Sermon Tone Analysis

*Chapter 2 -- THE CHRISTIAN IN COLOSSIANS*

"Praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love that ye have to all the saints, For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven" (Col.

1:3-5).

\\ \\ Faith, hope and love, the great trinity of Christian graces, were the foundation of the Christian character of the disciples at Colosse.

From these all the graces of the Spirit unfolded in a manifold and beautiful variety and completeness.

Nowhere have we a simpler, stronger and more attractive picture of an ideal Christian life.

*I.

THEIR EVOLUTION*

It was out of darkness.

"Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col.

1:13).

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Darkness is evil … vs. light

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Darkness is ignorance .. vs. enlightened

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Darkness is alienation from God…  vs.

God being the LIGHT…

 

It was out of doom.

For they had been under condemnation as the enemies of God.

#. "You, that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled,"(Col.

1:21),

#. "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross"(Col.

2:14).

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BUT now children of God, forgiven with the HOPE of eternity….

It was out of death.

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Col.

2:13).

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Dead */in/* sin once, they had become dead */to/* sin now through the cross of Jesus Christ.

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Crucified with Him they had come forth to resurrection life.

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They were risen with Christ, and he could say of them, "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." \\ \\

There is something very definite about their experience.

It is all expressed in the perfect tense.

·         He "hath delivered us from the power of darkness."

·         He "hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

·         "He hath reconciled us in the body of his flesh through death."

·         "We have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins."

·         "We were resurrected with Christ."

·         "We have put off the old man with his deeds."

·         We have "put on the new man."

·         We are "complete in him."

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There is no ambiguity, no place for mere hoping and half believing.

We have an accomplished salvation, and the great transaction is done.

*II.

THEIR LIFE*

*It is a redeemed life.*

It was forfeited and brought back by the ransom of the Savior's blood.

Therefore it is not our own, but belongs to him (Col.

1: 14).

*It is a resurrected life.*

"If ye then be risen," or better, were resurrected "with Christ, seek those things which are above."

It is not the old natural life improved.

It is something of foreign birth, something that has come to us out of heaven, something that is wholly divine.

It is Christ Himself "living in us."

*It is a life which is hid*.

"Your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col.

3:3).

* It is hid from the world which cannot understand us.

* It is hid from the devil who cannot steal it.

* It is hid often from our own consciousness, and, when we think it gone and mourn our lack of feeling, we find that Christ is still there waiting till the eclipse is over to reveal Himself in unchanging love.

The security of our life is not in our experience, but in Him.

\\ \\ John Newton tells us of the singular dream which led to his conversion.

Sleeping in his hammock in the Adriatic, he dreamt one night that an angel gave to him a jeweled ring telling him that it was the pledge of his salvation.

Soon after a demon form stood by his side and dared him to throw it into the sea.

In a moment of reckless madness he yielded to the tempter and the ring was gone.

Then the fiend turned to him and told him that he had lost his soul.

And at the same moment an awful flame seemed to light up the sea and shore, and a voice whispered that he was lost.

Then there appeared another form.

It was Jesus.

He stood a moment by his side and gave him one look of upbraiding love, and then leaped into the sea.

After long struggling with the waves He arose to the surface, and, weary and almost dead, brought back the precious jewel and held it up to his wondering gaze.

But He would not let him have it again.

"I have rescued your precious soul," He said, "at awful cost, but if I trusted it once more to your keeping, it would be lost again.

I will keep it for you, and when you enter the heavenly gates it will be handed back to you as the pledge of your admission."

And Newton awoke to seek the Savior, and afterwards to write those precious hymns which tell of His redeeming love.

*III.

THEIR DRESS*

By a very fine metaphor the Apostle describes the Christian life under the figure of disrobing and robing a person.

Our garments are frequently used to denote our character.

And so the word habit has come to mean both our dress and manner of living.

*There is first the process of disrobing*.

It begins with the putting off of our old habits and dispositions, our old clothes.

"Ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

Lie not one to another."

All this has reference to sinful acts and dispositions.

Next, however, we strip not only to the skin, but to the bone, and to the very heart.

For we put off our very selves.

"Ye have put off the old man with his deeds" (Col.

3:8, 9).

This is the entire renunciation and crucifixion of our old self and our whole natural life.

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*Next comes the process of robing*.

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This begins inside.

There must be a new man first before he can wear his new clothes.

You would not put clean and beautiful garments on an unbathed person.

And so we read, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all and in all" (Col.

3:10, 11).

This is not the old man improved, but it is the Christ man, the Lord Jesus Himself becoming our new life so perfectly that even our national, social, and ecclesiastical distinctions, peculiarities and characteristics disappear, and Christ is all and in all.

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Then having put on the new man, we put on the new clothes, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye" (Col.

3:12, 13).

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Here we have the fine undergarments of bowels of mercies, a sympathetic, tender sensitiveness to the sufferings and feelings of others, a kind and loving manner, a meek and lowly spirit, a longsuffering patience,

#.   the beautiful robe of forgiveness full of pockets that are all open at the bottom, where we receive the wrongs of others to drop them behind us.

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Then there comes as the last article of our new apparel, the girdle, which in Oriental countries binds all the robes compactly around the person, and enables him to move and work without embarrassment.

And so love is our girdle, compacting all our graces into service and enabling us to use our blessing for the blessing of others.

This is the meaning of the fourteenth verse.

"

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Over all these things put on love, which is the perfect girdle."

Beloved, here is the fashion plate from the heavenly wardrobe for a well-dressed Christian.

Let us see to it that we are in the style of the kingdom and the society above.

*IV.

THEIR WALK*

As soon as we are dressed it is right that we should go forth to our various walks.

*First we read of their former walk in evil things.*

"In which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them" (Col.

3:7).

*Next we have the companion of their walk*.