Chapter 1, 1st Colossians. Imagine that. Yeah, this is the first and only
Colossians. Colossians chapter 1, my text
will be found in verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which
hath made us meet, or qualified, fit, 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 guess the title of the message is, Delivered, Translated,
and Fit. delivered, translated, and fit. As we've studied the Apostle
Paul's prayer that believers should be filled with the knowledge
of God's sovereign will, that it's eternal, immutable, sovereign
will, not just in their head, but the Apostle says in all spiritual
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. In other words, that it go to
their heart. This was his prayer, is that
the will of God's redemption, the will of God's salvation,
not only fill their head full of knowledge, which would only
instill pride, but that it should go to their hearts. They might
truly know it. And such teaching is necessary
for us Because of our present warfare, we should desire to
be filled with such knowledge, with such wisdom and spiritual
understanding concerning because of our condition. We as believers
in Christ are still at warfare with the flesh, with the world,
and with Satan. We are in constant conflict and
need of strength. And so Paul says this, he said
that you might walk worthy unto all pleasing, being fruitful
in every work, increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened
with all might. We need to be strengthened and
encouraged. And this comes only by the power
and might of God. And we who have believed on Jesus
Christ according to the sovereign will of God, We were redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ. We have believed and do believe
and shall believe even because we are kept by the power of God
unto salvation ready to be revealed. This is something we know. This
is something we've experienced. This is truth in our experience. But I tell you, it doth not yet
appear what we shall be. Even because now, if needs be,
Peter says, we are through manifold temptations of our faith, tried
and tested. Therefore, we also saw that Paul,
in our text, prayed that we should be given patience. He said we
should walk worthy unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all
might, unto all patience and longsuffering. Patience. We as believers need patience
to wait on our God. We need this strength that comes
by the will of God, the knowledge of the will of God. And by this
knowledge applied to our hearts, we are strengthened in the inner
man, so that when we are put to the test, when we are tried
and tempted, we may overcome these things by faith in Jesus
Christ. And patience is waiting and trusting
on the Lord. And Paul's praying for these
saints as well as for us. I pray that you would be strengthened
so that you might have patience. And how does patience come? Through
tribulation, through trouble, through difficulty. So, you better
understand what you're asking for when you pray for patience.
Because you're asking for trouble. You're asking for difficulties.
This is how patience grows. Therefore, we know the will of
God in our hearts. Let patience then have her perfect
work. Let patience have her perfect
work. Wait on God. And you will not be disappointed.
I've never been disappointed by God, have you? He's always,
always been faithful, always faithful. Believer in Christ recognized
this, that through our suffering and patience, you are the light
of the world. Let your light then so shine
among men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father. And so this is the purpose of
his prayer up to this point. He said that you should, with
all patience and longsuffering, with joyfulness. Is that how
you endure? With joyfulness? You should. You should endure with great
joyfulness because of what God has given you. And then he says
in verse 12, giving thanks, giving thanks. And now Paul turns to
the heart, our hearts toward the father and his work, which
is the work by which we are saved. And he sets our hearts now to
render thanks unto God for His work. And these are the three
things that He does. He makes us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance. He delivers us from the power
of darkness. And He translates us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. And before we begin this, I want
us to first consider, consider your losses. What have you lost
in this world? Consider the losses a man may
face in this life. You may lose your job, but surely
you may find another. You may lose your family. You
may lose your business. You may lose a lot of things
in this world, but truly most of these things can be recovered.
Even Job, remember when he lost everything? He lost his family.
He lost his wealth. And in the end, God did restore
to him twice as much as he ever lost. concerning carnal things. But this morning, what is the
most important thing that you possess? Is it not your soul? What and if you lose this? This is the only thing that can
never be recovered once it's lost. Jesus said, asked this question,
what should a man, if a man, what is a man profited if he
gained the whole world and lose his own soul? What is it that you seek to find
in this world? Riches? Pleasures? Family and
friends? Good times? And so what if you
get them? And then lose your own soul.
What then are you profited by these things? Nothing. Nothing. And so this morning, it is my
heart's desire that God would press upon every one of us the
great weight, the eternal weight of the eternal state of your
souls. that in whatsoever you leave
this world, whatever state your soul is in when you leave, is
the state you will be in for eternity. When the righteous man dies,
he shall ascend into heaven, and he shall forever be righteous. But if a man is a sinner, if
he dies in his sin and he is unjust in this life, when he
dies, he shall be forever, eternally condemned and unjust. The Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation
22 and verse 11, when this whole thing is done, when judgment
is passed, when all men are in their eternal state, He says
this, He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he that is filthy, let him
be filthy still. And he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. Behold, I come quickly, and my
reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall
be. This is a weighty matter. This
is not frivolous. This is not frivolous. This is
a very heavy thing that you should consider your
immortal soul. And you know, this weight of
this matter of eternity, you know, it truly only comes on
the children of God. Only those two, they've been
made aware. This is the only one, we're the
only ones that have any concern about this matter. Only the children
of God seem to be concerned about this. For only God's saints are
concerned with being accepted with God. That's my main concern,
isn't it? All this stuff that goes on in
life, this is number one to me. I must be accepted with God.
That's above everything else. I must. I must be accepted. And the only way I know to be
accepted is through Jesus Christ. There's no other way. There's
no other way. And therefore, we These matters of eternity cause
us to see the vanity of these perishing things of clay. These
weighty thoughts cause us to look to God and lift up our hearts
in joy and thanksgiving to God who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance. God has made us fit. He has delivered
us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. Now listen. The only ones who
give thanks to God are those who have by grace experienced
deliverance, translation, and qualification, which are the
work of God alone. The work of God alone. We who
have heard the word of the truth of the gospel, which is Jesus
Christ in Him crucified, Jesus Christ in Him risen from the
dead. This is our only source and solace of hope is in Him
and Him alone. He is all our righteousness,
all our sanctification, all our wisdom, all our redemption. Jesus
Christ to us is everything because only by Him am I made fit for
the kingdom of heaven. We who have heard and believed
on the gospel have great cause to give thanks, because God has
delivered us from the power of darkness, translated us into
the kingdom of His dear Son, and made us qualified for heaven. Now then, I have four points. Four points this morning. And I've put them in states of
questions, and we're going to go back from the back We're going
to go from the bottom to the top and look at each one of these
things that God has done. First of all, what is the power
of darkness? He says He's delivered us from
the power of darkness. Now, we should want to know what
that is. What is that? And then how He delivered us.
How did God deliver us from this power? Second of all, we want
to see what is the kingdom of God. the kingdom of his dear
son, and how did God translate us in it? Then third, what is
the inheritance of the saints and light, and how did God make
us fit for it? And lastly, the result of those,
what is the heart of those who's experienced these things? Okay,
first of all, the power of darkness. First of all, darkness. Darkness
may be seen as, in scripture, as four distinct things. There's
a darkness of spiritual ignorance. That's darkness. Sin is darkness. Satan is the prince of darkness. And truly, hell is the consummation
of darkness. It is the full measure of darkness. And so we see these, first of
all, spiritual ignorance is darkness. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse
18 says this, having the understanding darkened. Paul talking about the Gentiles
as we once 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. He calls this having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from life, the life of God through that is in them. Ignorance. When our father Adam sinned,
listen, darkness and ignorance fell on him. It was full measure
fell on our Father. He who knew God's power, saw
God's power, experienced God's power, God's omnipotence, God's
omniscience. He knew God and saw Him face
to face, but when he sinned, he was thrown into utter ignorance. Now, is this not the dumbest
thing that you would ever think? that fig leaves could hide from
God's sight. Now, is that not the dumbest
thing? That's fig leafism. It's the first religion of man. The first religion of fallen
man. He said, I know what I'll do. I'll make aprons. And surely
God won't be able to see. Ignorance. Adam displayed his
ignorance by using a carnal work to cover a spiritual deformity. He was spiritually exposed and
He tried to use a carnal means to cover it. Is that not what
all men do by nature? There's only two religions in
the world, friends, works and grace. There's only two. I don't
care what you put on the door. I don't care what name you go
under. If you are earning your way to God in any means or form,
it is works religion. It's the same ignorance that
Adam had. It is to try to cover God's spiritual problem with
a carnal ceremony. It doesn't work. It's ignorance.
It's darkness. The religious darkness of this
age, Adam, in spiritual darkness and ignorance, are trying to
save their souls, which is a spiritual matter by carnal means. So dark
is man's ignorance that he will never believe on Jesus Christ
except God. Open his eyes. See, this darkness
is great. Second of all, the darkness of
sin. Sin is darkness. Paul says, that we should have
no fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness. What is he
talking about? Fellowship with sin. Sin is darkness. Have you ever considered why
most wicked and heinous things are done at night? So that they could be covered
with the darkness. They don't want to be seen. They
want to do it in the night because sin is a product of darkness
and evil. This is why the gospel of the
light of the glory of God and salvation, when it shines, you
know what? Have you ever witnessed to somebody
and they want to run like a roach? They want to run from the light.
They start crawling backwards, and man, you watch them, they're
trying to get out. They don't want to hear it. They
want to run from it. Why? Because men love darkness. Why don't you like to hear the
gospel? Because you love your sin more than you love this light.
Darkness. Sin is darkness. And Satan is
darkness. He's the prince of darkness.
When Satan fell and was cast out with his unholy angels, the
scripture said they were held in chains of what? Darkness. Darkness. They're bound by darkness. And I tell you that this dark
ruler, Satan, rules in the hearts of ignorant, blind, depraved
rebels. Listen to me, if you're without
Christ this morning, He rules in your heart. And there is no
way you can overthrow Him. There's no way. Therefore, both
Satan and the children of darkness abide under the misery of eternal
darkness, which is hell. You know that there's nothing
so miserable as living in darkness. Imagine if you were in total
darkness out in a place that you were not familiar with no
light and no guide. You would stumble at every step
You would grow up in the dark trying to find some light, some
source of light, and find none. Truly, hell is such a darkness. There is no light of mercy ever
in hell. Hell is such a place of misery
and darkness that no ray of mercy shall enter it. And those who
are in it will always face the horrors of darkness that is felt
in the soul and never escape. And so now then, see that these
four things, that they have power. These things are not abstract. These things actually have power. He said He delivered us from
what? The power of darkness. Consider the power of ignorance.
How powerful is ignorance? Listen, I can explain the gospel
of Jesus Christ ever so plainly to a man. I can make it as plain
and as simple as a man could possibly do it. I can tell you of God's sovereign
election, of Christ's perfect redemption, of His perfect righteousness. I can tell you of the Holy Spirit
and how He comes and gives sinners life and faith. I should tell
you, you should believe on Jesus Christ. And everyone who believes
shall be saved. But no matter how smart I am,
I'll never overcome your ignorance. You better get that, believer.
You're never going to overcome the ignorance, spiritual ignorance
of man. You just won't do it. I don't
care how well you teach. That's not the problem. Only God can overcome spiritual
ignorance. And this power of sin is a power
greater than anything I've known. One man described sin as like
a river in his country. He said this river was so large
and wide and it just looked like glass. It was so smooth, the
river. And if one were to get into a
raft and just float along the river, he would have a peaceful
time. But you try and turn against
that river, he said, and you would exhaust your strength in
a moment. The current was too strong for
you. If you were to try to dam up
that river, it would break through every bar of steel. Because the
current is too strong. And so it is with the power of
sin. You could never stop it. Try
and turn against it. Turn upstream, if you will. Try
to obey the law of God and see how far you get. The moment you
try to dam up the stream of sin, its current will crush you and
you will be overflowed. The current of sin is too powerful. for us to overcome. Sin is powerful. And I tell you, Satan is powerful.
Jesus says that he is as a strong man armed. And I tell you, you
give him all the ammunition he needs. Your own sin. He can tempt you
with sin. He knows how to set snares for
you. He's been around for 6,000 years watching you, watching
men. He knows how to set snares for
men. And then when He sets a snare, what does He do? He takes your
sin and He accuses you with it. That's what He does. He's the
accuser of the brethren. I tell you, He is a powerful
being and no matter how much you try to overcome Him, you
will not do it. The only one that can overcome
sin and this strong man armed is a stronger man. And listen
to me, that's not you. That's not you. You're not strong
enough. And I tell you, hell is a power
that you will never overcome. That rich man that has been in
hell, he has been over 2,000 years, and he shall never overcome
that darkness, ever. What then can overcome the power
of darkness? So what is the power of darkness?
It's the power of sin. It's the power of ignorance.
It's the power of Satan. And it is the power of hell.
So how then does God deliver us from the power of darkness? Listen, this is the work of God
the Holy Spirit upon the darkness of a man's heart. Behold there,
there's a man. Behold him sitting in the power
of darkness. Behold his ignorance. Behold
his sin. Behold he's a captive of Satan
under the condemnation of hell. There he sits with no hope of
escape. No way he could get out from
under this power. What then is the hope for this
man? This man, ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to
establish his own, the ignorance of his sin, he's bound. Behold him try and struggle.
Have you seen men struggle, try to get out of this? Remember
the man the Lord Jesus Christ used as an illustration? He said
there was a man who had an unclean spirit. And he said for a moment,
for a while, that spirit went out of him. And he swept and
garnished his house. What is that? A man who's trapped
under the power of darkness. He's given somewhat a reprieve.
Maybe he was a drug addict. Maybe he was an alcoholic. Maybe
he was an adulterous man. And all of a sudden, he gets
a change of heart. And what does he do? He begins
to fix up his life. He begins to go to church. He
begins to do real good things. And he looks well. Oh, he's recovering. Look at that. He doesn't do that
anymore. He's going to this place. He's swept and garnished his
life. Has he overcome the power of
darkness? No, the Lord said, he said, seven more spirits,
that evil spirit returned with seven more, more vile than him. And the last state of that man
was worse than the first. Cleaning up your life will not
overcome the power of sin, ignorance, and Satan. How then shall a man be delivered? Now then, behold the grace of
God and the Spirit descending upon this same man, this man
that sits in darkness. Behold, a great light shines
out of darkness. This is how God delivers. He
delivers by shining the light of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ into the heart of darkness. That's what He does. God commands the light to shine. This is a work of God's grace.
To deliver sinners is a work of God's grace. It's a work of
God's mercy. Nothing in the sinner. And God
just shines a light. He says, let there be light.
And there's light. Now what power does darkness
have over light? When you cut on a room, can darkness
cover the light? No. Darkness must always flee
the light. It must. It's its nature. And so when God commands the
light to shine out of darkness, oh, how we sat in darkness. When
I saw that man, you know who I saw? I saw me sitting in darkness. And oh, the darkness of my ignorance
and darkness of my sin, the power and rule of Satan in my heart,
the condemnation of hell was upon me. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for His great love wherewith He hath loved us, He
has sent the glory of His light to shine in my heart. The light of the glory of God
exposes our ignorance, doesn't it? Isn't that what happened
when the gospel came into you? It exposed your ignorance. It
exposed your sin. It exposed you were under the
rule of Satan. It exposed your condemnation. The light of the gospel shined
in our hearts. And this light revealed my chains
and my bondage to sin and Satan. The light showed me the darkness and exposed the pits of hell
over which I was hung. And it's there, in such a despair,
in such agony, I began to cry out to God. mercy what mercy
to expose my my ignorance to give me such a knowledge to cry
to cry out to God for mercy cried out to God in my ignorance I was like the
publican I identify with him so. How he smote on his breast
and said, I am the sinner. Have mercy on me. I don't know
if anyone else is a sinner, but I know I am. Have mercy on me. In despair, we cry out to God. And you know what God does? He
delivers us. He delivers all who cry out for
mercy. Come and look and see how God
delivers us. Now go back to your text. He
says, He hath delivered us from the power of darkness. delivered
us by the power of darkness. How? By translating us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. Now, what is this kingdom? This
kingdom of His dear Son. Before the world was made, God
in grace gave His Son a kingdom. Gave His Son a kingdom. That
He should be king. Hebrews 1.8 says, Thy throne,
O God, is forever. The Father saying this to the
Son. He has given Him to be king. And what does a king need? Needs people. What good is a
king without people? I mean, you just gotta have a
people to rule, right? If I tell you I'm king, and you
say, well, who you king of? Well, nobody. Well, you're not
really a king then, eh? Not really a king. King has a
people. And God gave his son to be king
over a people. A people. He gave him a people.
These people are called the elect. These people are chosen of God
to be holy and righteous, to be His people. But these people
were to come from a race that had been darkened. Adam's ignorant,
sinful race. This is from whom he was to have
his people. Matter of fact, in Psalm 2 and
verse 8 it says this, Ask of me and I will give you the heathen. for thine inheritance." See,
God says to Christ, you ask of me and I'll give you a people.
You know what people he's going to give him? Heathen people.
Wicked people. Wicked people. Therefore, in
order to deliver his people, who were under the power of darkness,
Jesus must have for them accomplished their salvation. These elect
are ignorant of God's righteousness, therefore Christ must provide
righteousness. These people are ignorant of
how it is to please God by a sacrifice, therefore Christ must offer Himself
a sacrifice for His people. In order to deliver them, he
must for them offer a sacrifice and obtain righteousness. Jesus has for his people merited
the righteousness of God, which we did not know nor could not
perform. He did this by His own work. The King, the Lord Jesus, has
by His voluntary offering, bare the sins of His people in His
own body. He surely suffered the blackness
of hell for all their sins. And God has testified that He
was successful, that He was victorious. in His quest. What was His quest? To deliver us from the power
of darkness. To deliver His people. And I
tell you, this is the gospel message. Christ is successful. He's accomplished this. And now, and now, He has sent
His Spirit into the world to do something for us. To translate
us. You know what it is to translate?
It is to take from one state and put it in another state. Transfer. You're a citizen of Canada, right? Okay? If you want to be a citizen,
you need to be translated into this state. You need to be translated
into this country. You need a new citizenship. That's
what it is. It is to be translated. It is
to be taken from one king and one kingdom and to be put under
the rule of another. That's what it is. And God, by
His grace, hath translated us from the power of sin, darkness,
and ignorance, and hell, and translated us into the kingdom
of His dear Son. This is the work of the Holy
Spirit on the heart in regeneration. He transfers us. He gives us
a new heart. And in this heart, this new heart,
Christ reigns supreme. Christ reigns supreme. He is
our King. He has transferred us from the
power of darkness to the power of Christ. Therefore, we have
and do confess and forsake our ignorance. I know my ignorance. I was under that kingdom. I was
under the kingdom of sin. I was under the kingdom of Satan.
I was under the power of hell. But now, I am under the power
of my King, Jesus. My King. my king. And I tell
you, I don't know everything. I still have some ignorance. But the most important thing
I know is I know him. I do know him. I do know him. I know whom I have believed Do
you know whom you have believed? If you know him, you've been
translated. I think it's amazing. Every time
I hear people talk about Jesus, my ears perk up because I want
to know who they're talking about. Are they talking about my king?
I really love to hear people talk about my king. But when
they mention this weak effeminate Christ, I have no idea who that
is. This Jesus trying to save people but can't? I have no idea
who that is. That's not my King. When I hear
of a successful Savior, then I know that's my King. That's
my King. How do I know He's successful?
He's delivered me from the power of darkness and has translated
me into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now, that's power. That's
power. He didn't ask me. He translated
me. He translated it, I know whom
I have believed. I know that He has delivered
me from the guilt of my sin. I know that He has delivered
me from the power of my sin. I hate my sin. I despise it with
everything in me. I despise my sin. I loathe my
old man and I'm ashamed of him. Who did that? God did that. God delivered me and gave me
such understanding and hatred for my sin. And he's delivered
me from the power of Satan and the power of hell. This is our
comfort that we have been translated into the kingdom of Christ, that
this world is not our country. This world's not my country.
My citizenship is in heaven. My citizenship is with Christ. Therefore, we can and do, believer,
we do suffer in this life. We are afflicted with the common
afflictions of men, and we even suffer more because of the spiritual
warfare that rages in us. But this suffering is only for
a small season, and only if needs be. Do you realize you only suffer
if it's necessary? He won't make you suffer if it's
not necessary. It's need be. So then we are
under a new king and new kingdom. And then this inheritance, this
inheritance that He's translated us to the kingdom, it comes with
an inheritance. And it says it's the inheritance
of the saints in light. What is that? Have you ever thought
about that? What is the inheritance of the
saints in light? The saints in light are those
saints who have already been exalted. Those saints who have
already been brought into the glory of their inheritance. As
I was doing this message, I thought about the saints that have already
been translated. I think about Malcolm Lilly. I think of Gil Burns and Nancy,
and I think that they have been translated
into the kingdom, and they've experienced somewhat of the measure
of the fullness of Christ. It's the inheritance of the saints
departed, just men made perfect. That's the inheritance that we
shall receive. It is the inheritance of those
who have gone before us. Augustus Toplady wrote this in
one of his hymns. He said, My name on the palms
of his hands. Eternity cannot erase. impressed
upon his heart with marks of indelible grace." I had to look
the word up, indelible. It means permanent ink. My name
is written on Christ's hand with permanent ink. That time and
eternity will not erase. Listen. More happy, but not more
secure, the glorified saints in heaven. Now, they're more
happy than I am, but they're not more secure than I am. That's
the inheritance of the saints in light. But pastor, my sin! Is not my faith so weak? My patience
so low? Are you not as a bruised reed,
bent low by the winds of circumstance and sorrow? Yes. And so are all God's translated
children. Even because we still remain
in this body of death, we still war with the flesh, the devil,
and the world. But that does not take away the
security we have of the inheritance of the saints in light. How do
I know that I'm going to receive this inheritance? How can I be
sure? God has already made you qualified
for it. What bar do you have to jump
to get into glory? None. Christ already jumped it. He's already made you qualified.
Everything you need for heaven and eternity, you already have.
So then if you die now, at this very moment, you have all you
need. If you live another hundred years, you will still have all
you need. Why? has made you qualified. Qualified to receive eternal
life and glory forever. You see, our message is simple.
It is finished. You want to know our gospel?
There it is. It is finished and Christ did it. He finished it. And now He has taken that pureness
of His heart and He has applied it to you and put it in your
heart. He's given you a new heart, a
righteous heart. I put this in the bulletin, you
read it later, but you take gold and you bury it. You bury it
as deep as you want to. And nothing of time will corrode
the precious metal, and neither will anything corrode the precious
heart of the saint of God, because he's made it fit and ready for
heaven right now. Right now. I've heard this before,
that God is making men fit through their life. He's placing this
place here and this here. He's making him holy enough to
get into heaven. No, you're holy enough already.
You are. And what does this do? That's
my last thing. What does this do? Does this
give you any ounce of pride. Because you, because God's delivered
you, God's translated you, God's made you fit. Where do you fit
in? What glory do you get? We get
none. No glory here. All glory goes
to God. Therefore, we give thanks. So what are you supposed to do
here? Give thanks. Have you ever wondered or saw
how impossible it is to complain and give thanks at the same time?
Can't do it. Not if you're really giving thanks. And what is the sacrifice that
God requires of us? Is it not the sacrifice of praise
and what? Thanksgiving. for delivering me from the power
of my ignorance and sin. Thank you for delivering me from
the power of hell and translating me into the kingdom of your dear
son and making me fit for heaven when I truly deserve nothing
but hell. What mercy. What mercy. should always move us to be thankful.
Always. He's delivered us. He's translated
us. And I like this because Christ
is my king. Do you realize he's responsible
for everything? A king is responsible for his
people. He's responsible for their protection, their defense,
He's responsible for their welfare. And Christ surely is my Redeemer. He's my refuge that covers my
head. He is the wall of fire round
about me. And He is the firm foundation
on which my soul stands for eternity. He's everything. Christ is all
to me and He is my King and I bow to Him, I worship Him, I serve
Him. He's my God and I give thanks for Him. May God move us to give
thanks for such a great and wonderful Savior. Let's stand, we'll be
dismissed in prayer.