you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians. We've been working through that ever so slowly, and today we're in Colossians 3. Starting at verse 5. Last time we looked at verses 1 through 4, today we'll be looking at verses 5 through 11. Here then the reading of God's word. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here, there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is all and in all. Join me in prayer. Father in heaven, we have your Word open before us. And we pray today that by the Spirit that dwells within us, you would teach us what it is that we need to hear, personally and corporately. We pray, Father, that you would not let the words of mortal man stand in the way of your eternal truth. Would you teach us today as we look at your word? And would you prick our hearts where it needs to be pricked? Would you encourage us where it needs to be encouraged? We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I have a $100 bill right here. And you can't tell from where you're sitting whether it's real or whether it's counterfeit. Maybe I have this really cool special color printer that I can print it looking just like that, but you can't tell. But if you wanted to know whether it was genuine or whether it was counterfeit, there are some tests that you could do. Is there any blurry printing in the text? Is there an inconsistent color change in the security features? Are there missing and poorly defined watermarks? Security thread, does that say USA 100 on it? Is there a noticeable difference between the paper that it's printed on? There are ways, the banks have them, and they have these little cool pins they draw across them to tell whether this thing is real or not. But the question is, you can't see it, it looks real, but is it real? Do you know that there are counterfeits in the Church of Christ? People who would say, yes, I'm a Christian, but their lives are totally, totally opposite of what they just said. Here's what Jesus said in Matthew 7. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of the Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. And that's Jesus saying in the midst of the church, there are people that say they belong, but they don't belong. They do many, many good things in the name of the Lord. But the question is, do they know the Lord? And Paul is dealing with a church that's had lots of conflict going on. He's writing Colossians, as we've talked about along the way. He's been teaching us about what Christ has done for us. And now he's about to switch to explore what Christ is doing in us. And this passage is part of that hinge into where he's going next. We've talked about the preeminence and the sufficiency of Christ and what he's done in verses one, or chapter one through verses, chapter three, verse four. But now he's gonna be looking at what Christ is doing. And we're gonna do this in two parts. And the reason is because when I looked at it, I thought there's the put off and the put on. That sounds nice to kind of put in one little package. But it just seemed to me there's so much there that we're going to have to do this in two parts. And so That's what we're doing today. We're doing kind of this what Christ has done for us There's what he's done in us part one and Brian has talked before about a kiastic structure in the Greek and we have one here in verses 5 and 7 and verses 8 and 10 there's kind of a theme and the sort of the put off, put to death, put away from, and then that's at the end in verses 12 through 17, there's kind of who we are and what we should do. And right smack in the middle of that chiasm is the key to the whole thing, which is verse 11. We looked at it last time, we'll look a little bit more at it this time too. He says this, doctrines and ethics are for Paul inseparable. Right conduct must be founded in right thinking, but right thinking must also lead to right conduct. And so Paul has presented his doctrine to us, the doctrine of Christ, and now he moves on to the ethics, the shoulds. How do we live in light of what he's just taught us? And that's kind of where we are. And so we start off first in verse five, who we were, it's a matter of the heart. Paul says, put it to death. The demand here is that therefore, pointing back to this thing, pointing back to the fact that we have a heavenly outlook, back to the fact that we've died with Christ, back to the fact that we are hidden and secured in Him, and to the fact that we will appear with Him, looking back, therefore, with that truth in mind, put to death what is earthly in you. Now the word put to death is placed first in the Greek, it's for emphasis, put to death, and it means to make dead, or to treat as dead. the same word is used for uh... abraham in uh... romans four four nineteen when he says he did not weaken in faith when he would consider his own body which was as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old or when he considered the bareness of sarin's womb and in hebrews eleven it says pretty much the same thing therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born descendants of many of the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of the sand. Another passage has used the word crucify the flesh. It means to put it to death or to consider it dead, like it's not alive anymore. And he says, what's earthly in you? Those are those internal passions. Notice what Paul is talking about what is in you. the internal passions which come naturally. And as long as we live in this flesh, we will battle the two natures. Just like Paul explains in Romans 7, the things I want to do, I'm not doing, the things I don't want to do, those are the very things I find myself doing. We have our heavenly mindset, and we have our earthly mindset. Hendrickson says this, as long as believers are still living in the flesh and on this earth, their condition and their state do not wholly coincide. As to their state, they are even now perfect, without sin, wholly justified. And yet we struggle in our lives. We struggle to keep the law. We struggle. We are in process. In the words of the Heidelberg Catechism, question 114, even the holiest men, while in this life have only a small beginning of disobedience, that is obedience to God's commandments, yet so that with the earnest purpose they begin to live, not according to some, but to all of the commandments. It's kind of that already, not yet principle. We are already justified. We're in the process of being sanctified, which means there is a battle that we go through daily. It's the already principle Paul talks about this in Romans 8 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you will put to death He's using a different word here But the same concept you will put to death the deeds of the body you will live and Galatians 5 He says for those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified It's a metaphor to destroy the power of the flesh with its passions and desires This is a lifelong battle for us but it's not hopeless. In fact, it's very hopeful. And then Paul goes on to paint this absolutely horrific picture of the human heart. It's the list of the terrible five. Sexual immorality, which means adultery, fornication. Impurity, which means being unclean in any way, shape, or form. Passion, a strong evil desire, physical desire. Evil desire, craving for one another's, somebody else's things. Covetousness, well, that one may get a little closer to home. That's a greed for more or a desire to have what somebody else has. And he says, which is idolatry. Now, at the first set, it's tempting to have an analytical mind like I do. You see five things listed here, and five things listed in the next verse. And you want to say, oh, there must be some kind of correlation. But honestly, I looked at that, and it's not really a correlation. This is not an all-inclusive list that Paul gives us. In fact, Paul has other lists in his writing. He has nine other lists in his different writings. Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 5, 1 Corinthians 6, Galatians 5, Ephesians 5, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 Timothy 1, 2 Timothy 3, Titus 3. Paul gives other lists of things, and some of them are dissimilar, but some of them are listed. It's not all inclusive. We do not know in particular why Paul chose these five things. Perhaps it was the context of the Colossian church, things they were struggling with. Paul lists them, but we really don't know. But the point is, it points to the depravity of man's heart. It points to the old man. These sins have an internal source. Ritterbosch says this, the members here are identified with the sins committed by those members, which in a similar connection in Romans 8.13 are called the deeds of the body. And in Romans 6, Paul says this, verse 13, do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been bought from death to life. your members to God as instruments of righteousness, for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law, but grace. This list we have before us is sort of the sampling of the worst of the worst. And you might say, well, I haven't done any of those. That's not the point. My first question is, would you hang around with somebody who was like this? My guess is you wouldn't want to have anything to do with them. But let me give you a word of caution. It's very easy for us to say, well, I haven't done any of those five things. And yet James 2.10 says, whoever keeps the whole law but falls at one point becomes guilty of all of it. We're just as guilty as those people that he's talking about, the people who commit those things. We're just as guilty. These are issues of the heart. And like the other list, it shows our total, complete depravity apart from Christ. These no longer need to control us, though. Remember back when Cain and Abel were offering offerings, and God did not accept Cain's, and Cain got mad? God came to him and said, Neil, if you do right, will not your countenance be lifted up? But if you do not, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is to have you, to own you. But you must master it. Well, he didn't. It mastered him, and we know the result, the first murder in the Bible. But the thing is, what Paul's getting at is these things, as bad as they are, do not have to control us because we have put that to death. The ultimate price, in verse 6, Jesus says, Jesus is returning. These things are worthy of judgment. In Romans 1, 18, it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Now, Brian, a couple of weeks ago, and maybe it was last week, referred to Revelation 6, when Jesus returns. And all the kings of the earth are calling for the rocks. And this is in Revelation 6. Cover us, cover us, for the wrath of God has come. Cover us, don't let us be seen. The wrath of God is coming. And it's coming because of these types of things. Now the word wrath here means intense anger, a violent emotion. It's interesting though that it's used to describe divine punishment. However, it's the same word used back in chapter, or back in verse five, the wrath. The difference is this. Our wrath is typically pointed at a person. or something that's on this word. God's wrath is judgment will come. God's wrath is one that is going to be, it's not just a feeling, it's a worthy thing that's coming. God's wrath is coming. So what's our connection to this point? What's our connection to this? Where's Paul going with this? To this picture that he's painting, our connection is he said, you too, walked in these things. This was your life. This is who you were. You once walked in these things. We were and we are no better than the people that we would like to avoid. John Calvin said this, the old man is whatever we bring from our mother's womb and whatever we are by nature, it is called the old man because we are first born from Adam and afterwards born through Christ. This was our identity. But the good news for us is Jesus has given us a new heart by the dwelling of the Spirit. We no longer have the same heart. So Paul goes on in verse eight, say this, but you now must put them away, anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk from your mouth. Here's another horrific picture of the heart. A horrific picture of deeds that are flow from the heart. It's another terrible list. It's different. He uses the word anger. Now let me ask you what you think about anger. Because I've had a lot of people read this and say, you know, he's right. I just won't be angry anymore. That's it. I just won't be angry anymore. First of all, how's it going to work? Not very well. Because we're still going to get angry. That's part of us. But second of all, that's assuming that there's something wrong with the emotion of anger. Anger is not always wrong. In fact, in Ephesians 4, Paul says this. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity. So it's kind of a side note here. We hear that word anger, we think it's wrong. No, it's not necessarily wrong. Anger is part of the image of God. God gets angry. God grieves. We have emotions like God does, because we are created in his image. His emotions are perfect. Ours are not. So he's not saying, don't be angry. He's saying, don't be angry in the wrong way. We are created in his image. And the word wrath here, it's the same word used in verse six, but there's a difference. Again, our wrath is typically pointed at a person. But God's wrath is not an emotional reaction, but a justified response to man's willful disobedience and sin. And he goes on to list malice, strong dislike, don't slander, that's injurious speech. It's where we get the word blaspheme from. obscene talk Thou vulgar speaking most of you don't know my past when I was in college. I had a mouth I Had a very vulgar mouth when I was in college And I hate to admit that to you, but that's the truth and then Jesus got a hold of me and that changed He changed me I don't need those things anymore, but I had I I I had nicknames that people called me because of my mouth. I can't believe this little man can say all these things. But I remember that part of my life, and I look back with great regret. But Jesus changed my heart. He took that away from me. So why is Paul bringing up this new list now? Well, these are the fruits or the outworking of our depraved heart, of our sinful hearts. When Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and challenging them about the disciples not washing their hands in Matthew 15, he said this, he called the people to him and he said to them, hear and understand, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a person. He goes on a little bit later to say, but what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and this defines a person. For what? For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witnesses, slander. These are what defile the person. But to eat without unwashed hands does not defile anyone. So those things that he lists here are the result of what's in our heart. Well, if God has given us a new heart, then those things ought not to come out of us. It gives a third demand, verse 9. Paul adds another separate command. It stands as a direct command, do not lie. Again, we don't know why Paul is mentioning this one in particular, but apparently it was a problem in the church. Don't lie to one another. But either way, pretending to be what we are, or what we are not, I should say, is a lie. It's a deception. I've met many people who claim to be Christians, but when you look at their life, I don't see the difference. Can that be said about us? Can people look into our life and see the difference? The reason is you've not put off the old man. Seeing that you have put off the old man, you have put off the old man. It's something that's been done in the past. It's something that you do, you've done it for yourself. The holy put off, the old self, who we used to be naturally. Ezekiel says this in Ezekiel 36, I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you the heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Paul says we've put off the old practices, the old way of acting. And the fact of the matter is we have been changed. She says in verse 10, and have put on the new self which is being created in knowledge after the creator of its image. Now that's going to be part two of this series, which we'll get to next time. But we've put off the old and we've put on the new. It's a fact. It's happened. And we're being renewed. And the renewed in this word in the Greek is passive, which means it's something that's happened to us, not something we do. We don't renew ourselves. The spirit that dwells within us is the one who renews. Paul says this in Corinthians 5, from now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. After the likeness of God. So what God has done by the dwelling of his spirit is he's not only changed our heart It's not perfect. We will continue to sin. That's a given. But the desire to sin has gone away. And so Paul is saying, look at what God has done for you and live in light of that. And our deeds will flow from our renewed heart. And now let's get to that verse 11, that little bitty verse that You can read over in a couple of seconds and miss something. Paul goes on to say in verse 11, in here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave free. But Christ is all and in all. And last time we looked at the fact that there were lots of factions in the church. They were arguing over, you have to do this, you have to do this. No, you don't need to do that, but you've got to do this instead. And they were legalists that were infecting the church and causing a lot of stir upon them, which is part of the reason why Paul wrote this letter. It's because it was messing with their doctrine. Our doctrine is the very foundation of what we do and why we do it. and these people were introducing strange teachings. The church had many factions, they had special interest groups. Paul says, yep, there's no distinction between any of you. Christ is Now the word is is not in the original it says Christ is all but that word is is not in there in the original It's put in the English to help us make sense, but it literally reads Christ all It goes back to the sufficiency of Christ he has done everything No stone has been unturned Christ is all But then he goes on to say, and in all. His spirit dwells in us. He is in us. He is the one making us capable to change. Philippians 1 says this, I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. It's not our work. Jesus receives all the glory. You cannot do this. You cannot not be angry. You cannot stop sinning in and of your own power. You are incapable. You don't have that kind of power. We don't have it. But Christ in us is the power that gives us the ability to say no. I'm not going to do this anymore. He's changed our heart, which means he's changed our desire to please him. Whereas before, we didn't care. He's changed us. And then he gives us, by his power, the ability to say, no, I will not do this any longer. And that's why Christ gets all the glory. Well, okay. So what does this have to do with us? We're 2,000 years removed from this letter or thereabouts. Well, remember the progression of Colossians. Paul is talking about doctrine, truth, and then he's moving to the world of ethics. How should we live in light of this truth? What we believe affects how we live. Doctrinally, just like the church in Colossae, there are many different voices today in the church. Wokeness, inclusion, gender, relevancy. We can go on and on and on in the church of Christ today. Many, many factions, just like there were back in those days. And there's an attack on traditional biblical values in the church today. It's very, very real and very, very dangerous. One commentator put it like this. Like the Colossians, we have lost our focus and have been engaging in the futile effort of meaning by blending together religions of one kind or another or blending religious expression with ideas of philosophy. This is an age-long phenomenon known as syncretism. which we have been witnessing its outcropping in expressions raging from the secular mysticism of transcendental meditation all the way down to the Unitarian Church. It's just as alive today as it was back in Paul's day. Another commentator said this, the churches of Christ can never be immune from the intellectual and spiritual pressures and fashions of their time. While we see clearly when we look back to earlier generations, we rarely see clearly the problems with our own. This is why we stick so closely to the confessions and to the catechisms in this church. Because if we forego those, then anything can go. And why doctrine is important, what we teach, what we believe. That is the very foundation upon which we build our faith, which is based on the Word of God. And if we let that slip, if we let those first three chapters of the Ephesians or of Colossians go, then we have no compass. We have no guide to keep us from making the same error. And they've guided us for centuries. And that's why we do this. So that's doctrinally. But ethically, just like Colossians, there are many voices as to what's acceptable behavior for the Christian. Mad-made rules of do's and don'ts. Things like speaking in tongues, and I'm not trying to pick on anybody in particular, but there are things people say, this is it. If you don't do this, you're not a genuine believer. Tied into something we do. Well, the first part of the book says, no, this has nothing to do with it. It's tied into Christ and Christ alone and what he's done and now what he's doing in us. First Timothy says this, or Second Timothy, Paul writes, but understand this, in the last days there will come times of difficulty, for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, unholy, heartless, unpleasable, slanderous, without self-control, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power. Avoid such people. Yeah, we don't want to be part of them because we want them to influence us. always learning and never, this is what he says about them in verse seven of that same chapter, always learning but never able to arrive at the knowledge of the truth. Paul does, as does the rest of the Word of God, has a lot to say about this. And we just looked at it in the last couple of times, the first couple of chapters. And so I want to leave you with a question. I'd like to make this a little bit more personal. People are like a mirror. They reflect back to us what they see. And my question to you is, you who want to claim that I am a Christian, I'm a Christ follower, I am a believer, what do they reflect back to you? When people look into our lives, do they see the old man that's still there, still the main thing? Or do they see the new creation that Christ is doing? They don't see perfection, because they won't in this world, in this life. But do they see the difference? Are they able to look at your life and say, this is the genuine McCoy? Because I see something different in you than I see in the rest of the world. And I think that's where Paul's going because after this, he's gonna go into what does a marriage look like? What does a workplace look like? And so Paul is beginning to shift from doctrine, which is our foundation, and how we live it out in our life. When people look into your life, do they see the old man or do they see the newly created man? Peter says this in chapter 1, chapter 3, verse 15. In your hearts, honor Christ as Lord, as Holy, always being prepared to make a defense for anyone who asks you for the reason of the hope that lies within you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revalue good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. As I thought about this passage, I thought we're beginning to shift into more of a, I hate to use the word practical, because that just doesn't, it's got so many implications to it. But he's shifting more from head knowledge into how do we do this in life? We are the light of the world. Does God see us as the light? When the world looks at us, do they see us? as a light of Christ, or is He something else? And that's a question that only you can answer, but I guess I just thought that's kind of where my heart was as I went through this passage. It's like, what do we do with this knowledge? We've got it now. Christ is all-sufficient. We can't do it by ourselves. We have to acknowledge that He does it in us. But does it show? Does it show in our marriages? Does it show in our relationships? Does it show with our coworkers? Do they see something different? And I don't know whether I've told this story or not, but I'll close with this. I used to give drive tests for the state of Washington. I was the guy with the clipboard judging how you drive. And at that point, at that time in my life, that was before seminary, there were some scary times. especially with some of these Cambodian refugees who didn't speak English and didn't know how to drive a car. But you had to give them a test anyway. And there were times I was terrified. But one time we were in a break room and this one woman, one of my coworkers, looked at me and said, I don't get you. And I went, what do you mean? She said, well, you're just always so jolly. Yes, and it was almost an insult. I Had the opportunity to say something. She saw something in me and I chickened out I don't know what I said, but I missed an opportunity Fact is people should see the difference in our lives God uses us we are his witnesses and I guess that's what came out to me more than this. I Used to be this But now I'm this, and I'm in transition. Do people see the difference, or they just see the old Larry? I pray to God he doesn't, that they don't, that they see the new change. Because he gets the glory, I can't do it on my own. He's the one who does it. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we have had your word opened before us. And we pray, Lord, that as we contemplate our relationship with you, we thank you for the solid teaching of your word, for the doctrine that we have to hold on to that gives us the foundation of what you have done for us, and that it is not our work, but it is your work that you do in us. We can claim no credit at all. We pray, Lord, that you would just be mindful of us, that you would teach us, that you would show us where we are falling short and teach us the way to go from there. We acknowledge, Lord, that we're not worthy so much to take your name even upon our lips. And yet you have loved us. You gave your son for us. And now we are in the process of being changed, reshaped, reborn, recreated into something new that we won't fully understand until we are in your presence. We pray, Lord, that you would teach us this day. Let us look at our own lives. Do people see you in us? And if not, Lord, show us how to do that. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.