A Reflection of What We Behold

A Reflection of What We Behold

Colossians 3 verse number 16 this evening. And here in verse number 16 we read, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

May the Lord bless His word to our hearts that we've read here this evening.

I was just thinking once again of this past week, I preached on the matter of how we need to cry to God. Help us give us wisdom. I need wisdom in a lot of different situations of life. I need wisdom from God. And yet if I'm going to get wisdom, what did David say? He says on one 19 verse 130, wasn't it? He said the entrance of thy words, give it the light, the entrance of the words of God. Give light to us. They give understanding to the simple. We said the simple are those who don't know what they need to know, right? And the fools are the fools are those who reject the knowledge and the light, they reject it. It's not that they haven't heard it's they don't, they didn't listen, right? The fool doesn't listen, but the simple is listening or the simple needs to listen, and needs to learn and gain the wisdom to gain the instructions of life.

And you know in a sense, we can hear people talk about, you know, the go before us that are before us in age, they can talk about different things that are ahead for us, and in a sense we are simple, and we need wisdom for each new stage of life because we've never been this way before. There are certain principles, there are certain things in God's word that certainly they lap over every season of life that we find ourselves in, but there is a certain sense in which we need to hear it all over again because there are things that God will make us wise in for that season of life that we didn't even, ways that we didn't even see it before, and we didn't need to see it at that time from God's, from the gem of God's word.

You know, but as the light refracts through that stone, so to speak, of the beautiful gem of God's word, there are different things that come out about that, that refracts the light comes to us in a unique way that we need for that particular season of our lives. So this is why we're told here to let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Let it saturate you, let it saturate your thinking, let it soak in.

You know, we like a good soaking rain, don't we? Don't let it, you know, there's little raindrops that hit the ground and they settle the dust, but they don't do a lot of good because they just wet the dust down, but the ones that actually penetrate and get down into the soil and get to the roots actually benefit the plants. They benefit the plants and help them to grow. And so it is with God's word. We need to meditate in God's word. That's been said that we, well, it's been said you are what you eat, but spiritually that's the same too, isn't it? You are what you eat spiritually. You are what you meditate on. And it's said another way what we give our attention to is what controls our lives. Where we set our affection, set your affection on things above the scripture says, not on things on the earth. Get your hearts, your mind's attention, your eyes of your heart, get them on the Lord and get them on His word and not on this world. Not on yourself, but get them on the Lord. Let His word dwell in you richly and all wisdom. Look to Him in prayer.

And then as it says, as we just read here tonight, we see these different portions of this passage that you receive. The first part is meditation, but it dwell in you richly. She want it, you know? In all wisdom, that's illumination. As dwells in us richly, if we really are meditating in God's law, day and night, then we're going, there's going to be illumination, right? There's going to be enlightenment of our understanding too. Ah, that's what I need to do. That's what I need to say. And then we need to go say it, right? And we need to go do it. It says, teaching. And it might have seen one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual Psalms.

You know, Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want it. It goes on. It says, my cup runeth over. Well, whatever's in your cup is going to run over, isn't it? Whatever's in that cup, which is what you're meditating on day and night, what saturating you're thinking is going to spill over for good or for bad. It's going to run over and for good or for bad effect others. And I think of it, you know, this way, we have one cup. And every day we get to fill it with good things or bad things. We get to fill it. We get to fill our hearts and minds, either with the Word of God or with worry and fear or whatever. It may be we get it filled up and then inevitably when the test comes, the tests come, that what's in that cup comes out, doesn't it? It's revealed just like the, whatever's in that tea bag when it gets put in the hot water comes out. It's the same thing. It's the same thing when trials come to our lives.

And then ultimately, not only are we teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, but then it says, now Godward, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Praise. So meditation, illumination, godly speech we might say, edifying speech we were just told recently. And we're to edify one another. We're to comfort one another, right? And then we are to praise the Lord. Your praise to the Lord has a lot to do with what you've been thinking of, right? What have you been meditating on? Have you been thinking on the goodness of the Lord? I'll dwell on the goodness of the Lord. I'll delight myself in the Lord. Well, that's the pattern that Paul is setting forth here in verse number 16. And then it goes on into what we do, whatever you do in Word or indeed, right? Or deed. Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. And there's always this need of giving thanks, right? Giving thanks to God and the Father by him. So it all starts, it begins with what we meditate on and it ends with what we say and what we do.

When he's saying what we do, I saw something this week, someone shared. And it was a visual and it has these some questions on it. And it says, what if we began to treat our Bibles the way we treat our cell phones? Well, I tell you that one, that really is a very pertinent question for me. We need to ask that question. What if we began to treat our Bibles the way we treat our cell phones? What if we, it says, carry it with us everywhere? Well, you might say, I've got a Bible on my cell phone. That's true. There's nothing else on that Bible except the Bible, right? There's nothing else to get distracted within the Bible. I know we can't be reading it every moment of the day. But we need to take the name of Jesus with us. We might even just take a few verses with us. But it's something to meditate on, right? Something to keep the Lord at the forefront of our thoughts. Well, it asks a question. What if we turned back to go, get it if we forgot it? How many times have you turned around and gone back and got your cell phone, right? What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it? How do we ever survive when our cell phone points? I actually remember, I remember that time existed as a child. I mean, even I still remember to this day the first cell phone that my dad got. It looked like he was getting ready to detonate a bomb or something. He was a big old, you know, the big old device. And now we have these little ones. Actually, they got smaller in the 2000s and they got bigger again. But anyway, they have more computing power, right? Well, it asks a question. What if we checked it for messages throughout the day? What if we used it in case of an emergency? What if we spent an hour or more using it each day? Wow, those are some searching questions, aren't they? Obviously, I'm not going to throw my cell phone. I don't think you're going to throw your cell phone out, but we need to be conscious, right? We need to be conscious that God's word is really the lamp to our feet, the light to our pants. It must wellen us richly in all wisdom.

The God of this world knows. He knows that what we meditate on is going to spill over into what we say and what we do. He knows what you and a lot of the social media and things like that. They're geared to keep you consuming, right? Keep thinking on this, keep looking at this. God wants to guide us in His word, but there's also the devil wants to guide us in our thinking away from God's word. He wants to get us thinking thoughts that we shouldn't be thinking, meditating on things. Really, even if it's not a terrible thing, it might just feel a waste of time that we shouldn't be thinking on. But without God, we're not going to have the right words to say. I think I mentioned last week, I know I mentioned last week, that we are in need of wisdom. And if we don't have the wisdom, then we'll end up sinning and doing a thing that we'll sin against God instead of pleasing Him because we won't have the right thoughts. So we won't have the right words and we won't have the right actions in our lives.

We can Philippians 4 with me. Philippians 4, there's a direct command given to us here. You know it, I'm sure very well. Philippians chapter 4, verse number 6, it says here to be careful, the anxious for nothing. There's no reason for you to worry and be anxious. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which passeth all understandings shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally brethren, what's the other things are true. There's a lot of stuff that we hear about, that we read about, that we don't really even know if it's true doing. You know somebody said this was the case and all kinds of conjecture. Allegedly, you know there's all these things. But there's plenty that we can give ourselves to thinking all that we know is true. What's who everything's are true? What's over things are honest. What's over things are just. What's over things are pure. What's over things are lovely. What's whoever things are a good report. If there be any virtue, there be any praise, think on these things. Don't waste your time on things that are not worth thinking on. Spend your time thinking on things that are worthy of your consideration. Well, give your attention to the right things and God's peace. Don't be anxious, but give your attention to the right things and God's peace will keep your hearts and minds as you let the Word of Christ well and you richly. And as you meditate on His truths, as you pray and as it says here verse number six, in everything, instead of worrying about it and everything, pray and give supplication with thanksgiving. That peace will keep your hearts and minds. We know the passage well that will keep in the perfect peace, whose mind stayed on the. Val will keep him, it's a promise, whose mind is stayed on the. Because he trusted in the Isaiah saying, because he trusted in the. On the other hand, what our mind is filled with the obedient thoughts, there's no rest in our hearts and minds. But restless aren't we. We're restless because we know there's bad gas in the tank, so to speak. But we ate junk food and our stomach is upset spiritually. We can't meditate on this. We need to. We need to. We need to vomit it out. We need to get rid of it some way. Don't. At least it's sweet going down. But when it's in your stomach, it will be bitter and it will. It will upset you. And so it is.

says not only be here, be doers of the word, and James 1, where over there he says that we not only need to look into the mirror of God's word being a here, but we need to actually, you know, and all in the mirror and then just go all in the same way you were, but let the word change you. In other words, it's kind of the idea of let it, the saturating, you know, the word willing you richly, let it work into that perfect law of liberty. Don't be forgetful here, but a doer of the work and you'll be blessed in your deed, that man will be blessed in his deed. That's the kind of, that's the kind of attention that we need to give to God's word. But look what the psalmist says here in Psalm 37 verse number 1, Psalm 37 verse number 1, and the command here in verse number 1 is this, fret not by self because of able doers, neither be thou in the yes against the workers of iniquity. How do we know what the workers of iniquity are doing? Well, we have to look no further than the news and we see it on a lot of times we get our news through, maybe not a television always, but through some social media report or something like that. We hear about it in a number of different ways and when you hear the news, when you read the reports, a lot of it is meant to cause fear in people's hearts and minds. A lot of it is meant to be shocking all and to be honest, I mean how many times can you hear good news reports? It's not very often. Or if somebody is always slamming and slandering and doing something, saying something, detracting whether it be a, whether it be politically, whether it be about crime, or whether it be about war or any number of things that are going on in this world disease, there are so many things. Well, fret not by self because of able doers. They idea of fret as I've said before, it's kind of at the root of it had the idea of to devour, to that's what worry will do. That's what fear will do, that fretting will do to you, it will consume you. But don't let your mind be consumed with these thoughts. Don't be envious of the wicked. Don't fret yourself because of the workers of a niquity because of evil doers. As we read in the book, he was foolish when he envied the wicked, right? Because of their prosperity. Let all that heart envies sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long? That means you need to be in his word all the day long. You need to be thinking about God. Even when you view the evil doers and workers of niquity, you need to make sure you view all of that through the lens of God's word. It was only when Asaf went to the house of the Lord that he remembered heaven's perspective on the end of the wicked. Not just their current prosperity, but their ultimate end. And then as he viewed it through that lens, he wasn't envious anymore, was he? That's how it is with God's word. His word enters our hearts and minds. It gives us wisdom and gives us light. And as that word dwells on us richly in all wisdom, then we can speak. We can act. We can think right. We can be fruitful as Psalm 20 plus Psalm 1 talks about and certainly as Psalm 23 talks about.

But here we see back in Psalm 37 in verse number 2, for they, that is the evil doers, the workers of niquity shall soon be cut down like the grass. And whether as the green herb, oh, we should pity them. We should pray for them. We should witness to them. We should not. You know what Noah did? The scoffers, I didn't say that Noah preached righteousness for a few years and finally got tired and hung it up and said, y'all just all died in your sins. You know, he kept, he was a preacher of righteousness. He kept preaching. He kept giving the truth. It didn't matter how much that they mocked and scoffed at him. He wasn't going to change. His hope was in the Lord. I'm sure he was tempted in a variety of different ways to throw in the towel. I'm sure he was tempted with the discouragement. He was a human being. But he kept on and he was in the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord. That's all he just read there just a moment ago of what I mentioned. Don't let your heart envy sinners but be down in the fear of the Lord. That's what Noah, that's how Noah lived. Put all your weight in the Lord, trust in his promises. What does it say in verse three? Trust in the Lord and do good. So shall thou dwell in the land and barely thou shalt be fed here. The Lord will provide. He'll feed you. Just keep meditating on his word. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. and not to your own understanding. Verse four says, Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Delight means to take great pleasure in something, doesn't it? We don't have any trouble delighting ourselves in ice cream and good things. Yummy, sweet things like that. At least I don't. I enjoy, I enjoy eating those yummy things, savory things, sweet things. How delightful they are. Maybe we might regret it. We might be fat and flourishing if we get too much of them. But the thing is, they're sure are good. They're delightful. We should delighting God's word in that way. Take great pleasure in His word. Oh, how sweet. Like the honeycomb. The word of God is to me. I taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed are all they that trust in Him. Taste His word. Feed on His word. Meditate on His word. Savor His word, right? Savor it. You know, when you have a good meal, you ever had that sensation. I don't want to put anything else in my mouth. I don't want to ruin this taste. It's so, it's so delicious. A good steak, you know. I just want to meditate on this for a little while. We're going. And so it should be with God's word. We shouldn't be quick to want to get it out of our minds. You know, get on to other things. Well, we obviously have to do things, but Lord held me to bring that back to my memory and my mind throughout the day that I don't forget your word. Help me not to wander from my commandments.

In verse five, it says, commit thy way unto the Lord. And trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. Do everything you do for the glory of God. Commit your way. Commit what you're doing, your path. To the Lord. Trust in Him. Trust He's going to keep you. Trust He's going to guide you. Trust He's going to help you. Give you the wisdom that you need. Trust Him with it. In trust, you're all way to Him. And ask Him to lead you by His word in the decisions, the directions of life. Commit your business to Him. Commit your finances. Commit your endeavors to the Lord. And as we do that, He will guide us. He will guide us in the way we ought to go.

In verse six, it says, and He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light. And thy judgment as the new day. He will guide thy steps of right through the veil and or the height. Because it says that the hymns say it is glory just to walk with Him. It's the delight to walk with the Lord. If we commit our way unto the Lord. And rest in the Lord verse seven cents. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Prick not thyself. Prick, there's that word again, not thyself. Because of Him who prosper than His way. We're told this a number of times in Scripture because it's our tendency, isn't it? It's our tendency to brew on more of some things. To let it let it just gnaw away at us. What if I could do? We worry about it. How am I going to handle this? How am I going to do this? I don't know if I can do it. I don't know what's going to happen to me. I don't know. I don't know. Or why why why why? But as he says here, Prick not thyself because of Him who prosper than His way. Because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass. If we let fret eat away at us, then what we're going to end up doing is get angry. Seize from anger. Seize from anger. And forsake wrath. You let that worry just brew and brew and brew in your inner man. It's going to start, it's going to start, the pot's going to start flowing over, and it's going to be anger. It's going to start boiling over in anger. For sake wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Because that's the natural result of all that fretting. You know, if we realize in a given day that we're starting to fill our cup with friends, we're going to be in the Just stop filling it up with fret. Say, Lord, forgive me for worrying. Please help me to remember your word. Help me to think on your word. I need your word to help me in my thinking. It's so, it's so easy at times because of a multitude of different kinds of words to just revert to fretting. But Lord, help me sinful, thylight. The entrance of thy words give light. So give them to me, Lord. Help me to remember some truth in your word if it is nothing but what we've read tonight. Careful for nothing. How many times have my, the Holy Spirit has spent me in my spirit chasing me and said, You know, well, you should not be, you should not be worrying about this thing, but you should be careful for nothing and everything by prayer. How many times? Well, commit thy works. Well, it says here in verse number eight, cease from anger and forsake wrath, fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. Don't resort to the tactics of the wicked. Two wrongs never make a right. Don't do wrong in order to get a chance to do right. Don't try to get even. Don't, don't try to get back. That's the devil's tactics. You trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord. And he says in verse number nine, for evil doers shall be cut off. But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. I think about the, I don't know if any of you saw that pastor in Louisiana here recently that, I just said his name earlier today. I can't think of it right this minute. But anyway, the pastor in Louisiana that evidently for what they say, the neighbors across the road have just been just paying to deal with for years now, and I guess the pastor came to a breaking point when what the 20 year old son was yelling threats across the road. He didn't have any weapon in his hand, but he was yelling threats against his family. The pastor's family told him he was going to kill him all and he was out of town and all this kind of stuff. Saying things like that and instead of reporting it to the police, which I think they had done in the past, he went across the road and confronted the guy and put in a very aggressive manner and ended up beating him down into the ground and all this kind of thing. And I thought, you know, I can understand the emotion of that moment. I understand why. What led him to do that, but we, and I'm not trying to say this in a whole year that involves sort of sense, but we've got to be careful that we don't let anger rise up in us to the point. Now if somebody's coming and trying to actually kill my family the moment I'll protect them from that, but don't, we've got to, I think I've said before as Christians, we've got to of all people deescalate. We cannot escalate situations. We ought not to. We ought not to let anger control us. You know, this is evil doers shall be cut off, but those that wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. So we need to cease from anger. We need to forsake wrath. We need to fret not ourselves in any wise to do evil.

Well, look at verse 10, it says, for yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be. Yay. Thou shall diligently consider his place and that shall not be. Oh, even though we're tempted at times to get angry and to retaliate instead once again, we need to have pity. God, the merciful to these folks, God humbled them and helped them to see their need of righteousness, helped them to see if somebody is attacking my family, I'm not going to be praying that prayer, I'm going to be beating them off of them or shooting them or something. Because I'm going to protect life. But I'm talking about people can say all they want. They have the right to say certain things in this country. If that, you know, maybe they need to talk to the police department if they're communicating threats, I understand that. But the point is, vengeance is mine, the Lord said, I will repay.

In verse 11, but the meek shall inherit the earth. Oh, we should be slow to wrath. We should be swift here. We should be slow to speak. The meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. as it says here in verse 11. Oh, we need to be meek. Lord, help me not to get distracted with all these peripheral things, but help me to meekly be teachable and to be taught of you in your Word. May your Word dwell in me richly in all wisdom.

What controls our attention as Christians? What controls our attention? Where are our thoughts? Where will my thoughts be at this time tomorrow? On Tuesday? Well, I guess I'll be standing here on Tuesday, but maybe let's say Tuesday, mid-morning, Wednesday, mid-afternoon. Where are my thoughts going to be? What am I going to be thinking on? I know we'll be caught, I'm caught with a variety of different thoughts, because we're going to be going through a variety of different tests this week. But throughout this week, may God help us not to end the wicked, not fret because of the prosperity of evil doers. May we God help us to not be anxious about the future, but may He help us to delight ourselves in and meditate upon what's whoever is true, is lovely, good report, honest. All those things, let us meditate on those things. That's a command given to us. Let's thank on those things. That are affection on things above. Help may the Lord help us to delight in His and meditate in His wall day and night. So we'll be like, give it enough time and enough attention to God's Word that it can be like water seeping in and getting down to the roots in our lives. And fill in our cup so that it can run over and be a blessing to someone else. Because we can't be a blessing to anyone else. If we can't bring glory to God, if the Word is not dwelling in us. In fact, if His Word is not hidden in our hearts, we will sin against Him. That's what the Scripture says. So, may the Lord, through His Word, bring light, bring wisdom, as we delight in His Word this week. What were the questions that read just a few moments ago? What if we began to treat our Bibles the way we treat ourselves on? What if we carried it with us everywhere? Turned back to go get it if we forgot it. Check for messages throughout the day. Use it in case of emergency or spend an hour or more using it each day. Meditation, illumination, speech, actions and praise. We see that that sequence in Colossians 3 tonight.

Heavenly Father, thank you for these moments we have in Your Word. Thank you for the reminders. I need these reminders, Lord. I need, as I know that I am preparing throughout the week even for the messages, for the things that I am teaching and preaching and sharing with people, Lord. I need your Word to dwell in my heart and mind, richly, in all wisdom, not only for the preaching of the Word and the teaching of the Word, but in my personal meditations. And of course, out of those meditations that certainly does affect the teaching and the preaching, but Lord, I need it. Each one of us need wisdom. Each one of us need understanding as we meditate, as we delight in my law, as we give our attention to and as we look into the perfect law of liberty continuing therein. And not forgetting what you have to say to us, but carrying, taking the name of Jesus with us, then our cup can overflow with blessing. And then we can be used in a good way in the lives of others for Your glory. Blessed snails, we conclude this service with a final hymn, and we pray in Jesus name, Amen.