Let's open our Bibles to Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians 1. I just want to read a few scripture,
a few verses of scripture here this morning, beginning in verse
12 of Colossians 1. This will be our text. 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, in whom we have redemption through his
blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I'll take our text. The title
of the message is found here in verse 12. giving thanks, giving
thanks unto the Father. Now God's people, above all the
people on the earth, we should be thankful people, thankful
for all of his blessings towards us. David said in Psalm 79, 13,
he said, So we thy people and the sheep
of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever. We will show
forth thy praise to all generations. We need to be thankful, thankful
people. Paul in his first epistle to
the Thessalonians said, in everything, in everything give thanks. For
this is the will of God concerning you. In everything give thanks. And then in 2 Corinthians 2,
we read, thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph
in Christ. And then again, Paul said, thanks
be to God, which giveth us the victory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. We could read on and on through
the scriptures. Psalm 92 verse 1, David said,
it's a good thing. It's a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord. It's honest. It's pleasant. It's
profitable. It's a good thing. And we give
thanks and praise God for who he is and that which he's done
for his people, that which he's done for his sheep. And here
in our text, We find five reasons, five reasons to give thanks.
Now, obviously, the scriptures are not limited to five reasons
to give thanks, but for the text and sake of time, we'll leave
it at that for this morning, because we could, that's what
glory will be, singing praise and giving thanks Almighty God. We don't have enough. That's
why it has to be eternity done. We don't have enough time to
give thanks to him for what he's done. But let's look at this
passage of scripture together this morning. First we read,
giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet. You
see that? The Father. The Father made us
meet. He made us fit. This isn't something
we did. God the Father made us fit. He made us qualified by that
which he's done for us, to us, and in us. God chose us in Christ. God chose his people in Christ
before the foundation of the world that we should be holy
without blame before him in love. He made us fit. He made us fit
having justified us. Having justified us by the righteousness
of Christ. In Romans 3.24 we read being
justified freely. Freely by his grace through the
redemption that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's made us fit
having forgiven us our sins. We read be ye kind, tender hearted,
forgiving one another. even as God, for Christ's sake,
hath forgiven you. Almighty God has made us fit,
having cleansed us from our sin unto him that loved us, washed
us from our sin in his own blood. He's made us fit, having regenerated
us by the Holy Spirit. Paul, writing to Titus, he said,
but after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward men
appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according
to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration,
by the renewing of the Holy Ghost. God the Father, God the Father
made us fit, made us me, made us qualified. He's made us perfect
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Of him, Of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who's made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Now, give thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet. And then we read he's made us
partakers, partakers of the inheritance of the saints. Read the end of
verse 12 there. which hath made us meet, be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. I spent a little time
just thinking about an inheritance. When I think of an inheritance,
I think in earthly terms of an inheritance. And I'm fairly confident
in this. I think someday my dad will leave
me an inheritance. But my friends, our inheritance,
the inheritance we need to be taken up with is the inheritance
of God. That which he's done, that which
he's left. Psalm 33, 12, blessed is the
nation whose God is the Lord and the people whom he hath chosen
for his own inheritance. Our inheritance is from God the
Father. our inheritance, again, in earthly
terms, whatever it might be, it'll be left for me and I've
got two brothers. I'm fairly confident it'll be
divided up among the three of us. But Paul, speaking to the
church of Ephesus, he said, brethren, I commend you to God. I entrust
you to God. and to the word of his grace
which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among
all them that are sanctified. This inheritance, it's for us,
it's for our brethren in it, but God's inheritance, it's for
the sanctified, those that have been set apart, those that have
been made holy. Here's another thought, my inheritance,
I contribute nothing to my own inheritance. We were out to visit
with my mom and dad over the weekend, and I thought, I didn't
do this, but I thought, I just wonder what my dad's reaction
would be if I reached in my pocket and pulled out $20 and said,
Dad, I'd like to contribute this to my inheritance. Wouldn't that
be foolish? I may do that sometime just to
see what kind of reaction, he may just take it, I don't know.
But the point being, the point being this, we contribute nothing,
absolutely nothing. And the thought of contributing
anything to our own inheritance is just utter foolishness. Turn
over to Deuteronomy 6. look beginning in look at verse
10 look at verse 10 of Deuteronomy 6 and it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have
brought thee into the land which he swear unto thy fathers to
Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob to give thee great and goodly
cities which thou buildest not, houses full of all good things,
which thou fillest not, and wells digged, which thou diggest not."
You see that? That inheritance, all they did
was receive it. All they had to do was receive
it. They didn't go out and dig those
wells. They didn't go out and build those homes. God provided it
for them. God gave it to them. We contribute
nothing, nothing to our inheritance. I think it was Brother Henry
that said this. He said, rest assured, your mansion in glory
will not be built with any material you sent up. Our inheritance
is of our father. We contribute nothing to it.
Our earthly inheritance is at best temporary. In fact, it's
possible Man may not even receive an earthly
inheritance. Bills, taxes, any number of things
will quickly absorb any inheritance that might be left behind. I've
seen conflicts in families. I've seen arguments and disagreements. People can lose their earthly
inheritance, but not the inheritance of the saints. Turn to 1 Peter
1. beginning in verse 3. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that
fadeth not away. It's reserved in heaven for you.
Who are these people? Those who are kept by the power
of God through faith and the salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. And then turn with me to another
scripture, Revelation 21. Beginning with verse 1, I saw
a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first
earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And I, John,
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great
voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men. He'll dwell with them. They shall be his people. God
himself shall be with them and be their God. God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away. He that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write
these words, they're true and faithful. He said, It is done. I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I'll give unto him that is a
thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that
overcometh shall inherit, shall inherit all things. I'll be his God. He'll be my
son. He'll be my son. It's not of this world. It's
not a bunch of stuff. It's Christ. It's to dwell with
Christ in the presence of God. And it's for his saints, those
who are set apart. It's the inheritance, that's
what we read in that, it's the inheritance of the saints, of
his people. Now back to Colossians 1. We're to give thanks. We're to
give thanks to the Father. Give thanks to the Father, He
that has made us meet, He that's made us fit, made us qualified. He that's made us partakers of
the inheritance of the saints. Look at verse 13, who had delivered
us from the power of darkness. He had delivered us from the
power of darkness. Satan is called the ruler of
darkness. Now this darkness, it points
to our sin. It points to what we are by nature,
dead in trespasses and sin. And listen, by nature, we love
darkness. We love darkness. As a kid, I
was scared of the dark, but I can tell you this, by nature, we
love darkness. Men love darkness. our sin from the sole of our
foot to the top of our head. No sound in the Senate. Nothing
but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They've not been closed
up. They've not been bound up. They've
not been mollified with ointment. Over in John 3, 19, our Lord
said, this is condemnation. Light has entered into the world.
Light has come into the world. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
our light, He come into the world. And men love darkness. Men love
darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were
evil. Because of our sinfulness. And
the best we have, the best we can come up with, Isaiah says,
the best we have to offer is filthy rags. Filthy rags in the
sight of God. And if I'm left to myself, if
I'm dependent upon my own free will, as men say, look at the
result. Light has come into the world. Men prefer darkness. They'll
choose darkness. Men love darkness rather than
light because their deeds are evil. Back in the Old Testament,
God sent Moses. to deliver the children of Israel
out of bondage over and over and over again. We read that they desired to
stay in bondage. The children of Israel preferred
to stay in bondage. They said there at the Red Sea,
there when they were backed up against the Red Sea, Pharaoh
and his army were approaching, they said to Moses, Isn't this
what we told you when we were in Egypt? Saying, leave us alone. Leave us alone that we might
serve the Egyptians. We've been better off doing that
than dying in the wilderness. Isn't that what we told you back,
just leave us alone. And that's a picture of us and
our bondage to sin. That's a picture of us and our
desire. Leave us in bondage. And if he
leaves us to ourselves, that's where we'll stay. By nature, we'll choose darkness. I'll choose bondage. I'll choose
sin. But listen to verse 13 of our
text. He hath delivered us from the
power of darkness. I can't deliver myself. You can't
deliver me. But he has. You see that? He can and he has. He hath delivered
us. He hath rescued us. He made us
willing. He makes us willing in the day
of his power. Fourth, he's translated us into
the kingdom of his dear son. He plucked us out of the fire.
David said it this way, he brought me up also out of a horrible
pit, out of the deep miry clay and he set my feet upon a rock
and he established my goings. From the power of darkness to
the kingdom of his dear son. Turn to second Corinthians, second
Corinthians two. Verse 14, thanks be unto God
which always causes us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. Thanks be
unto God which always causes us to triumph in Christ. He put us in Christ. Put us in
a new place. He gave us a new nature. gave
us a new heart, took that old stony heart and gave us a heart
of flesh. From sin and darkness, he translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son, the son of his love. God spoke from heaven, he said,
this is my beloved son, hear ye him. And listen, doesn't say
he wants to, doesn't say he tried to, doesn't say he did all he
can, and left the rest up to you." I don't know where that
comes from. God's Word said, He hath, He hath translated us
into the kingdom of His dear Son. He's done it. He's done
it. And then look at verse 14 of
our text, back to Colossians 1. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. He's made us meet. He's made
us fit. He's made us qualified. He's
made us partakers of the inheritance of the saints. He's delivered
us from the power of darkness. He's translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son. And here in verse 15, we read,
he's redeemed us through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins. Redemption, deliverance out of
the hands of the enemy. God redeemed us and delivered
us from our sin. We've been delivered from the
punishment of sin. We've been delivered from the
bondage of the law. He redeemed us through his blood. We were lost and he bought us
back. He paid the redemption price.
Only he could. Only he could. In Job 33, we read, delivering
from going down to the pit, I found a ransom. I found a ransom. Christ the Redeemer, the sins
of his people, our sins were laid on him. He bore our sins.
He bore our sins in his body, on the tree. He was made sin
for us. And in return, we're made the
very righteousness of God. The righteousness of God in him,
only in Christ. The sentence of the law's condemnation,
the wages of sin, is death. And he stood in our room instead.
And satisfaction. God was satisfied. God was satisfied. Satisfaction was made. by him
for the sins of his people. He redeemed us. He redeemed us
through his blood, not by the blood of bulls and goats, not
by me shedding my blood or you shedding your blood, but the
precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot or blemish
through his blood. No other blood, no other blood
will do. And we have the forgiveness of sin. He's forgiven us our
sin, original sin, actual sin, sins past, sins present. He put
them away. God's word said their sins and
iniquities shall I remember no more. He's put them away, hasn't
he? He's put them away. Now in closing,
in closing, consider this, consider this. What should our attitude
be? What should our attitude be? We have so much, and how quickly,
just like those children of Israel, it's easy to find fault with
them, but boy, the more I read of them, the more I see of myself,
isn't it? we've much to be thankful for.
He's made us meet. He's made us qualified. He's
made us meet. He's made us partakers of the
inheritance of the saints. He's delivered us from the power
of darkness. He's translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son. He's redeemed us. He's forgiven
us our sins. Second, consider the certainty
of it. Look at our text there. Giving
thanks unto the Father, which hath, you see that hath made
us meet, hath made us meet to be partakers, hath made us meet
the inheritance of the saints, who hath delivered us, in whom
we have redemption. There's nothing iffy about that,
is there? That's certain. Write that down. That's right there. He hath done
these things. And then thirdly, who did these
things? Who gets the glory in this matter?
God in Christ. Giving thanks unto the Father. Great things He's done, hasn't
He? Turn with me to one more scripture. Psalm 100. Kind of feel like this just kind
of sums it up. Psalm 100, look at verses three
through five. Know ye that the Lord, he's God. It's he that made us, not we
ourselves, we're his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter
into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.
and be thankful unto him. Be thankful and bless his name.
Be thankful unto him and bless his name for the Lord is good.
His mercy is everlasting. His truth endureth to all generations. All right. Caleb, you come lead
us in a song.