Imperatives Of The Crucified Life – 1 | Discover the Book Ministries

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Imperatives of the Crucified Life – 1

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DSS-13

Colossians 3

Transcript

Let’s open our Bibles to the thirteenth chapter of the book of Acts. And as you turn there this morning, we are going to go into the application of what we’ve been learning. We’ve looked at David; we’re going to look at him again. We looked at Saul; we’re going to look at him again. And then we’re going to look at that underlying principle that was there and that is how we are to deal with sin in our lives, how we are to deal with our flesh, the traitorous old us that lives with us, trying to undermine and be terrorizing everything God wants to do in our lives.

But in Acts, starting in chapter 13 verse 36, I want you to remember with me again, when God wrote David’s epitaph, He said one thing very clearly in that thirty-sixth verse. David served the Lord. It says, and when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep, he was buried with his fathers, and his body decayed. The important part is there was a man that served God’s purposes in his generation, and that should make us, as we study this passage, want also to serve God’s purposes, because that’s all that really matters in eternity. Life on Earth comes down to one question every day. Who are we going to serve? Are we going to serve God’s purposes in our generation?

Now, as we turn back to Galatians 5, we look at the problem. Galatians chapter 5, so keep going to the right. We’re going to get to the seventeenth verse because serving God is what we were called to do, and a servant is what we were called to be, and salvation started that process. We were transferred from Satan’s dominion into God’s. We receive a new heart. It’s like a new operating system, new software to operate us. And that, of course, is the Lord, this new heart He gave us. He empowers us to serve Him. But the challenge, as we see in Galatians 5, is our new operating system, our new life in Christ has been put inside of some old hardware. That’s what we see this morning. Our bodies. The Lord saved the non-material eternal part of me, and I have a brand-new operating system, but it’s still in the old case, the old vehicle, the old hardware, and that’s where the tension comes. Galatians 5 talks about this body of ours is supposed to carry out the wishes of God but often doesn’t want to. Our minds entertain doubts and questions. We listen to our flesh, which is pouring out a constant stream of fears and cautions, anxieties and rebellions. That’s what the old package that we’re in, our old hardware, is doing all the time. Often, we’re paralyzed by indecision and uncertainties of what exactly we’re to do. And that’s what everyday life is like here on planet Earth. That’s why it’s so hard. We have this brand-new system, the Spirit of God prompting us, and we’re a new creation in Christ in this old package that is resistant.

God’s Word clearly warns us if we do not conquer our flesh by physical means, we cannot overcome the propensity we have, this constant inclination we have toward evil. We cannot overcome it by human effort, by our resolves, by us getting more religious activity, or by sheer willpower. Galatians 5 verse 17 says that the flesh is only conquered by the power of the cross worked out in our life by the Holy Spirit.

There is a war always brewing between our flesh and God’s Spirit within us, and that is the essence of what we have to consider practically this morning. What we’re going to do about it. This is what Paul says, verse 17, for the flesh. That’s the old me. That is what Romans 7 all the time, all the way through Paul kept saying, that which I would do, that I do not. And what I wouldn’t do, that I do. That I that was talking there was the old, his flesh, the old operating system, the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit, verse 17 says, against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another—there’s a constant tension there—so that you do not do the things that you wish. And that goes both ways. Sometimes we don’t do the things we wish we would do for the Lord, and sometimes we don’t do the things we wish we wouldn’t do. And it just is a constant tension back and forth of not doing what we wish. Flesh cannot defeat flesh. Resolves, promises, fighting, and striving in our own power will only lead us to further defeats. Remember, the Scriptures say, the arm of the flesh always fails us. It’s only by yielding to the power of Jesus Christ, as we see through His death and represented by His cross. And that’s what we’re going to look at this morning, the defeat of death, and sin, and Satan that Jesus accomplished once and for all. But to understand this, we went into a graphic example.

Now, turn back to 1 Samuel 15 because I want to show you one of God’s inspired pictures in the Old Testament. And remember, the Old Testament is like the picture book. In the old times, when they used to publish books and put in what they would call color plates or color engravings, they would put them all together because it was so expensive, and they would print the book in black ink on white, and then they’d stick right in the center of the book the pictures. And that, you would always have to be turning back and forth. Nowadays, they just put, people don’t like turning back and forth. They just put the pictures where they belong so you can see them. But in old fashioned, they put them together. The Old Testament is kind of like the picture section. It’s the illustrative part of all these New Testament truths. We see them in the Old Testament, lived-out examples, and that’s what Paul tells us to the Corinthians. He says, all the Old Testament was written for our examples, our typos, our types, so we can see an example.

In 1 Samuel 15 has an example in the life of Saul, and we’ve looked at him for several weeks. We saw repeatedly that the downfall of Saul started with his selective obedience. God told him specifically to do something, and he picked out the parts that were palatable to him. Kind of like a child eating dinner. They eat the things they like, and Saul obeyed the things he wanted to obey selectively. That was the beginning of his downfall, but his undoing is in chapter 15 and verse 3. It’s when he spared Agag. And we learned that if we want to waste our lives, just be like Saul, who kept the best of what God hated.

Now, this is a big picture because it’s a picture in the Scriptures of our flesh. Agag, as we saw last week, was around for, his family line through Esau was around for thousands of years, and they are a biblical picture type example to us of something that’s always with us, and that’s our flesh. Verse 3, this is what God said, now go and attack Amalek, utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. And then that’s enlarged upon… kill both man, woman, infant, nursing child, sheep, and camel, and donkey to God. Remember, the Amalekites were like a deadly poison, so is our flesh. Everything that flesh touches, it contaminates. And God says, I don’t want this contaminant. They were emitting dangerous spiritual radiation. They contaminated everything they came in contact with, so God gave them into Saul’s hand, and he wasn’t to spare even their livestock. Not even the animals were supposed to be breathing at the end of the day. Look down at verse 32. You remember, I’m not going to repeat the story, but Saul did spare the best. But worse than that, he didn’t just spare the best animals, and he didn’t just keep the best people as slaves. He kept their king, the embodiment of Amalek, the king of the Amalekites, like the biggest Amalekite of all. He kept him.

So, Saul, he’s confronted with something by God’s servant Samuel in verse 32. 1 Samuel 15:32, then Samuel said, bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me. Now, remember, Samuel was God’s man. Samuel was God’s instrument. He was like an instrument in the hands of God. He was empowered, energized, obedient to, fulfilling the will of God. And this is a very interesting picture for us of how when God wanted to do something, He couldn’t do it through this disobedient Saul, so He turns to His prophet, His man that He called from childhood. Remember, here am I, Lord, to Samuel when he was, the Lord saying, talking to him in the tabernacle. And that continued through Samuel’s life, and he was always that instrument. Now, look what happens. So Agag, verse 32 continues, came to him cautiously. He knew something was up. And Agag said, surely the bitterness of death is past. Isn’t this over? You’ve won. Come on, don’t be, don’t go overboard here.

And that’s kind of how we feel as Christians. We’re saved, and let’s not get too radical here. That’s our flesh talking. So, whenever you hear Agag, that’s what the flesh would say. Surely, you’ve changed enough. You don’t need to change anymore, right? Don’t get rid of anything else in your life. You won’t be happy. And so, verse 33, but Samuel said, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. That’s an interesting line. But this is the part that I want you to have vividly in your mind as we go through Colossians 3 this morning. And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces. Now, you want to know what that means in Hebrew? He hacked Agag in pieces. How’s that? Just what it says! It’s not, there’s not some deeper meaning. He just came in and just took that sword as an old man. Can you just imagine? What a sight! What a vivid picture that was in the presence of Saul and all of his mighty men. This old guy grabs a sword and just cuts up this man before them. Samuel was God’s man, His obedient instrument for that moment. And Samuel’s harsh actions toward Agag became an example of how we must deal with our flesh. That old, sinful, traitorous part of us that does antagonistic, terroristic warfare against the Spirit of God every day.

Now, as I’m telling you this, it reminds me back in the early 80s, I was a corporate salesman for American Home Products (AHP), and we launched. I’ll never forget, they flew us all into Dallas. I was working in California, and they flew us all into Dallas to be trained in how to sell Advil. It was being launched that summer. So, we all flew in all from every part of the country, and we went to this Amfac airport hotel, I don’t even know if it’s still there, in the middle of Dallas. And we took over the place, and they showed us Advil and gave us samples and told us what it was, a non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory, and da da da da. It was trying to target Tylenol’s grip on the market. But I remember it was just all fascinating stuff until in front of hundreds of people, they went, okay, you come on up here, you’re going to sell. I’m going to be a pharmacist; you’re going to sell. And I go [gasp]. I wasn’t listening! I was drinking my coffee! What’s going on? And that’s how most Christians feel. You sit here comfortably, we’re talking about hacking Agag, and you’re marking your Bible and everything. But tomorrow morning when Agag shows up, you go, I forgot what I was supposed to do. Me? Do something? I was just, I wasn’t listening. And see, that’s how we approach. This is so wonderful until we have to do something.

So, this morning we’re going to practice. Okay? Turn to Colossians 3 with me. And as you turn there, we’re going to read it in a minute. I want you to learn how, from the Scriptures, to deal with our old us. The message God left us from the failed life of King Saul is that Saul is a picture of one of God’s servants who suffered loss. Do you remember everything burned in 1 Corinthians 3:15? Let me underline in your heart and in your mind a sobering truth: any part of your old life that you spare will come back and rob you of your rewards. Any part of my old life that I spare and pick the best of what God’s hates and keep it for myself like Saul did, God said, destroy it all. Saul said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I want a few sheep, and I want the king as a trophy, and I want some other stuff. And any part of our old life we spare will rob us of God’s blessing, will remove His fruitfulness, and will steal our rewards. Any part of our flesh, like Agag, that we exempt from mortification. That’s the biblical word, mortification.

I’ve just flown you all into Dallas to the Amfac, and I’m going to explain mortification to you and then I’m going to call on you to do it, and that’s what the Christian life’s all about. So, don’t be drinking your coffee like I was 24 years ago in Dallas and got called on the carpet. Listen, okay, because this is what it’s all about. Any part of us we exempt from mortification will come back with a vengeance and slay us. All of our flesh, like the Amalekites, always comes to strike us down when we’re the weakest and rob us of our crown. And that’s the spiritual picture of 1 Samuel 15, which is explained in detail. In fact, 14 specific imperatives are in this little third chapter of the book of Colossians. The background is this, before we read verse 1, the battle was already won by Christ. The world, my flesh, and the devil were all defeated at the cross. We just need to believe and act upon that truth. How do we do that more regularly?

The first is a verse that we have memorized that should become our attitude. And I want you to see Colossians 3 through a verse I hope you have memorized, and that’s what Paul said to the Galatians. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God—now listen—who loved me and gave Himself for me. That’s the attitude we’re to have. The attitude of the life that we live victoriously for Christ is a life that’s based on an attitude that looks at the past. I have been crucified with Christ. It’s a past event. Jesus died 2000 years ago. Nevertheless, I live today in 2006. Yet it’s not me living anymore. It’s Christ living in me, and the life I’m living today I live by faith in that past event in the Son of God, who loved me—past—and gave—past tense—Himself for me.

And Colossians 3 is the action that flows from that attitude that we all know about. You’ve all heard about, I’m crucified with Christ. It’s just another truth we’ve tucked away. It’s another thing we heard. Nonsteroidal, anti-inflammatory. I picked it up. I can still remember what they told me 23 years ago, 24 years ago. I just didn’t know how to sell it because I wasn’t paying attention. I didn’t know what to tell the pharmacists. I didn’t know what to tell the people at the supermarket chains, why they even needed to stock Advil. And that’s the struggle we go through in life. We halfway know this stuff. We don’t know what to do with it. And so, that’s what brings us to Colossians 3, because when you and I prayed asking in simple faith for Christ to save us, whether we felt a strong emotional feeling or not, God began a work within us. I started changing from the inside out, and that’s what’s so true about Colossians 3’s imperatives. The imperatives are based on the reality of what Jesus accomplished.

Now, before I read this, give you a little history lesson. Jesus lived on this Earth, that’s history. Jesus died as a substitute for sin, that’s theology. Jesus died and took upon Himself my sins. Not ours, mine. That’s called salvation. A lot of people in our world operate at a historic level. Easter and Christmas people, they kind of show up at church twice a year, that they believe the history. Others are merely theological. They know the words. They know the stuff. Salvation comes when it has occurred to me that my sins are on Him. And because of that, Christ’s work on Calvary forever gives us the power and authority so we can stop anything that enslaves us and so we can start anything He asks us to do.

Do you understand that there is no gripping, life-dominating sin, or fear, or attitude, or enslaving habit in your life or mine that today Jesus Christ can’t liberate you from if you ask, if you believe? Nothing! It happens all the time. There are ministries all over this world that have people walking in one door utterly enslaved to any drug, or any fetish, or wickedness, or occultic power, and they walk out utterly liberated. We don’t see much of that because we don’t want to be too radical here in America these days, but that’s the power of God. There’s nothing we can do before our salvation that made us acceptable to God, and there’s nothing we do after our salvation that makes us acceptable to God. We were saved only by what Christ accomplished, that death. That’s why Paul said, I am crucified. Not I am today. I am crucified in the past; that’s a past event. And He loved me in the past and gave Himself for me in the past. And he says, I believe that one sacrifice forever has accomplished everything I need. As we’re saved only by the accomplishment of Christ’s sacrifice in the cross, so we live each day by faith, the same faith by which we were saved, and we always depend on Christ’s gracious death on the cross that not only saves us but changes us.

Let’s read Colossians 3, and I want you to read this chapter with me. We’re going to read all 25 verses. Would you stand together with me for the reading of God’s Word? Colossians chapter 3, and I’ll try and raise my voice or something when we get to all those imperatives, okay, so you can understand. Verse 1, if then you were raised with Christ, seek—there’s the first imperative—those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Verse 2, set—there’s the second imperative—your mind on things above, not on things on the Earth. For you died—past tense—and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore, verse 5—another imperative—put to death. I might add hack Agag to pieces. Okay? That’s the tie. Put to death your members which are on the Earth. Which ones? Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are—here’s another imperative—to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not—here’s another imperative—lie to one another. Don’t do that, he says, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on, verse 10, the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, nor free, but Christ is all in all.

Verse 12, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved—here’s another imperative—put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. Wow. Verse 14, but above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. Verse 15—the next imperative—and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Verse 16—another imperative—let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

Let’s keep reading. Verse 15. What a great verse to be on! And let the peace of God rule—that’s another imperative, rule, that’s the umpire—in our hearts, to which also we were called. And let, verse 16, the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Verse 17, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

And now the application starting in verse 18. Wives—here’s an imperative—submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. 19, husbands—another imperative commanded—to love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children, verse 20—another imperative—obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, verse 21—another imperative—do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. 22, bondservants—or speaking to us, all who are working for another, here’s an imperative—obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. Verse 23, and whatever you do—here’s the last imperative—do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. Whatever we do. Knowing, verse 24, that from the Lord you will receive the reward for the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.

Let’s pray for this Scripture. Father in Heaven, thank You for the third chapter of Colossians. As we read it, we continue trusting You for Your grace, for Your wisdom. And I pray that this morning that we will understand and be able to put into practice what Your Word says, that we would fulfill what You command us to do because You wouldn’t ask us to do what You wouldn’t empower us to do. And if we are to turn away, and to mortify, and to put to death in our bodies bad things, then I pray we might learn how to do that today. And if we are to clothe ourselves and put on love, and humility, and graciousness, and gentleness, then I pray that we would do that, likewise by Your grace. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

And you may be seated. I want to go through this list with you because I want you to see this chapter is built around 14 imperative commands. Remember, God never commands me to do what He hasn’t already given me the grace to accomplish. It’s me obeying and yielding to His Spirit, so just keep that in mind. I want to walk through the chapter with you. I want you to see what Paul relates to us from the Lord, and then I want to pause and do this. This is what I wasn’t paying attention to in Dallas 24 years ago. What I wasn’t paying attention to was that they had kept stopping the meeting and they said, okay, if you meet a pharmacist, and the pharmacist said, we already have acetaminophen. What do I need ibuprofen for? You say this, and you tell them that it’s less damaging to this, or it’s more helpful for that, or it’s more, it will affect other parts of the body that are needed. Those little clues I wasn’t listening to, and so I didn’t know how to sell it. These truths were written for us to know how when our flesh rises up, how we’re supposed to respond instead of defeat, discouragement, doubt, despair, thinking I’m always going to be this way.

This is what Paul says. First of all, if then, or since, you were raised with Christ—here’s an imperative—seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. How do I do that? Okay, now let’s do the application. Because of Christ’s death for my sins, because of the work of salvation, because of the cross, because what Christ accomplished for me, I can now seek and do what pleases God. Now, I want you to practice because some of you I know haven’t yet. But looking at verse 1 there, seek those things which are above. What we do is we learn to ask the Lord consciously to do this. Someone asked me recently, he said, why do you have us read the whole chapter of the Bible? We have our own copy of the Bible, and the service is not very long. Why do you have us read a whole chapter? I said, because I know there are some people who are here today that Colossians 3 was the first verse they read this week. Life was too full. Too much was going on. They had so much happening, and so this is a conscious effort for us to get the Word of God. And as we do this, this morning, this first verse, I’d like you to do this for just a moment. Bow your heads and close your eyes, and I’d like you to do this right now. I want you to look to the Lord from your heart and say, Lord Jesus, today, I want You to help me to seek things above. Now, did you hear what I just said? Have you said that to the Lord lately? Close your eyes and in your heart, look to the Lord and say, Lord, I want You to help me seek things above. In other words, I want You to get my mind on things in Heaven. Now, did you say that to the Lord? Did you ask Him to do that? Did you know that through the power of the cross He’ll do that? Now look up. Let me talk to you about that. Did you know that so much in the Bible we never transfer from right here to a conscious choice? So much in our life is just thought about. It’s just read about. It’s not ever acted upon.

Look at the second verse because I want you to do this again. Verse 2, set your mind on things above, not on things on the Earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. In God. Verse 4, and when Christ who is our life appears, then you will appear with Him in glory. The biggest problem we have, the battleground spiritually, is our mind. In 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, the Apostle Paul says that we are to cast down imaginations, things that cause our mind to travel off into other things. We have so many thoughts this morning. It’s so easy for our minds to just go off, and we leave where we are.

It kind of reminds me of the first morning after I was married. I was at Hotel Syracuse after being a corporate salesman at that time. I was sitting across the table from beautiful Bonnie. There was a Wall Street Journal sitting on the table, and the first thing I did is I popped it open and started reading it. Our first breakfast together married, and I heard sniffling. And I put my paper down, and I looked at her. You know what I thought about? I am never going to read the paper at breakfast again because I was totally distracted from the moment.

Verse 2, look at this. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the Earth. For you died. Because of Christ’s death from my sins, I can now turn my mind to the Lord’s channel, and I can really experience Him. Now, you want to try that right now? And look what it says. Because of Christ’s death for my sins, I can set, verse 2—that’s a command—my mind on things above. That is a conscious choice. So, I invite you to do this with me, and I’m going to go a step further. Bow yourself before the Lord, and I want you to say to the Lord out loud, right where you’re sitting, Lord, set my mind on things above. Okay, just say it to Him as a prayer out loud. Lord, set my mind on things above. And Father, I pray You’d hear us, that it wouldn’t be a mere recitation of words, but that we would realize that if You command us to do something, we should respond, and we should realize that You will do and You will not ask us to do anything that you aren’t already standing by to accomplish in us. And Lord, it’s just our willingness. And truly You can move our minds to be set on the channel above so we know Your will, and so we walk with You. Thank You, Lord.

Look back down now at verse 5 because I want to continue with this. And by the way, there are 14 of these, and we’re going to continue them tonight. Look at verse 5, therefore put to death your members which are on the Earth. What Paul is saying is put every part of yourself, which is against God. Remember Amalekites and Agag? Those, that entire nation was in opposition to God. They were in opposition to God way back at the beginning of the Exodus. They continued in opposition to God the whole time of Israel living in the land. They massed themselves against Israel and fought against them, and Saul destroyed most of them, but he left some of them. And so, they’re against the people of God all the way to the last chronological period, which is the time of Esther in the captivity time. All the way through that time, the Amalekites are against them. So, put to death every part of yourself which is against God and keeps you from fulfilling His will, is what Verse 5 says.

This is the same expression as in Romans 8:13. Paul said the same thing. I’ll read it to you. If you live according to the flesh, you’ll die, but Romans 8:13 says, if you live by the Spirit, you will put to death the deeds of the body and live. Now, see, we’re usually driven by our feelings, not by truth. Not by our spirits, by our minds. We’re driven by our feelings, and so we don’t feel these things are happening, and so we don’t even, we just give up even asking. But this line of thought is the same as what Jesus said in Matthew 5. He says, if you have a hand that offends you, cut it off, a foot, cut it off, tear out your eye if it’s leading you to sin. Now, is He being a self-mutilation-ist? No! He’s saying that anything that stands in the way of seeing God, knowing God, obeying God, that we say no to! Now, how do we do that? There must be in our life, a radical transformation of our will, a shift of the center of our being away from our members, and our body, and our flesh having their way.

I’ve told you many times when I used to travel to conferences with John MacArthur. His habit back then was he would eat his steak, and he’d cut to that centerpiece that’s just perfect, medium rare, just pink and everything, and the tenderest piece. He would leave that sitting on his plate. And I’d say, John, didn’t your parents tell you that there are people starving in India? He said, yes. He said, I leave that piece there as a reminder to my body that my body is not running the show, that I can say no to my appetites.

Paul is saying that. He says, I want you to fully surrender to Christ and bring any part of your body to the Great Physician to have Him surgically excise it. That’s what it says, put to death your members. What it means is if I had cancer in this finger right here, I would have a choice, either let that cancer go throughout my body, or what? Remove it. If there’s a part of my life that is leading me to sin, I go to the Great Physician, and I say, put to death. I don’t want my eyes, I don’t want my ears, I don’t want my mouth leading me to sin. I don’t want, and by the way, what are the members he lists off for us? Fornication, uncleanness, passion. See the list that he writes? Evil desire and covetousness, and he says, I want you to put those to death. So how do we do this? Think through the same process, and I want you to do it with me this morning in prayer. Because of Christ’s death from my sins, I can now go to my Great Physician, and He will surgically remove any tumor of sin that kills my walk with God.

Now, just before we do it, I was at the eye doctor, and he was doing something. And he looked up, and he said, there’s a little something over there by your eye. I said, yeah, it bothers me a little bit. And so, he wrote down, he says, you need to go see the surgeon right away. Go see the surgeon. So, I went to see the surgeon. The surgeon looked at it and he said, that’s deeper than the skin. And so, here I am laying and hear scraping on the bones! They cut me all open. They were scraping down there. He said, we have to go to the very root of this and get every bit of it out and send it off and look at it. And I thought, I could have said, I don’t care. It’s okay. It doesn’t bother me. Or I could have them do something about it. Did you know if you want God to operate in your life, you don’t just sit and listen to the Bible reading and say, uh-huh, yep, ah, that’s true, there’s something there. You go to the, I had to make an appointment with the surgeon. I had to go there, and I think the needle was that long. They stuck right in my, made me sick, just, I had to close my eyes. I didn’t want to watch this because you’re awake the whole time! But I had to make the appointment. I had to lay down. I had to say yes. He asked me about five times, you sure you want me to do this? Are you sure? Will you sign this? Do you know that this and this and this and this, it all, I, everything was going to kill me on that list of things I had to sign. It said you might get gangrene. You might get this; you might have this. It might poke through into your, lose your sight. And Bonnie was sitting there, she says, are you sure you want to do this? After they got all done, and I said, yeah, I guess so. I’m here and I already had my coffee, I’m ready, let’s go. Or I could have sat home and thought about it for five years and let it grow.

That’s what we, look at verse 5, and we won’t get any further than this this morning. Therefore, put to death your members. Because of Christ’s death for my sins, I can now make an appointment with my Great Physician, and He will surgically remove any tumor of sin that kills my walk with God. Now, do you want the Lord to remove anything that impedes your walk with Him? We’re commanded to do this. Jesus is standing by. He has an appointment. He’s ready. The Great Physician is willing to do surgery on our hearts this morning. What do we do? We say, Lord Jesus, right now, I want You to kill these evil desires in my life, whether they be sexual immorality. Did you know that’s always first or second in every sin list? There are 13 sin lists in the New Testament. Lists of sins, 13 of them. Fornication or sexual immorality is either number one or number two in every list. Do you know why? Because the reality is that is a struggle that the church in Corinth went through and that the church in America is going through.

In fact, I just read an essay from a prominent pastor on the West Coast that said the recent homosexual movie, Broke Back Mountain. He said it should have been named Broke Back Nation. He said, and I haven’t seen the movie, don’t go to homosexual movies, but he said that movie is an analysis of our broke back nation who lusts instead of loves. Sexual immorality is around us. It’s seeping in if we don’t ask the Lord to constantly be dealing with it. It’s like skin cancer. You and I are exposed to the harmful UV constant radiation, and we’re going to contract skin cancer. And if we don’t have the Lord surgically remove from our hearts, and our minds, and our eyes, and our body those things that start growing in us, this lust, then it will destroy our walk with Him. Uncleanness, we’re surrounded by filth. We have to have Him scrape it off. Passion or lust, evil desires, verse 5 continues, and covetousness, which is idolatry, which is probably the most pervasive. It’s even more present than sexual immorality is. Greed is driving our nation and so many people’s decisions.

To close this morning, I’d like you to bow your heads with me, and I want you to look up at the Lord from your heart and say to Him, Lord Jesus, right now, I want You to kill these evil desires in my life. And you and He know which ones are there. Fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness. Say to Him, I want You to kill these evil desires. I want to not have them growing, and I don’t want them impeding and killing my walk with You. So, right where you’re sitting, talk to him. You can whisper to Him if your mind wanders, you can actually be mumbling. No one will think anything’s wrong with you. And ask Him to do that, and then we’ll close in just a moment with a little hymn of consecration. Just take a moment and ask Him. Father, thank You that we can hear truth, but You’ve command us to do something about it. And I pray that we would begin right now to put to death, to make an appointment with You as often as needed. We’re not ashamed to call our doctor every time we have a problem. May we never be ashamed to call You, O Great Physician. You’ve commanded us to put to death our flesh, and if You commanded us, You are standing by. You’ll come quicker than they did. You will be here in a millisecond. You are with us always, and You will put to death that evil desire, that greed for more, that uncleanness or filthiness, or whatever it is. And it’s all because that You already gave Yourself for us. Let us practice that. Open our hearts to that truth as we walk through the rest of this chapter tonight. Let us live it. Let us participate in Your truth. In the name of Jesus, we pray, amen.

Let’s take our hymn books, and I want you to look with me at number 203. We’re not going to sing it, we’re going to say it, 203. So, put down your Bibles, and get to number 203. And I want you to read this with me, and when you get it, let’s stand up, and let’s talk about the cross, and we’ll pick up tonight. 203, let’s read this together. And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me? One thing you should think about this morning. You should be the worst sinner that you know. I don’t know what sins you all commit. Now, a few of you now and then, I pray with you, but I don’t really know what’s going on. I don’t even know all the bad stuff my children do because we’re so deceitful, we hide so much. But boy, I’m aware of whose sins? And whose sins are you quite aware of? Your own. And so, when you think about this, don’t think about Saddam Hussein’s or Milošević that just died, or whatever happened to him. Think about me. It’s my sins I’m painfully aware of.

Second stanza, He left His Father’s throne above, so free, so infinite His grace; emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam’s helpless race; ’tis mercy all immense and free; for, O my God, it found out me. Verse 3, long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee. No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him is mine! Alive in Him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine, bold I approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown, through Christ my own. And now the refrain, amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me!

Let’s bow once more. Lord, may we never forget that we are to obey You and put to death and hack Agag to pieces in our life. I pray that some true choices, willful conscious decisions in the privacies of our wills were made today, and that we would continue that tonight, and that we would live the crucified life with You, O Christ, but we still live. But it’s no longer us who live, but Christ who lives in me because You loved me and gave Yourself for me. We thank You in the precious name of Jesus Christ, and all God’s people said, amen.

Notes

Do you remember when God wrote David’s epitaph He said one thing very clearly— David served the Lord. Turn there with me again to Acts 13:36.

Acts 13:36 “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. NIV

As we saw when we studied this passage, serving God’s purpose is all that really matters in eternity; life on earth comes down to one question—who we are going to serve?

Serving God is what we were called to do, and a servant is what we are called to be. Salvation starts the process as we are transferred from Satan’s dominion and into God’s. We receive a new heart (software for our operating system) and are empowered to serve the Lord.

But the challenge is that this new operating system, our new life in Christ, is carried on through our old vehicle (or hardware). This body of ours is supposed to carry out the wishes of God—but often doesn’t want to. Our mind entertains doubts and questions. We listen to our flesh that pours out a constant stream of fears, cautions, anxieties, and rebellions. Often we are paralyzed by indecision and uncertainties of what exactly it is we are to do. That is everyday life on planet earth this side of Heaven.

God’s Word clearly warns us that we do not conquer our flesh by physical means— human resolve, self-effort, religious activity, or sheer will power.

The flesh is only conquered by the power of the cross worked out in our life by the Holy Spirit. There is a war always brewing between our flesh and the Spirit of God within us. One of the clearest descriptions of that warfare is in Galatians 5, turn there next with me please.

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. NKJV

Flesh can’t defeat flesh. Resolves, promises, fighting and striving in our own power only leads to further defeats–it is only by yielding to the power of the cross. And what is the power of the cross? It is the defeat of death, sin, and Satan that Jesus accomplished once for all time when He died on the cross.

Remember our study of the life of Saul these past few weeks? We saw repeatedly that the downfall of King Saul started with his selective obedience. But his undoing was when he spared Agag. We learned that if we want to waste our lives just be like Saul who kept only the best–of what God hated.

Remember when we started our look at Saul the first king of Israel. I explained that God rejected him for disobeying a very clear command. Then I read the actual orders God gave him. Turn their again with me please.

1 Samuel 15:3 Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’ ” NKJV

To God the Amalekites were a deadly poison that had to be dealt with; they were emitting dangerous spiritual radiation that would contaminate all that came into contact with them. So when God gave them into Saul’s hand he wasn’t to even spare their livestock – every one and every thing was to be destroyed. But Saul and his men went through that which God hated and saved the best.

1 Samuel 15:32-33 Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33 But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

Samuel was God’s man, His obedient instrument for that moment—and Samuel’s harsh action towards Agag is an example of how we must deal with the flesh, that old sinful part of us that remains.

Let me repeat the message God has left us from the failed life of King Saul. Saul is a picture of one of God’s servants who suffers loss. Let me underline in your heart and mind this sobering truth–any part of our old life that we spare will come back and slay us and rob us of God’s blessing, fruitfulness, and rewards.

o Any part of our flesh (like Agag) that we exempt from mortification will come back with a vengeance and slay us. o All of our flesh (like the Amalekites) always comes to strike us down when we are weakest – and then rob us of our crown.

The battle was already won by Christ, the world, my flesh and the Devil were all defeated at the cross–and we just need to believe and act upon that truth! How do we do that more regularly?

Two passages explain this truth. The first the attitude we need, and second the action we need to take. We need to repeat, reaffirm, and remember over and over again that the past work of Christ’s death on the cross saved me and keeps me. Listen to Paul in Galatians 2 as he sets forth the attitude we are to have.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ (past event–justification); it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (present event-sanctification); and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God (present event-sanctification), who loved me and gave Himself for me (past event-justification). NKJV

Notice the sandwich type presentation. The past work of Christ on the cross secured my salvation in the present and offers my sanctification in the present, based on the past work of Christ’s cross.

How did I get saved? By trusting, believing, clinging to the truth that Jesus Christ took my sins, and stood in my place and bore the punishment of God’s wrath I deserved. The guiltless One took my guilt; the sinless One took my sin; the Holy One took my wretchedness and on and on I could go.

But did I see Him there personally? No, it was by what? Yes, faith.

I believed the truth of God’s Word and God changed me forever. The same way we were saved is the same way we live the rest of our lives.

Was I saved because I completely understood the Gospel? No, I am still understanding more and shall until glory!

Was I saved because I felt that God saved me? No because sometimes I feel that He couldn’t have because I am so unworthy and sinful—does that un-save me? NO.

So apply that faith that you and I have for the work of Christ on the cross in our place and apply it now to the rest of our walk.

Now join me in Colossians 3, as we see the action we must take to live the life of killing our flesh, mortifying our flesh—and living the crucified with Christ life!

Now, in simple faith that saved you repeat that to yourself. (Just like my old pastor John MacArthur always used to tell us ‘preach the Gospel to yourself!’) Say something like this:

Even if I do not feel it, understand it, or even at times want it I WILL by faith, believing YOU consider myself dead to sin. Or in times of need, “Lord I operate on what I know is true, you have made me dead to sin.”

When I truly prayed, asking in simple faith for Christ to save me—whether I felt a strong emotional feeling or not, God began His work within me. I started changing from the inside out. The same is true with these imperatives.

Jesus lived—that’s history.
Jesus died—that’s theology.
Jesus died for me and took my sins upon Himself on the Cross—that’s salvation.
Jesus died for me to live through Him—that’s sanctification.

And Christ’s work on Calvary forever gave us the power and authority so we can stop anything that enslaves us and so that we can start anything He asks us to do!

Just as there is nothing we can do before our salvation to make us accepted by God; and there is nothing we can do after our salvation that makes us acceptable to God.

As we were saved only by the accomplishment of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross—so we live each day ‘by faith’ (the same faith by which we were saved). We are always dependent upon Christ’s gracious death upon the cross that saves and keeps us!

Please stand with me to read Colossians 3:1-25, one of the greatest chapters in God’s Word and one of the clearest presentations of crucified living–and pray.

This chapter is built around 14 imperative commands. Remember that God never commands me to do what He hasn’t already given me the grace to accomplish by faith through His Spirit!

Let’s walk back through this chapter, see what Paul relates to us from the Lord, and then pause and ASK the Lord to unleash these powerful spiritual qualities in our lives today.

If then you were raised with Christ,

seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

[Because of Christ’s death for my sins—I can now seek and do what pleases God. Close your eyes, look up at the Lord and say, Lord Jesus today I want You to help me seek things above!]

v. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

[Because of Christ’s death for my sins—I can now turn my mind to the Lord’s channel and really experience Him. Close your eyes, look up at the Lord and say, Lord Jesus right now I want You to set my mind on things above!]

v. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth:

Paul is saying is, “Put to death every part of your self which is against God and keeps you from fulfilling his will.” He uses the same expression in Romans 8:13: “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.” It is exactly the same line of thought as that of Jesus when he demanded that a man should cut off a hand or a foot, or tear out an eye when it was leading him into sin (Matthew 5:29, 30). The Christian must kill self-centeredness and regard as dead all private desires and ambitions. There must be in his life a radical transformation of the will and a radical shift of the center. Anything which would keep him from fully obeying God and fully surrendering to Christ must be brought to the Great Physician to be surgically excised.

[Because of Christ’s death for my sins—I can now go to my Great Physician and He will surgically removed any tumor of sin that kills my walk with God. Close your eyes, look up at the Lord and say, Lord Jesus right now I want You to kill these evil desires in my life.]