Just keeps taking baby steps
every day. And you turn down the medicine,
turn down the bed, and just a couple of these baby steps, you know,
will add up to a recovery for you. Barb Collins is still recovering,
waiting to get her cast off. Nobody's going through. All right, Colossians chapter
1, we're gonna read three verses, beginning in verse 12. This will
serve as our text this morning. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. All right, let's stand together,
Psalm 817, our call to worship. ? For as I live,
I'll bless thy name ? Thy kingdom, my God my word and joy shall be the
same. In that bright world above, in
that bright world above, there is a Lord in power unknown, and
by His grace be praised. I'll sing the honors of His Son,
His words of grace repeat His words of grace repeat Thy grace
shall dwell upon my tongue And while my lips rejoice Come in
to hear my joyful song Shall join their cheerful voice Shall
join their cheerful voice To Christ the Lord let every tongue
His noble tribute bring When He's assaulted for us all Who
can refuse to sing The church is one foundation. The church is one foundation. It's Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation. God, water, and the Word. God and he gave and sought her
to be his holy bride. all the earth she blessed our days one holy
and to mental attribution to all other
war. She waits the consummation of
peace forevermore. be the church Here she honored their union
with God, the free in one, And mystic, sweet communion with
those whose race is one. O happy ones and holy, Lord give
us grace that we might live a meager lowly, long I may dwell with
Thee. Would you please open your Bibles
to 1 John chapter 5. We're just portioned of 1 John chapter
5 beginning in verse 1. If you so ever believe it, that
Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, and everyone that yet
we love them also that it be not of him. By this we know that
we love the children of God. For we love God and keep his
commandments. For this is the law of God, that
we keep his commandments, that his commandments are not greedy.
For whatsoever is born of God over cometh the world, and this
is the victory that over cometh the world, even our faith. It
was he that over cometh the world, that he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. This is he that came by water
and blood, even Jesus Christ, not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is true. For there are three that
beareth record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost, and these three are one. And there are three that beareth
witness in earth, and the water, and the blood, and these three
agree in one. If we receive the witness of
man, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God,
which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the
Son of God hath a witness in himself. He that believeth not,
God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that
God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God
hath given to us life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath
the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath
not life. These things have I written unto
you, that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God, that
ye may know that he hath eternal life, and that ye may believe
on the name of the Son of God. I'm so thankful that you've brought
each one of us here today to a place where we can hear the
gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ preached. We're
praying in this hour. That's what you do. I quote him
for this task. And as we sit and listen, that
you give us a set of minds and hearts to receive the message
prepared to teach us more of Christ. seemed fit to show grace to a
people and salvation through the blood of Christ. Pray that
you increase our faith in Him, increase our faith each day,
and cause us to believe more and more each day. Leave us not
alone, and let us not drift off, but hold us and keep us anchored
in Christ. Pray for those We're going through
many difficult times and troubles. Those that are healing from surgery,
as I mentioned just a while ago, those that are awaiting surgery
and just going through treatments, help them and their families
through these times. Talk to them by knowing that
it's all things that work out according to your will. Again,
Father, we ask virtue of our worship this morning as we leave
here and go out into the world and protect us and guide us. Help us to seek your will first
in all things. As we say in Christ's name, for
his glory, amen. A wonderful Saviour is Jesus
my Lord, a wonderful Saviour to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock Where rivers of pleasure are seen He hideth my soul in
the cleft of the rock That shadows the dry, thirsty land He hideth
my soul in the depths of his love. And covers me there with his
hand. And covers me there with his
hand. Our wonderful Savior is Jesus. Jesus my Lord, he taketh my burden
away. He holdeth me up and I shall
not be moved. He giveth each strength as my
weapon. In the cleft of the rock that
shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth mine in the depths
of His love, and covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. With numberless blessings each
moment he crowns, And filled with his fullness divine. I sing in my rapture, O glory
to God, for such a Redeemer as mine. He guided my soul in the
lift of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. In the depths of His love, And
covers me there with His hand. And covers me there with His
hand. Enclothed in His brightness, transported I rise, To be in the clouds of the sky
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love I'll shout with the heavens
on high He hideth my soul in the land of a rock that shadows
on my thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of his love and covers me there with his hand. And covers me
there with his hand. Let's open our Bibles again now
to Colossians chapter 1. The title of the message this morning
may qualify for heaven. I took my title from what the
Apostle says in verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which
hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. The word Paul uses, meet, here, it means fit, qualified. It also means worthy, worthy. God has made his people fit.
He made them qualified, worthy to be in God's kingdom on earth,
and qualified to someday be in his presence in heaven. Now,
if you really think about what we are in flesh, The question
that comes to mind is how is that possible? How can a sinner
like you and me, how can we be made worthy to be in the holy
presence of God Almighty? How could a sinful person like
you and me, how is it that we can be qualified to call ourselves
sons and daughters of God? Well, the short answer is the
Lord Jesus Christ. Christ our Savior has met every
requirement He's met every requirement God has to save his people, to
justify his people, to make them righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the man that God requires us to be. The Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the representative of his people, came and did everything
that God requires. And in him, he has made his people
because of what he has done for his people by his obedience and
by his sacrifice. is made his people worthy, worthy
to be called the sons of God. He's made it right for God's
people to call themselves the sons of God and to enter into
God's kingdom. So the short answer, how is it
that a sinner can be qualified to enter into heaven? How is
it that a sinner can be made worthy to be in the presence
of the holy God? It's through Jesus Christ. If
you think about it, Christ is the answer. every spiritual question. Every spiritual questionnaire
is Christ as the answer to it. If Christ is not the answer,
we're asking the wrong question. Or we've got the wrong answer.
Christ is the answer to every spiritual question. The answer
is always Christ, because He's all that matters. He's all that
matters to God. He's all that God wants His Father
to look at. And He's all that matters to
our souls. He's the only one that can make a difference for
our souls. So the short answer is Christ. But in the rest of
our text this morning, the apostle gives us five different ways,
five things that Christ has done to make his people qualified
to be sons and daughters of God and make them worthy, worthy
to enter heaven and be in the presence of God. And the first
one is this, Christ has made his people qualified for heaven
by making them to be joint heirs of him. Notice in verse 12, he
says, it made us meet qualified, fit, worthy, to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. But God's elector may
qualify for heaven because God's given him the gift of an inheritance. And that inheritance that God
has for his people is every spiritual gift that God has for sinners.
It's every spiritual gift that we need to be able to stand in
God's presence and accept him. It's the gift of righteousness.
It's the gift of eternal life. It's the gift of pulling It's
the gift of being made just like Christ and to be able to spend
eternity worshiping him and enjoying him faithfully. That's the inheritance
of every believer. If you look over at 1 Peter chapter
1, Peter describes this inheritance. I was watching a movie recently
and the person in the movie had thought he'd built up this big
inheritance for his children. It was a big deal to have this
inheritance for his children. And it came time, he'd retired,
he was older, and his wife was there, and he found out that
all of this that he had saved up for his inheritance for his
children was a shame. It was just a Ponzi scheme. He
had nothing. somebody's earthly inheritance.
Can that happen to the inheritance of a believer? Let's look here
at what Peter says. First Peter one, verse three.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance. Here's the inheritance of God's
people. It's incorruptible, it's undefiled, that they have gone
away and have preserved in heaven for you to have kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Now the inheritance of God's
people is an inheritance that can't be lost. It's undefined. It's perfect. It can't rot. It
can't be lost. It's kept safe. Thieves can't
break through and steal because it's kept safe. It's kept safe
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And where is he? He's
in heaven, on the throne, ruling over him. To ensure this inheritance
for his people. It can't be lost. And the reason
that Paul thanks the Father for this inheritance is this. It's
undeserved. Salvation is all. I hope we always,
I know that the fleshly minds always contradicting that. I
hope you're always remembering this. Salvation is all a grace. It's all a free gift. It's a
sovereign, free grace. Salvation can never be earned. It's a gift. It's a gift. And
that's why this is what the believer's possession is called an inheritance. An inheritance is something somebody
else earned. Somebody else saved it up. Somebody
else kept it safe. Somebody else preserved it. And
somebody else gave it to the heir freely. It's earned by somebody
else, and it's given to the heir freely. Not because they deserved
it. They didn't earn it, did they? They didn't do anything
to preserve it and keep it. No, it's given to them as a free
gift. That's the inheritance. Now,
I know normally, children are the heirs, aren't they? Children
are the heirs of their parents. We would be surprised. We're
always surprised to hear somebody gives away their fortune. You
know, somebody's not their children. Normally, children are heirs.
Well, you know why God's people are qualified to be his heirs? His children. It's just natural
to God to give this inheritance to his children. They're children
because the Father made them to be his children. The Father
made his elect to be his children in a daunting love, a daunting
grace. When he took his sons back and
he loved them, he set his affection upon them and he adopted him
in his family. And he made his children. They're
full children. But here's the thing about God's
children. The Father also has caused those children that he
adopted in his family, that he set his adoptive mother upon,
he also causes those children to be born in his family. To
be born in the new birth, born into his family. And I tell you
why when a person is born again, Why is that new man a child of
God? Because that new man is born
from the seed of his father. That makes God his brother. That
makes that new man a child of God because he's born from the
seed of his father. So the father has made his people
doubly qualified. Doubly qualified. They're his
children by adoption. They're his children by the new
birth. They're doubly qualified to receive the inheritance that
God has saved up for you, for his children. And they're truly
His children, so they're qualified to be the heirs of God. Now that's
something to be thankful for, isn't it? We cannot be qualified
to be the heirs of God by who we are or what we do. Can't be. It's impossible, isn't it? So the Father would make sinful
people like us to be His heirs. I'm telling you, that's something
to be thankful for. And the Lord Jesus Christ, remember
the angel of Christ, The Lord Jesus Christ is both the testator
and the heir. Testator and the heir. He's the
testator because he's the one who came into the flesh and earned
every spiritual blessing for his people. He earned it by his
perfect obedience to the Father. His perfect obedience to the
Father's law, his perfect obedience to the Father's will. He earned
it by being the sinless sacrifice for his people. The sacrifice
who can put away all the sin of his people. When the Lord
Jesus Christ died, he bought the right to everything. He bought
the right by his precious blood. It all belongs to him. He bought
it. Christ is also the heir of God.
He's the only begotten of the Father. See, Christ is the Son
of Man. He's the one who deserves everything.
And in his grace, in his love, in his pity of his people, he's
joined his people to himself. so his people can be joined heirs
with him. Joined heirs with him, that they
receive everything that the son earned, everything that the son
deserved, everything that the father would give the son belongs
to his people, because he made his people to be joined heirs
with him. So if you believe Christ, if you're joined to him by faith,
what is your inheritance from the father? Everything. Everything that Christ
deserves. Those everything, isn't it? And
here's one last thing about inheritance. In order for the heirs to receive
the inheritance, the testator's got to die. The testator's got
to die. Children don't get the inheritance
until the parents die. Well, Christ is the testator.
And brother Christ is not. He died for the sins of his people.
He died purchasing every spiritual blessing for his people. And
he rose again to ensure they get it. You know, a lot of times
a person could die and they have a will, they have an inheritance,
they have heirs, and the other heir's fighting. And maybe the
person's will isn't enacted. You know, they didn't fight it,
they did it a different way than the testator wanted it to be.
Not Christ. But he died to purchase an inheritance
for his people, and he rose again to ensure that they received
it. He ruled and reigned to ensure that they received it. So God's
people, they have all of those blessings. Right now. All of
those blessings. Righteousness. Holiness. Acceptance
with God. Eternal life. You have those
blessings right now because we're sons of God. Right now are we
the sons of God. I know it does not yet appear
what we shall be, but you just wait. When He appears, we'll
be just like Him. We're sons of God right now.
We have those things right now. You might think, I don't have
holiness right now. I don't have righteousness right
now. But if you believe Christ you
do. There's a new man coming. He's holy. He's righteous. If
you believe Christ, you'll never be more holy than you are right
now. Now I know you've got a body
of flesh and there's nothing but sin, but that new man is
as holy as he ever will be. The only difference between a
believer in glory and a believer on earth is a believer in glory
has all of that in possession right now. You have a Bible. One day you'll have a new religion. That's the only difference. The
only difference, because the Lord Jesus Christ has made his
people qualified to claim every blessing that God has for us.
You're not wrong. It's not illegal. It's not presumption. If you believe Christ, then claim
righteousness in him. Then claim eternal life in him,
because he's made us join his people. He made you qualified
for heaven. 2. Christ has made his people
qualified for heaven because he made them saints. Verse 12
says, He calls God's people the saints in life. Now that word
saints means exactly what you think it means, holy. It's holy
people. And you know the New Testament
called believers saints, more than any other word. I know that's
a hard thing for us to say in this flesh, that we're a saint.
In the Catholic Church, it poisons our minds on that, you know,
to call different people saints, because they're just on a different
level than they really are. And that's not so. God's people
are saints. I know we don't see ourselves
that way. We don't think of ourselves as holy, but it's true nevertheless. And here's the reason. God's
elect are not holy in the system. They're holy because of what
Christ has done. Because of what Christ has done
for them and what he's done in them. The Lord Jesus came and
he obeyed the law. He obeyed it perfectly. And his
people obeyed him. So they did what he did. When
Christ obeyed the law, his people obeyed the law. And he made them
righteous. He made them holy by his obedience
for them. It's the exact same way Adam
made us sinners. When Adam disobeyed God, You
and I were in it. Every single human being was
in it. He disobeyed God, we disobeyed
God, and we became sinners. Folks, everybody here has lived
long enough to learn a little bit of something about yourself.
Do you know you're a sinner? I mean, do you sin and you don't
want to, but you sin anyway? Can you deny really that you're
a sinner, that what you do is a sin? You know why that is?
You can't deny it, can you? That's a true thing. Because
what Abbott did to us, when he disobeyed God, we did. That's
how we became sinners. It was the exact same way. The Lord Jesus Christ made his
people righteous. When he obeyed the law, we did
the same. And you're just as righteous
in Christ as you are a sinner now. It's true. You're made righteous
in Christ. And come to the Holy Spirit.
Now that's a work done for us. Here's a work done for you. God
the Holy Spirit has made his people righteous. Because in
the new birth, they're born from a new seed. The seed of a new
father. And the nature that we have is
determined by the seed that conceives us. So the new nature, that new
man born of God, he's born of the Holy Seed of the Word of
God. He's conceived by the Holy Ghost.
That's how the Lord explained the new birth of Nicodemus. The
Holy Spirit is like the wind. He blows where it lifts him.
You don't know where he's coming from, where he's going, all you
know is he's been here. You know he's been here because there's
light. The Holy Spirit conceives that new man born in the heart
of God's people. He's the Holy Spirit. He's only
going to conceive somebody that's holy. The Holy Spirit conceives
us of the holy seed of the Word of God, and there's a new man
born. His nature comes from the seed.
That's why the new man born of God, he cannot Now the old man,
the only thing he can do is sin, because he's conceived from sinful
sin. The new man can never sin, because he's conceived from a
holy sin. And that new man, born of God, if God will accept him,
he's got to be holy. He's got to be. So the Lord Jesus
Christ has made his people what God will accept. He's made them
holy. By what's done for them and the
work done in them. And those holy people, to receive
the inheritance from the holy earth. Christ made his people
holy so they'd be qualified. Proverbs 3. Christ has made his
people qualified for heaven by giving them a new citizenship.
Verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son? Paul says here that God has made
his people citizens of his kingdom. Now they're not born in the flesh
that way. When they're born in the flesh
they're born citizens of Adam's civil race. But Lord's changed
all that. Christ came and he changed all
that for his people so they're citizens of his country. Citizens
of his kingdom in every way. You think about how does a person
become a citizen of a country? Well a person's qualified to
be a citizen. If their name is recorded as
a citizen driver's license or something.
Well, God has reported every name of every citizen of his
kingdom in the land's book of life. God reported it. God reported the names. It is
official evidence. God reported it. He reported
every name of those that he chose to save and put their name in
the land's book of life. He did it for his great kingdom.
And God's elect are qualified to be citizens of his kingdom.
Because the king says they're citizens. The king reports everything. Persons also qualify to be a
citizen of a country by birth. If the name is reported on a
birth certificate, they say they're a citizen of that country. A believer is qualified to be
a citizen of the kingdom of heaven by rebirth. Because the king
is our father. Of all the people born in a country,
I know this, the king's children Our citizens, aren't they? They're the king's children.
God's children belong in his kingdom. They're his children,
they're citizens. And the Lord has taken all of
the responsibility to make sure his people live in his kingdom.
He put them there so that they would be his children, or his
citizens, so that they belong there. They're not just there
with a green card. They're not just there on a temporary visa.
I don't remember all the details of all the things that were called,
but we went to Mexico. You have to go into that, remember
that airport, you had to show them your passport and all, you
had to fill out these papers and show them all these things.
They're speaking language you don't understand, you just give
them, here's all the paper, you know, and you just nod your head. But here's one thing I remember,
that even it's a little slip of paper, it's just like that.
They said, now keep this paper. You can't leave. Now I'm telling
you, I was in Mexico City. I checked that piece of paper
on me every 10 minutes to make sure I didn't lose that piece
of paper. I thought the Irish had lost it one night. They took
me hours and hours and hours. Don't lose that piece of paper.
Well, I had that little old piece of paper. I just belonged there
for a few days. That's not what those people
have. It's not some temporary thing.
You're not just there like some interloper that don't belong
there. No, you belong. Christ put you in his kingdom
so that you belong. You're a citizen. The Lord Jesus
Christ died and he shed his blood to seal that. It's the king sealed
it in the blood of his son so that you belong. When Christ
died, he bought his people. They belong to him. Since they
belong to him, they belong in his kingdom. See, they were under
the curse of the law. When Christ died, they were denied
The curse of the law of death. Christ died to take that curse
away from his people. They're under the covenant of
the law. Christ died to bring them out from under the bondage
of the law. He said, you're not under that
bondage anymore. You're not under those requirements anymore. Now
you're under grace. You're under grace. You belong.
Christ bought the right to do that by his death. So his people
are qualified, Christ bought them. They belong where he put
them. Christ took his people. By nature, they were born in
a kingdom of darkness. And he took them out of that
kingdom of darkness. He gave them a citizenship to his country. A country, a kingdom of light.
That's what the word translated means. It means transferred from
one place to another. And they belong in this place
that Christ transferred them. The king transferred them. Christ
came, his people were in darkness. All of them in such gross darkness. They were in bondage to the law.
Bondage to a law that they could not keep. And no matter what
they did, they couldn't set themselves free. They were powerless to
set themselves free from the law. They were held in darkness
and they were powerless to set themselves free from it. They
could not see. They were just held by darkness.
They couldn't see. They couldn't believe it. The
preacher kept telling them, look to Christ, look to Christ, look
to Christ. And they kept thinking, where
is he? I can't see. Can't see because you're blind.
Can't see because you're held in darkness. And Christ came
in power. And he delivered them from the
bondage of that. He delivered them from the power
of that gross darkness. And suddenly, one day, without
them even knowing why or what happened, heard the gospel for years and
years and years, maybe, maybe they heard it a few times. If
you're like me, heard it for years and years and years, you could
not see. And one day you thought, I see, I understand what God,
I believe that. What happened? How come this
time the preacher tells you, look to Christ, you did, and
you could see the power? God gave you power. He did something
that nobody else could do. He gave you life. And God gives life. His people,
what do they see? They see Christ. They don't see
the Lord. They see who? They see Christ. And now Satan can no longer hold
you. They can't deceive you anymore
because somebody greater, somebody with more power came and gave
you life to see. And once you see Christ, you
can't be deceived anymore. You can be deceived. And somebody's
telling you, now, you'll just keep the law and be righteous.
You can't be deceived there, because you see Christ as your
righteousness. Somebody can't tell you, you
do this, or you do this, or you don't do this, or you don't do
this, but then you'll be more holy. You can't be deceived. You can't be more holy. You can't be more sanctified.
You're holy, you're unholy. You can't be deceived on that,
if you see Christ as your holy. Once you see Christ, you can't
be deceived anymore, because you know That He is all. He's
all. And you willingly and lovingly
bow to Christ your King. Because He's made you qualify.
He's made you whole. So you belong to His Kingdom.
All right, fourthly, Christ has made His people qualify for heaven
by redeeming them from their sin. Verse 14 says, in whom you
have redemption through His blood. That word redemption means pay
the price. Christ came, he redeemed his people. He paid the price
that the law had on our heads so his people could go free.
I was talking to Brother Thornton about this one time years ago.
We were talking about people saying that they're redeemed
from Satan. And you know, that's not so. Somebody's not redeemed from
Satan. Brother Thornton said, those
people never belonged to Satan in the first place. They always
belonged to God. saying we always belong to Christ
through divine election. God's elect do not belong to
Satan against God's will. I know Satan influences us. I've
worked with children of darkness even as others have. Satan cannot
hold anybody against God's will. God didn't have to come. Christ
didn't have to come and pay Satan something to let his people go.
I'll tell you how God's elect are redeemed. We have to be redeemed
from God. We have to be saved from God. God's people are redeemed from
the curse of God's law. That law must be satisfied. That
curse must be taken care of. The price has got to be paid. God's life must be redeemed from
suffering the poison of God's holy law. God's law is in full
effect. I know Christ came to put away
the law for his people, but don't ever mistake this. God's law
is in full effect. In full effect. Somebody's got
to keep them. Somebody's got to pay the penalty.
Somebody's got to satisfy them. You and I are sinners that need
to be saved from God. From God's wrath against our
sin. God can accept us in our sin. We've got to be saved from
God's wrath. Something's got to be done about
how it's lost. So Christ did. And he redeemed
his people from the curse of the law. He came to the flesh. bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh, to be the representative of his people. And as the representative
of his people, he kept the law. He obeyed. And then he satisfied
the law's last demand. There must be death for sin.
Christ kept the law, gave that obedience to his people, and
then he died to satisfy the demand of the law You don't have to keep the law.
Christ did for you. You don't have to suffer the
penalty of the law. Christ died for you. Christ redeemed
his people from the curse of the law being made a curse for
you. Now the law is still in full
effect. If somebody is going to enter
the kingdom of heaven, the law has got to be satisfied. It must
be. And the law looks at everyone
in Christ and says, not guilty. Not guilty. Every requirement. You and I also need to be redeemed
from our sin. Our sin demands that we be redeemed. Our sin demands that we die.
Christ came and he redeemed his people from their sin. Do you
know how? He made sin for them. God took
the sin of his people. laid upon his soul. And Christ,
Christ Jesus the Savior, who made sin for his people, that
he might make his people the righteousness of God. Because
he suffered everything that sin deserves, and his blood provided
that. His blood paid the debt in full. It's the blood that made an atonement
for us all. The only blood that can make
an atonement. The only blood that was valuable enough, precious
enough to pay that price, in the blood of God's own Son. And God slaughtered His Son to
redeem His people from their sins. Now I know that we look
at ourselves and we see our sin. We don't see all of it, but we
see enough of it. But if you believe Christ, if
Christ died for you, you take comfort in this. Your sin's real. You can't deny it. But that sin
cannot do this. You go free. He's redeeming you. You go free. And you have every
right of the citizen of God's kingdom. Because Christ puts
your sin on. Felons lose a lot of rights of
citizenship. They can't vote. They can't own
guns. Different things. The Bill of
Rights. They lose those rights because of their transgressions
of the law. But Christ has come and made
his people not guilty. so that you have every right
as a citizen of his kingdom. Christ has given his people a
perfect standing before the law, because he redeemed them from
their sin. He redeemed them from the curse of the law. He redeemed
them from the demands of the law. The believer's qualification
to be a citizen in good standing in God's kingdom is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that standing can never be
lost. And aren't you thankful that
standing all based upon the doing and doing, the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, not what you do. That's the reason we thank
the Lord. Christ has redeemed us. All right,
here's the fifth thing. Christ has made his people qualified
for heaven by forgiving him of their sin. He says in verse 14,
in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. What an amazing statement. Only
God will forgive the sin of His people. He will forgive sin that's
against you. It's all against Him. I know
my sin hurts other people that hurt you, but sin is against
God. Sin is against God, and God forgives it. And here's the
amazing thing. God is always holy in everything
that He does. God can only forgive sin in truth. He can only forgive sin when
the debt of that sin is paid back, when his justice is satisfied. See, God can't ignore sin. You
know, you and I, we may have disagreement, and you say, I
forgive him. But the wrong's still there.
The sin's still there. We're just choosing to ignore
it. I don't pray that anymore. God can't do that. He can't ignore
sin. He can't say, oh, this is my
child. I see no wrong. Have you seen
parents like that? You know, they've got a hellion
for a child. They go, I don't see anything wrong. God can't
do that. He sees things as they are. He
calls things as they are. God can't ignore sin. He said
there's got to be death for sin. Brother, there's got to be death
for sin. Somebody's got to die. The penalty must be paid. That's
what the blood of the Passover is all about. It's a picture
of the blood of Christ. And that blood was on the doorpost.
This is what that was saying. The firstborn in this house can
live. There's already been death for
sin in this house tonight. The death can substitute that.
Substitute not until the firstborn can live. The blood on the doorpost
also meant this. This faith. This faith in Christ.
I applied this blood. Fathers, I applied this blood to my door.
I shut the door and went in and ate the Passover meal. I ate
that with my family. Because I believed in blood.
all that it takes for my son to be born. It was paid to do
that. And the blood of Christ says
this, the sin of God's people is forgiven. It has already been
done. Christ substituted. He shed his blood. And like I
said a minute ago, the blood of Christ is so precious. It's valuable enough to pay the
sin of the people. It don't make any difference. of all of his people away in
one sacrifice. He shed his blood so that even
God, God who sees everything, doesn't see that sin anymore.
Because the blood of Christ, the life of death, the sin of
God's elect is forgiven. Because the blood says justice
has been satisfied. God sees the blood, the blood
of his son. Applied to the hearts of his
people and he still has just like he did on that first Passover
night in the picture. God passes over his people. He
doesn't destroy them, because he already destroyed the substitutes
in their place. The Father sees the blood, and
he's pleased. Justice is pleased. Holiness
is pleased. And in grace, he accepts his
people. He forgives the sin of his people,
and he brings them into his kingdom. They're fully qualified. seen
is forgiven. And Christ did that. He did all
of it. He did that for a worthless,
sinful people so that those people could be made citizens of God's
kingdom. I'm just visiting them. I don't
just have that little slip of paper. They're citizens. Christ
did that. the likes of you and me. I don't think we'd ever get over the
amazement of that. Christ did that for Republicans
and Republicans. That's why Paul said, I thank
God. Oh, what a reason to be Christ our Savior. How we thank
you that you've made your people qualified to be in your kingdom. How we thank you that you've
put your people and your kingdom here on earth, that we might
serve you, serve your people, that we might be the salt of
the earth, preach the glories of Christ our Savior, that we
might be enabled by thy praise to preach the gospel people from
around the world, like here, who believe and come to Christ
our King. Father, I would thank you for the gift of faith, life,
taking your people, washing them in the blood of your Son. Father,
how thankful we are. How thankful we are for this
inheritance that we have right now, that one day, by thy grace,
we'll have full possession and glory. that day, that moment that we'll
be satisfied when we wake in my likeness. It's been eternity,
praise be to God. Father, how we thank you. Father,
I beg of you that you take your word and bless it to your glory,
that your people might see the glory of Christ our Savior, that
we might rest in him, rejoice in him, and be thrilled in him.
Of course, in his precious name, for his glory, his name, we say
we pray. Amen. All right, Sean. If you would, turn this song
over to 37. The same as we sing, how great thou art. Oh Lord, I've got an arm and
I am awesome I see the stars I hear the rolling
thunder I bow throughout the universe display Then sings my
soul, my Savior God to thee How great thou art Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then through the woods and forest
glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the tree. When I look down from lofty mountain
rank, and hear the croak and feel the gentle breeze, Then
sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings
my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee Thou great Thou art, Thou great
Thou art and when I think that God, his
Son, loves Mary, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. sings my soul my savior God to
thee how great thou art how great thou art then sings my soul my
savior God to thee shall fill my heart my soul my soul She's working on it.