When Christ, who is our Life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. The believer's life will not be always hidden, any more than the believer's Lord. There will be a period of manifestation for both. This marks the last stage of spiritual life.

I. CHRIST IS THE ESSENCE OF OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE. This is more than saying that our life is hid with him or that he is the Author of it. "He that hath the Son hath life" (1 John 5:12; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21). We possess this life in virtue of our union with him and his resurrection (John 14:19).

II. WE SHALL SHARE WITH HIM IN HIS FINAL MANIFESTATION. 1, The manifestation of Christ is the "blessed hope" of the saints. (Titus 2:13; 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:1-8.) He will then be seen as he is (1 John 3:2), though mockers may ask, "Where is the promise of his coming?" (2 Peter 3:4). He will then appear glorious in his person, glorious in his retinue of angels, glorious in his authority.

2. We shall share in that manifestation. "It doth 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" (1 John 3:1, 2); "We wait for the Saviour" (Philippians 3:21); "The glory thou hast given me I have given them" (John 17:22); "If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17). We shall be manifested with Christ in the glory of our complete manhood, when the conjunction of soul and body shall be perfect and indissoluble. We may well set our mind on things above in view of such a glorious prospect. - T. C.

What is meant by life? The word is very comprehensive, and includes —

1. Appropriate activity.

2. Happiness. The life here intended is

(1)not natural life;

(2)not intellectual life;

(3)but spiritual and eternal life. Christ is our life in that He is —

I. ITS AUTHOR.

1. He saves us from death.

(1)By His atonement which satisfies the law.

(2)By delivering us from the power of Satan.

2. He is the author of inward spiritual life. Because —

(1)He procures for us the gift of the life-giving Spirit. He has redeemed us in order that He might receive the promise of the Spirit.

(2)He not only merits, but imparts the gift of the Holy Spirit.

II. ITS OBJECT.

1. The exercises in which Christian life consists terminate on Him.

2. The happiness involved consists in fellowship with Him. He is our life as He is our joy, portion, inheritance.

III. ITS END. It is Christ for us to live. While others live for themselves — some for their country, some for mankind — the believer lives for Christ. It is the great design of his life to promote Christ's glory and advance His kingdom. Inferences:

1. Test of character. The difference between the true and nominal Christian lies here. The one seeks and regards Christ as His life only as He delivers from death; the other as the end and object of life.

2. The true way to grow in grace, or to get life, is to come to Christ.

3. The happiness and duty of thus making Christ our life.

(C. Hodge, D. D.)

1. Life is seen around us striking out in tender beauty in the tiny flower which opens its delicate bosom to the light of the sun, or developing into majesty and grandeur in the giants of the forest — this is vegetable life.

2. Life is seen breaking out in the songs of birds, and displayed in the movements of the lower creatures and in the manifold activities of men — this is animal life.

3. Life is seen in the speculations of the philosopher, the research of the historian, the musings of the poet, and the contrivances of the architect and mechanician — this is intellectual life.

4. Life is seen in that hatred to sin, those yearnings after holiness, those graces of faith, hope, etc., the anticipation for heaven which characterize the true Christian — this is spiritual life, To Christ all these may be traced, but Paul is here speaking of the last.

I. CHRIST ON THE CROSS IS THE SOURCE OF OUR LIFE. Spiritual life is no new principle; it was bestowed by Christ as the Almighty Creator. But here we have to view Christ not as the Lord of life, but the victim of death. What an amazing contrast. Yet by the latter He brought life and immortality to light. From this His life flows out to those dead in sin.

II. CHRIST IN THE HEART IS THE ESSENCE OF OUR LIFE. He not only procures, but is our life. "I am the life." When we receive life we receive Him. The faith which saves embraces not an abstraction, a truth, but a Person. Many are satisfied with knowing about Christ — the Christian has vital union with Him.

III. CHRIST IN HIS ORDINANCES IS THE SUPPORT OF OUR LIFE. All life requires sustenance. A flower that receives no rain or sunshine withers. God has appointed means for the nourishment of our life.

1. Secret prayer. What is this? An interview with a Person, not the mere utterance of desire breathed into the vacant air; growing intimacy with Christ; the soaring of the soul into the atmosphere of love and joy which makes the pulse of life beat more firmly. "The Christian's vital breath," etc.

2. The Sabbath, and its opportunities for sustained intercourse with Christ in sanctuary services (Psalm 63:2). The want of profit in these arises from not seeking God in them. Those who find Him receive augmentation of life.

3. The Lord's Supper, in which Christ brings Himself specially near, and to realize Him in it is to receive out of His fulness grace for grace.

IV. CHRIST ON EARTH IS THE PATTERN OF OUR LIFE. All life has some outward manifestation. Every grace embodies itself in act. "Work of faith," etc. God has given us a rule in His Word after which we should conform ourselves. But He has taught us also by example. In Christ's lowly condition He has taught us not to be ashamed of our poverty. As a workman He ennobled trade. The sorrowful may be comforted by thinking of the Man of sorrows. What an example we have in Him of self-sacrifice, love, forgiveness, courage, etc. The closer we study His life the more we shall be assimilated to it as Moses was to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 3:18).

V. CHRIST IN HEAVEN IS THE CONSUMMATION OF OUR LIFE. Here we have but grace, glory lies beyond. His presence in glory is a pledge that we shall share it. The bonds of union will be drawn closer. "For ever with the Lord," etc. Conclusion: There is no true life but in Christ. Let us beware lest Christ's lamentation, "Ye will not come unto Me," etc., be over us.

(W. Steele, M. A.)

"What think ye of Christ?" The proper answer is the text. It is not said merely that He lives in us, or that we live by Him or through Him, but that He is our life. Let us apply this —

I. TO THE CHRISTIAN'S RELATIVE LIFE: justification.

1. We are all dead in law. The soul destitute of the favour of God is dead. There remains only the execution of the sentence to complete our misery.

2. In this state Christ finds us and undertakes to be our life. One of the first questions of an awakened soul is, "How shall a man be just with God?" The gospel replies, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." There was such merit in His cross that God, though just, becomes a Saviour. It is not by the works of the law or repentance, but by the atonement laid hold of by faith that we legally live. But this only justifies us instrumentally; Christ through it meritoriously. Whatever view the Scriptures take of it — release from curse, deliverance from wrath, remission of penalty, acceptance with God — Christ is always the author.

II. TO THE CHRISTIAN'S ACTUAL LIFE: sanctification.

1. Our death in sin is not only a death in law, but a proper alienation from the life of God. Before we can be restored to communion with God a life of purity must be imparted. Of this Christ is the cause, His Spirit the agent, His word the instrument, His example the model. The outcome of all which is that as He was so are we in the world.

2. But Christ is our life not only as it respects the way in which we are made holy, but as it respects holiness in detail. He is(1) the life of all Christian graces.(a) Faith which gives life to good works, holy tempers, joyful affections; but faith is looking to an object; that object is Christ. It is receiving a gift; that gift is Christ.(b) Hope. Our anchor is cast within the vail, and is sure and steadfast; but if Christ had not entered first our attempts to cast it had been in vain.(c) Love. Christ is its object, purifier, director.(2) The life of all Christian duties. They are inspired by Him and directed to His glory.(3) The life of Christian ordinances. These will be wells without water if He be absent — sacraments, prayers, thanksgiving, preaching.

III. THE CHRISTIAN'S FUTURE LIFE.

1. Of resurrection.(1) As His power is the agent to effect it.(2) Because His raised body will be its model.(3) Inasmuch as His appearance the second time will be its signal.

2. Of glory.(1) It is His to assign to each saint his proper place and occupation in heaven.(2) His presence mainly constitutes the bliss of heaven.(3) The degrees of heavenly glory will be regulated by the degrees of our nearness and intimacy to Christ. Conclusion:

1. The subject addresses itself most powerfully to the hearers of the gospel. Preachers labour in vain, hearers listen in vain, if there be no communication of life.

2. To earnest seekers of salvation the subject affords much encouragement. You want pardon, purity, strength, hope. Secure Christ for your life and you will have all.

3. Let Christians learn to be grateful, consistent, useful.

(Jabez Bunting, D. D.)

— No thoughtful man can be satisfied with a mere worldly life — continued existence, a round of selfish pursuits, and sensual delights which deaden the finest instincts.

I. THE VITAL PRINCIPLE THAT IS RECOGNIZED. The relation between Christ and His people is vital. Christ is not merely the source and support of their life, but is it. There can be no life — physical, mental, or spiritual — apart from the action of the Divine mind. A- sculptor may carve a most life-like figure, but he cannot impart the vital principle.

1. This life is spiritual in its nature. The Christian is surrounded by material things, and resides in a material body; but his spiritual life is distinct. Christ creates and controls it. It is the life of faith, hope, love.

2. It is eternal in its duration. It does not prevent physical dissolution, but survives it. Christ has given us the fullest assurance of our immortality? It is part of the Divine life; therefore age cannot enfeeble its powers, disease cannot impair its beauty, and death cannot terminate its existence.

3. What is your life? Are you living to gratify the lowest or highest instincts of your nature? If the former your life is not worth living.

II. THE SPLENDID SPECTACLE THAT IS PREDICTED.

1. The manner of Christ's appearing "in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." It is a splendid sight to witness a military review, to see the glittering swords, serried ranks, waving banners, to hear the clattering drums, martial strains, triumphant shout. But no earthly scene is worth comparing with the grandeur and solemnity of the second coming of Christ. Millions were ignorant of His first advent; all shall see His second.

2. Its purpose.(1) To be glorified. Once He appeared in weakness and humiliation; then in power and majesty.(2) To glorify us.

3. Its time. Unknown, and to attempt to settle it is to trifle with God's Word. When it comes it will be sudden and unexpected.

III. THE GLORIOUS HOPE THAT IS AWAKENED. From the cradle to the grave our life is inspired by hope. The Christian hope is —

1. That one day we shall be with Christ. There are earthly companionships for which the heart sighs. Our affections cling to those we love. The believer clings to Christ who is the object of all his hope and desire.

2. That one day we shall participate in Christ's glory. What that glory is no mind can conceive. Can the seed understand the sweetness and beauty of the flower? the stone the form and grace of the statue? Here God's children are often poor and unknown. By and by Christ will recognize, honour, crown them. The poet's fame is brief, the soldier's glory uncertain, the king's crown perishable, but the Christian's triumph certain and eternal.

(J. T. Woodhouse.)

Yet to appear.

I. CHRIST IS OUR LIFE.

1. This is John's way of talking. "In Him was life," etc.(1) Christ is the source of our life. "As the Father raiseth up the dead," etc. Jesus is our Alpha as well as Omega. We should have been dead in sin if it had not been said, "You hath He quickened." He gives us the living water, which is in us a well springing up into everlasting life.(2) Its substance. There is much mystery in the new nature, but none as to what is its life. Penetrate the believer's heart and you will find Christ's love throbbing there; penetrate his brain and you will find Christ to be its central thought.(3) Its sustenance. He is the living bread which came down from heaven.(4) Its solace. His loving kindness is better than life.(5) Its object. As speeds the ship towards the port, the arrow to its goal, so flies the Christian towards the perfecting of His fellowship with Christ. As the soldier fights for his captain and is crowned in his captain's victory, so the Christian. "To me to live is Christ."(6) Its exemplar. The Christian has the portrait of Christ before him as the artist has the Greek sculptures. If he wants to study life, he studies from Christ. Husbands and wives truly knit together grow somewhat like each other in expression, if not in feature, and the heart in near fellowship with Jesus must grow like Him. Grace is the light, our loving heart the sensitive plate, Jesus the object who fills the lens of the soul, and soon a heavenly photograph of His character is produced — similarity of spirit, temper, motive, action.

2. What is true concerning our spiritual life now is equally true of our spiritual life in heaven.

3. This life of Christ marks our dignity. Kings cannot claim it as such. Talk of their blue blood and pedigree, here is something more.

4. This accounts for Christian holiness. How can a man remain in sin if Christ is his life?

5. See how secure the Christian is. Unless Christ dies he cannot die.

II. CHRIST IS HIDDEN, SO, THEREFORE, IS OUR LIFE.

1. TO the unspiritual Christ is as though He did not exist. The worldling can neither see, taste, nor handle Him. Yet unseen as He is He is in heaven, full of joy, pleading before the throne, reigning, and having fellowship with His saints every where.

2. The servant is as his Lord, and is treated accordingly.

III. CHRIST WILL ONE DAY APPEAR AND WE WITH HIM.

1. How?

(1)In person.

(2)With great splendour.

2. When? No one knows, and it is impertinent to inquire.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

There are two things in daily life which exert a great influence over men — fear and hope. A man will work hard through fear that want may come or through hope of bettering his condition. God appeals to both to awaken conscience and stir up the heart to diligence. "Flee from the wrath to come." "Lay hold on eternal life." "Mortify," etc. (vers. 5, 6, and text).

I. CHRIST OUR LIFE. Many are Christ's glorious titles, but none more precious than this. Christ is our life inasmuch as He negatively delivers from death. But He does much more. In a positive sense He is our life.

1. In bringing spiritual and eternal life to the soul dead in sin. There is no life without light. When God said, "Let there be light," life soon came. So "in Him was light, and the light was the life of men." We cannot believe Christ till we know Him; when we know Him we believe, and by faith comes life. "This is life eternal," etc.

2. In being the indwelling life of the soul. An infidel once said to a man, "How can God dwell in man and man in God?" "How can fire be in iron and iron in fire? When the bar is in the furnace," was the reply. "In Christ." "Christ in you."

3. Through the soul's going out to Him for spiritual life and blessing. Plants stretch towards the light. If they are closed in a dark house, and there be a chink through which the light shines, they will stretch in that direction. Where there is spiritual life it will move towards Christ in faith and love.

4. In being the strength of our life. Herein lies alone our power for good against evil. It is no easy thing to live the Christian life; and forms afford little help against temptation and for duty. The old man must be thrown off and the new man put on, and Christ only is sufficient for that. .and just as we are strong in Christ shall we be able to discharge the duties here laid down.

II. CHRIST OUR HOPE.

1. The present position of the Christian is good: his prospect is equally good. Hence not only Christ crucified, but Christ coming was the subject of apostolic Leaching. Christ's first coming was the desire of all nations; His second the grand hope of the Church.

2. His redeemed people will appear with Him.(1) They will for ever emerge from their obscurity.(2) They will be made glorious. The ambition of many is to shine in positions of honour; but surpassing every earthly distinction will be that of appearing with Christ. "If we suffer we shall also reign with Him," and "be like Him" A dying soldier said to his friend, "I am going to the front." The front is a position of danger and honour. This good soldier of Christ was going to the front to meet the last enemy, and also to receive the crown of victory.

(T. West, B. A.)

Paul in the previous verse tells believers that their life is hid. "When shall it be discovered?" they might object. He here tells them.

I. CHRIST IS OUR LIFE.

1. As its author (John 14:6).

2. As its matter (John 6:48).

3. As its exerciser and actor (John 15:5).

4. As its strengthener and cherisher (Psalm 138:3).

5. As its completer and finisher (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). This being the case let us —(1) Not repent of anything done, suffered, or lost for Him. "All that a man hath will he give for his life."(2) Highly prize the Lord Jesus. He is worthy, and consider how highly He prizes you; and a Christ highly prized will be gloriously obeyed.

II. BELIEVERS SHALL AT LAST APPEAR GLORIOUS (Judges 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:43-44, 51-55; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; Matthew 19:26-28). The reasons are because —

1. The day of their appearing will be the marriage day of the lamb. Mourning weeds will be put off, and glorious robes put on.

2. They shall appear as kings crowned; here they are kings elected with the crown in reversion (2 Timothy 4:7-8).

3. Their enemies and persecutors will see them in their true character as God's favoured ones.

4. Their manifestation will make much for the honour of Christ. The more glorious the body or the bride, the more glorious the head or bridegroom.

5. The wicked will then justify the goodness and mercy of God in His dealings with His people. Objections will then be answered (Job 21:15; Malachi 3:14).

6. They shall be employed in glorious work (1 Corinthians 6:2-3).

(T. Brooks.)

I. CHRIST IS OUR LIFE. Our life is bound up with His. He is Source, Medium, Giver. This destroys every hope of obtaining salvation without Him. Then let the sinner trust Him alone; and let this truth fill the Christian with joy.

II. CHRIST IS NOW HID.

1. He was so to the Old Testament Church, before His first coming; He is so to the New Testament Church before His second coming. There is nothing that speaks to our eyes or ears. But this is true also of God Himself.

2. But as the invisible things of God are manifested in creation, so the invisible things of Christ are made patent by the influence of His preached truth upon the mind and heart. We live "by faith not by sight."

3. This does not interfere with His purposes of mercy. Both God and Christ can bless without discovery to the senses, and if this fact becomes a snare and an affliction to those who trust Him, it is because they seek Him by sense not by faith.

4. By this arrangement the gospel appeals to the higher elements of our nature, to those faculties which identify us with the angels; and thus it tends to lift us above the seen and temporal. It compels us to think, and should call forth gratitude.

III. CHRIST SHALL ONE DAY APPEAR.

1. This subject is shrouded in mystery, and every speculation as to the time, etc., has been falsified; which should warn us off, and turn us to practical preparation for His coming.

2. There is a sense in which Christ appears —

(1)in proportion as His cause triumphs;

(2)to nations, that knew Him not, when they receive His gospel;

(3)to believers at conversion and every stage of the spiritual life;

(4)to dying saints;

(5)to His people in the disembodied state. But these are all different from and inferior to the manifestation at the last day.

3. His second coming is looked forward to not only by the Church on earth. Patriarchs, etc., who never saw Him on earth await it; so do glorified saints who have not forgotten the promises they learned here.

4. The purposes for which He shall appear are important in relation to —(1) His adversaries, who shall be completely subdued.(2) His friends, who have been aspersed and persecuted, and shall then be honoured and rewarded.(3) Himself; for His honour will then be vindicated in the presence of the Jew, unbeliever, and denier of His Godhead.(4) God, whose justice and mercy have been denied.

IV. HIS PEOPLE SHALL APPEAR WITH HIM IN GLORY.

1. As Christ is hid so are His people. The angels know them (Luke 15.; Hebrews 1.) but not the world, and sometimes not one another; and many are hid in heaven.

2. When He appears so will they.(1) In countless multitudes; think of the millions of infants who have been saved the conflict, and the millions of believers who have triumphed over it.(2) In distinct individuality, as "every eye shall see Him," so they.(3) As identified with Christ. "Thine they were, and Thou hast given them Me."(4) In glory — free from sin and sorrow; publicly acquitted; possessed of the kingdom; body and soul happy for ever, and both like Christ. Let us hasten forward to meet this glory.

(Joseph Davies.)

In winter the green tree is like the dry. Summer comes, and the living loot produces leaves and fruits. So our winter is the concealment of Christ, our summer His manifestation (ver. 3). Yes, dead full surely. But dead in appearance, alive at the roots. And think of the summer burst which is to follow — when Christ, who is our life, shall appear. Lo, my covenant, dear God! I will die to myself that Thou mayest live in me.

( Augustine.)

Do you ever feel like those lions in the Zoological Gardens, restlessly walking up and down before the bars of their cage, and seeming to feel that they were never meant to be confined? Sometimes they are for thrusting their heads through the bars, and then for dashing back and tearing the back of their dungeon, or for rending up the pavement beneath them, as if they yearned for liberty. Does your soul ever want to get free from her cage? Here is an iron bar of sin, of doubt, and there is another iron bar of mistrust and infirmity. You may have seen an eagle with a chain upon its foot, standing on a reck — poor unhappy thing! it flaps its wings — looks up to the sun — wants to fly right straight ahead at it and stare the sun out of countenance — looks to the blue sky, and seems as if it could sniff the blue beyond the dusky clouds, and wants to be away; and so it tries its wings and dreams of mounting — but that chain, that cruel chain, remorselessly holds it down. Has not it often been so with you? You feel, "I am not meant to be what I am; I have a something in me which is adapted for something better and higher, and I want to mount and soar, but that chain — that dragging chain of the body of sin and death will keep me down." Now it is to such as you that this text comes, and says to you, "Yes, your present state is not your soul's true condition, you have a hidden life in you; that life of yours pants to get out of the bonds and fetters which control it, and it shall be delivered soon, for Christ is coming, and the same appearance that belongs to Him belongs to you. And then your day of true happiness, and joy, and peace, and everything that you are panting for, and longing for, shall certainly come too." I wonder whether the little oak inside the acorn — for there is a whole oak there, and there are all the roots, and all the boughs, and everything inside that acorn- I wonder whether that little oak inside the acorn ever has any premonition of the summer weather that will float over it a hundred years hence, and of the mists that will hang in autumn on its sere leaves, and of the hundreds of acorns which itself will cast, every autumn, upon the earth, when it shall become in the forest a great tree. You and I are like that acorn; inside of each of us are the germs of great things. There is the tree that we are to be — I mean there is the spiritual thing we are to be, both in body and soul even now within us, and sometimes here below, in happy moments, we get some inklings of what we are to be; and then how we want to burst the shell, to get out of the acorn and to be the oak! Ay, but stop. Christ has not come, Christian, and you cannot get out of that till the time shall come for Jesus to appear, and then shall' you appear with Him in glory. You will very soon perceive in your rainwater certain ugly little things which swim and twist about in it, always trying if they can to reach the surface and breathe through one end of their bodies. What makes these little things so lively, these innumerable little things like very small tadpoles, why are they so lively? Possibly they have an idea of what they are going to be. The day will come when all of a sudden there will come out of the case of the creature that you have had swimming about in your water, a long-legged thing with two bright gauze-like wings, which will mount into the air, and on a summer's evening will dance in the sunlight. It is a gnat you have swimming there in one of its earliest stages. You are just like that; you are an undeveloped being; you have not your wings yet, and yet sometimes in your activity for Christ, when the strong desires of something better are upon you, you leap in foretaste of the bliss to come I do not know what I am to be, but I feel that there is a heart within me too big for these ribs to hold, I have an immortal spark which cannot have been intended to burn on this poor earth, and then to go out; it must have been meant to burn on heaven's altar. Wait a bit, and when Christ comes you will know what you are. We are in the chrysalis state now, and those who are the liveliest worms among us grow more and more uneasy in that chrysalis state. Some are so frozen up in it that they forget the hereafter, and appear content to remain a chrysalis for ever. But others of us feel we would sooner not be than be what we now are for ever, we feel as if we must burst our bonds, and when that time of bursting shall come, when the chrysalis shall get its painted wings and mount to the land of flowers, then shall we be satisfied. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also shall appear with Him in glory."

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christians, Colossians, Paul, TimothyColossaeAppear, Appears, Christ, Glory, Manifested, Revealed1. He shows where we should seek Christ.
5. He exhorts to holiness;
10. to put off the old self, and put on Christ;
12. exhorting to charity, humility,
18. and other duties.

Colossians 3:4

     1194   glory, divine and human
     2024   Christ, glory of
     5006   human race, destiny
     6645   eternal life, nature of
     7027   church, purpose
     7950   mission, of Christ
     8106   assurance, nature of
     8206   Christlikeness
     9315   resurrection, of believers
     9414   heaven, community of redeemed

Colossians 3:1-4

     2336   Christ, exaltation
     6647   eternal life, experience
     9140   last days
     9313   resurrection, spiritual

Colossians 3:1-5

     6214   participation, in Christ

Colossians 3:1-17

     3254   Holy Spirit, fruit of

Colossians 3:4-5

     2565   Christ, second coming

The Peace of God
Baltimore, U.S., 1874. Westminster Abbey. November 8, 1874. Colossians. iii 15. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." The peace of God. That is what the priest will invoke for you all, when you leave this abbey. Do you know what it is? Whether you do or not, let me tell you in a few words, what I seem to myself to have learned concerning that peace. What it is? how we can obtain it? and why so many do not obtain it, and are, therefore, not at peace? It is worth while to do so. For …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

May 5. "If Ye Then be Risen" (Col. Iii. 1).
"If ye then be risen" (Col. iii. 1). God is waiting this morning to mark the opening hours for every ready and willing heart with a touch of life and power that will lift our lives to higher pleasures and offer to our vision grander horizons of hope and holy service. We shall not need to seek far to discover our risen Lord. He was in advance even of the earliest seeker that Easter morning, and He will be waiting for us before the break of day with His glad "All Hail," if we have only eyes to see …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 17. "Your Life is Hid" (Col. Iii. 3).
"Your life is hid" (Col. iii. 3). Some Christians loom up in larger proportion than is becoming. They can tell, and others can tell, how many souls they bring to Christ. Their labor seems to crystallize and become its own memorial. Others again seem to blend so wholly with other workers that their own individuality can scarcely be traced. And yet, after all, this is the most Christ-like ministry of all, for the Master Himself does not even appear in the work of the church except as her hidden Life …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

May 18. "For Ye are Dead" (Col. Iii. 3).
"For ye are dead" (Col. iii. 3). Now, this definite, absolute and final putting off of ourselves in an act of death, is something we cannot do ourselves. It is not self-mortifying, but it is dying with Christ. There is nothing can do it but the Cross of Christ and the Spirit of God. The church is full of half dead people who have been trying, like poor Nero, to slay themselves for years, and have not had the courage to strike the fatal blow. Oh, if they would just put themselves at Jesus' feet, and …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Colossians 3, 12-17. 12 Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; 13 forbearing one another, and forgiving each other, if any man have a complaint against any; even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye: 14 and above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to the which also ye were called in one body; and be ye thankful. 16 Let the Word …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Easter Wednesday Also Suited to Easter Tuesday.
Text: Colossians 3, 1-7. 1 If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth. 3 For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. 5 Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, passion, …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Risen with Christ
'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Christian Training of Children.
TEXT: COL. iii. 21. MY devout hearers! Christian families, founded on the holy bond of marriage, are appointed, in the divine order of things, to be the nurseries of the future generation. It is there that the young souls who are to be our successors in cultivating the vineyard of God are to be trained and developed; it is there the process is to begin of restraining and cleansing away the corruption inherent in them as the children of sinful men; there that their earliest longings after fellowship …
Friedrich Schleiermacher—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher

Unity and Peace.
Preached February 9, 1851. UNITY AND PEACE. "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful."--Colossians iii. 15. There is something in these words that might surprise us. It might surprise us to find that peace is urged on us as a duty. There can be no duty except where there is a matter of obedience; and it might seem to us that peace is a something over which we have no power. It is a privilege to have peace, but it would appear …
Frederick W. Robertson—Sermons Preached at Brighton

Christ is All
Observe in this chapter that he begins by reminding the saints of their having risen with Christ. If they indeed have risen with him, he argues that they should leave the grave of iniquity and the graveclothes of their sins behind, and act as those who are endowed with that superior life, which accounts sin to be death and corruption. He then goes on to declare that the believer's life is in Christ, "for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." He infers holiness from this also. Shall …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Christ is All
MY text is so very short that you cannot forget it; and, I am quite certain, if you are Christians at all, you will be sure to agree with it. What a multitude of religions there is in this poor wicked world of ours! Men have taken it into their heads to invent various systems of religion and if you look round the world, you will see scores of different sects; but it is a great fact that, while there is a multitude of false religions, there is but one that is true. While there are many falsehoods, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

Some General Uses.
Before we come to speak of some particular cases of deadness, wherein believers are to make use of Christ as the Life, we shall first propose some useful consequences and deductions from what hath been spoken of this life; and, I. The faith of those things, which have been mentioned, would be of great use and advantage to believers; and therefore they should study to have the faith of this truth fixed on their hearts, and a deep impression thereof on their spirits, to the end, that, 1. Be their case …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Cups Running Over
Brokenness, however, is but the beginning of Revival. Revival itself is being absolutely filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit, and that is victorious living. If we were asked this moment if we were filled with the Holy Spirit, how many of us would dare to answer "yes"? Revival is when we can say "yes" at any moment of the day. It is not egoistic to say so, for filling to overflowing is utterly and completely God's work--it is all of grace. All we have to do is to present our empty, broken self …
Roy Hession and Revel Hession—The Calvary Road

What have I to do with Idols?
MUCH is said in reproof of Ephraim by the prophet Hosea. All the wicked dealings and defilement of Ephraim is uncovered--and the Lord said: "I will be unto Ephraim as a lion." Again Jehovah said: "Ephraim is like a cake not turned." "Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart." "Ephraim hath made many altars to sin." "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone." But all reproof and chastisement did not bring Ephraim back. Nothing seemed to be able to draw Ephraim's heart away from the idols. At the …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Christ Our Life.
Colossians 3:4.--Christ who is our life. One question that rises in every mind is this: "How can I live that life of perfect trust in God?" Many do not know the right answer, or the full answer. It is this: "Christ must live it in me." That is what He became man for; as a man to live a life of trust in God, and so to show to us how we ought to live. When He had done that upon earth, He went to heaven, that He might do more than show us, might give us, and live in us that life of trust. It is as we …
Andrew Murray—The Master's Indwelling

Meditations of the Misery of a Man not Reconciled to God in Christ.
O wretched Man! where shall I begin to describe thine endless misery, who art condemned as soon as conceived; and adjudged to eternal death, before thou wast born to a temporal life? A beginning indeed, I find, but no end of thy miseries. For when Adam and Eve, being created after God's own image, and placed in Paradise, that they and their posterity might live in a blessed state of life immortal, having dominion over all earthly creatures, and only restrained from the fruit of one tree, as a sign …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Christ all and in All.
(Colossians iii. 11.) Christ is all to us that we make Him to be. I want to emphasize that word "all." Some men make Him to be "a root out of a dry ground," "without form or comeliness." He is nothing to them; they do not want Him. Some Christians have a very small Saviour, for they are not willing to receive Him fully, and let Him do great and mighty things for them. Others have a mighty Saviour, because they make Him to be great and mighty. If we would know what Christ wants to be to us, we …
Dwight L. Moody—The Way to God and How to Find It

But, after that He had Made Mention of These Evils...
30. But, after that he had made mention of these evils, he added and said, "On account of which cometh the wrath of God on the sons of unbelief." [1923] Surely it was a wholesome alarm that believers might not think that they could be saved on account of their faith alone, even although they should live in these evils: the Apostle James with most clear speech crying out against that notion, and saying, "If any say that he have faith, and have not works, shall his faith be able to save him?" [1924] …
St. Augustine—On Continence

"But Now do Ye Also," Saith He, "Put Down All...
31. "But now do ye also," saith he, "put down all;" [1927] and he makes mention of several more evils of that sort. But what is it, that it is not enough for him to say, "Do ye put down all," but that he added the conjunction and said, "ye also?" save that lest they should not think that they did those evils and lived in them with impunity on this account, because their faith set them free from wrath, which cometh upon the sons of unbelief, doing these things, and living in them without faith. Do …
St. Augustine—On Continence

Epistle xxxiii. To Dominicus.
To Dominicus. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage. The letter of your Holiness, which we received at the hands of the bearer of these presents, so expressed priestly moderation as to soothe us, in a manner, with the bodily presence of its author. Nor indeed does infrequency of communication cause any harm where the affection of love remains uninterrupted in one's mind. Great, moreover, is the power of charity, beloved brother, which binds hearts one to another in mutual affection with the …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

How Servants and Masters are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 6). Differently to be admonished are servants and masters. Servants, to wit, that they ever keep in view the humility of their condition; but masters, that they lose not recollection of their nature, in which they are constituted on an equality with servants. Servants are to be admonished that they despise not their masters, lest they offend God, if by behaving themselves proudly they gainsay His ordinance: masters, too, are to be admonished, that they are proud against God with respect …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

How Subjects and Prelates are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 5.) Differently to be admonished are subjects and prelates: the former that subjection crush them not, the latter that superior place elate them not: the former that they fail not to fulfil what is commanded them, the latter that they command not more to be fulfilled than is just: the former that they submit humbly, the latter that they preside temperately. For this, which may be understood also figuratively, is said to the former, Children, obey your parents in the Lord: but to …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Third Sunday after Trinity Humility, Trust, Watchfulness, Suffering
Text: 1 Peter 5, 5-11. 5 Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; 7 casting all your anxiety upon him, because he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 whom withstand stedfast …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

What the Scriptures Principally Teach: the Ruin and Recovery of Man. Faith and Love Towards Christ.
2 Tim. i. 13.--"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." Here is the sum of religion. Here you have a compend of the doctrine of the Scriptures. All divine truths may be reduced to these two heads,--faith and love; what we ought to believe, and what we ought to do. This is all the Scriptures teach, and this is all we have to learn. What have we to know, but what God hath revealed of himself to us? And what have we to do, but what …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

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