Colossians 3:12

Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 to 14 our focus is going to be on verse 12 and let me read verses 12 to 14 put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowes of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering for bearing one another and 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, which is the bond of perfectness. God blessed to us His sacred and holy word this morning. now believer is in some ways like a butterfly we come into this world like a caterpillar an ugly one at that would depraved and corrupt and alienated from God our life is one of crawling around with regard to being attached to the things of this earth but then we undergo a God-given renewal, a spiritual change. Just as a caterpillar enters a cancun, there’s a sense in which we have to die to ourselves, and then we find that we emerge as a beautiful butterfly, able to assure above the things of this world with a new identity and a new character. Obviously, a butterfly can’t go back to living as a caterpillar. He’s undergone a dramatic change and is an entirely different creature. And so you as a believer can no longer live as you used to live. As an unregenerate person, you’ve undergone a dramatic change as someone who has been regenerated by Jesus Christ. The word, therefore, in verse 12, connects this verse with what Paul has just taught. He has spoken about putting off those things associated with your old man in verses 8 and 9. He now speaks about putting on those virtues which are associated with your new man, which he spoke about in verse 10. Paul first speaks about your new identity and then he addresses your new character. what you should exhibit in your life. Let me begin with this first thought. You’ve been given a new identity as a believer. You notice he says here, you are one of God’s elect people as the elect of God. Once again, divine election is found in Epistle of Paul. It all frequently comes up. It is frequently emphasized by the apostle as a doctrine of importance for your life. Sadly, some professing Christians would prefer we never mention election. As if it were a dirty word that should never be talked about, a taboo subject. We should avoid it. How different the attitude of the apostle Paul, who sees divine election as an incentive to live a godly life. Scripture teaches that God has a people which were chosen in Christ from eternity according to God’s sovereign will in good pleasure as we read in Ephesians chapter 1 verses 3 to 5. If you are one of God’s elect people, you were chosen under salvation and eternal life. And in time, you were drawn to Christ by the irresistible power of God. So your salvation is not based upon your will or your works, but is solely of God’s free grace. Paul, by a judgment of charity here, assumes that all here who are professing Christ and are members of the Church of Colossé are indeed the elect of God. There may be some hypocrites among them, but for the majority of them, they indeed are the elect of God. Now, your knowledge of election here is not meant to promote profane living. Some people tell us, well, if you teach election and the security of the believer, then, of course, they are going to go out and live an evil life. But you’ll notice that Paul uses the word election. election in this text in connection with putting on the new man. He’s using it in a sense, in a positive sense, having to do with holiness, godliness of life. That may surprise some people. They might think, well, that doesn’t seem right. Isn’t that what the scripture teaches? How often do you read about election and what do you connect, what is it connected with in scripture? For example, in Ephesians 1-4, according if he hath chosen us in him before the first, foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him? How much plainer can it be that the election leads to holiness? In Deuteronomy 2618 and the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his people, his chosen people, as he hath promised, and that vow shouldest keep all his commandments. So being. the chosen people of God is for the very purpose of holiness of godliness of life. On March 11th, 1830, there was a little English girl who was doing her school lessons with her tutor, and the lesson she was working on that day was the royal family. As a little girl studied the genealogy chart in the book, she suddenly became aware of an astonishing fact she belonged to a royal family. and that she was destined to be queen. In fact, she was the next in line to be queen. And at first she wept, and then she turned and looked at her tutor and said, I’ll be good. The fact that little Victoria was destined to be queen motivated her to live a higher level life. The fact that you were elected by God to be holy ought to motivate you to live a godly life. Those who boast about their election, while in their deeds and their manner of life are profane, are showing themselves to be non-elect people. I knew a man who strongly believed in divine election. He claimed to be a Calvinist, claimed to be one of God’s chosen people, but he was a known drunkard. It completely undermined his claim. Those who know Christ, as 2 Timothy 2 tells us, let everyone that nameeth the name of Christ, depart from Iniquity. So if we say that we’re a vessel chosen of the Lord, well, then we ought to be departing from iniquity. So you are one of God’s chosen people here. That is indeed a blessing, and it relates to, to this whole idea of putting on the new man. Second thing here, he says, you are considered holy in Christ Jesus. He says, holy and beloved. Now, these three terms, the elect of God, holy and beloved, refer to what you already are. It’s part of your identity, the indication is here. How is it the Jew as a fallen sinner could be considered holy. Well, you certainly weren’t born holy. The Bible says you were born in trespasses and sins. By nature, you were unclean and filthy, conceived in sin, shaped in in in iniquity. You were not made holy by some act of the church like baptism. That does not actually take away original sin or actual sin. you didn’t make yourself holy by personal righteousness but there’s not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sin if not. God’s standard is high. Perfect holiness is required. Be you holy as I am holy is what the scripture teaches. You and I can’t meet that lofty standard in our own power. And even though the Holy Spirit is working in you as a believer to make you holy, if you’re honest, you find yourself tainty. with all kinds of sin in your life. So it appears here that Paul is speaking of Christ imputed holiness. You are right now considered holy in God’s sight because you’re holy in Christ. As the scripture indicates, you as a believer are a partaker of His holiness, Hebrews 1210. It’s only by the Redeemer’s holiness that you can ever hold. to stand justified in the sight of the Lord God. As Colossians 122, we talked about that earlier. The holiness imputed or credit to your account is perfect because it’s Christ holiness. So right now, in this present life, God looks upon you as holy, even though it’s only a glorification that you will actually be made holy at that point. But my observation is this, since you are positionally holy in Christ, you ought to be presently striving to be holy in your life by putting on these virtues. David was anointed king by God long before he actually became king. Many years went by before he became king. At one point, you remember David commanded his men to strap on their swords, and he was going to slaughter all the males of the house of Nabal, because he disrespected him, because he failed to provide provision for him and his men, after he and his men had protected the sheep and the men, the shepherds of this man while they were out in the fields. Nabal’s wife, you recall, Abigail, intercepted David, prevented him from this slaughter. And what did he, what did she do? She reminded him of God’s purpose. that he had set him apart to be king. He was, in fact, already God’s anointed. And thus he should behave as such and not take revenge. You’ll regret it later. In a similar way, you’re already considered holy in Christ, so behave as such now. By how you conduct yourself. Let your behavior match your position. So you’re considered holy in Christ Jesus. You are a beloved of the Lord, he says. This also is the other thing that he mentions here. You’re beloved. Beloved of the Lord. It’s common for Paul to speak about the people of God being loved of God. It’s one of his common themes. For example, in Romans, to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, Romans 1-7. The Thessalonichens, he wrote, we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, Beloved of the Lord, 2nd, Thessalonians 2.13. Do you not read in Scripture in Ephesians 5, that Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Now, all these various declarations of God’s love for his people would be meaningless if God loved every human being. When Christ professes his love for his bride, the church, that is a precious and a unique blessing. You know, if you tell your wife, I love you, but then you go around and tell every woman in the neighborhood, I love you, she’s not going to think very highly of you in that situation. It doesn’t mean much. She’s going to conclude, I’m not special and unique to him because he loves everyone. He loves all the women. It’s because you love her alone. It’s because you’ve set your affection and your intimate attention upon her that she’s special. This is true spiritually as well. Why bother mentioning believers are beloved of the Lord if God loves everybody? Do we not sing Psalm 5? Thou hateest all the workers of iniquity? Do we not sing Psalm 11, the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hateth? Doesn’t that add more meaning to what we sing in Psalm 1.4? 46 and verse 8, The Lord loveth the righteous. He hates the worker iniquity. He loves the righteous. Is it not because the Lord loved a special group of people that he chose us in Christ? That he gave his son to die for our sins. That he made us alive when we were dead in trespasses and sins. That he gave us His Holy Spirit and provided the spiritual graces that Christ purchased on the cross. And then he set aside an inheritance for us. us that will one day be with him for all eternity. Does not Jesus say, of the Father’s love for the church, thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Now, I don’t think you can get any higher love than that. And that’s what God’s love is for us. So God’s love is effectual. It saves, and therefore it’s confined to the elect. Now let me make this observation. God’s love for us. you provides an incentive to obey his commands and to live a godly life. God’s love to you causes you to respond with love to him. We love him because he first loved us. 1. John 419. I have been studying the Song of Solomon lately. It’s interesting in chapter one of the Song of Solomon. Verse 15. Christ says, this, behold, thou art fair, my love, speaking to the church. And how does the church respond in the very next verse? The church says, behold, thou art fair, my beloved. Yes, that’s a reciprocal love. We love him because he first loved us. Your response of love is obedient. If you love, Jesus said, keep my commandments. So, if we are beloved of the Lord, our response is to love the Lord, and how do we show that love, but by keeping his commandments? And now we’re getting back to holiness of life, aren’t we? Those who truly love God will cultivate these virtues in order to please Christ, their husband. Your responsive love will admire these spiritual qualities. My friends, these spiritual qualities. Spiritual qualities, if you look at them, these are qualities that Christ has. And we should imitate Christ. Are we not being conform to his image? We should love these things because it reflects our Savior. Wouldn’t we want to have those same things in our life? You see children all the time they imitate their parents. They want to do what their parents do. Are we going to imitate our older brother here, the Lord Jesus Christ? shouldn’t we want to be like him? Do you demonstrate you are beloved of the Lord by your response to his love? It’s falling to assume you love the Lord if you don’t have these virtues. Because if you love the Lord, these virtues have to eventually come out in your life. So you have a new identity as a believer. You’re the elect of God. You’re holy in Christ. You’re beloved to the Lord. Now, with that in mind, he says, you have a new character to put on. If this is so about you, then this is the character you should exhibit as a believer. In verse 12b, he talks about here, bows of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering. Now, again, this expression put on is like putting on a coat. Putting on clothes, a garment. That’s the idea. The cloak of the new man, if I can put it this way, is made like Joseph’s coat of many colors. And by that I mean, the new man is the coat in general, and the many colors of it are these various virtues that we read about here, that make up the new man. Just as clothes adorn the body, these virtues are to adorn the soul. Bows of mercies. Well, that’s an odd expression. Don’t use that kind of language today, do we? It comes from the Hebrew. It actually means having compassion on others. It’s a figurative expression. It’s not literally related to your intestines. But it does speak of what’s inward, what’s very large, and reaches a multitude of areas, and therefore it’s like your intestines, I guess. But it means you’re to be have a sympathetic spirit toward others which is genuine, which is tender, which is abundant. I read about Joseph. When Benjamin was finally brought down to Egypt and Joseph, his brother saw him, and remember Joseph and Benjamin were the only two sons of Rachel, what did he do? in Genesis 4330. His bowels did yearn upon his brother. He’s moved toward his brother at this point. You know, the Bible talks about weeping with those who weep. We are to suffer with them that suffer. We’re to be touched with the feelings of their troubles and their sorrows. You pity the sad plight of others and are truly grieved that they would be suffering, whether they be the poor, the persecuted, the sick, the afflicted, the widows, the orphans, or whatever the case may be. Notice Matthew Chapter 9 with me. Look at that with me, if you would. Let’s look at this passage with regard to Jesus. Matthew 9, 35, and 36. In Jesus, what about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. And when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. He sees their condition. He has compassion upon them. Look at chapter 18 of the book of Matthew also with me, beginning with verse 23 for verse 27. Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened under a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him 10,000 talents. But for as much as he had not to pay, his Lord commanded him to be, his Lord commanded him to be, be sold in his wife and his children and all that he had and payment to be made. And the servant fell down and worshipped him saying, Lord, have patience with me and I will pay the all. And the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion and loosed him and forgave him the debt. Now, friends, let’s make this observation. You can’t claim to be a Christian and be unsympathetic and uncompassionate in your life. You must be a person who thinks about the needs of others, who is not just a self-centered person, living only for what pleases you. You are to love your neighbor as yourself. You can’t be hard-hearted and ignore the plight of others. You remember Joseph’s brothers when they had thrown him into the pit? And the Bible says, this when they later on thought about it, they said, we are truly guilty concerning our brother, and that we saw the anguish of his soul, and he besought us, and we wouldn’t hear. Think about that. He begged them to have mercy upon it, and they didn’t pay any attention to him. Uncompassionate. Do we have this virtue? Are you a compassionate person in your dealings with others? of mercies. Second, he talks about kindness. Now, kindness is compassion put into action. These are acts. The bowels of mercy are what is inward. The outward acting is the outward acting is the doing good unto all men, especially of those of the household faith, as Galatian 610 indicates. In other words, you ought to be well. to help those who are suffering according to your ability. Mercy and kindness are often linked together in Scripture, that the one should lead to the other. When Naomi and Ruth returned to Israel after living quite a while in the land of Moab, they came back as destitute widows. Ruth was forced to go out and glean in the fields in order to provide for herself and Naomi. The poor were permitted to do this after they were harvested by the workers. They could come in and pick up the slim pickings that were left. The law of God provided this, but at least you wouldn’t go hungry. You could find something to eat. Ruth providentially was led to choose to glean in the field. fields belonging to the godly Boas. Boas sees her, gleaning in the fields, and inquires about her, discovers that she has returned from Moab and her relationship to Naomi, and even her belief in Jehovah God, that she has deserted or forsaken the gods of the Moabites, and has now chosen to follow the God of Israel, Jehovah God. and Boaz shows great kindness to her. He tells her, whenever you want to drink, just go up to the pitchers and get the water that I’ve, has been pulled out or prepared for my workers. Whenever you want something to eat, you can eat whatever we have to eat for lunch or dinner or the case may be. And then to truly help her, this is the interesting part of the story, so that she had enough grain. for herself and Naomi, he tells the workers, leave some handfuls behind on purpose. Don’t be so careful about the gleaning. Leave something behind for her so that she has plenty to eat. In all of this, Boas displayed kindness, you see, to this poor woman. It was greatly appreciated. This is what we’re talking about. Not only that we have bowels, of mercies that we have compassion on them and think, boy, they’re in a very poor plight. But we also act in such a way as to help them in their poor plight. I’ll make this observation. Your faith must be expressed in tangible ways, or it’s a dead faith. Faith without works is dead. And so kindness is something that we as the people of God should display. Humbleness of mind is the third thing he mentions. Now, the grace of humility requires, first of all, I think, a sense of your own weakness to have a low view of self. You live in such a prideful age where a high self-esteem is valued, that humility actually is rare. What God values, man is valued. not value. To this man, while I look, even to him that is a poor and of a contrite spirit, Isaiah 662 says. Ask yourself this, these kind of questions. Am I willing to think more highly of others than myself? Paul said this, that he was the least of all saints, that he was the chief of sinners. Think about that. As the Apostle Paul, he could say these kind of things. Because, as Philippians 2.3, indicates, he was willing to think of others more highly than himself. Secondly, am I willing to ascribe all that I am to the grace of God? Paul said, by the grace of God, I am what I am in 1st. Corinthians 4.7. He doesn’t look upon himself as thinking he’s a great man because of his own achievements. He looks upon himself. He looks upon himself as being what he is only because God’s grace has entered into his life. Ask yourself this. Am I willing to exalt Christ over myself? Can you be like John the Baptist? He must increase, but I must decrease. I wonder if people are willing to say that today, that really I want to exalt Christ. I don’t need to be exult. How about this? Am I willing to receive whatever God’s hand brings into my life? remember Eli, when his two sons were put to death, he said that when he heard that he was two sons and his family was going to be judged by God, I should say, because of the wickedness that his two sons were engaged in, he said, it’s of the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. I wonder if we have that attitude when we have something tragic that’s going to enter our life. Do you see why this very very? virtue needs to be cultivated because few of us are as humble as we should be. I’ll make this observation that pride is the poison of all virtues and all good works. Humbleness of mind. And then he says, meekness. The fourth item is meekness. The word meekness here is used to describe animals who are no longer wild and headstrong. When a wild horse is broken in, when he finally is submissive to the person who’s riding him, and he has a gentle spirit about him, it has that kind of idea behind it. He’s meek now. Meekness speaks of a broken will, a receptive heart, before God. A gentleness of spirit. A submissive spirit. Arthur W. Pink said this. Meekness is not only the antithesis of pride, but of stubbornness, fierceness, vengefulness. It is the taming of the lion, the making of the wolf to lie down as a kid, quoting scripture. That’s in his sermon on the mound. So I’m questions asked yourself about the issue of meekness. Am I a person who willingly submits to the will of God? Am I someone who is submissive to God’s control of my life? Can we say with Paul, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Do we have that kind of attitude about our life? Am I willing to bear God’s chastening and do? dark providences with a quiet spirit so that I’m restrained. David said, I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it. Psalm 39, 9, because God brought it into his life. He was quiet. He didn’t rail against God. He didn’t become out of control. He submitted to it with a quiet spirit. Am I willing to endure insults, reproaches, and indignities of men with a calm? spirit and not be vengeful. Here our Lord sets the example. When he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously. 1. Peter 2.23. Do we see that a meek and quiet spirit is of great price in the eyes of the Lord as we read in 1.1.1.3.4? Do we consider it as such? I’ll make this observation. Cultivating a meek spirit is essential to living a quiet and peaceable life. And the fifth thing he talks about is long suffering. Or, as we might say today, patience. Now, it is true that there’s not much difference between meekness and long-suffering, except, if I can put it this way, it speaks of the endurance of your meekness. all right it’s not that you are meek one time but if we continue to remain meek then we’re long-suffering and so if I could make that little distinction I think that would be helpful long-suffering implies a marathon then of showing meekness perseverance in maintaining a meek spirit under long-term period of suffering or maybe a dark providence that has come up in our lives. Scripture says, patient, continuance, and well-doing is what was required of us. Romans 2.7. Jealbis set forth as an example of one who showed great patience. His trial and affliction lasted for quite a while, and he lost everything. He was malign. He was ridiculed. He was ridiculed. He was provoked by his so-called friends, came to visit him, treated with contempt day after day, but he persevered in trusting God and expecting vindication. Christian virtues are not to be sporadic then, but they are to be continuously exhibited in our lives. This is much more difficult, isn’t it? Say you were meek once. Maybe an achievement for you, but you’ll notice that the indication is this is something we must do continuously. Let me close by saying this. Just as a caterpillar undergoes a great change, become a butterfly. So the Christian, prior to his conversion, or her conversion, has to undergo this great change made by God. We become from, we go from the ugly worm into this beautiful. change into a butterfly. A butterfly doesn’t continue acting like a caterpillar, and you and I cannot continue acting as we once were as being controlled and dominated by the old man. So you have been given a new identity as a believer, and you have a new character to put on as a believer. And thus these virtues are to be put on by us. May God bless to us, Let us close with prayer.