Living in Step with the Gospel

The scripture reading today comes from Colossians chapter 2 and 3.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletin or on the screen.

Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,

based on the elements of the world rather than Christ.

For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells in bodily in Christ,

and you have been fulfilled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands,

by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ,

when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him,

through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,

he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.

He erased the certificate of debt with its obligations that was against us and opposed to us

and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly.

He triumphed over them in him.

Therefore, don't let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink

or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.

These are a shadow of what was to come.

The substance is Christ.

Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices

and a worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm.

Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind.

He doesn't hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,

nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons,

grows with growth from God.

If you died with Christ to the elements of this world,

why do you live as if you still belong to the world?

Why do you submit to regulations?

Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch.

All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up.

They are human commands and doctrines.

Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion,

false humility, and severe treatment of the body,

they are not of any value in a curbing self-indulgence.

So if you have been raised with Christ,

seek the things above, where Christ is,

seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears,

then you also will appear with him in glory.

Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature,

sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed,

which is idolatry.

Because of these, God's wrath is coming upon the disobedient,

and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.

But now, put away all the following,

anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another,

since you have put off the old self with its practices

and have put on the new self.

You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your creator.

In Christ, there is no Greek and Jew,

circumcision and uncircumcision,

barbarian, Scythian, slave and three,

but Christ is all and in all.

This is the word of God.

Great.

Thank you, Christina and Jefferson.

Will you join me as we pray?

Let's spend a few minutes praying for ourselves

and for our city and for our world together.

Will you join me?

Gracious Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit,

we do come before you this morning

to have our own hearts ministered to,

to set our hearts aright with you,

but also, God, to bring you worship and glory,

to praise your name,

to worship you for who you are.

Father, this morning we are reminded

that you are the sovereign, glorious God.

As Angie reminded us earlier,

there is no one like you in all creation, God.

You are glorious and majestic,

and yet you are also deeply personal.

You are close and caring.

You are compassionate, God,

to the hurts in our hearts

and, God, the hurts of our city.

Father, thank you that you know our deepest concerns.

You know everything about us.

You know the fears and the anxieties,

and, God, you are concerned about that with us.

God, your heart is compassionate towards us.

We do praise you for that, Lord.

God, thank you that you alone hold these two tensions,

your majesty and your mercy,

your glory and your grace, God.

Where could we find someone like you, God?

In all creation, we could go to the ends of the earth, God.

We could search for all eternity

and not find anybody that comes close

to your majesty and your mercy, God.

And so we do come before you

with such humble hearts

and considered incredible privilege

to be called your children.

Father, this morning we've read,

this morning in Colossians,

as we ask, God, that it will be true of us.

Lord, we pray that as a church

and as followers of Jesus,

we will not be deceived by human tradition,

by human philosophy.

We pray, God, that as Colossians has reminded us,

we will hold fast to Christ.

God, we pray that we won't be sidetracked

by the shadows,

but we'll come to know deeply, God,

the substance of the gospel,

which is you, Jesus Christ.

We pray, God, that we won't be those

that are interested in religion,

but miss the person of Jesus.

Oh, Christ, we pray,

get the gospel deeper into us.

God, help us to see and to savor you, Jesus,

as our Lord.

Help us, God, to apply the gospel

to our own hearts and lives, God.

Help us, God, to see our sin

and yet to revel in the good news of Jesus.

God, we really do pray

that as a church, Watermark,

whatever else happens, God,

may one thing be true of us.

May the gospel get deeper into us

as a church, we pray.

Father, come and pray

for a move of your spirit amongst us.

We pray, revive our hearts, oh God.

Lord, where our faith has become dry,

oh God, let the water of your spirit

come and revive our hearts,

the wind of your spirit revive us, God.

God, come be at work in our church, we pray,

and start with each one of us.

Father, this morning, we want to also pray

for our city and our world

and our neighbors in mainland China

as we think of the coronavirus.

God, we pray for those that are affected

and infected and suffering.

We pray for those that are in hospital,

those that are at home and are sick.

God, we pray for your grace and your mercy

to minister to them.

Lord, we want to pray for families

of those that are suffering,

especially over Chinese New Year

when families would normally come together.

We pray, God, where families are apart

or are unable to travel.

We pray that you, God,

will minister to those families.

We pray, God, for the medical staff

and for doctors,

and especially those in Wuhan

that are working so hard

many, many hours.

God, we pray for their protection.

We pray they won't be infected.

But we also pray, God,

that you just strengthen them,

encourage them in this time.

We pray for our government officials, God,

that you will give them profound wisdom

how to handle this.

God, put policies in place

that will stop the spread,

and yet, God, not be harsh and hard.

God, may we be a sympathetic people.

May we be gracious.

And Father, we pray for Christians

that as a church,

we will move towards the pain.

God, we won't just think about ourselves

and distance ourselves,

but we will move towards those that are hurting,

have compassion in our hearts

and sympathy and empathy.

God, we pray for us.

And finally, Father,

we pray for this Chinese New Year period.

We pray for the Watermark family.

We pray as families are traveling around the world,

won't you be with each one of us.

I pray for good family times

around the dining room table,

around meals.

As we are visiting family,

we pray for warm hearts and soft hearts, God.

God, we pray that you help us

to be salt and light in this time.

And Christ, we pray for you to give us opportunities

to share the hope of the gospel,

the reason for the hope that is within us

with our family and our loved ones in this time.

Christ, may this be a great time

for the gospel to go forward

in our homes, in our families,

and the various cities of the world

as we travel.

And so we do, God, bring this weekend before you

and ask your spirit to fill us

and to lead us and to guide us.

We pray these things in your wonderful name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay, well, good morning, everybody.

Sonny Phylock.

I probably said that all horribly wrong,

but happy new year.

It's great to see a bunch of people

and it's great to see some new people,

some guests, some visitors.

Welcome.

Wonderful to have you with us.

If you are from out of town

and you're visiting Hong Kong at this time,

a warm welcome to you

and welcome to Watermark.

As a church, for the last couple of weeks,

we've been exploring what the Bible has to say

about the gospel.

What is the gospel

and what are its implications for our lives?

Why is it that as followers of Jesus,

we need to make sure that the gospel

is front and central in our lives,

not just one of 17 priorities in our life,

but really front and central.

And we've been exploring that for a couple of weeks.

And so, so far we've seen that the gospel

is God's announcement of good news.

It's not just God's good advice

about how we should live our lives,

even though it does have implications

for how we should live our lives.

It is God's announcement of his good news

that God has done for us,

in the person of Jesus,

what we could never do for ourselves.

Jesus lived the life we should have lived.

Jesus died the death that we should have died.

God, Jesus went to the cross and died

so that when we put our faith in him,

our sin is credited to him

and we don't bear the consequences for our sin.

That's the good news of the gospel.

But we've also seen,

I've tried to show us the last few weeks,

that as followers of Jesus,

we constantly need to get the gospel

deeper into our own hearts and our own lives.

If we're gonna become anything like the people

that God is calling us to be,

we have to be those that are constantly meditating

on the beauty and the wonder of the gospel.

And one of the reasons for that

is the way that we change as human beings

is, or let me put it this way,

we will never really change

unless we confront the stuff that's in our hearts.

Unless we really look at what's in our hearts,

what's going on in our lives,

what's the motivation behind the fears

and the anxieties and the things that we do,

unless we really explore the deep recesses of our hearts,

we never really change.

But the gospel alone gives us a security

to be able to do that.

The gospel gives us an identity

that allows us to really explore

what's going on in our hearts

without crushing us,

without making us feel like failures.

And so the gospel gives us the power to change.

And then last week we saw Oscar shared with us

how the gospel gives us a new identity.

2 Corinthians says we are new creations in Christ.

The old is gone.

The new has come.

The gospel gives us a new heart,

a new motivation.

Jesus doesn't just come and help us to fix our lives up

or to make us slightly nicer people.

He completely revolutionizes the interior of our lives.

And so what this means is that as a church,

one of the things that I've been trying to impress upon us

is we must get the gospel deeper inside of us.

And so I want you to know

that that is the prayer that I have prayed for myself

and it's the prayer that I've prayed for us as a church

more than anything else over the last two years.

More than praying God grow us as a church,

even though that's not a bad thing.

More than God give us more finances,

though I have prayed that as well.

The one prayer that I've prayed more than anything else

is God for Watermark, for me.

Help us get the gospel deeper into our hearts.

And so prayer, I'm gonna keep on praying for us.

Now today I want us to look at

how the gospel relates to

the moral and ethical commands of the scripture.

Okay?

So how the gospel, the good news of Jesus,

relates to where Jesus calls us to obedience,

to follow him and to love him,

and to the moral and ethical commands of scripture.

Now there's a bunch of ways that we can get it wrong.

Okay?

There's two ways that we can get

the commands of scripture wrong,

but there's a gospel way that is completely different.

And I want us to look at that today.

Now, and we're gonna do that

by looking at the book of Colossians,

but we'll get there in a bit.

I wanna set up a framework first,

and then we're gonna come to Colossians.

In the book of Galatians, chapter two,

the apostle Paul does an amazing thing.

He confronts and he challenges another apostle

the apostle Peter over his hypocritical behavior.

So Peter, this apostle that walks with Jesus,

at one point he's acting one way

in front of one group of people.

Then there's another crowd,

and he starts to change his behavior

and act a different way.

And the apostle Paul calls him out on his behavior.

But the interesting thing is,

Paul doesn't go to Peter and say,

hey Peter, you've broken the Exodus 17 law

by acting hypocritical.

Paul doesn't go and say,

hey Peter, you've just broken the Matthew 23 rule

in the Bible by your hypocritical behavior.

What does Paul do when he challenges Peter's hypocrisy?

He says, Peter, your behavior is not in step

or not in line with the gospel.

You see that?

He could have gone to the Bible and said,

look Peter, there's this verse that says,

treat your neighbors as yourself, love others.

He could have done that, but he doesn't.

He says, Peter, your behavior, your conduct

is offline, is veering off

from the conduct of the gospel.

In other words, Paul is saying to Peter,

your hypocrisy is not merely a behavior,

it's a gospel issue.

Okay, does that make sense?

Paul challenges Peter,

not because Peter's broken the rules,

but because there's a disconnect

between Peter's actions

and the life that the gospel produces.

And friends, you've got to believe

that if that can happen to the apostle Peter,

the guy who walked with Jesus for three years,

who saw him being crucified,

who saw him being raised from the dead,

Peter who preached the gospel on Pentecost

and 3,000 people got saved,

if Peter can forget the gospel

and so his behavior veers off

from the conduct of the gospel,

friends, you've got to believe

that it can happen to you and to I.

And so how does our behavior

disconnect from the gospel?

How do we get it wrong?

Well, I'm so glad you've asked that question.

That joke is so old.

I've really got to stop saying that.

Okay, I'm so sorry.

I will try my best to stop saying that.

There's two ways that we can get it wrong.

I don't know if you've ever been horse riding.

Okay, in this rural setting of ours called Hong Kong,

we don't have too many horses.

The only time I've ever been horse riding,

I was in Mongolia.

I was 19 years old.

I was visiting a friend there

and he had some horses

and so we're out in the countryside

and he says, come, let's saddle up

and I'll show you how to ride a horse.

And so I get on this horse

and at first, you know, we are walking slowly

and then the horse starts trotting gently

and after five minutes,

I can feel myself leaning to the one side

and I can still remember,

I can still picture remembering,

this is not a good thing, right?

And so more and more and more

and after five minutes,

I was being dragged on the Mongolian countryside

by this runaway horse, okay?

And eventually I let go

and my friend holds onto his horse,

grabs the other horse's reins

and then they split.

They go separate ways.

And so it pulls him off his horse

and he's being dragged

holding onto these two horses

across the Mongolian countryside

and eventually he reined them in.

What were we talking about?

This is the point.

This is the point.

Like riding a horse

or a bicycle without hands, right?

You can fall off on two ways, okay?

You think you're getting it right

and before you know,

you're on the ground.

You can fall to the left

or you can fall to the right.

There's two ways

that we can get the gospel wrong.

Two opposite but equal errors that we make.

The first one is what we could call

moralism or performance Christianity.

Performance Christianity.

It's where we think that

our acceptance of God,

or God's acceptance for us,

or God's love for us

on theological language,

our justification is based upon

our moral or our spiritual performance.

Essentially how good a Christian you are, okay?

So remember this quote

from Richard Lovelace a few weeks ago?

He said this,

most Christians intellectually know

in our heads that God accepts us

because of what Jesus did on the cross.

But in our actual day-to-day existence,

most of us rely on our spiritual

or moral performance

to assure us of God's love and acceptance.

Either our spiritual sincerity

or our past experience of conversion

or our recent religious performance

or the relative infrequency of conscious sin.

Okay, so I've got some props here.

Sorry, I'm not very good at props,

but let's see if we can get this going, okay?

So this is what Richard Lovelace is saying.

For most Christians,

this is what we believe, okay?

We believe that,

we believe the gospel,

Jesus died on the cross for our sins,

plus my good works,

my moral performance,

my obedience to Jesus.

And if I can get these two things right,

then God will love me and accept me.

Okay?

Does that make sense?

So most of us think.

Faith in Jesus plus good works

or obedience or moral performance

leads to my salvation or my acceptance.

Friends, think about that for a second.

How many of us think or feel

that God's love for us

or his acceptance of us

is based on our recent moral,

spiritual performance,

our recent lack of sin,

or some other thing that we've done for God?

Now the problem with this is many.

One of the problems is

it makes us insecure about God's love for us, right?

Because if our feeling of how much God loves us

depends on our performance,

or you have a good week,

you feel like, yes, God loves me.

You have a bad week,

oh, God doesn't love me anymore.

We feel insecure about God's love for us.

Remember Richard Lovelace said,

Christians who are not sure

that God loves and accepts us in Jesus,

apart from our spiritual performance,

are subconsciously radically insecure persons.

But ironically,

it also makes us judgmental and arrogant

because we cannot help looking down

at people that aren't performing as well as us.

So I think I'm a pretty good Christian,

but I look at my friend Leo there,

and shame,

he's not doing as well as me,

and you know,

I just,

I can't help but feel better about myself.

But you know what,

also when I'm having a bad week

and I'm not doing that well,

and Leo is suddenly amazing,

he's on stage,

and he's leading worship,

what do I do?

I find somebody else

that I think I'm doing better at.

I cannot help

to find somebody lower than me

in order to feel better about myself.

And so Christians that operate like this

are naturally judgmental

and arrogant

and bigoted.

Here's the third thing it does.

It makes us deny

and cover up our sin

because we just cannot look

at what's really going on in our hearts.

To look at the real stuff

that's going on in our hearts

is just too painful.

It makes me feel like a failure.

And so I cannot help but cover up

and deny

or what I tend to do

is get defensive

or I will admit

to some minor sin,

some lesser indiscretion

in order to avoid

the real things

that's going on in my heart.

Kristen this week

reminded me of

a pastor a few years ago

who was caught embezzling money,

right?

So taking money

from the church coffers

and redirecting it

to a family business.

He was convicted of this

and put in jail.

But when he had to face

his congregation,

this is what he said.

He said,

I'm so sorry

if I've caused any hurt

or offense.

You see?

It's so much easier

to admit to some lesser sinner,

I'm sorry if I've hurt you

or caused offense,

rather than saying,

I'm wrong.

I shouldn't have done that.

I'm a sinner.

Right?

But the problem is

that when we do that,

we never really change.

In order to really change,

we have to be able

to look at what's going

in our hearts,

to have an honest assessment

and bring stuff to the light.

But here's the fourth problem

with this,

is that it blinds us

to seeing the reality

and the beauty

and the majesty

of Jesus.

That's the problem

with the Pharisees,

right?

Remember the Pharisees?

They're always judgmental,

they're always arrogant,

they're always doing things wrong,

but the problem is

they never see

the beauty of Jesus.

Remember in John chapter 9,

John 9 · chapter mention

Jesus heals somebody

and they say,

he must be casting out demons

by satanic power.

Rather than just saying,

man, Jesus,

who are you?

Or they say,

this man must be a sinner.

There's something about Jesus.

They cannot see

the beauty of Jesus.

Friends,

when we believe

that God's love

and acceptance of us

is partly based

on how well we perform,

it'll blind us

to the beauty of the gospel,

to the wonder of Jesus,

to the majesty

of his grace,

to the problem

of sin in our lives

and how glorious he is.

That's the problem

of performance Christianity.

But then there's another side

that we can fall off the horse,

okay?

You don't fall off this side,

you can fall off the other side.

And that's what we could call

licensed Christianity

or relativism.

And that says,

because we are saved

by grace alone,

because Jesus died

on the cross

to cover our sins,

obedience to Jesus,

the ethical commands

of the scripture

are all relative.

They're not really important.

Jesus died

to cover our sin.

It's okay.

And so what this is,

is faith in Jesus

simply means

God loves

and accepts us

and who cares

about good works

or obedience anyway?

Because Jesus died

to cover our sins,

right?

In other words,

when we think

that the gospel

is simply

pray a prayer

or put your hand up

and you've got

life insurance

and fire insurance

from hell

and everything's

going to be rosy,

well you're suddenly

given a license

to do whatever you want.

You can sin

however you want,

you can say

whatever you want,

live however you want,

because Jesus

is some big

grandfather in the sky

that just

loves to forgive.

Remember Voltaire

on his deathbed,

he supposedly said this,

of course God's

going to forgive me.

That's his job,

right?

Or some people think

I enjoy sinning,

God enjoys forgiving sins.

This is a good arrangement.

But friends,

if that's how we think

of the gospel,

there's many problems.

One is the problem

is it'll again

blind us to the beauty

and the reality of Jesus,

but the other problem

is it'll never deal

with the real stuff

that's going in our hearts

and we never

therefore change.

We never change.

Look at what Paul

says to Peter here.

When Peter

is acting hypocritically,

what does he do?

He calls him out

and he says,

Peter,

you're not walking

in step with the gospel.

He says,

because the gospel

is true,

because Jesus

died on the cross,

the righteous

for the unrighteous

that he might bring us

to God,

this has implications

for our lives.

How we treat people,

how we forgive those

that have hurt us,

whether we fear people,

what we do with grudges

and unforgiveness

in our hearts,

how we handle money

and sexuality.

There is a gospel conduct

which is not the essence

of the gospel.

The essence of the gospel

is Jesus died on the cross

for sinners like me

and sinners like you.

That's the essence,

but there is a consequence

of the gospel

which is our conduct.

In other words,

the life of the Christian

looks something like this.

Let's see if I can get

this maths right.

I was never really good

at maths,

but let's see if I can

get this right.

The life of the Christian

looks something like this.

Faith in Jesus Christ

leads to our salvation.

But our salvation,

because it changes us,

it gives us a new identity,

a new motivation,

a new heart,

does lead to a new

kind of lifestyle,

a good works,

an obedience,

a morality that is different

from our life

apart from Jesus.

Obeying the ethical teachings

of the Bible

doesn't contribute

to your salvation at all.

Not one little bit,

but it is a consequence

of loving and trusting Jesus.

Obeying the teachings

of Jesus,

loving and trusting Him

doesn't contribute

to God's acceptance

of you at all,

but it is a consequence

that does flow out

of God's acceptance

for you.

Friends,

if on the one hand

we approach God

either out of performance

mindset,

like I've got to earn

God's love

by my good moral works,

or if on the other hand

we approach God

out of license mindset,

anything goes.

I can just sin like I want

because who cares?

Jesus is coming for it.

Both of those problems

will rob us

of the power of the gospel

to change us.

Both of those

will rob the gospel

of its power

to save us,

but both of those

will also rob us

of the beauty of Jesus,

of the horror of sin

in our lives,

of the wonder

of what Jesus did

on the cross for us.

both of those

will leave us

with the gospel

being irrelevant

and powerless

in our lives.

And that brings us

to Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

In Colossians chapter 2,

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

the apostle Paul

is going to unpack

the gospel

and then he's going

to show us

how both of these errors

are wrong

and to call us

to Jesus.

Okay?

In the beginning

of chapter 2,

he says this.

He says,

Brothers and sisters,

I want you to know

how much I have been

wrestling and struggling

with you

that you may know

deeply and be

deeply assured

of the hope

of the gospel

which is Christ in you,

the hope of glory.

So Paul says,

I've been wrestling,

I've been struggling

in prayer.

I've sent Epaphras

from Rome

all the way to Colossae.

I'm doing everything I can.

I want you to know,

brothers and sisters,

deeply in your hearts

the riches of Christ in you,

the hope of glory.

Okay?

That's what he says

in verses 1 to 4.

And then in verses 8 to 15,

he unpacks

what is this gospel.

I don't know

if you've ever had

friends or family members

visiting you from afar

and they open their suitcase

and there's a whole lot

of goodies and treats inside.

Do you know what I mean?

No?

Okay.

Last,

about a year ago,

my parents-in-law,

Claire's parents,

came to visit us

for Christmas.

And it was Claire's dad's

first time in Hong Kong.

And so they opened

their suitcase

and there were all these

treats from South Africa.

First thing,

rooibos tea.

Great South African tea.

Okay?

Second thing,

zoo biscuits.

Zoo biscuits are like

these wonderful cookies

that our kids love.

Okay?

Third thing,

a home-baked Christmas cake.

A massive Christmas cake

baked by my mother-in-law.

The fourth thing,

a frozen leg of lamb.

Okay?

We wanted roast lamb

for Christmas.

They figured it was cheap

in South Africa.

They put it in their suitcase.

Cathay Pacific didn't know

they were bringing

roast lamb into Hong Kong.

Okay?

That's kind of what Paul

is going to do now

in the next couple of verses.

He's opening his gospel suitcase

and he's going to bring out

one truth after another

of showing these Colossians

what is the gospel

and then he's going to show

the implications of it.

So let's look at what he says.

Look at verse 8.

Okay?

He says this in verse 8.

Sorry,

can you see the slides?

Should I move these things?

Okay, let's...

You get the point.

Okay?

Let's move that out the way.

In verse 8,

he says this.

Be careful

that no one takes you captive

through human philosophy,

empty deceit

based on human tradition,

based on the elements

of this world

rather than Christ.

So he's saying,

brothers and sisters,

Watermark Church,

make sure that you don't get

veered off the gospel,

don't fall off the horse

by human tradition

and human philosophy.

Make sure that Jesus,

who Christ is,

is front and central

in your eyes.

Then in verse 9,

he pulls out

the first gospel truth

out of his bag.

Look at what he says.

For the entire fullness

of God's nature

dwells bodily in Christ

and you have been filled

in Him.

So Paul is saying here,

a Christian is not just

someone who's had

their sins forgiven,

though that is true.

A Christian is not just

somebody who one day

will get to be with God

in glory,

though that is true.

A Christian is someone

who is now spiritually

united with God

in Christ.

There is a fusion

that has taken place.

It's like a marriage.

The two have become one.

Christ is in us

and we are in Christ.

Every good promise

of the gospel

is a result of us

being united

or fused

into Christ.

So the reason why

as a Christian

your sins are forgiven

is not just because

God offers this

blanket amnesty

to anyone.

It's not just because

God is this kind

grandfather in the sky

that just loves

to dish out forgiveness.

It's because

we have been fused

and united

with Jesus

and what happened

to Jesus

happens to us.

And so Jesus

dies on the cross,

pays the penalty

for sin,

it is finished

and that

dealing with sin

is now credited

to us

because we are

in Christ.

The life that Jesus

lived is now

our life.

The death that Jesus

died is now credited

to us.

Jesus' acceptance

before the Father

is now given to us

because we are

in Christ.

Christ is in us

and we are in Christ.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

The first gospel truth.

Second thing,

look where he pulls

out his bag here.

Look at verse 11.

He says,

you were also

circumcised with him

when you were buried

with him

in baptism.

In the New Testament,

circumcision

is always a picture

of cutting off

the old way of life

and dealing with it

and moving on

to a new way of life.

Okay?

So you cut off

the past way of thinking,

old behavior,

old way of life,

and you're welcomed

into a new way of life.

It's kind of like

the picture of baptism.

When you get baptized,

you go under the water.

Hopefully,

we bring you out

of the water again.

You go under the water.

It's a picture

of your old life

being buried.

It's dead.

And you come out

of the water.

It's a picture

of your new life

in Christ.

The old is cut off.

It's done away with.

It's dead.

It's buried.

The new life

is given to you

in Christ.

Baptism is a picture

of that.

Paul is saying

this is what happens

when you're born again

in the gospel.

Your old way of life,

your old self,

with its selfish motivations,

ambitions,

and passes away,

your old way of living

for yourself,

by yourself,

with your only hope

being in yourself,

that has died.

It's been cut off.

It is buried.

And now you're given

a new identity

in Christ.

This is what Oscar

was telling us last week.

If anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creation.

The old has gone.

The new has come.

It's kind of like,

and this is not

a great analogy,

so work with me

for a second.

Just imagine,

your father

has got an old car.

Okay?

An old blue Toyota van.

Burn it.

Okay?

You've got an old car.

And it's always

costing money.

It's always

breaking down.

The seats are torn.

The steering wheel

is a little bit dodgy.

And your father's

got this old car,

and he's always

late for meetings

because he's breaking down

on the side of the road.

And you get given

this massive bonus

at work one day,

and so you decide,

I'm going to buy

my dad a new car.

Okay?

Finally.

So you go to your dad.

Dad, he has a brand new Tesla.

Out of the box.

Brand spanking new.

And your dad

is so grateful.

He's so pleased.

Thank you so much.

A month later,

you're driving

down the road,

and you see

this old blue van

with its hood up

on the side of the road,

and your dad

is peering into the hood

looking at what's wrong

with his broken car.

And so you pull over

and you say,

Dad, what's up with this car?

Where's your Tesla

that I gave you?

And he says,

No, no.

Thank you so much

for the gift.

I took out the seats

and I've put them in here.

I took out the steering wheel

from the Tesla

and I've put it in my car.

It is so much

more comfortable.

Thank you for making

my blue Toyota

so much more comfortable.

If only I can fix the engine,

it drives so much nicer now.

Does that make sense?

That would be crazy, right?

Friends,

Jesus doesn't come

to just help us

improve our lives.

Jesus didn't come

just to give us

new car seats

or to make our lives

slightly better.

Jesus says,

The old is gone.

You've been circumcised

in Christ.

You've been buried

in baptism.

The old life

is thrown away.

He has given you

a new life

in Christ.

Friends,

because the gospel

gives us a new heart,

a new motivation,

that means that we will

act and behave differently.

We will fear people less.

We will love

our enemies more.

We will give away

more money.

We will love our wives

and our children.

But these things

are done as a consequence

of God's love

and acceptance

melting and shaping

our hearts,

not in order to try

and earn God's love

and acceptance.

Look at the third thing

Paul pulls out

of his bag.

He says this,

verse 13,

Previously,

because of our sin,

we were dead

in trespasses,

but now he has made

us alive with Christ

for giving us

our sins.

When the Bible says

that apart from God,

we are dead

in our sins,

that doesn't mean,

he's not talking

about physical inability.

It's not like

half of your cells

in your body

are dead

and then you become

a Christian

and your cells

wake up

and come alive.

He's not talking

about mental incapacity.

Your brain is half dead

but you become

a Christian

and suddenly you can

think new thoughts.

He's not talking

about personality,

even though some people

maybe do need

a fresh personality

awakening.

What he's talking

about is that

the most important

part of our lives,

our relationship

with God,

our heart,

and knowing God

and walking with Him

is dead,

spiritually dead.

We are dead to God

and God is dead

to us spiritually.

We are blind

to the glory of Jesus,

deaf to the voice

of His Spirit.

We have no love

for God,

no awareness

of His presence,

no conviction of sin,

no longing to please Him

and know Him.

That's our state

outside of Christ.

But in the Gospels

we see God reaches

into the deepest

and the most fundamental

part of our lives

and our hearts

and He breathes

fresh life into us.

He pours His love

into our hearts

that causes

the deepest part

of us to come alive,

to know God

and to love Him,

to trust Him

and to walk with Him

and to obey Him.

And that, friends,

changes everything.

It changes the way

we relate to people.

It changes the way

we handle success

but it also changes

the way we handle

disappointments.

It frees us up

to love and serve people

without strings

being attached.

It allows us

to give of our time

and our lives

but not in order

to receive God's love

but because we have

received it.

Look at the final thing

that He says

in verse 14 and 15.

This is the roast leg of lamb.

This is the big one.

He says,

all of this

is because Jesus

died on the cross

to take our sin,

our record of death,

He took it to the cross,

He nailed it to the cross

and He left it there.

Friends,

the record of death

in my life,

my sin,

has been nailed

to the cross

and is left there

no longer

to be held

against me.

Remember that old hymn?

He took my sins

and my sorrows,

He made them

His very own,

He bore the burden

to Calvary

and suffered

and died alone.

How marvelous,

how wonderful

our song shall ever be.

How marvelous,

how wonderful

is my Savior's love

for me.

Friends,

that's the wonder

of what Jesus did

on the cross.

He died for sinners

like you and I

to welcome us

into His family.

Now,

we're going to wrap up soon.

Paul then goes

in the rest of chapter 2 and 3

and actually the rest

of Colossians,

he unpacks the implications

for this.

What are the implications?

There's many,

but I want us just to focus

on two of them.

The first implication

is this,

because of the gospel,

forsake performance

Christianity.

Don't fall off the horse.

Because of the gospel,

get rid of performance

Christianity,

get rid of

dead religious rituals.

Look at how he says this

in verse 16.

He says,

because of the truth

of the gospel,

because you've died

with Christ,

because you've been

raised with Christ,

because you've been

given a new identity

in Christ,

because your record

of sin has been

nailed to the cross,

because of what

Jesus did for us,

therefore,

verse 16,

do not let anyone

judge you

with regard

to food and drink

on the matter

of a festival

or a new moon

or a Sabbath.

These things

are just a shadow

of what is to come,

but the substance,

the reality,

is Christ.

So what's happening here

is some people

are coming to the church

and they're saying,

oh, you're a Christian.

That's good.

Well, because you're a Christian,

that means that,

you know,

you better not do this,

you better eat this food,

not eat that food,

you've got to drink this,

don't drink that.

You have to go

to that festival

and observe that Sabbath.

There are all these

religious rituals

that are now

putting on top of them

to saying,

if you really want God

to love you

and accept you,

you're going to have

to do all these rituals

as well.

And Paul says,

you're in Christ.

Those things

are just a shadow.

The reality is Jesus.

Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Look again at verse 20.

It says,

why do you submit

to these regulations?

Do not handle,

do not taste,

do not touch.

These things

have a reputation

for promoting wisdom

or self-made religion.

These things

make you falsely humble,

but they are of no value

in curbing self-indulgence.

Isn't that what we said earlier?

You veer away

from the gospel,

you can act like a Christian,

you can behave

like a Christian,

you can do

all the Christian things,

but that has no power

to actually change

the inner motivations

of my heart.

It has no power

to change

what's really going

on in my heart.

And so I can act

the talk,

I can put on

a good false image,

falsely humble,

that doesn't make me

more like Jesus.

Friends,

can I confess something?

Pastors

are the worst

at this.

Because we have

to pretend

like we've got it

all together,

right?

No one wants

to go to church

with a pastor

that looks like

his life is falling apart.

And so as pastors,

we are the best

at acting it.

We are the best

at faking it

and looking like

our Christian life

is all in order.

Paul says,

if your Christian faith

is I've got to do

the right thing

and play the right part

in order to be accepted

and loved,

your Christian faith

is a fake.

It has no power

to save you

and it has no power

to change you.

And so what's

the implication?

Forsake

empty religious rituals.

Friends,

looking to your

spiritual sincerity,

your religious effort,

the relative infrequency

of sin

to assure you

of God's love

is powerless

and deceiving.

It cannot save you

and it cannot change you.

Friends,

look to Jesus.

Look to Jesus.

Look to the one

who died on the cross

for you.

Friends,

if you've come to Christ

in faith and repentance,

you are united in Him.

Your life is in Him.

His death is your death.

His life is your life.

His obedience

is your obedience.

His acceptance

before the Father

is your acceptance

before the Father.

Look to Him.

Look to Jesus.

Friends,

this day,

this week,

look to Jesus.

Don't look to yourself.

Don't look to your

moral performance.

Look to Jesus.

Here's the second implication.

Forsake

licentious Christianity.

Forsake the lie

that says

because Jesus died

I can live however I want.

It doesn't matter.

In chapter 3,

Paul says this.

He says the same thing

that he's just said

in chapter 2.

He says,

your life is with Christ.

You're united with Christ.

You've died with Christ.

You've been raised with Christ.

Your identity is in Christ.

Your hope is in Christ.

Your meaning is in Christ.

Your purpose is in Christ.

Your future is in Christ.

And then he says,

verse 5,

therefore,

because of that,

put to death

what belongs

to your earthly nature.

Sexual immorality,

impurity,

lust.

Christ.

Remember,

we looked at this verse

two years ago

and we said,

friends,

John Owen said it like this,

be killing sin

or sin be killing you.

Friends,

if we struggle

with sexual immorality,

put a shotgun

to your computer.

Take a hammer

and smash your iPhone.

Buy a dummy phone

that can't access

the internet.

Do whatever it takes.

Put to death

the sinful nature.

It's serious.

It really is.

What about hypocrisy?

Peter put hypocrisy to death.

That's not how Christ

calls us to live.

He says,

evil desires,

selfish greed,

these are idolatry.

Put them away.

Anger and wrath,

malice,

that means unforgiveness

in our hearts.

Slander,

filthy language.

Do not lie to one another.

Why?

So that God will love us?

No, no, no.

Because you have put off

your old self

with its practices.

You have been given

a new self in Christ.

You are renewed

according to the image

of your creator.

Friends,

the gospel doesn't come

and tell us

to pull up our socks

in order to be loved

and accepted by God.

No, it says,

because we have come

to Jesus in faith

and repentance,

we are accepted.

We are loved.

We are given

a new identity,

a new life,

a new power,

a new purpose,

a new motivation.

And that leads

to a powerful change

in our lives.

Last thing,

I want to say this.

in Ephesians chapter 4

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

and 5,

the apostle Paul

wants the Christians

to live forgiving

and loving lives.

And so this is

what he says.

He says,

therefore be imitators

of God

as dearly loved children

and walk in love.

He says,

brothers and sisters,

walk in love.

Now is that a good thing

to do?

Yeah, that's a good thing

we should do.

Is that a gospel conduct?

Yeah, that's a good thing

to do.

But what's the motivation?

Why should we be loving?

Is it so that God

will love us?

Is it so that we'll be

more acceptable

before God the Father?

Is it so that Jesus

will be more favorable,

more blessed,

will be more blessed

in our life?

No, he says,

friends,

walk in love

just as Christ loved us

and gave himself for us.

Gave himself up

as a sacrificial offering

to God.

Friends,

because you've received

the immeasurable love

of Christ,

because your heart

has been melted

by God's love

for you in Christ,

because you're secure

in his love,

because you've been humbled

by his love,

therefore,

dear brothers and sisters,

walk in love.

Friends,

throughout the New Testament,

the paradigm of obedience

and holy living

is this,

because you're a new creation

in Christ,

because of the gospel,

therefore obey Jesus,

because you're in Christ,

therefore pursue holiness,

because your life

is in Christ,

forsake immorality,

because you're rich

in Christ,

therefore be generous

with your riches,

because you're secure

in Christ's love,

therefore give yourself

away in serving

and loving others.

Friends,

this stunning announcement,

though we were dead

in our sins,

cut off from God,

under God's wrath

and his judgment

and his fury,

Jesus died for us

on the cross

to take our sin,

to reconcile us

to the Father,

to bring us home again.

Jesus did what we could

not do for ourselves,

so that we can be

united with him.

Friends,

that is why we must,

we must,

we must,

as followers of Jesus,

get the gospel

deeper into us.

Friends,

that's why if you're not

a follower of Jesus today,

you must believe the gospel.

You must become a Christian.

It's your only hope.

Friends,

that's why as a church,

we must be getting

the gospel deeper

inside of us.

Jesus,

our Christ,

our Lord

and our King.

Let's pray together.

Father,

O Lord Jesus,

God,

we need you.

God,

we so,

so need you.

Father,

we need you more today

than we needed you

ever before.

We need you more

this week,

God,

than ever before.

God,

we need a work

of your Holy Spirit

to be getting inside of us.

We need you,

God,

to open the eyes

of our hearts

to see our sin,

to see our brokenness,

but to see you,

Jesus,

and what you've done

for us.

God,

won't you give us

a fresh revelation

of the gospel.

God,

I pray for Watermark

like we've prayed

so many times.

God,

may you get the gospel

deeper inside of us.

I pray,

Lord Jesus,

that if there's one thing

that marks us

as a church,

though we are very far

from being perfect,

God,

if there's one thing

that marks us,

may it be this,

that God,

we know

and trust in

and love deeply

and respond to

and walk in obedience

to you,

Christ,

our King

and our Lord.

God,

show us the gospel

once again.

Show us how it relates

to our lives,

Lord.

Father,

where we have

put our hope

or our trust

in empty religion,

God,

forgive us.

Where we've put our hope

or our trust

in ourselves,

God,

in our spiritual performance,

in our moral performance

or in some recent

spirituality,

Father,

forgive us

of the idolatry

of that.

Forgive us,

God,

of trusting ourselves.

Father,

where we've

taken your grace,

taken advantage

of your grace,

where we have not

realized that it's

your kindness

that leads us

to repentance,

God,

God.

Oh,

Father,

forgive us as well,

we pray.

God,

we pray,

come and change us.

We pray,

Jesus,

that we really will be

salt and light

in the city.

We pray that as followers

of Jesus,

we will stand out,

we will be different.

We pray there will be

a different conduct,

a different ethic,

a different morality,

not because we're

trying to be good

Christians,

but because we're

overwhelmed by your

love that you have

for us.

We are secure

in your gospel.

We've been given

a new identity,

God.

Oh,

Christ,

I pray,

do that.

Father,

finally,

I want to pray

for those of us

that don't know you

this morning.

Maybe we've been

very religious,

we've tried to do

all the right things,