Col No.21 The Controlling Factor

Graham and Yetta have been membership in the Tabernacle for a long time, out serving the Lord in India for a few years and they're back with us, at least for the time being, and we're very glad that when they had a third child it was another little boy. We're always glad to look forward to boys coming into the kingdom of God, even if they might have liked little girl, we're glad that it was a little boy. We're going to offer this little life, Graham and Yetta, once again to the Lord.

Graham and Yetta, as Mary brought Jesus to the temple and as Hannah brought Samuel, so you brought David, Eric. Is it your vow that as best you can, you will bring this little boy up in a godly environment so that he shall be encouraged to put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? It is, yes. And he's got hiccups at the moment.

And is it your desire that your Christian friends here, in part of the Tabernacle family, pray to that end? Yes, please. Well then, let's just bow our heads in prayer, shall we? Our loving God and Father, we come before you again in the name of Jesus. We thank you for such a simple little act of worship as this.

And as we bring dear Graham and Yetta to you, so also we present David Eric Payne. And Father, we do pray that you will bless this family and bless this little boy. We thank you for him, for his obvious health and strength.

And Father, we just ask that you will, by the power of your Holy Spirit, watch over him. May his guardian angel keep care over him too. And will you eventually use him mightily for the advance of the cause of Jesus.

We bring Matthew and Daniel also to you. We thank you for this Christian family and we offer them to you, but particularly now David Eric. Lord, we pray that you will bless him and keep him.

May the light of your countenance be upon him. Will you lift up your face towards him and give him your peace. And this we pray in the name of the Savior.

Amen. I don't know whether you can hear this. Poor little chap's hiccups this morning.

There we are. A nice, bouncing little baby to add to the tabernacle membership one day. God bless you both, Graham and Yetta.

Once again we turn to Colossians chapter 3. And I read to you the first four verses of this instructive piece of scripture. Colossians 3. If then ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. I made the observation last week that when you move into the second two chapters of this letter, you discover that the Apostle Paul is concerned to apply the doctrine within the first two chapters to the experience and to use the word in vogue in these days to the lifestyle of those who claim to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

You will recall last week when we were looking just by way of introduction of these four verses, how the Apostle first of all argues that the Christian is a person who has risen in Christ, the one who trusts Jesus, is a person as you discover from the third verse who's regulated by Christ and from the fourth you determine this that the Christian is a person who one day will be revealed with Jesus in the likeness of the Savior at his coming in glory. Well, these are very wonderful things. The Christian is basically a person whose complete personality has been placed under the control of the Lord Jesus.

There are two motivating factors which help to regulate his life. There is the thought of him having surrendered the steering wheel of his lifestyle to the Lord Jesus so that it could be said in the third verse that the Christian is dead and his life is hid with Christ in God. That mystical union between Christ and the believer, that is one of the controlling factors in his life.

But argues the Apostle there is another one and on this we touched last week. There is the thought of Jesus coming back again, the thought of his return and Christian people being involved in this climax to all the ages. When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

The first two points which we looked at last week risen in Christ, regulated by Christ, they refer to the first doctrine of our mystical union with the Savior but the third, this one that we only just nudged the edge of last week, that refers to the coming again of the Lord Jesus and the fact that that is going to happen argues the Apostle will diametrically affect your life and your approach to things and problems and challenges here on this earth. So he says if ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above and because you're united with the Savior and because you're looking for his coming then you'll always set your affection not on things on this earth but on things that are in the heavens. So let's now just spend time having cleared the way looking particularly at this fourth verse which refers to that dramatic event that most marvellous climax of the human story when Jesus Christ, the second person of the ever-blessed Trinity, shall return to this world.

Christ who is our life says the Apostle shall appear and then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Just to help us to start with, take that word appear. What does it mean? Well it means to be manifested.

It's got the idea of a little bud which during the cycle of nature with its natural development will one day flower. Now this is what the Apostle is referring to if you like the flowering of Jesus and of course we can say and deduce from the context of this particular verse in the previous two chapters that Jesus did once appear on this earth. We refer to his earthly life and ministry but says the Apostle Paul he's going to appear again and he adds to that and he says not only shall he appear in glory but when he appears you shall be with him in a glorified state.

Well let's try just to pass comment on these three aspects that are found within this text and maybe if there's a little time we'll make some concluding observations. Jesus of course first appeared. He first flowered so to speak in Bethlehem's manger.

He came as a little infant to this world and the Apostle Paul when he is referring to the advent of Jesus at Bethlehem he uses in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 10 and I'll be giving you many references this morning. You might like to jot some of them down. He uses the whole idea of the Lord Jesus Christ appearing, coming in glory.

2 Timothy 1 verse 10 rather, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Now the Apostle has been arguing in the previous two chapters that when Jesus first came it was no myth, it wasn't a legend. It was no fanciful thing that the Apostles latched onto.

Jesus literally came, literally born as a baby in Bethlehem's manger, literally grew up to maturity in Nazareth, literally was the greatest rabbi of all times and literally died on the cross of Calvary. So he says, and the reasoning is majestic, in the first chapter of this Colossian Epistle in the 19th verse that Jesus Christ was an extraordinary person. He was one in whom the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily.

It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. But, wonder of all wonders, this God put aside certain of His marvelous attributes. He became a man and ultimately He went to the cross and in His first appearance, dying on that Roman gibbet, says Paul, He made peace through the blood of His cross to reconcile all things unto Himself.

And time and time again in these two opening chapters, as we have discovered as we've moved through the argument gradually, the Apostle makes reference to the remarkable literal nature of that first appearance. Says the Apostle, I don't really understand it. He says in the 26th verse of the opening chapter, it's a mystery.

This great plan of redemption which God had conceived before the foundations of the world, this tremendous idea that a benevolent God had in His heart to redeem fallen humanity, it moved into literal fulfillment in the first appearance of Jesus when He was on this earth. But there's something that you have to say about that appearance. Though the flower was in the bud, though the glory was residual in the Christ, it wasn't seen by all.

He's God, yes, the second person of the Trinity as He rests there in that cradle. He's God as He moves around the streets of the towns of Palestine, giving out His tremendous teaching. But He's not God known.

He's God to a large extent incognito. Those who have sensitive eyes, they discern that sometimes even that is clouded with unbelief. They see the manifestations of His glory, the flowering of His divinity as He goes to Cana of Galilee and as He turns water into wine.

This first sign did Jesus do to manifest His glory, says John in the Gospel that bears His name. And during the three years of His public ministry, those who were close to Him, they saw it. Something of the glory that resided within the Christ.

Peter makes reference to his own experience on the Mount of Transfiguration. And it's the first Gospel that records the event as the Lord Jesus is there. And as He appears, there appears alongside Him two of the characters from the Old Testament.

Matthew 17, verse 2. And Jesus was transfigured before them, and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as a light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him. Then answered Peter and said, Lord, it is good for us to be here.

The Apostle Peter never forgot that particular experience. And later on, as an old man, he's writing to some Christian people, and he refers to what he actually saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. In the 16th verse of the second letter and the first chapter.

Yes, says Peter. Yes, says Peter. Because of His pilgrimage on this earth, we saw the flashings forth, the manifestation, the flowering of the glory that was innate within Him.

But I say that it was a restricted glory. Because there were only certain people who ever saw it. Jesus was God, but God incognito.

And you remember how shortly before His arrest in the garden, during the high priestly prayer recorded in John's Gospel, the son intercedes with the father, and he says, Father, I've glorified You on this earth. Now will You glorify me. May the hour come when all men shall see who I am, who I am, and what my purposes are.

So here you see, my dear brother and sister, when the Apostle Paul makes reference in Colossians 3, 4 to the appearance of Jesus, he has in mind the first appearance. And then he contrasts it with all that is going to happen. The incarnation of Jesus, the glorious Gospel, the death on the cross, the mighty resurrection, the possibilities of salvation to all who believe, nay, the certainties of all who believe, all that came about as a result of the first appearance of Jesus.

Ah yes, says Paul, but you Colossian Christians, you have to remind yourself of this, particularly when you're in the marketplace, particularly when you're engaged about your occupation day by day, that this Jesus who first came shall come again. He'll come in power, He'll come in glory. Therefore, don't get too involved with the things of this earth.

Don't be over-concerned about promotion. Don't get your priorities completely out of order. You're not here forever.

Your purposes will be realized in the second appearance of the Christ, in the flowering of Jesus's divinity before the whole of the universe, and in that tremendous climax of history, says the Apostle, and the thought is staggering, you also shall appear with Him in glory. But I'd go too quickly. We've looked at the first appearance of Jesus just in passing to remind us of the context and the contrast which the Apostle is drawing.

But the second appearing, that perhaps we need just to remind ourselves of as we bring certain parallel scriptures to bear, says Bishop Hanley Moon, as sure as the incarnation led to the cross, and the cross to the empty grave, and the empty grave to the throne, so surely will the throne lead to this coming. And on that occasion, the incognito shall be dropped. There's some evidence of what's going to happen, even in the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles.

You remember how Stephen had been imprisoned, because he had been proclaiming the gospel of the risen Christ, and how his accusers took him out of that holy city, and they stoned him to death. And just before he expired, we read in the 55th verse of the 7th chapter of Acts, Stephen being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Stephen sees the glory, an anticipation of what shall yet come to this world, as all men shall appreciate who Jesus is.

You get another hint of this in the following chapter in the book of Acts, the 9th chapter. Here's Saul, not a Christian, this man who is in deadly earnest to rid the Jewish community in Damascus of those who claim to believe in Jesus. But he's on horse on his journey, as he madly charges towards the Syrian capital, there is one who appears to him.

Verse 3, And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me? The light, the glory of Jesus arrests Saul and brings him to the ground. But as I say, these are just hints of what is to come.

And it's amazing how they tie in with the prophecies of the Lord Jesus concerning his second appearance. Here in Matthew's gospel, he's telling us of the increase of evil that there will be just before his second advent. And he's assuring us that when we hear of wars and rumors of wars, when the whole of humanity and its future seems to be in the balance, the Christian community is not to be afraid.

Immediately, he says in the 29th verse of the 24th chapter of Matthew, Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear, the same word, then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, no longer incognito. Jesus revealed.

The Apostle Paul is so careful to make reference to this consistently as he teaches on the doctrine of the second advent. So writing to the Thessalonians in the second chapter, again in the second letter also, again he's spelling out the intensification of evil before that great day of the coming of the Lord. And he says, And then that wicked, verse 8, be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

What is the glory of Jesus? It is the excellence of his power. It will be the reduction of evil on this earth, indeed the entire obliteration. It will bring in the new creation of the heavens and the earth.

And the Apostle Paul looks forward to it with exceeding great delight. When you come to the epistle that he writes to Titus in the first chapter, and the tenth verse, he makes reference also to this coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the way that he will come in glory and in great power. And so one could go on.

Revelation chapter 6 and verse 15. No longer Paul speaking, but rather John. And he is depicting all that's going to happen in the future.

Revelation chapter 6 and verse 15. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks, and in the mountains. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of his wrath is to come, and who shall be able to stand? What's the Apostle John referring to there? Well, he's referring to the terror that there will be. The terror that there will be in the hearts and minds of men and women who know not the Lord Jesus as their Savior. He's going to come in great power and great glory.

I, says the Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians, and when he comes, we who believe in him shall admire him. But, says John, when he comes in power and great glory, those who do not trust him as Lord and Savior, they shall cry to the rocks that they may fall upon them. They shall ask that they may be obliterated, so that they are not brought before his judgment bar.

Well, all these things, I argue, are touched on in this little phrase of the Apostle Paul's in this fourth verse, when Christ of Colossians 3, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Jesus is coming back not as a babe in Bethlehem. He's coming back as the mighty deliverer.

He's coming back to receive his own to himself. But, says the Apostle Paul, and John, he's also coming back to execute judgment upon the earth. But, coming back to Paul's teaching here in this fourth verse, he says that when Jesus shall flower, when his power, when his glory shall be manifest on the second occasion, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Not only will he be glorified, but the marvel of this teaching is, and it seems almost audacious, but Scripture affirms that it is true. You and I will share in the glory of the Christ. Listen to Matthew chapter 13, and it's our Savior who's putting down the teaching.

And he says that in the end time, the Son of Man, verse 41, shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, who hath ears to hear.

Let him hear. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun. We've read other Scriptures which have referred to the Lord Jesus doing this.

In the brilliance of his person, in the majesty that is his, his power, his glory shall be seen. Ah yes, but the Apostle Paul says, and he's got the authority of Jesus to make that, to make the declaration, to make the deduction. When he comes, the saints also shall be glorified with him.

So you see, the reasoning behind the Apostle Paul's argument, when he's writing to the Ephesians, he's talking about what Jesus has achieved by his death on the cross. And he says in the third chapter, and the tenth verse, regarding the church of the redeemed, that one day they shall be exposed before the whole of the universe, including the heavenly realms. And people shall marvel, and angels and cherubim shall be amazed at what this Jesus has done.

Verse nine I'll read from of that third chapter of Ephesians. Jesus Christ shall make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden God, who created all things by him, to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. All the eternal purposes of God in redemption shall be revealed in and through his church.

And you and I shall shine with Jesus like the sun on that occasion when the Savior returns. Hebrews 2 verse 13 quotes the Old Testament. Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

We shall be manifest, we shall be on show. The devil himself shall have to admit that this Lord Jesus Christ has unraveled all the havoc that Satan himself has perpetrated amongst the sons of men. The Savior shall point to his bride and say, Look, there she stands spotless.

There she stands with all her sins forgiven. There she stands in all the glory of holiness, all the luster of her purity. She stands alongside me, part of my body, the church of the redeemed, shining forth with great power and glory when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.

I wonder if these things thrill your soul. Says the Apostle John in the first letter he wrote, the fourth chapter, the third chapter. Beloved, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.

That we should be called the sons of God, therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not. Beloved, now, now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him.

As he is. I wonder if you've understood this teaching. It's mighty teaching.

It's profound teaching. Jesus appeared on the first occasion. I says the Apostle Paul and it was a literal appearance and it led to his degradation or seemingly so.

It led to him being pinned on the gibbet on the Roman cross. But God the Father has raised him in the power of an endless life and the benefits of his first appearing, they belong to you Colossians. He's lifted you from the muck and the mire of prostitution and heresy and pagan worship.

He's raised you from the things of this earth and he's given you a heavenly look. Now keep looking towards the heavens for this same Jesus who once was on earth unknown largely shall return and in the manifestation of his glory, in the flowering of his deity, that all the universe shall recognize. You shall be there.

You shall participate. And men and women, the unsaved, the demons of hell, Lucifer himself, the cherubim, the seraphim, all shall marvel as Jesus points to what he has achieved. See my church.

Mine they are, redeemed by me, glorified by me. And the whole of the universe shall acknowledge the great triumph of Jesus at Calvary. Now if you followed these things then the conclusions that I make are easy to follow and they're stimulating indeed.

This is why the apostle Paul writes to the Colossians and therefore to you and to me by the inspiration of his spirit and he says, if ye be risen with Christ, set your affection on things above. Not on things on the earth. Don't be moribund.

Don't be earthbound. You've died to all that. Don't go back to the sepulcher, to the tomb, to the grave clothes and all the trappings of death, the old way of life.

That's not for Christian people. You've got a new lifestyle, a new set of priorities. Oh yes, there are times when you're perplexed.

There are times when you're in trouble down on this earth. But don't let these secondary things affect the basic that you're risen with Christ and keep your affection, your sights on him and realize this, that one day your redemption will be complete. Oh, you say, but it's complete now.

I'm saved now. I would agree with that, my friend. You're saved, but your earthly body is not saved.

It's still subject to decay. That's why we get old. That's why some of us suffer from arthritis.

None of us suffer from back pains. That's why some of us sometimes feel rather depressed because the chemistry of the body, it seems to war against the spirit and we find it hard to hold on to faith. We're not completely redeemed.

We're completely redeemed in our spirit, in our soul. Yes, our salvation is secure in Jesus, but not our bodies. Our bodies are corruptible.

Our bodies are immortal. So the apostle Paul, when he's writing in that particular verse from Corinthians, makes reference to this. He talks about the creature itself being delivered from the bondage of corruption.

This is what we need, isn't it? Some of us, if we had the opportunity, we'd get out of our bodies right now. We'd like to have a glorified body. We would like to put away this vile body of our affliction.

Listen to the apostle, in case you haven't followed that scripture from Romans, he makes it even more clear in the third chapter in the 20th verse of Philippians, for our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also we look for the savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself. The day is coming on the appearance of Christ when our redemption shall be complete, not just our souls but also our bodies.

And this by theologians is referred to as the doctrine of glorification. Do you know anything about this? I tell you that some Christian people are in the spiritual state of anemia that they languish in because they know little about the doctrine of glorification. What do I mean by that doctrine? Well, listen to the apostle, he explains it much better than I possibly can.

He's writing to the Corinthians the first letter in the 15th chapter and he's talking about this earthly body and he says in the 49th verse, as we have borne the image of the earthly, so also shall we bear the image of the heavenly. And perhaps words better known, verse 53, for this corruptible must put an incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality so that when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Do you realize this, my friend? One day you're going to have a body like Jesus's, a glorified body.

Oh yes, your arthritis may give you a great deal of trouble right now and sometimes because of your physical infirmities and the older you are, the greater the problems you seem, we seem to discover in this area but nonetheless all this will be worthwhile when this earthly body decays and the Lord Jesus gives us our new and our glorious body. So the apostle, delighting himself in these things, looking forward to his glorification, he says in the 18th verse of Romans 8, for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. And he goes on to say, for the whole of creation strains its neck, the verse 19 of Romans 8, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Did you ever ask yourself what that means? The manifestations of the sons of God. Well, let me tell you very briefly, just take one more moment. You see, it's not always that easy to discover on the earth who's a Christian and who is not.

Not by looking at us. Sometimes we do look happy, other times we're looking a little bit sad, a little bit miserable and maybe we have right sometimes so to do, particularly if bodily ailments and troubles are in upon us. But when Jesus shall appear, there shall be a tremendous manifestation not only of him but of all those who belong to him.

The church of the redeemed shall be identified throughout the earth, throughout the universe. Those who have gone on to be with the Lord, they shall return with him. They shall be glorified with him.

Those of us who are still on the earth at that time, we shall be caught up with him and together we shall be glorified and all men and women shall recognize and all created beings, be they angels or demons, shall realize that this is the church for which Jesus Christ has died. So the apostle, when he writes to the Thessalonians, talks about the trumpet sounding, the graves being opened and the advent of the Lord Jesus and he says, wherefore comfort one another with these words. And sometimes we need comfort, don't we? Here we are on this earth and we find faith rather difficult to hold on to.

There are the sufferings of the body, there are the pressures that come but are those people who've trusted Jesus as saviour, those who know the infilling of his spirit, those who have been won to the Christ by accepting his death on the cross as being the means of their atonement, of their redemption, one day all these bodily ailments and these problems, they shall all pass away when Jesus appears, you shall appear with him in glory. You know in Switzerland, there's that great mountain, the Jungfrau and when I've been there, I've always been amazed. First of all, at the splendour of the mountain and secondly, at the cows.

There are cows who eat grass just on the early slopes of the Jungfrau and they've never looked up and seen the majesty that's there. They've preferred the grass to the glory. I know Christians like that.

They're like Mr Mudrake in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. They're there in the rubble, just languishing in the rubbish of this world with their eyes looking down. Notice the apostle Paul.

Don't look down, look up. He's appeared once, he's going to appear again and when he appears again, he'll appear in glory, he'll identify his own and the body which he has, the resurrection body to which reference is given in the latest chapters of the Gospels, that body will be your body and your redemption shall be complete. Therefore, set your affections on things which are above and not on things which are on the earth, the controlling factor which should govern our lives while we're here living for Jesus.

Amen. Father, we thank you for that amazing concept that one day the righteous shall shine forth as a sun, shall blaze so that all shall see the glory of the Gospel of Jesus and what it has achieved. We thank you, Lord, that you've got a great and eternal program for which the elect of God are destined for.

We ask that our eyes may be upon that. Lord, we believe that there's a new heaven and a new earth which is yet to be created. We've yet to experience the heavens of God coming down on earth as John saw in his vision and Lord, we just with hearts that are beating that much faster look forward to that occasion.

Help us therefore not to be earthbound but heavenbound. May our eyes always be looking up towards the Lord Jesus and may every decision that we take and every grumble that we allow ourselves to make be done under the light of that glorious second appearing. And then Father, we believe that our decisions will be more proper and our grumbles will be less frequent.

So send us on our way rejoicing in the certainty that this same Jesus shall return in power and great glory. Amen.