Alright, let's turn to Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. There's been several times over
the past year that I've been asked questions like this. Is the believer secure in Christ? Somebody asked me, can a child
of God have their name blotted out of the Lamb's book of life?
Somebody asked me, is there something else I must do in addition to
believe in Christ in order to be saved? And these questions
didn't come from unbelievers. These questions came from professing
believers. Some have been a long time in
the faith. And I asked them a few questions
and I listened to what they said because I wanted to kind of get
an idea why these brethren were asking these questions. And what
I found out was there were other religious acquaintances that
they had, folks that they, you know, deal with on a day-to-day
basis, and who had been telling them, you know, that the believer's
not secure in Christ, that there are additional works that the
believer has to be done in addition to Christ in order to believe
in Christ in order to secure himself. And I've been thinking
about that for quite a while. I thought about this epistle
to the church at Colossae. Paul had been informed that the
brethren at Colossae were being troubled this same way. He'd
been informed that there were some false teachers who were
promoting these same kinds of doubts and fears among the people
there because they were turning the brethren from Christ. They
were turning them from Christ because they were adding philosophy.
When you think of philosophy, it's not just the philosophers
of the past and all that. A great deal of what you hear
preached in pulpits today is just philosophy. If you just
took Christ out of it, I've told you this before, if you just
took Christ out of it, it could be a pep talk from Dr. Phil or
Oprah or anybody like that. It's philosophy, mainly, what
it is. And they were adding that to
the message of Christ. And men don't mind hearing that.
That's appealing. It's appealing. Even to the flesh
of a believer, that's appealing. And they were teaching that it
was necessary for believers to observe certain days and to abstain
from certain meats and these other things that had to be done
in order to, I'm sure, just like in the Church of Galatia, in
order for you to be sanctified. This is what you've got to do.
You've got to do these things now. But Paul summed it up as
the worship of man's own will. And he summed it up that way
through the Spirit of God. It's idolatry is what he said.
Look at Colossians 2 verse 23. Which things, he said, have indeed
a show of wisdom. in will worship and humility
and neglecting of the body. They do put off an appearance
of wisdom. They put off an appearance of
devotion and of humility and of consecration. But Paul said
it's will worship. It's self-made worship. He said
it's self-made humility. It's self-imposed abstinence.
You know, a man doesn't have to be born in the Spirit of God
to do any of those things. You don't have to be born in
the Spirit of God to do any of that. But he says here, but it's
not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh, rather than curbing
the flesh, rather than sanctifying the heart. Paul said those things
puff men up in their fleshly mind. It may be promoted under
the idea of honoring God, but it's really only the indulgence
of the natural flesh and of the natural man's false conception
of righteousness. It promotes what it claims to
prevent. Now I know that that's exactly what they say about us
who rest in the sovereign grace of God. That our doctrine promotes
licentiousness. But this is the Spirit of God
speaking right here. And he said, no, it's the other way around.
He said it's that doctrine that promotes touch not, taste not,
handle not. It's that gospel that makes men
licentious and makes men immoral. It promotes will worship. It
promotes licentiousness. What is it then that will truly
mortify our members? What is it then that will truly
make a believer grow in grace and truly find that our flesh
is just dead and that old man of the heart with all his malice
and anger and all that, that that's not the ruling man anymore.
What's going to do that? What's going to check him and
put him in his place? Paul tells us in chapter 2 there
in verse 1, verse 2, let's just start at verse 2. Well, let's
read verse one. He said, I would that you knew
what great conflict I have. You know how I'm always saying
to you, this is my fear. This is what Paul's saying. This
is my fear. Great conflict I have for you
and for them that led to see you. For as many as have not
seen my face in the flesh. Here's what we're going to need
right here. That their hearts might be comforted. That's what we need. That their
hearts might be comforted. being knit together in love,
and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, the
full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the
mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Look down at verse
9. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him which is
the head of all principality and all power. You know who the
mystery of God and our Father is? The mystery of God and our
Father is Christ. He's the mystery that's hidden
from this world. This world has no desire for the true and living
God of this Bible, for Christ Jesus the Lord. All the richest
treasures that we can have of wisdom and all the richest treasures
we can find of knowledge are in that mystery, in Christ Jesus
Him. in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge." We've been shown that mystery, brethren.
By God's grace, we've been shown that mystery. And He's told us
through that mystery that's been revealed in us, we're complete. We're complete in Him. When our
minds and our hearts are comforted, when they're settled in this
full assurance that God is our Father and that Christ Jesus
has fully made us complete by what He's accomplished for us,
then our hearts are truly comforted. And then we're truly knit together
in love by that message. And when we hear that message,
it roots us and it builds us up in Christ. You know what it's
called? It's called feeding on the bread. When you hear grow in grace,
what comes to your mind? What am I gonna do to grow in
grace? Eat the bread. Eat the bread. That's it. Christ
our bread. This is the gospel we're talking
about. That's how we're gonna grow. I hope as you sit here,
this is my goal. I hope somebody sitting here
now, I hope when you hear this message, as you listen to this
message, I hope somebody grows in patience. I hope somebody
hears this word and it's bread, grows him to realize, you know
what? I don't have to get all bent
out of shape. God's my father. Christ is my Redeemer. He's doing
everything well for me. I hope somebody sit here, listens
to this, and I hope they grow in love. I hope they realize,
you know, my brethren, are a rare jewel
that God has given to me because what they're doing is they're
giving of themselves that I can have this bread to hear about
the love of my God and the love of my Savior for me and what
He's done for me. And it just, it's like a snowball. We just, it keeps growing and
growing and growing when you hear this message. Hope it grows
us in long-suffering that we sit here and hear it and we,
and we think, you know, I can remember these things were mysteries
to me. These things were hidden to me.
I just need to wait on the Lord. He'll reveal Himself in His time.
These things come about by the bread, by this bread being ministered
to us, this nourishment being ministered to us. And where does
it come from? Look at verse 19. It comes from the head, from
which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment,
ministered and knit together, increase with the increase of
God. You see, it's all about Christ. Christ is that mystery.
Christ is our completion. Christ is our salvation. Christ
is our head. Christ is our bread. In fact,
if you look down at chapter 3 at the end of verse 11, Paul says,
Christ is all and in all. You see that? Chapter 3, verse
11. So here's what I want to preach
about this morning. The full assurance for believers. Full assurance for believers.
Our text is going to be back in Colossians 1, verses 12 through
14. Now I'm going to tell you what
our divisions are as we read the text. Alright, here's our
first division. Here's why we have full assurance
as believers. We have fitness. We have a fitness. Look at verse 12, giving thanks
unto the Father which hath made us meet, fit, whole, worthy,
sufficient to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. Now you be sure to notice when
you look at these things, these things aren't in future tense,
they're in past tense. This is done. This is accomplished. We wouldn't have full assurance
if there was something, some if and or but about this now.
This is a done deal right here. Look, here's the second thing. We're in a new place. We're in
a completely new place. Verse 13, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. We're in a brand new place, a
brand new place. And here's the third thing. We
have complete forgiveness. Look at verse 14. In whom we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sin.
Now that's why a believer can have full assurance. We have
been made meek to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. We have been delivered out from
the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear
son. And we have complete forgiveness. We have redemption through Christ's
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. You and I, who've been
quickened together, you and I who have been quickened by God's
grace together with Christ, so that now we've been brought to
cast all our care into His hand and believe Him and trust Him
and have this hope that all our salvation is accomplished by
Christ Jesus the Lord given freely to us of God the Father and that
we have a good hope in Christ. To you and I, we have a Father. We have a Father in heaven. I
want you to think about that. Just stop and mull that over
just a minute. We have got a Father in heaven, giving thanks unto
our Father which is in heaven, God the Father. God the Father
who made this place, God the Father who's ruling over this
place, God the Father who has this whole world at His disposal,
God the Father who is able to do with His own whatsoever He
will. That's our Father, brethren.
You, sons and daughters, you, my brothers and sisters, God
is our Father. God's our father. I asked my
children a few months back, I was sitting there in the bed with
them and I was at night going to sleep and I was just asking
them a question and I said, I said, what is it that really concerns
you? What is it in life that you worry
about that gives you a concern? I mean, you come home, you got
a roof over your head. You go to the closet, you got
a full rack of clothes. You go to the refrigerator, open
it up, you got all the food you need. You go to the TV, you turn
it on, you got electricity. You got all these things. You
need to go somewhere, you got transportation. You got everything. What is it you could possibly
worry about? And you know what both of them
said to me? losing our Father, being separated
from our Father. Well, brethren, we have all those
things that I just said. We have all those things and
abundance more because of God our Father. And we have the full
assurance by His grace that we can never be separated from God
our Father. We can talk about giving thanks
unto the Father. Well, let's look at this first
thing. Believers have fitness, giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints and light. What we presently possess will
give us some present comfort. Right now, God our Father has
made us meet, He's made us fit, He's made us worthy, He's made
us fully sufficient right now to enter into heaven and be with
Him forever. That's our present position.
That's our present standing before God in His Son. That's how we
are right now. It means we're accepted in the
beloved. It means we're adopted into the
family of God. It means we're fit to dwell with
the saints who are already in glory, already there with them
now. Our meekness is not of ourselves.
That's obvious, isn't it, when we hear this? Our meekness is
of God our Father. We're given thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meek. That's who our meekness is in.
Turn over to Galatians chapter four. By nature, we were altogether
unfit. We were fit for nothing but darkness.
We were fit for nothing but hell. We were fit for nothing but misery.
We were fit for anything but heavenly glory. Anything but
being with the saints in life and that inheritance. But our
meekness is of God our Father. By His everlasting purpose of
grace, God our Father has made us meek. Now I want to show you
how He's made us meek. One, it's because we're adopted.
and we've been made sons. Look at this verse. Now I say
that the heir, verse 1, now the heir, as long as he's a child,
differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all. We're
talking about an inheritance. It says God's made us fit to
be partakers of the inheritance in his heavenly glory. What do
you have to have to be a partaker of an inheritance? You've got
to be a child. You've got to be a son or a daughter
to be fit to get an inheritance. That's given to you from your
father. It's a gift. You've got to be a child. God
our Father's made us meet by making us his children. Look
at Galatians 4.1. Now I say that the heir, as long as he's a child,
differeth nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but
is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the
father. Even so, when we were children, we were in bondage
under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time
was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons, that this might be given to us,
freely given to us. And because ye are sons, You
see, we didn't know we were sons. We were just like the nation
of Israel. We were heirs of everything. We had everything. But we didn't
know it for a long, long time. Because in that whole time, we
were under the law. We were under that heavy taskmaster
that we had to have to curb us and correct us and keep us in
check and keep us ruled and keep us at least living in a civil
manner. And that didn't even work most
of the time. But Because we were sons, even when we were dead
in trespasses and sins, God has sent forth the spirit of his
son into your hearts, whereby now we cry, I have a father. And look, wherefore thou art
no more a servant, you're a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ. That's how he made us fit. Now
look at this, verse eight. How be it then when you knew
not God, you did service unto them which by nature are no gods? That's who we served before.
We served those that are by nature no God. But now, after that you
have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn you again
to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire again to
be in bondage?" That was the problem at Galatia. That was
what men were telling those at Colossae to do, too. And he said,
why would you ever do that? Why would you turn back to that
mess again? He said, you're not servants
anymore. Why are you going to turn back
to that yoke of that law? I talk to Brother Angus Fisher
down in Australia every week on Skype. It's where I went down
there to preach the gospel. He got a new office, and above
his office door he put a yoke. He took the computer up, turned
it around, and showed it to me the other day. He got a yoke
above his door. And a couple of scriptures up
there about how I've delivered you from the yoke that you might
stand upright. You know, when you're under a
yoke, you can't stand up. It's got you all down. And Christ
said, come and learn of me. My yoke's light. My yoke's easy. You can stand up under my yoke.
You're not a servant anymore. You're a son. A son. A daughter. So we don't observe
times and days and years and all of that. Look back over at
Romans 8.4. Let me show this to you too. Or I can read it
to you, whichever. Romans 8.14. For as many as are led by the Spirit
of God, they're the sons of God. Children of God. You've not received
the Spirit of bondage again to fear. But you have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children
of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint
heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may
be glorified together." Well, there's an if in there. Let me
tell you this, if we don't suffer with Christ, if we don't confess
Him before men and we're willing to part with Christ, we weren't
ever born of His Spirit in the first place. It never got from
the head down here into the heart and made us a new creature. But
if we have, we're going to suffer with Him. We're going to suffer
with Him. And we'll be glorified together with Him. And these
present sufferings aren't worthy to even be compared with the
glory that's going to be revealed to us. Now that's how we became... fit, meet for this inheritance.
God made us meet and fit by making us His sons and daughters, by
being born of His Spirit and brought into this house of God. And then secondly, we're fit
because we've been sanctified. And this goes hand in hand. It says, the Father which hath
made us meet fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. If we're going to go into glory
where the saints are, we've got to be saints. And to be a saint
means you've been sanctified. It means you've been set apart.
It means you've been made holy for holy use. You're holy. You're sanctified. Well, look
at Jude chapter 1. Jude chapter 1. or just Jude
1, all of God's elect were sanctified
by God the Father in the covenant of grace when He set us apart
from the rest of the world and He put us in Christ. Look at
Jude 1. It says, Jude, the servant of
Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by
God the Father. and preserved in Jesus Christ
and called. Do you remember what Ephesians
1 says? Ephesians 1, 3, 4 says, it says,
when He chose us in Him, He blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places. That's where those spiritual
blessings took place, in heavenly places. He blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places, according as He chose
us in Christ Jesus, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. Not only down the road would
we be set apart by His Holy Spirit, but when He put us in Christ,
right there before Him, in Christ Jesus, in the Beloved, seeing
us in Christ Jesus, we were set apart and holy in the Beloved
and accepted of God, right there in Christ Jesus. And then, we're
sanctified, we were set apart, Hebrews 10. Look there with Hebrews
10. Then we were set apart and we
were made holy. by what God the Son did. You
see, this setting apart and making holy, God gets all the glory. God the Son came, and by the
sin atoning blood of Jesus Christ, this is what happened. Hebrews
10 and verse 9. Then said He, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. Be sure to read the bulletin
today. Honor your father and your mother. That your days may
be long upon this, the land that I give you, God said. That's
exactly what God said to Adam in the garden. And Adam was a
dishonorable son. He didn't obey him. He dishonored
his father. and he plunged us in sin and
death. But the honorable son came forth
and he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. And he took
away that first sin, that body of sin, and that first covenant. He took it all away. And he may
establish the second, which is really the first, the everlasting
covenant of grace that was made with him before the world. He's
the honorable son. And to do that honor to his father, it
involved not only to do his will in precept as he walked this
earth and honor him and do all that which pleased the father,
it meant the children he came to save had cursed their father
and they deserved death. And so he had to go to the cross
and die the death that we owe and purges of our sin. And He did that. Wherefore God,
because He honored His Father, God gave Him a land in Heaven's
glory with Him. And He said in John, now you
honor the Father. Here's how you honor the Father,
by coming under that bondage and that yoke and trying to sanctify
myself under that yoke. No, you honor the Father this
way, by believing on His Son. He that believes His Son honors
the Father. and we fulfilled the whole law
that way. And that's what He did when He came and He did the
will of God, obedient even unto death. And look at what happened.
Verse 10, by the witch will, by His will, by what He accomplished,
we're sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all time. It's done. Verse 14, for by one
offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. They're
being sanctified. Well, yeah, there's still people
being called out. Once he's already sanctified,
they're still being called out. Sure, they're being called out.
They're being separated. That's the third thing. We're
sanctified by God the Holy Spirit. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13. We're bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. You see, we talk about God the
Father did it, God the Son did it, now here God the Holy Spirit
did it. Sanctification of the Spirit,
belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our Gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now there's
a lot of folks who think that we become more sanctified, we
become more holy by some co-effort between us and God, by being
brought back under the law, back under bondage. Paul was dealing
with that issue to the Galatians. That's what he was dealing with.
He was dealing with that issue here with Colossae. And he said to the
Galatians, having begun in the spirit, are you now made perfect
by the flesh? Let me ask you a question. When a child is conceived
in its mother's womb, is it a human being right then? to human being
right then. It'll grow, but it's already
a human being. It's going to grow in manhood.
But it's not going to become more of a human being. It is
a human being. Believers are saints. Believers
who've been separated by God the Father, sanctified by God
the Son, sanctified by the Holy Spirit are saints, and they are
holy. And that happens the moment they're
conceived by the Holy Spirit, as far as our experience of it.
We grow in grace as saints. But as one who's already holy
and already sanctified, we're already holy. We're already sanctified. That thief on the cross that
was born that day, he entered glory that day. He wasn't even
able to take time to be holy. Well, you can't enter glory unless
you've got that holiness without which no man shall see God. And
He entered into glory that day because He was already a saint.
He was fit to enter in. You see, the sanctification we're
with, we are sanctified by God the Father. It's not progressive.
It's complete at once. that you put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
That's that baby we're talking about. That's that inward man
we're talking about, born of His Spirit. It's created in righteousness
and true holiness, just as surely as you were born the first time
and you were conceived in sin. That incorruptible seed is conceived
in righteousness and true holiness. And it can't ever be anything
but righteous and holy. Nothing but righteous and holy.
And that, believer, that makes us rejoice and thank God, our
Father, for what He's done for us. There won't be one spirit
in heaven more fit than the child that's been newly regenerated,
right now are the oldest that's been in the faith a long time.
There won't be one child in heaven any more holy than that one that's
just been regenerated right now. And likewise, every one of you
sitting here right now who are truly sanctified by God our Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, you're as fit for heaven
right now as the saints that are already there. That's right. That's the good news that makes
a believer mortify the deeds of the flesh. That's the good
news that makes a believer love holiness and hate our sin. That's
what makes a believer grow in patience, and grow in love, and
grow in knowledge of Him, and grow in grace. That's what does
it. That's what does it. That's good
news. That is good news, brethren.
Here's the second thing. Believers are in a new place.
We're in a completely new place. Look at verse 13. Who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. Now that's not an in-between
place. You either are in the power of
darkness or you are in the kingdom of His dear Son. One of the two. One of the two. Right now, done. God our Father has delivered
us and put us into the kingdom of His dear Son. You think about
this, believer. Saints in light. Saints in light. That's where we are. We're saints
in light. And we've been delivered from
the power of darkness. I tell you, the best way I think
we can understand that power of darkness that had us in the
power of darkness is found in Luke 22, 53. Luke 22, 53. Here's the power of darkness
we're talking about right here. Christ said to those soldiers
when they came and arrested Him, He said, when I was daily with
you in the temple, You stretched forth no hands against me, but
this is your hour and the power of darkness." You want to see
the power of darkness? Look to what man did to our Savior. Look to what man did to our Savior. Men who were under the power
of darkness. Men who could not free themselves
from the power of the prince of the power of the air. Men
who could not free themselves from the God of this world who
had blinded their minds. God, men who couldn't do one
thing but what they did. just spew out venom and hatred
and take Christ and treat him every way of evil and everything
that came into the imagination that men could do. Did to him
because that was the power of darkness. That's the exact power
of darkness. Every sinner is under until God
delivers him out of it. Well, if I'd have been there
with Christ, I wouldn't have done that. Yes, you would have.
I guarantee, unless God delivered you out of that power of darkness.
You know what's in our heart by nature? Killing God. That's what's in our heart by
nature. Enmity against God don't mean we're on sort of a friendly
basis with Him. It means we'd kill Him if we
could get to Him. And when we could, we did. We did. That's the power of darkness
we gotta be delivered from. But this is what he says in 2
Corinthians 4. He said this, If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
their minds, to them that believe not. and under the power of darkness.
The God of this world has got them. The Prince of the power
of the air, He's got them. He's got them. Lest the light,
that saints in light, lest that light of that glorious gospel
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
That's how we're going to be delivered. And Peter said this
to us in 1 Peter 2. He said, you're a chosen generation. A royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a peculiar people that you should show forth the praises of him
who's called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Paul said to the Ephesians, you
sometimes were darkness. That's all we were. He didn't
say you were a little light, but you had a lot of darkness
in you. He said you were just darkness. You sometimes were
darkness. That's what we were. We were
darkness. But now you're light in the Lord. Walk as children
of light. Why? Because the fruit of the
Spirit's in all goodness and righteousness and truth. It proves
what's acceptable unto the Lord. and has no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness." We've been delivered out of that,
but rather reproves them. We've been delivered out of that
power of darkness. And then it says, we've been
translated into the kingdom of his dear son. That word translated.
You remember when Paul said, if you have faith as a grain
of mustard seed, you can, or I don't know if that's how he
said it, but he said, if I had faith that I could remove mountains,
That word remove there is the same word as this word that's
been interpreted here or translated here, translated. It means to
move like mountains are moved from one place to another place. I took some plants that were
in the front of my house and I dug them up and I took them
to the back of my house and I translated them to the back of my house.
If you go over there right now, they're not somewhere in between
the front and the back. They're in the back now. They're
not in the front anymore. They're moved from one place to another.
And that's what he says here. God the Father has removed every
believer from the power of darkness and put us into the kingdom of
God's dear Son. What does that mean? It means
we're in a kingdom now. It means we have a king. It means
that we're not under a democracy anymore. We're not under a republic
anymore. We're under an absolute sovereign
monarch. That's what we're under. And
you know what? We like it. We like it because
he's reigning. and He's reigning correctly,
and He's reigning with righteousness and truth, and He's reigning
in our hearts that way, and He's directing all things for us in
this present evil world right now. And we've been truly redeemed,
we've been truly set free because we're no longer ruled by ourself
anymore in that cloud and power of darkness, but now we've been
brought out and we're under the direct control of His hand at
His will. And you know what that is? That's
peace like you just can't even describe to somebody. You can't
even tell somebody about that kind of peace. You can't get
them to understand it. I try to sit here and tell you
these things and tell you these things because I want you to
know this joy. I want you to know this peace. And it's like
with a man that don't want to know and don't care for God and
hates God, you know what it's like? It's like a child sitting
at a doctor's office and he's fixing to get a shot that's fixing
to make him completely better. It's going to make him completely
well. And he's just slinging and throwing and kicking and
jumping because he just don't want that prick that it's going
to take to make him better. But this kingdom that we're in,
because He's our Lord and He's our Sovereign, we love our King. And we love, we are loyal to
our King by His grace. And we obey our King because
He's made us kings and priests unto God. And we shall reign
with Him. We do now and we shall forever.
And this is what true, true joy is and true rest is. It's knowing,
you know, As bad as I think I could fix
it by reaching out and taking my hand and putting my hand to
it and doing something about it, I don't have to handle my
breath right anymore. Just don't. I just don't. God, who's ruling and reigning,
is able to handle them. And you know what happens when
that is? There's peace. You can quit trying to fix it.
You can quit trying to just tell the truth about him like I'm
trying to do right now. You know what he'll do? He'll
enter that heart and he'll just mortify the deeds of that flesh.
He'll make that old malice and that old envy and that old vain
conceit. He'll just make it, make you
see what it is. None of that's future tense now.
We not, we, we, we're gonna, And look back there at our text,
Colossians 1. You see, all this was done by
Him now. Colossians 1, 12. He made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints and light. We're not giving thanks
partially to the Father and partially to us. And then it says here,
He's delivered us from the power of darkness and He's translated
us into the kingdom of His dear Son. That's great. We rejoice
in this. You know what it is? While we
sing these songs and we rejoice like we do, the believer has
this hope in himself. He's come out from among the
acknowledgeers, and he's washed his hands of it for good, and
he has no more longing to be defiled in all those things that
are now the old things that are passed away. Old things are passed
away, and everything's new now, and he don't have a desire to
go back and be defiled with the old things that are passed away.
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It's righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. And that's what we have,
great joy. Here's the third thing. Here's
the legal, just, righteous ground of our full assurance before
God. through the blood of His own dear Son, we have complete
redemption, even the forgiveness of sins." Look at verse 14. In
whom? In Christ, we have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Look at Colossians 2,
right there. What's this redemption? I copied
Gil on this. This redemption is a deliverance
out of the hands of all our enemies, all evils, all misery, all effects
of sin, from death and hell and wrath to come. He has obtained
eternal redemption for us. We've been free. free, even the
forgiveness of sins. Look at verse 11. He says, in
whom also you're circumcised with a circumcision made without
hands. You see all that touch not, taste not, handle not, all
that will worship and all that neglecting of the body and all
that stuff, that's what that's trying to do. That's trying to
separate you from the body of your sins and the body of your
flesh. That was done without our hands. That was done by Christ. circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands. He took away. What did He do?
In putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ. We've been buried with Him. You
know, I told you this Thursday night, you can run to the law
all you want to. You know what the law says to
us, brethren? You're dead to me. You died. You don't owe me anything. You're
dead. You're dead. Have you been buried? Buried
with Him in baptism, were it also you risen with Him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from
the dead. That baptism we're talking about
right there is being baptized into His dead, not into water,
but in His being in Him when He went into that grave. And
you, being dead in your sins, in the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you
all trespasses. Now here's something that can
be blotted out. God's people can't ever be blotted out of
the Lamb's Book of Life, but here's what can be blotted out. Verse
14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way and
nailed it to his cross. And he spoiled principalities
and powers and made a show of them openly and triumphed over
them in it. And God the Father says, now
their sins and their iniquities, I'll remember them no more. You
know what that means? It means just what Paul said
there in verse 10 of chapter 2. You're complete in Him. You're complete in Him. You see
that word, in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily?
How much fullness of the Godhead do you reckon dwelled in Christ? All of it. Completely all fullness
of the Godhead dwelling in bodily you see that word complete in
verse 10 That's the exact same word as fullness The exact same
word translated from the same exact word You're complete in
him. You got all fullness in him.
It's done. That's what the good news is
now There's somebody sitting here now and you not meet for
this inheritance. I You love your sin too much,
depart with it. You love your self-righteousness
too much to see that it's filthy rags. You love your wisdom too
much to see that you ain't got any. And I said it just like
that so I can get down on your level. You ain't got any. You ain't got any. And you don't
want to be here too much or too long. You don't want to be in
the scriptures too much or too long. You don't like for God
to receive all the glory too much or too long. And you don't
like to be with God's saints too much or too long. And as
long as you remain where you are, you don't have to trouble
yourself about doing these things for all eternity. You'll be with
your own company soon enough. None of this joy. All the smile
on the faces of these believers here just left. Because they
don't want to see you perish. They don't want to see you perish
like that. I don't either. If you could
just see that it's the goodness of God that leads sinners to
repentance. Can you see His goodness here?
He did everything. Everything. This work of grace is going to
create this unknown sorrow over your sin that you've never known
before. It's going to create an unknown desire to know more
of Christ that you never knew before. You're going to think,
what's coming over me? This ain't me. And it ain't you. It really is not. It's something
new God's doing. And I hope He makes you come
to Him and fall and cry out to Him. Now, my brothers and sisters,
we remember this. You've got a Father in heaven. You've got a Father in heaven.
We've been translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. We
can't be taken out. We've been made meat to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. We'll never be unfit
for that inheritance. The work's done. The work's done. The blood and the righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ is our fitness. And as sure as his blood
can't be unshed for his elect, as sure as those he's justified
can never be unjustified, just that surely you shall see the
face of God with acceptance. Don't look for assurance in you,
and don't listen to anybody that tries to tell you to look for
assurance in you. Our full assurance is in Christ in whom we're complete.
Look to Him. This is what He said, look unto
Me, and remember that passive word, and be ye saved. Look to
Me. and just fall into His arms and
be saved. Don't try to save yourself, just
be saved. If He says you be saved, that's
what you be. If He says you be holy, that's
what you be. Be ye saved. Be ye saved. For I'm God and there's none
else, He said. We got a lot to be thankful for, don't we? That's the joy. That's the mortification. That's the message that's going
to make God's people saints. And make this kingdom come without
observation while this world's not even looking. Because the
world don't know the light in it. The world don't know the
light in it. Ah, meet, fit, forever.