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[0:00] We can read the whole chapter together. Colossians chapter 3. Let's hear the word of God. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

[0:24] Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

[0:42] Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth. Fornication, cleanness, inordinate affection, evil, conspicuousness, covetousness, which is adultery.

[0:56] For which things take the wrath of God, cometh from the children of disobedience. And for which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them.

[1:07] But now ye also put off all these things, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communications, out of your mouth. Lie not to one another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds.

[1:23] Have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free.

[1:39] But Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.

[1:54] Forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, put on charity, which is a bond of perfectness.

[2:12] And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

[2:32] And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, submit to yourselves and to your own husbands, as does fit in the Lord.

[2:47] Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

[3:03] Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.

[3:14] And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord, and not unto men, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ.

[3:26] But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which ye have done, and there is no respect of persons. And may we give praise again to God for his holy and for his perfect word.

[3:39] Let's again sing to God's praise, this time singing from Psalm 34. Psalm 34.

[3:50] And we can sing verses 1 down to verse 7 of the psalm. Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 7.

[4:02] God will I bless all times as praise, my mouth shall still express, my soul shall boast in God, the meek shall hear with joyfulness. Extol the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together.

[4:16] I sought the Lord, he heard, and did me from all fears deliver. Psalm 34, verses 1 to 7. To God's praise. Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 7.

[4:53] Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 7.

[5:23] Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 7.

[5:53] Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 7.

[6:23] Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 7.

[6:53] Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 7. Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 8. Psalm 34, verses 1 down to verse 8. And then in this world Well, let's for a short time this evening turn back to the chapter that we had, Colossians chapter 3.

[7:22] Colossians 3. And again, for a brief time reading again, looking at the verses we have from verse 15 down to verse 17. Colossians 3, verses 15 down to verse 17.

[7:59] Giving thanks to God and the Father by him. And again, for a short time we can look at these verses and as we look together at these verses, quite simply wanting to see three marks, three distinctives of Christians.

[8:20] Three evidences that we should look for in our own lives. Three evidences that we should pray for in our lives.

[8:30] Every Christian here, every one of us, everyone who calls on the name of Jesus, everyone of us who loves our Saviour. Three things we all desire, or should desire, to see more and more of in our own lives.

[8:43] And again, for any who as of yet do not know Jesus for yourself, these are three marks, three things which are great privileges the Christians have, three great privileges which Christians enjoy.

[8:57] And here, as you hear these three great privileges, and know that these can be yours too, without cost, without, as it were, effort on your behalf.

[9:10] The work's been done. Come and ask Jesus. Come and worship him. Come and serve him as Lord and as Saviour. And these three marks, these three evidences, can be seen in your life too.

[9:24] And before we begin looking at these three things, very often, and again myself very much included here, we hear things, all these three things, these four things, these verses, that's to be seen in every Christian, and we think, well, I don't have that much, or I don't have that in my life.

[9:39] And we begin to worry and begin to panic. But no, these three things, we all have as Christians. Different measures, and different strengths perhaps, but they're true for every one of us.

[9:52] From perhaps the most new Christian, the most frail Christian, the most weak-feeling Christian, up to the strongest. These evidences are true for all of us.

[10:06] So looking at verses 15, down to verse 17, we can put these verses under three very simple headings. First of all, verse 15, heart, verse 16, head, and finally, verse 17, hand.

[10:24] Heart, head, and hand. First of all, verse 15, heart. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.

[10:37] Just as for us today, of course, when the Apostle Paul used the word heart here, he, of course, used the medical term, but he's referring to our inward person.

[10:49] Just to give you a quick Greek lesson, the word, we all know actually, most of us, I'm sure all of us will know the word used here for heart, cardia. We have, of course, our own language, our own English, we use the word cardiac to describe heart conditions, of course, know that.

[11:06] Cardia, let the peace of God rule in your hearts, in your cardia, in the very basis of who you are, in your innermost being, let the peace of God rule there.

[11:21] In your person, in all your emotions, in all your feelings, in all your reality, peace as a Christian, it must reign there. Not just some genetic hope, that things will work out fine in the end.

[11:37] Not just some hope, that perhaps God might, might be working things out, somehow. A sure reality, of peace.

[11:48] And not just any peace. There are many in the world, many indeed, in homes in this village, in these villages, in this area, just now, who aren't in church, who have no care about the gospel, no interest in Christ.

[12:01] And if you ask them, are you at peace? Are you happy? They would quite probably say yes. They are perhaps happy.

[12:11] They're happy at home. They're happy in their own situation. The peace of verse 15, it's not a peace that we get from, job satisfaction. Not a peace from being in a, a good family situation.

[12:22] Not a peace from, having done well in life. Not a peace from, doing well just now. Not a peace we get, from anything else. It's a peace of, God.

[12:34] And we'll see, as we go on further on, it's really the peace, quite literally, the peace of, Christ. It's a peace of knowing, a risen saviour. It's a peace of knowing, that right now, brothers and sisters, you have an advocate of the father, at his right hand, who knows you, who has borne himself, the wrath of God for you.

[12:55] But more than that, who cares for you, who loves you. As we heard this morning, who has gone, to make a place, for you. Who cared enough, he came to save, his precious people, of which, you are one.

[13:13] That's a peace, of the Christian. A peace in our heart, that we know, we have a saviour. A peace that only comes, from knowing him, and from loving him. In the previous verses, we read in this chapter, roughly verses five, down to verse, the end of verse, 13, verse 14, we see, as you like, the basics, what it is, to live a Christian life.

[13:39] The very basics, to avoid, of course, and to hate sin. To hate, the sin we see, in our own lives, and to hate the sin, not the people, but the sin, we see around us.

[13:54] To not even begin, to entertain that sin. And we see that, verses four, down in verse five, and verse six, and verse seven, and verse eight. Then we see, contrasting that, verses 12, down to verse 14, we see, what God's chosen, God's elect, God's holy people, what our lives, should look like, ideally.

[14:16] Kindness, and patience, and meekness, and so on. So our verse here, our text here, verse 15, it flows on, of course, it flows on, from this, this description, of the very basics, what a Christian life, should look like.

[14:31] Hating sin, avoiding sin, despising sin, loving the Lord, loving righteousness, loving meekness, loving humility, and all that. And from all that, then flows, verse 15.

[14:48] In that case, we have here, and, and of course, makes sense for us in English, but quite literally, the first few words there, of verse 15, in the Greek, it could be translated, therefore.

[15:01] All this being said, therefore. Again, Anne's good for us in English, but the reality is, it's much more connected, to the previous statement. Live a life, that glorifies God, hate evil things, hate sin, love the brothers, seek righteousness, seek all these good things, therefore, let the peace, of God rule, in your hearts.

[15:28] Again, it's a wee bit more, I promise, I'll stop the Greek after this, a wee bit more Greek, this is important for us, to see this, and to understand this. Again, let the peace, great, perfect, but there's more going on here.

[15:43] This is not just a suggestion, to us. Paul's not suggesting, that we just let, the peace of God rule. This is a command, it's an imperative, it's a command, it's an instruction, to us, grammatically, but also, theologically.

[15:58] We must, as Christians, let the peace, of God rule, in our hearts. This is a peace, of course, that no one else can offer, that nothing else, can offer.

[16:13] The reality, we've been told, to let it, let it rule, in our hearts, implies that there's times, when the peace of Christ, does not, the peace of God, does not rule, in our hearts, and we know this to be true.

[16:25] There's times, and plenty of times, we find the anxieties, and the worries, and the stresses, and even the most, most normal, daily, stresses and strains, and worries of life.

[16:37] But on top of that, the extraordinary, the extraordinary, stresses, and worries, and anxieties, that we all, I'm sure, deal with, and face with, week after week, after week. And these things, over time, encroach, and encroach, more and more, in our hearts.

[16:51] And very quickly, we, if we're being honest, I'm sure, we're beginning to lose sight, of that peace in our hearts. Perhaps that peace, we once had. Now dear brother, dear sister, that peace has gone nowhere. It's gone nowhere.

[17:04] Your saviour, still knows you. He still has made, his home in you, and his home with you. But slowly, but surely, life has come in. Anxiety's come in. Take these things, to the foot, of the cross.

[17:18] To the throne of grace. We've been here before, in Hebrews, the last time we were together. Take it to the throne of grace, leave it there, and let the peace of Christ, rule in your hearts.

[17:29] We're commanded to do so, in verse 15. What a glorious command it is. We're given this command, because our saviour, he desires us, to fully take hold, of the promise, he's given us.

[17:42] He tells us, if we take these things to him, his peace will reign in us. Let's do that. Let's see the reality, that our saviour, he keeps his promises.

[17:52] And the dear brothers and sisters, who have been on a walk, far longer than I have, will testify, to the reality of that. You have gone through, I'm sure, various tough, challenging providences, in your life.

[18:05] You can say still, you can still say this evening, it was hard. It was impossible. But yet, the peace of Christ, still reigns. It still rules in my heart.

[18:16] And because this peace is unique, we must let it rule. And we all know, this peace is so hard to explain, isn't it?

[18:28] So hard to explain to those, who as of yet, don't know that for themselves. And if you've ever tried it, you'll soon realise, I'm sure, you've begun to run out of words, as it were, to say to them.

[18:39] You start just talking about, how different it is for you, as a Christian, compared to before, and how now, you see things perhaps differently, and you react to things differently, and you understand things differently.

[18:50] But very quickly, we don't quite have the words, to describe properly, the peace of Christ in our hearts. The Bible even lets us know, that will be the case.

[19:01] Philippians 4 and verse 7. Again, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts, and your minds, in Christ Jesus.

[19:20] Again, friends who as of yet, don't know Jesus, we can try, we can go, Christian by Christian by Christian, each one of us, try and explain to you, the reality of this peace, but we can't do it.

[19:34] The wonderful reality of it, for you to know this peace for yourself, you must come. You must come yourself to Christ, and you yourself, must let this peace rule, in your heart.

[19:47] Peace of knowing, a risen saviour, who knows you. Peace of knowing, your eternity. the peace, of knowing that God, now looks on you in love, because of the finished work, of his son.

[20:05] The peace, is here for you. It's here for you just now. I've heard this morning, there's no conditions into it. The hard work, the impossible work, to attain this peace, is done by Jesus.

[20:21] Just come. Come. We find peace in our hearts, that's a token of our faith. But this peace does even more than that.

[20:33] We find peace as aware, in our calling. Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also, ye are called in one body. What is our calling, as Christians?

[20:49] I mentioned in children's talk, I was away yesterday, we were at a, Reverend McCritchie, and Graver, and Reverend Campbell, and Barvis, and myself, where I was tagging along, in the back seats.

[21:00] We went to Dingwall, to a conference, about rural ministry. And it was a conference, it was great, it all went well, and one of his speakers, he noted the fact, that he had a member, in his congregation, the member was, in their mid-90s, been a Christian, for 30, 40 odd years.

[21:22] And it wasn't, that member, was 95, 96, that he finally understood, it was his calling, as much as it was, the minister, to share the gospel.

[21:36] Now that sounds obvious, I'm sure to us. The burden was, and the privilege, was on him, as much as it was, to anyone who stands up here. Our calling, brothers and sisters, is to share the good news.

[21:48] We're all called, to be witnesses. And yes, we're called to do that, differently, in different situations. We're all equally called, to be witnesses, to be salt, and to be light. We have peace, in that calling, of verse 15.

[22:03] The peace reigning in us, it relates to who, and to what we are, as Christians. It's related to how, we relate to one another, and yes, for our fallouts, yes, for our issues, and that happens, in every family.

[22:18] It's the same, unfortunately, for the family of God. Fallouts, and discussions, and issues, and problems, and very often, to our shame, these things, arise from pride, and quite often, down to nothing more, than nonsense.

[22:30] But we have fallouts, and disputes. But our position, towards one another, should be that, of peace. It also relates, how we relate, to the world.

[22:42] If our calling, is based on the peace of God, in our hearts, and as we give, and share the good news, to those around us, we must do it, in a peaceable way. We're called, to be bold, yes, but we're called, to share the gospel, in gentleness.

[22:57] To be gentle ambassadors. To be gentle, as we share the good news. To do so, in a way that gives peace, that shows the peace of Christ, in our hearts.

[23:08] Not for a second, that we're called, to be pushovers, no. We're called, to place Jesus first. To be gentle, as we share the good news. And quite simply, peace leads, to unity.

[23:22] Which are called, in one body. As the peace of Christ, rules, within a congregation, within a church family, unity, always follows, or is part of that peace.

[23:37] John 17, again, we've covered that, I think before, the reality that, as we find ourselves, in Christ, we find ourselves, one, with Christ, who himself is one, with the Father.

[23:50] We said in our prayers, and this is not the time, of this discussion, and this is not, directed towards ourselves, but just, we all know the reality, of the situation, is times of vacancies, are often times, of anything but peace.

[24:08] Again, this is nothing, about you particularly, but I'm just saying, and we all know, to be true, that in times of vacancy, the devil often finds a foothold. And it's time for yourselves, especially.

[24:18] Look to verse 15, and realise that, peace in your own hearts, and peace in your congregation, leads to unity. Leads to one, united body, working together, with the same, purpose.

[24:32] As one body, we all, exist, and thrive, in the peace of God. Of course, some here, are more unsettled, than others. Some of you come, are indeed, are involved, in lives, and you have lives, that perhaps, are unsettled, in various ways, are unpeaceful, for various reasons.

[24:50] Some here, have known, more hardships, than others. Some here, perhaps, are newer, to their walk, than others. But we all, exist together.

[25:02] We can all, grow individually, and as a body, the peace of God, ruling, in our hearts. And that peace, it leads, to thankfulness. The end of verse 15, and be, he thankful, be thankful.

[25:18] Again, this is not just a recommendation, this is the same grammar, being used, at the start of verse 15, this is a command, be, thankful. Be thankful, that, as one who knows, Jesus, that in your heart, reigns his peace.

[25:39] How concise, this simple command, is how short, it really is. It's a well, needed reminder, I'm sure, of the Christians of Colossae. That poor, suffering church, the persecuted church, the Christians of Colossae, who are facing, outward and internal, internal pressures, and outward pressures, and yet, they're told, to be thankful.

[26:01] Yes, the situation, might be bleak, and complicated, but you have a peace of Christ, in your hearts. Peace of God, ruling in you. Be thankful. We must be thankful.

[26:14] Peace of Christ, ruling in our hearts. It's the first marker, of a Christian, that we know, the peace, of God. That brings us, to verse 16, we see head.

[26:28] So heart, and verse 16, head. Verse 16, let the word of Christ, dwell in you, richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing, whenever in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace, in our hearts, to the Lord.

[26:43] Word of Christ, dwelling, the word of Christ, dwelling, richly, in us. Here we have, as we're, the other side, of Paul's advice.

[26:54] We're not just, all heart. We're not just, all emotion. It's good that we have, Christ dwelling in us, and we have Christ, in our heart, but also we must, have as it were, Christ in our head too.

[27:08] We must understand, what it is we believe. There is no use, being all heart, but not knowing anything, about the one we worship, and the one we love. Of course, using the word head here, it doesn't feature, of course, in the verse, but using head, just to illustrate the reality, of verse 16, is talking about, an acknowledgement, an understanding, of who it is you worship.

[27:29] We must understand, what it is we are saying, and doing. We must seek, to grow in our knowledge, of Jesus. Now, our worth, as Christians, and we know this, but it's a good reminder, our worth, as Christians, it's not measured, in our knowledge.

[27:48] The, as I were, the newest Christian here, is of no greater worth, in any way, whatsoever, or no less worth, excuse me, no less worth, in any way, whatsoever, to the oldest Christian.

[28:00] Three or four years, at ETS, gives me no extra worth, whatsoever, to someone, who just started, who just saved, last night, who knows nothing, of scripture, nothing, of theology, nothing, of church history, our worth, is not based, in knowledge.

[28:16] The world, works that way, the church does not. The gospel, is for all, it's understood by all, it's so simple, all can understand it, it's so deep, not one of us, can even reach, its depths, in eternity, of searching.

[28:31] Our worth, is not measured, as Christians, not measured, in knowledge. We all have, different academic abilities, that's true, that's the way, God has created us, and we acknowledge that, and that's great.

[28:44] But not one of us, has an excuse, to not be constantly, growing in our knowledge, of God. Not one of us. Reading, if not reading, listening, if not listening, watching, radio, online, discussing, with brothers and sisters, in the Lord, there is, hundreds and hundreds, of ways, we can grow, in our knowledge.

[29:13] Meditating, on chapters, meditating, perhaps even initially, on verses, if that's what you can manage. Quantity, is not important, really. The quality, actually is.

[29:26] Daily, growing, seeking to grow, praying you grow, more, and more. His word, living, in us. We see that in verse 16. Let the word of Christ, dwell in you, richly in all wisdom.

[29:39] His word, living in us. That's the goal, as Christians. The words of Christ, are to live, as it were, in us. They're to be, our daily bread. They're to be, what keeps us going, day by day.

[29:51] Our sustenance. The question is, well how? How does that take place? How do we make that happen? How do we have, the words of Christ, living in us? First of all, they dwell in us.

[30:03] Of course, by us, dwelling in them. We all have memories, I'm sure, in this area too. Plenty of, old Christians, who are long since gone.

[30:16] Beloved saints in the Lord, who, who were so close to him, who knew him so well, whose very life, whose very conversation, portrayed that they, knew their saviour, in a way that, that we aspire.

[30:30] And with respect, and I say this carefully, many of these older saints, didn't perhaps have, the formal education, that we have the privilege of having.

[30:41] They didn't have, half the opportunities, that we have, in our online, Bible studies, which are a great, privilege, and all the books, we have access to. They didn't have that.

[30:52] But they spent time, in God's word. They spent time, simply reading it, meditating on it, thinking about it, taking it to God, in prayer, discussing it together.

[31:03] And through that, they grew closer, and closer, of course, to their saviour. The more we dwell, in the word, the more we want to dwell in it. And we know that to be the case.

[31:13] The longer we spend, in God's word, the more we want to spend, even longer in it. you say, well, that's okay, but I don't feel, most days, able to do that.

[31:28] Most days, I don't feel, like I even want to begin, to grow my knowledge. Most days, I'm happy to get up in the morning, and go to work, and go home. Most days, that's enough for me. Most days, I'm happy just to get through the day, and have nothing chaotic going on.

[31:42] How can I grow? How can I learn? How can I do any of that? And there's probably a thousand different schemes, and methods, and plans, we could talk about.

[31:53] The reality is, one verse at a time, one page at a time. Not just reading. There's many, perhaps, many who don't enjoy reading. There's plenty of audio Bibles, plenty of Bibles online, you can listen to.

[32:07] There's so many ways, God has given us, to be immersed in his word. Let's not forget, the church of Colossae, they didn't have Bibles. This is a letter, read out to them. They sat in a building, in a house somewhere, and it was read out to them.

[32:22] There's thousands of ways, hundreds of ways, God has given us, to grow, in his knowledge. Let's make most of them. Again, it's plural being used here. Let the peace of God, when your hearts, let the word of Christ, dwell in you.

[32:36] That you there, it's, bad English, but it's perfect Greek. Let the word of Christ, dwell in you all. Quite literally, in yous. Let the word of Christ, dwell in you all, richly.

[32:49] It's all plural. The verses, 15 to 17, it's all in plural. Speaking to the church. We grow together. We grow through, listening to God's word together, discussing it together, and of course, in recent years, we've lost the fellowships, we've lost our time together, but we must, as the time goes on, reclaim that when we can, in the meantime, find our ways, of working together, to read, and to discuss, and to find fellowship together, according to various guidelines, we must follow.

[33:20] We must grow, and we can grow. It's not lack of education, that stops us growing. It's not ability, that stops us growing. Lack of desire.

[33:32] Lack of a first, that first love, growing colder, stops us growing. So we learn, we grow, in verse 16, we grow by, letting the word of Christ dwell in us, we grow by, by reading more, by hearing more, by, by growing.

[33:47] We grow by just delving, straight into God's word, and loving it. We also grow, we see, by teaching, and by admonishing. Teaching, and admonishing.

[33:58] Admonishing. What does it look like, to grow together, in the Lord, by, excuse me, by teaching? Well here of course, we have the, the importance, of positive instruction, based on the word.

[34:14] The teaching that helps us, to grow in love, and in knowledge. Teaching of course, from the pulpit, from those who have spent, the week in the word, and the week, in prayer, and in preparation.

[34:26] But also teaching of course, from one another. From brothers and sisters. As we share together, our thoughts and scriptures. We share together, our ideas, and our thoughts, and our questions.

[34:39] We grow together. Teaching of course, very importantly, from older believers. Those who have gone before us. Those who are older, perhaps in this congregation, be willing, to teach those who are younger.

[34:50] Those of us who are younger, we should be asking, asking those who are older, to share, their wisdom. To share the reality, of living, their lives as Christians.

[35:08] Always growing, and doing so, together. Never growing, for knowledge sake. There's a, there's a phrase, that, it's quite important for us, and, we'll break it down quickly.

[35:25] It's, it's theology, without doxology, is cold, dead, orthodoxy. It's theology, of course, the knowledge, the learning of God.

[35:37] The joy of learning about God. The, the learning of God, theology, to know God more. Without doxology, the word for praising God. So learning about God, without seeking to praise God, or to love him more, leads to cold, dead, orthodoxy.

[35:56] Orthodoxy, of course, is right belief, and right thinking. In other words, it's all good and well, knowing what you believe, and why you believe it. And it's all good and well, knowing your church history, and your theology, down to the very basics, and knowing every part, of every confession, under the sun, great.

[36:12] But all that means, you don't love God more, love his people more, and it's all a waste of time. Never, never knowledge, for knowledge sake. Theology must always lead, to doxology.

[36:25] Our learning about God, must always lead, to our praising God. That's important for us, individually, and as a congregation. Never just dry knowledge. Always, how do we, apply this?

[36:36] Why do we need to know this? Why is this important for us? Because every word is. To teaching. We learn by teaching, but also we see the word, admonishing. Admonishing.

[36:48] Here we have, as it were, the negative correction. The teachings, the positive instruction. Here we have, the negative correction, negative instruction.

[37:01] The warnings. Again, based on scripture. The warning, that helps us, to see, areas of sin, in our lives, where we need to start, taking things more seriously.

[37:14] The gentle warnings, first of all, that's shared between brothers, and sisters in the Lord. Those conversations, of perhaps, my brother, my friend, you're a bit too harsh there.

[37:26] You spoke to so and so, in a way that wasn't Christ-like. Even quite simply, asking those who we love, and care for, and doing so gently, those who we know, aren't, perhaps doing so well.

[37:37] Those who we know, are perhaps, dabbling in areas of sin, speaking to them, talking with them, praying with them. Those who are struggling, coming alongside them.

[37:50] The gentle warnings, that we share with each other, as a family. Those painful, but necessary conversations, that must often take place, in any family. We also, of course, have biblically, the admonishments, the warnings, that come, from elders, from those, who have been given, the role, to lead God's people well.

[38:13] As a sake, to quietly, and gently, guide someone, back, to following Christ well. Always done, in gentleness, always done carefully, but often times, done, in a spirit of love.

[38:28] To the gentle rebukes, of friends, and brothers, and sisters in Christ. The more, as I were, formal perhaps, rebukes, of those, who are in leadership, over us. And finally, again scripturally, under admonishment, does come, the solemn, heartbreaking, truly heartbreaking moments, where there must be, harsher admonishments, and corrections.

[38:53] Always done biblically. Always, always looking towards, restoration. in the life, of that dear brother, of that dear sister. It's not easy, is it, to admonish.

[39:06] But if we're to grow, it needs to be present, in our lives. Just a quick, I'll be, getting briefly on, a quick thought experiment, as it were, a quick, a quick, yeah, experiment for us, just to briefly, say, so say just now, I'm preaching, and especially just now, as a student, and this is for you to think, as a student, I'm preaching, but imagine, a minister is here, preaching, and he says something, that is clearly not, in scripture.

[39:36] He says something, that's clearly wrong, clearly wrong. In fact, it's quite obviously, he said something, that's near awful, that's not, at all, what the scripture is saying, that's dangerous, that's just not on.

[39:50] Dear brother, dear sister, would you, would you, be willing, to bring that up, to say that, to them carefully, and then love, I didn't quite, understand that, I don't quite think, that's what the text said.

[40:10] We all have scripture, in front of us, we all together, must grow together, we want to admonish, one another, experience, qualification, doesn't change the reality, as together, brothers and sisters, we grow together.

[40:29] Whoever stands up here, versus whoever, is in the back pew, we're all together, as family. Growing together, worshipping together. And we see, that as we grow together, it leads to what?

[40:42] It leads to worship, it leads to joy. joy. The peace, of Christ, leads, to joy.

[40:53] The knowledge, of Christ, leads to joy. At the end, halfway through, the end of verse 16, teaching and admonishing, one another, in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace, in your hearts, to the Lord.

[41:09] His word, dwelling in us, leads us, to worship him, leads us, to love him, more and more. Now sadly, verse 16, has been used, for years, and years, as, as, as, as fodder, for debate, on both sides, as to the use, of different, forms of worship, in the church.

[41:35] Should we have hymns, etc. That's not a conversation, this evening. Now that's not a conversation, not because we're trying, to avoid the issue, but because that's not, what this verse is talking about, not for a second.

[41:47] Paul is not, somehow, suddenly stopping, his encouraging, moment, to the church in Colossae, to then, start talking about, church order, and church process.

[41:58] Paul is halfway, through encouraging, this church, so what's being said, in verse 16, is also part, of that encouragement. And to make this, about our form, of worship, is to destroy, and to rip out, of context, completely, what Paul was saying, in this verse, what the Holy Spirit, is saying through Paul, in this verse.

[42:21] Paul's not giving instruction, he's encouraging, he's encouraging. In fact, the word being, being used here, three times, this is not Paul, again, giving or listing, the worship material, the church was to use.

[42:40] In fact, the three terms, Paul uses here, could quite simply, and quite easily, be translated, as Paul's saying, praise him, praise him, praising, teaching and admonishing, one another, and praise, and praise, and praise.

[42:54] Again, this is not our issue, this evening, if we were to really, look into the words, being used here, all quite simply, Paul is doing, is he's using, the three different, words used to describe, the three different categories, of the book of Psalms, in his day.

[43:09] He's just saying, praise God, praise God, praise God. R.C. Sproul, in his commentary, on this verse, he says, in the Septuagint, and the Septuagint, is the Greek translation, of the Old Testament, that we used, in this day.

[43:28] So in the Greek translation, of the Old Testament, the translation, that Paul and the Apostles, used, in that version, of scripture, the three words, the three nouns, used in verse 16, to describe worship, are almost always, used together.

[43:46] It's unlikely, that the Colossians, were told, to do three different, types of song. Paul is not giving, musical advice, in verse 16. He's giving real, theological, encouragement.

[44:00] He is saying, praise him, as you grow, in your knowledge of him, praise him. He is saying, what we said before, grow in your theology, yes, but also always, grow in your doxology.

[44:12] Learn more about him, yes, but as you learn, praise him more, and more. Learning leads to praising, or it should always, lead to praising. Praise him, as you grow together, praise him more.

[44:25] in recent years, I say recent years, in the last two years, almost now, how much do we miss, the public singing, I know it's not the same yet, but we're, we can sing again publicly.

[44:37] How much do we miss, that joy in together, these strange months, we couldn't sing together, how strange it was for us. We're built to praise, we're created to praise. to praise God in singing, it's part of who we are, how God created us, as his people.

[44:57] As we have the peace of Christ, ruling in our hearts, and the words of Christ, dwelling in our minds, we also have words of praise to Christ, on our lips.

[45:09] That brings us very briefly, onto verse 17, as Paul concludes this section of encouragement. There's one of these short verses, which encompasses quite a lot. Verse 17, whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, and the Father by him.

[45:28] Whatsoever you do in word or deed, whatsoever you do, whatsoever. Again, a short phrase, whatsoever you do, but a huge phrase.

[45:42] Verse 17 takes in, everything you and I will ever do, in our whole lives. All our actions, private and public. All our interactions, private and public.

[45:53] All our thoughts, all our words, anything we ever do, from salvation, from the day we're saved, until the day we die. All you do in word and deed, we must do it all, in the name of the Lord Jesus.

[46:09] All our words, must be for him. All our words, both public and private, must be honouring to Jesus. Not just putting on a show, when it suits us.

[46:22] Not just saying the right things, to appear to be, to be good Christians. No, but actually, in our words, publicly and privately, more important, privately, to honour Christ, to honour Christ, to honour our words.

[46:34] And not just a false pretense, of solemnity, or of holiness. We're to live with Christ, so much in our hearts, and so much filling our minds, we saw in verses 15 and 16, that what comes out of our mouth, reflects that reality.

[46:50] It shows that to be the case, that he is living in our minds, and our hearts. This is something we do, by coming to Jesus, and by dwelling, more and more in his words.

[47:04] Now we're reminded, in James, of course, James, chapter 3, and verse 6, I think it is, the reality of the danger of the tongue. But for our words, we can do so much damage, and cause so much chaos.

[47:17] That should not be of the Christian, how we conduct ourselves, how we show ourselves. All our words are for him. All we say, and in reality, all we think, should be for him.

[47:28] All our deeds, also, for him. All our actions. Our daily lives, our meals, our work, our time of relaxing, our study, how we are with each other, how we are when no one else is watching.

[47:45] All our actions, all our deeds, everything we do, and everything we are, should be in his name, and for his sake. Brethren and sisters, this is a huge calling, we close our time together with.

[47:57] All we do, all we say, all we think, to be for his glory. I said at the start, we're not saying, these things must be perfect in our lives, because they won't be. But we strive for them to be so.

[48:09] We pray that more and more, our words would reflect his words. And our actions and our heart, would show more and more, his actions, and his heart, towards his precious people.

[48:22] And not for a second, are we saying, verse 17 is saying, act, just act more like a Christian. Just look the part more, sound the part more. If we do that, it quickly becomes, nothing more than a show, and we know that to be the case.

[48:37] What we do see here, in verse 17, is given all we've said, in verses 15 and 16. As his peace rules more in us, as his word exists, more and more in us, as we dwell more in his word, slowly but surely, our words, our actions, reflect more and more, of who he is.

[48:55] Dear friends, this is a great calling we have. But the reality is, we will not show, or live out verse 17 perfectly, in this life.

[49:09] We know that to be the case. We're not saying, that we will ever expect, to be sinless, in our words or our actions. And to think that, is to think, far too highly of ourselves.

[49:22] We are saying, as we seek to live, more like him, to look, more like Christ, as we seek to dwell, in his words, as we spend more time, with him, more time, as it were, in his word, and more time, in discussion about him, more time, in prayer with him, we'll begin, slowly but surely, to look, more and more, like him, as it were, in our actions, in our words, that process, of sanctification, it's slow, it's steady, we often, if not at all, ever see it, taking place, in our lives, but it's taking place, from the youngest, the most young, in our faith, Christian here, to the, brethren and sisters, who has walked, longest in your faith, you are becoming, more and more, like your saviour, not because you're, working hard at doing it, not because, you've done, something different this week, no we do it, that's true of you, because, we have in scripture, the reality of it, we're told, that's the case, we must trust, that is the case, and Paul brings, all things, back to thankfulness, at the end, of verse 17, whatever you do, in word or deed, do all in the name, of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, the Father, by him, all for Jesus, we find, we find our peace, in him, in him alone, we must let, our minds, rest in his word, in that word alone, and doing that, more and more, we will find, in our words, and our actions, we will reflect him, more and more, let's bow our heads, now, word of prayer,

[51:08] Lord God, we again, give you praise, for your word, and thank you for it Lord, thank you for the time, we've had together, this evening, and indeed, the time we've had together, this day, to come around your, living and perfect word, we confess that, as much as we, love and believe, and lay hold, of all we read, this evening, we come aware, that we are, failing, failing to, achieve, perhaps even what, we desire, to do out of it, we give you praise Lord, that you're not a God, who is measuring, as we measure, you're a God, who sees the heart, who knows the heart, we ask that for each one, of your people here, this evening, you would help us, indeed even this week, to have more and more, of the peace of Christ, in our hearts, to have more and more, of the word of Christ, in our minds, as we see that, taking place, to in our words, in our actions, and all our conduct, to show, more and more, the reality, for we worship, and we know, and we love, and we serve, our risen saviour, or do you again, you would forgive, anything that was said, that was incorrect, to give you praise, that the power is not, in the jar of clay, who stands here Lord, the power is in your, risen saviour Lord, power is in his, perfect words, help us even again, as we sing, our final item of praise, this evening, to do so with hearts, and minds, full of understanding, ask all these things, in his precious, and for his sake,

[52:34]  Amen.