RT Kendall Colossians: You Were, But Now

there are certain promises that are given to us upon conditions what are those promises and what are those conditions I want to read to you from Colossians chapter 1 verses 21 to 23 Colossians 1 verse 21 and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he has now reconciled in the body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I Paul became a minister may God be pleased to bless the reading and the preaching of this his most holy and infallible word brief word of Prayer Heavenly Father I asked now for the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus by your spirit to rest upon every mind in this place in order that their perception of what I say will be heard as you intend to cleanse my tongue that I will be your transparent instrument to say all that needs to be said nothing that doesn't need to be said help me to be very very clear very very simple let this be a life-changing word and a word that brings great honor and glory to your name I pray in Jesus name Amen on this palm of Sunday I am reminded of the disciples and the way in which they perceived one thing before Palm Sunday and then the way down the road they perceived things for example before Palm Sunday and on Palm Sunday they thought that Jesus no they believed he was the Messiah had come to overthrow Rome and they were so excited and they were looking forward to this moment but then their hopes were dashed when Jesus was crucified they didn't know why he died when he was racing the dead he didn't know why I was raised and then after he appeared to them they still didn't know why he'd come it wasn't until after the Holy Spirit came down that these disciples saw why he came it's a situation as Paul puts in this scripture tonight you were but now and what we're going to look at tonight is how having said that all creation would be glorified we're told that everything in heaven and an earth would be restored the universe and so it talks about creation and then suddenly he turns to them he says and now you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil dudes he has now reconciled well you were but now well creation in fact is what includes the plants the animals the planets the Sun but then saving grace refers to us and it goes from creation the general to the particular and now you now this statement that I made at the beginning there are certain promises that are given to us upon conditions what are those promises what are the conditions well there's the promise of salvation and the condition is faith simon quoted John 3:16 a few minutes ago Martin Luther called it the Bible in a nutshell for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life a promise based upon the condition usually has the word if in it well John 3:16 doesn't have an if but it's implied because he says whoever believes in Him should not perish but then there is another set of promises in the New Testament and these promises refer to our inheritance now you've heard me say this more than once every Christian is called to come into their inheritance some do some don't and an inheritance is given to us upon condition and that's why we have this verse 23 that I just read there are a lot of people when they read this their hopes are dashed they thought they were secure they thought they were going to go to heaven and then they say to themselves well maybe not after all because Paul talks about doing these things that God would present us before him he has these words if indeed you continue in the faith and that verse has been used for centuries for those who don't believe you're eternally saved when you profess faith in Christ they say it is up to you to finish well and if you don't you will go to hell well how are we to understand this passage well if it hadn't been for the fact that Paul mentioned inheritance already we would have to say well maybe there is something to this that you've got to continue or you will lose what you had and you will go to hell but Paul said back in verse 12 that these Colossians have been qualified for the inheritance of the Saints in light now to be qualified doesn't mean you've got it it just means you're qualified you may be qualified for a job that doesn't mean you're going to get the job and so when Paul says you've been qualified it's because they have professed faith in Christ and it was going so well he said I want you to continue to walk in a manner fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God so there is a difference between sonship and inheritance some of you may recall that I had put it this way there's a difference between being a person's son and then getting the inheritance or I was always my grandmother's grandson she was so proud of me at one time she bought me a new car and I was so proud of that car and a person who witnessed her will told me that she was going to leave everything to me but when it became apparent to her that I wasn't going to be in the denomination which I was brought up and my theology had changed she took the car back and changed her will and I inherited nothing I was still her grandson I was always my father's son now he was pleased with me we had a little reconciliation but I have to say that when he died he left everything to his second wife my stepmother and I received zero but I was always his son and so when you become a Christian you become a child of God you do not lose this but there is such a thing as an inherit and it's based upon a condition that we continue to please the Lord that as I said that's precisely what these Colossians had been doing and it was wonderful well now when he talks about being presented holy and without blame if you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel is he possibly talking about how to get to heaven well if so that's not very good news that means all of us here are still hoping somehow to get there I want us to see two or three things about this passage that I just read the first is pre conversion state here's the way paupers and verse 21 and you who were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil DS and he goes on to point out that they were outsiders he says the truth is you were alienated as a matter of fact when Paul wrote the same thing to the Ephesians he said that you have been alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel here's the way I would put it if you are a Jew because of your background you felt in but if you were a Gentile you weren't in and so Paul is saying that these Colossians were Outsiders in two ways first of all when you were born you did not know God as a matter of fact that would be true of the Jew as well but a Jew had a head start because he had the law he was brought up on the Ten Commandments the ceremonial law the civil law and so he had a head start but when it came to Gentiles they knew nothing of this not to mention the fact that they didn't know God and so you know what it is like to be an outsider you know what that's like by the way I did you notice that tonight I was not introduced I'll tell you why I knew you were wondering this morning Gordon Neal comes he walks right up to the platform reaches Scripture nobody introduced him but week after week somebody stands up here and introduces mayor says something and I thought I turned to Amanda I said how come Gordon he can just walk on up and start preaching well you see Gordon is an insider sees he sees a lemn he's he's brought up he's at home and I just decided that I'm not gonna be an outsider anymore I have as of now I declare myself an insider and you know Simon when you come up nobody introduces you and I've been here longer than you have an outsider has to be introduced do you know the difference between an Englishman and a Scotsman and an Irishman and a Welshman this is your lucky day I'm gonna tell you to Englishman to Scotsman to Irishman and to Welshman were marooned on this island in the South Pacific and discovered two years later well the two Scotsman had formed a bank and were trading shells with each other the two Welshman formed a choir and were singing through two Irishmen had killed each other off in a fight the two Englishmen were waiting to be introduced no more introductions I'm not English the Gentiles knew nothing about God they knew nothing about the Old Testament and whereas the Jews were spoon fed these things and so Paul says you were alienated completely away from God without hope of God in the world in fact you quoted that gave just a few minutes ago as well we're born that way without any hope in the world without God but in addition to that there was a particular attitude they had Paul says hostile in mind well that means what they were hostile toward God men women by nature hate God is ort of always love God well that's because you like to think good of yourself the truth is the heart is deceitful above all things desperately wicked this is before conversion after conversion you don't want to trust your heart you never outgrow the need to realize we are hostile by nature this is why we're all congenitally opposed to holiness God has to do something to get our attention and so it's one thing to be an outsider another thing have a wrong attitude and they were hostile toward God saul of tarsus hated jesus he hated him he was dedicated to killing Christians and doing everything he could to turn everybody away from Christianity and not only were they hostile their minds were blinded in fact it's a double blindness first of all by nature you're blind but on top of that the god of this world has blinded and something needs to happen by which their eyes will be open Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon called men God's natural enemies and it works the other way around God is man's natural enemy we just aren't in the same wavelength and people hate God by nature and this is the way we were before we were converted can you remember the time you didn't care about God you didn't care about church do you care think about the Bible well that was these Colossians these Colossians and now he says you were this alienated hostile doing evil deeds now this would refer to things such as sexual immorality sexual immorality some people today would say there's no such thing the truth is any sexual activity outside hetero sexual marriage the Bible calls sin and it has always been saying it will always be sin the trouble with the church in a deep sleep will not call a spade a spade whether it is heterosexual sin and activity or homosexual sin activity and you say well it's not fair the truth is this is what God says and we may not like it this is why we're hostile we don't this makes sense but the truth is is because we are blind and we by nature hate God's Word and so doing evil deeds you were and not only that that includes things such as witchcraft things that come from Satan I wonder if you ever played with a Ouija board dangerous stuff don't do it chances are there's someone here you follow your astrology chart and you think it's fun let's just see what it says I'm supposed to do today burn it have nothing to do with it it's of Satan and when you're around people that are devoted to these things you see and you are once at home with that but now you've changed because the Christian faith changes lives it changes people and you can go into the same place where witchcraft was working and you go in there covered by the blood of Christ you'll find that the people don't want you and they can't even do their demonic things because it makes that much of a difference well pre-conversion state doing evil deeds but then Paul says but now he is reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him so it's just a reminder conversion to Christ changes lives we saw this back in verse 13 that we've been translated from a kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light but how did this happen it is because it's because God stepped in and we are reconciled in his body by his death if you have been present just outside the city of Jerusalem on Good Friday the site would not have been a pretty sight if you had walked into Jerusalem on Good Friday and said what is God doing in Jerusalem today they would reply well it's Passover it's Passover and we want to get on with it if that awful person thing hanging on a cross would die so we could get on with Passover you see they were devoted to their tradition they were blind to what was going on and if you had been there and you access saw the crucifixion you wouldn't have known what was happening there's an old spiritual were you there when they crucified my Lord I can tell you could have been bear and not discerned to think it was just a body blood dripping and what Paul is saying that that body that body this flesh the physical body made a difference you see by saying this he's saying two things first of all it shows how people are converted and how God stepped in but he's letting the Gnostics they were the enemies of the day in colossi and around that part of the world who said that God did not come in the flesh and there's no chance that God had a body that died not not a possibility and Paul is saying this is exactly what has happened and so the Gnostics could not fathom that God came in the flesh and it is as though paws rubbing it in God in the flesh really did become a man and died and so when you think of Palm Sunday when that happened the same disciples and the same people that were cheering we were told this morning the whole crowd rejoicing because they thought that this man who had just raised Lazarus from the dead a few days ago he is now going to turn israel upside down and their hopes were at a high level until he's hanging on a cross and all his disciples even the twelve one betrayed him wonders denied him and the rest deserted him and fled it was such an awful thing that happened and it is as though Paul rubs it in that God in the flesh really died and death is what made the difference between the state when you were and now and so the purpose of Christ's death is this not only to reconcile creation but to present us and he puts it like this that will would be holy now I referred to holiness and sexual purity in the same breath that is that all there is to holiness by the way but it is a big part of it so much so that when Paul said 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 3 he said this is the will of God even your sanctification that you abstain from fornication sexual immorality and so you cannot get around it that although there's more to holiness than sexual purity is still a big part and he says that you would be holy and blameless Jude verse 24 City God is able to present us blameless without thought and then as these words says Paul above reproach what that means is that there is nothing scandalous about our lives there was a scandal in Corinth 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 5 Paul had to declare a man to Satan he was delivered to Satan it was a man who a member of the church Paul assumes he was saved as no about that and yet was living with his father's wife his stepmother and said even the Gentiles don't do that it was such a sin that it became a scandal in Corinth and you can be sure that the people in Corinth we're talking about it it was an embarrassment to the church you see when there is a scandal in the church when a person of high profile gets involved in financial Mis dealings or sexual activity outside marriage and that word leaks out the world loves it Oh BBC and Sky TV with their cameras they wanted to interview they relish something like that and that's why Paul is saying to present you holy blameless and above reproach it's just a reminder that those of us you're part of Kensington temple whether you get a high profile being on the staff or if you're a member do you realize I'm sorry but there are probably Christians in Britain who look down on you because you're Pentecostal that's just the way it's been for years and therefore if they find out that somebody here is living in any measure of immorality you see people will take advantage of that and when you are being watched and you are considered an outsider my son it's all the more important that we live lives that bring glory to God well now what is Paul's point well he's shown the promise that the universe will be reconciled but also the death of Christ qualifies for our inheritance so what qualifies us for things holiness sexual purity blamelessness show that no one find a fault in a sesame were perfect it doesn't mean that but that there's no scandal no one can can point out anything that would be embarrassing without reproach or scandal in our lives and then he adds this you may wish it weren't here but it's perseverance verse 23 if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard so here's the question to run by you again so there's no misunderstanding these four things that I've just listed holiness blamelessness without reproach and perseverance are these four things required for glorification the answer is No thank God you see glorification takes place at death or at the second coming no preparation needed Romans 8:32 may predestined he called whom he called he justified whom a justified he glorified what happens to be necessary for glorification that you're justified but who gets justified those who are called who are called those are predestined and so if you are predestined you're going to be called and if you're called you're going to be justified and if you're justified you're going to be glorified this is something that you could be sure of nothing will stop that if glorification is out of our hands and so Paul is not saying do these things in order to be glorified he is saying do these things to come in to receiving a reward at the judgment seat of Christ because Paul wanted to be so these Colossians that before God and the angels of the world they would be presented as people who did not bring any reproach upon the gospel and we have a taste of it now in that we come in to a pur taking of the inheritance of the Saints in life but to get Christ well done it means perseverance that's why he says if you continue if that reference to inheritance had not been here just four or five verses above you might think well you've got to do these things in order to get into heaven continue in faith he says be firm stable loyal steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel why does he say that it's because some do shift I wonder if you've ever noticed this this may shock you in Colossians chapter 4 he sends greetings from different people as he closes his letter and he says Luke the beloved fishing the physician greets you as does demas now we at that time wouldn't know that Paul later on is going to refer to Dimas in a different epistle but here at this moment two people they're all part of a family close to each other no one questions their reliability their conversion that they love God imagine being right alongside Luke do you know who Luke was he wrote the Gospel of Luke he wrote the book of Acts and alongside a man by the name of Dimas and so it was a part of a family we just know one another if I just wrote a letter and I say Amanda says hello and Gabriel says hello but we're all together and you would just take that for granted but sadly we don't know how long afterwards some would think maybe five years maybe six years we don't know in Paul's last letter he said demas has forsaken me having loved this present world you see this can happen no one questioned whether he was converted but Paul had to say this he doesn't say it shows he was never converted no there's no question about that but it's just letting you know that those who write in the middle of things in the middle of the godliest group of people what can happen is and it can happen to any of us any of us Paul knew it could happen to him that's why he wrote and said to the Corinthians I keep my body under list having preached to others I should be rejected for the prize I was thinking today an old friend when I was at trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville Tennessee years ago a very good friend I will call him Paul Hendon he was a godly man probably the brightest most brilliant man I ever met he was good at physics math spoke several languages he would have times when he would pray for hours I could see him out in a field just walking and and praying and worshiping God no one questioned him and yet he once said to me a wonder if people will discover my gift he was afraid he would not be known it wasn't popular he was an introvert a bit odd and probably didn't have a preachy gift and he got discouraged and the next thing I knew he'd started smoking no that's not the worst sin of the world before a Nazarene that's the hint that you're backslidden and he never was restored he died he didn't finish well this same man he's want to introduce me to CS Lewis and other writers say man I was close to him died having loved this present world so Paul is not talking about glorification so what is the requirement for glorification you ask well the good news is when you come to the place that you see yourself as lost and you recognize that you have been hostile to God and against anything that's in Scripture you don't love the Bible it means nothing to you but you're convicted and you suddenly see yourself as a sinner this is something that has to take place this is called being transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light and you realize that there is someone who took your place on the cross he lived a perfect life in your behalf he did it for you he was your substitute not only on the cross but by his perfect life and then when he died on the cross all of our sins were put on him as though he were guilty think of your sins that you would not want anybody to know about they were transferred to Jesus as though he were guilty and then what happens is that when we trust the blood of Jesus are you ready for this the perfect life he lived is now put to your credit as though you live the perfect life and this is part of reconciliation it's what we mean by justification just before God because the blood of Jesus satisfied God's justice and when you give up hope in your good works and put all of your eggs into one basket the death of Jesus Christ once you do that you're given a free pardon and you will go to heaven when you die here's what Paul said to the Ephesians and remember Ephesians and Colossians they wrote they were written within months of each other maybe days colossi just 20 miles from Ephesus and Paul while he had all these things what is my rush to colossi and in Ephesians he put it like this Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 9 for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves it is the gift of God gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast then the next verse is we are his workmanship and that's what Paul is after but you see one needs to be told these things if a person just because they're converted automatically just live a righteous life we wouldn't need the New Testament you see Paul wrote these letters to instruct people there was a man who was converted by Philip in the desert he was the Ethiopian eunuch he was truly converted but then suddenly Philip is just taken away no follow up at all we don't know whatever happened to him but the reason we've got the New Testament why you need the Bible is we need instructions and so the good news is that we will be glorified but then Paul says here's what happens were reconciled in his body of flesh by his death he wants to present you holy and blameless and above reproach if indeed you continue if you continue and he's talking now about coming in to your inheritance which is a reward they used interchangeably and you will have a reward and according to 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 11 you have an abundant entrance in to the kingdom and this has happened but what happens when you die you know I received a letter this week from somebody in America and she had believed my teaching it's not mine it's because I've got a book on it and she called it my teaching about once saved always saved and then heard her pastor say if you gossip authors any unforgiveness and you die you will go to hell and she was all troubled and she says I don't know now if I'm going to make it thank God that those things are not a qualification for getting you to heaven I remember going to church a few years ago I don't want to name the church because it became famous at the time but we'd heard that revival had broken out and Louise and I went and to hear the preaching and the preacher said among other things if you've had a Budweiser in the last six weeks you'll go to hell if you don't come to the order tonight well they I don't know how many were drinking Budweiser but they really went forward I'm not making a commercial for Budweiser by the way but it goes to show how if you push it too far as if Paul is wanting you to be holy blameless so maybe God won't have his work much to do for you to glorify you you'll be helping him out a little bit and then you'll just push you over no glorification will be a supernatural act God will do it to those who have trusted the blood of Jesus but then there is this that Paul wanted these Colossians to be presented in such a manner that they would hear from the words of Jesus well done and that is what he is after and I wanted to say these things I don't know about you I want a reward when I face God I've had people say to me Artie I don't care if I don't get a reward I just want to make it to heaven my reply is you won't feel that way Ben I can assure you and I want to be a welcomed home not because I'm perfect if you think I'm perfect interview Louise if you can get her to talk I've actually shut her up and she promised that she wouldn't tell you what she knows about me I can tell you now if you knew me you'd be amazed that God has used me as he does I'm here by the sheer grace of God but I long to live a life and this is what Paul was trying to do that I could be presented before God knowing I'm going to go to heaven but to hear well done good and faithful servant

Channel: Kensington Temple

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Id: QINb6J9ePtQ

Length: 40min 25sec (2425 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 15 2019