We were dead in our sins; we were dead in our trespasses in the sins as it said in Ephesians 2 in the parallel passage. But that we’ve been resurrected together with Christ for that we are risen with Christ. Now go back if you would to Romans Chapter no 8. Now let me show you this in Romans. This is something that the Bible talks about a lot about in the New Testament. The fact that when we got saved our spirit was regenerated; our spirit was quickened or brought to life. Basically we have The Body, the Soul and the Spirit. And before we are saved our spirit is dead in trespass and sins. The moment that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ our spirit is quickened. Our spirit is resurrected. But our body is not changed at that time. For example, when u get saved there is no physical change that undergoes your body. Your body your flesh is not any different but your spirit is different your spirit is has been regenerated has been resurrected not the body.
Look at Romans Chapter 8, the Bible says in verse 10
“And if Christ be in you, though the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He either raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.”
So what is He saying there in verse 10, the body is dead but the spirit is life but we believe by faith that one day the body will also be resurrected. The body will also be quickened or regenerated in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So let me explain to you this way when you got saved your spirit is saved, your spirit is quickened but your body is not yet saved, your body is not yet changed what so ever. That change will take place and what the Bible calls The First Resurrection, or what we often refers to as the Rapture when Christ comes in the clouds and in a moment into a twinkle of an eye we shall be changed. Now the Bible says we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, meaning that there will be some people who do not die physically before the Rapture. Some people will be alive and they will remain until the coming of the Lord they will be changed in the moment of a twinkle of an eye, but just before that the dead in Christ will rise first they will also be changed, the Bible says that He will change our vile body that in maybe fashioned like under his glorious body according to the working where by his able to evenly subdue all things and do himself.
Look how later in Chapter 8, there it says in verse 23
“And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body”
So the redemption of our body has not yet taken place, we are waiting for that; we are waiting for that spirit of adoption where our body is redeemed. So has our spirit been redeemed? Has the body been redeemed? That is going to happen at the Rapture or the First Resurrection, isn’t that right? Okay has our body been saved? No, the Spirit has been saved; okay. Has our body been quickened, or resurrected or regenerated? No the Spirit has been, the body has not, okay. That is why we have to struggle within us between the flesh and the spirit, the flesh is also known as the old man.
Just flip back one page to Chapter 6 in Romans, ‘the flesh is the old man’ and to help you understand who the old man is, it’s the person that you were before you got saved. Unsaved people are a certain way, when you get saved there is a changed that takes place because the Bible says
“there forth any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold old things are become new, so something changes when we get saved, what is it that changes? Is it our flesh that changes? No, only our Spirit changes, we have the first fruits of the spirit. Now will our body eventually be changed? Yes, that’s what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15,
“We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed.”
In a moment to twinkle of an eye, that is known as in Romans 8 as the redemption of our body that happens later, so at this time we have still the old man, when you got saved God did not change the old man. He did not change the flesh, the person that you were before you got saved, the carnal man, the fleshly man, the old man, the unsaved person that you were, He did not change that person. What He did was He created a brand new creature. That is different he did not change the old creature, He created a new creature, okay. Our spirit is a new creature; the flesh is still the old man, still the old creature, still the same as before you were saved. But now there is this new nature, there is the new man that’s also there. That’s why we also have a choice as believers, whether we are going to walk in the old man, and be the same as we were before we were saved, or whether we are going to walk in the new man and be completely different than we were before we got saved.
Now a lot of people would say, well you know if I look at somebody’s life and I don’t see a change that means that person is not really saved. But wait a minute that could just mean that they are walking in the flesh. Because the old man does not change, so if I look at somebody who has supposedly gotten saved they have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, they have said that they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and they have that testimony and they can clearly articulate that they believe on Christ, but I look at their life style and I say their life has not changed, that does not mean that person is not saved, it could mean that they are still walking in the flesh. Because let me just emphasize this if you walk in the flesh you will be identical to the way you were before you were saved. It’s the old man he does not change he cannot change, the carnal mind is enmity against God and the Bible says that the carnal mind cannot be brought into subjection to the laws of God.
In order to obey the laws of God, in order to please God we must walk in the spirit, we must put on the new man. They that are in the flesh, the Bible says cannot please God, okay? it’s that simple now I could give you the examples of many people and many people in this room would be perfect examples of a person who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, but didn’t not had a lot of changes in their life right away, does not mean they were not saved what it means is that they were walking in their flesh they had not put on the new man, they had not put on Lord Jesus Christ. now just think about this for a moment, if a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, calls upon the name of the Lord as their savior, and then does not go to church, does not read their Bible and does not sing the hymns, why are we surprised if that person is just like they were before they were saved?
Because they are clearly going to be on the flesh, if they are not reading their Bible not going to Church not hearing the preaching, not doing any praying and not singing any Hymns why would they be filled with the Spirit, why are u even expecting them to put on the new man or to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course they are walking in the flesh so of course they are going to be the same way that they were before they were saved, and that’s why there are many people that you will meet who for maybe 2 years or 4 years or 10 years or 15 years after they got saved did not grow at all, did not have a change in their life at all, they had changed in their spirit, they had changed in their believes but their life is the same, why? Because they are walking in the flesh, and let me tell you something, anyone of us if we became backslidden and we stopped sowing to the spirit and we stopped reading our Bible, stopped praying, stopped singing the Hymns, stopped attending church, we will backslide to the exact person we were before we were saved, it’s not going to be any different, well to be a reformed version, no we won’t. You cannot reform the old man, the old man is the old man.
God cannot do anything with him that is why he created a new creature, so now we have the choice, walk in the old man, or walk as the new man, walk in the flesh or walk in the Spirit, put on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Bible says, that if we walk in the Spirit that we will not obey the laws of the flesh, but if we walk in the flesh we will obey the laws of the flesh. Okay, so look at roman 6 in verse 6 the Bible says that
”knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence forth we should not serve sin for he that is dead it is freed from sin”
Jump down to Verse 11
“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord”
Now this is kind of a deep passage but the same thing is being taught in Chapter 6 and Chapter 8 of Romans. Go back to Colossians and you will see it there in Colossians Chapter 3 and what is being taught here is that before we are saved our Spirit is dead our flesh is very much alive. We are completely ruled by the flesh we live in the flesh, that is all there is. But when we get saved now we have the new man, the Spiritual man the new creature in Christ and now we have a choice. Are we going to walk in the flesh the old man or we going to walk in the spirit the new man.
Well, here is the thing. What the Bible teaches is that because we have this conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, the Bible says the flesh lusted against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and this are contrary the one to the other so you cannot do the things that you would. What we have to do each day is we basically have to die to the old man or die to self or mortify the old man. Now we hear the word mortify we think of what a mortuary or a mortician, right? When the Bible says to modify the old man, it’s saying basically he has to be put to death every day, so that we can walk in the new man, so that we can walk in newness of life. For example the apostle Paul said I die daily, okay. Jesus Christ said that ‘if any man will come after me let Him deny himself and take up his clause daily and follow me’.
Look down at Colossians Chapter 3
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on the things above, not on the things on the earth.”
Watch this.
“For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth fornication uncleanness inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry. For which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience. In the which ye also walk some time when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him”.
So the new man is in the image of Jesus Christ. We need to put off the old man and put on the new man and this is something that needs to happen again and again. It is not something that just happens one time. You got saved and it is done, wrong. This is daily and that’s why He is saying here, ‘ye are dead’ in verse 3. He used a lot of past tense, as if they have already mortified the flesh. because he says in verse 3 ye are dead and then He also says in verse 7 in the which time ye also ‘walked’ past tense, sometimes when ye lived in them, but now ye also put off all these things, those are all past tense like you have already put off all this, you are already dead. But then he is also using a future tense ‘mortify do this going forward’. so it is not enough that you have done it in the past you also have to do it going forward okay it’s a daily thing deny self daily, take up the cross and follow him, Paul said “I die daily”. we put off the old man daily, we mortify the members of our uncleanness daily, we put on the Lord Jesus Christ that we make not provisions for the flesh daily. Not a onetime thing and definitely not automatic because you are saved. If this were automatic, if it were just for everybody who is saved, they will automatically walk into new man, automatically put off all this things, then why is he commanding use to put them off?
Why is ye over and over again saying for example in Romans 13
“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lesser”
And just before that he said
“Put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of Light,”
Look this is something that we need to make a conscious effort to do its not automatic. so to sit there and say what if a person is saved they and just automatically going to have all this dramatic change in their life, and if they did not have that dramatic change they are not saved. No it just means that they are not obeying this passage, and all the other passages they tell you to walk in the Spirit and not walk in the flesh.
Now are there people who say they are saved and they really are not? Of course there are. Are there people who we think are saved and later turned out not to be? Of course, But to teach that there must be a dramatic life change is to insinuate works salvation. Because then they would start leaning towards this philosophy that says ‘well if you are not doing the works you are not really saved’.
You know people have always tried to use logic and rationale to teach work salvation when the Bible clearly says that salvation is not of works. The same answers to both. We were talking to a Jehovah's Witness today on soul winning and she said ‘well, you know if you believe in Christ aren’t going to obey him, aren’t going to do the commandments?
This type of logical arguments, they are just not Biblical, because Biblically speaking, no you might believe in Christ and continue living in flesh. there are many people in examples of that both in scripture and outside of scripture, and in our day to day lives. But anyway let’s back up now so we understand the gist of versus 1 through 10. But let’s back up and look at some of the individual sins that he lists here when he is talking about the things that we need to mortify the things that we need to get rid of, the things that that need to die in our lives he lists off some things in verse 5,
““Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth.”
Fornication. Now if there is one sin that the New Testaments rails on its fornication. How many times does the New Testaments tell us to abstain from fornication? This comes out whenever you see the lists. There are a lot of lists of sins in the Bible. Romans 1 has a list. Jesus had some list and Paul has a lot of list, one of the things is just a recurring thing in this list is going to say fornication, pretty much; this is a sin that the New Testament has a lot to say about. yet today if you go amongst worldly people like for example I have the opportunity to preach in the Secular Community College, every semester I get to preach to few different classes and I started preaching in fornication and this unsaved heathen young people or even liberal Christian young people they looks at you like you have two heads, when you start speaking against fornication, which is basically when we say fornication we are referring to people that are engaging in the physical relationship before they are married. They are basically going to bed together before they are married, that is what the Bible means by fornication. and I can prove that from the Bible because in 1 Corinthians, if you look at 1 Corinthians 7 he talks about the fact it is good for a man not to touch a woman, never the less to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, let every woman have her own husband.
So it is clear that and obviously when it says touch there it is not talking about hand shake, because we see in the scriptures, for example a women washed Jesus feet and something like that, there is physical contact that can take place but obviously when the Bible talks about touching its talking about something more intimate. It’s talking about something that is for married people alone, okay something that takes place within the bedroom. And so we need to understand that fornication is a major sin. Don’t downplay it and it’s easy for our society to downplay sin today because they show us some really bad sins that are way worse. So then fornication does not seem so bad. You need to get calibrated to the Bibles scale of how bad things are.
God killed twenty three thousand people in one day because of the sin of fornication that is what the Bible says in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10; He killed twenty three thousand people in one day because of fornication in the Old Testament. And he said that is an example for us on whom the end of the world has come, so basically we need to be careful that we realize that fornication is a wicked sin. and so mainly I am talking to the young single, the children today the teenagers and you say, ‘well, I am too young I don’t want to think about that but hold on a second just get it in your head rite now that fornication is a wicked sin because you know what I did not commit fornication for one reason and that is because I was scared to death. I mean it is that simple.
When I was growing up I heard this kind of preaching and I saw the examples in the Bible and there were many times as a teenager when the temptation to commit fornication was there and it was Bible preaching and the wrath of God in the Bible that kept me from committing fornication and allowed me to be a virgin when I got married but let me tell you something, that kind of preaching needs to be alive and well today in 2013 so that we can raise up a generation of Godly young people who keeps themselves to their spouse only when they get married.
Now many have already made that mistake, many that have already blown it, but I am sure you will agree with me that it is not God’s will and it is a wicked sin and that the young generation here needs to grow up and do it right and I thank God. I thank God for the preaching that I heard that saved me from a lot of punishment. And let me say this unsaved people are committing fornication constantly and they don’t even think about it, it’s a sin and they are going to be judged for it. But let me tell you something you are going to be charged much more harshly, then the unsaved if you commit fornication, why? Because to him that know what to do good and do with not to him but sin in the Bible says
“Under who much is given or them shall much be required”
And the Bible says
“The servant that did not know his Lords will and did it not shall be beaten with few stripes but the servant which knew his Lords will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes”
The Bible says, look God tells us that he would punish you more harshly if you know what is right and do wrong anyway. so if you are a Christian you are growing up in a Christian home, you are growing up in a Baptist church, you are hearing preaching like this against fornication and you go out and commit fornication, you will be punished by God much more severely in this life, than the person who grew up worldly, grew up unsaved, grew up in a lame church
You are going to be held accountable for what you are hearing right now. Everybody is going to be judged when they commit sins like fornications, you will be judged more harshly because of the preaching that you have heard. Take heed unto it , it is not it, and you say I cannot resist temptations. look its pleasure for a moment and pain for a life time, you have got your whole life ahead of you, young people, you have got your whole life to enjoy what God has created, the relationship between a man and a woman don’t blow it now, just wait, be patient, you can enjoy that relationship for decades for the rest of your life.
But now as a young person as a teenager before you are married is not the time to indulge it. You must be patient you must wait until marriage. and then you will marry one person, be with that person until death, and that is the way the Bible teaches it. So I just want to say that about fornications, you see we spent a lot of time on that one point, that is because It is one of the principle sins that the New Testaments is constantly railing against.
Okay the next thing that is listed here is uncleanness, now this is not necessary talking about you did not take a shower, you know what I mean? Well, cleanliness next to God. This is not necessarily saying ‘hey, you did not wash your hands.’ When the Bible says uncleanness here, he is talking about uncleanness in your life style, and uncleanness is often found hand in hand with fornication, because of the fact that fornication is a unsanitary activity.
Okay and the Bible teaches in Revelations 17 the filthiness of a fornication. Okay, so uncleanness also has to do with the type of sins that associate with fornication. anything that is impure, anything that is not clean that is not right, okay he says uncleanness, inordinate affection. now look, do we see a pattern here fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, if could God get any clearer that he wants us to keep us pure and clean from this type of physical sins and that we should keep this within marriage I mean because all of this apply to, look, fornications, uncleanness, Inordinate affection, evil concupiscence.
What is evil concupiscence?
Basically, evil, lust, it is basically could be looking on a women to last after and committing adultery already in your head. Look on this list it is almost as if He is saying you know what stay pure until you are married, and stay pure after you are married, don’t commit adultery. It is almost like okay let me list 4 sins, not being pure, not being pure, not being pure and not being pure. Any questions?
Okay, so you think God thinks that fornication is a big deal or do you think it is ok as long as you are dating and you love each other to just be physical and just go to bed with. No, look, get it through your head folks. God has a high standard of purity. That is why he says in 1 Thessalonians 4 he says
“For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus for this is the will of God Even your sanctification that you should abstain from fornication.”
A few verses later he says
“For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.”
So these things always go hand in hand, so he tells us we do not need fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection. Inordinate affection is having the wrong affection, affection for the wrong person. We think of affection being affectionate with your spouse that is great. But we don’t want to have inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry. So basically he warns us a lot about these sins of the flesh, fornication, uncleanness, evil concupiscence and so forth. By the way the word concupiscence, have you ever heard of a guy name Cupid? Just to help you understand the word concupiscence that its talking along the same line as the other sense.
He says evil concupiscence and covetousness which is idolatry. What is covetousness? Covetousness is when we desire something that is not rightfully ours. It does not belong to us. For example: I do not have a car, now so my wife has a van, my car broke down and so I just signed it over to the mechanic because the engine blew up and I had three hundred and fifty five miles on so I just signed it over to them and just say, hey, just junk it because it was in a distant town. So I don’t have a car but here is the thing. I am perfectly happy that I don’t have a car, I don’t want a car because of my wife’s van, If I really need to use a vehicle I will just use my wife’s van. Okay and if I needed to do church stuff, I have got the church van to use or honestly I have just been riding my bike a lot. And if I needed to go somewhere. And then there are lot of people in our church who ride bikes, they don’t have cars they just ride a bike, and there are several people like that in our church. Now here is the thing if I just sat there and said oh man I just wish I had a car and I don’t have one and I wish I had one. Wouldn’t that be covetousness? If I said like I don’t have a car and I wish I had one that’s covetousness rite?
Now if I said I want a car and I went out and bought a car that is not covetousness rite? I could say I had the money and I want a really nice car, and I have the money to buy a really nice car and I just said you know I want to get that really nice car, I desire that car and then I go out and buy that car. that is not covetousness. But what if I didn’t have the money to get a car and I just said ‘oh man it just stinks that I do not have the money to get a car, I just really wish I had a car and you just say, ‘well come on pastor, isn’t that pretty normal to want to have a car. This is 2013 America
But wait a minute, the Bible says in having food and raiment let us be there in content. And the opposite of covetousness is contentment. now I am not saying I can’t afford a car I could afford a car if I wanted one. I just like riding my bike and that is just what I am doing I do not need a car. I am not travelling any more for business, so there is no reason for me to just have my own car. But here is the thing when we want things, let us say my house for example; I don’t live in a big house I live in a very small house. Here is the thing what if I sat there and said man I wish I had a bigger house. You say that’s reasonable because u have got a big family. No look I don’t have a big house, I don’t have the money to buy a big house. So what am I suppose to do according to Bible.
Be happy with the house that God has given me. so I don’t even have to say it, even if I just think in my heart that I wish that I live in a bigger house, I wish that my house were a little nicer, I wish that my car were a little nicer. So and so has all the nice dresses and clothes, you know ladies might think. I just wish I could afford dresses like that, that is sin. now when I was a child I was thought a false definition of covetousness. When I was a child this is what they taught me, they said it’s only covetousness if you want to take something away from someone else. This is what they taught, like you want to have something instead of that person having it. You want to have it and them not having it, that’s a watered down definition of covetousness because what it does is it justifies a lot of lust and desire and covetousness that is wrong. because honestly that has nothing to do with taking it away from someone else, it is just when you want things that are not yours that’s covetousness
For example one of the big things that the Bible brings out with covetousness is
“Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife,”
So basically if I said I wished I was married to so and so, covetousness. Not content with your wife but looking at someone else’s wife.
By the way the grass can be sometimes be greener on the other side of the fence, and you know what often times you don’t even know.
For example: somebody might think to himself oh my husband is such a looser but, I wish I were married to a guy like so and so, but here is the thing. you might not know what that guy is really like, because the way people look at church is not necessarily how they look at home. People put on a show and it could go the same way, you might be a husband and think to yourself man I just wish that I were married to a woman that was more like so and so. and you start to covet your neighbors wife instead of being happy with your wife, you are looking at someone else’s wife thinking that they have a better wife, but here is the thing you don’t really know whether that wife is better or not, perhaps the cooking is awful and that is pretty important my friend. How do you know at home he is not nagging him and mouthing off to him and being rude. And then at church she is just as she is just so sweet and so nice and so submissive and everything like that.
You don’t really know always and honestly everybody has faults that you don’t know about. Look I don’t want to know all about your faults. you don’t want to know about all my faults. But the honest truth is that instead of just looking at the other side of the fence to see how green the grass is, you should basically just be content with what you have, with what God has given you okay. And not be always looking at someone else thinking well they have it better, a lot of time they don’t have it better, okay. But let us say their wife is better, right? Because let us face it you know I have an awesome wife. But let me tell you this you might say well no you don’t understand my wife is this then the other but you know what you are in sin. You are covetous because you are to be thankful for what you have. The wife you have, the husband you have and you might look at your husband and say well he is not that good of a provider, the other husbands are making all this money and they have all this nice things, my husband is not providing. But you know what you have to thank God every day that you have a husband that goes to church, they take you to church like this. Everybody has things that are good about their husbands bad about their husbands, good about their wife, bad about their wife but you know what but God just expect us to be happy with what we have.
The house we have, the car we have or don't have, the wife we have, the husband we have, the children we have, the parents we have, the clothes we have, look just be happy with what you have and God equates the sin of covetousness with idolatry. And he says it in the same breadth as fornication. So we were talking about big sins and covetousness is a big sin, it violates the tenth of the Ten Commandments.
“Thou shalt not covet.”
And it's not just coveting your neighbor's wife, he says don't covet your neighbor's ox don't covet your neighbors ass; don't covet anything that is my neighbors. That means don't covet their video game set, don't covet their bicycle, don't covet their skateboard, don't covet their toys, kids. Okay, just do not look at the neighbors and see the kids, ‘oh they have all these nice things.’ That is a wicked thought.
Did everybody have food? Everybody wearing clothes? Then Be content with that. You don't need anything else. That is what you need. Do other people have blessings that go beyond that? Of course. Probably everybody in this room has a lot of blessing they go beyond. We have a place to live. God didn't even promise that. He promised food and clothing and so therefore we need to practice a lifestyle of contentment, a mindset of contentment and not be looking for something different and trying to figure out you know what we're missing in life. Instead be thankful for the things that we do have and count our blessings. You say, well. I don't even have a wife I don't even have a husband. But you know what you have a lot of nice things that other people don't have. There are people who are in prison, there are people who are you know suffering of hunger and disease and if Gods given you your health. Praise God for that. We all have things to be thankful for.
So we need to put off that fleshly attitude of covetousness and this time of year when we get into the holiday season and get into Christmas time, isn’t it just a time where covetousness is pushed by our world. I mean just everything and we even have to be careful sometimes because there are catalogs that will come in the mail and sometimes, if I remember kids I do the same thing when I was your age kids. Just sitting for hours looking through a catalog just thinking about all the stuff that you want that you don't have. And just thinking man I wish I had the money to buy this. Man I wish I could get this and you know around Christmas time this really ramps up and you know what. I believe that you should go into Christmas desiring nothing. desire nothing when you go into Christmas. That is the right attitude.
this attitude that says everybody owes me a present and I expect presents from my mom and dad and from my siblings or from my friends and this thing of ‘Well they're going to spend this much so I better make sure not to spend more than that’ and I mean literally. And no offense to my family members I love all my extended family and I don't mean this in offense to them but sometimes I've had extended family members call me up and tell me like okay, here's the arrangement this year because you know like we're only going to get stuff for your kids not for you guys. So just make sure that you only get stuff for our kids and not for us like we have to agree upon this. or we're not going to exchange gifts this year so don't get the same thing because we are not getting you anything like it’s this a business agreement.
And honestly I always tell people when people say that to me the same thing I always just say the same thing ‘I didn't expect anything, neither for me nor for my children. Because honestly if I get a lump of coal on Christmas morning you know I'm going to throw it in the barbecue, make something, get something cooking. You know I don't care. Like I honestly, I don't expect it is my birthday I got a lot of cool gifts on my birthday and literally when people gave me gift on my birthday at church, I was surprised and I what you got me a gift. Wow! And you know I was really happy though because it was a blessing it was great to get some gift and you know what when you have that attitude, even the smallest gift makes you very happy because you're comparing it to zero all the time. Because not just expecting but there are people who look at their gift and its like ‘oh, is this it?’and if I give somebody a gift and that's their attitude, then that’s where I just take it right out of their hands and say I’d give you nothing. You cut of piece a cake and give it to your children. ‘Oh that's a small piece I say, okay well then have none. Honestly because you know what it's a covetous attitude and God hates covetousness. God abhor his covetousness. So we need to put off that. That’s the world that's the flesh, that’s the old man. Get rid of that covetous materialistic, ‘my name's Jimmy, I'll take Are you give me take take take take get, get, get, get.’
It's about serving God. Set your affection on things above, the Bible says in verse 2, not on things on the earth. Your affection should not be on things that are purchased with money. Your affection should be in heaven on winning souls on your family, on Jesus Christ. That's where our affection needs to be. That's putting on the new man.
Let’s jump down to the second list: the second list is a completely different list of things that we need to put off, it says put off all this anger, wrath, malice. Now you see what is the difference between anger and wrath? Wrath is just a more intense anger, you have got anger then you have got wrath. That is really intense anger. Now we know that anger is not always sinful, of course there are times to be angry, the Bible commands us to be angry in Ephesians 4
“Be ye angry and sin not,”
And there are places in the Bible and times in the Bible where we were told to be angry, but let us face it, most of the time it’s a sin to be angry most of the time. If we look up on every verse on anger, there are a lot more verses telling us not to be angry then verses telling us to be angry. There are some telling us to be angry, we know Jesus was angry, but we need to realize that most of the time our anger is not justified. Most of the time when we are angry we are walking in the flesh, when we are mad and angry, the vast majority of the time, that is the work of the flesh, you are in the flesh that is not a righteous indignation. When you are angry because people are changing the Bible, you are angry about the fact that a false prophet is lying and telling people the things that are going to send them to hell.
That is a righteous anger that is a righteous indignation but when you are just angry and yelling because the milk is spilled, when you are just blowing up and angry because someone did not say hi to you at church or did not shake your hands. When you are just angry and mad because someone accidently rear end your car, that is not a justified anger that is not Biblical. and so there is a lot of sin for angry the Bible talks about people that are soon to angry, soon to get angry are going to get into a lot of sin. Because they can’t control their anger, we need to stay under control remain calm and not get angry.
Let us say anger, wrath, malice. Malice is when we wish ill upon other people and we have ill intent toward other people. He says anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy. What is blasphemy? Blasphemy is when we are disrespectful to God or things of God. Blasphemy is when you are first of all using Jesus name as a curse word, just flippantly saying ‘oh my God’ and Jesus this and Jesus that, when you are not talking about God or to God but you are just throwing his name around. Or being blasphemous is like being irreverent towards God. ‘Jesus is my home boy’ type of thing that is not, that is Blasphemous that is wrong, dragging God down to a level where he does not belong instead of treating him with proper respect and reverence, that is blasphemy.
And then he says we need to get filthy communication out of our mouth and then we think of the word filthy, okay, one thing that comes up, we already talked about it fornication. A lot of filthy communication is when we are basically talking about for example dirty jokes, and you know that if you work out in the world in the break room, in the lunch room or where ever there will be filthy communication going on there will be dirty jokes, people will be or people will just be talking about their bedroom, or talking about sodomy or talking about fornication or talking about adultery or talking about what ever telling jokes that involve peoples parts that shouldn’t be talking about.
This kind of filthy communication needs to come out of our mouth, it needs to be, not comes out of our mouth like we are saying; it needs to be removed away from us. We need to put off all this things. The Bible says filthy communication out of your mouth get it away. Do not do it and by the way filthy communication is not necessarily just doing the talking, communication involves both giving and receiving, talking and listening.
So if you sit down in the lunch room and the dirty stories are being told, the dirty jokes are being told and you are an audience unto them well is not that filthy communication as well, so we need to abstain from that, that’s the flesh, the flesh thrives on that stuff. the spirit? No.
He says
“You’ve put on the new man” verse 10
“Which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering”
Look, we’re the elected of God because we have put on Jesus Christ not because we are a Jew or a Greek. Isn’t that pretty clear? Yet people will say ‘oh the Jews are the elect.’ Well, you are the elect because you have put on Christ. You are not Jew or gentile; you are just the elect because you are in Christ. What are the things you are suppose to put on? we know what we put off, we are suppose to put off Bowels of Mercies, kindness, Humbleness of mind what do this things mean? Loving others, carrying about other people, being nice to other people being kind to them. He says ‘humbleness of mind,’ basically not thinking more highly of ourselves then we are to think, not being puffed up but being humble and meek and nice.
He says ‘long suffering’ means that we put up with a lot. Isn’t that the opposite of being angry at the drop of a hat? Long suffering is when we put up with things and we don’t lose our temper. Look are there things that my wife says that can make me upset? Of course! Are there things that I say that can make her angry or upset? Of course! But should we be just on a hair trigger all the time to just blow up? No. We should be on long suffering with one another for bearing one another kind to one another and not lose our temper with one another. He says for bearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man has a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you so as do ye. He is saying look forgive people for the love of the Christ forgave you. That is a very high standard of forgiveness. Every time when you feel like not forgiving someone, remember that Christ forgave you.
He says next,
“Above all these things put on charity which is the bond of perfectness”
And we talked about that in the last two Chapters and how important that is.
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. “
So look, all the opposites are here. So instead of being angry be long suffering. Instead of coveting and wishing that you had things that you don’t have, he says be thankful, be thankful for what you do have instead of lusting for what you don’t have. So do a self check, are you in the flesh rite now or are you in the spirit right now. Well here is how you know, if rite now your mind is dominated by the thoughts of ‘man I would love to get a better car, man I would love to get a better house, man I wish my wife were this or I wish that my husband were this, I wish there were better food in the house, I wish that I have better clothes, I wish that my kids could be more like so and so’s kids.’
Look, these are all things that prove that you are just a fleshly carnal person, you need to get in the spirit you need to put off the old man. Or if you are feeling very thankful right now for all the blessings you do have, if you are feeling right now that you are just privileged that you have been a Christian and be in church and you are just thankful to have the lord Jesus Christ as your Savior that you are going to heaven and you are just looking around how you can help other people and be kind to people.
Look, are you angry and bitter towards people in this room right now because of something that they have done or said or do you have an attitude that says no I wish that there was a way that I can help people in this room, I wish I could be a blessing to my fellow believer’s tonight at church and maybe say something that would encourage them or do something to help them.
He says in verse 16
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and in spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the lord”
So in this scripture here, he just finished a big long discussion from verses 1 all the way to verse 15 about walking in the flesh versus walking in the spirit, the old man versus the new man. Well, what is interesting is in the parallel passages in Ephesians 5, He says
“Be filled with the spirit speaking to yourselves and psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing making melody in your hearts.”
So, basically if we compare Ephesians 5:22 and Colossians 3 verse 16 they both talk about psalms, hymns and spiritual songs but in Ephesians 5:22 he says “be filled with the spirit” and in Colossians Chapter 3 he says “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly and all wisdom”.
So, we can see that there is a parallel between being filled with the spirit and having God’s word dwell in you richly with all wisdom. That tells me you cannot be filled with the spirit if you are not filled with the word of God. Because Jesus said the words that I say and the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are alive. So you cannot be filled with spirit without being filled with the word of God. So you say, well, Pastor Anderson, how do I put on the new man? How do I get filled with the spirit? Read the Bible more and memorize and meditate upon the word of God day and night and you will be filled with the spirit. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom and another way to do that is by singing psalms and psalms are what? God’s word put to music, psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
So a way to be filled with the spirit is to be filled with the word, read the Bible, another way to be filled with the spirit memorize the Bible, let it abide it in your heart, another way to be filled with spirit, sing psalms. The Bible says is any among you afflicted let him pray, is any merry let him sing psalms okay, another way to be filled with the spirit is to sing hymns and spiritual songs. So there forth you find yourself having a covetous attitude, you find yourself lusting, maybe you are an unmarried person and you are lusting after fornication, you find yourself coveting that which does not belong to you, you find yourself angry and malicious towards someone. How do you fix it? You start singing the hymns. It will change your spirit, you open the Bible and start to read it, you quote it you sing it this are the things that the Bible is telling us we can do in order to be filled with the spirit
He says in verse 17:
“What so ever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the father by him”
Verse 18:
“Wives submit yourselves under your own husbands as it is fit in the Lord; husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them”
So again an admonition here as in many places that wives are suppose to submit and obey their husbands, they are suppose to obey them, they are suppose to be in subjection under them and then husbands are suppose to love their wives and not be bitter against them that means they are suppose to forgive them, that means they are suppose to look pass any false or short comings and love them for who they are, not be bitter about past failings or past grievances. And you know what; forgiveness is something that is not always easy to do is it. Whether you are a wife or a husband, sometimes it is hard to let things go isn’t it you are angry you are upset but you know what, the Bible says that if we forgave others then our Father in Heaven will forgive us, and so if we want him to forgive us when we mess up we better forgive others when they mess up.
Says “children” verse 20,
“Obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord, Fathers provoke not your children to anger less they be discouraged”
So look God is telling children to obey their parents, period. But then he says father, don’t provoke them to anger, don’t just make your kids angry, don’t just stick your finger in their eyeball just because you are the boss and just because you can, be nice to them. Now whether you think your parents are nice or not, children you are commanded to obey your parents anyway. But we as parents should be nice and loving to our children and not provoke them to wrath or provoke them to anger. Says in verse 22 because we don’t want them to be discouraged, you don’t want to discourage our children by just constantly being on their case and rebuking them where there is never anything positive coming out of our mouths. We are not spending good quality time with them it is always just negative that is going to discourage them, that is going to make them angry, that’s going to not like us.
It says in verse 22,
“Servants obey in all things your masters with flesh, not with eye service”
Meaning don’t just do your job when the boss is watching. Do your job when nobody is watching. And it says “Not with eye service as men pleasers but in singleness of heart, fearing God And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”
Look anything that is worth doing is worth doing right, the first time. Okay? He is saying anything you do, do it heartily because if it is not worth doing heartily it’s probably just not worth doing. we should not be half way about the things that we do, we should do things right, do things heartily, we should not be at work like this, dragging around, okay, sweep the floor. You know what I mean if you are going to sweep on that floor you better sweep it like your life depends on it. Sweep it like you are a man on a mission, sweep it like it is your main job not like, ‘well I am a computer programmer what am I doing sweeping the floor, I am a Plumber what am I doing sweeping the floor.’
I remember I use to hate it, because I did fire alarm system for so many years, and at my fire alarm job I hated it when there was nothing to do out in the field and you are back at the shop and they wanted us to clean up the shop, oh I hated it. You just wanted so badly to go out and do some real work, wanted to do something real like that I am suppose to be doing. it is just like ‘oh we have got nothing for you to do you’, but they are just like stay busy, so like ok you got to stay busy so you are grabbing a broom you are sweeping , cleaning the bathroom, you are just , here you are just finding something to do. I remember this they will have us clean steel, okay there were all this pieces of steel because we would build this big speaker clusters for high school auditoriums and theaters it was amazing and it was all this steel parts and it was this steel and we had to just take a rack and be spraying on this clean and just cleaning steel, just wax on wax off just clean clean clean clean and you are just sitting there for hours just cleaning steel and it was the most boring, monotonous, horrible job, we hated it. We had to clean steel, sweep the floors, it was this giant dirty warehouse where you just sweeping, sweeping, sweeping and it never ends it was terrible.
But you know what though? When we were in a situation like that God expects us to give it our best clean that steel till it shines, sweep up those floors, clean that toilet, do whatever. And you know what never and by the way you want to succeed in your job never have this attitude ‘oh that is not my job, that is not my job.’ I mean I remember there were times when I was on fire alarm job and they said ‘oh you got a really tall ladder, can you change the light bulb while you are up there, sure.’ You know none of this attitude says that is not my job I have shown up on service calls, and there was suppose to be a problem with the fire alarm, I get there and there was a problem with the sprinkler. I get there it’s a problem with the nurse cal system, l get there, there is a problem with the elevator, you know I would always just say just tell me what the problem is though, it is not what I do but just tell me what the problem is, because sometimes it was something that was so easy just fix it and then the customer is happy, you get paid, sometimes you even get bonus, sometimes they even give you a tip, because you went above and beyond the call of duty and you know what you will say I didn’t get a tip. But God says that knowing that what so ever good thing any man do at the same shall receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free. So even if the boss does not give us a bonus, even if the customers does not give us a tip, when we go above and beyond and do something a little extra God sees that and He says He will reward us for going above and beyond, for going the extra mile. So don’t get this attitude that says that is not my job, I am not a janitor, I am a Plumber, I am not a janitor, I am an electrician, I am not a janitor, I am a computer programmer, just do what you are told and do it heartily, do a good job and sometimes you will end up getting extra blessings just from doing extra work, because,
"In all labor there is profit. But the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury."
He says here,
“What so ever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not in your men, knowing that on the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for you served the Lord Christ,”
He is not saying if you are a pastor you served the lord Christ, He is saying if you are anything you serve the Lord Christ. Whenever you are doing a good Job you are serving Christ, whether that is mowing a lawn, or whether that is sweeping a floor, whether that is answering a phone, if you are doing it heartily, if you are doing it as unto the lord and not to men you are serving God you are serving Christ, we are all on full time Christian service, whether we are getting a pay check for serving God is not the issue, we might serve God pastoring or by being an electrician and doing it heartily and being a good testimony of Christ.
But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he had done and there is no respect to persons, so God is saying, look, do a good job at work and I am going to bless you, do a bad job at work and I am going to cause you to reap what you’ve sown. That is going to come around and bite you. You might lose your, I might come and let you lose your job, you might get demoted, you might get passed up on the promotion, because you are not doing a good job.
Let’s bow our heads in a word of prayer:
Father we thank you so much for the scriptures here, that give us such good advice, about our marriage and children and our jobs and so forth, but lord please just help us to walk in the new man. That is the main thing, to put off the works of the flesh, to put off anger, wrath, malice, to put off fornication, uncleanness, evil concupiscence. Help us to get this sinful wicket things out of us and Lord help us to do it through your word and through singing of hymns and so forth. And Lord just please help us to be better Christians, help us to walk in the spirit, help us to die daily to sin in the flesh. In Jesus name we pray Amen.
