Christ Preeminent (Part Nineteen): Sin’s Death March

Transcript

JRNT 41
11/19/2023
Christ Preeminent (Part Nineteen): Sin’s Death March
Colossians 3:5-7
Jesse Randolph

I don’t think there’s any doubt that it is one of the greatest plagues on the modern-day church. The modern-day evangelical church is the refusal, and I use that word intentionally. A “refusal” of pastors and leaders to preach on sin. Whether it’s because of: A fear of offending. A fear of sounding harsh. A fear of sounding unloving. A fear of losing church members. A fear of losing big givers. A fear of sounding a bit too “behind the times.” A fear of being perceived as sounding “anti-scientific.” A fear of being labeled with that “fundamentalist” tag. A lack of belief in the clarity and the authority of scripture. A lack of understanding of the gospel message itself. Perhaps, in some cases, a lack of salvation. There is, sadly in our day, a statistically provable sense of reluctance, even bashfulness. On the part of pastors and church leaders, in evangelical churches today, to preach against sin. This includes the failure to affirm the existence of sin. To acknowledge the reality of sin. To call sin “sin.” To warn against the perils and the dangers of sin and to call on church members to repent of their sin. This is tragic. Not only because this failure to preach on sin means that an incomplete gospel message is being proclaimed. But this failure to preach on sin reveals this total lack of concern or acknowledgement of Christ’s Lordship . . . and His call on believers to pursue upright and holy lives. This failure to preach on sin reveals this lack of belief in the authority and the clarity and the power and the sufficiency of God’s very word.

Turn with me in your bibles, if you would, to Colossians 3. We’re going to be in verses 5 through 7 today. If you haven’t been able to detect this already, today’s sermon is going to be a sermon on sin. I’ll be preaching on sin this morning not because it’s my own personal favorite topic to preach on. I’ll not be preaching on sin because I think it’s going to tickle anybody’s ears. I’m not going to preach on sin because I think it’s going to make us all feel warm and fuzzy going into the Thanksgiving holiday. Rather, I’m going to preach on sin because God’s word compels me to do so. As Charles Spurgeon once put it, “the church does not determine what the bible teaches, the bible determines what the church teaches.”
Let’ let the bible instruct us. Colossians 3:5-7. God’s word reads:

“Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.”

The title of this morning’s message is Sin’s Death March. As you’re going to hear me explain this morning. This passage that we’ll be in this morning is very much focused on the mortification of sin. The killing of sin. The putting to death of sin. Admittedly, it is not a very popular message in our times. In the days in which we live of “live and let live” . . . and “love is love” . . . and “you do you.” But a true message. An important message. A needed message. For churches everywhere. and for Christians everywhere. Of all generations and all times.

Now, by way of review . . . we’re now officially into that section of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. In which Paul, we said this last week, is now moving from making primarily indicative statements. “Here’s who you are”, “here’s who Christ is” and “here’s who these false teachers are.” To now making primarily imperatival statements. That’s just a fancy way of saying “commands.” I mentioned last week, as we worked through verses 1-4, that those four verses represented this transitionary portion of Colossians. They have this mix of both indicative and imperative statements. “You have been raised up with Christ”, verse 1, that’s an indicative. “Set your mind on things above”, that’s an imperative. “You have died”, that’s an indicative.

Now, though, starting in verses 5-7, and carrying over into verses 8 and beyond. The commands are going to start coming quickly. As theology dispensed, starts becoming quickly, theology applied. Last week, it was “you have died.” That’s theology dispensed. Theology about that believer’s union with Christ in His death and resurrection. This week, though, see that statement at the beginning of verse 5: “consider the members of your earthly body as dead.” That’s theology applied. The lesson in “theology applied” that Paul is going to be giving us this morning, is all about the importance of putting sin to death. Putting to death the sin which still clings in the life of every believer. As we’re about to see, Paul is saying here: “Positionally, the old man is already dead.” “He’s a dead man walking.” “So now practically, it’s time to carry out the death sentence.” “To plunge the knife deep.” “For sin to walk the plank.” “For it to go, finely, on it’s death march.”

We have three points this morning, which obviously are alliterated. Verse 5, we’re going to see The Command. In verse 6, we’re going to see The Consequence. In verse 7, we’re going to see The Contrast. We’ll flesh out what those each mean as we get to each one. But: verse 5 is The Command. Verse 6 is The Consequence. Verse 7 is The Contrast.

Let’s start in verse 5, with: The Command.
Just so you know, if you’re a note taker, you want to reserve most of your space in your note sheet for verse 5. We’ll be spending most of our time here this morning.
Colossians 3:5 – “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
As he did in that section of Colossians that we covered last week . . . Paul, you see here, starts with that word “therefore.” As we’ve done our study of this letter, whenever we’ve seen that word, “therefore.” We’ve noted that Paul is building on what he said prior, or earlier.
Like in Colossians 2:6 – “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”
Or over in verse 16 of Colossians 2 – “Therefore no one is to act as your judge . . .”
Verse 1 of chapter 3 – “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above . . .”
Then this morning, verse 5, chapter 3 – “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead.”

This is transitional language. Paul has just described in the preceding verses that death-to-life process that the Colossians had undergone. He’s just described how those believers in Colossae, though once spiritually dead renegades. Had now found their very life in Christ. They had been “raised up”, Colossians 3:1 “with Christ.” Now, in verse 5, he uses this word “therefore” as a way to spur them on further in their behavior. As he commands them to bring their conduct into conformity with their exalted position in Christ. They had already died, spiritually speaking. The old man was dead, spiritually speaking. But now, they needed to become dead, practically speaking. As they put to death the sin which remained.
That really leads us to the heart of this passage; and the central command that we see given here in verse 5. Where Paul says: “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead.”
Now, when we see that language, “consider”, we might be tempted, initially, that “this is a matter of the intellect.” “That this is a matter of mental fortitude.” “This is all about what’s happening upstairs.” “All I need to do is “consider”, intellectually affirm “the member of [my] earthly body as dead.” “And I’m good.” “I can go on living as I please.” You can see how someone might read it that way. If they take that word “consider”, and they only, if you would ask, intellectual. Because in English, that word “consider”, does have a connotation like that. To “consider”, is to “count”, to “reckon.” It’s some accounting that’s taking place, mentally. I think of the mental abacus, as the beads are on one side of your mind and they slide to the other side of your mind, as you’re thinking about whatever’s being thought about. You’re accounting for whatever needs to be accounted for. You’re reckoning with whatever needs to be reckoned with. With whatever proposition has been put before you. It would be that sense of “consider”, mental consideration that we see in places like James 1:2. Where he says, “consider it all joy my brethren, when you encounter trials of various kinds.”
Or in Philippians 3:7, where Paul says: “whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted [considered] as loss for the sake of Christ.”
Or in Philippians 3:8, Paul says, “[more than that, I count [consider, same word] all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value [or wealth] of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” So, there are instances where consideration or to “consider” has this intellectual component to it. But here in Colossians 3:5, when Paul says, “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead.” Is he referring to mental calculation, or some sort of internal computation of these truths about who you once were . . . and who you are now in Christ? No. Instead, the force of the word that Paul uses here in verse 5, is much much stronger. The word he uses there is not the word we see elsewhere. Where we see count or compute (logizomai). It’s actually just one word that represents these eight words you see in your NASB translation, if that’s what you have here this morning. Where it says, “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead.” That’s one word in Greek, and that one word is nekrosate. Nekro – necrophobia is a fear of dying. Nekros – necro has to do with death. This is a strong imperative verb, what he says here in verse 5. It’s a strong imperative verb. It’s a direct word of command. The tense requires decisive action. It’s as though Paul is saying here: “Mortify it!” “Kill it!” “Eradicate it!” There is urgency to it. He’s saying, “Do it now!” In the NASB translation here, you notice that the word “dead” is toward the end of the verse. But that word “dead” belongs at the front of the verse. So, a better rendering of this passage would be something like this: “Put to death the members of your earthly bodies.” Far from mere intellectual consideration. What Paul is calling for here is immediate action. He’s calling on these Colossian believers, and God, through His Spirit, is calling on each one of us believers here this morning, to put to death the members of [their] earthly bodies.”

Now, that brings us to another important threshold that we need to cross and consider here. As we think about what Paul is meaning here, when he says” “the members of your earthly body.” Let’s take those words piece by piece. Starting with the words “your earthly body.” Is Paul referring to the physical body here? Does he have the physical body in mind? No. This is figurative language. When Paul speaks of “the earthly body.” It’s a parallel to what he says elsewhere, when he refers to the “old self.” The old man. The old person. Who we once were in our old sinful condition. Who we once were, when we lived lives completely given over to sin. Who we once were, as he mentions in Colossians 2:13, when we were in the “uncircumcision of [our] flesh.” Is the “old self”, as Colossians 3:9 puts it, which was marked by various evil practices. It was the “old self”, that Ephesians 4:22 says, that we are to “lay aside” as we come to Christ. It is the “old self”, as we see here in Colossians 3:5, that we are to “put to death.” Note how comprehensive this call to “put to death” is. Paul here indicates it takes each of our individual members. Each individual body part from our head to our toes, needs to be put to death. This reminds us, of course, of the words of Jesus, in the Sermon of the Mount in Matthew 5:29-30, and it’s often debated, what’s Christ talking about when He says:
“If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.”
Was Jesus there referring to the actual amputation of body parts, as a means of dealing with sin? No. But He mentions the individual parts of the body. The right eye. The right hand. As a means of drawing a connection between those individual members of our bodies, and their propensity toward sin, and their contribution to our sin. That’s exactly how we see that word “member”, used here, and elsewhere in the New Testament. Where it refers to parts of the human body, various parts of the human body; and how sin lurks in each of them.
In Romans 7:5 it says, “. . . while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.”
Or James 3:6 says, “. . . the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.”
James 4:1 says, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?”
So, here in Colossians 3:5, where Paul here says, “put to death the members of your earthly bodies.” He isn’t referring to physical maiming. He’s not referring to self-harm. Or to self-mutilation. Rather, he is saying we ought to be putting to death the sins which still clog, and control, and pollute our hearts. As Christians, we are called to be executionary, as it relates to our sin. As we seek to slay our sin, and kill our sin, and to mortify our sin. Paul is saying here, in other words, as we saw back in Colossians 3:1: “Since your minds are to be set on the things that are above.” “You are to be purring to death the earthly members that are still here with you in the flesh.” Our faith, in other words, is never meant to be residing exclusively at some intellectual level. Rather, our faith eventually ought to lead to what we see described here in verse 5. Which is living a life committed to mortification. Living a life that’s consistent with calling yourself a new creature in Christ. Living a life that is full of conscious effort to slay the remaining sin in our flesh. To be putting sin to death.

Now, as we read verse 5, we are given this list of five specific sins which Paul zeroes in on in this passage. Let’s read the verse again.
It says: “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead [and here he goes] to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
That list of sins that we see there resembles closely, similar lists that Paul gives in his other writings. In fact, why don’t we go ahead and take a quick tour of some of those. Let’s start over in I Corinthians 6. Flip over a few books to I Corinthians 6. Where we’re going to see Paul laying out similar lists of vices and sins.
Look at I Corinthians 6:9, he says, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Flip over a couple of books to Galatians 5. We’re going to do just a quick jet tour of these. You see how this is constantly at the forefront of Paul’s mind. As the Spirit moves him to write these words. Galatians 5, these are the deeds of the flesh that mark the life of the unbeliever.
Galatians 5:19 – “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
One more, Ephesians 5, one more book over. Ephesians 5, starting in verse 3. Look at the links between these in the preceding verses, and the ones that we will see in Colossians 3:5.
“But immorality [says Ephesians 5:3] or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”
And then there’s our text.
Back to Colossians – “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”
I said it many many months ago, but my Greek professor back at Masters, used to always say to us: “Repetition is the key to learning and the key to learning is [what?] repetition.” That’s what Paul is doing here. Taking us through these lists of sins that pervade the life of the unbeliever, and which really should not have any trace, or we, as believers, should not be marked by in any sense. So, we have a long list to get through here in Colossians 3. Let’s jump right in.

First, you see this first one he lists is “immorality.” “Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as being dead to immorality.” Now, as we encounter that word. With our English-speaking brains and our English-speaking tongues. Our minds might want to go broad and wide. To anything historically, the church. The culture. Or even we personally have ever found to be morally wrong, or morally repugnant. Or morally obnoxious. Like skirt lengths. Or women wearing pants. Or restaurants that stay open on Sundays. Or people who smoke cigarettes. Or people who buy lottery tickets. But that’s not the type of “morality”, or “immorality” that Paul is referring to here. In fact, it would be quite bizarre for Paul, having just gone after the false teachers for laying out this expansive, extra-biblical morality code. Of “self-made religion,” “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.” To suddenly go into doing the very same thing that the Colossians here in Colossians 3. So, we know that’s not what he’s after. He’s not after broad, “I don’t smoke, I don’t chew, I don’t go with girls who do” type of immorality. We also know from the grammar here that it’s very clear that he’s going after sexual “immorality.” The word he uses here is porneia. You know what word comes from that word porneia. It refers to an illicit sexual activity. Meaning, any act of sexual intercourse or contact that occurs outside the safety and the protection and the beauty of a marriage relationship between one man and one woman, as God has designed. Oh, and by the way, that’s how God has designed it.
Genesis 2:24, God designed that “a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”
Then, as you get into the New Testament, I Corinthians 7:2 says, that it is “because of immoralities” . . . porneia . . . the word there, that “. . . each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.”
Next you get down one more verse to I Corinthians 7:3, and it says, “the husband must fulfill his duty [sexual duty] to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.”
I Corinthians 7:4, the feminists hate this one. It says, “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does . . .”
Taking it a little further though, because right down the page it says, “. . . and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”
Then you get to I Corinthians 7:5, and it says, “Stop depriving one another, [husbands, wives] except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

So, summary time. God brings man and woman together as husband and wife. Unless a husband and wife have a very specific agreement, because they want to concentrate their focus, their energy, their labors, on prayer. They are to come together sexually, and with some degree of regularity. That’s the framework. That’s the ideal. That’s the norm.

Now, getting back to Colossians 3:5. Paul here is saying, any form of sexual activity outside the confines of what God has detailed and prescribed for husbands and wives in marriage is porneia. It’s immorality, and it is to be put to death.

Now, I understand. That an entirely different narrative is being spun and marketed by the world in which we live today. I understand that we live in a time in which cohabitation. Playing “house.” Playing “dress-up.” Is becoming the norm. As people are increasingly bypassing marriage for the conveniences of shacking up. People are adopting the whole “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free” idea. I understand that we live in a time in which compatibility, specifically, sexual compatibility, is viewed as an essential part of the “interview process” as you select a mate. The thought process goes, “Well I wouldn’t buy a car before I test drove it.” “So why would I pursue this marriage relationship until I’ve test driven, so to speak, sexually how we’re compatible.” I don’t even have time to get into how the very words “husband” and “wife” are considered, increasingly, in certain circles today, to be “hate speech”, because they reflect antiquated notions of these old, outdated gender norms. How can you call somebody a “husband”. How can you call somebody a “wife” . . . if you don’t even know if they’re a “male” or a “female” to begin with?

This all comes down to authority, doesn’t it? It comes down to authority. The question boils down to: Am I . . . Are you . . . Are we . . . going to take what has ever been embraced societally, or whatever has been voted on politically . . . as being our guide to determine what is right and what is wrong. Or instead, are we going to take God at His word? Follow what He has laid out for us in scripture? Because, the fact is, and there is no getting around this. What He has said, on these matters that I’ve just rattled on about. What He has said, He has said with absolute clarity.
Galatians 5:19 – “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality [porneia], impurity, sensuality . . .”
I Thessalonians 4:3 – “For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality [porneia]; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
Then, here, Colossians 3:5 – “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality . . .”
That’s only the first item on the list.

Next is “Impurity.” “Consider the members of your earthly body as dead to . . . impurity . . .”
Now, that word “impurity” is broader than the word “immorality.” But the two are still related. Were “immorality” refers to the physical side of illicit sexual activity. “Impurity” refers to those inner thoughts and inner feelings, which ultimately may lead to a physical act of “immorality.” So, you can think of it this way. “Immorality” refers to sinful outward acts. Whereas “impurity” refers to those inward motivations for those external acts. We see Paul continually refer to these two terms together.
Again, Galatians 5:19 – “. . . the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity”, so he links them together.
Or Ephesians 5:3 – “. . . but immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you.”
Of course, we know, as we read through the gospel accounts. That our Lord Jesus had something to say about this linkage between our external actions and our inward heart motivations. Especially and specifically in the realm of sexual activity and temptation.
Matthew 5:28, a familiar passage, I’m sure, to many of you. Where he says, our Lord says, “. . . but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
There’s that combination of the inward affection and the outward action.
Or in Mark 7:21, he’s addressing the pharisees here, and the context is food laws and restrictions. But look how broad he goes. He says, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications [porneia], thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
“Impurity,” then, is a more far-ranging form of perversion; in that it encompasses not only evil actions but evil intentions. It reveals a heart which is given over to perversion. That’s a phrase, by the way, hearts given over to perversion. That reflects so well the pornography-flooded culture and world in which we live today.
Here’s some statistics for you, related to the plague of pornography in our day: In 2023 – this year, the global revenues for the porn industry exceeded $100 billion dollars. We’re not done with 2023. Just by way of comparison, the National Football League has generated revenues of about $12 billion dollars. Netflix has generated revenues of about $31 billion dollars. Pornography is already over $100 billion dollars. $3,075.64 is spent on pornography on the Internet every second. There are 28,258 users watching pornography every second. 1 out of every 5 mobile searches today, is for pornography. You want to talk about a global pandemic? That’s some charge language from the last 3 to 4 years. You want to talk about a global pandemic? Let’s talk about the pandemic of pornography. Let’s talk about a pandemic that is wrecking marriages. Let’s talk about a pandemic that is corrupting children, as they are given free-range access to whatever screen or device their parents deem fit to give them. Let’s talk about a pandemic that is marking a society as having already been given over by God. In fact, turn over, with me to Romans 1, for just this picture of what it looks like today, to be living in a time and a culture and a society that has been given over by God.
Romans 1, and we’ll start in verse 21. It says, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory for the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, [there’s our word] so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.”

Well, sadly, as is true of many forms of “impurity”, this pandemic of pornography has seeped into the modern-day church. According to reports I read this week. 64% of men who call themselves Christians, say they watch pornography at least once a month. 15% of Christian women say the same thing. Not only that, one in five youth pastors. One in seven senior pastors. Say that they view pornography with some degree of regularity. Folks, this is not OK. This is an absolute tragedy. This is alarming. That so much impurity is finding its way into the church of Jesus Christ. Christ bought His bride, the church, at the cost of His own blood. So that she would be what? Pure. Holy. Come over with me to Ephesians 5. We often go here, and we’re like, oh, that’s about marriage and that’s about husbands and wives. Yes, but there is a deeper underlying truth that’s being portrayed here, in Ephesians 5.
Ephesians 5:25 – “Husbands, love our wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
Christ desires a holy Bride. Christ desires a holy people. Not a people that are marked by impurity. Not pastors that are living out there like they’re living in the world. But instead, we all, as Christ’s sheep, are called to be marked by purity and righteousness and holiness. If you want a memory verse for this week, it would be I Thessalonians 4:7 – “God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but [for] in sanctification.”
Now, of course, I understand, we’ll get there at the end of the message. Not one of us is pure or holy or godly in our unregenerate sinful condition. Not one of us has completely arrived today. But by God’s grace, and by the power of His Spirit. He allows us to be progressively more so.

We need to keep moving on. Next on the list. Back to Colossians 3, is this one, “Passion.”
“Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to . . . passion . . .” Talk about a word that’s been hijacked and misused and misapplied to our time. I mean, how many outbursts of anger, sinful outbursts of anger have been swept under the rug when one party says, “I’m sorry, I’m just a real passionate person.” Or how many people have just kind of bypassed an idolatrous obsession with sports. Filing it under the label of “passion”? Like Husker football 25 years ago around here? Oh, it’s just my “passion”. Or youth sports and their dominance today? Or fantasy football? “I’m just passionate about it.” “Not an idol, just passionate.” How many lusts have been taken to a place where they’ve crossed over a physical line? Specifically, a sexual line and they’re just sort of dismissed as: “Well, you know, things just got out of hand.” “It was just one of those things.” “It was the heat of the moment.” “It was passion.” Well, that last one, by the way, is pretty close to what Paul has in mind here. When he speaks of “passion.” Pathos. That’s the word. It refers to the strong, unbridled lust. These misplaced erotic feelings. Uncontrolled desires. Depraved affections. In this context . . . especially as it follows “immorality” and “impurity.” He’s using that word, “passion” to describe one’s selfish pursuit of sensual gratification. One’s pursuit of deviant sexual behavior. Which can be, by the way, either homosexual or heterosexual. In fact, we started over in Romans just a few minutes ago; turn back there, to the Romans. I want to pick up the rest of what’s said there. Romans 1, because we see our word there, “passion” comes out on that page. Romans 1, we started in verse 21 last time. Let’s pick I up in verse 24.
Romans 1:24 – “Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason [here comes our word] God gave them over to degrading passions; [and in this context, we’re going to see its homosexuality, but it can certainly apply to heterosexuality as well] for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper.”
Those inordinate affections. Those sinful desires. Those unchecked “passions.” For the Christian, have to be contained. Have to be restrained. Have to be checked. As it says in Colossians 3:5 here, they have to be “put to death.”


Next, he talks about “Evil desire.” Back to Colossians 3:5 – “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to . . . evil desire . . .”
Now, to have a “desire.” To have a want. To have a wish. Is morally neutral, as a starting point. It’s not inherently wrong. It’s not inherently bad or wicked to want something. Paul “desired” to be with Christ. As we know from Philippians 1:23. Paul “desired” to minister to the Thessalonians face-to-face, he says, in Thessalonians 2:17. The elder who “desires”, or the elder candidate who aspires to the office of elder, “desires” a good work, we know from I Timothy 3:1. You can desire to grow in godliness. You can desire to grow in your understanding of God’s word. You can desire a frozen popsicle on a hot summer day. You can desire a warm blanket on a cold winter night. You can desire any of those things, and have it not be sinful. Or be wrong. But it’s not just any “desire” that Paul is calling out here in verse 5. That word their “desire”, Epithumia, we can see, is fronted by this adjective “evil.” Paul here is going after “evil desires.” Unholy desires. The type of desires Satan throws out as bait . . . as he fishes in the hearts of discontented men. The type of desires James had in mind when he said this:
In James 1:13 – “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust [desire]. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.”
So, here in verse 5, what’s being aimed at is any desire for the wrong things. For illicit cravings. In the context here, as he speaks of “desires” . . . Paul is still referring to sexual relations. Relations and desires, which we know aren’t inherently wicked. We’re not the Roman Catholic Church. But we also know that there are desires which have their proper place and a proper channel. Namely, the marriage bed. These desires, though natural, become “evil” when they are: Unharnessed. Or uncontrolled. Or untethered from God’s design. To be enjoyed in the context of a marriage between one man and one woman.

Alright, last on this list of five, is “greed.”
“Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to . . . greed . . .” That word “greed” there. You’ll probably see it in some of your translations can be rendered “covetousness.” As a very simple meaning. A desire to have more. An insatiable desire to gain more. In the context here, it’s this unquenchable desire to get more of what has been forbidden. The root idea here is reported back in the Ten Commandments.
Back in Exodus 20:17, it says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet you neighbor’s wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
So, it has Old Testament roots to it. But we also know the real root of the problem, as James will point out in his letter. Is the sinfulness of the human heart.
James 4:2 – “You lust and do not have; so, you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so, you fight and quarrel.”

Now, some have suggested that Paul here might still be referring to sexual appetites, because he’s got this list of sexual sins. Now, suddenly he turns to “greed”. I actually don’t see it that way. I think he goes broader here and he’s talking about an entirely new category of sin here. “Greed” or covetousness, broadly speaking. He’s referring to the broad and ruthless pursuit of having and wanting more and more things. It’s that child who’s demanding to know what’s for dinner, before they’ve even taken their last bite of lunch. It’s the person who, yesterday, was completely content with the car, the house, the boat that they own. Until the next-door neighbor got something new. This is the person that would do well to read from I Timothy 6:6 – “But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.”

As we read on to the end of verse 5. We note that Paul says that this type of “greed”, or covetousness, that’s being called out here. Amounts to what? End of verse 5, “Idolatry.” “Greed” is not an addiction. You can’t go to therapy and have your “greed” problem solved. “Greed” certainly starts in the heart. But “greed” ultimately is not even a heart problem in the chief sense. “Greed” is a worship problem. “Greed”, as it says right here, is idolatry. It amounts to idolatry. God is our ultimate Supplier. But the greedy person doesn’t see it that way. They lust after more and more over what God has sovereignly chosen not to give them. The greedy person is willing to move heaven and earth, as they passionately pursue their own desires, not God’s. The greedy person is seeking ultimate satisfaction in things below, not things that are above. They experience the most joy, not when they’re communing with God in prayer. Not when they’re hearing from God through His word. But instead, when they finally secure the bag. When they finally get that home on the lake. When they finally get that corner office. When they finally go on that dream vacation. Then they’re sailing and in all of this . . . the greedy person shows that they’re chief end is not to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. But instead, their chief end is to glory in self, while giving God second place. God doesn’t do second place. He never has. We see this in the Old and the New Testaments alike, when we see the examples of possessions and greed and covetousness pitted against pursuit of God.
Like Psalm 52:7, back in the Old Testament. It says, “Behold, the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and was strong in his evil desire.”
Or note this connection in the New Testament, regarding this connection between idolatry for things and worship of God. The competition between the two.
Hebrews 13:5 – “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,’ so that we confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me’?”
Of course, midway through His Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 6:24, the Lord infamously says, “You cannot serve God and wealth.”
Can you be a wealthy Christian? Can you pursue wealth as a Christian? Most certainly you can. But only while heeding what Paul says here in verse 5 of Colossians 3, that you must “consider the members of your earthly body as dead to . . . greed, which amounts to idolatry.”

So, there we have it. We have this catalogue of sins listed out here by Paul. We have this over-arching command, to put each one of those sins to death. I’ve got to say, this is where a number of preachers will sort of put it in park and leave it here. They’ll say things like: “Well, I’ve given you all the meanings of the words here.” “I’ve thrown in some Greek definitions.” “So, stop sinning.” “Let’s pray, let’s go to lunch.” As I see it . . . Shepherds are supposed to shepherd. We don’t just dryly read off facts, like we’re reading from the phone book. We don’t just act as though we’re lecturing here in a college classroom and call it a day. No. We tend, we feed, we lead our people. We nudge our people. Occasionally, we rap our people on the nose, with the authority of God’s word, if we need to. Apparently, every once in a while, we get out the shepherd’s crook and give our people a little tug. I mention all that, because what I’m going to do right now, is take a “pause” from the exposition of this text and do some practical shepherding, right from this pulpit. Ok? I’m going to give you eight ways to be putting your sin to death. A lot of people will leave a place like this, and they’ll say, great, the Pastor told me to put my sin to death. What do I do? I’m going to give you eight ways. You can be thinking about what it looks like to put your sin to death.

First, recognize the root of your sin. If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ. You’re a new person.
“The old things passed away; behold, [II Corinthians 5:17] new things have come.”
You have been “buried with [Christ] in baptism.” Colossians 2:12
You’ve been “raised” to newness of life. You’ve been made “alive together with Him”, Colossians 2:13.
But you are still living in a sin-cursed body. In a sin-cursed word. A temptation to sin is ever present. There’s this enemy, “prowl[ing] around like a roaring lion”, I Peter 5:8, who is seeking to take you down. Serving as the control center of your sin-cursed body, is your heart.
Jesus said in Matthew 15:19 – “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.”
So, to put your sin to death. Is going to involve you recognizing just how deep the roots of your sin sink. Namely, to the level of your heart. That’s going to involve you committing, at that heart level, to . . . repent . . . to turn from your sin. It’s not a matter of just dressing up the outside, it’s a matter of doing business with God on the inside and committing to living a whole new manner.

Second, is to submit to Christ’s Lordship. Each of the sins that we’ve worked through here in verse 5. “Immorality”, “Impurity”, “Greed”, all of them. Ultimately point to refusal to submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Sadly, there have been multiple generations of Christians now. Who have been raised on the jingle that you just need to “ask Jesus into your heart,” and accept Him as our personal Savior. Take out the fire insurance policy. Without affirming, and living out, the reality that He is Lord. But what did Jesus Himself say to His disciples in Luke 6:46? He said: “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and . . . not [what?] do what I say?”
You’ll never win in the battle against sin; unless you acknowledge and submit yourself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Commit to doing what He says in the word.

Third, embrace the battle. To put sin to death, means acknowledging . . . realistically . . . that you have a fight on your hands. Sure, the follower of Christ is free in Christ. Positionally, we have been liberated from sin.
Romans 6:6 says, “our old self was crucified with Him.”
But now, having been freed, we are still slaves . . . slaves of Christ. Having been freed, we’re still slaves . . . Romans 6:18 – “of righteousness.”
As “slaves of righteousness” . . . we are called to apply every ounce of energy that we have . . . with the Spirit’s help, of course, to live holy and godly lives.
In I Corinthians 9:26-27, Paul speaks about disciplining his body and making it his slave. Does that sound easy to you? Not to me. To put sin to death is not always easy. Or painless. Or pleasant. But the reality is, there are no off days in the Christian faith. To kill sin, is a necessity. It’s a requirement of living for Christ.

Fourth, call sin “sin.” Your sin is not just a mistake. It’s not just a whoopsie. It’s not a character flaw. It’s not clinical. This is not a medical issue. Your sin is just that – it’s sin and sin, at its root, is the exact opposite of everything God is in His character. Ralph Venning – one of the old guys, the old dudes from 500 years ago, says this: “as God is holy, all holy, only holy, altogether holy, and always holy, so sin is sinful, all sinful, only sinful, altogether sinful, and always sinful.” Not only that, sin, as we know from scripture, is an offense against God.
“Sin is lawlessness”, says 1 John 3:4. Not only that, every sin that you and I have committed, or will commit, contributed to the anguish that our Lord experienced at Calvary. Those truths ought to weigh heavily on us. When we’re contemplating sin. Considering sin. Or even coming out of some season of sin that we’ve been in.

Fifth, resist the urge to compare. Now, this one is self-explanatory. Your sin is your sin – before a holy God. As is mine. How others have sinned, ultimately isn’t an out-card for you. It’s not a get out of jail free card for you. If you’re a liar . . that someone else is an adulterer doesn’t make you any less a liar . . . you’re still a liar, if you’re a liar. Flavel, John Flavel says: “. . . it is easier to declaim against a thousand sins of others, than to mortify one sin in ourselves.”

Sixth, pray.
Matthew 6:13, the words of our Lord, and what we know as the Lord’s prayer, says: “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
In other words, we ask God for help. Cry out to the one you are sinning against. Know that it is only through His power that you’ll ever find success in putting sin to death. John Owen, in his classic work, The Mortification of Sin, says this: “It is the Spirit alone that can mortify sin; he is promised to do it, and all other means without him are empty and vain . . . A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit.” That means praying for the Spirit’s help. Convicting us and pruning us and conforming us into the image of Christ. As we progressively put sin to death.

Seventh, seek accountability. In your bible studies. In your book studies. In your ladies’ coffee meetings, your men’s coffee meetings. Are you talking about sin? Are you seeking accountability as you are fighting the sin you’re still battling? Or are you getting bogged down in theological minutiae . . . and never talking about matters of the heart? Another old guy, George Swinnock rightly says this: “the cruel pirate Satan watches for those vessels that sail without a convoy.” You need people around you. You need other believers around you. Where you can share with and seek accountability from. Don’t run into the rocks by taking your eye off what truly matters.

Eighth, is this: persevere. Don’t let your guard down. Keep your head up. Stay on alert. Knowing again, that your enemy is what? “Prowling around like a roaring lion.” This is a lifelong battle. It never ends. It might look different in certain seasons of life. As you grow in maturity. As you find new ways to fight sin in your maturity. But don’t ever fall into the trap of believing, this side of glory, that some individual skirmish that you had with sin, that you successfully fought and defeated, means it will never crop up again. Again, Owen says: “Let no man think to kill sin with few, easy, or gentle strokes. He who has one smitten a serpent, if he does not follow on his blow until he be slain, may [regret] that ever he began the quarrel. And so will he who undertakes to deal with sin and pursues it not constantly to death.”

We haven’t even finished one verse yet. But there is this one massive question that’s hanging out there. The question I have to ask all of you to reflect upon and pray through over the coming week. Are you mortifying your sin? Are you intentionally and consciously, with the Spirit’s help, seeking to put your sin to death? Or instead, are you deceived into thinking that Jesus is just a cheap ticket to heaven? Once that ticket is punched . . . or so you think . . . that you can just go on living however you please? Don’t deceive yourselves. I John 3:9 says, “No one who is born of God practices sin.” The text that we’ve just looked at makes it clear that we are, as Christians, because we’re Christians, called to be “putting our sin to death.” Because we have “died with Christ.” We should be doing what’s mentioned here in verse 5. “Consider[ing] the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.”

I need to move us along. We looked at The Command, verse 5. I told you we’d spend most of our time there. Now, in verse 6, The Consequence.
Colossians 3:6 – “For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.”
Now, Paul here starts with this contrastive statement: “For it is because of these things . . .” What thing, Paul? The “things” he mentioned back in verse 5: “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed.” Then he continues, verse 6: “. . . it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience.”
This is standard warning language from Paul. In fact, when we did that little tour of the various lists that he gave. In each one of those, he also gives a warning, just like we see here. Now, who are “the sons of disobedience”? Simply put, “sons of disobedience” means the unbeliever. Those who reject God. Those who reject Christ. Those who reject the gospel. Those who are dead in their sins. Ephesians 2:1-2 puts it this way, linking deadness in sin with being a “son of disobedience.”
Ephesians 2:1-2 – “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.”
The unbeliever, the one who is opposed to God. “Dead in [their] . . . sin” as it says here in Ephesians 2:1. Also faces the eternal wrath of God. The wrath of God will come on “the sons of disobedience.” By the way, if sin is an unpopular topic in churches today. I think the wrath of God must be a close second. You hear it all the time: “My God is a God of love.” “Well, to me, God would never inflict punishment.” “My God would never judge.” Now, of course, who you think God is and who I think God is. Our opinions about God, ultimately have zero relevance. What is of chief importance is what God has said about Himself. How He has revealed who He actually is. God has most certainly revealed Himself as being a God who, as an extension of His righteousness. As an extension of His holiness and as an extension of His love, specifically his love for His own justice . . . He’s a God of wrath.
His “eyes,” Habakkuk 1:13 says, “are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor.”
He’s a God, Psalm 5:5, who “hate[s] all who do iniquity.”
He’s a God, Psalm 7:11, who is “a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation [anger] every day.”
You would have to do some pretty incredible linguistic gymnastics to get around those passages. Claim that God is not a God of wrath. How does God display His wrath? Well, there’s really two ways to think about it:
One, is that the wrath of God, we know, hovers over the unbeliever today, in their present condition.
John 3:36 says, “He who believes in the Son [these are the words of our Lord] has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Or Romans 1:18 says, “. . . the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness . . .”
So, there’s present day wrath that is hovering over the unbeliever today. But we also know, as we read through the rest of the scriptures, that there are coming days. Future events where God’s wrath will be poured out in full measure on the unbeliever. We know the bowls of judgment that come about in the days of Tribulation in the book of Revelation. We know that final judgment, future judgment is coming at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, when He comes on the clouds, and is wielding a sword. We know that judgment, future judgment is coming at that day, known as the Great White Throne Judgment, which we see in Revelation 20, where it says, if anyone’s name is “not found written in the book of life, [they’re] thrown into the lake of fire.”

Getting back to Colossians 3, the point Paul is making here, is that for unbelievers today. Verse 6, those who are “sons of disobedience”, the “wrath of God” already hangs ominously over them. If you’re an unbeliever today, you need to know that the “wrath of God” hangs ominously over your head. Like a sword of Damocles today. But there is coming a day, where God’s wrath will be meted out in its full measure, on all unbelief and wickedness in this world. The heavens seem to be silent right now. The unbeliever grows increasingly bold in flaunting and philandering and sinning and thumbing his nose at God, for now. But God is patient. He does not desire that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. And importantly, God will not be mocked.

Paul is making another point here in verse 6. As he’s writing to the Colossians, he’s saying that to the unbelievers there, the “sons of disobedience” . . . they’re acting as one would expect. Unbelievers are acting in “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed.” They’re doing what unbelievers do. What unrepentant sinners do. You want to know what unrepentant sinners do? They sin with lack of repentance. That’s what they do. “But you”, Paul is saying here. “Something different happened to you, which makes you different.” “And now, you’re to act in a different manner.”

That takes us to our third point this morning. If you’re a note taker, here’s our heading . . . it’s The Contrast.
Verse 7: “. . . and in them [it says, meaning those evil deeds] you also once walked, when you were living in them.”
We won’t spend too much time here. Both for the sake of time, but also because it’s such a simple point. But Paul here is making his point by way of contrast. In verse 5, we see this command to believers to put their sins to death. In verse 6, we see this temporary shifting of the focus to non-believers . . . and doing what non-believers do, which is to sin, habitually. Then, we go back to verse 7. The camera shifts back to the believer, the Colossian Christians’ here and Paul is simply reminding them, that though they once indulged in those various sins listed out there in verse 5. Because God, by His grace, “rescued [them] [Colossians 1:13] from the domain of darkness” . . . they no longer lived in that old dark domain, from which they were rescued, and they were no longer to walk in the darkness.
That’s summarized well elsewhere by Paul, in Ephesians 5:8, where he says, “. . . for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord.” He goes on to say, so “. . . walk as children [in] Light.”

Are you walking as a “child of Light” here this morning? If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ today, are you “walk[ing] as [a child] of Light”? Are you doing what I John 2:6 commands the believer to do? To walk as He walked, as Jesus walked. Are you doing what Paul says, elsewhere in Galatians 5:25, to the believer? Are you “walk[ing] by the Spirit”? One of the ways that you’ll know that you are . . . that you’re walking as a child of light. That you’re walking as He walked. That you’re walking in the Spirit. Is that you have a consistent track record of continuously putting sin to death. Which really has been the entire point of this passage. That is important for the believer of sending sin packing. Sending sin on its death march. As it walks off the plank. And plunges deep into the sea.

Now, I just have to say, if you’re here as an unbeliever this morning. Whether by your own admission, or by deception. What I don’t want you to hear, as you leave this place . . . is that “oh great, I just need to stop being immoral.” “I just need to stop being impure.” “I need to curb my passions and my greed.” “That will make me right with a holy God.” It doesn’t work that way. Christianity is not a works-based religion. It’s not a work-based faith. All of Christianity is all about the fact that it has already been done for you. If you simply acknowledge that you can’t do it. If you simply acknowledge that it has been done for you. That your sin debt was nailed to the cross. The cross of Calvary. Jesus took nails for you. And bled for you. And died for you. If you will trust in Him and what He did. You can have eternal life. You can be saved. You can walk in the manner that Christians are called to walk. What we’ve been having this morning, has been a family conversation. One Christian speaking to other Christians. But if you’re not a Christian. Don’t be deceived. Don’t think that you can just kind of will your way, or work your way, or become a better version of your old self and pull the wool over God’s eyes, and He’ll let you in. You must trust in Jesus Christ in order to be saved. You must believe that Jesus Christ, His finished work on the cross, specifically, to have your sin debt expunged. To have eternal life secured and to enjoy the glories of heaven.

Let’s pray.
God, thank You so much for this time together. Thank You for Your clear word. Your perfect word. Your sure word. Which guides believers for all generations. Thank You, as we’ve worked through this text. It’s a hard text. It’s a convicting text. It pinches us, where we, in our flesh, don’t want to be pinched. But it’s a necessary text. An important text. I do pray for the believers here, as they leave here, they would be reminded, that with the Spirit’s help, this can be done. Precisely, because we are children of God. We can fight sin and we can put sin to death. But, for unbelievers here, I do pray that they would see how hopeless their state is. How they can’t word their way. Or earn their way. Or better themselves toward heaven. That Christ is the only way. Trusting in His finished work is the only way. I do pray that there would be some here who would be willing to acknowledge that and be saved. God, we thank You for your Son, Jesus. We thank You for a salvation that’s been purchased through Him. We seek to honor Him throughout this week. In Jesus’ name. Amen