Behaving (Part 2 of 2)

Believing and saying that Jesus is Lord will inevitably change the way we live. That doesn't mean we're immune from sinning. Today on Truth for Life Weekend, Alistair Begg explains why we continue to battle sin even after we've been saved. We're in the book of Colossians continuing a message titled, Believing. When I cheat on my tax return, when I sleep with my girlfriend unmarried, and when I shout abuse at people and do all these things, sometimes I just say to myself, It is so wonderful to be secure in Christ.

I got news for you. You're not secure in Christ. Because the security that is ours in Christ is not a security isolated from morality. It is not a justification divorced from sanctification. It is that which sets us into Christ in a life-transforming way.

Look what he says. Verse 21 of Colossians 1. Once you were alienated from God and you were enemies in your minds—notice, in your minds—because of your evil behavior, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death so that you can go out and do whatever you please.

No! To present you wholly in his sight, without blemish, and free from accusation. That the work of God within the life of the believer is to conform the believer to the image of his Son. Therefore, our behavior will bear testimony or otherwise to the life-transforming power of Jesus.

Now, there is a logic—if you go back to chapter 3—there is a logic in this that I hope we won't miss. It is our place, if you like, in Christ that establishes our priorities. It is because we have been raised with Christ, it is because we are hidden with Christ in God, that we are then to set our hearts on things above. We are to set our minds on things above.

In other words, the very epicenter of our existence has to have a gaze about it, a persevering effort about it that is earnest, that isn't casual. I don't know why it was. It was just the way my mind works. But as I was reading my notes earlier this evening, I thought about my dog. I haven't thought about my dog in a long time. Some people think I don't like dogs.

It's just something that I've created for fun. But as I thought about my dog, I thought about how he used to look at you with such expectation after you had mixed his bowl of food. I mean, well, you couldn't say that he was indifferent in any way, or that it was a casual glance in the direction. It was an all-consuming expectation, and sometimes he moved, you know, like that.

As soon as you put it down, there! That is the terminology that is used here in the life of the Christian. I want to know you, Jesus. I want to learn about you, Jesus. I want to be like you, Jesus. I want to, as Peter says, prepare my mind for action. Because you have taken me from where I was, and you have put me in a new place, and you have given me new priorities, and it is this, then, which creates the prospect that is before me.

What is the prospect? Verse 4. Christ. Who's Christ? He's your life.

He's your life. Why is it that you will not die? You go through the valley of the shadow of death, someone will pronounce us dead, but on that day, as Moody said, we'll be more alive than we have ever been.

What is our confidence? That we will live in eternity, that we will have new bodies. Christ is our life. To me, to live is Christ. To die is gain. When Christ, who is your life, appears, you're going to appear with him in glory. In other words, a day is coming when Jesus will be revealed for what he is to the astonished gaze of all mankind. If paragraph 1 is living the risen life, paragraph 2 is dealing with sin, dealing with indwelling sin.

Put to death therefore. Notice the therefore. What is the therefore there for? Well, it ties you back to the first four verses. Actually, it ties you back to the fourth verse. The prospect of the appearance of Christ creates the incentive to prepare for his appearing. If your girlfriend is coming for the weekend, you try and clean yourself up.

If you're a teenager, you get all that acne stuff out and go at it like a crazy person. Because something about it, if your girlfriend is coming for the weekend, there's no question but on a Friday morning when you're waking up, you're like, Yeah, that's it. It's just all… There's something about it that happens that way. And so, the whole of Friday, till the train arrives or the bus arrives or whatever other place, you're trying to get it all fixed in preparation for her appearing. Well, he says, Christ is going to come, and you must be prepared. Because Christ is your life, the battleground of verses 5–11 is faced not in our own strength but in his mighty power. Now, it's not an easy section, because the thinking person says, Well, look, in verse 3 it says you died, and in verse 5 it says, Put to death.

How do we figure this stuff out? Well, in a sentence. We have died to sin in Christ. Sin no longer reigns, no longer operates its tyrannical rule over the life of the Christian. Because, in the words of Wesley, he breaks the power of canceled sin, and he sets the prisoner free. And in Christ, as we are justified, all of the guilt that attaches to our lives and to our account is dealt with in Jesus.

He becomes sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. That sin no longer reigns and rules, but it still remains and it still rages. And therefore, as the Westminster Confession puts it, the Christian is involved in a continual and irreconcilable war. And that war takes place on three fronts—against the world, against the flesh, our sinful nature, and against the devil. And the devil's strategy is to bring what is appealing to us in the world to tempt and try us with that which appeals to the sinful propensities which remain within our lives. Because although I have died to sin in Christ, sin has not been eradicated from my life.

And if it has been eradicated from your life, we should probably talk later on. Because you are in a unique position, an unheard-of position, and an unbiblical position, and certainly a very unpolined position. For if that were the case, why would he waste his breath and his pen and his ink going through here and starting off the fifth verse, put to death, therefore, what belongs to your earthly nature? Oh, you say, I don't have any of that. You're a liar.

And if you've embraced a form of externalism that makes you look really good to people on the outside, you may only be concealing the darkness of your own heart on the inside. Because all of us know what the Bible says is true. It's just whether we're prepared to bring our lives honestly into the search and gaze of the Word of God whereby we are exposed and we know ourselves to be as much in need of the instruction of the second paragraph as we are in need of the encouragement of the first paragraph.

Well, I have to just go through this quickly. What is the issue then? We're in Christ, but we're also in Cleveland.

That's the problem. Not Cleveland, per se, but the fact that we live our Christian lives not yet in the position where we are free from the ravages of sin. It's very possible for us to adopt a way of life whereby we are outwardly conformed to the Christian expectations, particularly of a community like this. If you're in a church like this for any length of time, you begin to find out what you're allowed to do, what you're not allowed to do. There's not that it's written down anywhere, but there's just the kind of consensus view, and so you manage to toe the line in whatever way it may be.

I don't really know what they all might be, but I know they exist as much here as in anywhere else. And you can begin to think that because you are outwardly conformed to these various little idiosyncratic dimensions of a local congregation, that you're fine, when in actual fact you're inwardly conformed to the world. You see, worldliness is not a list of things that you put at the back of a church constitution. Worldliness is the orientation of our lives against God.

The real problem is that in our heart of hearts, we so quickly orientate ourselves against God. Now, the only way to tackle this—and this is what Paul is saying here—is to recognize that we need to bomb the runway of our lives so as to prevent enemy aircraft landing on that runway. A bit like Margaret Thatcher in the Falklands crisis many years ago now, when she sent planes, with the help of Ronald Reagan, bless him, to bomb the runway in Port Stanley.

And the reason she wanted to use American and British aircraft to bomb the runway on an island that Britain owned was in order to prevent enemy aircraft from landing on that runway and taking up positions within the island, thereby preventing the rule and authority of Britain over it. Well, the same thing is true here in the… If you read old books, if you read the Puritans, you know that this is referred to as the mortification of the flesh. The mortification of the flesh.

It has a real ring to it, doesn't it? But it is intensely practical. We make a dreadful mistake by thinking that a hair shirt will do it. That's externalism. A bed of nails will do it.

That's externalism. No, we desperately need Jesus to come and invade our lives, the Holy Spirit to overwhelm us with his wonderful love and fullness, so as to create within ourselves the desire to do that which the Word of God calls us to do. I had hoped that just by living life this stuff would settle down. You know, I thought… I mean, when I was twenty-three, I thought, goodness gracious, maybe when you're thirty-three it gets easier.

Then I thought, well, maybe another decade I'll get this cleaned up. And I understand why Mary McShane said, I've discovered that the seeds of every sin known to man dwell within my heart. So every morning, battle stations. All day, every day. And we need to learn not to underestimate the seriousness of sin, to watch out for its subtleties, for its insinuations, to get it at the point of entry, get it before it goes deep. Apparently, I've never hunted for whales, and I doubt that any of you have either. But the word is, in hunting whales, if you're even allowed to do it anymore, the word is, get them when they're on the surface. Because you never know when they're going to go deep.

And when they go deep, there is no possibility of getting them. The same is true with sin. Listen, young people, and write this down. Sow a thought, reap an action. Sow an action, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. Every sin is an inside job. Every sin starts within. Because our whole lives are oriented in the direction of ourselves. Well, our time is gone, isn't it?

It's just a daily battle. Look what he mentions. What a dreadful list.

You hardly want to go there, do you? Sexual immorality, impurity, evil desires, greed. And he says all of this is idolatry, because it is. Any time that you choose immorality or you engage yourself in impurity and you allow lust to consume you and you pursue your evil desires and you become greedy, it's just preferring yourself above God. And to prefer yourself above God is to make an idol of yourself, and therefore it's idolatry. He says it's incongruous, verses 8 and 9. That's what he's saying.

It's wonderful. He doesn't say it's impossible that this should happen. He says it's incongruous that it happens. So get rid of this stuff. What?

Well, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language. Don't tell lies. Once again, he comes back to first principles.

Why? Since you've taken off your old self with its practices, and you've put on the new self. And that new self is being renewed, present continuous tense, in knowledge in the image of its Creator. And he says, just while we're at it, let's just be really clear about snobbery, let's be clear about academic credentials, let's be clear about whether you're highborn or lowborn, let's be clear about face and race and place. There is no Greek, Jew, circumcised, uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free. Christ is all, and he's in all. There is no place in the Christian life for snottiness that is related to your face, your place, or your race.

What control did you have over any of it? Exactly. So cut it out. Of all places, the Christian church, not in any organized, systematized, dramatized, externalized way, but just in an organic way, ought to manifest a behavior that is unseen in any other place in the totality of a culture. Not in a club, not in a society, not in any kind of place, other than amongst the people of God. Finally, let's just say a word about the last paragraph, and we can only say a word.

Paragraph 3 is about putting on the right clothes if paragraph 2 is about getting off the old ones. What do you think the chosen and holy and dearly loved people should look like? Therefore, God's chosen people.

Who are these people? Well, look back up at verse 11. Is it the Jews?

Well, you'd think Paul would have said that, wouldn't you? He was a Jew. Big-time Jew.

No. No Greeks, Jews, circumcised, uncircumcised. Who are these people? They're the people who are in Christ in every generation.

Therefore, it's God's chosen people. And I admire the Hasidic Jews. I actually do. I have far more in common with the Hasidic Jews with the things in their ears and the curls. I kind of like that.

I would try that if I had the chance. Maybe, I don't think, how good I'd look, but it's something nice about that, and the clarity of their position. But it's externalism. They've got the beginning, but they don't have the end. They've got the form, but they don't have the substance. They've got the promises, but they don't have the Messiah.

So they've got the shell, but they don't have the heart. No wonder Paul says, I long for Jewish people to come to Christ. But that's easy, isn't it? Supposing Parkside said, What we're going to do is make an impact on the east side of Cleveland. So, before you leave this evening, if you'll go into the commons area, we only have them in small, medium, and large, but we have these beautiful robes for you to wear. We'd like you to wear them now out in the community. And every time anyone sees you, they'll go, Oh-ho! There's a parky.

That would be easy enough, wouldn't it? But that's not the clothing. The clothing is compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience. Look at the practicality of verse 13. Don't you love it? Bear with each other.

But you see, there's a lot of fanciful stuff in the Christian life, isn't there, about, you know, Oh, I do love you, and all these kind of things. You know, frankly, we're such an obnoxious bunch of people that just bearing with one another is a real plus, isn't it? You know, I don't ask you to think I'm terrific. I just, please, bear with me, would you? And I'll bear with you too. And I'll try and forgive you, if you'll try and forgive me too. And the standard of our forgiveness is the standard of the Lord Jesus' forgiveness, which was total, complete, no strings attached—a forgiveness that had nothing to do with whether we deserve it or not. A forgiveness that for the Christian is indispensable, not only for our souls but also, I think, for our bodies. One day we will find out just how much an unforgiving spirit has contributed to many of the ailments that some of us endure.

And when I fail to forgive you, it's because I've exaggerated the offense against me, and I have minimized my offense against God. And then he says in verse 14, and why don't we just get a big blanket, and we'll all get around, and we'll get inside it, and we'll get the blanket, and we'll pull it all around, and over all these virtues we'll put on love which binds them all together in perfect unity. Or I suppose you could think of love as a solution in some kind of chemical deal, or somebody will have an analogy from cooking, I'm sure, where there is a substance in which everything else coheres. And that is love in the Christian life. What is there not to be challenged by in this? What is there not to love about this? What is there not to realize that we're all strugglers on the sea of life? What do we find in this that gives us the idea for superciliousness or judgmentalism or unkindness? There's no basis for any of that. Our behavior, in a nutshell, is to be like that of Christ. Totally impossible.

Unless Christ would come and live in us, which is, of course, what He promises to do. Well, we've been listening to part two of a message titled, Believing. This is Truth for Life Weekend with Alistair Begg.

Please keep listening. Alistair will be back in just a minute to close with prayer. As we study what it means to have Christ-like behavior, we have to study Jesus' character. The Bible tells us a lot about the events that took place in His life, but Matthew's Gospel gives us what might be the clearest insight into the heart of Jesus. There, Jesus describes Himself as being gentle and lowly in heart.

This is the topic of a book we're recommending called, Gentle and Lowly. This book explores the heart of Christ for sinners. What does Jesus think of us when we try and fail and then try and fail again? Does He ever grow tired of us failing? Does He ever run out of patience with our endless shortcomings?

You may have asked yourself that question. Well, this book answers the question. It pulls back the covers, so to speak, so we can better understand Jesus' heart and His desire to save us from sin. The Puritans had a great understanding of this idea. In fact, they wrote at length about the forgiving power of the cross of Christ. The book, Gentle and Lowly, includes many excerpts from Puritan authors. You'll find these to be a great help as you process all of this. Learn more about how you can request your copy of the book, Gentle and Lowly, when you use the Truth for Life mobile app or when you visit truthforlife.org.

But don't delay, this is the final weekend this information will be available. We carefully select books here at Truth for Life, books that uphold our mission to open the Scriptures every day and to help those who listen to understand exactly what God's Word says and what it means. Of course, we do all of this with God's help. One practical way we can encourage you today is by sharing a Bible reading calendar. When you follow the schedule online, you'll be able to track through as you read the entire Bible in one year.

Find out more by visiting truthforlife.org. Now here's Alister to close in prayer. Father, help us to take to heart the Bible as it calls to us and challenges us. Help us in our own private lives known to you and to ourselves to take seriously the issues of sin, to identify our own weaknesses. Help us to say with David, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.

We ask with David, how can a young man keep his way pure? And we hear the reply, by paying attention to the Bible. Help us, then, to be in the Bible. Help us to be in the company of God's people. Help us to keep short accounts with sin, and help us to bear with each other, to forgive one another, and ultimately to love with that kind of compassion which Christ displayed in reaching out to us. For we pray in his lovely name. Amen.

I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for joining us. Listen again next weekend as we continue our series Christian Basics. Alister will teach what the scriptures say about church membership and how it makes a difference in our spiritual maturity. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.