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