Sermon Tone Analysis

*Text*: Colossians 3:5-11

*Title*: New Life in Christ (Part 1) Eliminate sin from your life!

*Theme of the book of Colossians: *Jesus Christ: The preeminent and all-sufficient Savior* \\ Theme of Text: * Those that have been raised with Christ must eliminate sin and ungodliness from their life.

*Proposition: *KILL SIN BEFORE IT KILLS YOU!

 

Colossians 3:5-11 \\ 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.

9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new /man/ who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave /nor/ free, but Christ /is/ all and in all.

In Colossians 3:1-4, Paul tells the believer that they have a new life in Christ.

The person with a new life in Christ should be focused on the heavenly and eternal instead of the temporal.

Paul goes on to talk about the new life in Christ.

A Christian is characterized by a changed lifestyle.

These verses, 3:5-11, talk about the need for eliminating sin from the Christians life.

To have a godly Christian walk with Christ, you must eliminate sin from your life!

 

*Introduction*

Putting something to death is never easy.

Watching something die is not easy, especially if it is something or someone that we love dearly.

When Hannah was in high school, her family had a dog.

Ironically, the dog was named, “Sam,” (kind of humorous).

J Anyways, Hannah always talks about their dog Sam.

She used to go on walks in the woods with her dog, play games, and even talk and tell stories to that dog.

Even when I’m around her family, they still love to talk about their beloved pet.

Her whole family loved Sam.

When Hannah was about 19, Sam became very ill; it was about 15 years old.

He started to get sick and loose all ability to live and function properly.

They had to make the decision to put the dog to sleep.

This was the only compassionate thing to do.

This was a very difficult task for her family to do, but they did take the dog to the vet and have Sam put to sleep.

Her family still talks about the dog with fondness, but none of them enjoyed the fact that they had to put Sam to death.

It was needed, so they did it.

(Illustration of killing Chickens- there is an intense struggle.)

In these verses here, we are commanded to kill or put to death sin.

/Sin is something that many humans love dearly/.

We spend our life fulfilling sinful desires until one day our life is changed by Christ.

At that point, Christ changes our outlook on sin: we view sin as something terrible and ugly that will kill someone.

Sin, the very thing that most of the world loves, is the very thing that is going to destroy them for eternity!

As Christians, we must eliminate sin from our life!

*1.

**The Present Command: Put sin to death  v.

5*

A person with a new life in Christ should be putting forth effort to kill and put to death the earthly parts of his life that cause sin.

These verses are not commanding you to amputate one of your limbs so that you may stop sinning, but the verse is emphasizing a need for a radical elimination of sin! (Romans 6:11; Matt 5:29-30)

 

The language that is used here is graphic.

Sin must be put to death!

Death is not a pretty or painless experience.

No one wants to die.

Normal people do not enjoy death, nor do they look forward to death.

So why should we think that putting to death the sins of the flesh will be easy.

Killing sin is not easy, but it must be done.

There will be an intense struggle with your flesh and with the enemy the Devil.

Neither the flesh nor the Devil wants to be killed, but a person that is risen with Christ must make a total change.

We know what sin is, but sometimes we forget what sins are plaguing our life.

Paul gives us two lists of sin to contemplate.

The emphasis in verse five is towards sexual sins; the list in verses 8-9 are social sins.

All sins listed in this passage are things that start in the mind and then can result in an actual, physical act of sin.

If you remember what was taught about on Colossians 3:1-2, these sins can be avoided by winning the battle of the mind!

Let’s briefly look at these sins.

*a.      **Fornication*

This refers to any sort of sexual sin in general, but is especially pornography, immorality, and adultery.

(Gal 5:19; 1 Thess 4:3) This is any sex or immorality outside of marriage!

We know this is sin; therefore, it not be named among Christians.

*b.

**Uncleanness*

This is can be translated impurity.

It goes beyond sexual sin to include evil thoughts and intentions.

It has the idea of “lustful impurity that is connected with luxury and loose living.”

This also can be describing homosexuality.

(Gal.

5:19)

 

*c.

**Passion and Evil Desire*

These two words are very closely related.

They describes a state of mind that excites sexual impurity.

It is a desire for immorality and impurity.

(Romans 1:26)

 

*d.

**Covetousness, (which is idolatry)*

This could also be described as /greed/.

It literally means an “unquenchable desire to have more.”

It can be a desire towards anything that is materialistic, but it is specifically dealing with sexual desires.

Consider this; the tenth commandment was “Do not covet your neighbor’s wife.”

We should know that God hates covetousness!

(Exodus 20:17; James 4:2; Eph 5:3-5)

This is considered /idolatry/.

When a person is consumed with sexual sins or covetousness, it is the same as idol worship.

Man begins to worship the creature or creation rather than the creator!

These must be eliminated!

How do I do that?

*Ill~/Appl: *What we desire usually determines what we do.

If you create in your /children an appetite/ for candy, then you must satisfy that appetite.

If they become overweight and unhealthy, then you must change their appetites, and you must teach them how to enjoy foods other than sweets.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Ps.

51:10) should be our prayer; it is out of the heart that these evil desires come (Mark 7:21–23).

*Transition: *These sins must be eliminated from your life!

These sins are the description of your previous, unsaved condition as “sons of disobedience.”

*2.

**The Future Punishment: God’s Wrath on disobedience   v.

6*

What is the problem with these sins listed?

It is the fact /that they are disobedience to God/, so the sin brings punishment.

More specifically, they bring the wrath of God upon men.

Because of God’s holiness, He must punish all sin and wickedness.

God’s wrath will not be quenched.

God’s wrath will be unleashed upon all unrighteousness.

However a Christian is no longer under this wrath; therefore, sinful practices should be eliminated from daily life!