Sermons
February 4th, 2024 by Pastor Solley020424AM Holy Garments #4
Sub. Believers in Christ.
Theme: Things we are to put on.
Text: Col 3:12-14
“Holy Garments” #4 Col 3:12-14
Introduction
We continue this morning looking at holy garments that the child of God is commanded to put on. – Col 3:12-14 – I was watching the news on Friday morning and clips of the Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney. One man from Ohio who travels in each year for the event was asked why he continued to return, this was his fifteenth year in a row. His response was “Because this is real”. He is among a crowd of thousands each year, snow or not, rain or not, cold or not, but come out “Because this is real”. They have a groundhog they claim is well over one hundred years old and is kept alive by a secret drink that it sips from each September. The groundhog speaks to a man with a wooden walking stick in a language that only the groundhog and that specific man understand. The groundhog than directs another man to one of two scrolls the groundhog has written out in his own hand but in a language that man can read. The groundhog then looks for a shadow that he may or not see no matter that it is often before sunrise and to the surprise of all that scroll written before hand reveals what the groundhog has seen and that predicts an early spring or a longer winter. That man’s response was “Because this is real”. It doesn’t matter to me if you all went to Groundhog Day, but don’t go because it is real.
I. My friends we have what is real in front of us this morning: The Bible is real, my God is real, heaven and hell is real, Jesus Christ is real, the cross is real, His shed blood is real, the empty tomb is real, the one way of salvation through Jesus Christ is real. If you want what is real today come to Jesus Christ today. If you want what is real today come to the Word of God today. It amazes this preacher what people run to today claiming it is real. If you want what is real come to Jesus Christ today.
II. We have revealed to us today some things, real things, that God really wants us to put on: Col 3:12-14 These things are real and if you are born again God really wants you to put them on. – Col 3:12 – Elect, holy and beloved, this is for the believer.
A. We have looked at seven things we are to put on in the list before us: Col 3:12-13 At mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forbearance and forgiveness. All of these things we are to put on as born again believers.
1. None of those things are found within the nature we are born with: They are all unnatural to us in the way God wants us to put them on. That is why we as believers are commanded to put off what is natural. – Col 3:5-9 – I am unable to put on new things until I put off old things. The things natural to me must be put on.
2. Then through Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit I can put on new things: Col 3:10-13
B. None of these things can by put on or kept on in our own power or by our own ability: The new man must be put on and then by the power of the Holy Spirit and grace of God new things can be put on. – Col 3:12-13
III. This morning we continue with the single garment found in verse fourteen: Col 3:14 Have you ever noticed that often in a list that is given in the Bible that it is one of the last things named that make the first things possible? In the list of spiritual armor we are to put on in Eph 6 six things are named and the Bible says “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit”… It is the last thing that make the first six things work.
A. In our list putting on what is found in verse fourteen makes it possible to put on what is found in the proceeding verses: Col 3:14 We can safely say that unless we put on charity we will not be able to put on the things named in the proceeding verses. If your Bible says love and not charity you have the wrong Bible. The Greek word charity does mean love but the real Bible says charity here.
1. In the New Testament there are three Greek words translated love most often: The word charity in our text is the word for AGAPE love, or God’s love.
2. We are to put on God’s love, be filled with God’s love: Col 3:14
B. Only after charity is put on can the other things in these verse be put on and remain on:
PROP: Every born again child of God needs to know the importance of putting on charity. TS: For if charity is lacking so will everything else in our Christian life be lacking.
Body
I. Remember we are to be filled with charity: Col 3:12 -14 The Bible says to put on bowels of mercy and the word bowels could be placed before every item named in these verses. Bowels of kindness, bowels of humbleness, bowels of meekness, bowels of longsuffering, bowels of forbearance, bowels of forgiveness, and bowels of charity. The Greeks used the word bowels to indicate the entire inner being of a person. We say with the whole heart or with all your heart, the Greeks used the word bowels. We are then to be filled with charity. – Col 3:14 -Above them all, before them all, put on charity.
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A. While most Christians do love they do not exhibit the type of love that the Bible is speaking about here: Col 3:14 We do not exhibit bowels of love, of being filled with love, of putting on love before anything else. It is easy to say we love, but do we exhibit the type of love that the Bible is telling us to put on?
1. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him in John 21: Each time Peter answered yes but up until that time Peter did not exhibit the type of love Jesus was taking about. Peter would exhibit that type of love but up until that time he had not.
a. If Peter loved the way Jesus was talking about Peter never would have denied knowing Jesus.
b. If Peter loved the way Jesus was talking about Peter never would have returned to the fishing boats.
c. If Peter loved the way Jesus was talking about he would never have cast himself ashamed into the sea.
d. If Peter loved the way Jesus was talking about he would have been more concerned with Jesus that he was about John.
e. Peter did love but not the way Jesus was talking about at that time. Jesus wanted Peter to be filled with His love.
2. We do love the Lord, but are we filled with His love the way we are commanded to put on love? Col 3:14 Most of the time no.
a. If we are filled with this type of love and say we love the Bible we would never miss a day reading and meditating on His Word.
b. If we are filled with this type of love and say we love to pray we would have a deep, deep, prayer live and have power in prayer.
c. If we are filled with this type of love and say we have a burden for the lost we would share the gospel with everyone we meet.
d. If we are filled with this type of love and say we love the church we would never miss a church service.
3. We do love the Lord: But we often fail to exhibit in our lives the type of love the Bible is talking about. – Col 3:14
B. A lack of this type of love is the reason for all the ruin and heartache we see today: Matt 24:12 The word love here is the Greek word AGAPE, God’s love and it is not sin that extinguishes the love of God but a lack of the love of God that allows sin to abound.
1. A lack of AGAPE love is the reason churches split, services are ignored, and churches lose their power: Sin begins to abound.
2. A lack of AGAPE love is the reason Bibles are ignored and then changed to suit man: Sin begins to abound.
3. A lack of AGAPE love is the reason marriages fail and families are destroyed: Sin begins to abound.
4. A lack of AGAPE love is the reason sin abounds in this world: Matt 24:12 No wonder Jesus warned against a church leaving its first love. A lack of AGAPE love is the reason for all the ruin and heartache we see in this world and in people today.
C. Remember we are to be filled with charity: Col 3:14
II. This filling of charity is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit within and can only be experienced by the believer who is yielded to and filled with the Holy Spirit: Col 3:14 This charity or type of love is not natural to any of us and can only be experienced by the born again believer in Jesus Christ who is yielded to and filled with the Holy Spirit.
A. Consider what Jesus said about charity or this type of love: Jesus used charity as a qualifier.
1. Speaking to the lost Jesus told them the evidence of them not being saved was a lack of charity: John 5:42
2. Speaking to the saved Jesus told them that charity was an evidence of being born again: John 13:35
3. Jesus used charity as a qualifier: Only a saved individual can be filled with, can put on charity.
4. Charity then changes lives: When one is moved from hell to heaven by the shed blood of Jesus they can put on charity.
B. Because charity is a fruit of the Holy Spirit only the Christian who yields to the Holy Spirit and is filled with the Holy Spirit can put on charity and keep it on: Gal 5:22-25 Charity is the first of the fruit of the Spirit thus I must be yielded and filled with the Holy Spirit if I am going to put on charity and keep it on.
1. I need to crucify the flesh: Gal 5:24 Sounds like mortify my members in Col 3:5
2. I need to yield to or walk in the Spirit: Gal 5:25 Sounds like putting on the new man in Col 3:10
3. No wonder the Bible tells me to be filled with the Holy Spirit: Eph 5:18 This verse is not about wine, it is about being filled with the Holy Spirit. Just as the drunkard is controlled by the alcohol it am to be controlled by the Holy Spirit as I allow Him to fill me.
C. This filling of charity is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit within and can only be experienced by the believer who is yielded to and filled with the Holy Spirit: Col 3:14
III. When the true Christian is truly yielded to a filled with the Holy Spirit they will continually exhibit charity and will be able to put on and keep on charity: This is clearly illustrated in what we refer to as the love chapter in the Bible. – 1 Cor 13:1-13
A. In Col 3:12-13 we are commanded to put on seven things: Mercies, kindness, humbleness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness. All of those things are found in this chapter detailing AGAPE love or charity. All seven are here.
1. Put on mercies: 1 Cor 13:5, 7 Is not provoked, endures all things. Merciful fits.
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2. Put on kindness: 1 Cor 13:4
3. Put on humbleness: 1 Cor 13:4
4. Put on meekness: 1 Cor 13:5
5. Put on longsuffering: 1 Cor 13:4
6. Put on forbearance: 1 Cor 13:7 Bears all things.
7. Put on forgiveness: 1 Cor 13:5 Thinks no evil.
8. I find all seven of the things in Col 3:12-13 right here in the love chapter: I can put them on and practice or exhibit them.
B. I also find that I can keep them on: 1 Cor 13:8 , 13 There are a few things named in this chapter that are no longer with us but I do find this about charity.
1. Charity will never fail: 1 Cor 13:8 It will never pass away, it will always be there for the Christian to put on. That means I can put charity on and keep charity on.
2. Charity is the greatest or most important thing I can put on: 1 Cor 13:13 That because charity makes it possible to put on and keep on all those other things. Because of charity I can be filled with mercy, kindness, humbleness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance, and forgiveness. All of those made possible by charity.
C. When the true Christian is truly yielded to and filled with the Holy Spirit they will continually exhibit charity and will be able to put on and keep on charity: This is clearly illustrated in what we refer to as the love chapter in the Bible. – 1 Cor 13:1-13
IV. How then to put on charity through the filling of and being yielded to the Holy Spirit: Col 3:14 We have established that this is possible only for the born again child of God, that this will change lives, and that we must be filled with and yielded to the Holy Spirit. That is the only way we can put on charity and charity allows us to put on those other things. How then can we do this?
A. First, decide what type of life in Christ we want: This epistle is speaking to Christians and especially this chapter. – Col 3:1-4
1. Some of those Christians evidently had some things they needed to put off: Col 3:5-9 Those are all works of the flesh and some of them must have been holding on to some or all of those things. Those are works natural to everyone of us this morning.
a. Everyone here will have a problem with at least one of those things, more than one, or all of them. Put them off.
b. Some of them still had some things they needed to put off and some of us have some things we need to put off. Put them off.
2. And then they needed to put on new things, put on the new man: Col 3:10-13 Put off the old, put on the new. Old things pass away all things become new when we put off the old and put on the new.
3. But this was a decision they had to make and we have to make today: What type of life in Christ do we want? Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
a. Do I want to live a defeated, shallow, powerless Christian life by holding onto the old, holding onto things I need to put off.
b. Or do I want to live a joyful, vibrant, powerful Christian life by putting off the old and putting on the new?
4. I must decide what type of Christian life I want:
B. Second, recognize the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit: It has been stated over three previous messages that we cannot do anything on our own and that includes the putting off of the old and putting on of the new. We can’t do this on our own.
1. We have the Holy Spirit within: John 14:16-20 Because we have the Holy Spirit within and because “Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world” we can put off the old and put on the new.
2. No Christian can say it is impossible for us to live the Christian life, to put off the old and put on the new: Not if 1 John 4:4 is true. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
3. That verse tells me there is nothing I can’t put off: 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. Whatever has a hold on me can be put off through the power of the Holy Spirit.
a. Whatever you have a problem with can by put off.
b. Nothing has such a great hold on you that the Holy Spirit cannot give you victory. 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
4. Recognize the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit:
C. Give way to the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit: John 14:26 This includes the way we are to live, the way we are to walk in Christ. – 1 John 2:27-28 – The Holy Spirit will teach you how to abide in Christ.
1. The anointing and the abiding point to a oneness with Christ: To be one with Christ I must be walking with Christ and in obedience to the Word of God. That is another ministry of the Holy Spirit, to teach me how to walk.
2. And the Holy Spirit only teaches the truth of the Word of God: John 16:13
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3. No Christian can say when walking in disobedience to the Word of God that God’s Spirit let them to that path: John 16:13 And what is truth? – John 17:17
4. Give way to the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit:
D. Seek the unction with the Holy Spirit promised in His Word: 1 John 2:20 Same word as anointing later in the chapter it means a special endowment, a special filling, a special oneness.
1. It is to feel the indwelling and the leading of the Holy Spirit at all times in our lives: It is to be yielded to the Holy Spirit at all times and to have a desire to always follow the Divine leading in our lives.
a. Solomon was seeking this unction when asking for wisdom to lead the nation of Israel.
b. Paul was seeking this unction when he asked “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do.”
c. It is an unction that we can seek today, one we can ask for.
2. The Holy Spirit is within us to fill us with all that God would have us to be: That includes being filled with charity.
E. How then to put on charity through the filling of and being yielded to the Holy Spirit: Col 3:14
1. What type of Christian do we want to be? Do we want to put off the old and put on the new?
2. Second, recognize the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit: It has been stated over three previous messages that we cannot do anything on our own and that includes the putting off of the old and putting on of the new. We can’t do this on our own.
3. Give way to the teaching and guidance of the Holy Spirit: John 14:26 This includes the way we are to live, the way we are to walk in Christ. – 1 John 2:27-28 – The Holy Spirit will teach you how to abide in Christ.
4. Seek the unction with the Holy Spirit promised in His Word: 1 John 2:20 Same word as anointing later in the chapter it means a special endowment, a special filling, a special oneness.
Conclusion
Having looked at putting on charity this morning what can we say?
I. Remember we are to be filled with charity: Col 3:12 -14 The Bible says to put on bowels of mercy and the word bowels could be placed before every item named in these verses. Bowels of kindness, bowels of humbleness, bowels of meekness, bowels of longsuffering, bowels of forbearance, bowels of forgiveness, and bowels of charity. The Greeks used the word bowels to indicate the entire inner being of a person. We say with the whole hear or with all your heart, the Greeks used the word bowels. We are then to be filled with charity. – Col 3:14 -Above them all, before them all, put on charity.
II. This filling of charity is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit within and can only be experienced by the believer who is yielded to and filled with the Holy Spirit: Col 3:14 This charity or type of love is not natural to any of us and can only be experienced by the born again believer in Jesus Christ who is yielded to and filled with the Holy Spirit.
III. When the true Christian is truly yielded to a filled with the Holy Spirit they will continually exhibit charity and will be able to put on and keep on charity: This is clearly illustrated in what we refer to as the love chapter in the Bible. – 1 Cor 13:1-13
IV. How then to put on charity through the filling of and being yielded to the Holy Spirit: Col 3:14 We have established that this is possible only for the born again child of God, that this will change lives, and that we must be filled with and yielded to the Holy Spirit. That is the only way we can put on charity and charity allows us to put on those other things. How then can we do this?