Once Alienated And Hostile Series

Introduction

Do you know someone personally who once professed faith in Christ but is no longer walking with Christ?

Do you sometimes wonder if you have really changed since professing faith in Christ?

Do you ever ask yourself whether you will make it safely to heaven?

John Newton (1725-1807) was a slave trader who was converted to Christ.

He eventually became a pastor and served two churches.

John Newton is perhaps best known as the author of my favorite hymn, “Amazing Grace.”

Yet, despite his clear transformation and faithful service to Christ, he sometimes struggled with assurance of his salvation.

Newton was painfully aware of ongoing sin in his life—such as pride and impatience—so that he questioned whether he truly belonged to Christ.

He lamented that, having professed faith in Christ many years earlier, he was far from where he longed to be.

These struggles stirred fears about whether he would make it safely to heaven.

Colossians 1:21-23is one of the most glorious summaries of the gospel in all of Scripture.

In our previous lesson, Colossians 1:15-20, Paul proclaimed that the peerless Christ is supreme over all things.

In today’s text, Paul turns to personal application. He begins by saying, “And you….”

What God has done in Christ is not abstract or distant—it is for you, if you are in Christ.

Today’s glorious text shows us our past, our present, and our future in Christ, encouraging us to persevere in him.

Scripture

Let’s read Colossians 1:21-23:

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Lesson

Colossians 1:21-23 teaches us that because you have been reconciled to Christ, you will continue in the faith.

Let’s use the following outline:

1. Contemplate What You Once Were (1:21)

2. Consider Where You Now Stand (1:22)

3. Continue in What You Must Do (1:23)

I. Contemplate What You Once Were (1:21)

First, contemplate what you once were.

Paul is, of course, writing to the Colossian believers.

But his words are true for believers throughout all ages.

Paul writes in verse 21, “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds....”

Paul now speaks directly to his Christian readers.

A sharp contrast is drawn between your pre-Christian past and your present standing in Christ.

Before your conversion to Christ, you were “alienated” from God.

“Alienated” means to be cut off from fellowship with God, excluded from his favor, and outside his family.

This is not merely a feeling of being far from God.

It is an objective state of separation because of sin.

Sin alienates.

In addition to being “alienated”from God, you were also “hostile in mind.”

You were not merely neutral towards God, but inwardly opposed to God's rule in your life.

Sometimes people say that they are not hostile toward God.

They say that they don’t think about God.

But that is what hostility is.

Think about an argument that you have with your spouse.

It is not a little disagreement.

It is a vehement disagreement.

Your spouse decides not to speak with you.

This goes on for days, even weeks.

The relationship is hostile.

And that is exactly the state of unbelievers who think that they have no hostility toward God when, in fact, they are “hostile in mind” toward God.

Because of your alienation and hostility, you were engaged in “doing evil deeds.”

Your alienated heart and hostile mind produced evil deeds in your life.

Sin is not a surface problem, but the fruit of a corrupt root.

You did not become a sinner because you sinned.

Instead, you sinned because you were a sinner at the very core of your being.

This is, of course, what we call “total depravity.”

Total depravity does not mean that you were as bad as you could be, but rather that no part of you was untouched by sin.

Just how intense is an unbeliever’s opposition to God?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee illustrates this point with a personal example:

“A great many people think that people are lost because they have committed some terrible sin. People are lost because their minds are alienated from God. I think this explains the fierce antagonism toward God on the part of the so-called intellectuals of our day. There is an open hatred and hostility toward God. Some time ago, I had the funeral of a certain movie star out here in California. The Hollywood crowd came to the funeral. One of the television newscasters commented on the funeral, and I appreciated what he said. He said, ‘Today Hollywood heard something that it had never heard before.’ But I also saw something there at that funeral that I had never seen before. I had never seen so much hatred in the eyes of men and women as I saw when I attempted to present Jesus Christ and to explain how wonderful He is and how He wants to save people. There is an alienation in the mind and heart of man” (J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible, Vol. 5, p. 342).