The scripture reading today comes from Colossians chapter 2 and 3.
Please follow along in your bulletin or on the screen.
Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition,
based on the elements of the world rather than Christ.
For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells in bodily in Christ,
and you have been fulfilled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands,
by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ,
when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him,
through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.
He erased the certificate of debt with its obligations that was against us and opposed to us
and has taken it away by nailing it to the cross.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly.
He triumphed over them in him.
Therefore, don't let anyone judge you in regard to food and drink
or in the matter of a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.
These are a shadow of what was to come.
The substance is Christ.
Let no one condemn you by delighting in ascetic practices
and a worship of angels, claiming access to a visionary realm.
Such people are inflated by empty notions of their unspiritual mind.
He doesn't hold on to the head, from whom the whole body,
nourished and held together by its ligaments and tendons,
grows with growth from God.
If you died with Christ to the elements of this world,
why do you live as if you still belong to the world?
Why do you submit to regulations?
Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch.
All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish by being used up.
They are human commands and doctrines.
Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion,
false humility, and severe treatment of the body,
they are not of any value in a curbing self-indulgence.
So if you have been raised with Christ,
seek the things above, where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears,
then you also will appear with him in glory.
Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature,
sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed,
which is idolatry.
Because of these, God's wrath is coming upon the disobedient,
and you once walked in these things when you were living in them.
But now, put away all the following,
anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth.
Do not lie to one another,
since you have put off the old self with its practices
and have put on the new self.
You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your creator.
In Christ, there is no Greek and Jew,
circumcision and uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, slave and three,
but Christ is all and in all.
This is the word of God.
Great.
Thank you, Christina and Jefferson.
Will you join me as we pray?
Let's spend a few minutes praying for ourselves
and for our city and for our world together.
Will you join me?
Gracious Father, Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit,
we do come before you this morning
to have our own hearts ministered to,
to set our hearts aright with you,
but also, God, to bring you worship and glory,
to praise your name,
to worship you for who you are.
Father, this morning we are reminded
that you are the sovereign, glorious God.
As Angie reminded us earlier,
there is no one like you in all creation, God.
You are glorious and majestic,
and yet you are also deeply personal.
You are close and caring.
You are compassionate, God,
to the hurts in our hearts
and, God, the hurts of our city.
Father, thank you that you know our deepest concerns.
You know everything about us.
You know the fears and the anxieties,
and, God, you are concerned about that with us.
God, your heart is compassionate towards us.
We do praise you for that, Lord.
God, thank you that you alone hold these two tensions,
your majesty and your mercy,
your glory and your grace, God.
Where could we find someone like you, God?
In all creation, we could go to the ends of the earth, God.
We could search for all eternity
and not find anybody that comes close
to your majesty and your mercy, God.
And so we do come before you
with such humble hearts
and considered incredible privilege
to be called your children.
Father, this morning we've read,
this morning in Colossians,
as we ask, God, that it will be true of us.
Lord, we pray that as a church
and as followers of Jesus,
we will not be deceived by human tradition,
by human philosophy.
We pray, God, that as Colossians has reminded us,
we will hold fast to Christ.
God, we pray that we won't be sidetracked
by the shadows,
but we'll come to know deeply, God,
the substance of the gospel,
which is you, Jesus Christ.
We pray, God, that we won't be those
that are interested in religion,
but miss the person of Jesus.
Oh, Christ, we pray,
get the gospel deeper into us.
God, help us to see and to savor you, Jesus,
as our Lord.
Help us, God, to apply the gospel
to our own hearts and lives, God.
Help us, God, to see our sin
and yet to revel in the good news of Jesus.
God, we really do pray
that as a church, Watermark,
whatever else happens, God,
may one thing be true of us.
May the gospel get deeper into us
as a church, we pray.
Father, come and pray
for a move of your spirit amongst us.
We pray, revive our hearts, oh God.
Lord, where our faith has become dry,
oh God, let the water of your spirit
come and revive our hearts,
the wind of your spirit revive us, God.
God, come be at work in our church, we pray,
and start with each one of us.
Father, this morning, we want to also pray
for our city and our world
and our neighbors in mainland China
as we think of the coronavirus.
God, we pray for those that are affected
and infected and suffering.
We pray for those that are in hospital,
those that are at home and are sick.
God, we pray for your grace and your mercy
to minister to them.
Lord, we want to pray for families
of those that are suffering,
especially over Chinese New Year
when families would normally come together.
We pray, God, where families are apart
or are unable to travel.
We pray that you, God,
will minister to those families.
We pray, God, for the medical staff
and for doctors,
and especially those in Wuhan
that are working so hard
many, many hours.
God, we pray for their protection.
We pray they won't be infected.
But we also pray, God,
that you just strengthen them,
encourage them in this time.
We pray for our government officials, God,
that you will give them profound wisdom
how to handle this.
God, put policies in place
that will stop the spread,
and yet, God, not be harsh and hard.
God, may we be a sympathetic people.
May we be gracious.
And Father, we pray for Christians
that as a church,
we will move towards the pain.
God, we won't just think about ourselves
and distance ourselves,
but we will move towards those that are hurting,
have compassion in our hearts
and sympathy and empathy.
God, we pray for us.
And finally, Father,
we pray for this Chinese New Year period.
We pray for the Watermark family.
We pray as families are traveling around the world,
won't you be with each one of us.
I pray for good family times
around the dining room table,
around meals.
As we are visiting family,
we pray for warm hearts and soft hearts, God.
God, we pray that you help us
to be salt and light in this time.
And Christ, we pray for you to give us opportunities
to share the hope of the gospel,
the reason for the hope that is within us
with our family and our loved ones in this time.
Christ, may this be a great time
for the gospel to go forward
in our homes, in our families,
and the various cities of the world
as we travel.
And so we do, God, bring this weekend before you
and ask your spirit to fill us
and to lead us and to guide us.
We pray these things in your wonderful name.
Amen.
Okay, well, good morning, everybody.
Sonny Phylock.
I probably said that all horribly wrong,
but happy new year.
It's great to see a bunch of people
and it's great to see some new people,
some guests, some visitors.
Welcome.
Wonderful to have you with us.
If you are from out of town
and you're visiting Hong Kong at this time,
a warm welcome to you
and welcome to Watermark.
As a church, for the last couple of weeks,
we've been exploring what the Bible has to say
about the gospel.
What is the gospel
and what are its implications for our lives?
Why is it that as followers of Jesus,
we need to make sure that the gospel
is front and central in our lives,
not just one of 17 priorities in our life,
but really front and central.
And we've been exploring that for a couple of weeks.
And so, so far we've seen that the gospel
is God's announcement of good news.
It's not just God's good advice
about how we should live our lives,
even though it does have implications
for how we should live our lives.
It is God's announcement of his good news
that God has done for us,
in the person of Jesus,
what we could never do for ourselves.
Jesus lived the life we should have lived.
Jesus died the death that we should have died.
God, Jesus went to the cross and died
so that when we put our faith in him,
our sin is credited to him
and we don't bear the consequences for our sin.
That's the good news of the gospel.
But we've also seen,
I've tried to show us the last few weeks,
that as followers of Jesus,
we constantly need to get the gospel
deeper into our own hearts and our own lives.
If we're gonna become anything like the people
that God is calling us to be,
we have to be those that are constantly meditating
on the beauty and the wonder of the gospel.
And one of the reasons for that
is the way that we change as human beings
is, or let me put it this way,
we will never really change
unless we confront the stuff that's in our hearts.
Unless we really look at what's in our hearts,
what's going on in our lives,
what's the motivation behind the fears
and the anxieties and the things that we do,
unless we really explore the deep recesses of our hearts,
we never really change.
But the gospel alone gives us a security
to be able to do that.
The gospel gives us an identity
that allows us to really explore
what's going on in our hearts
without crushing us,
without making us feel like failures.
And so the gospel gives us the power to change.
And then last week we saw Oscar shared with us
how the gospel gives us a new identity.
2 Corinthians says we are new creations in Christ.
The old is gone.
The new has come.
The gospel gives us a new heart,
a new motivation.
Jesus doesn't just come and help us to fix our lives up
or to make us slightly nicer people.
He completely revolutionizes the interior of our lives.
And so what this means is that as a church,
one of the things that I've been trying to impress upon us
is we must get the gospel deeper inside of us.
And so I want you to know
that that is the prayer that I have prayed for myself
and it's the prayer that I've prayed for us as a church
more than anything else over the last two years.
More than praying God grow us as a church,
even though that's not a bad thing.
More than God give us more finances,
though I have prayed that as well.
The one prayer that I've prayed more than anything else
is God for Watermark, for me.
Help us get the gospel deeper into our hearts.
And so prayer, I'm gonna keep on praying for us.
Now today I want us to look at
how the gospel relates to
the moral and ethical commands of the scripture.
Okay?
So how the gospel, the good news of Jesus,
relates to where Jesus calls us to obedience,
to follow him and to love him,
and to the moral and ethical commands of scripture.
Now there's a bunch of ways that we can get it wrong.
Okay?
There's two ways that we can get
the commands of scripture wrong,
but there's a gospel way that is completely different.
And I want us to look at that today.
Now, and we're gonna do that
by looking at the book of Colossians,
but we'll get there in a bit.
I wanna set up a framework first,
and then we're gonna come to Colossians.
In the book of Galatians, chapter two,
the apostle Paul does an amazing thing.
He confronts and he challenges another apostle
the apostle Peter over his hypocritical behavior.
So Peter, this apostle that walks with Jesus,
at one point he's acting one way
in front of one group of people.
Then there's another crowd,
and he starts to change his behavior
and act a different way.
And the apostle Paul calls him out on his behavior.
But the interesting thing is,
Paul doesn't go to Peter and say,
hey Peter, you've broken the Exodus 17 law
by acting hypocritical.
Paul doesn't go and say,
hey Peter, you've just broken the Matthew 23 rule
in the Bible by your hypocritical behavior.
What does Paul do when he challenges Peter's hypocrisy?
He says, Peter, your behavior is not in step
or not in line with the gospel.
You see that?
He could have gone to the Bible and said,
look Peter, there's this verse that says,
treat your neighbors as yourself, love others.
He could have done that, but he doesn't.
He says, Peter, your behavior, your conduct
is offline, is veering off
from the conduct of the gospel.
In other words, Paul is saying to Peter,
your hypocrisy is not merely a behavior,
it's a gospel issue.
Okay, does that make sense?
Paul challenges Peter,
not because Peter's broken the rules,
but because there's a disconnect
between Peter's actions
and the life that the gospel produces.
And friends, you've got to believe
that if that can happen to the apostle Peter,
the guy who walked with Jesus for three years,
who saw him being crucified,
who saw him being raised from the dead,
Peter who preached the gospel on Pentecost
and 3,000 people got saved,
if Peter can forget the gospel
and so his behavior veers off
from the conduct of the gospel,
friends, you've got to believe
that it can happen to you and to I.
And so how does our behavior
disconnect from the gospel?
How do we get it wrong?
Well, I'm so glad you've asked that question.
That joke is so old.
I've really got to stop saying that.
Okay, I'm so sorry.
I will try my best to stop saying that.
There's two ways that we can get it wrong.
I don't know if you've ever been horse riding.
Okay, in this rural setting of ours called Hong Kong,
we don't have too many horses.
The only time I've ever been horse riding,
I was in Mongolia.
I was 19 years old.
I was visiting a friend there
and he had some horses
and so we're out in the countryside
and he says, come, let's saddle up
and I'll show you how to ride a horse.
And so I get on this horse
and at first, you know, we are walking slowly
and then the horse starts trotting gently
and after five minutes,
I can feel myself leaning to the one side
and I can still remember,
I can still picture remembering,
this is not a good thing, right?
And so more and more and more
and after five minutes,
I was being dragged on the Mongolian countryside
by this runaway horse, okay?
And eventually I let go
and my friend holds onto his horse,
grabs the other horse's reins
and then they split.
They go separate ways.
And so it pulls him off his horse
and he's being dragged
holding onto these two horses
across the Mongolian countryside
and eventually he reined them in.
What were we talking about?
This is the point.
Like riding a horse
or a bicycle without hands, right?
You can fall off on two ways, okay?
You think you're getting it right
and before you know,
you're on the ground.
You can fall to the left
or you can fall to the right.
There's two ways
that we can get the gospel wrong.
Two opposite but equal errors that we make.
The first one is what we could call
moralism or performance Christianity.
Performance Christianity.
It's where we think that
our acceptance of God,
or God's acceptance for us,
or God's love for us
on theological language,
our justification is based upon
our moral or our spiritual performance.
Essentially how good a Christian you are, okay?
So remember this quote
from Richard Lovelace a few weeks ago?
He said this,
most Christians intellectually know
in our heads that God accepts us
because of what Jesus did on the cross.
But in our actual day-to-day existence,
most of us rely on our spiritual
or moral performance
to assure us of God's love and acceptance.
Either our spiritual sincerity
or our past experience of conversion
or our recent religious performance
or the relative infrequency of conscious sin.
Okay, so I've got some props here.
Sorry, I'm not very good at props,
but let's see if we can get this going, okay?
So this is what Richard Lovelace is saying.
For most Christians,
this is what we believe, okay?
We believe that,
we believe the gospel,
Jesus died on the cross for our sins,
plus my good works,
my moral performance,
my obedience to Jesus.
And if I can get these two things right,
then God will love me and accept me.
Okay?
Does that make sense?
So most of us think.
Faith in Jesus plus good works
or obedience or moral performance
leads to my salvation or my acceptance.
Friends, think about that for a second.
How many of us think or feel
that God's love for us
or his acceptance of us
is based on our recent moral,
spiritual performance,
our recent lack of sin,
or some other thing that we've done for God?
Now the problem with this is many.
One of the problems is
it makes us insecure about God's love for us, right?
Because if our feeling of how much God loves us
depends on our performance,
or you have a good week,
you feel like, yes, God loves me.
You have a bad week,
oh, God doesn't love me anymore.
We feel insecure about God's love for us.
Remember Richard Lovelace said,
Christians who are not sure
that God loves and accepts us in Jesus,
apart from our spiritual performance,
are subconsciously radically insecure persons.
But ironically,
it also makes us judgmental and arrogant
because we cannot help looking down
at people that aren't performing as well as us.
So I think I'm a pretty good Christian,
but I look at my friend Leo there,
and shame,
he's not doing as well as me,
and you know,
I just,
I can't help but feel better about myself.
But you know what,
also when I'm having a bad week
and I'm not doing that well,
and Leo is suddenly amazing,
he's on stage,
and he's leading worship,
what do I do?
I find somebody else
that I think I'm doing better at.
I cannot help
to find somebody lower than me
in order to feel better about myself.
And so Christians that operate like this
are naturally judgmental
and arrogant
and bigoted.
Here's the third thing it does.
It makes us deny
and cover up our sin
because we just cannot look
at what's really going on in our hearts.
To look at the real stuff
that's going on in our hearts
is just too painful.
It makes me feel like a failure.
And so I cannot help but cover up
and deny
or what I tend to do
is get defensive
or I will admit
to some minor sin,
some lesser indiscretion
in order to avoid
the real things
that's going on in my heart.
Kristen this week
reminded me of
a pastor a few years ago
who was caught embezzling money,
right?
So taking money
from the church coffers
and redirecting it
to a family business.
He was convicted of this
and put in jail.
But when he had to face
his congregation,
this is what he said.
He said,
I'm so sorry
if I've caused any hurt
or offense.
You see?
It's so much easier
to admit to some lesser sinner,
I'm sorry if I've hurt you
or caused offense,
rather than saying,
I'm wrong.
I shouldn't have done that.
I'm a sinner.
Right?
But the problem is
that when we do that,
we never really change.
In order to really change,
we have to be able
to look at what's going
in our hearts,
to have an honest assessment
and bring stuff to the light.
But here's the fourth problem
with this,
is that it blinds us
to seeing the reality
and the beauty
and the majesty
of Jesus.
That's the problem
with the Pharisees,
right?
Remember the Pharisees?
They're always judgmental,
they're always arrogant,
they're always doing things wrong,
but the problem is
they never see
the beauty of Jesus.
Remember in John chapter 9,
Jesus heals somebody
and they say,
he must be casting out demons
by satanic power.
Rather than just saying,
man, Jesus,
who are you?
Or they say,
this man must be a sinner.
There's something about Jesus.
They cannot see
the beauty of Jesus.
Friends,
when we believe
that God's love
and acceptance of us
is partly based
on how well we perform,
it'll blind us
to the beauty of the gospel,
to the wonder of Jesus,
to the majesty
of his grace,
to the problem
of sin in our lives
and how glorious he is.
That's the problem
of performance Christianity.
But then there's another side
that we can fall off the horse,
okay?
You don't fall off this side,
you can fall off the other side.
And that's what we could call
licensed Christianity
or relativism.
And that says,
because we are saved
by grace alone,
because Jesus died
on the cross
to cover our sins,
obedience to Jesus,
the ethical commands
of the scripture
are all relative.
They're not really important.
Jesus died
to cover our sin.
It's okay.
And so what this is,
is faith in Jesus
simply means
God loves
and accepts us
and who cares
about good works
or obedience anyway?
Because Jesus died
to cover our sins,
right?
In other words,
when we think
that the gospel
is simply
pray a prayer
or put your hand up
and you've got
life insurance
and fire insurance
from hell
and everything's
going to be rosy,
well you're suddenly
given a license
to do whatever you want.
You can sin
however you want,
you can say
whatever you want,
live however you want,
because Jesus
is some big
grandfather in the sky
that just
loves to forgive.
Remember Voltaire
on his deathbed,
he supposedly said this,
of course God's
going to forgive me.
That's his job,
right?
Or some people think
I enjoy sinning,
God enjoys forgiving sins.
This is a good arrangement.
But friends,
if that's how we think
of the gospel,
there's many problems.
One is the problem
is it'll again
blind us to the beauty
and the reality of Jesus,
but the other problem
is it'll never deal
with the real stuff
that's going in our hearts
and we never
therefore change.
We never change.
Look at what Paul
says to Peter here.
When Peter
is acting hypocritically,
what does he do?
He calls him out
and he says,
Peter,
you're not walking
in step with the gospel.
He says,
because the gospel
is true,
because Jesus
died on the cross,
the righteous
for the unrighteous
that he might bring us
to God,
this has implications
for our lives.
How we treat people,
how we forgive those
that have hurt us,
whether we fear people,
what we do with grudges
and unforgiveness
in our hearts,
how we handle money
and sexuality.
There is a gospel conduct
which is not the essence
of the gospel.
The essence of the gospel
is Jesus died on the cross
for sinners like me
and sinners like you.
That's the essence,
but there is a consequence
of the gospel
which is our conduct.
In other words,
the life of the Christian
looks something like this.
Let's see if I can get
this maths right.
I was never really good
at maths,
but let's see if I can
get this right.
The life of the Christian
looks something like this.
Faith in Jesus Christ
leads to our salvation.
But our salvation,
because it changes us,
it gives us a new identity,
a new motivation,
a new heart,
does lead to a new
kind of lifestyle,
a good works,
an obedience,
a morality that is different
from our life
apart from Jesus.
Obeying the ethical teachings
of the Bible
doesn't contribute
to your salvation at all.
Not one little bit,
but it is a consequence
of loving and trusting Jesus.
Obeying the teachings
of Jesus,
loving and trusting Him
doesn't contribute
to God's acceptance
of you at all,
but it is a consequence
that does flow out
of God's acceptance
for you.
Friends,
if on the one hand
we approach God
either out of performance
mindset,
like I've got to earn
God's love
by my good moral works,
or if on the other hand
we approach God
out of license mindset,
anything goes.
I can just sin like I want
because who cares?
Jesus is coming for it.
Both of those problems
will rob us
of the power of the gospel
to change us.
Both of those
will rob the gospel
of its power
to save us,
but both of those
will also rob us
of the beauty of Jesus,
of the horror of sin
in our lives,
of the wonder
of what Jesus did
on the cross for us.
both of those
will leave us
with the gospel
being irrelevant
and powerless
in our lives.
And that brings us
to Colossians chapter 2.
In Colossians chapter 2,
the apostle Paul
is going to unpack
the gospel
and then he's going
to show us
how both of these errors
are wrong
and to call us
to Jesus.
Okay?
In the beginning
of chapter 2,
he says this.
He says,
Brothers and sisters,
I want you to know
how much I have been
wrestling and struggling
with you
that you may know
deeply and be
deeply assured
of the hope
of the gospel
which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory.
So Paul says,
I've been wrestling,
I've been struggling
in prayer.
I've sent Epaphras
from Rome
all the way to Colossae.
I'm doing everything I can.
I want you to know,
brothers and sisters,
deeply in your hearts
the riches of Christ in you,
the hope of glory.
Okay?
That's what he says
in verses 1 to 4.
And then in verses 8 to 15,
he unpacks
what is this gospel.
I don't know
if you've ever had
friends or family members
visiting you from afar
and they open their suitcase
and there's a whole lot
of goodies and treats inside.
Do you know what I mean?
No?
Okay.
Last,
about a year ago,
my parents-in-law,
Claire's parents,
came to visit us
for Christmas.
And it was Claire's dad's
first time in Hong Kong.
And so they opened
their suitcase
and there were all these
treats from South Africa.
First thing,
rooibos tea.
Great South African tea.
Okay?
Second thing,
zoo biscuits.
Zoo biscuits are like
these wonderful cookies
that our kids love.
Okay?
Third thing,
a home-baked Christmas cake.
A massive Christmas cake
baked by my mother-in-law.
The fourth thing,
a frozen leg of lamb.
Okay?
We wanted roast lamb
for Christmas.
They figured it was cheap
in South Africa.
They put it in their suitcase.
Cathay Pacific didn't know
they were bringing
roast lamb into Hong Kong.
Okay?
That's kind of what Paul
is going to do now
in the next couple of verses.
He's opening his gospel suitcase
and he's going to bring out
one truth after another
of showing these Colossians
what is the gospel
and then he's going to show
the implications of it.
So let's look at what he says.
Look at verse 8.
Okay?
He says this in verse 8.
Sorry,
can you see the slides?
Should I move these things?
Okay, let's...
You get the point.
Okay?
Let's move that out the way.
In verse 8,
he says this.
Be careful
that no one takes you captive
through human philosophy,
empty deceit
based on human tradition,
based on the elements
of this world
rather than Christ.
So he's saying,
brothers and sisters,
Watermark Church,
make sure that you don't get
veered off the gospel,
don't fall off the horse
by human tradition
and human philosophy.
Make sure that Jesus,
who Christ is,
is front and central
in your eyes.
Then in verse 9,
he pulls out
the first gospel truth
out of his bag.
Look at what he says.
For the entire fullness
of God's nature
dwells bodily in Christ
and you have been filled
in Him.
So Paul is saying here,
a Christian is not just
someone who's had
their sins forgiven,
though that is true.
A Christian is not just
somebody who one day
will get to be with God
in glory,
though that is true.
A Christian is someone
who is now spiritually
united with God
in Christ.
There is a fusion
that has taken place.
It's like a marriage.
The two have become one.
Christ is in us
and we are in Christ.
Every good promise
of the gospel
is a result of us
being united
or fused
into Christ.
So the reason why
as a Christian
your sins are forgiven
is not just because
God offers this
blanket amnesty
to anyone.
It's not just because
God is this kind
grandfather in the sky
that just loves
to dish out forgiveness.
It's because
we have been fused
and united
with Jesus
and what happened
to Jesus
happens to us.
And so Jesus
dies on the cross,
pays the penalty
for sin,
it is finished
and that
dealing with sin
is now credited
to us
because we are
in Christ.
The life that Jesus
lived is now
our life.
The death that Jesus
died is now credited
to us.
Jesus' acceptance
before the Father
is now given to us
because we are
in Christ.
Christ is in us
and we are in Christ.
Does that make sense?
Okay.
The first gospel truth.
Second thing,
look where he pulls
out his bag here.
Look at verse 11.
He says,
you were also
circumcised with him
when you were buried
with him
in baptism.
In the New Testament,
circumcision
is always a picture
of cutting off
the old way of life
and dealing with it
and moving on
to a new way of life.
Okay?
So you cut off
the past way of thinking,
old behavior,
old way of life,
and you're welcomed
into a new way of life.
It's kind of like
the picture of baptism.
When you get baptized,
you go under the water.
Hopefully,
we bring you out
of the water again.
You go under the water.
It's a picture
of your old life
being buried.
It's dead.
And you come out
of the water.
It's a picture
of your new life
in Christ.
The old is cut off.
It's done away with.
It's dead.
It's buried.
The new life
is given to you
in Christ.
Baptism is a picture
of that.
Paul is saying
this is what happens
when you're born again
in the gospel.
Your old way of life,
your old self,
with its selfish motivations,
ambitions,
and passes away,
your old way of living
for yourself,
by yourself,
with your only hope
being in yourself,
that has died.
It's been cut off.
It is buried.
And now you're given
a new identity
in Christ.
This is what Oscar
was telling us last week.
If anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creation.
The old has gone.
The new has come.
It's kind of like,
and this is not
a great analogy,
so work with me
for a second.
Just imagine,
your father
has got an old car.
Okay?
An old blue Toyota van.
Burn it.
Okay?
You've got an old car.
And it's always
costing money.
It's always
breaking down.
The seats are torn.
The steering wheel
is a little bit dodgy.
And your father's
got this old car,
and he's always
late for meetings
because he's breaking down
on the side of the road.
And you get given
this massive bonus
at work one day,
and so you decide,
I'm going to buy
my dad a new car.
Okay?
Finally.
So you go to your dad.
Dad, he has a brand new Tesla.
Out of the box.
Brand spanking new.
And your dad
is so grateful.
He's so pleased.
Thank you so much.
A month later,
you're driving
down the road,
and you see
this old blue van
with its hood up
on the side of the road,
and your dad
is peering into the hood
looking at what's wrong
with his broken car.
And so you pull over
and you say,
Dad, what's up with this car?
Where's your Tesla
that I gave you?
And he says,
No, no.
Thank you so much
for the gift.
I took out the seats
and I've put them in here.
I took out the steering wheel
from the Tesla
and I've put it in my car.
It is so much
more comfortable.
Thank you for making
my blue Toyota
so much more comfortable.
If only I can fix the engine,
it drives so much nicer now.
Does that make sense?
That would be crazy, right?
Friends,
Jesus doesn't come
to just help us
improve our lives.
Jesus didn't come
just to give us
new car seats
or to make our lives
slightly better.
Jesus says,
The old is gone.
You've been circumcised
in Christ.
You've been buried
in baptism.
The old life
is thrown away.
He has given you
a new life
in Christ.
Friends,
because the gospel
gives us a new heart,
a new motivation,
that means that we will
act and behave differently.
We will fear people less.
We will love
our enemies more.
We will give away
more money.
We will love our wives
and our children.
But these things
are done as a consequence
of God's love
and acceptance
melting and shaping
our hearts,
not in order to try
and earn God's love
and acceptance.
Look at the third thing
Paul pulls out
of his bag.
He says this,
verse 13,
Previously,
because of our sin,
we were dead
in trespasses,
but now he has made
us alive with Christ
for giving us
our sins.
When the Bible says
that apart from God,
we are dead
in our sins,
that doesn't mean,
he's not talking
about physical inability.
It's not like
half of your cells
in your body
are dead
and then you become
a Christian
and your cells
wake up
and come alive.
He's not talking
about mental incapacity.
Your brain is half dead
but you become
a Christian
and suddenly you can
think new thoughts.
He's not talking
about personality,
even though some people
maybe do need
a fresh personality
awakening.
What he's talking
about is that
the most important
part of our lives,
our relationship
with God,
our heart,
and knowing God
and walking with Him
is dead,
spiritually dead.
We are dead to God
and God is dead
to us spiritually.
We are blind
to the glory of Jesus,
deaf to the voice
of His Spirit.
We have no love
for God,
no awareness
of His presence,
no conviction of sin,
no longing to please Him
and know Him.
That's our state
outside of Christ.
But in the Gospels
we see God reaches
into the deepest
and the most fundamental
part of our lives
and our hearts
and He breathes
fresh life into us.
He pours His love
into our hearts
that causes
the deepest part
of us to come alive,
to know God
and to love Him,
to trust Him
and to walk with Him
and to obey Him.
And that, friends,
changes everything.
It changes the way
we relate to people.
It changes the way
we handle success
but it also changes
the way we handle
disappointments.
It frees us up
to love and serve people
without strings
being attached.
It allows us
to give of our time
and our lives
but not in order
to receive God's love
but because we have
received it.
Look at the final thing
that He says
in verse 14 and 15.
This is the roast leg of lamb.
This is the big one.
He says,
all of this
is because Jesus
died on the cross
to take our sin,
our record of death,
He took it to the cross,
He nailed it to the cross
and He left it there.
Friends,
the record of death
in my life,
my sin,
has been nailed
to the cross
and is left there
no longer
to be held
against me.
Remember that old hymn?
He took my sins
and my sorrows,
He made them
His very own,
He bore the burden
to Calvary
and suffered
and died alone.
How marvelous,
how wonderful
our song shall ever be.
How marvelous,
how wonderful
is my Savior's love
for me.
Friends,
that's the wonder
of what Jesus did
on the cross.
He died for sinners
like you and I
to welcome us
into His family.
Now,
we're going to wrap up soon.
Paul then goes
in the rest of chapter 2 and 3
and actually the rest
of Colossians,
he unpacks the implications
for this.
What are the implications?
There's many,
but I want us just to focus
on two of them.
The first implication
is this,
because of the gospel,
forsake performance
Christianity.
Don't fall off the horse.
Because of the gospel,
get rid of performance
Christianity,
get rid of
dead religious rituals.
Look at how he says this
in verse 16.
He says,
because of the truth
of the gospel,
because you've died
with Christ,
because you've been
raised with Christ,
because you've been
given a new identity
in Christ,
because your record
of sin has been
nailed to the cross,
because of what
Jesus did for us,
therefore,
verse 16,
do not let anyone
judge you
with regard
to food and drink
on the matter
of a festival
or a new moon
or a Sabbath.
These things
are just a shadow
of what is to come,
but the substance,
the reality,
is Christ.
So what's happening here
is some people
are coming to the church
and they're saying,
oh, you're a Christian.
That's good.
Well, because you're a Christian,
that means that,
you know,
you better not do this,
you better eat this food,
not eat that food,
you've got to drink this,
don't drink that.
You have to go
to that festival
and observe that Sabbath.
There are all these
religious rituals
that are now
putting on top of them
to saying,
if you really want God
to love you
and accept you,
you're going to have
to do all these rituals
as well.
And Paul says,
you're in Christ.
Those things
are just a shadow.
The reality is Jesus.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
Look again at verse 20.
It says,
why do you submit
to these regulations?
Do not handle,
do not taste,
do not touch.
These things
have a reputation
for promoting wisdom
or self-made religion.
These things
make you falsely humble,
but they are of no value
in curbing self-indulgence.
Isn't that what we said earlier?
You veer away
from the gospel,
you can act like a Christian,
you can behave
like a Christian,
you can do
all the Christian things,
but that has no power
to actually change
the inner motivations
of my heart.
It has no power
to change
what's really going
on in my heart.
And so I can act
the talk,
I can put on
a good false image,
falsely humble,
that doesn't make me
more like Jesus.
Friends,
can I confess something?
Pastors
are the worst
at this.
Because we have
to pretend
like we've got it
all together,
right?
No one wants
to go to church
with a pastor
that looks like
his life is falling apart.
And so as pastors,
we are the best
at acting it.
We are the best
at faking it
and looking like
our Christian life
is all in order.
Paul says,
if your Christian faith
is I've got to do
the right thing
and play the right part
in order to be accepted
and loved,
your Christian faith
is a fake.
It has no power
to save you
and it has no power
to change you.
And so what's
the implication?
Forsake
empty religious rituals.
Friends,
looking to your
spiritual sincerity,
your religious effort,
the relative infrequency
of sin
to assure you
of God's love
is powerless
and deceiving.
It cannot save you
and it cannot change you.
Friends,
look to Jesus.
Look to Jesus.
Look to the one
who died on the cross
for you.
Friends,
if you've come to Christ
in faith and repentance,
you are united in Him.
Your life is in Him.
His death is your death.
His life is your life.
His obedience
is your obedience.
His acceptance
before the Father
is your acceptance
before the Father.
Look to Him.
Look to Jesus.
Friends,
this day,
this week,
look to Jesus.
Don't look to yourself.
Don't look to your
moral performance.
Look to Jesus.
Here's the second implication.
Forsake
licentious Christianity.
Forsake the lie
that says
because Jesus died
I can live however I want.
It doesn't matter.
In chapter 3,
Paul says this.
He says the same thing
that he's just said
in chapter 2.
He says,
your life is with Christ.
You're united with Christ.
You've died with Christ.
You've been raised with Christ.
Your identity is in Christ.
Your hope is in Christ.
Your meaning is in Christ.
Your purpose is in Christ.
Your future is in Christ.
And then he says,
verse 5,
therefore,
because of that,
put to death
what belongs
to your earthly nature.
Sexual immorality,
impurity,
lust.
Christ.
Remember,
we looked at this verse
two years ago
and we said,
friends,
John Owen said it like this,
be killing sin
or sin be killing you.
Friends,
if we struggle
with sexual immorality,
put a shotgun
to your computer.
Take a hammer
and smash your iPhone.
Buy a dummy phone
that can't access
the internet.
Do whatever it takes.
Put to death
the sinful nature.
It's serious.
It really is.
What about hypocrisy?
Peter put hypocrisy to death.
That's not how Christ
calls us to live.
He says,
evil desires,
selfish greed,
these are idolatry.
Put them away.
Anger and wrath,
malice,
that means unforgiveness
in our hearts.
Slander,
filthy language.
Do not lie to one another.
Why?
So that God will love us?
No, no, no.
Because you have put off
your old self
with its practices.
You have been given
a new self in Christ.
You are renewed
according to the image
of your creator.
Friends,
the gospel doesn't come
and tell us
to pull up our socks
in order to be loved
and accepted by God.
No, it says,
because we have come
to Jesus in faith
and repentance,
we are accepted.
We are loved.
We are given
a new identity,
a new life,
a new power,
a new purpose,
a new motivation.
And that leads
to a powerful change
in our lives.
Last thing,
I want to say this.
in Ephesians chapter 4
and 5,
the apostle Paul
wants the Christians
to live forgiving
and loving lives.
And so this is
what he says.
He says,
therefore be imitators
of God
as dearly loved children
and walk in love.
He says,
brothers and sisters,
walk in love.
Now is that a good thing
to do?
Yeah, that's a good thing
we should do.
Is that a gospel conduct?
Yeah, that's a good thing
to do.
But what's the motivation?
Why should we be loving?
Is it so that God
will love us?
Is it so that we'll be
more acceptable
before God the Father?
Is it so that Jesus
will be more favorable,
more blessed,
will be more blessed
in our life?
No, he says,
friends,
walk in love
just as Christ loved us
and gave himself for us.
Gave himself up
as a sacrificial offering
to God.
Friends,
because you've received
the immeasurable love
of Christ,
because your heart
has been melted
by God's love
for you in Christ,
because you're secure
in his love,
because you've been humbled
by his love,
therefore,
dear brothers and sisters,
walk in love.
Friends,
throughout the New Testament,
the paradigm of obedience
and holy living
is this,
because you're a new creation
in Christ,
because of the gospel,
therefore obey Jesus,
because you're in Christ,
therefore pursue holiness,
because your life
is in Christ,
forsake immorality,
because you're rich
in Christ,
therefore be generous
with your riches,
because you're secure
in Christ's love,
therefore give yourself
away in serving
and loving others.
Friends,
this stunning announcement,
though we were dead
in our sins,
cut off from God,
under God's wrath
and his judgment
and his fury,
Jesus died for us
on the cross
to take our sin,
to reconcile us
to the Father,
to bring us home again.
Jesus did what we could
not do for ourselves,
so that we can be
united with him.
Friends,
that is why we must,
we must,
as followers of Jesus,
get the gospel
deeper into us.
Friends,
that's why if you're not
a follower of Jesus today,
you must believe the gospel.
You must become a Christian.
It's your only hope.
Friends,
that's why as a church,
we must be getting
the gospel deeper
inside of us.
Jesus,
our Christ,
our Lord
and our King.
Let's pray together.
Father,
O Lord Jesus,
God,
we need you.
God,
we so,
so need you.
Father,
we need you more today
than we needed you
ever before.
We need you more
this week,
God,
than ever before.
God,
we need a work
of your Holy Spirit
to be getting inside of us.
We need you,
God,
to open the eyes
of our hearts
to see our sin,
to see our brokenness,
but to see you,
Jesus,
and what you've done
for us.
God,
won't you give us
a fresh revelation
of the gospel.
God,
I pray for Watermark
like we've prayed
so many times.
God,
may you get the gospel
deeper inside of us.
I pray,
Lord Jesus,
that if there's one thing
that marks us
as a church,
though we are very far
from being perfect,
God,
if there's one thing
that marks us,
may it be this,
that God,
we know
and trust in
and love deeply
and respond to
and walk in obedience
to you,
Christ,
our King
and our Lord.
God,
show us the gospel
once again.
Show us how it relates
to our lives,
Lord.
Father,
where we have
put our hope
or our trust
in empty religion,
God,
forgive us.
Where we've put our hope
or our trust
in ourselves,
God,
in our spiritual performance,
in our moral performance
or in some recent
spirituality,
Father,
forgive us
of the idolatry
of that.
Forgive us,
God,
of trusting ourselves.
Father,
where we've
taken your grace,
taken advantage
of your grace,
where we have not
realized that it's
your kindness
that leads us
to repentance,
God,
God.
Oh,
Father,
forgive us as well,
we pray.
God,
we pray,
come and change us.
We pray,
Jesus,
that we really will be
salt and light
in the city.
We pray that as followers
of Jesus,
we will stand out,
we will be different.
We pray there will be
a different conduct,
a different ethic,
a different morality,
not because we're
trying to be good
Christians,
but because we're
overwhelmed by your
love that you have
for us.
We are secure
in your gospel.
We've been given
a new identity,
God.
Oh,
Christ,
I pray,
do that.
Father,
finally,
I want to pray
for those of us
that don't know you
this morning.
Maybe we've been
very religious,
we've tried to do
all the right things,
but we've never
been born again.
Oh,
God,
I pray this morning,
give us your
Holy Spirit,
give us faith
to trust you,
cause us to be
born again.
God,
I pray for my
brothers and sisters,
I pray for those of us
here that don't know you,
God.
Come and do what
only you can do,
Lord.