November 17, 2013 | Colossians 3:5-17

Sunday we continued to follow Paul's argument that a real Christian is a raised Christian. Thus to "put on Christ," we see in vs. 5-12 reveals itself in our continual putting off of the old self and in its place, putting on love.

⁵ Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. ⁶ For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, ⁷ and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. ⁸ But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, ¹⁰ and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— ¹¹ a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.

¹² So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; ¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. ¹⁴ Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Audio
Notes


August 18, 2013 | Colossians 1:1-8 - Faith, Hope, and Love: The Greatest of These is Hope?
September 1, 2013 | Colossians 1:9-12: The More You Know
September 8, 2013 | Colossians 1:13-23 - Salvation is Creation: A Biblical Theology
September 22, 2013 | Colossians 1:13-29
October 6, 2013 | Colossians 1:13-23 - Tear Down This Wall: Tearing Down the Secular & the Sacred Divide
October 13, 2013 | Colossians 2:1-7 - Walk in the Lord: A Call to Agonize for the Christ’s Bride
October 20, 2013 | Colossians 2:8-15 - Beware of Counterfeits: Why Jesus is Better. Period. - Part 1 
October 27, 2013 | Colossians 2:16-23 - Beware of Counterfeits: Why Jesus is Better. Period. - Part 2
November 3, 2013 | Colossians 3:1a - “Raised with Christ”: Why the Resurrection of Jesus is More than HisStory
November 10, 2013 | Colossians 3:1-4 - Putting on Christ or You Ain’t From Around Here Are You?
November 17 | Colossians 3:5-17


For more:
"Take My Life and Let It Be"
All You Need is Christ: MacArthur on the Sufficiency of Jesus
Ravi Zacharias' 12 Arguments For the Historicity of the Resurrection  
Jim Monroe: I Am Second
Strengthen Your Hearts: Fun With Mark Lowry
The Secular vs the Sacred: Brand on the Influence of Luther
The Secular vs. the Sacred: Wax on the Lordship of Christ
Martin Luther on the Secular/Sacred Dichotomy 
Nancy Pearcey on the Secular/Sacred Dichotomy
Is Colossians 1:15-20 a Hymn?
"That's My King"
Faith, Hope, and Love: An Early Christian Confession 
MacArthur on a Faith that Saves  

November 4, 2012 | Philippians 3:12-4:1: The Joy of Pressing On

Sunday we looked at the end of chapter 3 of Paul's letter to the Philippians as he encourages us to "press on" in sanctification. Let us not fall for the lie of religion that meshes justification and sanctification, but let us be free in Christ to obey Christ. Let us press on.

¹² Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; ¹⁶ however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

¹⁷ Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. ¹⁸ For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, ¹⁹ whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. ²⁰ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

4 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.



Notes
Audio 




September 2, 2012 | Philippians 1:1-11 - The Joy of Thanksgiving & Prayer 
September 16, 2012 | Philippians 1:19-30 - The Joy of the Future
September 23, 2012 | Philippians 2:1-4: The Joy of Humility
September 30, 2012 | Philippians 2:5-11: The Joy of Holy Condescension
October 7, 2012 | Philippians 2:12-30: The Joy of Sanctification 
October 21, 2012 | Philippians 3:1-11: The Joy of a Pure Gospel
October 28, 2012 | Jude 1-25 - Is Grace a License to Sin?: Jude & the Antinomians 


For more:
"End of Construction. Thank You For Your Patience": Ruth Bell Graham & the Hope of Sanctification
There is no Gospel Without Blood
MacArthur: Salvation is Divine Transaction & Transformation
This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - Salvation
Bonhoeffer on Matthew 5:7-9

"End of Construction. Thank You For Your Patience": Ruth Bell Graham & the Hope of Sanctification

Sunday we will be discussing the doctrine of sanctification - or as I prefer to call it "holification." There are three aspects of salvation: justification, sanctification, and glorification. Think of it as salvation is past (justification), present and ongoing (sanctification), and future and final (glorification). Consider what Paul says in Philippians 3:12-:4:1 (our text for Sunday).

¹² Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; ¹⁶ however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
¹⁷ Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. ¹⁸ For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, ¹⁹ whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. ²⁰ For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; ²¹ who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

4 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

As I was thinking about this text and thinking about what is meant by these three terms, I am reminded of the epitaph of Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, who died in 2007. It reads, End of Construction. Thank you for your patience.

Perfect.


September 2, 2012 | Philippians 1:1-11 - The Joy of Thanksgiving & Prayer 
September 16, 2012 | Philippians 1:19-30 - The Joy of the Future
September 23, 2012 | Philippians 2:1-4: The Joy of Humility
September 30, 2012 | Philippians 2:5-11: The Joy of Holy Condescension
October 7, 2012 | Philippians 2:12-30: The Joy of Sanctification 
October 21, 2012 | Philippians 3:1-11: The Joy of a Pure Gospel
October 28, 2012 | Jude 1-25 - Is Grace a License to Sin?: Jude & the Antinomians 


For more:
There is no Gospel Without Blood
MacArthur: Salvation is Divine Transaction & Transformation
This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - Salvation
Bonhoeffer on Matthew 5:7-9

October 7, 2012 | Philippians 2:12-30: The Joy of Sanctification

If we are Christians, we will live like it. Pure and simple.

¹² So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things without grumbling or disputing; ¹⁵ so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. ¹⁸ You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

¹⁹ But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. ²⁰ For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. ²¹ For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. ²² But you know of his proven worth, that he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel like a child serving his father. ²³ Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me; ²⁴ and I trust in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly. ²⁵ But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need; ²⁶ because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷ For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. ²⁹ Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and hold men like him in high regard; ³⁰ because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.


Notes
Audio (currently unavailable)


September 2, 2012 | Philippians 1:1-11 - The Joy of Thanksgiving & Prayer 
September 16, 2012 | Philippians 1:19-30 - The Joy of the Future
September 23, 2012 | Philippians 2:1-4: The Joy of Humility
September 30, 2012 | Philippians 2:5-11: The Joy of Holy Condescension

There is No Gospel Without Blood

Last Sunday I mentioned a number of things we would not have without the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  Here is that list.

1. No Church - “. . . shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28)

2. No Justification - “. . . we have now been justified by his blood . . .” (Romans 5:9)

3. No Forgiveness - "In we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses . . .” (Ephesians 1:7)

4. No Reconciliation - "But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:17)

5. No Peace - “and through him to reconcile to himself all things . . . making peace by the blood of his cross.” (Colossians 1:20)

6. No Freedom - “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” (Revelation 1:5)

7. No Sanctification - "So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” (Hebrews 13:12)

8. No Worship - “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9)

9. No Heaven - “He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.” (Revelation 19:13)

In short, there is no gospel without blood. There is no Christianity.

MacArthur: Salvation is Divine Transaction & Transformation

This Sunday -- Resurrection Sunday -- we will be studying Romans 6:1-14 as it relates to how the gospel -- namely the cross and the resurrection -- transforms our everyday lives.  In other words, the gospel isn't just a transaction, but transformation.  This is the point John MacArthur makes in a sermon titled Dying to Live, Part 1 taken from Romans 6:1-14.  It is well worth the read and I encourage you to listen to the sermon (audio, manuscript)

Now listen to what I say. Holiness is as much a gift of God to the believer as salvation is in the redemptive act. I’ll say it again. Holiness is as much a gift of God to the believer as redemption is in the saving act. When a person is redeemed it is not only a divine transaction, it is a divine miracle of transformation. It is not only legal, it is real. It is not God just saying - Now you're saved. It is God transforming you. It is not only God saying something to be true, it is God making it true. It is not only God declaring you righteous, it is God recreating you in righteousness. You see, as I've been trying to point out earlier in the book of Romans, God doesn't say things that aren't so. And He's not about to call people righteous who aren't. And so, sanctification and justification are linked.  -MacArthur, Dying to Live sermon

This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - Salvation

What is the gospel? That is one of the most important questions we can ever ask.  Unless we answer this question, nothing else we think about, ask about, focus on, believe in, or do will matter.  The gospel identifies the Church, redeems the Church, and is the rock by which the Church is built on.  What is the gospel?

That’s essentially what the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 discusses next.  How is a person “saved?”  How does one get right with God?  What is the gospel?  The BF&M 2000 offer a rather theologically robust and technical answer to that question that at first glance appears rather difficult to understand.  Words like regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification aren’t exactly words we use in everyday conversation, but they are important nonetheless.  The BF&M 2000 says:
               
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

B. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed. [1]

This confession of faith is well written and defines the issue pretty well, the problem is that to the average Christian, much of what is laid out here is difficult to understand even though each issue raised here is imperative and very much part of the gospel.  So what is the gospel? It begins with God’s holiness and our depravity.  We cannot save ourselves because our God is infinitely holy and we finite beings are depraved to our core.  Even the “good” things we do are tainted with sin, thus if we were to rely on our works alone, we would present God a filthy rag of righteousness (Isaiah 64:6).  God is so holy that He cannot ignore our rebellion.  What we need, then, is a substitute.  What we need is grace.

The gospel offers such grace through the substituting work of Christ on the cross by which our sins are imputed (there’s a big word) onto Him and at the resurrection of Christ His righteousness is imputed (there it is again) onto us.  In other words, “[God] made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Christ took upon Himself our sin so that when God sees us, He sees the righteousness of Christ.

The cross and resurrection does not just give us a clean slate for us to dirty up again, but a new self, a new life.  This is what we mean by regeneration.  God, through Christ, makes us “new creatures” (vs. 17) whereby we become more like Christ.  Therefore, the gospel says that we are both “saved” now (justification) and are in the process of being “saved” (sanctification) meaning that we are growing in Christ becoming more like our Savior.  Unfortunately man approach the gospel as fire insurance whereby after saying a prayer or getting baptized we’re promised heaven after we die.  That is only part of it.  The gospel is a reformation of who we are at our core.  We are no longer the old man, but a new man that seeks to be more like our Savior.  This means that to be a Christian we both are redeemed at the cross and live by the cross.  Look to the cross and resurrection in everyday life trusting that God will use us for His glory.  We need to seek to reflect Him who bought us at the cross making us children of God, siblings of Christ.  Look to the cross.  Repent.  Believe.  And you will be saved. 

That is the gospel.  Do you believe in this gospel?


[1]  See the following references:  Gen 3:15; Ex 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matt 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Rom 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Cor 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Cor 5:17-20; Gal 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Eph 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Phil 2:12-13; Col 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thess 5:23-24; 2 Tim 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Pet 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Rev 3:20; 21:1-22:5.


For more:
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Introduction
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Scripture
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God
This is Who We Are  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Father
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Son
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Spirit  
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Man  

Romans 12

Here are the notes on Romans 12 from last week. Click here.

Bonhoeffer on Matthew 5:7-9

This Sunday we will be looking at Matthew 5:7-9. As I studied this text, I was encouraged and enjoyed reading some of what Dietrich Bonhoeffer had to say on these verses. Here is a sampling:

Matthew 5:7 - "These men w/o possessions or power, these strangers on earth, these sinners, these followers of Jesus, have in their life with him renounced their own dignity, for they are merciful. As if their own needs and their own distress were not enough, they take upon themselves the distress and humiliation and sin of others . . . For the only honor and dignity they know is their Lord’s own mercy, to which alone they owe their very lives. He was not ashamed of his disciples, he became the brother of mankind and bore their shame unto the death of the cross. This is how Jesus, the crucified, was merciful. His followers owe their lives entirely to that mercy. It makes them forget their own honor and dignity, and seek the society of sinners . . . "Blessed are the merciful, for they have the Merciful for their Lord." (111-112)

Matthew 5:8 - "Who is pure in heart? Only those who have surrendered their hearts completely to Jesus that he may reign in them alone. Only those whose hearts are undefiled by their own evil - and by their own virtues too . . . If men renounce their own good, if in penitence they have renounced their own hearts, if they rely solely upon Jesus, then his words purifies their hearts. Purity of heart is here contrasted with all outward purity, even the purity of high intentions. The pure heart is pure alike of good and evil it belongs exclusively t Christ and looks only to him who goes on before." (112)

Matthew 5:9 - "The followers of Jesus have been called to peace. When he called them they found their peace, for he is their peace. But now they are told that they must not only have pace but make it . . . The peacemakers will carry the cross with their Lord, for it was on the cross that peace was made. Now that they are partners in Christ’s work of reconciliation, they are called the sons of God as he is the Son of God." (112-113)

To Bonhoeffer, in the end, these Beatitudes regarding Sanctification (the doctrine that describes the Christian life as growing in holiness) rooted in the cross. I think he's right. The cross is the center of everything; especially the Chrisitan life and its road to holiness.

For More:
Bonhoeffer: The Meaning of Poor In Spirit and the Joy of Being Spiritual Bankrupt
Weekly Recommendation: "The Cost of Discipleship"

May 17, 2009 - Walk In the Spirit

Notes can be downloaded here.