Let us turn once again to the
Word of God in the chapter that we read, the epistle of Paul
to the Colossians. In chapter 1, and I'll read at
verses 12 and 13. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. And for the text I want really
to center your attention upon the words at the beginning of
verse 13 and that clause who hath delivered us from the power
of darkness. giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet, to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son." And the theme then is that really
of darkness and deliverance. Darkness and deliverance, or
we might say, to put it another way, here we read of sin and
salvation. And how the Apostle uses his
expression, the authority, rather, yes, he has in the text the power
of darkness, but the word literally means the authority of darkness,
who has delivered us from the authority of darkness. And first of all I want to try
to determine just what this power or authority of darkness is referring
to. And in a sense there's a fourfold
answer to that question, what is the darkness? Surely in the
first place we have to recognize that the reference here is to
the kingdom of Satan. It's not just that he's speaking
of darkness over against light. but he deliberately uses this
expression the power or the authority of darkness and remember that
Satan is spoken of elsewhere as the prince of the power of
the air the prince of the power of the air and there in Ephesians
6 where Paul later goes on to speak of the believer's armor that God
has provided. He speaks of the power, or rather
he speaks of us wrestling against principalities and powers, against
the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. All of these terms then are referring
to Satan and the kingdom of Satan. and how there was much satanic
activity of course at the time of the incarnation and the ministry
of the Lord Jesus Christ as he engages in that ministry that
the father had given to him as he comes to execute what had
been determined in the eternal councils that work that he had
taken up in the great covenant of grace, there's much satanic
activity even at the beginning of the Lord's ministry there
in the synagogue in Capernaum when he is casting out a demon
on the Sabbath day, how the demons recognize him. We know thee who
thou art. Jesus of Nazareth. Art thou come
to destroy us? Or they recognize him as that
one who is the Holy One. And when we come to the end of
the Lord's ministry and He must make that great sin atoning sacrifice,
remember His words to those who come to lay hold of Him and to
arrest Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. There in Luke 22.53 He says,
this is your hour. and the power of darkness as
Christ comes now to accomplish the very purpose of his incarnation
to make that great sin atoning sacrifice and to defeat all the
powers of darkness by that sacrifice. So he speaks of it as the hour
of the demons Oh the Lord Jesus then is that one who will overcome
the kingdom of Satan which is spoken of here in the text, the
power or the authority of darkness. And of course in contrast we're
told aren't we that God is light and in him is no darkness at
all. There is the conflict. Christ
says I am the light of the world he that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness. but shall have the light of life. And so seeking to define just
what this darkness is all about in the first place we have to
recognize it is the kingdom, the domain, the power, the authority
of Satan himself. But to be more specific we can
also go on to say it is very much the domain of sin. And again, the Lord makes that
so plain in the course of His own ministry when He declares
our men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. Evil deeds associated then with
darkness. Our sins are often committed
under the cover of darkness. And remember how the wise man
very much speaks of these things there in the book of Proverbs
in Proverbs chapter 7 and there at verse 6 following he speaks
of the foolish youth going the way of the harlot, the prostitute
solemn words that we read there at that 6th verse in that 7th
chapter for at the window of my house I look through my casement
says the wise man and beheld among the simple ones and discerned
among the youths a young man, void of understanding, passing
through the street near her corner, and he went the way to her house
in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.
And behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot
and subtle of heart, she is loud and stubborn, Her feet abide
not in her house, now is she without, now in the streets,
and lieth in wait at every corner. So she caught him and kissed
him, and with an impudent face said unto him, I have peace-offerings
with me, this day have I paid my vows. Now all of this, you
see, is associated with the twilight, the evening, the black, dark
night. What is being spoken of here
in our text this morning is very much the domain of sin. Sin associated with darkness. Sins committed under the cover
of the night. Again when we come to the New
Testament we have words very similar to those that we just
read in Proverbs. Paul to the Thessalonians tells
us that our drunken in the night. They're drunken in the night.
He goes on to say to those believers in Thessalonica, you are all
the children of light and the children of the day. You are
not of the night, nor of darkness. Here then we are to understand
the reference to be not only the kingdom of Satan, but the
very domain where sins are committed. And so when we come to the practical
part of his epistles we find Paul exhorting time and again
to turn from such things. Have no fellowship, he says,
with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove
them. How God's people are to turn
then from all the ways of sin and all the ways of uncleanness. Again, look at the words of the
Apostle at the end of Romans chapter 13 and there in verse 12 let us therefore cast off, he
says, the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light
Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness,
not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But
put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the
flesh to fulfil the lust thereof. Oh, what is the power of darkness? It is the domain of sin. And as it's spoken of in those
terms, the domain of sin, so in the third place we can also
see how it's associated with the ignorance. The ignorance
goes hand in hand with sin. Psalm 82 and verse 5. We read
they know not, neither will they understand, they walk on in darkness. they walk on in darkness they
don't understand they are happy they are satisfied with all their
ignorance having the understanding darkened being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the
blindness of their hearts well we see then that the darkness
is associated with with ignorance and the want of knowledge solemn words and time and again
in scripture we see how God threatens with terrible judgments in the
term of the darkness that goes hand in hand with ignorance for
example in the prophecy of Isaiah we read of the darkness that
shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people or the ignorance
but then in the midst of all of that blackness and that darkness
there is that gracious word of promise the Lord shall arise
upon them and his glory shall be seen upon them and the Gentiles
shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising
this is the promise of the gospel in the midst of all that ignorance
and that darkness that the Gentile nations were sunken in. All the
ignorance in that goes with what is spoken of here in
our text this morning. The power of darkness. The light shineth in the darkness. and the darkness comprehended
it not." Well, the darkness is not able to overpower that light. No, those people that walked
in darkness, they are to see that glorious light, the light
of the Gospel and the knowledge of salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We have it here, of course, the inheritance of the saints
in light the end of verse 12 who have delivered us from the
power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son it's life eternal says Christ to know to know thee the only
true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent to be delivered
then from all that darkness of ignorance, and it's a promise
that comes to the Gentile nations. We see then how there are various
aspects to what is being spoken of with regards to this power
or authority of darkness. It's Satan's kingdom, it's the
domain of sin, it's that place of ignorance, and ultimately,
ultimately, it is the dreadful sufferings of hell. All we read
of those who persist in their sins, in their condition of alienation
and enmity to God, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness
forever, says the Apostle Jude. That's what God has reserved
for them, the blackness of darkness forever. In the Revelation it's
spoken of, isn't it, as the seat of the beast. His kingdom, it
says, was full of darkness. That's the kingdom of the beast.
That's the kingdom of Satan. And ultimately, where is it?
It's hell. And that is the place of great
ignorance. There's no saving knowledge of
God in that awful place. And yet, it's a place where there's
no unbelief. Because the demons, they all
believe and they tremble. All they know that God is. And
yet they're eternally cut off from God. And so those who persist
in their ignorance and their unbelief, who plow on in the
course of their sinful lives. How solemn is the Word of God
then here with regards to this place. It's the power of darkness. It's the kingdom of Satan. It's
the domain of sin and of ignorance. Well, there must be that negative
emphasis to begin with before we can really appreciate the
positive statement of the gospel that we really have in this text
this morning. Because it doesn't just speak
of darkness, it speaks also of deliverance. It's not just a
matter of sin. And of course it's not enough
to know that we're sinners. We must know that we're sinners.
We need to know more than that. We need to know that there is
a very real salvation for those who are sinners. And here we
have the deliverance who have delivered us from the power of
darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son. This is the deliverance of God.
And whose kingdom is being spoken of in the second part of this
13th verse? Well, it is the kingdom of his
dear son. Or as the margin says, it's the
kingdom of the son of his love. It's the son of his love. It
says in verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made
us meet, to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in
light. Oh, this is Christ, you see,
the light of the world. And he that follows me, Christ
said, he's not going to walk in darkness, he has the light
of life. It's the kingdom then of God's
dear Son, the Son of his love. and think of the significance
of that because it reminds us doesn't it of the sovereignty
of Christ the son of his love the son of
the father in truth and in love says John there in his second
epistle as he speaks of the Lord Jesus the son of the father in
truth and in love the only begotten of the father full of grace and
truth and so it reminds us that Christ's sovereignty is an absolute
sovereignty in terms of his deity because he is in fact the eternal
son of God is the eternal Son of God. What does God say in
the 2nd Psalm? "...Yet have I set my King upon
my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the
Lord hath said unto me, This day have I begotten thee." And
remember the significance of that statement, this day. Not
yesterday, not tomorrow, but this day, the eternal day. this
day of I begotten he is the eternal son of God he is equal with the
father and it is his kingdom that he is that that overcomes
all the power and the authority of darkness or when there were no depths
he says I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding
with water before the mountains were settled, before the hills
was I brought forth. Then I was with Him. I was daily
His delight, rejoicing always before Him. He is that One who
is God's eternal Son. And so He has an authority that
is an absolute authority because we're to recognize it in terms
of His deity. in Psalm 45 which is a messianic
psalm. What does the psalmist declare
there? Thy throne, O God, is for ever
and ever. The scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. Speaking of the Messiah, speaking
of the Son of God, His throne is established for ever and we
see it here in this chapter. Who is He? verse 15, the image
of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature for by Him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers all things were created by Him and
for Him and He is before all things and by Him all things
consist All things you see not only upon the earth but also
in the heavens. All this One who is spoken of,
His Kingdom, the Kingdom of the Son of Islam, is none other than
that One who is God Himself. And is He not One who is stronger
than the strong man armed? All the Lord Himself declares
it in the Gospel. There in Luke 11 and verse 20, the words of the
Lord Jesus, If I with the finger of God cast
out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man arms, keepeth
his palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than
he shall come upon him and overcome him, he taketh from him all his
armour wherein he trusted. and divideth his spoils. Who
is he speaking of here? The strong man armed, that's
himself. He's stronger than that one.
When a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him,
he taketh away from him all his armor. He is stronger than that
strong man armed. He is able to overcome all the
powers of darkness because he is God. who has delivered us
from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom
of the son of Islam reading with the margin but he doesn't just
exercise an absolute authority when we think of him as the eternal
son of God but there is also an appointed sovereignty in terms
of the covenant. And surely that is what really
is being spoken of here in our text this morning. It's what
God has appointed for this one who is God manifest in the flesh. Does he not have authority as
the Messiah? Remember again how the Lord speaks
to his own disciples, I appoint unto you, he says, a kingdom
as my father hath appointed unto me. He has an appointed kingdom.
All power, he says, all authority is given unto me in heaven and
in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end
of the world. He has a power and an authority that has
been delegated to him in terms of that covenant. and as he comes
into this world he comes of course though God manifests in the flesh
he comes as a servant he is the servant of God he comes not to
do his own will but comes to do the will of him who has sent
him and he is obedient he is obedient to all that will of
God and he accomplishes all that work that has been committed
to his child and we see it there in that second chapter of Philippians
his obedience his obedience unto death even the death of the cross an appointed, a delegated authoritarian. He is that one who now rules
and reigns. But he rules and reigns in his
mediatorial kingdom. He is the head of the body, the
church. All the sovereignty of the Lord
Jesus Christ in it. We have to recognize that that's
being spoken of. in terms of his kingdom. But
what of that kingdom? Well, surely we see that the
kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is a spiritual kingdom because
he himself declares it. My kingdom is not of this world,
he says. If my kingdom were of this world
then would my disciples fight. that I'd be not delivered to
the Jews, but now is my kingdom not from hence. His kingdom is
not a kingdom of the world. It's a spiritual kingdom. The
kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. It's spiritual in its very nature. It's the rain of grace that comes
into the soul of sinners, those who are taken captive by Satan
at his will, but that one who is stronger than the strong man
armed, he overwhelms all the powers of darkness. As it's a
spiritual kingdom, so we see that it's also an inward kingdom. Remember those words of the Lord,
again in the Gospel, there in Luke 17, And verse 20, the Pharisees come
with their demands. He was demanded of the Pharisees
when the kingdom of God should come. And how does the Lord answer
them? The kingdom of God cometh not
with observation, He says. Cometh not without which show. It's not of this world. Neither
shall they say lo here or lo there, for behold the kingdom
of God is within you. Oh, it's an inward kingdom. It
is a spiritual kingdom. And what is it that the Lord
accomplishes in His kingdom? Well, it's deliverance. Christ is that One who is the
Great Deliverer. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear
Son. in whom we have redemption through His blood even the forgiveness
of sins. Now, we're directed clearly here
then to His work what it was that He came to accomplish the
work that the Father had given Him to do that great work of
redemption and redemption through blood or without the shedding
of blood there can be no remission of sins but he has come and he
has poured out his soul unto death he has died the just for
the unjust this is his work and so we have to observe what the
deliverance is it's deliverance from and it's translation to
isn't that what we have in the text he hath delivered us from
and have translated us in two. That's the deliverance. It's
from darkness to light. By nature we're those who are
in darkness. But when the light of the Gospel
comes, it comes with that light, the knowledge, the deliverance
from all our ignorance. the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ no more in all the darkness of
our sinful ignorance but now we understand the wonder of the
gospel way of salvation always from darkness to light it's from
condemnation to justification That's the great message of the
gospel, is it not? The great truth of justification
by faith. Of ourselves, we're those who
deserve God's condemnation. We've sinned against Him, we've
transgressed, the soul that sinneth it must die, there must be the
punishment of sins. God can by no means clear the
guilt, He is a just and a holy God. and His justice must be
satisfied all but Christ has come and He has honoured and
magnified that Holy Lord of God why He was made of a woman He
was made under the law and how He has honoured it by the obedience
of His life by the great oblation of His sin atoning death Lord's
deliverance then from all the condemnation of sin to the wonder
of justification by faith in Christ. It's deliverance from
guilt to the pardon of sins. All there is forgiveness in the
Lord Jesus Christ because He has answered the charge. He has
died the innocent one for the guilty ones. He has borne that
punishment that was there just deserved. And so they know the
pardon of all their sins. It's a deliverance from misery. It's a happiness. Isn't that
the wonder of it? Why sin is such a miserable business? When our consciences are alarmed
We're aware of what sin is. What a miserable thing it is.
But all to no deliverance. Deliverance from all the servitude
of Satan. That one who is ever walking
about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. That one
who is ever ready to accuse the brethren. to be delivered from
all the misery of his servitude to all the happiness that is
found only in the Lord Jesus it's a deliverance from death
from death to life or what are we by nature? we're dead in trespasses
and in sins but to be born again born again
by the Spirit of God, born from above, to be a partaker of that
new life. And what is that new life? It's
an eternal life. It's a life that can never be
destroyed, it's a life that will carry the believer even through
the article of physical death. All this is the wonder, you see,
of what Christ has done in delivering us from the power
of darkness translating us into the kingdom of his dear son. Paul writes of it also in the
second letter to the Corinthians and again in the opening chapter
of that epistle there at verse 10 who delivered us from so great
a death he says who delivered us from so great a death and
doth deliver in whom we trust he will yet deliver us. It's all deliverance. There's the curse, there's the
curse of sin, there's the curse of death. Curse is every one
that continues, not in all things. Written in the book of the law
to do them. Oh, what a curse is on the transgressors. what does Paul go on to say there
in Galatians 3 Christ hath delivered us from the curse of sin being
made a curse for us for it is written cursed is everyone that
hangeth on a tree this is the deliverance that
the Lord has wrought it's a full salvation it's a free salvation
it's the end of sin though he has finished the transgression,
he's made an end of sin it's all the Lord's doing the guy, the apostle in that
opening chapter of 2nd Corinthians says we have the sentence of
death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in
God that raises the dead Yes, we have to know something of
that sentence of death, we have to know something of the power
of darkness in ourselves if we're going to know what it is to rejoice
in that great deliverance that God is the one who raises the
dead to life. Again he says, we which live
are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake that the life
also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal body. It's not
just an experience that the people of God know at the beginning
of their new life, their spiritual life. It's that that continues. We which live alive unto God
and yet always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake and we
feel the conflict. The conflict between the old
nature and the new nature. What a fearful warfare is that,
that is taking place in the souls of those who are the delivered. Now Paul writes a bit of course
in such remarkable detail there in that seventh chapter of Romans.
how he feels it the good that I would I do not the evil that
I would not that I do he cries out all wretched man that I am
who shall deliver me from the body of this death I thank God
through Jesus Christ our Lord so then with the mind I myself serve
God but with the flesh the law of sin or the conflict And he
feels that conflict. We which live are always delivered
unto death for Jesus' sake. That the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our mortal flesh. You see there are many
deliverances. Oh yes, here is that great deliverance. He has delivered us from the
power of darkness. Delivered us from all the authority
of darkness. Delivered us from the kingdom
of Satan. delivered us from all the thraldrum of sin and all
the ignorance of sin and yet there are deliverances yet we
have it there, we've already quoted those words in verse 10
of that first chapter of 2nd Corinthians who delivered us
from so great a death and doth deliver He delivered us in the
past, He delivers us in the present, and He will yet deliver us. Many,
many deliverances. And now the psalmist, all the
psalmist knew these things. Now he cries out, Oh God, command
deliverances for Jacob. Oh, Jacob needs many deliverances. Such is the awful power of darkness,
the fraud of Satan. Oh God, command deliverances
for Jacob. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Oh, this is the lot then of those
who are the people of God. They know what deliverance is. because they know what the power
of darkness is they know what salvation is because they know
what they are by nature they are so very conscious of the
reality of their sinnership and yet they are that people who
are delivered ye were sometime darkness but now are ye light
in the Lord says Paul walk as children of light, or we're to
walk as children of light. We're to be those who are looking
for that blessed inheritance that's spoken of in the previous
verse here, giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. All the Lord has accomplished
in a glorious deliverance for his people but it's one thing
isn't it to see it here on the page of God's Word quite a different
thing to know what it is to be experiencing it day by day moment
by moment as we live here upon the earth and have to live that
life of faith and Satan ever active ever walking about ever
ready to accuse Now we are those then who have to cry out again
and again in that language of the psalmist, O God, command
deliverance for Jacob. May the Lord be pleased then
to command that deliverance might be the portion of each and every
one of us. As the Lord is pleased to bless
this word to us today. Amen.