United to Christ (Part 1)
Colossians 3. Let's begin. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you, sexual immorality, impurity, compassion, 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 them all away. 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 another Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free. But Christ is all and in all. Let's begin in prayer. Father, Lord, you have given us the precious gift of your word and the even more precious gift of your Spirit, which makes it effective and powerful in our hearts. Lord, it is your Spirit that transforms us in how we pray, Lord, that He may open our ears. and open our hearts to receive this word, to be changed by it, to be convicted, Lord, and just be led more and more into Your presence. Pray that You would just help me now, Lord, as I seek to communicate this truth, Lord, Lord, we all just hear from Your word today. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Beautiful. Now, last couple of weeks, we've been going through a whole array of different things. Paul... was really excited to start. said, I am so thankful for the work of the gospel that I'm seeing happen in you guys, you Colossians. And he says, and I'm so eager for that work to continue. And he says, most of all, I want you to see that in everything I taught you, the thing you need to remember is Jesus is enough. That He is the center of everything. That you think going on to maturity and Christ is getting something other than Jesus, no, it's just getting more of Him. And so he keeps laboring that fact, going after them over and over again. And he's continued to labor that fact. And then last week we looked, what was this false teaching that had crept into the church that was leading them astray? Taking them from the truth that Jesus was everything they needed. Seeking to build this religion of rules on top of the freedom that Christ had given them. But now, he turns, instead of saying, do this, he's now turning to them and saying, now, go and do this instead. This is the positive side of his command. No longer the do not, but instead the do. And so there'll be a bit of explanation before we actually get into the passage, uh frankly there is a lot of stuff in this passage. um But yeah, we'll get to that in a sec. Anyway, a lot of Paul's letters, when you read them, have a very specific and reoccurring pattern. They seem to go the same way. Not all of them, but most of them. He goes, God has done this, gets to a certain part in letter, therefore now go do this. In a sermon you'd call it the doctrine and then the application. That's how he tends to structure much of what he does. And he does this for an important reason because that is the message of the New Testament. God has done this for you, therefore go and do that. He... It is the blessing that we receive from God that empowers us to go and live the life that the gospel calls us to. He doesn't say, go and live accordingly and then I'll give you the gospel. He says, I'll give you the gospel and then you can live according to it. And so you see, this is contrasted with the Old Testament. Now again, this is a generalization, it's a simplified view of looking at the Old Testament, but in general, the Old Testament goes like this. Go do this, then I will bless you. Now, obviously the reality is God was blessing the people beforehand, yes. But primarily there is this distinction that we can see in the Old Testament where God is saying, you must do something and then I'll do something for you. Obedience is rewarded. Where in reality in the New Testament, we're given this new perspective where suddenly no longer is obedience coming from our desire to receive something, but it's actually an expression of gratitude for what we have received. you see it, the letter of Romans, 11 chapters, all about doctrine, all about the gospel. And then chapter 12 gets to the word, therefore. But in light of everything that's happened before, and therefore, go do the things in chapter 12 to 6. In the letter of the Colossians, it was exactly the same as well. Chapters 1 and 2, then you get to verse 5 and chapter 2, and he has the same word, therefore. And he always does it the same way. We're in contrast to the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 28, 1-2. He says, you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations. And the important part here, the second verse, and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. is the Old Testament, that is not the new. Because God knew, we're not obedient enough. He goes on therefore to say, if you violate the law in any single way, then you get the curse, it's not the blessing. We need a better system. We need something where we receive the blessing and therefore we respond in obedience from that. Now, this isn't an unbreakable rule of Scripture. It's just a generalization though, that this tends to be how the Old and the New Testament work. And it's important because that passage I read out contains that exact same pattern. We are not gonna cover all of that passage today. This is gonna be split into two sermons where we're gonna be the first, we're gonna do the what has God done? The next week we'll go into therefore what are we to do because of that? So. You look at Colossians 3, we're going verses 1 to 4 is what we're looking at today. And it has this similar pattern of this is what God has done for us, but it's a little bit different. It's not quite what just God has done for us, but it is this as well. It is actually talking about who you are. Because you see, He has three different things in there. Verse 1, He says, if you have been raised with Christ. So that is the past tense. Then he goes on in the third verse and says, life is hidden with Christ. That is the present tense, the current state. And then he goes on the fourth verse. And then you will also, sorry, when Christ who is your life appears, then you will appear with Him in glory. So it's talking about what has happened to us. You've been raised. Your life is hidden currently in Christ and one day it will be made evident in the future. And so, he is saying, this is the real you. And then he will tell us next week as we go on to lead chapters, therefore go act like it. Now you see, this is the funny thing because Paul said, he has a similar passage in Romans 6 where he's telling them, you're dead to sin. No longer must you live for it. You're now alive in Christ. You've been freed from sin. And then he says in verse 11, so therefore you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God and Christ Jesus. Now, if you told someone who they are, why would you need to tell them to consider themselves to be that? As in, hey, did you know that you are a Roy? Did you know that you're a man? Therefore, go be one. Kind of seems pretty plain, doesn't it? Why would he have to tell them to go be the thing that they are? The only possible reason... is because instead of believing the truth about themselves, they are believing a lie. They are not actually believing the truth. And so you see, this goes back to what we were talking about last week. We talked about Colossians 2.15. Jesus has disarmed the rulers and the authorities, that being Satan, at the cross, putting them to open shame by triumphing over them in His cross. So you see, he disarmed Satan. Satan has no more power anymore. He's been defeated. So then why does he seem to still be able to deceive us, to enslave us? He seems pretty formidable. We fall every single day to his lies and to his deceptions. So how does it seem that he is such a mighty foe? After he's been defeated, we're no longer enslaved to him? Like I said, deceptions and lies. He has to lie to you. He has no power. The only power he has is that which you give him. Now, I think I used this example last week, but the reality is, how do you mug someone if you don't have a weapon? You pretend you have one. You just, put your hand in your jacket and you sit there and say, I've got a gun, so you better give me your wallet. Please don't call my bluff. And that's the reality. That's exactly what Satan's doing to us. He's holding his head, you know, here's how it is. Here's the truth. While hiding it in his jacket, and he's really just hoping you don't say, open the jacket. Because the reality is, as soon as he does, as soon as you ask for the truth, as soon as you seek out the truth, it's just a man sitting there with a jacket. He has no power. So Satan cannot actually hurt us. He can only deceive us in the only power he has is that which we give to him. The truth destroys his lies. This is why Jesus said to us in John 8, if you abide in my word. You are truly my disciples. And then the next verse, the most important one. you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. See, this is the thing, that is the truth that sets us free from the lies of the devil because the reality is nothing that can enslave us anymore. Simply the truth destroys his smoke screen. And so, we are going to look at today a most fundamental doctrine, a most fundamental belief about ourselves that the Devil is desperate for us to ignore, for us to forget about. It is a very fundamental but often neglected doctrine in the church. It is what we refer to as being united to Christ, union with Christ. It's what Paul is constantly talking about. says it 160 times in his letters, you are in Christ. You're not with Christ, you're not hanging out with Christ, you are in Christ. And so it refers to this incredibly deep unity that we have with him. Just think about communion. The reality is, why do we do communion? Why do we eat the bread and the wine? Do we do it to remember the cross? Well, yes we do. But if that was the only reason we did it, you guys don't need to bother reading it then. We could actually save a lot of money that we're spending on wafers and things, because I could just stand up here and just go, hold the bread, hold the wine, go, remember! That's all I'd have to do. There you go, events in your head, you're all sorted. So why do we eat it then? Why are we wasting all this money on bread and grape juice? We're not wasting it, just so you know. There is a good reason why we do it, because we are representing another fact that happens. I say, here is the cross. And then you say, I want to partake of that. So what you were doing there as we eat the bread, we recognize this is Jesus' body and His blood. And as I take it, I'm uniting myself with Him. When you're saying you're in Christ and then literally Christ is in you as you take the bread and the wine. And so we represent this fact and you see he says it in scripture and it helps us to make sense of it in John 14 20. In that day you will know that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you. You're in me and I am in you and then what's going on all that? He just means we're one. We are together. There is an intimacy you have with Jesus that not even married couples, were the best marriages in the world have. In every single way, Jesus knows all of you. And He is in every single part of you. Scary when you think about the kind of people we are, but you see this is most precious thing because the cross in and of itself is not just the thing that saves us. Yes, it is the cross. But what is it about that cross? Why are we receiving benefits from it? because we are united with Him. So our sin becomes His sin, His righteousness, His perfect life, all His blessings, His privileges become ours because we are one in the same. I'm not saying you're God, I'm just saying you receive all the blessings from Jesus. And so this is so important because in the Christian life we are going to encounter many troubles and it is this doctrine, this belief that will help to keep us grounded because it reminds us of who we are, especially as we go through despair and doubt in this life. So here we go, we begin in our passage now, just verses one to four. We'll begin with the first two verses. If you then have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth. Now, you have, that's a past tense, you've been raised with Christ. Hands up if anyone has been raised from the dead. I don't know, maybe some, I thought someone might have had a, you you're clinically dead on the bed kind of thing in hospital. I know a few people who've had stories like that. Anyway, the reality is those people still don't technically come back from death. Yes, in some way they seem to be dead clinically, but the reality is no one has actually gone into a grave, sat there, and then risen in this congregation. So how can we then have been risen from the dead? Well, we have. Maybe not physically, but spiritually. Because the reality was, there is a you who was destined to die. The reality, there was a part of you that was dead to God. Because the desires that were within you were not for God. Many of you have spent your lives in church and can't identify the time where you boom, boom, and suddenly, but there was a point for every single one of us, where suddenly our desires went from, I love God. Sorry, I hate God, too. I love Him. It may have been covered up in a veneer of goodness, but that is where all of us came from. We were cut off from the source of life. This is what Paul was getting on about when he was in Colossians 2.13. You see, we were cut off from God. We were dead. Not in that we were actually physically dead, but spiritually, there was no life. There was no life in our relationship with God. And what does that inevitably lead to? Actual death. helps to paint it more clearly in Colossians 2 verse 12. So you see, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead. Here he gives us this imagery of baptism and it's beautiful because it's similar imagery to communion. What happens in baptism? Are you committing to being a better person? I'm finally getting the ducks in a row. I'm finally going to sort my life out. No, we know that is not the case. What you were declaring in baptism is this, that a work of God has happened in you. The old me... You see, you go down, the water symbolizes the judgment of God, or better yet, the grave itself, which is God's judgment on us, we go down, that is the old you. It dies from that very moment. And then you were raised up literally a new person. Yes, we don't feel it in this very moment because there is a continual ongoing process, but there is a declaration that before God, you are new. So you have literally been resurrected. God has done this work. That is what Paul declares when he says in 2 Corinthians 5.17, and all people who have been baptized declare this truth, all those who believe in God, that if we are in Christ, I am a new creation. The old part of me has passed away and behold the new part of me has come. We're gonna get into the fact that we have to deal with the fact the old part's still kind of there wriggling and holding on. This is the annoying part. And so then you go on to verse two. See, we've said we've been raised with Christ, so we're seeking the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. And he says, sit your mind on the things that are above, not on the things on earth. He says, this is the thing that differentiates the new creation from the old creation. The old creation loves the things on earth. The new creation, the new us loves the things up there. The things where Jesus is, the things in the age to come. And you see, it says up there and then down there kind of thing, but this isn't so much a geographical thing as in space, but it has more to do with time. It's a chronological thing. Because the reality is what are earthly things? they are dictated what the things that are earthly are those things that cease to exist with this world. When this world wraps up and it gets thrown in the incinerator, however you want to imagine the end of the world is, everything that goes with it is earthly things. Those are the things that are on earth. So what are those things that are above? Those are those things that should accompany us into heaven. Those are the things that we shall receive in the new heavens and the new earth. So he says, I want you to set your mind there. Because he says, I want you to seek the things that are above. And there's a reason he then clarifies and says, set your mind on it, because we're not actually gonna get those things here. He says, long for the things that you're actually not gonna get until you die or Jesus returns. And now, here comes the hard part for us. Because inevitably, most of us know at this point, you've heard me or some other pastor or just someone who's ready to do a Bible study, your parents told you, everything's gonna burn. So don't hold on to it too tightly. We know that. But like, what if I kind of like, yes, okay, it's gonna burn, but like, can I still enjoy the things? Well, yes, in some degree, of course we can enjoy the things. You're enjoying nice cushion seats right now. There's nothing inherently wrong with that. But if you're gonna make that your idol and you think you're gonna take the chair to heaven, not gonna happen, sorry. Frankly, there are better chairs. Sorry, like if, anyway. but there does come a danger where we think there is a reality where I can enjoy the things here, or I can still make much of them, but yeah, I'm a Christian, I know I'm going there, I have my safeguards in place. but there is a reality where we still want to entertain this love of the world. We say, well, there are things I'll deal with later on maybe, or there are things that I just, like keeping them. Yeah, they're part of the old me, but I just like it. They're part of me and they have been for so long. But you see the two things, two things that make that very hard. One, Jesus painted a very clear picture. You can only serve two masters, Matthew 6.24. You cannot serve both because the reality is we try to say, I just want to entertain a little love of the world. Like, yes, yes, I know I'm not, I know all the money's gonna burn, but it's still really good for me to throw like 20 grand a year into chairs or real estate or something like that. Which again, it's not inherently bad. We just need to be thinking, why are we doing it? because the reality is so many of us, all of us do things which show we do love the world because the reality is none of you are perfect. I am definitely not perfect. And so you see, there's only one love that can sit enthroned on our hearts. And so our constant desire for the things that we do love in this world shouldn't be, oh, I do just kind of want to keep it. It should be, all right, I acknowledge I love this thing, but Father, help me to let go of it. Not that you can't have it in your life. If it goes, I won't complain. I will be happy for what I have. And there's a particular danger with this. Because you see, it is actually a love for the world that gives life to sin. Because we're going to go more into this next week, but the Bible talks a lot about there was the old us, the old self, the old man it talks about, and there's the new you, right? We're talking about it. You go into Baptist and you come up a new you. But the old you kind of hangs on a little bit. Like Jesus crucified on a cross, He was definitely going to die, but He holds on for a while. So like the old man, the old part of us, it doesn't just die straight away. He holds on. He wants to make our lives difficult. So being a Christian is like being two people, because you're like, I want to do this, but then I end up doing the other thing instead that I didn't really want to do, but I kind of did want to do. You ever read Romans 7, where Paul's talking about that struggle? He's like, When I want to do something, I don't do it, but then I do it I don't do it. Then when I tried to do it, I still don't do it. And then, sorry, I know it sounds confusing, right? But that's what it's like being a Christian. Because we try to do something, but then there's desires that seem to conflict with each other. We are the most conflicted creatures in the universe. Because we are made up of two different parts. One desperate to make much of here and the other one seeking to live for the future, for the life beyond this one. And you see the old us finds joy in this world. Why? Because the old us is only ever going to get this world. It dies at the end of this world. Why do you think it would ever want you to think about eternity? That's why you can only have one love, because they are mutually exclusive. Our sin is opposed to eternal thinking because it weakens that old part of us and destroys it. So you imagine it like this, an illustration if you like pictures and imagery. Imagine you're a person and you're walking through, say you're for some reason, your car's broken down, there's no taxi services, and you're a five days walk from the airport. You know you can make it in time though, so you're walk to the airport so you can get home. Now the reality is, one of the most annoying things about this five day walk you're about to venture on, there's lots of marketplaces. Now if you've ever been to Eastern countries before, and you walk through marketplaces, they can be a bit different to here in the Western world. Everyone's in your face, buy this, buy this off me. They're trying to haggle with you and all kinds of things. You need this, you should buy this. man, here's this Apple iPhone, it's only $50, it's definitely not a knockoff. I know there are some genuine things in these countries, but just genuinely look, if you've been there, you understand what I'm saying. That there is this constant, it's intense to just walk through to be constantly bombarded with buy this, buy this, buy this. And you see, this is what it's like for us as we walk through life. You know you have a plane to catch, but you're constantly walking through these places where people are telling you, you need this, you need to take this with you, you need this, you need this, take this with you. And suddenly you've got like, you know what, 80 kilo rock. rucksack on and you're just taking everything with you. You've got a couch on the back, you've got everything. What happens when you get to the airport? Anyone ever had baggage problems? You can only take so much with you on the plane, right? That's the reality. And the really hard thing, the ticket into heaven on this plane, I don't even think you get a carry on. I'm sorry. There is absolutely nothing we get to take with us, but there is this old part of you that as you walk through, you're like, would look really, that would be really good in a house that's gonna burn and fall apart and it's just, none of it matters. I totally get the attraction because I'm human too and I'm still walking through the marketplaces. But you these marketplaces, they are lies of the devil because these men, and again I'm not talking about these ones, I'm just saying the merchants of the devil and whatever, know, it's trying to sell us these lies. They're saying, you need this, you're gonna need this because you're just gonna be missing out on something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've got that plane to catch, but at least enjoy this ice cream while you're here, you know? You need this couch, you need this thing. But you see, as Christians, we need to live as though everything we have will burn. Why? Because it will. our inheritance is in heaven. And so we need to be looking to that. So, we go on a bit. I'm going to, in just a bit more detail, talk about why do we continue to fall for Satan's lies. So we'll go to verse three. So you see, I already talked about it a bit, but this is the hard part. So all Christians are new people. We're a new creation. As in old sinful desires that love this world, they've been ripped out and you've been given new desires that they don't care about this world. They wanna love the things of God and the things in the age to come. But. If you've ever chopped the head of a snake, granted I say this having not actually done it, so probably not the best analogy in the world, but as far as I know, they keep wriggling. Don't, am I right in that? Yes, cool, awesome, I'm right. I do remember seeing a video once where a guy chopped a tail off a crocodile. um He was skinning it for stuff and he just said, watch this, this thing had been dead for six hours and he started cutting it off. It was still wriggling. It was incredible, just the nervous system that seems to keep. Wriggling and going and going. That is exactly what our old person is like. This old part of you. It's going to die. It will. Death is certain. But it's gonna keep wriggling. It still has life in it. The reality, it sits crucified upon the cross, but it doesn't care. It is so filled with anger that it will make your life a living hell if it can. but then God gives us this encouragement. He says, life is hidden with Christ in God. Now two different things that this word hidden means. Now encouragingly, this old self that's still wriggling around us that constantly makes us think maybe I'm not even actually a Christian, maybe I'm not even actually saved. We're reminded of this truth because we think it puts our eternal life at risk, but where is our eternal life? It is hidden in God with Christ where He is there. So you imagine it like a child hiding behind a throne. Just imagine it. You know, this pulpit's a big seat. The child hides behind it. And then seated on that throne is His Father. Can anyone come at that child? No, not without the Father's approval. That child is protected, hidden, safe, secure. So it is exactly the same fact for our eternal life. No one can take it from you. No one can do without the Father's approval and He has promised no one will take it. Now there is a second part to this hidden, the harder part for us. our life is hidden, as in it's not visible. You can't see it because it's up there, not down here. If you think about it, we enjoy so many blessings from God in this life. You receive forgiveness from your sins. You have peace with God. You have promises that He will work all things to your good, that He will supply your every provision. But do you actually see those things? Okay, yes, I understand. In provision, you do kind of see that in some ways. But many times these provide things, but they seem to come through virtually us doing things. So, how do they come to us? They don't come through what we see. I don't see that I'm forgiven. Goodness, if you looked at me, you wouldn't think I'm a forgiven person. I'm constantly wracked with guilt all the time, because of how bad I am. But I know that I am. Why? Because I have faith. Faith... takes that which is invisible and makes it visible to me, to us. And so you see, but this is the hardest thing for us and is most importantly the hardest thing for the world. Because the world looks at us and says, and we're saying, no, actually I don't need to crew everything for myself here. I actually don't need to make everything about my reputation, my legacy, my family, because there is more to this world than just this life. But they don't understand that. Because what are they made up of? The old self. And the old self dies at the end of this age. So all they can be content with, all they can find satisfaction in is what they can taste, what they can touch, what they can see. They need something tangible. They need something in front of them. And so they will call us foolish for not making the most of now. The world cannot imagine a reality better than this one. But you see, we know, because in some ways we may have tasted it. We, most importantly, we taste it when we read it in the Scriptures. Goodness, Jesus offers a far better world than this one. Just read the last two chapters of Revelation, I'll take that any day. That is far better than the world here, but people do not want to operate by faith in believing that. The world doesn't want to operate by faith. So they will make the most of now. And see, that most importantly goes back to why we must be careful of harbouring any love for the world. Because the reality is, it will slowly trick our thinking and lead us back into, oh, you're right, I have to make something of now. The reality is, this whole life can turn into just Jack squat, can be absolutely nothing. You can just live the worst life ever, and it actually doesn't matter. Like, I'm not saying it's easy. Because some of us live just goodness. You hear the lives of some people and that's rough going. But I actually don't despair for that person. I don't sit and just say, so sad for you. Because hopefully I know there's inheritance waiting for them. They suffer for 80 years, but there is something better awaiting. And so you see, we hold onto this foretaste of heaven found in God's Word, found hopefully here in some parts in the church, and we do not fall for the lies of the world's temptations. And so then verse four, it goes on to show us the hope we have as we weather the fact that people and the world will call us fools, that they will not understand what we're doing by not making all of this world now. Shall we read on? When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. So, this comes around now and we're kind of coming back full circle to the initial doctrine I was talking about, our unity with Christ. Because you see, our current state is not perfection. This is the thing we really struggle with. God has given us these really godly desires for a world that is free from sin. That's why, hopefully, we're seeking to rid sin in our lives, because we don't like the taste of it anymore. Yes, we still do in some parts, that's the old us. But there is also this part of us that doesn't like it, but that's what makes this world seem like having a greater rubbed against your face. Because we live in a place we don't wanna be, and because we're not perfect yet, we haven't yet gone into glory, which is the full revelation of our new selves and the death of the old. And so where is our hope? As we walk through this grating life, it is found in this. And he says, when Christ appears in glory, so will we. Thank you, Marnie. Appreciate that. Our glory is tied to Jesus' glory. That means when He is glorified, you will be. Now this is a really important point because this is the thing that grounds the certainty and the assurance of our salvation. The reality is if you who believe in Christ do not appear in glory, Jesus never will. There is no second coming unless all those who believe in Christ are glorified with Him. You have to be, because that is how Christ has made it. So, do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe the Son of God came down, lived a perfect life and then died upon a cross so that you could receive His perfect life with all its benefits, all its privileges, and He would take your sin, your punishment? Do you believe He is the Savior you need? Have you repented, forgiven of your sins? Then? You are united to Jesus. You are one with Him. Why are any of you going to be in heaven? Because Jesus is. Why are any of you innocent before God? Because Jesus is. Why does God call you His child? Because Jesus is. Do see? You are one in the same. And so you see, it is fixing our eyes on this destiny, that in Jesus, we see one day what we will become by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so we are desperately longing for that. And yet we are finding assurance in that, because we will face much doubt, much trouble in this world. So many things that are going to discourage you, that are going make you think God is not working, that are going to make you think, maybe I won't even get into heaven. So many things. But for God to deny those who believe in His Son would be for Him to deny Jesus Himself. You have been united to Him. And what does God say? What He has joined together, let no man separate. Do you really think He's going to let you separate Him from Christ? You from Christ. So, I ask this. that this will be a source of strength to you. When you feel you cannot continue in this Christian life, surely you've gotten there by this point at least once. I have. you will remember that Jesus made it. The reality is that He is at work in you, that the new you is fashioned in His likeness. And so when you think, cannot make it through this life, well, hey, I understand that because Jesus wept literally blood. before He made it to the end of this life, before He made it. He despaired of life itself. So I understand if we do, but we must remember He made it and we will too. Because if we don't make it, then He doesn't make it. He has made it so we know we will. And so you see, it is this truth that we are one with Jesus, that our destiny is up there, not down here, that frees us from the old desires. You guys have an inheritance in heaven. So you don't need to settle down here. We live as backpackers. We walk through this world with nothing on our shoulders, hopefully. And whatever is on our shoulders, should God cause it to fall off? And we should be happy with It frees us from the enticements of the world because we see they are foolish, because we know what we have in Christ. And most importantly, it frees us from the insecurity of our place in heaven. You have a place in heaven because Christ does. And so you see, that is what is contained for us. That is the doctrine that is going to lay the bed, bed work, the bedrock, the foundation for what we will talk about next week, which we will talk in more detail. What does it look... really in more detail to live in this already but not yet tension. The fact that, yes, I am a new person, but the old one in me still exists. And we will walk through together and do it as a church. We will learn what it is like to put to death the old self and to live for the new, for the one that is really us. So, let us wrap up in prayer and then I'll invite the worship team back up. Father. Lord, we know the truth. The old us is dead. For all those who repent and believe in you, the old man has died. And there is a new one that has been raised up in his place. We are a new person now. We are a new creation. But yet we continue to fall for the lies. We continue to remain slave to Satan. Father, do not let us be. Free us, Lord, from the love of this world. from those things which entice us. Let us live in this life with little upon our backs and let us live for the world to come. Father, would you do this amazing work Lord and would you teach us the ways in which we could do that? In Jesus name we pray, amen. I actually want to clarify something real quick. um I know some of you will probably think, how do we actually live for eternity? um It's not actually in big things. um You're going to think it's like, it's about getting up there and preaching the gospel. Well, yeah, hopefully some of you and many of you will be sharing it with your family and your friends. But it's actually in very small things. It's actually knowing the fact that you will receive worldly things, but understanding where they end. Simply that. And just living every day for God instead of the things of this world. Even if that means simply going to work and coming home and thanking God for all you received. That is thinking eternally and not worldly. Anyway, sorry, I'll invite the worship team up now. Yeah.