9 July 2023 PM – Colossians 3:4-7 – Col23 – Scott Childs
Introduction: When I was in Bible College, one of the things that I feared was getting to class and having forgotten to do my assignment or having not remembered there was going to be a quiz. Being unprepared is a terrible feeling. Can you imagine how terrible it will be if you are unprepared to enter heaven?
Transition: In our text this evening, Paul gives several instructions that can help you prepare for heaven.
Paul’s first preparation instruction is to …
1. Remember, Christ is your life.
a. He gave you physical life.
1) We have learned in our Biblical Worldview study that all life must come from an eternal life-giver.
2) The Bible assures us that God is that life-giver.
3) Because God gave you life, you ought to live subject to his wishes.
b. He also gave you spiritual life.
1) If you have repented and trusted Christ for salvation from hell, He has given you a new spiritual life.
2) John also emphasised this in his books. Turn to (John 14:6) “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 20:31) “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” (1 John 5:12) “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.“
3) The believer’s new life in Christ was on Paul’s mind. Believers are raised with Christ (Col 2:12). They are quickened (made alive) together with Christ (Col 2:13). As a believer, your life is hid with Christ in God (Col 3:3).
4) We see here in verse 4 that not only did Christ give us new life, He IS our life. This reminds us of Paul’s words in (Galatians 2:20) “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Because Christ is our life, we do not have the right to live our life as we please.
Paul’s second preparation instruction is to …
2. Be assured that Christ IS returning.
a. He shall appear!
1) The word Paul used here literally means to be made manifest or visible.
2) We believe that the Bible teaches the pre-tribulation, imminent return of Christ to take believers to heaven.
b. Scripture promises Christ’s return for believers.
1) (John 14:1-3) “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.“
2) (Acts 1:11) “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.“
3) (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17) “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.“
4) (Philippians 4:5) “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.“
5) (Jude 1:21) “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.“
Paul’s third preparation instruction is to …
3. Know that you will appear with Him in glory.
a. This is a fact.
1) Christ will take all believers to glory.
2) Glory is a description of heaven. (Romans 3:23) “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;“
b. His emphasis is on the soberness of the fact.
1) In the first three verses (Col 3:1-3), God commanded us to seek those things which are above and set our affection on things above. We are to pursue and to focus on the pure and holy qualities of God, and strive to live pure and holy for God’s glory.
2) Now, Paul reminds us that we will appear with Christ in glory, and we had better be prepared. Jude speaks of garments spotted by the flesh (Jude 1:23). No thinking Christian wants to have his or her life spotted by the filth of this world when Christ leads him or her into glory.
3) The embarrassment of being unprepared for visitors or forgetting to wash your face and comb your hair before going out, is minor compared to being unprepared to suddenly enter God’s glory.
Paul’s fourth preparation instruction is to …
4. Stop doing things that anger God.
a. We are to kill old fleshly deeds (v.5).
1) If you truly repented of your sins and died with Christ, then you must also put to death the sins of your earthly, physical body members.
2) Paul highlights five such sins.
a) Fornication – sexual immorality
b) Uncleanness – impurity or an unclean mind
c) Inordinate affection – filthy lustful passions
d) Evil concupiscence – evil desires for the forbidden
e) Covetousness, which is idolatry – wanting more than God has given you. In this context, it may refer to sexual cravings (e.g., porn, an improper touch, or a different spouse). Why is coveting idolatry? __ It is wanting more than God has given, and it is worshipping that instead of worshipping God.
3) God commands us to kill all such sinful activities and desires. They must die! The battle with sexual sins has never been greater than it is today. The devil is using the Internet and other media to make it easy to corrupt the mind with lust. Many good men have fallen to lust. Porn addiction is pandemic, even among Christians. Men, if you do not have a secure filter on every Internet device you own, you are flirting with sexual temptation. Each of your children needs internet filters on all of his devices as well. Wives, you ought to be the caretakers of the filter passwords. I use Qustodio and it works great. It blocks access to sites according to selected categories or specific sites. It sends a report to the password holder of all activity. Peace!
b. Know that such sinful things anger God (v.6).
1) All sexual and lustful sins anger God. Sodom and Gomorrah are examples of this. Cf., 1Co 5:1-11; 1Co 6:9; Gal 5:19-21; 1Th 4:3; Heb 13:4.
2) Those who participate in sexual and lustful sins will receive the wrath of God for their rebellious disobedience. To the Ephesian church Paul wrote, (Ephesians 5:3) “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;“
3) The “wrath of God” speaks of God’s judgment, whether in this life or the next. Neither the text, the context nor cross references clearly identify the “children of disobedience”. Whether they are unbelievers or sinful believers, they will endure God’s judgment for their sins. Jesus promised that true believers will never perish (John 10:28), so we know this is not saying that a sinful Christian will lose salvation.
c. Such sinful things are part of the old walk (v.7).
1) Many believers participated in these sins before coming to Christ.
2) Though you may have once lived in such sins, you must put them to death in your new life with Christ.
Conclusion: If Christ is your life, one day, He will appear to take you to glory. You will suddenly appear with Him in glory. Will you be prepared? If you have any ungodly sins to put to death, now is the time to do it. Do not wait! To stand unprepared before God in glory would be dreadful.
