If You Be Risen With Christ

The speaker begins by expressing gratitude for everyone's presence and introduces the sermon titled "If You Be Risen With Christ." They reflect on the new year and the need for commitment to resolutions. They encourage self-reflection on one's spiritual life and commitment to Jesus Christ. The speaker mentions that the book of Colossians will be discussed, focusing on chapters 3 and 4, which cover practical aspects of Christian living. They emphasize the importance of understanding Jesus Christ's preeminence and the fullness of the Godhead. The speaker urges listeners to seek heavenly things and maintain awareness of their foundation in Christ. They explain that being in Christ means dying with Him and being resurrected with Him in the future. Thank you for that special. It is good to see each and every one of you this morning. It's good to have some of you back that have been away. And good just to be in God's house. This morning I've entitled the message, If You Be Risen With Christ. And today is the very first Sunday of 2025. Have you got used to writing that yet? I wrote 24 the other day and realized, no, we're into a new year now. But, you know, when we think about new year, I kind of talked about a little bit Tuesday night in our regular midweek service. But new year to me is always a great time of the year because in the word new, it has the idea of restarting. Something's going to be different or whatever. I think a lot of people, and Brother Morris asked about how's your resolutions going this morning. A lot of people make resolutions. The problem is, is you can make these things up and you can do, hey, this is what I want to change. But you've got to have the commitment and dedication to follow through with it, to be able to do that. And so as we look at this, you know, that today is a great day just to reflect a little bit. To go back and look over 2024 and just ask some questions. You know, am I happy with my spiritual life last year? Am I happy with my commitment to Jesus Christ? And so it's just a good time just to sit back and take inventory, just to evaluate ourselves. And, you know, when we look at ourselves, we have to look at ourselves in light of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Because as Christians, if we be risen with Christ, there's some expectation. There's some things that we are required to do. And so we need to examine ourselves. Even in 1 Corinthians 11, when dealing with the Lord's Supper, He said, before you partake, examine yourself. And so there ought to be times, not just at the new year, but there ought to be times throughout the year and opportunities that you just look at yourself and examine yourself to see where you are. Where is your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? And are you where God wants you to be? Are you doing what God wants you to do? And this morning we're going to get back to the book of Colossians. We started Colossians last year and we really looked at the first two chapters of Colossians that really deals with a lot of doctrine, a lot of the teachings of what they want us to understand about Jesus Christ. And then we come to chapters 3 and 4 and this is the duty part. This is the practical part. And it works out really good that we're able to start this because 2025, we want to live for Jesus Christ. We want to make 2025 a better year spiritually than what 2024 was. I want my service to be better for Him. And so Paul writes in Colossians 3 and verse 1, If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. When you look at the context of what's going on and where we are at here in the book of Colossians, I mentioned we're leaving the doctrine. We're heading into the duty part. And we open with these first four verses this morning. And I want to show you that God has a plan for your life. If you are a Christian, if you are saved, if you are in Jesus Christ, then we have a job. We have a responsibility. We have something that God wants us to do. And so this morning, I want us to notice the challenges that are contained in these verses. And so notice, first of all, He begins in verse 1 with the statement, If you then be risen with Christ. And when we think about the doctrine now, He's putting us, because based upon all the doctrine, based on everything that we have learned in chapters 1 and 2 about Jesus Christ, now He comes to the duty. And so we really, and I'm not going to go back over all of my messages in the doctrinal part, but I do want to share a couple of highlights that we've already learned about Jesus Christ. And we learned that Jesus Christ is preeminent. And that is a big, fancy word that simply means above all, before all, He is number one. And so Christ is preeminent. And that's the entire message of the book of Colossians. He tells us in chapter 1 and verse 28 that the reason that we preach, the reason that you come to church today, and the reason that I warn you and I teach you, and I try to do it out of the Word of God, is in order that we might what? Present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. And so Paul stressed the deity of Jesus Christ against those that are being attacked by the person of Christ. We saw that there was all these different ideas of philosophy. There was this deceitful acts by ministers in the days of Paul that are still the same things that are going on in the world today. There's philosophies. There's deceitful people that try to pull you into works, pull you into yourself, rather than focusing on what Jesus Christ has done and what He is doing in your life. Folks, it's all about Jesus Christ. And then he says in chapter 2 and verse 8, he says, "...Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vainglory after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." And then he summarizes and he says, "...For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." And so we need to understand the fullness of Jesus Christ. When God brings us to Jesus Christ, He puts us in Christ, and we get every bit of Christ. You don't just get a part of Christ. You don't just get and build on that. You get everything that Christ has immediately at the point of salvation. And He is all you need. He is all sufficient in your life. He says there in verse 10, He says, "...And you are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power." So if we are presented perfect in Christ, and Christ is the complete fullness of the Godhead, He is 100% God, He is all God, and we are complete in Christ because He is sufficient, then folks, we need to be doing something. Amen? We need to be living a particular lifestyle. And so I want you to notice first of all, there are some things that we need to hang on to. You know, there are some things that we need to forget. I mentioned Tuesday night, Paul said in Philippians, he says, "...forgetting those things which are behind, and pressing toward those things." But when we think about forgetting the past, we need to understand you don't forget everything about the past. There's a few things in the past that need to be repaid. As Christians, if we are in Christ, there's some things that we need to hang on to. He says, "...if you then be risen in Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." And then he goes on in verse 2, and he says, "...set your affection on things above, not on things of earth." And so there's a couple of precious spiritual possessions that each and every one of us as Christians, as children of God, need to make sure that we retain. Need to make sure that we hang on to. Number one is our awareness of our foundation. You need to be aware of your foundation. What is our foundation? We are built upon Jesus Christ. Christ is our foundation. Christ is the cornerstone. He's what holds everything together and brings everything that is there. And so there's this awareness of the foundation. He said, "...if you then be risen with Christ." When we talk about the foundation, we are talking about the very basic of our Christian life. And Paul translates the word. King James translators translate that word, if. But it's really not when you think about if. We think about if as being a statement of possibility, right? In English, if, then there has to be a then, right? If and then. It's a clause. It's a statement of possibility. But Paul, after going through the first two chapters, who's he writing to? In chapter 1, remember, he is writing to the saints that are at Colossae. These people have already accepted Jesus Christ. He's gone through this doctrine of Jesus Christ that Christ is preeminent. Christ is the fullness of God. Christ is perfecting us and is sufficient. And so he says you have Christ in you. You have been saved. And so it's really not a word of possibility, but it would probably be better translated since. Because you are saved. You have trusted in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. And so it is a spiritual reality. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, Christ is in you. And guess what? If He is in you, you will be resurrected one day. You will be revealed. And so what Paul is talking about is our spiritual position. Who we are in Jesus Christ. And when Jesus Christ died on Calvary, I want you to understand this morning that every single individual that has ever put their faith in Jesus Christ or will ever put their faith in Jesus Christ, at that moment died with Jesus Christ. In Galatians 2 and verse 20, Paul said, I am crucified with Christ. When Christ died on the cross, I died with Him. And he says, nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. He also tells us over in Romans 6 and verse 1, he goes through this discussion. He says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized, immersed into Christ Jesus, remember this is not water baptism here. This is being immersed in Jesus Christ when you were saved. And so as many of us who were immersed into Jesus Christ were also immersed into His death. And so if we take Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Savior, then guess what? We also die with Him just like He died. He says in verse 4, Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Christ. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once, but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so Paul is talking about this spiritual thing that has taken place. My body is still flesh and blood. My body still has sin. It's still affected by sin, but spiritually, guess what? Spiritually, if I am in Christ, sin no longer has dominion or power over me. Now the Spirit, what does Prophelipians 2.13 say? For I can do all things through Christ who streakeneth me. With Christ in us, that we have the opportunity and the ability doctrinally as we studied in chapter 1 to be perfect. Not perfect body, but perfect in the eyes of God because we have died with Jesus Christ. Does Christ have to be crucified every time you sin? No, His death was sufficient the first time. He died one time for you. And so that was sufficient, and Christ is sufficient. God accepted His sacrifice, so He accepted His death on the cross and He brought Him forth from the grave. And He said just the same exact way, that when we accept His sacrifice, we die with Him. We die with Christ, but understand that we will be resurrected also. In Romans 6.23, later on in that chapter, He says for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Because I have died with Christ, I have also been liberated from the power of sin in my life. Sin no longer controls me. Sin is not what I do. Why? Because I'm submitted to Christ. I have a new beginning. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. And He says in verse 14 of chapter 6, For sin shall not have dominion over you. In other words, sin and the Christian should not be ruling your life. It should not have control in your life because you are not under the law, but you are under grace. And so that's what grace is about. And that's what He's talked about. Doctrinally in the first two chapters. And so He goes on in Colossians 2, verse 20, and He came up with this conclusion of the doctrinal study. And here's the conclusion. Wherefore, if you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world... What is that? That's the very basic things of this world. The ABCs of this world. If you're dead with Christ from all of these things, why, as though living in the world, are you subject to ordinances? And so Paul reminds us that we have also been raised up with Jesus Christ. When He died, we died. When He rose from the grave, we rose from the dead as well. And so now, He got up and every person who would ever believe in Jesus Christ got up as well. And guess what? We are here to live for Him. And so we must never forget our foundation that we are dead to sin and alive to Christ Jesus. And so we're dead to sin, but we're alive with our new life. And so this knowledge, this retaining this, will help us as we go into 2025. As we go into the future, here is what we need to retain. We need to make sure that we understand our foundation. Are you in Christ? If not, then you need to get in Jesus Christ. How do we do that? Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you have done that, then guess what? You are in Christ. And so you need to hang on to the fact that your sins have been paid for. Your sins have been taken away. And God now wants to perfect you. And in that perfecting problem, what happens when we retain our foundation? It will help us to live a clean life. It will help us to live for the glory of Jesus Christ. And so we don't only have our foundation that we retain, but we also give attention to our focus. What is our purpose in life? If we are in Christ, since we are in Christ, what is our focus? What is our teaching? Well, look what he says. If you then, or since you then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God. That verb seek is in the present tense. It is in the imperative mood. In other words, what it means is this is a command for right now. When you read this tomorrow, guess what? This is a command for right now. When you read this verse next week, guess what? This is a command for right now. It is always in the present tense and it is always an imperative. It's always a command. And so what Paul is actually telling us when he says seek, what he means is we are continually every single day of every single moment to be seeking those things which are above. Jesus Christ in His very first sermon made that same exact thing known to everybody, didn't He? He said, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And what? All these other things. These rudiments of the world. These basic things that we need to live and survive these necessities of life. Guess what? God will provide. He said the sparrows, God feeds them. God gives them shelter. He said the flowers bloom. God does that. They don't do that on their own. Life happens and life is enjoyed in Jesus Christ. And so he says seek those things of God. Seek first His righteousness. And then notice the second thing he says in verse 2. And this goes right along with it. These are two words that are coupled together. First seek, then set. Seek first Christ and then set your affection. What do we mean by setting? He talks about these affections. What is our affections? He says set your affections on things above, not on things in earth. Affection refers to the mind. What do you love? What do you enjoy? What motivates you? He says set your mind where? On things above. Your heart should be drawn to God. Your heart ought to be drawn to living for God. And so we're told here to focus our thoughts on heavenly things. We're told here to set our minds on things of God and the things that bring glory to Him. And you look at these verses following this verse and it gives us just a little bit of insight into what the Apostle Paul is talking about here. He says first of all, we are to pursue in Colossians 3, verse 10, he says, having put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him. But one of the things that we ought to be pursuing is a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ. We ought to want to know Him. Know Him intimately. Tuesday night in Philippians 3, Paul said I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection. And so men, we ought to want to be deeper with Jesus Christ. In 20-25, I want to know Jesus Christ more than I knew Him in 20-24. I want to know Him intimately and know what He has for me in life. He goes on also in v. 5-9, and he says, mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanliness, inordinate affection, evil conspicuousness, which is idolatry, for which thing sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in the which you also walked sometime when you lived in them, but now you also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, and why not one to another seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds? Not only does God want us to focus on Him and having an intimate relationship with Him, but He also wants us to focus on having a clean and holy life. If we have died with Christ, since we have died with Christ, we have resurrected to a new life. And so the sin and all of these things that He has listed, they no longer have power over me. They no longer have control. Does it mean that I don't sometimes enjoy them? Does it mean that I don't sometimes do them? But I should be guilty. I should feel bad. I should understand when I am breaking the heart of God because I've got this new nature that is now living within me. He goes on and tells us in verse 12, put on therefore as the elect of God, holy and beloved, vows of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, through the which also you are called in one body and be you thankful. Let 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. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. God wants us to focus on virtues. He wants us to be virtuous. Holiness in our domestic life. Holiness in our social life. He wants holiness in our prayer life. He wants us to have an effective prayer life. He wants us to be a fruitful witness. In other words, we are to live like Jesus Christ lived in 1 John 2.6. He didn't say if He abideth in Him. If you are in Christ, since you are in Christ, you ought Himself to walk even as Christ walked. We have something to focus on. And so we need to walk like Jesus Christ. We are challenged. This is the fruit of the Spirit. If you go and you read Galatians 5, if we are in Christ, He is divine. We are the branches as we talked about last week. What? You're going to bear fruit. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Galatians 5. Love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, patience, self-control, kindness. These things are what should be happening in our life. And so here in this passage of Scripture this morning, we're challenged to live out our lives with genuine spiritual values. Not the values that the world has to offer, because remember, the world is in sin. The world has fallen. The world is corrupt. But we have been changed. We have been brought out of the world. And so we need to give some attention to some spiritual things. You need to make your spiritual life a focus. Doing. Doing. A lot of us just act and react. And that's why when we get to the end of the year, we've messed up. We haven't gotten to where we wanted. It's got to be a time of focus. Allow that heavenly perspective to govern your daily walk here on this earth. Every decision, every activity, every plan and purpose needs to be considered in light of eternity. When was the last time you made a decision and then thought about how's this going to affect eternity? How's this going to affect those that are needing to be saved? Those that God has placed in my life? Those that are watching my life? Everything is to be laid out before the Lord. And God says we're going to be judged. We're going to be judged in this world. And so we need to become heavenly minded. We need to start thinking like God thinks. We ought to start loving the things that God loves. And so as we prepare for 2025 to go into this new year, may God help us to realize who we are in Christ and what we have, what Christ has given us. Folks, that needs to be our realization and change our walk so that we will bring glory unto the Father. Have you retained who you are and what you have? Then hold on tight. See, there's some things that need to be retained. There's a lot about 2024 that we can let go. But if you are in Christ, you need to hang on to it. And you need to hang on to what you have in Jesus Christ. And so now that that is lodged, now that we have retained that, what does God want us to do next? We need to release some things. Now that we've got what we need to hang on to, what is it that we need to release? Notice what he says again here. Some things need to be let go. There's some things that try to attach ourselves into our lives that are just plain trash, right? They're just junk. They're things that end up taking up our time, taking up our mind, taking up our activities. And what happens? These things, even though they might be good things, guess what? They pull us away from God. They pull us away from a relationship with God. And what happens? God gets kicked to the curb. God is the one that suffers and our relationship with Jesus Christ suffers. And there's other things that just don't have a place in our lives. And those things need to be let go. They need to be released. And Paul tells us in verse 2 that we are to focus on heavenly things. Not the earthly things, but the heavenly things. While we do that, we're to avoid getting caught in all of the things this world that we want to swamp our minds and hinder our walk. And so Paul, writing here in Colossians, mentions some dangerous distractions. Some things that distract us, that pull us away from a relationship with Jesus Christ, that hinder our walk if they are allowed to be in our life. And so he's talked about these in the first two chapters under the doctrinal part. Remember, we need to make sure that there's some false doctrines that we need to get rid of. There's some false teachers that we need to mark and get wear. He tells us in chapter 2, verse 8, Beware, lest any man spool you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. That word spool has the idea. Lest any man spool you. It means to carry off the booty. To carry off as captives. In other words, you have been trapped. There's people out there. There's men out there that are teaching this philosophy. They're teaching that, man, if you will come to church, if you will give your offering, if you will read your Bible, or you give your offering, God will bless you and you'll become wealthy and all of this. Guess what? He says we need to get rid of that junk. We need to make sure we don't listen to these people that give us this false doctrine. Philosophy refers to the wisdom of men. In other words, the things that man has invented or made up, these strange belief systems that teaches us that are not backed up by the Word of God. There are so many, we call them old wives tales, right? We call them different things like that. Folks, we need to let these things be gone. We need to get rid of them out of our houses and out of our minds. And he also mentions vain deceit. These are just literally empty tricks. Tricks that people use to bring us in through trickery, through their slick messages. If the message is not Jesus Christ and about Jesus Christ and Christ alone, then guess what? It is not of God. 1 John tells us how do we know the Spirit is from God or from Satan? The Spirit will always lead you to Jesus Christ. If it's not, you need to get rid of that junk. You need to quit listening to it. If our focus is not on Jesus Christ, if our focus is not on the blood that He shed on the cross of Calvary for our sins, it's not of God. And we don't need to listen to it. And I get tired of hearing preachers even and church members. Well, I listen to so-and-so and they're not right on everything, but they have some good point. Get rid of it. Don't listen to it. Because why? It is vain deceit. It is corrupt. We need to be talking about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He also mentions there the traditions of men. Believers are warned to be careful of long-held beliefs. Just because people believe something and have always done it that way, doesn't necessarily make it biblical or what Christ wants us to do. There are some traditions that we hang on to that we need to make sure that some of them, we need to release. No matter how godly or how worthy of respect these individuals were, we need to base our belief system and our actions on the Word of God and the Word of God only. Not based on what men say. And lastly, He mentions the rudiments of this world. We're warned against falling away from a mature faith to accept this simplistic doctrine. This phrase, the rudiments of the world, refers to an apple bed or things that are in a row of simple things in contrast to the deeper truth, the intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ. We need to bring people to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ. It's not about just a list of these. If you'll do this, this, and this, then life is going to be great. No, we need to get people to Jesus Christ. Avoid these false doctrines. At all costs. Run from it. Flee from it. Regardless of the package that it's wrapped up in and the pretty bow, we need to make sure that we know. And so, false doctrines. We need to get rid of these false doctrines and false teachers. And then secondly, foolish demands. Look at what He tells us later on in chapter 2, verse 16 that we've already looked at. He says, Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of the holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days. Why? Because these are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. He goes on in verse 21. He says, Touch not, taste not, handle not, which all are to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines of men. We need to watch out for people who would place us back under the wall. That will place us back under to the shadows of Jesus Christ and not place us in Jesus Christ. That's what He's talking about here. You know, if you've been saved by Jesus Christ, if you've been delivered from the law, you are now under grace. You enjoy a great liberty and a great freedom that there's no way that we can obtain on our own. The only reason that liberty should be limited is for the sake of a weaker brother. He tells us in 1 Corinthians 8-13 and you can read that. If a young Christian, someone who's just been saved, you don't just all of a sudden try to shatter their belief system. They have to grow in Jesus Christ. They have to learn to walk by faith. And so that is the only reason we are to worry about some of these rudiments and commandments and doctrines that's there. True spirituality does not consist in keeping man-made external rules. True spirituality is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That's what makes us spiritual. There's a lot of people that sit in church on Sunday morning that's not spiritual. And there's some that don't come to church on Sunday morning that are spiritual. And so you cannot base on what people do their spirituality. It is found in Jesus Christ and Christ alone. Notice he says here, "...which things have indeed a show of wisdom and will worship in humility and neglecting of the body, not in any honor to satisfying of the flesh." We need to watch out for people who would place us back under this law. And so what you do and do not do is not what makes you a spiritual person. Your spirituality is done by Jesus Christ that is there. Spirituality comes from knowing Jesus Christ and allowing Him to live through you. And so, man, we need to release false doctrines. We need to release these foolish demands that are upon our life that think they make us more spiritual. And lastly, we need to get rid of these fleshly deeds. Notice he tells us real quickly in verse 5, "...mortify..." What does mortify mean? It means to put to death. Kill. Destroy. Get rid of. "...therefore, your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanliness, inordinate affection, evil concipious, covetousness, which is idolatry." Just real briefly, and we'll talk about these more next week and a little bit more in detail, but when he talks about fornication, he is talking about any type of sexual expression. Fornication is anything from looking at pornography to anything that is there that has to do with sexual activity or sexual expression that is there. Anything outside of the confines of marriage and a marriage relationship is a sin and needs to be put away out of our households. He also mentions uncleanness there. Uncleanness is a word that means impurity. Impurity. It looks beyond the acts of the body into the very faults of the minds and the motives in your heart. In other words, uncleanliness. Not only do we do something, but why do we do them? Because our heart is desperately wicked. It is evil. Who can know it? Our minds are evil. And what happens? Out of an evil heart and an evil mind comes evil actions. That's uncleanliness. Then number five, inordinate affection. He's talking about wicked passions here. This idea has the idea of lust and forbidden things. Do you realize that God has marked certain things as being off limits? There's some things that God just says you don't need to be a part of. There's some things that you just don't need to know. There's some things that you just don't need to experience. What happens? We just need to trust God, right? Even when God put Adam and Eve in the garden, He said you can have everything, but what? He said there's one thing that's off limits. And He said in the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And so God has some things in our life that He says you know what? You just don't need to do. And that's these inordinate affections. When somebody tells us we don't need to do something, what's the natural thing that we want to do? Just like Eve, we want to do it, right? How many of you has ever seen a sign that says wet paint? Do not touch it. How many of you touched it, right? How many of you has been to Branson, to Silver Dollar City, and there you're walking down this deal and there's a yoke over here and it says do not look. And you look in and you see a donkey, right? And it says you're not to do that. But what will happen? Because it says don't do it, we've got to do it. That's these inordinate affections. And then the next one He says, evil desires is what that big word means. He's talking about desires. It speaks of a mind that longs for forbidden things. You know, why is it that we seek the things we can't have? That's what He's talking about here. We desire what we cannot or don't need. You know, the things that are bad for us, that's what we want, right? My wife the other night, trying to help me get healthy, trying to help me lose weight, trying to help me to get my stomach under control. She said, honey, I made you some squash and I made you some frozen sprouts. And I said, I don't want either one of them tonight, right? They're healthy, they're good for me, but I didn't want them. You know what I wanted? I wanted that piece of pie. I wanted some junk food, right? And that's just what our bodies, and we crave the evil stuff. But we need to make sure that we look out for the good stuff. He also mentions their covetousness. And He refers to it as being idolatry. It simply means to have more. You know, we as Christians sometimes ought to be satisfied with what we have. God provides to give us food, clothing, and shelter. And we need to be satisfied with that. But what happens? We covet our neighbor, right? When our neighbor gets something, we've got to have something. When something new comes out on the market, we've got to have it. We've got to try it out. And that's what He's talking about. He says what happens is covetousness becomes idolatry. In other words, you set your mind on it. I've got to have this. And so what do you do? You work for extra hours. You've got to get more money so that you can obtain what happens. We're supposed to do that for Jesus Christ. Christ should come above your family. Christ should come above your jobs. Christ should come above everything. Your hobbies. Everything that you do. Christ ought to be number one. And so if He's not, then guess what? All else becomes idolatry. And guess what? We are not to have no other gods before us. We're not to worship anything above God. So we need to get rid of some of these fleshly deeds in our life. He says in chapter 3, verse 8, but now, we've mortified these things, now put off all these. All of these had to do with our mind and our body and who we are. And He says now put off all these. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Anger is that deep smoldering bitterness. It's an anger that dwells in your heart. It makes the angry person hard to deal with. You know, anger, He's not referring to this burst out and all of a sudden it comes, but it's that smoldering. That's the problem with anger. It just sits there and all of a sudden, just the right breeze happens and what happens? I explode. And I'm sorry I exploded, but what? That explosion reveals that there's anger smoldering within me. Wrath refers to anger that boils over. Once that anger builds there and smolders, all of a sudden it boils over and there's this explosive outburst. That's what wrath is talking about. Malice is anger mixed with the desire to do harm to a person. You remember what Jesus Christ said in the Sermon of the Mount? If you have thought evil against your brother, if you wanted your brother dead, you're guilty of murder, right? Blasphemy is literally slander. Man, how many times do we insult and belittle other people? And that's just gossip. Filthy communication is abusive speech. Words that are thrown around and attempt to hurt or wound somebody. Man, what happens? We can destroy people because of what we say, right? And we just do it so easily and so readily. He says there in verse 9, Why not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds? Why, when we lie to one another, we are using the tool and tactics of Satan himself. In John 8, verse 44, Jesus said, You are of the Father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. When we lie, we're showing a relationship with Satan, not Jesus Christ. These characteristics have no place in the life of the child of God. If any of these things are in your life, they need to be removed right now. They need to be released. They need to be relinquished there. They're going to hinder your walk with God, and they're going to end up crippling you spiritually. So how can we be victorious over sin in our lives? Number one, the first way that we can do it is starve out fleshly appetites. You don't feed them. You know, you don't feed them. You say, well, I can watch this, and it's really not going to affect me. No, you don't feed it. It's like yeast. What happens when you put a little yeast in the lump? It leaveneth the whole entire thing. And so that's what happens when you feed sin, when you feed lust, when you feed anger. What happens? It just grows and gets worse and worse and worse. And so first of all, you starve out these fleshly appetites. Number two, you crowd them out. You put everything else in and that there's no more room for it. When we fill ourselves with the things of God, Philippians 4, verse 8 says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, do what? Think on these things. If you're thinking about things that are true, if you're focused and thinking about things that are honest, that are just, that are pure, that are lovely, that are of good report, you don't have time to think about the other junk in this world. And so crowd it out. Push it out. That's why some of us need to read our Bibles through this year just to get rid of some other junk. Some of us need to read our Bible this month, right? This week. We've got a lot of extra time on our hands. We need to put good things in so that the bad stuff doesn't have room to take hold. Colossians 3, verse 16 tells us how we do that. Let 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. Sin cannot gain a foothold in your hearts when you starve out the fleshly stuff and you crowd out the sinful thoughts. Put good stuff in that is there. And lastly, real quick, remember some things. Now we can remember. We've retained some things. Our foundation. Our focus. What does God have for us? We've released some things. That false doctrine. The foolish demands. The fleshly deeds. And so here's what we need to remember. Here's what I want you to hang on to when you walk out of here this morning. These last two verses give us some things that we need to hang on to. Verse 3, for you are dead. You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory. You need to remember you're dead. There's a death. You're dead! It's no longer your life. It's Christ living through you. And so, you know, we want to be saved from hell. We want to be saved from fire and torture and damnation, right? And when we do that, then guess what? We're also saved and given life in this world. And so your life no longer matters. Your life is not yours anymore. For you are dead. You are dead. Again, we have died to sin. We have died to the influence of this world. One of the surest ways the child of God can enjoy spiritual victory in his or her life is for that person to understand that they have been crucified with Christ. When Christ died, I died. When Christ died, I died. That's what Paul said in Galatians 2.24. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. If you can get a grip on this truth, then you can do what Romans 6.11 says. Reckon you also yourselves to be indeed unto sin. If my flesh is dead, then guess what? Sin no longer has power over me. Sin no longer has control over me. And so then what happens? We're going to grow deeper and deeper into the things of God. And so there has to be a death, but there also has to be a deposit. See, we're dead. What can a dead person do? Absolutely nothing. You can go over there to the cemetery, right across from the church, and guess what? Them dead people, all their bodies can do is lay there in that casket. They are dead. They can't do anything. They can't answer you. They can't respond. They can't hear what's going on. And so what happens? There has to be something deposited in our lives. Look at what he said. You are dead, and your life is hid where? With Christ in God. And so I've died, but guess what? My life comes in Jesus Christ. When Jesus said, I came to give you life and life more abundantly, that's not in this world. That's in Him. If you're living in Him, then guess what? Life is going to be abundant. No matter what you're going through. No matter what storm. No matter what problem. If you are in Christ, guess what? There's a calm. There's a peacefulness there. There's a joy that happens in your life. He says, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. And then look at verse 4 of 2 Peter 1. He says, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in this world through lust. See, the new life that God has given you guarantees you of eternal security. It guarantees us that we are secure in Jesus Christ. We are partakers of His divine nature. It says in 1 Peter 1.5, we are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In John 10.28, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of their hand. And so we have died to ourself. We have been deposited in Jesus Christ. And lastly, we have a dream. See, as you go into 20-25, there needs to be a dream in your life. Look at what he says in verse 4. When Christ, who is what? Our life. I'm dead. For me to live is Christ. And so Christ is my life. But guess what? He's going to appear. He is coming again. It says, Then shall you also appear with Him in glory. We need to dream. That's our hope. That's our hope. You know, when I sin, when I mess up, when my flesh jumps up and gets me, this verse right here reminds me that in denying this flesh and this struggle that we have, this battle trying to get control between our spirit and our flesh, Paul said these two fight against each other constantly. He said when I want to do good, guess what? I end up messing up. He said evil is always there. Whether I want to do good or I don't do good, I still mess up. Life is still not perfect. And so what happens? When we understand that, we understand that through Christ, we can have victory. And Christ and faith in Christ. One of these days, we will be vindicated. One of these days, we will be glorified with Jesus Christ. This flesh will be changed and remade in His image. In 1 Corinthians 15, 53, and 54, He says, "...for this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Man, I can't wait until Christ returns. I can't wait until I am fully glorified in there. He also tells us in 1 John 3, "...Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him, does what? Purify himself, even as Christ is pure." I want to please Jesus Christ. When you go over to Revelation 21, verse 4, and it says, "...and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away." Right now, I'm like Martin Luther King. I have a dream. I have a dream. I dream of a day when I'm going home. A day when I am going to be with Jesus Christ. And the day that all of a sudden, everything that I've preached, everything that I've believed, everything that I've read and studied in the Word of God will become a reality. I have a dream. And there's so much to take in when we think about Jesus Christ and what He has for us. But three questions I want to leave you with. Are there some things in your life that need to be retained? You need to, right now, go back and focus and find out, hey, do I know Jesus Christ as my personal Savior? Am I in Christ? There are some things that you need to be adjusted in what you hang on to. Are there some things in your life that need to be released? Some things that you just need to right now, that are mentioned in the message, some things that you heard that you need to get out of your life. You need to quit feeding it. You need to quit giving it power, giving it control in your life. And are there some things that need to be remembered? Some of you need to just take a quick trip down memory lane and nail a few things down how God has always been thankful. That He has always been with us. That He has always provided. And if we will do this, then guess what? Going into 2025, when we get to the end of it, if we will commit to this each and every day, then guess what? At the end, we will have a better relationship with Jesus Christ. And we'll be prepared when He comes back. I hope He comes back in 2025. But He may not. But I'm going to live every day in light of Him coming back. Today could be the day as to what am I going to do for Him. As we stand and have a verse of invitation, I'm going to hang on Brother Phillip.