Sep. 12, 2021

“ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH YOUR LIFE?”

“PREPARING FOR DEPARTURE”

COLOSSIANS 3:4-7

Colossians 3:4-7 “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”

Defining The Problem: Colossians 3:5 “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth:”

Five things mentioned in this verse, these are the sins of the body or members of the flesh.

1.   “Fornication”-pornography, it refers to any sexual activity outside the proper design of marriage.

Matthew 5:32 “But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”

1 Corinthians 6:13 “Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”

1 Corinthians 6:18 “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.”

Galatians 5:19 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness”

Ephesians 5:3 “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;”

1 Thessalonians 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;”

It is God’s will for your life, to abstain from sexual immorality.

2.   “Uncleanness”

The Bible defines itself:

Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.”

Romans 1:24 “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.”

It is the lust in our hearts that leads to uncleanness.

Romans 6:19 “I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.”

Uncleanness is the opposite of holiness.

Galatians 5:19 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,”

Ephesians 5:3 “But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints;”

1 Thessalonians 4:7 “For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness.”

2 Peter 2:10 “And especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries,”

3.   “Passion”

Is the attitude of a person who sets their affections on the things of the flesh, the world. 

2 Timothy 3:1-2 “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,”

4.   “Evil Desires”

Lustful desires that come from within you.

John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

Romans 1:24 “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.”

Romans 6:12 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”

Romans 7:7-8 “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.”

Romans 13:14 “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

It is when you set your affections on the things of the earth then the evil desires will dominate you, it will control you.

Ephesians 2:3 “Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

5.   “Covetousness”

Wanting something more than you have, passion, zeal.

Mark 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

“Covetousness which is idolatry” vs.5- “idolatry”-an idol is anything that comes between you and God.

Luke 12:15 “And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”

Colossians 3:5-6 “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,”

Issues involved here:

Revelation 3:17 “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”

Bad living is what leads to bad doctrine.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.”

You have got to make a change in your lifestyle.

Galatians 5:24-25 “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Galatians 6:14 “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” 

It is not your effort that will give you the victory. It is you making a conscious decision to die to the flesh and let God have control.

Colossians 3:6 “Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,”

God’s holiness cannot mix with “these things.”

Colossians 3:7 “In which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”

Where do you live? Jesus Christ is to be our life, is He?

You walk where you live.

Anything that is more important than Christ in your life, leads to idolatry.