Alright, go with me now to Colossians,
the book of Colossians chapter 1. Read verses 12 through 14 with
me. I've got to turn there myself.
Read verses 12 through 14 with me. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which, or who, hath made us meet fit to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. God who hath delivered us from
the power of darkness. have translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son, in whom in Christ his Son we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Now, this scripture
was written to the church, as you know, the saints, brethren,
faithful brethren in Christ. He said, we give thanks, give
thanks for you. And he said, you give thanks.
He said, I pray that you might continue to give thanks, giving
thanks to the Father who made us fit to be partakers of this
great inheritance. I give thanks for that greatest
gift. I listen to you men pray and
study, and you give thanks for all that the Lord does for us. But I hear you and I've heard
you over the years grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord.
And your prayers, your thanksgiving begins to be more for the greatest
gifts. I hear you praying now more,
giving thanks more for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for
so great a salvation. That's as it should be. These
things the Lord does for us. any of his benefit. Bless the
Lord. Forget not all his benefit, but the greatest of which, he
forgiveth all thine iniquity." Making us fit to be partakers
of this inheritance. Most people aren't thankful. Romans 1 describes the unbelieving
world. He said they neither were thankful. They weren't thankful. They glorified
him not as God and were not thankful. And so they became vain in their
imagination and their foolish heart was darkened. Darkened. He said, you're not
in darkness. God's people are not in darkness.
I want you to look with me at the three things here in this
text. If I had an outline, it would
be this. But I do have an outline, and it is this. What is this
inheritance that the saints and the like get? What is it? Secondly, who gets this inheritance? And
thirdly, where does it come from? What is this inheritance? Go with me to 1 Corinthians 2. When you see what the inheritance
is, you'll know who it's for. By looking at what the inheritance
is, you'll know who it's for. And if it interests you, then
it's for you. It's this inheritance. People
get an inheritance, don't they? What do you think of when you
think of an inheritance? What do you think of? What's the first
thing that comes to mind? Money. Right? We'll get some money. This has nothing to do with money.
Never mention it. Never mention it. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 1, says,
Brethren, I came to you, brethren. He's talking to the brethren.
Again, this is for the people of God. Verse 9, he says, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
The things that God had prepared. This is talking about that inheritance. The things that God had prepared
for them that loved him. The natural man, the carnal mind,
hasn't entered into his heart, hasn't seen it, hasn't heard
it, but, verse 10, God had to let them reveal it unto us. Yes, he has revealed these things
unto his people. Every time we come together,
we hear the will read. Every time we come together,
God's people, they come together to hear about the inheritance. Abraham. And Abraham said, he
saw Lot. Lot got the well-watered plains
of Sodom. The plains. Remember what the
plains is in Spanish? Las Vegas. That's what Lot got. Oh, no,
no, no. Abraham, you don't get that.
No, no, no, no. You'll die with it. You'll be destroyed there.
Abraham, you get me. And he's getting me. I'm your
portion, Abraham. Your everlasting portion. And
with me, all things. You get the air, your joint airs. You get them airs. Are you beginning
to understand here? Verse 14 says, "...a natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." There's
foolishness to it. Natural man, carnal man, fleshly person doesn't
want these things because they're spiritual things. Revelation 21, go over there.
And I promised myself that I would not go very long this morning.
Boy, don't make promises to yourself. I need to ask the Lord, not to
go long. Revelation 21, this describes a new heaven and new
earth, verses 1 through 7. I saw a new heaven, new earth,
the first heaven, first earth, were passed away as no more seed.
I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard
a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men. He will dwell with them, and
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 will be no more death,
no sorrow, no crying, neither shall there be any more pain,
for the former things are passed away." Things that give us such
grief and pain and sorrow and death, dead things. And he was
sat upon the throne and said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said, Write, for these
words are true and faithful. He said unto me, It's done. I
am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto
him that is the first of the fountain of the water of life
freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all these things. I'll be his God. You'll be my
people." There's not one mention of one earthly thing. Not one
mention of one material thing. And yet he said, this is what
you're going to inherit. What? Me, God says. I'll be with them. I'll be their
God, they'll be my people. And we're going to dwell. Kingdom
of God is not in meat and in drink. No mention of that there,
except water of life. And that's not a material thing.
I just drank some of this a while ago. I'm still thirsty. The water
of this world, it doesn't matter how much you get. The mouth is
not satisfied with drinking. The eye is not satisfied with
seeing. The ear with hearing. The flesh with flesh. It can't
be done. That which is flesh is flesh. It can't satisfy. That
which is spirit, eternal satisfaction. What is this inheritance? It's not a what, it's a who. In Revelation, chapter where did I write it?
I wrote it down somewhere. Various chapters. There, chapter 19 especially,
talks about the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here in chapter
19, verse 21, it talks about the bride and the lamb's wife.
Chapter 19, a married supper. But again, there's no mention
of the food served. Earlene, what did they serve
at your wedding a hundred years ago? Cake, that's it? We had somebody that was not
poor as dirt back then. The point is, you ladies don't
remember the food. You weren't there for the food. And I know you didn't marry John
for his money. He's an old soldier boy. He didn't
have any, did he? Still don't have much, do you,
John? What was that wedding all about, Earlene? You and him. You'd fallen in love with this
fellow. And he was taking you for his bride. And you could
care less whether you were married and what they were serving. What
was it all about? Love. A relationship. Paul in Ephesians
5 talked about marriage. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and cling unto his wife." He said, but
this is a great mystery. He said, I speak of Christ and
His church. We're talking about a love affair. We're talking about a people
betrothed to the Lord Jesus Christ, by God the Father, before the
world began. God Almighty purposed this thing
of a kingdom, the kingdom of the Son of His love. The kingdom
of His dear Son. Had to have a people to have
a kingdom. So He purposed these people. His Son whom He loved. To give Him a bride, a people. No man can number them. The Lamb's wife. Give them to
Him for His enjoyment. Yes, for His enjoyment, for His
glory. Scripture says he's going to
dwell among his people and enjoy them. He's going to enjoy his
people. Do you enjoy your wife? Do you
enjoy your children? So does the Father. So does our
husband. It's going to be forever. And for their happiness, for
their eternal happiness, married to not a cruel taskmaster, but
a loving, wonderful husband. And we're going to be enamored
with him. We're not going to care if there's any food served.
Oh, there will be. There will be. I'm convinced
of that, that we will eat and drink in the kingdom. Christ
said so. And no table will have ever been
spread like the one, not even Solomon's table. But we're not
there for the food. Not there for the food. Are you
with me? Is this interesting? Does he
interest you? Heaven is for Christ-lovers.
That's his form. A merry supper of the Lamb is
for Christ-lovers whom God Almighty drew with cords of love. Cords
of a man. Made these people fall in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't fake that. God has
to put it in your heart, shed it raw, this love. Someone says,
I don't feel that, I don't understand where you're coming from. I know,
I remember being that way. Any man love not the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's going to be anathema
when He comes. Because the whole eternity is going to be about
God's Son. People gathered who love His
Son. And that's what all this is about.
That's all that God's people come for. This is a foretaste. This is the beginning. This is
the wedding rehearsal. This is a reception. God's people
are being gathered to the reception in preparation for the marriage
supper. Who's going to be there? Heist lovers. What are they going to be doing?
In the Revelation it talks about, John said, who are these? There's
a multitude which no man can number. It does mention their
clothes. They're all wearing the same
thing. A white robe. It's wonderful. And what are they doing? John
said, who are these? These are they that went through
great tribulation and have washed their old dirty, stinking, filthy,
self-righteous rags in the blood of the Lamb and have come out
white as snow. These are they, it says, who
serve Him day and night. What are they doing? Singing?
Is that it? Yeah! Now those whose God is their
belly, Those who just want a God for what they can get out of
Him, Christ turned and said to a myriad of people, He said,
you follow Me because you've got your bellies filled, because
of what I do for you. And He turned to some other ones
and said, you follow Me because of the miracles, because you
just love miracles and signs and wonders, and that's evil.
He said, but My people, they follow Me because of Me, because
they love Me. Not those whose God is their
belly, but those whose God is Jesus Christ. Love Him. Ask, ask, Lord give me this love. Be like the woman at the well. Young ladies, be like the woman
at the well. Say unto Him, Sir, give me this water that I may
never thirst again. Do that right now. I don't really,
I don't think I love the Lord like this. Could you put this
love in my heart? Do that, right now. Right now. Today is the day of
salvation. Any man loved, any woman, any
young person, loved not the Lord Jesus Christ. And God's people,
see this is what we do here. This is all that God's people
do. There are three things, three ways you may know God's people.
Well, that's my next point, okay? Who is this for? Who is this
for? Go back to the text in Colossians
1. Who is this for? Colossians 1, verse 12 says,
giving thanks unto the Father who has made us fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. Those are set apart. What sets them apart? Their love
for Christ. The love of the truth. Some receive
not the love of the truth. They turn away their ears from
the truth. What's the truth? That's right. Christ is the truth. Saints, read on. God who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness. These are those that
have been delivered from the power of darkness. They've been
translated, that is, transferred from one kingdom into another.
The kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. They're
not in darkness as others. Now, hath. See it's hastens? Hasten. hath delivered up, translated
up, into the kingdom of his dear Son. In whom? In Christ we have
redemption. These are the redeemed. How are
they redeemed? Through his blood. And even the
forgiveness of sin. These are the forgiven. So they're
saints. They've been partakers. They've been made fit to enjoy
this hymn. You've got to be made fit. Or
you won't enjoy him. And they have been delivered
from darkness, put into his kingdom, they've been redeemed, and they've
been translated. Now, let's look at this darkness
a little bit. The nature of this darkness,
the power of it. It clearly reveals that it's
beyond man's power to get himself out of it. We're talking about
darkness. Have you ever been in real darkness? Darkness is the absence of light.
If you're ever in a place where there's zero light, you can't
see, you never will see. You can't see anything. It's pitch black. Ever been in
a place like that? And the nature of this darkness
reveals that it's far from being some ridiculous little decision
men make. The power of it. Talking about
the darkness of sin, Isaiah called it gross darkness. Darkness covers the land. Gross
darkness. A black hole. Sin is a black
hole. A cesspool. A quagmire, a pit of corruption,
the scripture says. It's such a deep cesspool that
sucks men into it so far, so down deep, so filthy and vile
and wretched that there's no way you can get yourself out.
No way. It's just a never-ending sucking
one down into this cesspool. I cannot. We cannot. preach sin
like it is. Thank God who doesn't allow us
to see it as it is. He sees it. And he describes man, you know,
in Isaiah 1, from a soul, we speak, a horrible picture. The cesspool of sin is darkness,
the blackness of darkness of sin. Satan is called the ruler
of the darkness of this world, the one who has this power and
all of these things at his disposal. Spiritual wickedness. The power
of the lust of the flesh, the eyes, temptations, allurements
of the world, impossible for a human being to resist. Impossible. Satan is a master. His demons,
his devils have been sucking people down since the beginning. There is a darkness of ignorance. What you don't know will hurt
you. And it's not just, oh, they just
don't know, it's willful ignorance. And the God of this world had
blinded their mind. And God even said, blind their
eyes, put them in darkness. Because they received not the
love of the truth, their evil hearts were darkened. Ignorance. Superstition. The world is full
of it. America. One nation under God? No. One nation in darkness, gross
darkness. covers the land. Gross darkness.
Religion is darkness. Our Lord said that. He said,
If the light that is in you be darkness, how gray is the darkness. The God they describe today doesn't
resemble the God of the Bible. The salvation they're talking
about today doesn't resemble true salvation. The Christ of
Scripture is not preached today. Some helpless, pitiful Jesus.
And it's idolatry is what it is. And idolatry and immorality
always come together. You have one, you have the other.
It's always the case. Always the case. Read Romans
1. Darkness. Professing themselves to be wise,
they became fools. Darkness. Darkness. The understanding darkness. And such were some of you. You
know, there's a pit of corruption, a gutter that some in here were
actually in. It's a damnable place to be.
It's a gutter that you can't get out of. You can't bring yourself
out of. You just get deeper and deeper.
And there's a pew of corruption. Religion. Self-righteous corruption,
which our Lord has called it filthy rag. You know what that
is. And you can't get yourself out of that, can you? How are
you going to get out? You've got to be delivered. You've
got to be delivered from the power of darkness. The people
that sat in darkness, the people that walked in darkness, have
seen a great light. Arise, he said, shine, for the
light has come, the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee. the glory of the Lord, the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Christ came, called the light,
the light, the light delivered from the pinnacle of the entrance
of thy word, bringeth light. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Christ in you, in your mind, in your heart, in your understanding,
is the hope of glory. Deliverance from darkness. I
am come that they might have life and light. Delivered from
the pit and from the pew. Who did this? Look at our text.
Who did this? It says, Who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness? Not a what's a who again. The
Lord Jesus Christ hath delivered us, God hath delivered us from
the power of darkness, from the power of darkness into the kingdom
of his dear Son. He doesn't say if or maybe or
shall be, it says hath. Hath. There is therefore now,
behold, now are we the sons of God. Hath delivered us. Let me say this for the comfort
of every believer in here. You say, I don't feel like I've
been totally delivered from the power of God. I feel like, I still feel the
allurement of these things, I feel these things draw me, I feel
the temptations of them, and every now and then I fall to
them. Do you? I don't feel delivered. What
do you mean he half delivered it? Turn with me to John chapter
3. What do you mean he half-delivered? Well, I didn't say it, he did.
What do you mean half-delivered? Let me ask you something. Why
do you come here? Why do you come here? Why do you come here? Are you coming to hear about
the Lord Jesus Christ? Is that it? Is that who you need? Are you with me? Do you come
here because you need to hear about
this salvation? Do you come here because you
need to hear about mercy, need to hear about grace, about forgiveness
of sins? Why? Because you're a sinner.
Or do you come to Christ who is the light? Why? Because you
feel like you've been in darkness. Listen to what the Lord said.
John 3, verse 18. Who that believeth on him is
not condemned. Nail that down. Nail it down. That's a nail in a sure place. Ask the Lord. Lord, nail this
nail in my heart that I might be free from fear and worry.
Perfect love casts out fear. Whose love? His love. He that believeth is not condemned.
He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is
condemnation. Light has come into the world.
Men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil. Everyone that doeth evil hated
the light. It doesn't come to the light.
People that don't love God, don't know Christ, they don't come
to hear about Him. They don't want anything to do with Him.
God's not in all their thoughts. God's not in their thoughts.
Is it nothing to you, all you that pass by? No, it's not. Not
interested. But read on. Verse 20. Verse
21. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light like a moth to a
flame. Are you with me? Are you with
Him? Huh? He that doeth truth. What do
you do? How do you do truth? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the truth. He is the truth. Believe. This is the word. Believe. Truth. Christ. Trust Him. Look to Him.
He that doeth the truth, he that believeth, cometh. Him cometh. Him cometh. Him cometh. For whom cometh, Peter said,
as under a living stone. Who comes to Christ? Sinner. Who comes to the light? Those
that don't let darkness. Who comes to hear about forgiveness
of sin? Guilty! You keep coming, don't you? You
keep coming. Look, he's leaving. He's gone.
He's gone. No, no, wait, wait, he's turning.
He's coming! He's coming back. Christ said,
Heavenly, come unto me. And come unto me. And come unto
me. And come unto me. And come unto
me. And come, you keep coming. I
don't even know why it's casting. Oh, he's far off now. He'll never, who turned him the
first time? Hmm? To whom coming? There are some
who say, cast them into outer darkness. They're not interested
in me, and I'm not interested in them. Cast them into outer
darkness forever. But here they come. I don't know
why it's cast out. No way. This darkness, people,
is a good thing, to feel like you're in darkness. It's a good
thing. Feel your sin. Feel your guilt.
It's a good thing. The Holy Spirit does that. He condenses of sin. It's not
a one-time thing. It's a lifelong thing. Righteousness
and judgment. What does that make you do? Run
to Christ. Run to the lights. It says that
your deeds might be made manifest. David wrote it in Psalm 139.
Search me, O God. How do you search things? The
light. Search me. See if there will be any wicked
way in me. Not that he's saying, I don't think there's anything
there, but if you find, oh no! Filth! See, he says, get out. That's why he's coming. Get out
of me. I want to be like Christ. Come
to the light. The others don't come. They hate
the light unless their deeds should be reproved. Evil workers
don't want to be reproved. God's people do. Reprove me. Correct me. Rebuke me. Reprove
me. Chasten me. Mold me. Make me. Shape me. Conform
me to the image of Christ. Please. Please. And all who come. He says, I've been delivered.
Delivered. Delivered. Pulled out. Delivered. Plucked as a bran from the burning.
He does not say you won't be tempted. He does not say you
will not be drawn. But he does say you will not
have dominion over you, not have ruling and reign and controlling
power. He won't let it happen. He won't let it happen. Aren't you glad? Look at verse
14. I close with this and I tell
you. Verse 14. He has delivered us from the
power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son in whom we have redemption. You know we're not redeemed with
corruptible things. Like silver and gold, some people
still do believe that. Some people actually do. I told
you about that Catholic woman actually paying money to pray
for her lost loved ones. Some people actually believe
that. That's darkness isn't it? How can you be so ignorant? It's
such with some of you. Or if your vain tradition received
from the elders. Some of you practiced good work,
didn't you? Legal works, the law. Thought
the law, you know, you could keep the law by the works of
the law, that you could be justified. Yes, you did. Some of you in
here, didn't you? Yes, you did. You had these ruling elders that
told you and examined you and so forth to see if you were keeping
the law. Oh, man, that's a curse. The
law is a curse. By the deeds of the law, no flesh
should be justified. And I'll tell you how they are
justified. By Jesus Christ. Justified by blood. Justified
from all things by which they could not be justified in any
other way. By the blood of Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanses. Watch out, the handwriting of
ordinances against us. Covers us. Covered with the blood
of the Lamb, redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb, redeemed. A life wasted is now redeemed. A life prone to destruction,
ready for destruction, now redeemed, headed toward abundant life. And it says, in closing, even
the forgiveness of sins. Like he said, the best thing
to tell us for last here, even the forgiveness of sin. Oh, thank
the Father, he says, who has made us fit to be partakers of
this inheritance of the saints and light, who delivered us from
the power of darkness, transferred us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, made us his bride, his wife. betrothed us to His dear Son,
whom He has given us a love for, in whom, by whom Jesus Christ
redeemed us through His precious blood, and we have, oh, even
the forgiveness of sins. My, my. Thank God. Give Him thanks. The forgiveness
of sins. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Past, present, and future. I
can't help but think, we're talking about a marriage, think about
Hosea and Gomer. True story. The Lord told Homer,
his preacher, Hosea his preacher, to go down and marry a forlorn
woman, a woman who besold herself and
was destined to be destroyed and on the auction lot be had
by anybody and anyone that would take her. And the Lord told Hosea, you
go down there and you marry her. And that's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He came to marry a full-ornament
woman, sold unto sin. And he paid the price. He came
to marry her and let him. It's to the praise of the glory
of his blood. She's not worth marrying, but
this is to the praise of her husband who married the likes
of her. But when you see her in the end, when you see Gomer
in glory, you'll see a changed woman. Beautiful woman. Just as if she'd
never sinned. And she's on the arm of the Lord
Jesus Christ, parading her. Look what I've done. I did this. And she said, yeah, he did that.
Unto him, unto him. That's what this is all about.
What this salvation is all about. To the praise of his glory, for
his great love, worthy love of people, and God rescued, delivered
them out of darkness. It is a marvelous life. Alright,
Gabe, come and lead us in closing, if you would. What number is
it? Number 30.