What is a Christian: By Denunciation

Father, we thank you, Lord, for today.

Thank you, Lord, for the rain this past week, and thank you,

Father, for the safety and getting us all here.

Thank you for the opportunity to spend time in Your word and

pray, Lord, that you'd open our hearts and minds to behold the

beauty of Your glorious name. We thank you, Father, that You

allowed us this opportunity to study Your word.

We are such blessed people to be able to read the words of God

and to be able to study them, knowing Your plan and Your

desire for our lives that we might follow you in obedience

and so just bless our time together.

To Steve we pray in Jesus name, Amen.

Take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Colossians, the

book of Colossians the 3rd chapter and I want to read to

you the 1st 8 verses of chapter 3.

Set them in your mind. That will set the tone for our

time together as we study and ask the question, What is a

Christian? Colossians chapter 3 verse #1

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

says Therefore, since you have been raised up with Christ, keep

seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right

hand of God. Set your mind on the things

above, not on the things that are on earth.

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

When Christ, who is our life is revealed, then you also will be

revealed with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members

of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion,

evil, desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.

For it is because of these things that the wrath of God

will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you

also once walked, when you were living in them.

But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice,

slander and abusive speech from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self and

this evil practices and having put on the new self, who is

being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image

of the one who created him. The question is, what is a

Christian? A Christian is known by his

decision, that's Luke 9/23. His decision is to deny himself,

take up his cross and follow Christ.

A Christian is known by his definition.

Philippians chapter 3 verse #3 That we are the marked ones who

Philippians 3 · chapter mention

worship God in spirit, who glory only in Christ Jesus, and put no

confidence in the flesh. Thirdly, the Christian is known

by description, by his description. 2nd Corinthians 517

For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become

new. Fourthly, a Christian is known

by his declaration, Matthew 16 verse #16 Thou art the Christ,

the Son of the living God. And last week we talked about a

Christian is known by his dedication.

That's Philippians one verse #21 for to me to live is Christ and

to die is gain. The question is, how do you know

someone is genuine, authentic, real, true believer in the Lord

Jesus Christ? Well, the only way to know that

is to match that life with what the Bible says about

Christianity. It's not about someone's opinion

or someone's thinking. It's about what God has already

said in His Word. That's why you always prove what

you believe by what the Bible says, because what the Bible

says is all that matters. And so a Christian is very

easily distinguished by what the Bible says.

Tonight we will look at another characteristic of the Christian

to help you understand that a Christian is known by his

denunciation. That is, there are certain

things that he denounces. He denounces the world.

He denounces the sin of the world.

He denounces A sinful behavior in the world, and yet the

paradox about Christianity is that he is in the world, but he

is not of the world. Christ in his high priestly

prayer in John 17, said to the Father, I pray that you not take

them out of the world, but that you protect them from the evil

one while they are in the world. There is this great paradox that

that faces the Christian is that is that he is in the world but

not of the world. And that's because he has been

saved out of the world. Therefore he denounces

everything the world stands for. He denounces the world, sin and

all the sinful behavior that goes with the world.

That's what Christians do. That's very, very important.

In fact, the Bible says in the book of Romans, the 12th

chapter, very familiar words to us.

Paul says, Therefore, I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God

to present your bodies a living in the holy Sacrifice, pleasing

to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Paul says based on all that God has done, all the mercies that

he's bestowed upon you, you need to be able to present your body

as a living sacrifice that is pleasing to the Lord because

this is the only logical form of worship, very important.

The only thing logical about your worship is that you present

your body as a living sacrifice. And we've told you over the

years that you understand a living sacrifice.

When you look at Justice chapter 22 and realize that God told

Abraham to take his only son, his beloved son Isaac, to a

place that he will tell him, which was Mount Moriah, take him

up there and sacrifice his son. Abraham being obedient, took his

son up the mountain, tied him down, was going to sacrifice

him, and the Angel of the Lord stopped him and said, now I know

you fear me. It's not that the Lord didn't

know that Abraham feared him. It's just that Abraham needed to

know that he feared the Lord, and the Lord knew that he feared

him. Abraham was willing to sacrifice

all of his dreams, all of his hopes, all of his aspirations,

all of his desires for the sake of obedience to the Lord.

His son was the promised son. He'd waited 25 years for this

son, and this was the promised beloved son of Abraham and

Sarah. And God says, now I want you

take that son that you love, and I want you to sacrifice him unto

me. I want you to slay him for my

sake. And Abraham was going to do

that. And if Abraham would have slayed

him, if he had not been stopped by the Angel of the Lord, Isaac

would have been a dead sacrifice, and Abraham would

have been the living sacrifice. Because the living sacrifice is

that I'm willing to present everything that I have to God,

withhold nothing from him. Paul says in Romans 12, I

beseech you, I beg you, based on what God has done, that that you

now present your body as a living sacrifice.

That is, you're willing to crawl up on the altar and sacrifice

every aspiration, every dream, every desire that you have for

the sake of honoring and glorifying the name of God.

And Paul says that is the only logical thing to do based on the

mercies of God there. Everything else you do is

illogical, but this is the one thing that's extremely logical.

That's your window. Sacrifice everything because of

what God has done. And then, he says, and be not

conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of

your mind, that you may prove what is the good and acceptable

will of the living God. When you present your body as a

living sacrifice, the natural byproduct is that you're not

going to be conformed to the things of the world.

You're going to, you're going to turn your back on the world and

you're going to be renewed. You're going to be conformed by

renewing your mind to the things of God.

This will be pleasing to God. Said another way, the Bible says

these words over in the book of Second Corinthians, Second

2 Corinthians 6 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 6. We are the temple of the living

God, we the church. Not only is your body a temple

of the living God, but the church is a temple of the living

God. Just as God said, I would dwell

in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they

shall be my people. Therefore come out from their

midst and be separate, says the Lord, and do not touch what is

unclean. And I will welcome you, and I

will be a father to you. You should be sons and daughters

to me, says the Lord Almighty. Paul says the people of God are

distinguished by coming out from the world being separate unto

God, because God dwells in them and they are the temple of the

living God. You see, in today's culture, we

try to reach the World in the church by reflecting the world.

You can't reach the World by reflecting the world.

You can only reach the World by rejecting the world.

If you reflect the world in your life, you can't reach them.

But if you reject the world, you can then reach the World because

you are holy and separate unto God.

You're uniquely different than the world, and God has always

called his people to be separate from the world, to be unlike the

world. And that's why the Christian is

known by his denunciation. He denounces everything of the

world and everything that's a part of the world.

In fact, the Bible says these words in Galatians chapter 1 and

Galatians 1 · chapter mention

verse #4 that Christ gave Himself for our sins, that He

might deliver us from this present evil world.

God died in order for you, for you and I, to be delivered from

the present evil world in which we exist.

We are in the world, but we are not of the world because we've

been saved out of the world. Very, very important.

In fact, in Philippians chapter 2, listen to what Paul says,

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

verse 14. Again, familiar verses.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you may

prove yourselves to be blameless, innocent children of

God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse

generation among whom you appear as lights in the world.

You live in a Dark World, and if you grumble and you mumble, then

you're just like the people of the world, the darkness in the

world. But you want to appear as lights

in the world because the the world is a perverse and crooked

generation. And the perverse and crooked

generation are known by their mumbling and grumbling and belly

aching and complaining about everything under the sun.

But the believer, no, they don't do that because they've come out

from the world and they appear as lights in the world because

they shine forth the glory of God.

Again, note this Titus chapter 2, Paul says verse 11 For the

Titus 2 · chapter mention

grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires,

and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the

present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing

of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who

gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to

purify for himself a people for His own possession, zealous for

good deeds. The grace of God has appeared to

all men, and the grace of God is a teaching grace, and it always

teaches the believer to deny ungodliness, to deny worldly

lusts, deny worldly passions, so that it might live righteously

and godly in this present age. That's how we live our lives.

Again, we are in the world, but we are not of the world because

we denounce everything the world stands for.

Why? Because Christ saved us from

this present evil world and we have presented our bodies as

living sacrifices. Because we made the decision to

deny ourselves, take up a cross and follow Christ.

And when one denies himself, he is denying all of his dreams,

all of us hopes, all of us aspirations that are apart from

God and says, Lord, I'm going to, I'm going to take in my

cross and I'm going to follow you because you are my life.

You are my dream. You are everything I've longed

for and hoped for. That's the life of the believer.

That's what a believer looks like according to what the Bible

says. And so Jesus would later say

these words in John chapter 15. He would say in verse #18 if the

John 15 · chapter mention

world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated

you. That's just a great statement.

If the world hates you, know this.

It hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the

world would love its own. You're not of the world.

You're in the world, but you're not of the world.

Because if you were of the world, the world would love you.

But because you're not of the world, the world hates you.

In fact, he says this, but because you are not of the

world, but I chose you out of the world.

Because of this, the world hates you.

The world hates you. The world wants no part of you.

Why? Because you appear as lights in

a World of Darkness that's crooked and perverse.

And what does light do? Light shines in the darkness in

light exposes that which is in the dark, and those who love

darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil,

love to live in the dark. So when the light shows up, it

shines in the dark and exposes the sin of the unbeliever.

They don't like that. That's why the world hates you.

So Christ made it very clear you're not of the world, because

if you were, the world would love you.

But I've chosen you out of the world.

I've chosen you for myself. I've separated you unto myself.

I have sanctified you, set you apart for my purposes.

This is the life of the believer.

And therefore, when we seek to reach the World with the gospel,

we cannot reflect the world. We reject the world.

We denounce the world, we don't want to associate with anything

of the world because it's filled with sin, sinful behavior,

sinful attitudes, sinful actions.

And the believer wants no part of that.

Even though he's he's in the world, he is not of the world.

Very, very important to understand that.

So when you come to Colossians chapter 3, Paul makes it very

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

clear with these words. Therefore, since you have been

raised up with Christ, well, how would you be raised up with

Christ? Because you died with Christ.

So Paul says in in Galatians chapter 2 right verse #20 he

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

said, I have been crucified with Christ.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life

which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of

God who loved me and gave himself up for me.

And then in Galatians chapter 6 he said these words are verse

Galatians 6 · chapter mention

14. But may it never be that I would

boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, through which

the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Paul says I have died to the world and the world has died to

me. Why?

Because Christ lives in me. You are in Christ, Christ is in

you. Christ is not a part of the

world, so therefore neither are his children a part of the

world. And therefore Paul says, the

world has died to me and I've died to the world.

So Paul says in chapter 3 of Colossians verse #1 Since you

have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking things above where

Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that

are on the earth. In order for you to denounce the

things of the world, you must keep seeking the things that are

above. You must set your mind, set your

affection on things above where Christ sitteth at the right hand

of of God the Father. You're always looking above.

You're always looking to where Christ is.

You're always focused on heaven above.

That's how you could denounce everything below, because you're

always focused above. That's why we, in our, in our

study, the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon kept talking about

living above the sun instead of below the sun.

That's the SUN, by the way, when you live below the sun,

everything is vain, everything is empty.

But when you live above the sun, then you're able to see things

clearly below the sun because your eyes are fixed above.

They're fixed on glory. So the Bible says these words in

the book of Philippians, the 3rd chapter, Paul says verse 17.

Brethren, join in following my example and observe those who

walk according to the pattern you have.

You haven't us for many walk, of whom I am often told you, and

now tell you, even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of

Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their

appetite, and whose glory is in their shame.

Who set their minds on earthly things?

Those who are opposed to the cross of Christ, those who are

unbelievers, set their minds on earthly things.

As believers, we set our mind on heavenly things.

He goes on to say in verse #20 For our citizenship is in

heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for the Savior of

the Lord Jesus Christ, who would 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. The reason we keep looking above

is because that's where our home is.

That's where our citizenship is. We are aliens and strangers in a

foreign land. But unfortunately, we, we have

made ourselves very accustomed to this land.

We kind of love it down here. We kind of appreciate everything

that's going on around us down here.

And we have forgotten that our citizenship is not in the United

States. Our citizenship is in glory, but

we are aliens and strangers in a foreign land.

That's what that's what Peter says over in in first Peter

chapter chapter 2 verse #9 He says these words.

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a

people for God's own possession say, you may proclaim the

excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into

His marvellous light. For you once were not a people,

but now you are the people of God.

You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from

fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

You're aliens and strangers down here, and therefore you are to

abstain from the fleshly lusts which are waging war with your

soul. You're to denounce all of those

things. Why you want to keep your

behavior excellent verse 12 among the Gentiles so that in

the thing in which they slander you as evil doers, they may,

because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God

in the day of visitation so incredibly important.

Remember what Paul said over in in second Corinthians chapter

chapter 4. He said these words, He said in

verse 16, We do not lose heart. But though our outer man is

decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day for

momentary light. Affliction is producing for us

an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we

look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which

are not seen. For the things which are seen

are temporal, but the things which are not seen, those

things, well they are eternal. Paul says we had this, this

momentary light affliction. And when you read through the

2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and you read through Paul's

epistles, his afflictions were, were not light, They were pretty

heavy, but he saw them as as light in comparison to eternity

because he kept looking for those things that are unseen,

not the things that are seen. In other words, he kept focused

on things above. He kept seeking those things

above. In fact, over in First

1 Chronicles 29 · chapter mention

Chronicles chapter 29, David said to Solomon, verse #19 I'm

sorry, First Chronicles 22 verse #19 he said to Solomon, Set your

heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.

Those are David's words to his son.

Set your heart and your soul to seek the things of God, Paul

says. Since you've been raised up with

Christ, keep on seeking Christ. Keep setting your affection on

things above, not on things below.

If we don't do this, we will not denounce the world.

We'll accept the things of the world.

So in order for us to live a life of denunciation, we must

seek those things that are above.

We must set our mind and affections on things above, not

on things on the earth. He goes on to say this.

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

When Christ, who is her life is revealed, then you also will be

revealed with him in glory. In other words, Christ is your

life. Your life is no longer your own.

You've died the self, the light that you now live.

You live because of the power of Christ in you.

Christ is your life. That that's why you can denounce

the world. Listen, if you cannot denounce

the world, if you can't turn your back on the world, if you

can't run away from the sin of the world and the sinful

behavior of the world, maybe it's because Christ isn't your

life. Because of Christ is your life,

you set your affections on things above.

You keep seeking those things where Christ is seated in the

heavenlies. Once you seek those things

above. And what did Christ say in

Matthew chapter 6 verse #33 that we are to seek first His Kingdom

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

and His righteousness, and all these other things will be added

unto you. But seek first His Kingdom and

His righteousness. There's something about the

believer that sets his mind and his thoughts and his heart on

seeking God and God alone that allows him to denounce the

things of the world. And that's where verse #5 comes

in. All this was introductory up to

verse #5 because the verse #5 He says, Therefore, therefore,

because you are seeking those things that are above.

Therefore, because you have set your mind on things above where

Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father.

Therefore because you're already doing that, that's your heart's

attitude. He says these words, consider

the members of your earthly body as dead.

Another translation would be this.

Therefore, kill the members of your body.

Another translation says. Therefore mortify the members of

your body. Well, what can that possibly

mean? Well, it's, it's, it's, it's a

take off from the words of Christ in Matthew 5 where he

said if your right eye offends you, pluck it out.

If your right arm offends you, cut it off.

He didn't mean that literally. He meant it dramatically.

He meant it drastically, not literally.

He says take whatever measure is necessary to keep away from sin.

Here Paul is saying you need to kill the members of your body.

You need to commit it as if it were spiritual suicide.

In other words, you are to kill the members of your body.

What are the members of my body? Those things that leads you into

sin. And specifically in the context,

it's your mind. It's it's your, your, your, your

attitude, your words and your actions, your conduct.

OK, so you're going to deal with the mind first of all by

studying your affections and your mind on things above.

But now when it comes to your conduct and your words, you need

to deal with them because those are the members of your body

that you need to kill, you need to destroy, you need to

eliminate. And the only way you can

separate yourself from those things is if you set your mind

on things above and seek Christ who is in the heavenlies.

If you're not doing that, you can't separate yourself from

those members that leads you into sin.

This is very, very important. This is this is working out your

salvation with fear and trembling.

According to Philippians chapter 2, this is how the Christian

Philippians 2 · chapter mention

lives his life. He denounces, he destroys

everything that leads him into sin.

And so Paul's going to give us 2 lists, 2 lists.

The lists are not inclusive that include every sin, but the lists

are very unique because the first list begins with the act

and moves backward to the attitude.

The second list begins with the attitude and moves toward the

ACT. Very important to realize that

one moves backwards, one moves forwards, because right in the

middle is the answer, and we're going to show that to you.

And so the first list is a personal list.

The second list is a relational list.

The first list deals with what I do.

The second list deals with what I say.

Very, very important. And so you're going to ask

yourself tonight, am I the kind of individual, the kind of

believer, the kind of genuine, authentic, true believer who

denounces the things of the world because I want to separate

myself from all sinful behavior, sinful attitudes, simple

activities? This is my aspiration, this is

my desire. Remember the apostle Paul, the

things I'm not doing I should be doing, and the things I'm doing

I shouldn't be doing. Paul had this, this wrestle

wrestling match going on with the members of his body.

That that's why over in Romans chapter 8, Paul says these words

Romans 8 · chapter mention

in verse #13 he says since then brethren, we are under

obligation not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.

For if you are living according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of

the body, you will really live. If you put to death the deeds of

the body, if you are involved in spiritual suicide, if you are

involved in destroying the members of your body that leads

you into sin, you're really going to live.

Fact, he says earlier in Romans 6.

These words. Therefore do not let sin reign

in your mortal body, verse 12, so that you obey its lust.

And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as

instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as

those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of

righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over

you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

In other words, sin's not going to master you.

Why? Because you're slaves of God,

not slaves of sin, and therefore you obey the master that owns

you, and you live a life of obedience.

This is so important. So listen to what Paul says.

First list. He moves right from the act to

the attitude. So it begins on the outside and

moves you to the inside, he says.

Therefore, because you seek those things that are above,

because you set your mind on things above, now you can

separate yourself from all those sinful attitudes and sinful

behaviors that control the members of your body.

So he says these words kill the members of your earthly body as

dead. Number one to immorality.

To immorality, this is the ACT. Pornea is the word.

Immorality is any unlawful act, unlawful sinful act, unlawful

sexual act outside the realm of marriage.

In fact, there's only one lawful act of sex.

Everything else is unlawful. That's between one man and one

woman in the realm of marriage. Everything else is unlawful and

is immoral. There's only one that's lawful,

and that is the one that's in the in the realm of marriage

between a man and a woman who are married and united together

and holy matrimony. That's the only lawful act of

sex there is. Everything else is unlawful.

Every act of homosexuality unlawful.

Every sin outside of marriage unlawful.

Every act of pedophilia unlawful.

Every act of bestiality unlawful.

It's all wrong. And remember, Paul is writing to

those in Colossae who lived in a realm where everything about

homosexuality, everything about pedophilia was all accepted in

the city. So he lived in a realm where all

this was accepted. And he's telling the Christians

that you need to kill the members of your body, beginning

with immorality, sex, sin, outside the realm in which God

has made it lawful, that is outside the realm of marriage.

Now we talked about this in First Thessalonians chapter 4,

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

when when Christ or Paul says that this is the will of God,

even your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual

immorality. And he goes on and uses the word

sanctification 3 times in those first 8 verses, the 1st

Thessalonians 4. Why?

Because we are to live separate lives and the world lives

uniquely different lives than the world.

This is the will of God. That you abstain have nothing to

do with sexual immorality. So Paul here begins with the act

of immorality and then he moves to the next act which is

impurity. What makes a man commit

immorality? Impure thoughts, impurity.

That's why Christ says over in Mark's gospel, the 7th chapter,

he says, listen to me all of you and understand there is nothing

outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him.

But the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the

man. If anyone has the ears to hear,

let him hear. When he had left the crowd and

entered the house, the disciples questioned him about the

parable. He said to them, are you so

lacking and understanding? Also, do you not understand that

whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him

because it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and

it is eliminated. Thus he declared all foods clean

and he was saying that which proceeds out of the man.

That is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the

heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts,

murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well

as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.

All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.

So Paul is saying, Look, need to kill the members of your body.

Which ones? Immorality, impurity, impure

thoughts. Listen, if you're able to

control your thoughts, you can control your sex life.

If you can't control your thoughts, you cannot control

your sex life because immorality stems from impure thoughts.

Therefore, we are to think in the things that are pure and

true and holy and honorable and lovely, Paul says in Philippians

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. That's why we are renewed in the

spirit of our mind. We're not conformed this world

because we're transformed by the renewing of our mind, right?

So when our minds feed on the word of God and we think in the

things that are true and pure and holy, it keeps us from from

from committing sexual acts of immorality.

But the reason man commits sexual acts of immorality is

because he has impure thoughts, impurity.

Now remember, Paul was moving backwards.

He begins with the ACT, then tells you what causes the ACT

impure thoughts. But what causes the impure

thoughts? Next word he says passion.

Passion lying beneath all the impure thoughts in the flesh of

man are the passions of man, and once those passions are

inflamed, he begins to think impure thoughts that lead to

immoral acts and what causes those those flames of passion to

be ignited. Nick's word?

Evil desire. And the two words are very

similar, but it's the evil desire, that's what John says.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the sinful

pride of life. That's the evil desire.

It, it's in the deepest caverns of our soul.

It, it, it's, it's there. And, and once those evil desires

are aroused, they lead to passionate drives.

And those passionate drives lead to impure thoughts and those

impure thoughts lead to immorality.

Paul is very explicit. He explains to you why you

commit sex sins. But we as believers, we don't

want anything to do with what we want to denounce all those

things. So what leads to those evil

desires? The lust of the flesh, the lust

of the eyes and the and the pride, the sinful pride of life.

In fact, James would say something similar to this in

James chapter 1. What does James say verse 14?

James 1 · chapter mention

Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his

own lust. Then when lust has conceived, he

gives birth to sin, and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth

death. Later in James he would say

these words. In James chapter 4, he says what

James 4 · chapter mention

is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?

Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

That he says you lust and you do not have, so you commit murder.

You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and

quarrel. You do not have because you do

not ask. You ask and do not receive

because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend

it on your own pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not

know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes

himself an enemy of God. Very clear words.

So Paul says there's something that causes the evil desire that

leads to your passionate Dr. which leads to impure thoughts

and impure motives, which leads to acts of immorality.

But what is that next word? Greed.

Covetousness. That's the word pleonexia.

It's a word that the the Greeks used of the insatiable desire in

the depths of man's soul. Covetousness.

That's what greed is, Covetousness.

Now listen very carefully. This is very, very important

because it sets the tone for everything in the passage, the

depths of man. So why does man sin?

Covetousness is the last sin listed in the 10 commandments,

the Decalogue. It's not listed last because

it's the least. It's listed last because it's

the cause of all the previous 9. Man shall not covet.

Why does man murder? He covets.

Why does man steal? He covets, he's greedy.

Why does man lie? He covets.

Why does man commit adultery? He covets.

Why does man have another God? When God says there shall be no

other gods before me, it's because covetousness, as he says

in the text, is what idolatry. At the base of every sin is.

Idolatry, self worship. I want something I cannot have.

When I want something I cannot have, I become very, very

covetous. I want it.

And what that does is arouse those lustful passions that lead

to evil desires that lead to impure thoughts that lead to

acts of immorality at the base of every man's nature.

The reason man does what he does is because he covets that which

he cannot have. This was Satan's sin, right?

Satan wanted something he could not have.

What did he want? He wanted the throne of God.

He coveted God's throne. He wanted to be worshipped as

God has worshipped. At the base of Satan's sin was

idol worship. He worshipped himself.

The reason you sinned, the reason you commits acts of

immorality, the reason you commit any sin at all is because

of self worship. You believe you deserve

something, you believe should have something.

And covetousness is idolatry. In fact, Paul says these words

in Ephesians chapter 3, very similar.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

I'm sorry. Ephesians 5 verse three, he says

immorality or any impurity or any greed.

Same 3 words of the words that are used in Colossians Chapter

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

3. Immorality or impurity or greed

must not even be named among you as proper among the Saints.

OK, not only do you not let it happen, you can't even name it

among you don't even mention it. And there must be no filthiness

and silly talk or coarse jesting which are not fitting, but

rather giving thanks for this. You know with certainty that no

immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater

has an inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.

A covetous man is an idolater. The reason there are other gods

before the one true. That's why Christ came.

He says I came to seek what true worshippers, true worshippers,

those who worship God in spirit and in truth.

I'm looking for people who have no other God before me, no other

God besides me. And when we think of that as as,

as as trying to trying to carve some kind of image like they did

in, in, in ancient times, listen, idolatry is not what you

carve with your hands. It's what you crave in your

heart. That's idolatry.

That's self worship. That's what I want to have.

And pleonixia is a word that that, as I said earlier

described by the Greeks of that it's, it's like a having a,

having a bowl with no bottom that when you pour into it, it

cannot be filled. The insatiable desire of man's

heart. That's what needs to be

destroyed. That's what needs to be

murdered. That's what needs to be killed.

That's what needs to be put away with.

That's what needs to be separated from, that's what

needs to be denounced. All idolatry, all covetousness,

not only to violate the command of God, but it leads me into all

kinds of sinful behavior. That's why Paul says these words

in verse #6 of chapter 3 of Colossians.

He says for his because of these things, the wrath of God will

come upon the sons of disobedience.

And in them you also once walked when you were living in them.

In other words, this is the way you used to live.

You used to walk this way. This is what characterized your

life before, before Christ was in you and you were in Christ.

This is how the wrath of God comes upon the sons of

disobedience. God dams people to hell because

of these kinds of sins. Why?

Because at the base of man's heart is that he is a self

worshipper. And that's hard for for some of

us to understand, but that is really the the true essence of

sin. We are idolaters in the depths

of our soul. We think that we need something

so bad that we will do everything we can to get it.

And once we get to that place of self worship, it spawns within

us the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of

life. And it moves us toward evil

desires and passionate drives. It leads us to impure thoughts.

It leads us to acts of immorality.

That's why Paul begins with the act and drives you all the way

back to the heart attitude. The depths of a man is that he

is an idolater. Paul knows this, he understands

this and so he says this is what needs to be so denounced.

It needs to be destroyed. You could say this is the

Christians not just as denunciation.

This is the Christians destruction.

He is destroying everything that leads to idol worship, that

leads to self worship, that leads to his prominence, that

leads to him being put on display, that leads to his own

ego. He destroys all those things and

then he moves to the second list.

Remember, the lists are not inclusive.

They're just a partial list of sins.

But he removes from the attitude and then moves to the ACT.

Why? Because at the base of the

attitude of speech is covetousness is idolatry.

That's why he says these words. He says, but now you also put

them all aside. What anger, anger that's or gay

that that is the the, the bitterness that that wells up

within us. That's on the inside of man and

that orgae leads to thumos, the boiling over of my attitude of

anger. You know this very well.

You, you, you hear someone, you know someone and just the

thought of them caused you to to be angry on the inside.

And the more someone talks about them, the more you begin to boil

over with that kind of anger. It begins because somehow, some

way, you are a self worshipper. You think yourself better than

somebody else. You think that you are high and

mighty. You think that you are the cat's

meow. You think you're just the the

the the best thing that's ever happened.

And how dare someone say something that gets you.

So you begin to get angry. That angry leads to to boiling

over to thumos that that that wrath and that wrath leads to

malice, Malice's vicious thoughts, the vicious attitude

that leads to slander. That leads me to slander.

The reason I slander somebody is because there are these vicious

thoughts I have about this person that stem from this

bowling over of the anger that I have because I think that I'm

better than somebody else because I'm a self worshipper.

I'm an idolater. I'm a covetous person.

And the Bible says in the book of James that when you slander

your brother, you really blasphemy the name of God

because your brother James chapter 3 verse #9 is made in

James 3 · chapter mention

the image of God. So when you slander your

brother, who's made of the image of God, you're blaspheming God's

architect, God's creation. Therefore you are blaspheming

God himself. And that slander leads to

abusive speech, abusive speech, speech that is filled with

unrighteousness. Christ would say in Matthew 12.

For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh good

man, out of the goodness of the good treasure of the heart

bringeth forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil

treasure bringeth forth evil things.

That's why Paul says, let no corrupt communication proceed

from your mouth. Because you see those vicious

thoughts lead to slandering your brother, which lead to abusive

speech. By the way, if you recall the

life of Peter, in his denial of the Lord Jesus Christ on the eve

of the crucifixion of the Messiah, he denied the Lord

three times, right? Lord prophesied that he was

denying 3 times for the cockroach, and the third time

that he denied the Lord to this little girl by a fireplace

outside the House of Caiaphas. It says that he used filthy

abusive speech. In other words, he began to

curse and to swear. And guess what?

After that, nobody ever accused him of being a follower of

Christ again. Why?

Because people who follow Christ don't use that kind of language,

that's why. So he was free from being

accused of being a follower of Christ because everybody knows

the words that Jesus spoke, and those who follow Christ would

never speak like that. This is how Peter would get

people to stop accusing him of being a follower of Christ, even

though he was. He began to curse.

He began to swear using abusive speech because that would stop

all accusations against him. And it did.

And that abusive speech leads to lying.

Lying. Why do people lie?

People lie to protect themselves.

Why do they protect themselves? Because they're idol

worshippers. They're self worshippers.

People lie to protect what they want to protect.

They lie because they want to preserve something in their

lives. They would have preserve the

story. They want to preserve that which

they tried to get everybody to believe, right?

It's a self protective act. That's why people lie.

Satan is the father of lies, right?

So whenever you lie, you, you align yourself with the father

of lies. Why would you want to do that

with the father of lies with an idolater?

And those who live lie are self worshippers.

They too are idolaters. So Paul says as Christians keep

seeking those things that are above.

Set your mind on things above and separate yourself from all

sinful acts and sinful words, because those the members of

your body that will haunt you if you do not kill those members of

your body and what is you are actually killing.

You are killing the fact that you in the depths of your soul

seek to preserve yourself because you worship yourself,

Paul says. We're worshippers of God.

When you worship God in spirited, in truth, you don't

want to worship yourself. You want to worship the true

God. You want to honor the Lord, you

want to glorify his name. You want to live for the glory

and honor of the Christ. And as long as you're seeking

those things that are above and set your affection and mind on

things above, you can then effectively separate yourself in

those things of the world. Because it's the world that

lives in idolatry, that are covetous, that had this

exuberant greed for that which is wrong.

And the believer, he's marked by a denunciation of all those

things. Why?

Because they worship the king. They want to honor the Lord.

This is just so important to understand.

That's why. That's why man centered

preaching is so bad. God centered preaching gets you

focused on God. And the more you see God, you

see His Holiness. The more you see His Holiness,

the more you see your sinfulness.

But as long as we keep preaching to man, having man centered

sermons, focused on man centered things, guess what?

Nobody's convicted of their sin because they don't see God.

They just see themselves. And God knows.

We got enough problems with that already.

We don't need to see any more of ourselves and see God.

When you see God in His Holiness, you see your

sinfulness. When you see your sinfulness,

you turn and follow the true God and worship him.

A Christian What is a Christian? A Christian is one who denounces

and destroys anything in his life that will move him away

from God to be accepted by the world because they want to live

for the glory and honor their King.

Let me pray with you, Father, We thank you for tonight, and we

thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth

that's there. Our prayer, Father, is that we

would live for you. None of us are perfect.

The Apostle Paul would wrestle with his own sinful behavior

knowing how wrong it was, which makes us so aware of the fact

that that when we see our sin for what it is, we realize it's

an offence to the holy God, our holy God, the one who lives and

reigns within our lives. Help us, Lord, to live for you.

Help us, Lord, to to pursue you. Set our affections on things

above, not on things below. Keep seeking Christ the Lord.

That is where our life really is, for you are our life.

As we go home tonight, protect us, keep us safe, and may our

spiritual pilgrimage be greater tonight and tomorrow than ever

before, because we truly want to honor our King.

In Jesus name, Amen.