Greek word in this case and its meaning. Each of these numbers shows what it looked like in the Greek. Colossians 3:5 KJV+ MortifyG3499 thereforeG3767 yourG5216 membersG3196 whichG3588 are uponG1909 theG3588 earth;G1093 fornication,G4202 uncleanness,G167 inordinate affection,G3806 evilG2556 concupiscence,G1939 andG2532 covetousness,G4124 whichG3748 isG2076 idolatry:G1495 fornication porneia por-ni'-ah From G4203; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively idolatry: - fornication. uncleanness akatharsia ak-ath-ar-see'-ah From G169; impurity (the quality), physically or morally: - uncleanness. inordinate affection pathos path'-os From the alternate of G3958; properly suffering (“pathos”), that is, (subjectively) a passion (especially concupiscence): - (inordinate) affection, lust. evil kakos kak-os' Apparently a primary word; worthless (intrinsically such; whereas G4190 properly refers to effects), that is, (subjectively) depraved, or (objectively) injurious: - bad, evil, harm, ill, noisome, wicked. concupiscence epithumia ep-ee-thoo-mee'-ah From G1937; a longing (especially for what is forbidden): - concupiscence, desire, lust (after). covetousness pleonexia pleh-on-ex-ee'-ah From G4123; avarice, that is, (by implication) fraudulency, extortion: - covetous (-ness) practices, greediness. idolatry eidōlolatreia i-do-lol-at-ri'-ah From G1497 and G2999; image worship (literally or figuratively): - idolatry. Paul equates these with idolatry. Why idolatry? Because these sins are based on self gratification, self-serving carnal sins, instead of sufficiency and reliance upon God and his grace. God is jealous for you. He desires yours and my full attention. To love Him and put Him above everything. Including our family, job, school, work and our stuff. Church, do we get that? For some, that sounds harsh and I used to think it was odd, but I get it now. Hallelujah. All things that we focus on that move us away from God, that bring us to give more devotion to it than to God, can be said to be idolatrous. I can tell form the silence, I need to do a study just on that topic. Praise the Lord. Colossians 3:6 KJV For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: Powerful verse. Do we get how much these things we read God hates? Someone might say, "Brother Jim, do you mean to say God wants us to live a boring, uneventful life?" No, that is not what this is at all. True believers can have a great time. I love to fellowship with other believers and many times we have good laughs. There are many physical activities that we can do and have fun doing. Family is important. Work and school are important, and depending on your job and what you are going to school for can be fun, but God needs to be first, before these things. God's wrath is His judgment upon all who break His Holy and perfect law. Remember, the law of God is a reflection of his Holy character. But those who practice immorality, those who practice that which is contrary to the Holy nature of God will be judged. If God did not judge the lawbreaker, he would be condoning sin by not dealing with it. Therefore, sin brings wrath and it is on account of sin that the wrath of God must come. Church, do we get this? Colossians 3:7 KJV In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. Friends, Paul is saying to the Colossians and for us who have been saved, this was us. He is reminding us of how they and you and I used to walk in these sins. But, by his grace, we have been redeemed. This should be extremely comforting to know that God, through Christ, has forgiven the Colossians (and also us) of our great trespasses. It is not by our works that we are saved, but Jesus dying on the cross. Colossians 3:8 KJV But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. I want us to look at the concordance again for this verse, but notice how this verse starts. But now - I found that odd. It is like Paul was saying, "Ok Colossians, you got the sexual sin and the idolatry part taken care of, but here is the next step. You need to lay your anger and some other things at the cross." What about us, church? Anger was a problem for me. I think years of keeping things locked in and then going through a time of changing that to unloading everything at the drop of a hat. When Leanna and I got together, I was a walking time bomb. If we were running late, I got antsy. If I was backed into a corner, I exploded. Never did I hit her, but the words were just as bad. At times, I saw red and the words that came out of my mouth, I couldn't believe. Colossians 3:8 KJV+ ButG1161 nowG3570 yeG5210 alsoG2532 put offG659 all these;G3956 anger,G3709 wrath,G2372 malice,G2549 blasphemy,G988 filthy communicationG148 out ofG1537 yourG5216 mouth.G4750 Anger orgē or-gay' From G3713; properly desire (as a reaching forth or excitement of the mind), that is, (by analogy) violent passion (ire, or [justifiable] abhorrence); by implication punishment: - anger, indignation, vengeance, wrath. Wrath thumos thoo-mos' From G2380; passion (as if breathing hard): - fierceness, indignation, wrath. Malice kakia kak-ee'-ah From G2556; badness, that is, (subjectively) depravity, or (actively) malignity, or (passively) trouble: - evil, malice (-iousness), naughtiness, wickedness. blasphemy blasphēmia blas-fay-me'-ah From G989; vilification (especially against God): - blasphemy, evil speaking, railing. filthy communication aischrologia ahee-skhrol-og-ee'-ah From G150 and G3056; vile conversation: - filthy communication. So here we see that we need to put aside, get rid of anger, harmful intention, evil words, and foul language. Colossians 3:9 KJV Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; Again, Paul is saying to the church of Colosee and you and me, friends, that lying is part of the old self, the carnal nature. We being saved, should have no part of lying. It is an evil practice, not because God our judge decided that it is evil. Instead, it is evil because it is contrary to the holy nature of God. Friends, we need to understand that God is Holy. God cannot and will never lie. Actually, let me show you by His Word. Hebrews 6:18 KJV That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. Throughout the ministry of the One who saved us from our sins, Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I tell you the truth." We know that He said, "If this is not true, I would not have told you." We hear people referring to a white lie. A lie is a lie and we should not be doing it, friends. The world will continue to tell white lies and black lies and all the lies in between. Let's you and I tell no lies. Amen? Colossians 3:10 KJV And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Wow, wow and wow. I love this verse. What a powerful promise for you and me to fully grasp. Praise the Lord. The new self is the new man. In Christ we are made new. Though we are not completely redeemed in the sense that our physical bodies have not yet been glorified, we are already new. Isn't that exciting? I should hear Amen's all over the room. Praise Jesus for setting me and you free from the bondage that we were bound to. Glory to God for loving us to send His only Son to earth to die in our place that we may be joint heirs. Somebody shout Halleluiah. Church, we are constantly being renewed in the sense that we are constantly warring against sin and seeking to be victorious over it. Satan will continue to whisper in your ear trying to make you slip. And friend, there will be those times that I will and you will, but we quickly repent and get back on that path which we are being led. I have said this time and time again, the enemy knows what buttons to push. He knows each of our faults and will continue to try to catch you off guard. He will continue to try to bring doubt in your belief. Things you liked in the old man, or woman that you might be having trouble letting go of, he will keep prodding you with to cause you to fail. Maybe alcohol, drugs, porn, lying, gossip, or whatever the case may be. That's how he works. Friends, I think often times the devil gets more credit than is due him. We have choices, and those choices are very, very important. I will tell you this. Satan comes in subtly. How nice he makes things sound. Satan hates you. He hates you. He hates your family. He hates your job. Everything about you he hates and will do everything he can to crush you. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. We need to understand that. Jesus came to give you life and life more abundantly. Praise our Shepard. Amen? The true knowledge is what Paul is revealing here which is based upon the work of Christ and the guarantee of our future resurrection. Remember, our life is hidden in Christ and it will be revealed when He comes back. Because of this truth, because it is true knowledge, we can have confidence in the renewal that is yet to come and is yet occurring. Glory to God. This, my friends, is who we are in Christ. Praise Jesus. Prayer. Communion.
1 Comment
Harold J. Howland
1/25/2015 10:20:16
Brother Jim, I was Blessed in what you Preach today. It was couple of days after I was Saved. I remember some times I said a cuss word. As soon as I said it, I was under Holy Spirit conviction. Right on the spot, I ask the Lord to forgive me and He did. It took a couple of weeks before I had Victory in saying those cuss words, (swearing). Where I would say them no more. Lord Bless you and Leanna. Bro. Harold.
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