The New Life in Christ Jesus
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
Seven pairs of things:
1. Things above, and things on the earth (Colossians 3:2).
2. Things seen, and things not seen (2 Corinthians 4:18).
3. Things temporal, and things eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).
4. Things of weakness, and things mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27-28).
5. Things of a man, and the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:11).
6. Things behind, and things before (Philippians 3:13).
7. Things of self, and things of others.
1. Things above, and things on the earth (Colossians 3:2). Our verse reads: "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." The reason for this injunction is that our life is hid with Christ in God.
There is another passage much like this one, which reads: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, * * but * * in Heaven." Everything that is of the earth, is earthy, and will pass away with the earth. Moths and rust, along with thieves, tend to the undoing of earthly loves and earthly stores.
2. Things seen, and things not seen (2 Corinthians 4:18). Everything which we can see with the natural eye, is classed as temporal; that is, they are only for time. The things which are not seen, are the things which are eternal. While we look at the things seen, we look at our afflictions. These, however, are but for a moment. While we look at the things not seen, we behold a far more exceeding, and eternal weight of glory.
When we obey the injunction of this text we faint not. What, and if, the things of this earth do tend to disappointments and trials, we faint not; for even if our outward man perishes, our inward man is being renewed day by day.
3. Things temporal and things eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). This we have before us as a vital factor, something real in Christian living.
The things seen, so frequently take precedence, with Christians, over the things which are not seen. We need to remember that our blessings are in the Heavenly places. They are not the things which can be reckoned in our temporal or earthly assets. One may be rich in things seen, and poor in the things not seen. One may be poor in the things seen, and unspeakably rich in the things which are not seen.
4. Things of weakness, and things which are mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27). God hath chosen the things which are weak to confound the things which are mighty; the foolish things He hath chosen to confound the wise; the base things, the despised things, and the things which are not, God hath chosen to bring to nought the things that are.
The minister of Jesus Christ has learned that power belongeth unto God. In His service, there is no place for glorying in the flesh.
5. The things of a man and the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:11). The things of a man are the things which may be known and solved from a human psychological viewpoint. The things of God are the things which are revealed by the Holy Spirit. These latter things no man knoweth, save as the Spirit of God reveals them.
6. The things behind, and the things before (Philippians 3:13). When the Apostle Paul became a Christian he put behind him the things which had formerly been his chief joy. He counted them all but loss. Reputation, position, the praise of men, were reckoned as but dross. The things of God became his all in all.
He began to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
7. The things of self, and the things of others. It is so easy for us to live for self self-advancement, self-accomplishment for everything that has to do with placing Ourselves on high among men. When we live for the things of others, we seek their good, their wealth, their spiritual benefactions. We die, that they might live.
I. THE SAFETY OF THE SAVED (Colossians 3:3)
1. Hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).
2. Christ places His life in lieu of ours (John 14:19).
3. In My hand, My Father's hand (John 10:28-29).
1. Hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). It is a wonderful thing to have our life hid away, and safeguarded with Christ in God. When Jesus Christ was upon the earth He was absolutely safe from the madness and tyranny of the crowd. For this cause we know that He did not die upon the Cross because He was overwhelmed by a maddened mob.
We, too, are safe because we too are hid in God. The security of a believer is not a matter dependent upon himself. Christ is his security, and God is his surety.
2. Christ places His life in lieu of ours (John 14:19). With what assurance did our Lord speak when He said: "I will come to you," and when He added: "Because I live, ye shall live also." As long, therefore, as our Lord lives, we have the promise that we too shall live. This union of Christ with the believer is set forth in many Scriptures. Our life is not a life distinct from His. An earthly father may die, and his son may live; or, the son may die, and the father live, because their lives are distinct the one from the other. Our life, however, is His life in us. The Book says: "Christ, who is our life." Christ in us, therefore, becomes our hope of Glory.
3. In My hand, My Father's hand (John 10:28-29). Here is a third comforting' statement. The Lord said: "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." Then He added: "No man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." Here is a double security. Before Satan can overthrow our life, he must first conquer our Saviour. Then he must conquer God the Father. We surely have a place where we may rest, gratefully thankful, and unafraid.
II. COMING WITH CHRIST IN GLORY (Colossians 3:4)
1. Christ is the believer's life.
2. Christ will appear in glory.
3. We will appear with Him.
1. Christ is the believer's life. It is for this reason that we are inseparable from Him. It is for this reason that we have nothing whereof to boast. He is the new life which throbs within our hearts. We remember how A. B. Simpson used to sing:
"Live out Thy life in me,
By Thy wonderful power,
By Thy grace every hour,
Live out Thy life in me."
It is not the believer merely trying to walk as an imitator of Christ. It is Christ walking out His life in the believer.
2. Christ will appear in glory. Our verse speaks of the Appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. This Appearing centers in His Second Advent into the world. He told us, "If I go * *, I will come again." He will come first for His saints. When He comes, those who sleep in Christ, God will bring with Him. He will bring them with Him, because when saints die, they depart to be with Christ. He will bring them with Him, that they may enter into their bodies, raised, and made unto His glorious body. Thus we have emphasized the fact that Christ will appear for His saints; afterward, He will come with His saints to Mount Olivet.
3. We will appear with Him in glory. He who came once to be despised and rejected of men is coming back again. He who came for His saints, as above, will come with them in glory. We speak not now of His bringing His saints with Him to get their bodies, in order that they may be caught up to meet Him in the air. We speak now of His coming from the air, down to the earth.
When He comes to the earth, in the glory of His Father and His holy angels with Him, then shall we also appear with Him. He will come riding on His white horse, as in Revelation 19:1-21; we shall come attending Him, riding also on white horses. It is written, "The armies, * * in Heaven followed Him upon white horses," and, in that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which is to the east of Jerusalem.
III. THE CALL TO MORTIFICATION OF THE FLESH (Colossians 3:5)
1. The great "therefore."
2. Others may, we may not.
3. Let me die, if I am dead.
1. The great "therefore." Colossians 3:5 says: "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth." The "therefore" reaches back into the statement of the preceding verses, that we are risen with Christ; that our affection should be set on things above; that our life is hid with Christ in God. The "therefore" also includes the vision of Christ's Second Appearing, and of our appearing with Him in glory.
It is because of these things that we are called upon to mortify our members which are upon the earth. There is no place for fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness in the life of one who has been quickened, and raised, and made to sit in the Heavenlies with Christ.
2. Others may, we may not. There are many things that Others may do, and get away with; but we may not do such things. We are a people who have been made anew in Christ Jesus. We are living on a different plane than the world. Our ideals, our ambitions, our destiny, are all distinct and opposite to those of the unsaved. Therefore, we may not live as others live.
A fountain which is sweet, cannot bring forth bitter water; neither can a bitter fountain bring forth sweet water. A good tree does not bring forth evil fruit; nor an evil tree good fruit.
3. Let me die, if I am dead. In Colossians 3:3 we read: "Ye are dead." Shall we not then prove ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord? Once we were dead in sins, and dead to the new life; now we are dead to sin, but alive unto Christ.
IV. THE PAST COMPARED WITH THE PRESENT (Colossians 3:6-8)
1. Ye were the children of disobedience.
2. Ye were the subjects of wrath.
3. Ye walked, lived in them.
4. Ye now "put off" these things.
1. Ye were the children of disobedience. Sometimes it does us good to look back at the pit from which we were digged. It is of this that God now reminds us. The wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in which we also walked sometimes when we lived in them. Thus God reminds us of our past. We are now, however, no longer the children of disobedience.
The wicked have broken away from the commands of God. They are walking in their own way, following after their own lusts. They have no heart to hear, and no will to obey the voice of God.
2. Ye were the subjects of wrath. Colossians 3:6 speaks of the wrath of God, which rests upon the disobedient. In the 1st chapter of Romans, this is enforced by these words: "For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Once we were children of wrath.
3. Ye walked, lived in them. Both of these expressions occur in Colossians 3:7. Think of a person who walks in the lustings of his flesh, and who lives environed in such things. Such was our sad lot before Christ found us. The fleshpots of Egypt, with their melons and garlic, were sweet to our taste. We, of yore, delighted in those grosser, viler things of impurity, which now we despise.
4. Ye now "put off" these things. All things are now new; old things are passed away. Shall we, therefore, still walk in the old ways? Shall anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication still dominate our lives? Shall we who have put off the old man, still lie one to another? God forbid! God hath not called us unto uncleanness but unto holiness.
V. THE NEW MAN (Colossians 3:10-11)
1. The new man is created of God.
2. The new man bears the image of Him who created him.
3. The new man recognizes no human classification.
1. The new man is created of God. We should recognize what God announces. He says we have put on the new man. Then He tells us that this "new man" is created. This is set forth in Colossians 3:10. It is quite as plainly stated in other Scriptures. Here is one in Ephesians 2:10 : "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." The same Epistle speaks of our old man, and our new man. It is written, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature."
The creation of a new man in Christ stands in contradistinction to the first creation in the Garden of Eden. The man that fell is now the "old man." The "new man" is a brand new creation of God; born, not of flesh, not of blood, not of the will of man, but of God.
2. The new man bears the image of Him who created him. In our first creation, we were created in the image of God. In our second creation, we bear the image of our Christ. The image we once bore was marred when sin came into the world, and when death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned. We now are created in His image; let us bear that image in our faces, and in our manner of living.
3. The new man recognizes no human classification. In the new man, there is neither Greek nor Jew, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free. We are neither of the uncircumcision, nor of the circumcision. We are not of Paul, not of Cephas, not of Apollos; we are of Christ. Our name is Christian, "Christ in." Would that the Church of Jesus Christ would arise in her new life, and refuse any name which tends to class distinction.
VI. WHERE CHRIST IS ALL IN ALL (Colossians 3:11, l.c.)
1. Christ is all in all in salvation.
2. Christ is all in all in the daily walk.
3. Christ is all in all in service.
4. Christ is all in all in the climax of our lives.
5. Christ is all in all in the great Forevermore.
1. Christ is all in all in salvation. The expression in Colossians 3:11 is most significant and most inclusive. We wish to observe several things where Christ is, indeed, our all in all. He is all in all in our salvation, because it is written: "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." If we would boast our faith, God answers, it is His gift. We could not save ourselves neither could we help to save ourselves.
2. Christ is all in all in the daily walk. To the extent that we trust in ourselves, we will fail. If we take our eyes off Christ and go to Egypt for help, we will be overcome. To walk worthy of Christ Jesus, it is necessary for Christ Jesus to walk in us.
3. Christ is all in all in service. He who thinks he can preach alone, trusting in His own wisdom or oratorical powers, will utterly fail. He who thinks he can serve in the home, in the Sunday School, in the Young People's work, in his own strength, will soon learn the truth of the statement, "Without Me ye can do nothing." When that statement is learned, then another may be realized, "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
4. Christ is all in all in the climax of our lives. Everything that we do, should head up in Christ. He should be the goal toward which we run. Whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever we do, all should be done to His glory. If we seek great things for ourselves, we seek in vain. If our life centers in selfish ambition, it will be a life wasted, and undone.
5. Christ is all in all in the great Forevermore. When we reach the Glory, the Lord Jesus will be the theme of our praise. The City of gold is the City where the Father and the Son are enthroned, and where their light is the City's illumination. In fact, the new earth will be lighted by the glory of that light, and God will be all in all.
VII. THE MARKS OF THE NEW LIFE (Colossians 3:12-15)
1. Things which we are to put on (Colossians 3:12).
2. Things we are to observe (Colossians 3:13).
3. The greatest of all these (Colossians 3:14).
1. Things which we are to put on (Colossians 3:12). Our key verse opens with the expression: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God." Then come the list of virtues in which we are to be arrayed. The beloved disciple addressed one as the "elect lady." Any elect lady, or any elect sir, must remember the royalty of his person. He is the son of God, as well as the elect of God.
He, therefore, should put on the raiment of mercy, and kindness, and humbleness of mind. He should put on meekness and long-suffering. He should forbear with others, forgive others. Above all, and over all of these, he should put on love which is the bond of perfectness.
If you will study the characteristics of the elect's wardrobe, you will find that none of them suggests anything that even approaches pride, or arrogancy, or self-sufficiency, because of one's standing in grace, as the elect of God.
2. Things which we are to observe (Colossians 3:13). Elect people should forbear one with another. They should forgive one another if any man have a quarrel against another. We remember the parable of the servant who was forgiven so great a debt; but who, in turn, refused to forgive a fellow servant of so meager a debt. The Lord of that servant thrust the unforgiving one into the prison, till he should pay all his due. Then we read the startling words: "So likewise shall My Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
3. The greatest of all these (Colossians 3:14). This verse reminds us of 1 Corinthians 13:13. In Corinthians it says, "The greatest of these is charity (love)." In Colossians 3:14 we read: "Above all these things put on charity (love)." The elect of God should love God. They should love their brethren. They should love a world lost in sin.
AN ILLUSTRATION
Christ must ever remain the all in all of the life and message of the believer.
A native preacher in south China was confronted by a man in his audience. "Why don't you preach something else?" he said. "You have been preaching this Jesus for three days."
"What do you eat for breakfast?" the Chinese preacher answered. "Rice," was the reply. "For dinner?" "Rice." "For supper?" "Rice." "What did you eat yesterday?" "Rice." "What have you been eating for years?" "Rice." "Why do you eat rice every day? Why don't you eat something else?" "Because it keeps me alive," said the man. The evangelist replied, "That is the reason we preach Christ, nothing but Christ. He brings us life and He is our life, and we could not live without Him.