Colossians 3, verses 1-7. And we'll focus mostly on verses 5-7 today. Please hear the Word of God. If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. when Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore, therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is adultery, Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. This is the Word of God. May His Spirit add its blessing and teaching to us this morning. You may be seated. Last week we saw in Colossians 3 verses 1 through 4 a transition. A transition really that is repeated all over the scripture where you have the truth of God that is used as an indicative from which the imperatives, the commands flow. This is true, so this is what we do. And in Colossians verses 1 through 4 in chapter 3 is a transition for the whole book. It takes us from the indicative, what is true, to the imperatives of what we are to do because of it. And in Colossians chapters 1 and 2, Paul details the supremacy of Christ. That he's the creator God who's preeminent over all things. He created all things by himself and for himself and for his glory. And he's sufficient over all things and preeminent over all things. And then Paul goes to his work. If Christ is sufficient and complete, His work of salvation is sufficient and complete. And Paul makes the point, if you're in this Christ, who is the fullness of God, then you have fullness and completeness in Him. And the key word is in Him. And since Christ has died to sin, and He's been raised to live, and He's ascended on high, then the Christian has died with Christ, has been raised with Christ, and is complete in Christ. And specifically in verses 1-4 in chapter 3 of Colossians, the Christian has died and he's been raised in Christ, and his life is now hidden with Christ in God, and Christ is his life. and the Christian will be made like Christ when Christ returns. Therefore, just in those first verses, therefore, because of these truths, these indicatives, the Christian is to live like this, the imperatives. He's to set his regenerated heart on Christ and the things above. He's to set his renewed mind on Christ and the things above. He's to set his resurrection life on Christ and the things above. Where Christ is in the heavenlies, And those things above include all the virtues and inheritance that Christ has won for His people and promises to give to His people. That's verses 1-4. We like verses 1-4. Those are good verses to memorize, all of us. But then starting in verse 5, which is where we'll start today. Starting in verse 5, Paul begins to give us practical details of how to live. in several spheres of life. Now, it's interesting, he says, set your mind on the things above, not on the things on earth, but now he's going to start talking about, well, how do we live our life on earth? How do we handle the things on earth? He's going to be telling us, starting in verse 5 through the end of the chapter, really through the end of the book in Colossians, he's going to tell us how we are to be who we are in Christ, in our private, in our public life, in our relationships in the church, our relationships in marriage, our relationships in the family, in the workplace, and when we're dealing then with those who are outside of Christ. That's a rough but very short outline to the rest of the book of Colossians. He's going to be telling us how to put sin to death in verse 5. How to put off practices of sin, starting in verse 8. And then how to put on practices of righteousness, starting in verse 12. Putting to death, putting off, but then the positive things. These are the things we put on as the new man in Christ, who's in the new man of Christ, which is the church itself. And it really reminds us of the great truths that we should never tire of. The great truths of justification and sanctification. I neglected to print the catechism question and answers in the bulletin. So kids, you're going to have to help me. We haven't got up to that this time around, but hopefully some of you know these songs to justification and sanctification. Don't leave me hanging up here. But when we get to the catechism, question 36, what is justification? It's one of the best biblical descriptions of it. The answer is, Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein He pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. We'll get to that in a few weeks for those in the class. And I'll make the teachers sing it. This is a wonderful description of what justification is. Justification is the act of God's free grace. It's different from the work of sanctification. It's the act of God's free grace, where our sin is removed, which satisfies the penalties of the law, because our sin is removed and it's imputed to Christ, and He satisfies the penalty of the law in our place, and then Christ's righteousness is given. It's imputed to us, which satisfies the requirements of the law for us. And in a sense, in justification, sin is put off, which is what Paul is going to be talking about. Sin is put off and righteousness is put on. But it's by an act of God. It's nothing we do. It's by an act of God. In a sense, justification would be the indicative, the truth that we rest upon. Then sanctification is the imperative. This is how we live. This is what we do. And so we get to question number 38. What is sanctification? Sanctification is the work of God's free grace. And you are singing. Oh, man, and to the image of God and are enabled more and more to die and to sin and live unto righteousness. And so, with sanctification, we have the work of God's free grace. God is working in us, and in some measure, by the power of God, we're able to participate in that work of sanctification. And the point is, now that we've been justified before a holy God, and we've been made new in Christ Jesus, God empowers us to put it into practice, to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. The Catechism question biblically states it. And again, we're putting off the sin and putting on the righteousness of Christ practically in our lives. That's the imperative that flows out of the indicative. In reality, what Paul is doing, starting in verse 5 of Colossians chapter 3, He's giving us directions. He's giving the Colossians directions. He's giving us directions on sanctification. How do we be who we are in Christ? And, unfortunately, we didn't study chapters 1 and 2. That's been a few years ago. But I hope you remember something about Colossians in the first two chapters. We find out that the Colossians were given many wrong answers. There are many false teachers and false teachings giving them wrong answers about how to be sanctified. How to put off sin. They had the wrong ideas of worldly philosophy, mysticism, and then legalism. If we could just adhere to all these rules and traditions, that's how we can be more godlike. Well, no. Or even asceticism. If I could just put myself through some kind of harm and pain, then I'll be more godly. No. What Paul is doing here in Colossians 3 and following is, Paul is giving us the right way to be sanctified. To be Christ-like. And so in verses 5-11, if you look there in verses 5-11, Paul deals with getting rid of the negative aspects of who Christians used to be. The more you live outside of Christ, the more sins that are piled up. in your memory bank that are there. You not only live through them, but they're still on your mind. And the more habits you have developed, and the more threads that wrap around to make the rope tighter and tighter and tighter. And so now when you become a Christian, sometimes God graciously cuts the ropes completely. And it's just amazing how some are sanctified seemingly so quickly. But for some of us, it takes a long time. And so it's a plotting, with a D, not a T, a plotting, a walking with Christ and His Word, getting rid of the negative aspects of who you used to be, but who you are no longer. And he does this in verses 5 through 11 by giving two lists, in verses 5 through 11, two lists of five vices that he specifically points out. Put these to death, verses 5 through 7, and put these off, verses 8 through 11. In verses 5-7, Paul describes the sinner as he is in himself, moving from the outside, the external, from the deeds of the sinner, to the inside, to the internal, to the heart of the matter. He moves backwards from the outside to the inside in verses 5-7. And he uses the sinner's deeply private and hidden life, moving from sexual sins to the heart of idolatry. And so the imperative of verses 5 through 7 is this. Put those sins to death. Don't mess with it. Kill it. For you young men in the audience today, this is a good day. You can kill things today. You can even have that look on your face. Kill it, because that's the attitude you should have. In verses 8-11 though, Paul now describes the sinner, not as his private life, his own self, but now he's describing the sinner in relationship to his neighbor. He moves from the inside, the heart, to the outside, the deeds. He uses the sinner's public life from the heart of anger to the speech that flows out of it in relationship with others. And the imperative in verses 8 through 11 is this. Put those things aside like a bunch of filthy clothes. Take them off. It's not fitting for you anymore. You need to put on the robes of righteousness instead. Well, I don't know if this will make you happy or not. Today we'll only have time for verses 5, 6, and 7. Which means you have to come back next week to hear the second list, verses 8, 9, 10, and 11, for what needs to be put off. Today we'll look at just the first five vices in Colossians 3, verses 5 through 7. And we'll just have two overall questions. What are these sins that have to be put to death? What are these sins that have to be killed, have to be mortified? And then secondly, well, once we identify what they are, how do we put them to death? How do we kill them according to the Word of God? And so first of all, we'll look at what are these sins that have to be put to death, really only looking at verse five. So let me read verse five again. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. I really have three questions within the question. First of all, I want us to look at why does Paul use the word members? He says, put to death your members, which are on the earth. So why members? But then these sins that he lists are specifically sexual sins in nature. So the question has to be, well, right off the bat, why those sexual sins? Why is he mentioning sexual sins? And then we'll finally say, well, what are these specific sins? We'll look at the actual words themselves and try to see them in more detail. So first of all, why members? Why does Paul say, put to death your members which are on the earth? Well, turn to Romans chapter 6. There are many places in scripture we could go to. Last week we turned to Romans chapter 6, so maybe it's good to look at it again so you won't soon forget. Maybe over two weeks you'll come to love Romans chapter 6, just like you'll come to love Colossians chapter 3. And as you're turning there, you might remember last week We use Romans chapter 6 as an example of this idea of the indicative, the truths that are true about who God is and what He has done in us in Christ, and then the imperatives that flow out of it. And you have to get that in that order, otherwise it becomes legalism. Otherwise we just jump and say, don't sin. It's all on you. The point is, no, this is who Christ is. This is what He has done. This is what He's done in you. Therefore, once you have that as a foundation, now act this way. And so in Romans chapter 6, The first ten verses speak that way. It's basically answering the question, well, gee, if grace abounds all the more, greater than sin, so should we just sin all the more too? And he says, no, absolutely not. And he goes through ten verses saying, you've died to sin in Christ because Christ died to sin. And He was raised again, and therefore you've died, and you've been raised in Him. That's who you are in Christ. And so finally when he gets to verse 11, and for those of us who are from Iowa, you'll like this, he says, so reckon it to be true. Reckon it to be true. Count on it. It is true. And therefore, verse 12, now we finally get to the command, therefore, don't sin. But notice you have 11 verses that say, here's the truth. Now we finally say, don't sin. And then in verse 13, it gives more details about what you do then. And so if we pick it up in verse 11, that's where we have this transition of reckoning. Verse 11 in chapter 6, Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Since this is true, count it as true. That's the foundation. And then in verse 12, Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, but you are not under the law, but under grace. And if you skip down to verse 18, and having been set free from sin, you become slaves of righteousness. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. So Paul uses the terms there of members, and he's using it in the way that you'll see it often in Scripture. He's using the term members to describe the sins of the flesh. The term members describes the parts of the body that are responsible for committing the sin or even committing righteousness. It's a way of saying if your eye causes you sin, Rip it out. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's that sort of thing. The parts of your bodies are called members because they're associated with the sins that they actually commit. Or, here, the righteous acts that the Lord leads you to commit as well. Do you see how the word members works there in Romans Chapter 6? Look back to Colossians Chapter 3. There's something a little bit different, though, in the way Paul uses this in Colossians Chapter 3. In Romans 6, which is really how it usually is being used, we use the term members to describe the part of the body associated with the sin. But in Colossians 3, verse 5, he says, put to death your members which are on the earth. And he describes them. He doesn't say arms, legs, eyes, whatever. He says fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. Then he labels it all as idolatry. He's not calling the members here the parts of the body that cause the sin. He's calling the members the actual sins, the vices that the parts of the body commit. And perhaps we should be very grateful because he's describing sexual sin here. We don't want to talk about the parts of the body. We want to talk about the actual actions that are being committed. One way that Paul could have said this, if you want to reinterpret or rewrite this in a way that would help you see what he's trying to say, he's basically saying, put to death, therefore, the effects produced by the sins that are closely associated with the members of your body. I think he has a purpose for doing it backwards here. Making the members being the sin, not the parts of the body. First of all, why does he do this? Because it intensifies the guilt of your sin by associating the sin itself so closely with you. By saying, these are your members, these things you're doing. He's saying, you are doing this. When you commit these sins, it's you who are doing this. It's part of you that is doing this. And when you're talking about sexual sin, there's no sin that is so personal, so part of who you are, which is why it's so utterly destructive. There's nothing as personal that actually is a part of you so much as sexual sin. The second reason I think he flips it by having the members be the vice and not actually the parts of the body, it's because he allows him then to name what these vices are. Paul names names here. In Romans, you might have noticed It just said, don't let your members cause you to sin, so your whole body might be corrupted. That's what Jesus says earlier. But you don't really know what those sins are, do you? It's just more of a broad category. By actually making the vices have the names, now we know exactly what Paul is talking about, so we can kill them. You can't kill something that you don't know exists, or what its name is, or where it is. Now we can kill it. We can put it to death. So that's why he uses the word members. But now let's look at why sexual sin? Why speak about sexual sin? Of all the sins to list, why does he, right off the bat, say fornication and all these other things associated with sexual sin? We were just up in the heavenlies in the first four verses. We liked it up there. Get your mind on Christ and the things above. And now Paul says fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire. I really don't want to think about those things. He brings us down to earth very quickly. Well, I think there's three very basic points. Why sexual sins? First of all, sexual sin is exceedingly prevalent. It's everywhere. Those of us who have been using the same Bible reading schedule recently went through the book of Proverbs. I'm always reminded, and somewhat amazed, in the first nine chapters of the book of Proverbs, the foundation to all the rest, in chapter 2 and 5 and 6 and 7, even chapter 9, Solomon is saying, son and daughter, keep away from sexual sin. It will destroy you. It's the same thing that's been tempting and destroying since man was created. It keeps reminding us how central this is to something we have to deal with, no matter what century we live in, no matter what society we live in. With the Colossians, they were living in a pagan culture, immersed in sexual sin. Even in their pagan worship, there was sexual sin involved in the worship of their gods. It was a virtuous thing. And so the Christians in Colossae had to battle both their own flesh, and dealing with who they once were, and trying to cast those things off, and their sinful nature, but also dealing with a culture around them that kept telling them about these same things that they're trying to put to death. Does this sound familiar to today? Is this anything different than today? Of course, now if you're in a reading schedule, you're in Ecclesiastes. Everything that once was, it is now. There's nothing new under the sun. It's the same thing. Those who are young among us think, oh, you don't understand how things are. No, it's never changed. It's always this way. It's the same thing today, and even in this so-called Christian culture that we are supposed to be living in. It's amazing, and it's amazingly discouraging how wide the range of sexual sin that we see in our culture is so pervasive. And it's accepted today. Things that used to be valued even by the lost, even by secular man, they knew these things. Monogamy, sex only in marriage, they used to be valued by all. But now in our culture, yes, in our culture, those simple but wonderfully virtuous things of keeping oneself pure, it's ridiculed, it's even sneered at. So the pressure is very heavy upon us. Things that were once understood to be perverse are not just accepted, they're promoted everywhere around us. From homosexuality to pornography, to now you have this vile and just incredibly sad hook-up culture where young people, I suppose even older people, are using sexual activity as if it's just like a sport, something you do on a Friday night. It should make you sick. And they don't know what they're doing, ruining their lives, physically, emotionally, even mentally, in ways that they'll be dealing with for the rest of their entire life on earth. And every type of media now is overflowing with references and promotion of sexual sin. We can't get away from it. And now the evil one has provided us phones that we can carry around and know about it all the time because we can connect to the internet anytime we want to. I won't go on my rant, but it's just so pervasive and so difficult for parents to try to shield their children from these things because it reaches into the home. It's exceedingly prevalent. It's also exceedingly destructive. That's the second reason why he uses these sins. It's exceedingly destructive. According to the Scripture and our experience, we know that there's nothing more destructive than sexual sin. When we read through the Proverbs 2, 5, 6, and 7, we see it destroys the physical health. It destroys the emotional, the mental health. Again, I even grieve today in Romans chapter 1, the capstone in showing how sinful society becomes. It says, even the women have fallen into and have chosen sexual sin. We know men are dogs. I didn't get any nods off the head, but we know men are dogs. At least there was at one point, there was a sense that women would have some virtue, but now even the women. And so now we have young women who think the way to fit in is to just give themselves one night at a time to whoever, and they don't know what they're doing to themselves. Sexual sin destroys marriages, therefore it destroys families, therefore it destroys society. We think of the examples and warnings in the Proverbs. We think of the example of David's life, that his pursuing of sexual sin brought so much destruction, yes, to himself, to others, other families, his own family, even the country that he ruled upon, ruled over. Sexual sin is prevalent, it's destructive, and therefore we are to kill it before it kills us. And it can. The third thing is, it's exceedingly personal. Sexual sin is exceedingly personal. And that is by God's design, God's wonderful design. Sexual activity is deeply ingrained in the human heart and the human being. And so the sin and the hurt and the scars of sexual sin go deeper than any other sin. Read 1 Corinthians 5 and 6 and get a hint of that, how there's nothing so personal of a sin than sexual sin. Sexuality is a great gift from God. It's a wonderful gift to consecrate the marriage relationship and to be enjoyed. Yes, to be enjoyed to the full, but in marriage only. Maybe sometimes we as Christians seem like prudes. We keep talking about the negatives of sexual activity because it's in the context of sin. But sexual activity in the context of marriage is a wonderful and beautiful thing. And therefore it should be cherished long before the marriage so it's protected. So you're protecting the marriage you will have long before you're married. When Adam and Eve sinned, At the time, they were naked and they were not ashamed. But then when they sinned, they became ashamed for the first time. And what did they do? In our day and age, they would turn on the TV really quick, or look at the internet, because they could just get their mind off of it and not think about it. But no, they put on clothes, or some sort of covering anyway, and they hid, both from God, but both from each other. There's now a break between the husband and wife because of sin. But now when a man and a woman unite in marriage, it now allows them to be naked again with each other and each other alone and without shame and to become intimate and to be fully open before each other. When one is married, that whole symbolism of being naked means you can know me as I am like nobody else can know me. It's a beautiful thing. It's a risky thing, but it's a beautiful thing. And the great joy of marriage and the gift of sex in marriage, even in Proverbs 5, after so many descriptions about the negativity of immoral sexual activity, then the Proverbs writer says, Rejoice with the wife of your youth, which implies you're only to have one wife and just be the first wife and rejoice in her and her alone, but rejoice with the wife of your youth and always be enraptured by her love. It's a beautiful thing. But oh, the great, great pain of the abuse and the misuse of sexual activity when it's done outside of marriage. When you have divorce, divorce is so painful because now it's two people who are joined together, naked together. Now at least one of them is saying, I don't care. I've seen you as you are. I'm going elsewhere to somebody else. And it rips the heart and the soul out of the one or both. It's been said that the worst is always the corruption of the best. The worst is always the corruption of the best. And that is certainly true when it comes to sexual sin. The worst is always the corruption of the best. God gives the best gifts for man and woman to seal in their marital love, yet the world and the sinner perverts it and turns it into idolatry. I don't know if there's any better description of our society today that worships sex. In any other sexual relations, other than within marriage, even the desires and the thoughts is a perversion and a horrendous abuse of this gift and the intention of God. Any act of immorality outside of marriage or the abuse or the premature use of God's gift is a perversion and a horrendous abuse of this gift. I was trying to think of examples. The first one was a trite example this weekend. We planted little lilac sprouts four years ago, and this spring they finally had blooms. I know young men keep thinking, kill it, kill it, kill it. I'm going to talk about flowers now. I love lilacs. They're beautiful in the smell. You can't beat it. The thing is they only last about a day or two. Once you cut them and you bring them inside, they only last about a day or two and it's gone. And I kept waiting. I kept waiting. I kept waiting until I thought those blooms would be ready to bring in. You want to wait until they're all pretty much open. And I finally, I cut them, I brought them in to show my wife, and I realized I didn't wait long enough. I've ruined them. Most of them were still not open, and therefore, in another day, they just wilt, and they're just... It's a trivial little thing, but it made me very sad. I could wait a whole year. But that's an example, I think, maybe in a small way. You don't open things before their time. You don't take the meat out of the oven until it's done or it'll make you sick or kill you. And you can't put it back in just like the lilac. I got nothing. I actually think a more gruesome example fits the bill better. Recently we had an example which has happened before. It just makes you sick to your stomach. An example of someone who tricked a pregnant woman and cut the baby from the womb so they could have what was not theirs. Makes you cringe. I don't get it. How can that be done? But I think that's an apt description of what sexual sin is. It's forcefully stealing what is not rightly yours. Or it's forcefully giving away what is not rightly yours to give to somebody else when it's sexual sin. And it's ruining one of the most beautiful gifts our gracious God has given us. May we be appalled at sexual sin in our society, but sexual sin in our own lives. And I will say, for the one who is with us today, and I'm sure there are some, even when you come to Christ, the sexual sins of the past, they're like scars that are in your memory bank, and you ask for forgiveness and for help to overcome them, but they're still there. It's difficult. No matter where you are today, if you're suffering from such sin in your past, or even right now, come to Christ Jesus. He can heal all wounds and make all things new. So that's the why of sexual sin. But now the third question of this first question. What are the specific sins of verse 5? What are the specific sins of verse 5? There are five vices and then there's a description of what the whole thing looks like. And the emphasis is on sexual sin, from the outside deed, starting with fornication, back into the inside heart, the passion and the evil desire in the New King James. But keep in mind that sexual sin is often used in the Scriptures not just for the specific sexual sin, but as the example of all sin and how we deal with it. It shows the principle working of all sin and how we're supposed to be dealing with this. So number one is fornication. It's speaking of the act of sexual sin. It's speaking of sexual immorality. Any form of sexual sin. But the focus of this being on the act of sexual sin. Any type of intercourse outside of marriage. is sexual sin. The scripture makes it completely clear. I'm so tired of people trying to argue the other thing from the scripture. If you're going to use scripture to argue for any other way of sexual activity, just throw your Bible away and admit it. You're not using it. The scripture is clear. Any sexual activity outside of marriage is against the will of God. It's against his holiness. The second word for uncleanness, it's a way of saying impurity. It's deeper than the act. Now it goes to the evil thoughts, the intentions, the affections behind the act. So we're going backwards from the act to the thoughts. And the third one, really the third and fourth phrases or words, there's not much of any noticeable difference between passion and evil desire. They're pretty much the same thing. But now we're going to the desires behind it. You go from the act, to the thoughts, to the desires. It's backwards from what happens. Paul is cutting away, trying to kill at the root, is what he's trying to do here. Perhaps passion could be thought of as the lust, and the evil desire could be the excessive affection. Or maybe we could talk about desire versus the inordinate craving for sexual satisfaction in a sinful way. They're very much related. Can you see how this fits in reverse the pattern of an evil desire, to the evil thoughts that dwell on it, to the evil actions that come out of it? And reminded of James 1.14, But each one is tempted when he is drawn away from his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, it brings forth death. Or we can think of Jesus' words in Matthew 5, starting in verse 28. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The Ten Commandments are not just external things that are do's and don'ts. They cut to the hearts. If you've had lust in your heart after a moment, you've already committed adultery in the eyes of God in your heart. And if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members, there we have the word members, it's more profitable for your members to perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. A little bit later, it's better for you to cut off your right hand Cast that away from your whole body to be cast into hell. And so that's the progression backwards from fornication, the act, all the way to the thought, to the evil desire that originates it. But then, why covetousness? There's a lot of questions in these three verses. But why covetousness? Where does that come from? Doesn't that seem odd to you? That this would be the final vice? I kind of understand the flow of the first four, but covetousness? We'll understand that there's a sense in which covetousness is the source of all sin. At its heart, covetousness is the desiring that which God has forbidden. It's the desiring that which God has forbidden. Do you see the connection with sexual sin now? I think we underestimate how important covetousness is. It's one of those respectable sins that Mr. Bridges would write about Paul was brought to repentance when the law itself exposed his covetousness. He was like the rich young ruler perhaps before. He said, I've done all these things, I'm okay. But then the law brought to his mind, do not covet. And he says in Romans 7, he says, I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet. And the other nine, perhaps somehow he could rationalize those. Oh, I'm keeping those things, because he's looking externally. But when you get to coveting, isn't it beautiful how God has made that be the last of the ten that represents His moral law, His eternal moral law? Do not covet. That tenth commandment, do not covet, is the final one, the one that cannot be seen. And so it cuts to the heart. It's proof that the Ten Commandments were not merely external, but they cut to the heart. And then when you get down, you start off with, know other gods before me. Love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. And we go to know idols, not taking the Lord's name in vain. What day do we worship? Then you have obeying your parents, adultery, killing, lying, stealing. You have all these things. But then we finally get down to coveting. Don't covet, which is number 10. But then that last one loops us all the way back to the top. Because not to covet means, if I'm not coveting, I don't have any gods before me. I'm only looking to those things that God wants me to look for. I'm looking to God Himself. And so it loops back up to the top, and we start over again. And so for coveting, breaking the Tenth Commandment, we're breaking the First Commandment. And here, the word for covetousness It speaks of an insatiable selfishness. An insatiable selfishness. A self-seekingness. And all sin is selfishness. And sexual sin is covetousness because it's nothing more than a self-seekingness. I want what I want. Not what God wants. I really don't even care about the other person. The one who sins in this way cares nothing about the other person, else he or she would not drag the other person into it. He or she is only caring about his or her own godless, selfish, animal desire to be satisfied in a sinful, sexual way. So that brings us then to, which is idolatry? I hope you see the connection between covetousness and what we talked about before, but now, which is idolatry? Paul's trying to help me keep you awake by having question marks. He'll say, well, okay, I can stay awake for a minute. What is idolatry in here for? Why is covetousness labeled as idolatry? Well, understand, if you're coveting, then you're not content with what God has provided, and you're not content with God himself. And if you covet what is not yours, you're not content with what God has given you, you're engaging in self-worship. You're engaging in idolatry. All sin is selfish, and therefore it's self-worship. In Colossians 3 verses 1-4, we are talking about setting our hearts and our mind and our life on Christ and the things above. We're lost in Christ. But what if we put this into the secular idea? What if we substitute self for Colossians 3-4? It would be like this, I am sufficient in myself. This is what the sinner would say. I am sufficient in myself. So I don't need to be raised in Christ Jesus. And therefore I'm on the throne, so I'll set my heart and my mind and my life on the things that I want. And what I desire. Do you see how this is idolatry? Sin is desiring and pursuing what I want, while rejecting what our holy Creator God demands. And so all sin is covetous, it's idolatrous, it is will-worship. It's saying, I am the standard and I do what I want. It's idolatry. And so a quick application before we go on to the second question. Young lady, if a young man says he loves you, but he's touching you, or he's pressuring you to do so, that is not love. Instead, that young man is a self-worshipping, covetous, idolater whose evil desires are centered only on himself, and who merely looks at you as a means for his own self-satisfaction and worship. That is not love. And you can tell that, young man. My pastor said, you are a self-worshipping, covetous idolater whose evil desires are centered only on himself, and you're merely looking at me as a means for your own self-satisfaction and worship. Repeat that to yourself and even to them. And sadly, these days, young man, I have to say the same thing to you. If a young woman says she loves you and she's asking for the same things, it's the same thing on the other side too. But all of us, any sexual sin from lust, to pornography, to the physical act itself, is nothing but self-worshipping, covetous, idolatry, indirect rebellion against your Holy Creator, and therefore you must kill it, you must recognize it for what it is, and you must put it to death. Look at Ephesians chapter 5 very quickly. Ephesians chapter 5, verses 1-5. I'll just try to read this without comment. Colossians and Ephesians, they go together. If you study one, you should study the other. I think this helps us. The first five or so verses of Ephesians chapter 5. Therefore, be imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be named among you, as is fitting for saints." The point is, those clothes don't fit you anymore. It's not fitting. "...neither filthiness nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, rather giving of thanks." Now notice here, even in our society, and even in the Christian society, we make jokes, we make comments. It's part of our language. And Paul says, don't even have it be mentioned in your words, in your jesting. And Christian, get it out of your vocabulary. We don't mess with it. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, or covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sins of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them." Those are the sins that Paul is listing in that first verse. Now, how to kill them. How to kill them. There's three things. How do you kill them? First of all, kill them. Kill them. Put them to death. Do not play with it like a cat plays with a mouse. Don't play with it. Do not give it an honorable funeral. Put it to death. Don't play with it. Kill it purposely and at the root, just as Paul traced from the outside deed to the source of the lustful, covetous, idolatrous heart. Kill it proactively, with a real action against it. There must be a plan, and you must put forth effort to kill something. You must acknowledge it for what it is, so you can put it squarely in the crosshairs and shoot. Paul names names here. He calls it for what it is. We should name names as well. And kids, when your parents tell you, when you do something wrong and your parents say, you know, Tony, you really should go to your sister and apologize for what you've done. And if you go to your sister, Tony, and you say, well, Katie, I'm sorry. Is that good enough? Nah. And you would never do it that way. You'd be more full with it. The idea is, Katie, I'm sorry that I did this. It's a sin against God and it's a sin against you. Please forgive me. It has to be named. It has to be pointed out. And it's the same thing we should be doing. We cannot overcome besetting sin without naming it, without owning up to it, without confessing it. We might say to God, I have done this thing again. Please forgive me and try to walk off. But that doesn't work. We must instead confess, I have done this deed again, O Lord, because I have a selfish, covetous heart that seeks to fulfill my evil self-worshiping desires and rebellion against You. Please forgive my idolatry of worshiping myself and my desires. Please forgive my rejection of You." Make it thorough and point out what it is. So we kill it by killing it purposely and at the root. We kill it by starving it. You can die by not eating. You can kill things by starving it. Don't dwell on it. Stay away from the temptation. Don't feed upon it in word or in deed or in thought. It should be obvious what not to feed on considering your sinful heart. I'm not a fundamentalist, but I'm still appalled so often in the Christian community how easily we accept certain kinds of entertainment, certain jokes, certain activities, as if it's just okay, without discernment. We justify our feeding of our sin through these things, rather than starving it. Hebrews chapter 12 says, you don't just get rid of the sin that ensnares, but you get rid of every weight that hinders you. Don't dance around the sin. Get away from it. And don't mess with it. An assignment would be read Proverbs 5, 6, and 7 frequently. Perhaps once a month. Yes, it will combat sexual sin, but also the principles apply to all sins. It will help you to see sin for what it is. You need to read that when you're going towards that sin, you're like an ox led to slaughter. You're like a crust of bread. You're a fool, and it leads to death and hell. Thirdly, kill it by feeding on the good. Starve it, but feed on the good. It's not enough just to say, I'm not going to do this. If I tell you, stop thinking about the color blue, what are you doing? Well, you're thinking about the color blue. I need to tell you, think about the color red. And that will get your mind off the color blue. In verse 2, Paul told us to set our minds on the things above, not on the things of the earth. So we have to feed on the Word of God to saturate our mind and our soul on the Word of God and the things of God. Think of Philippians chapter 4 verse 8. Think on these things. Renew your mind. Romans chapter 12. Take a book like Jerry Bridges' Pursuit of Holiness. If you're dealing with a besetting sin in this matter, And read it a chapter a day trying to push out the bad and put on the good because it takes several weeks to change your thought patterns when they're in certain sinful ways. And seek accountability from the brothers and sisters in the church and seek prayer. Seek contentedness and satisfaction in Christ and Christ alone and His people alone to feed on the good. kill it, starve it, feed on the good. But then, the second thing is, after killing it, what else can we do to put these sins to death? Well, remember who you are. Remember who you are. Paul said, therefore, and he's pointing back to what he just said, and he's just telling you, this is who you are in Christ. This is who Christ is. This is who you are in Christ. So remember who you are. Remember your union with Christ, your identity in Christ. You are in Christ. Be who you are. And he said in verses 6 and 7, you used to be sons of disobedience, deserving the wrath of God, and you once walked in these sinful vices, and you even lived in them, but you're not that person anymore, because you died in Christ, and you've been raised in Christ, and your life is now hidden in Christ, and Christ is your life. Earlier in Colossians 1, Paul was saying he's praising the Father for delivering us from the power of darkness and conveying or transferring us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He's saying you once lived in the kingdom of the evil one, but now you've been transferred by the power of God into Christ's kingdom, the one who's all supreme and sufficient for all things. So live that way, not like you used to live. If we had time, we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 6, another example of this indicative and this imperative. Look at 1 Corinthians 6, some day today on the Sabbath day. Here in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul is making the point that being united with Christ means that we're not only identified spiritually with Him, but even our bodies are united with Christ. He says we're united as members of Christ. Our body is a member of Christ. And so God forbid that you take the members of Christ and join it to sexual sin, or any sin for that matter. You're taking Christ with you. How dare you join what is united with Christ to such a sin, and how dare you do that to the temple of the Spirit of God. You are bought at a price, you are not your own, therefore glorify God in your body and be who you are. And lastly, kill it. Remember who you are. But lastly, look to Christ. Look to Christ. This is how we put these things to death. Look to Christ. See sin from God's perspective. In verse 6, Paul wrote, Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon you, if you are a son of disobedience. When we compare our sins to others, we look pretty good sometimes. But we need to see sin from God's perspective. How does God see sin? Look at the cross. Look at the cross. When we look at the cross, there we see the holiness of God demanding justice for our sin. When we look at the cross, there we see the wrath of God being poured out in full on our Savior because of our sin. When we look at the cross, there we see the gruesome punishment for our sin in full view, the Savior becoming sin for us. When we look at the cross, The Son, who earlier sweat drops of blood while agonizing at the thought of becoming sin for us, is now on the cross. And now you hear Him cry, My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? And that was not merely the physical nails in His hand, as it was taking the wrath of God that was stored up for all of His people, that would take us an eternity to suffer. And He's suffering it in three short hours. It reminds me of the hymn, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted. The first three verses, Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted, see him dying on the tree. Tis the Christ by man rejected. Yes, my soul, tis he, tis he. Tis the long-expected prophet David's son, yet David's Lord. By his son God now has spoken. Tis the true and faithful word. Tell me, ye who hear him groaning, was there ever grief like this? Friends, through fear, his cause disowning, foes insulting his distress. Many hands were raised to wound him, none would interpose to save. But the deepest stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice gave. And then verse 3. Ye who think of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, Here may view its nature rightly. Here its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed. See who bears the awful load. Tis the word, the Lord's anointed Son of Man and Son of God." That is how God sees sin. And that is how we must see sin too. And then how can we not desire to kill it, to have no part of it, to put it to death? Looking to the cross gives us hope. It's the greatest display of God's mercy, grace, and love, and the power over sin that Christ can give us and encourage us to put sin to death in our lives as well. So in closing, two quick things. For the Christian first. For those who are outside of Christ, second. For the Christian, remember who you are in Christ Jesus. Just like we said last week, remember who you are. If you are in sin, what are you doing living like that? Christ took on flesh. He became like you. He died for you. He's not ashamed to call you brother. Not only that, He's not ashamed to dwell in you and to cleanse you and to empower you to be like Him. Your whole body has been cleansed, Christian. So now come to the One who can cleanse your feet again and again and again. and come to the One who can empower you to put off those old, filthy clothes, those clothes that no longer suit you, those clothes that no longer fit, so you can practically then put on the Christ-likeness that Christ gives. If you're not a Christian, you do need your body cleansed. You do need your whole body cleansed. Rather than putting to death the members of sin, your sin has put you to death. And that results in hell. Rather than being dead in Christ, you are dead to Christ. And so I plead with you to run to Christ, who alone can take the wrath of God coming upon you. Come to the one who alone can remove the filthy rags of your sin, and clothe you with His glorious robe of righteousness, that you might then stand before God in the way that He has provided for you to do so. Stricken, smitten, and afflicted ends with this. This is what we'll close on before we pray. Here we have a firm foundation. Here the refuge of the lost. Christ the rock of our salvation. His the name of which we boast. Lamb of God for sinners wounded. Sacrifice to cancel guilt. None shall ever be confounded. Who on Him their hope have built. Let us pray. Dear Holy Father, Oh, we thank you and we praise you. You are so full of grace and mercy and love and you showered it upon us from the infinite fountains of Christ. We thank you for Christ. We thank you that in Christ Jesus our sins can be removed and righteousness can be given. We pray for those who are outside of Christ this very day. They need Christ. They don't understand. They need Christ. There's no other hope for them. I pray, Lord, by Your Spirit, You convict and move in their hearts and their minds and their soul, that, Lord, they be moved to repentance and confession of sin and placing their faith on Christ, the only Savior, for their sin sick, their sin dead soul. And for those of us you have graciously saved, I pray, Lord, you enable us to desire to put to death the sin that Christ died for, to remember who we are in Christ Jesus, and to look to Christ and Him alone, that you would make us more and more like our Savior. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things.