I believe I got a recording,
which is good, and streaming. Good morning. Let's turn to Colossians
chapter one. Colossians chapter one, our text
is verses 12 and 13. And I'm gonna read our text. Beginning in verse 12, Paul says,
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. I was preparing this morning,
looking over my notes here for this message, and it hit me that
there's Most of the epistles that Paul writes to the churches,
he knows them. He's familiar with them. They
are fruit of his apostleship. He went there, preached the gospel,
God blessed it, and brought fruit by that gospel that he preached. And so he knew those people,
and many of the epistles he writes to churches that were founded
by him, by his preaching, and he knew them. And I think with
only Romans, which appears that he had never been there himself,
and this epistle, these were the only two epistles that he
wrote, putting aside Hebrews, but ones that we know that Paul
absolutely was the author of, that he wrote this to the church
and he didn't know those people. And there's a certain comfort
in that for us, because the only thing that separates us from
the Colossians, besides a little distance, is the distance of
time, really. And he's writing this epistle
to us, and this epistle's really about foundations, a true foundation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is about, he's not addressing
any issues, he's declaring to them the truth, that they would
be established in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so there's something
else here in these words, something that he's used before to address
these brethren. He calls them saints. He doesn't
even know them, but based on the testimony of their pastor,
Epaphras, he calls them saints. And I looked in all the other
epistles, and that's exactly what he calls the other brethren
when he's addressing them. He calls them saints. And the
only time that he doesn't use that term, saints, to address
the brethren that he's writing to is Galatians. Galatians, that's
the only time he actually does not address them as saints, which
is a frightening thing, a trembling thing. But here, we see him rejoicing
in the work that God the Father has wrought in these brethren. And he calls them saints. and they're saints because of
the grace of God in Jesus Christ. That's why any one of us is a
saint. It's because of the grace of
God in Jesus Christ. And so Paul has thanked the Father
previously in this epistle, and he's thanking the Father once
again for the grace that he's wrought in these brethren. It's all of grace. It's not because
of something that they've done. It's because of what God has
done for his people in Christ. And that's an encouragement to
you and I who are sinners. That's a blessing to hear that
it's not based on what we do and the works that we do or the
fruit that we bring forth, but rather what the Spirit of God
brings forth in us by the power of God, which has been established
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it's God who makes
us meet to be partakers in his kingdom, to enjoy the blessings
of God given in the Lord Jesus Christ. And being made meet means
that God has cleansed us with the blood of Christ. It means
that he has sent his son to do this redeeming, to do this work
of redemption, to reconcile us to God, to restore that which
was lost by us in Adam. And additionally, he pours out
all the spiritual blessings that he has for his people freely
upon us in and by Christ himself. So this is something that our
Lord does only for his chosen people. He does this for his
chosen people, and he made that choice of them before the foundation
of the world. And we'll see these truths this
morning in this message here. So first of all, wherever God
sends his gospel, As we see, it doesn't have to be by the
Apostle Paul or an apostle. That's been established. They
bore witness. And this is the fruit still resulting
from the ministry of the Word. And so wherever God, the Father,
is pleased to send that gospel as he sent it unto you, as he
sends it to you to hear, God bears fruit by it. He bears true,
real, spiritual fruit by this gospel in the hearts and in the
minds of you, his beloved saints, you that believe Christ this
day. Paul, speaking of this gospel,
said back in verse six, look at Colossians 1.6, speaking of
the gospel, he says, which is come unto you as it is in all
the world and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you,
since the day ye heard of it and knew the grace of God in
truth. And so what God does is he causes
his gospel to go forth and it's his work, it's his power that
makes it effectual in our hearts so that we hear it as it is in
spirit and in truth. We hear what the Lord is teaching
his people. And these who hear it are called
saints. Saints. And that sounds like
a fancy word. And there are some denominations
so-called who call themselves Christians that say that a saint
is someone who's worked a miracle or someone who manifests something
peculiar or special about them. And if it is a miracle that's
required, I can tell you right now, it's not a miracle done
by us. But in every case, it is a miracle of God's grace,
which he works in the hearts of his people. You that believe
Christ and trust him that he is your righteousness, that is
the power of God. That is a miracle. That's something
that he does for every one of his children. So you that believe,
you believe by the miraculous power and grace of God for you,
for you. not because you've earned it,
not because you can keep it, but because Christ has earned
it. He's wrought this for us, and
he keeps us unto the end. In fact, let's turn over to 1
Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, we see that a saint
is one who is sanctified by God. A saint is one who is set apart
by God unto this salvation. A saint is one who hears the
gospel by the grace and power of God and it's made profitable
unto them. The gospel is heard, the preaching
of it is heard by many. The gospel's heard by many, but
it's not profitable to them because it's not mixed with faith. But
you that hear it in faith, it's profitable to you because God
has given you faith to hear and to believe it. And so Peter in
verse two, Chapter one, verse two, writes to the saints of
God in the following manner, calling them elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, here it is, through sanctification
of the spirit. That's what a saint is, one who's
set apart, separated by God unto these blessings of God in Christ. And the purpose of God is to
lead every one of his saints to see Christ, to believe that
what he has done has wrought my salvation and is effectual
for me, is done for me, that he loved me and gave his life
for me. And so Peter adds that he brings
us, we've been separated apart to this, unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. And that is God makes us to behold,
to see the obedience of Christ. That's not our obedience. being
brought to see by faith that the obedience of Christ is my
very salvation. He accomplished my redemption.
He did this for me. And sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. And so we're brought by the Spirit
to behold the faithfulness of Christ unto the Father to do
this work of salvation, to pay all our debts, to set us free,
to give us life in himself. Grace, Peter says, grace unto
you, and peace be multiplied. And Peter goes on, speaking of
this inheritance of the saints, in verse three through five,
blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again, hath
given us a new birth, hath raised us again from the dead unto a
lively hope, a living hope, not a dead faith, not a faith made
in the tradition of man and going through various rituals and religious
ceremony, but a living hope, one that lives upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. Because it's by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, so that when Christ was raised
from the dead, we're raised from the dead. We were raised with
him, given life in him, to an inheritance incorruptible and
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time. And so we see in these
writings of Peter and of Paul, they had the same spirit. They
said the same thing. They saw the grace of God and
how that the peace of God follows that grace. We don't do things
to obtain peace for ourselves. We try to work in the flesh,
we work, we try to do things, we try to stop things to get
peace in our hearts. But the only one who establishes
peace in the heart is our God, who does it by grace and then
peace follows. Peace follows when God has been
gracious to us and causing us to put down our tools and put
down our works and to believe Christ, to rest in him. to trust
Him, to learn of Him and follow Him. And so we see this spoken
of by Paul and Peter, and this inheritance always has these
characteristics. The inheritance of the saints
always has these characteristics. It's established in God by grace. First, it's established by God
in grace. Our inheritance is founded upon
the grace of God in Christ. Second, it's always living, it's
a living hope. which is founded upon the blood
of Christ. It was established by him. He's
the one who establishes this covenant of God's grace, where
God may be gracious to you because he will have compassion on you
and mercy. Third, it cannot be corrupted
or defiled. We cannot ruin it. We cannot
ruin it. We cannot undo what God has done.
The door that God has opened, no man can shut. And that door
that God closes, no man can open. We can't ruin it. Christ, you
that are in Christ, unless you depart from Christ, and if you
do depart from Christ, it's because you never were his. You never
were his, but if you're his, he's given you this faith, and
you're resting in him, you're trusting him, you're believing
him, and so it's of him. So we can't corrupt it or defile
it, and it shall never fade. It'll never break down or be
ruined. You know, my car, when I have
a Honda, out there and when I bought it, it looked pretty good. It
was used when I bought it but the paint was nice and the tires
were good and everything was pretty new on it. Now it's got
chipping paint and fading areas and in my neighborhood I drive
by homes where there's a pickup truck on the grass and I haven't
seen that thing move since I've lived here. So for over five
years there's a couple pickup trucks on different properties
in the same exact spot and even though they're not using them,
They're getting older and older and more worn. I see the rust
growing and growing, even though we're not using it. Whatever
we do fades and falls apart. But what God has done shall never
fade. It'll never wear out because
he keeps it and sustains it. It's preserved by God. That's
the other thing. It's preserved by him. And so we always see
this, this inheritance. This is a joyful inheritance,
brethren. It's not going away. And the
other thing we see is God is the one who started it, and God
is the one who finishes it. He's the one who wrought this
for us, and he's the one who keeps us by his power through
faith unto salvation, which shall be revealed in the last day,
the last time. And so, one thing that we see here that
I'd like to say is a saint, a saint, on this point of the saint, a
saint is made entirely by Grace, that's what a saint is. If you
see some, your hand in it, then you're not a saint. If something
you've done to make yourself a saint, you're not a saint.
But if it's all of God, if it's all of his grace, and that's
your hope, you are a saint, because a saint is made entirely by the
grace of God. And then it speaks of our inheritance
being in light. It's an inheritance of the saints
in light. And there's a lot of blessed
ways we could see that and understand what this light is, this inheritance
in light. But to me, what really blessed
my heart, especially this morning as I was looking over my notes,
that this light means that there's nothing, one, that it's entirely
sufficient by the Lord saved to the uttermost. And the other
thing is that there's no shame in it. There's nothing for us
to be ashamed of. It's in pure light. There's no
darkness. There's nothing being kept hidden from anybody. God
is not forgiving you with a wink wink where he's saying, well,
I'll just pretend I didn't see that. And we'll just let that
thing slide over there. Every debt that you and I have
accrued, every debt has been Everything has been accounted
for by the Lord Jesus Christ. God is happy to open the books
and you can look at them because there's nothing shady. There's
no darkness. It's entirely in light. Let the
light shine upon it because we see the glory of God in accounting
for every one of the sins of his people. All has been put
away properly. All has been paid for properly.
by the substitute, by the surety of his people, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He paid the debt in full. And so there's nothing for you
or I to be ashamed of. There's nothing hidden. There's
no skeletons in the closet that we have to worry about is gonna
come out at the last day. It's all been taken care of.
It's all been addressed and put away by the Lord Jesus Christ
properly. And God's not ashamed. He's not
hiding it. He's shining the light. He's
shouting this word of truth from the housetops. He's declaring
the gospel. Let everyone hear it because
Christ is worthy of all acceptation. He is to be heard. Men need to
come to him. If they're to be saved, it's
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And so he shouts it because
God is perfectly just to justify his people. He's perfectly just
to forgive all his people because all the debts have been paid
by Christ. This is what it says in Romans 3, verses 24 through
26, that we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption,
the purchase that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to
be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance
of God so that the anger that God justly had toward us was
turned on Christ when he propitiated the wrath of God and satisfied
the wrath of God so that God is at peace with us. And he says,
to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness that he might
be just and the justifier of them which believeth in Jesus
Christ. He's just. He's just. So it's
an inheritance in life. Anyone can look at it. The accuser
or the brethren can look at it and it shuts his mouth because
he's got nothing to say. It's all been done justly and
perfectly in righteousness. Next, we see that it reveals
why it was necessary for the Father to make us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. And we
see why it's so amazing. that God would justify us in
Christ, that he would make us fit. That's what it means to
be made meet, to be a partaker. He's made us fit, accepted to
be a partaker of this inheritance. Look at verse 13, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. So this is why Paul is always
thanking the Father. because this is of the grace
of God to do this. This is why sinners are always
thanking God, the Father. They're always thanking the Father
because this is His grace toward us. This is why we're humble,
because we know what we are by nature. We know what sinners
we are, what crimes we've committed against God, and our rebellion
and sin against God, that we're not just. We're not right in
all our ways. Our words are not perfect. Our
heart isn't perfect. Our thoughts are not perfect. We're not saved because we're
so good. We're saved by the grace of God freely in Christ. And so we're humbled to think
of how gracious, how kind, how compassionate our God is to us
for Christ's sake. It's because we were in bondage
to the power of darkness. And that, gladly. We were happy
slaves of sin. We didn't care. We were rebels
against God and we were content in that. But Paul says we were
delivered from the power of darkness. We really were in chains and
in bondage, in darkness, shut up to the things of God, unable
to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We couldn't
see it, we wouldn't hear it, We wanted nothing to do with
God. We were like Adam. We ran from him to hide ourselves
amongst the trees. We were happy to be religious
and sew fig leaves on ourselves to cover our nakedness, but it
was all a sham and we didn't want God. We were afraid of him
and we labored in fear and in worry. And anyone who argues
against that has never yet heard the gospel. They're yet dead
in their trespasses and sins. They're yet chained and and thick
chains of darkness and bound in that. He's a slave to sin
and he doesn't even know it. And so God has made us hear his
call because he set us free. He's delivered us. Christ has
washed us of our sins to bless us so that we are here now gathered
to hear that blessed word of what he has done to save us,
to deliver us from darkness, to hear the gracious call of
God. declaring that he has put away all our sins. He has taken
away the stain of our sin. He has washed us white as snow
in the blood of Christ. And they're all put away forever.
All of God's children were at one time children of darkness.
And if you don't believe me, well, let's go to the scripture
and look. In fact, turn over to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians
two, we'll pick up in verse one. and you at the Quicken, who were
dead in trespasses and sins. Now he's talking about a spiritual
death there. We're walking around physically,
but we're dead, dead spiritually, in bondage, in darkness, having
no hope of life. Wherein, verse two, wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience. And that means
that we all were under the power and the sway of the devil. We
were doing his bidding, what he wanted. Ephesians 2.3, among
whom also we all, no exceptions, including Paul, no exceptions,
we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our
flesh. We rejoiced in what we had in
this world, our vacations, our jobs, our income, what we did,
what we saw, who we were, who we knew. We rejoiced in those
things. That was our glory. And we were
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others. We were all born
of Adam's seed. And Adam's seed is defiled, it's
ruined. Adam was created in the image
of God and when Adam sinned, he became corrupt and defiled
and ruined. And all his seed in him sinned
in Adam and became corrupt and defiled and ruined. And so when
Adam died spiritually, we all died spiritually. So we all were
ruined in Adam and we all come forth speaking lies. We all come
forth sinners. We're not little angels. We are
polluted, vile, wretched sinners by nature. Ephesians 2, 4, and
5. But God, but God who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. And that
us is well defined in scripture as the people of God whom he
made choice of and gave to Christ, for whom Christ laid down his
life. But God, who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us, made us alive together with Christ.
By grace, ye are saved." We're saved by his grace. So we don't
save ourselves, but God alone does this. That's what he's saying.
He's done everything necessary for our deliverance. And when
he made choice of us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. Now in Hebrews 2 verses 14 and 15, it confirms this bondage. It confirms everything we're
hearing in the scriptures. It's telling us how we were and
what Christ did to deliver us from our bondage and darkness.
When he says in Hebrews 2 verses 14 through 15, for as much then
as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself
likewise took part of the same. This is the mediator, the Christ
of God, the Son of God who's come to deliver us from all our
debts, from our bondage, from our darkness and ruin. He took
part of the same that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. Are you afraid to die? Are you
still looking at what you've done and saying it's not enough?
I need to do more. If I die now, I'm afraid of what
God's gonna do to me when I stand before him. If you're trembling
and afraid, it's because you're still looking to yourself, to
what you've done or have not done, and you're still trying
to find a righteousness by your own works. What the Lord is saying
to you this morning is, look to my son, Jesus Christ. Believe
him whom I've sent. I sent him, just like you are.
but he's perfect and spotless and holy. He is the Lamb of God
whom I sent, and he laid down his life for the sins of all
who believe on him, all who trust God in him, believing he is their
righteousness. I know I have no goodness, nothing
in myself, nothing about me to recommend me to God that he should
be merciful to me. All I have is Christ. That's
all the sinner has is the Lord Jesus Christ. And God says, that's
all you need. That's all you need is my son.
His blood is sufficient to save us to the uttermost. And all
who come to God, believing him, confessing him, trusting him,
have been made fit, meet by God, to be a partaker of the inheritance
with the saints in life. Let it all be seen. Because when
the books are open, you that believe in Christ, there's no
sin, there's only perfect righteousness. Because Christ bore that sin
away. He put it away. And we are clothed
in the white robe of righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our hope and our quietness.
Now Paul said that we've been delivered, he delivered us from
the power of darkness. And so that darkness is spiritual
death. laboring in blindness, laboring
in darkness, unable to see and to know what God wants, what
pleases God, because we're just dead. And we see this in the
account when Nicodemus came to Christ. Turn over to John chapter
three. Let's see this. Maybe when you've read John chapter
three, you've missed this little description. And we'll pick up
in verse one. So John three, verse one. And we're told there that there
was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This guy knew something. He was
in the church of that day. He was there as a ruler, a teacher
of the people among the Jews. And it says the same came to
Jesus by night, by night. And what that means, that's exactly
how we all come to Christ. We come in darkness, the darkness
of night. When Nicodemus went to Christ,
he was in complete darkness. He didn't know anything. Now,
he put on a fair show of words. He spoke like he knew something,
and he was talking a good game, but Christ saw right through
it. He said to the Lord, he said, Rabbi, or teacher, we know that
thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. You see, Nicodemus,
when he came to Christ, when he came as what we would call
today a Christian, he came seeing only a man. He came seeing a
signpost. He came seeing somebody that
could help him figure things out so that he could get himself
to God. He called him a teacher of God.
but all he saw was a man. He didn't see him as the Messiah.
Now today, we've all been taught from little, from when we were
little kids that Jesus is the son of God, that he is fully
God and fully man. We've been taught that as children,
but still, when we come to the Lord in this flesh, in the night,
in darkness, all we're coming to is one who we think is gonna
tell us how to get ourselves saved. And it's going to help
us in our religious walk to clean ourselves up and to put away
sins and to do better so that God will be merciful to us. So we could do more good things
than bad things to outweigh those things that are going to send
us to hell. In some forms, various forms of that. It's all lies.
It's all the flesh. We're talking just like Nicodemus
is speaking to the Lord. But Christ cuts through all of
it. He doesn't get sidetracked by
any of the fair words and any of the flowery words and descriptions
of Christ. And he says to him, verily, verily,
truly, truly, Nicodemus, I'm gonna tell you the truth. Except
a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He's
in complete darkness. And that's how we are. We can
be very religious like Nicodemus. We can know a lot of things,
a lot of doctrine, a lot of good words. We can memorize scripture. We can do a lot in the name of
God and still not even know him because we're still doing it
in darkness. Christ says you need a new birth,
a spiritual birth, something we can't do for ourselves. You
didn't get yourself born, God did it. Just as we were born
by the will of God the first time, we must be born again,
spiritually, by the will of God the second time. And he's the
one that gives life. It's his power to open our eyes,
to reveal himself in the face of Jesus Christ, the very light
of God, to make us to know who God is, to come to him, worshiping
him, trusting him. We must be born again. That is
the work of Christ for us. to give us a new birth, to give
us his spirit, to open our ears so that we hear the gospel, to
hear that he is salvation and to believe him, to see Christ
by faith, to know that he loved me and gave himself for me, to
cry out to him for mercy, asking him for forgiveness. And so our
God did all that through Christ who laid down his life for us
as the Lamb of God and put away the sin of his people. and God
received him, his offering. God is pleased with him and has
received that work of Christ. When Paul, he sends his gospel
out, when Paul was met by Christ on that road to Damascus, when
he was going to persecute the church, the Lord said this to
him in Acts 26, 18, I'll read it, that Christ sent him to open
their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the
power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness
of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by
faith that is in me. And so this is the work that
God is doing. He's declaring this gospel the
truth of how he saves sinners by grace in the Lord Jesus Christ
to turn you from dead works that cannot save. That's true repentance
being turned from from the law turned from dead works that can't
save to trust the Lord Jesus Christ, to believe him. And that's
how he opens the ear. That's how he opens the eyes,
how he pours in his light. He declares this gospel and attends
that gospel with the Holy Spirit who gives power, raising you
from the dead, giving you a new birth in that new man, which
is born of Christ. It's his seed, it's his work,
it's his grace and mercy, so that you're translated out of
that kingdom of darkness and that bondage into the kingdom
of Christ our Savior. And so we know him by grace. It's by grace you're saved through
faith and not out of yourselves, it is the gift of God. So this
is why we give thanks to the Father. You that believe Christ
this day, you that rest in him and trust him, we give thanks
unto God. Paul said, I'll just close with
our text, He hath made us, we give thanks unto the Father,
because he 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. I pray the Lord bless that word
to your hearts, and deliver you from darkness, give you light
to see, and behold the salvation of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
amen. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you for your grace in Christ to reveal your life, your
salvation in the face of Jesus Christ, to deliver us from darkness
and laboring in things that cannot save, to trust him whom you've
sent, to believe him, to rest in Christ our Savior. Lord, it's
you that makes us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. Lord, all your saints are made
entirely by grace. Lord, we don't do it, you do
it. We pray that you would bless this word to our hearts. We ask
that you would deliver us from death. We pray for our brethren
who are struggling, those who are sick and unable to be with
us. We pray that you would bless them richly. We pray for those
that listen online, that you would make this word effectual
in their hearts. Lord, bless your people and all
the the things that trouble us and burden our hearts and our
minds, that we would hear Christ and rejoice in Him by that living
faith which you alone give. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen.