R1660 The Believers Anchor

God has an encouraging word for you and me today as we launch a new year together with Dr. Don Wilton and the Believer's Anchor. Today's message takes us to Colossians chapter 3 in just a moment, but know that we're here for you, connecting as we launch the new year together, praying together at 866-899-WORD. Anytime, day or night, that's 866-899-9673, or connect with us online at www.tewonline.org. Yes, we still have a few of the leather devotionals that will carry us all the way through this wonderful new year. They are available on our website www.tewonline.org, or by calling 866-899-9673. As we begin this brand new year together, we are excited to see how God's going to encourage us by the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton.

Dr. Don is next. I want to speak to you today about the Believer's Anchor. Let me read it to you. We're going to be in Colossians chapter 3 and beginning at verse 5. Remembering again that Paul has just told us, God has just told us, that we are hidden with Christ in God. God has just told us to place our affections and our thoughts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Beginning in verse 5, he breaks it down into minute detail. This is what he says, verse 5, put to death therefore what is earthly in you. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these, the wrath of God is coming.

In these, you too once walked when you were living in them, but now you must put away all of them. Anger, wrath, malice, slander and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but Christ is your anchor, all in all because he is all. Put on then as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so also must you forgive. And above all, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

May the Lord Jesus write his word upon our hearts. One of my many experiences in life is fishing. I love any kind of fishing and I'm open to all invitations. It doesn't matter to me if I'm fishing for tadpoles in a pond or in the beautiful sea. I just enjoy fishing and I don't have to catch anything.

I'm just happy. I love the whole issue. But one brand of fishing is actually getting into the sea in a boat. Seas, be they seas or lakes, can be very up and down and tumultuous and winds and waves are very real. I have personally been caught in very difficult circumstances. Perhaps my most favorite was with my late father-in-law, Bumper as we called him in Africa, fishing and being caught in a terrible storm while in a boat. I've never forgotten that, never will. We'll speak about it all my life. It was terrifying.

It was just me and Bumper. I was given the responsibility of standing on the bow of the boat swinging an anchor and we would throw that anchor out. We couldn't see five feet in front of our face. The waves were coming in. We were sinking. It was desperate and that anchor would go down to the bottom of the ground and my job was to pull that anchor until it caught on a rock. There were many times that that anchor would skim across the bottom of that waterway and it would catch on something that was totally undependable. We gave the impression of being a rock but as soon as we gained traction, as soon as the wind began to blow, it detached itself and we drifted further away toward the treachery of the rocks and I'd pick that up and swing it and throw it again hoping, praying that it would attach itself to a rock.

When it attached itself to a rock, I was able to pull ourselves in the right direction. In many ways, this is what Paul is saying here to all of those of us who love the Lord Jesus and he's speaking to us. I want you to notice something. He's speaking to us in the context of our relationship with the rock who is Jesus, with the anchor who is the Lord Jesus Christ and essentially and in a very direct fashion, what he says to these believers, to all of us, is there are two things that every believer must do. This is not presented to us as an option. This is what makes for Christian living. This is God's Word and this represents perhaps some of the greatest points of our difficulty because of the flesh in which we live and by which we live and he unpacks these one at a time and he gives them to us in terms of two essentials, two musts, two things that every believer has to do.

Here they are. First of all, he says there is a list of things that you have to put off. Now the word here and I want you to look at this in verse five. You can see it for yourself right there in the Bible. The word that he uses here is absolutely radical. He says you have to put to death these things. Now my friends, what Paul is telling a people like you and me is you cannot afford to entertain these.

You cannot afford to dabble in these. He doesn't suggest to us, look, I know that you are earthly beings and that you struggle with your flesh, but you can try a little bit of this just as long as you don't keep on doing it. Can you hear us? Many of us who are parents perhaps, we'll say to our sons and daughters perhaps, well listen, you just go out and sow your wild seeds and I'm just going to pray that you get.

Listen, it's okay, just go and do this for a little while, but don't keep doing it. Paul is not giving any option here. He starts out and he says to us, put to death therefore what is earthly in you.

And here's the list. And he begins with the essential, greatest struggle that humankind has and he gives it to us in four parts. He speaks about sexual immorality. Be interested to know that that word there, literally comes from the word porneia, from which we get our word, pornography, which is what? The total distortion of all that God has given to us, which in and according to his purpose is good. But it's been distorted and taken out of the context of God's perfect plan for us.

Put to death. Secondly, impurity. By the way, the word impurity there is the word from which we derive our understanding of anything which is unclean. It's not wholesome.

It's not wholesome. It's unclean according to God's standards. Perhaps the question that he's saying is he's saying to people like you and me who are believers, would whatever it is that you're about to do to participate in, would that please God? If not, it's unclean. Would you take the Lord Jesus there where you were the other day?

Would you invite him to watch what you watched? This is a stringent list here that he gives to all believers. He's trying to establish the anchor. He said, you put your anchor down over these things.

What's going to happen is you're going to think that you've taken hold of something, but it's going to let you go and it's going to cause you to run into the rocks. Number three, ungodly passion. He lists two things here.

First of all, passion. And then he speaks next about evil desire. And what Paul is doing here, he's talking to the human fleshness of our earthly bodies, and he's speaking first of all about the physical side of our bodies. That's why he singles out ungodly passion. But then he switches to evil desire.

He switches from the physical to the mental. What did he tell us in the first four verses of Colossians chapter three? He told us to set our hearts on things above and to set our minds on things above.

That's exactly what he was talking about. Oh, guarding our hearts and minds to set them on things above. Forgive the interruption. We'll be back with the completion of today's message with Dr. Don in just a moment. But he wants me to remind you, we are available to pray with you anytime at 866-899-WORD. I pray you would jot the number down or store it in your cell.

Make us a contact, 866-899-9673. We'll connect with one of us 24 hours a day. Happy to talk and listen and pray and connect with wonderful resources. As a matter of fact, this resource, our fresh new devotional, is one I want to encourage you to pick up today.

Many people have endured a lot of changes, loss, and hardships over the past two years. As you reflect upon your life this season, think about giving a gift of hope and encouragement to your friends and family this Christmas. This season, Dr. Wilton wants to encourage you to make a commitment to meet Jesus every day.

So you can not only learn more about him, but be able to live a life of absolute trust and not fear in anticipation of his return. With your gift of $25 or more support to the Encouraging Word this month, you will receive Heaven, Life, and the Resurrection. A beautiful 52-week leather-bound devotional written by 52 trusted pastors and church leaders, including Dr. Wilton. You will find blessings upon blessings as you read uplifting scripture verses, daily devotions, and prayers. Call us today at 866-899-WORD to request the new devotional.

That's 866-899-9673. This will make great Christmas gifts of hope and encouragement to those who need it so desperately right now. Thank you for your continued partnership. Merry Christmas to you from all of us here at the Encouraging Word. Now that's just one of the many resources available online at www.tewonline.org, including the book with Dr. Don Wilton writing about his time as the pastor of Dr. Billy Graham called Saturdays with Billy.

All of it's there at www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Paul at another stage said we are more than conquerors through him.

That's why he spends so much time talking about the fullness of God by his Spirit. We're not abandoned. We're not orphans.

We have an anchor. And his name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He moves on from there and he singles out idolatry. What is idolatry?

It's the desire to have more. Idolatry is the worship of anything and anyone other than God. That's what idolatry is. Idolatry is the worship of anything or anyone other than God.

He says we've got to put to death our idolatrous earthly nature. He moves from that point and he begins to single out character disposition. Anger. What is anger? What is anger? When you talk to someone and you say he's an angry person. Anger is a resentful bitterness.

Are you angry my brother, my friend? You got an anger? Have you got a resentful bitterness in your heart? God's telling us something here to be rid of this. Put it to death in Christ.

Gain the victory over that. Not too long ago I had an opportunity to speak to a couple and in their marriage became very evident that probably the single most destructive thing in their marriage was this issue of anger. He, the husband, had a resentful bitterness and that develops into the next point which is rage. What is rage? Rage is the venting of a resentful bitterness. It's anger on display. It's a sudden outburst of anger. Do you lose your temper?

You're it. He's talking to you. You get so angry that you lose control. He moves from there to, he speaks of malice. That word malice there, our English word, better word, malice is a very British word, you know. Oh, he's just full of malice.

What, what? Our better word for that is the word slander. And if you have a slanderous nature, it means that you have a vicious nature bent on doing harm to another person.

This is a tough list, isn't it? And he's speaking here to the church. He's reminding them of these things. I think Paul is saying, listen, this is incompatible with your Christian faith. It's why you put this to death. I'm crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ who lives within me. And then he brings it all together by warning them about their tongues, obscene talk. What is obscene talk? It's filthy language.

Let's ask ourselves a question. When is it all right for a Christian man to use bad language? Anyone like to tell us when is it justified? Under what circumstances? At what point can you and I stand up and say, you know, I'm a Christian man.

But, you know, I just let it rip every now and again. At what point do you think Jesus justifies that? Guys, we're living in a world today, I mean, from our politicians to our coaches to our teachers. The language today, it's like it doesn't matter. Now, I'm asking us as believers, what does God say about this?

It's abusive speech. And in that context, he says, don't lie to each other. So let's just understand this. I'd love to one day go to Paul in heaven and say to him, Paul, you told us what we needed to put to death and put off.

But, you know, could you not just have left that out? And let's get to the good stuff. Because there are two musts for every believer when it comes to the anchor that God gives to us in our Christian life. We must not only put off, put to death, but he gives us this beautiful picture of putting on. Look at verse 12.

I love verse 12. So put on then, take off, put to death, get rid of these things. But in so doing, the second is to put on.

Put on then because you are God's chosen children, holy and beloved. And then he lists this extraordinary list of Christ-like character that can only come from the seat of God in heaven. These are, amongst others, the essential attributes of a holy and a righteous God. This is the discipline of our Christian life. And he lists them.

Let me share a couple with you. Number one, compassion. You know, and he talks about compassionate hearts, to have compassion.

I love watching you. I told myself when I began, I'm trying to resist overtly congratulating ourselves because none of us deserve to be. But that word compassion is unbelievably precious. It carries with it an empathetic oneness with someone who has less or may find themselves in an untoward situation or who may need help.

Ministry of compassion. Paul here is talking about the believer who is compassionate. He talks about kindness next. You know, kindness finds its root in compassion. But kindness is that grace which pervades the whole person. You look around and you see men and women, young people, and you say, man, she's just so full of grace. That man is so full of grace. You know what I loved about?

They just showed they were just so graceful with everything. Compassion. Kind. And then he gets into the right down to the heart of it, humility. What's humility?

We all know it. How do you express it? We find it so difficult. Humility in many ways is the antidote to self-love. What is self-love? Self-love always poisons relationships. Humility always enhances relationships.

One looks in and the other looks out. And the Lord Jesus, who is our anchor, what humility that he, the Son of God, would have taken upon himself the sin of the world and would have died for us. He then talks about putting on meekness. And that little word meek is an interesting word because it gets very misinterpreted. It really means gentleness. Be gentle with one another.

That's a tough one. It's hard to always be gentle. Gentleness is a spiritual virtue that comes from the heart of God. Meekness. It's not softness. Meekness is not a sign of weakness. Gentleness. The most wonderful, gentle people are some of the most greatest of people that you and I know. They have the capability.

They've been blessed in many ways and they're able to do things that are just wonderful. He goes on. He talks about patience. Be patient.

And when he talks about being patient, he says, put that on. Never get angry with another person. As a believer, just make up your mind in Christ that you're never going to get angry with another person.

That's patience. Empathy that he talks about in verse 13. Empathy. An empathetic person is a person who has a spiritual ability to share with others, to bear one another's burdens.

Let me carry that for you. This morning, as we met for prayer, the ministry team, we talked about several of our people and I could feel the empathetic prayers even. You're picking up and you're carrying one another's burdens together. He moves on to that erstwhile, most difficult forgiveness. Forgive one another. After all, Jesus has forgiven you. Have you got a forgiving spirit?

Is there someone that you need to forgive today? Regardless, love in verse 14. Peace. Let the peace of God shine through your hearts and lives. Be at peace because Christ is your peace.

He talks about the Word in verse 16. He says, let the Word of God reign in your hearts. Put on the Word of God. Dress yourself in God's Word.

Why? Because your mind will flow from a heart of God's full revelation, that's why. When you put on the Word of God, your mind begins to flow with the fullness of the revelation of God. Your thinking becomes adjusted into thinking God. Your whole perspective changes and he culminates with the word thankfulness. Thankfulness in verse 17. Do all of this with a thankful heart.

Here's what Paul is saying. Just drop your anchor. Put it down.

Put it down where you know you're on solid, firm footing. Put to death these things that are going to kill you and destroy you. And put on all that God is and your anchor will hold. Will you bow your heads with me for a moment? As Dr. Wilton is praying for others in the auditorium right now, let me pray for you. Perhaps the Lord has convicted you and you know today is the day you need to give your life to Jesus Christ or rededicate your life. It's as simple as a prayer like this.

Let me lead you. You can just say me too as I lead you in this prayer. Father, we know that as we launch a brand new year together, we need to be in tune with you. Lord, I pray for those that are rededicating their lives that this is going to be more than a resolution, but a determination to follow you completely.

And for those, Lord, they're just saying, yes, Jesus, I love you. I believe you are the son of God and died for my sins. And I ask you to save me. Come into my life. In Jesus name, I pray. Now, whether you've rededicated your life or given your life to Christ for the first time, we have free resources we want you to have if you'll call 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 or meet us online at www.tewonline.org.