Started here If you would you want to follow
along please turn to the book of Colossians Chapter 1 I'm gonna try and speak from Verse
12 and verse 13 But when you go to read this,
you gotta start in verse nine. For this cause we also, since
the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire
that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful at every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthened with all
might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and
long-suffering with joyfulness. 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. Who is the image of
the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature? For by him
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers All things were created by him and
for him. And he is before all things. And by him all things consist. That is one sentence from the
Apostle Paul. I'll tell you, that man, under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could write. I mean, I don't know of any sentence
pinned by mortal man under the inspiration of the spirit of
any better sentence than that right there. Because that tells
you everything. But what I wanna speak to today,
actually, I'm sorry, it's verses 13 and 14. I'm gonna mention
verse 12, of course, because I have to, and I like to. But what I wanna speak to today
is nothing new. What I wanna speak to today is
the salvation of the sinner. And in essence, every sinner. Because God does not save people
differently. You understand? There is only
one salvation and it's his salvation. Thank God if it's your salvation. But his salvation is the only
salvation there is. And he saves people by his son. In a nutshell, that's the way
you want to put it. He saves people by his son. No other way. And I mean Old
Testament and new. Old Testament was looking for
his son to come. The gospels say his son is here. And these epistles tell us he
was here, he's still paying attention to us, he's still doing his work,
and he's coming again. So, in essence, I'll be speaking
of the salvation of the sinner. One of the things that that means
is I will not be speaking of our works. I have an excellent reason for
this. Neither you, I, or anyone else has ever done one work for
salvation. Now there are many works, yes,
we do preach them. And I might mention them in passing.
We do many works because of his salvation. But we don't do anything
for salvation. I picked that song this morning
for this particular reason. Because I was gonna say this,
partially for the television. What did I do for salvation?
I was a wandering sheep. What did I do for salvation?
I didn't love the fold. I didn't love my shepherd's voice
and I would not be controlled. I was a wayward child. I did
not love my home. I didn't even know I had a home.
I did not love my father's voice, even in his word. I loved afar
to Rome. You understand? That's what I
contribute to my salvation, and that's what you contribute to
your salvation. Absolutely nothing for salvation. And anybody that
says any different is a liar. There are many works after. There
are some works during. Oh, but anyhow. All I'm saying here, folks, and
this is what I'm gonna try to say all morning long, is you
never found Christ until he found you. That's how you find him,
is when he picks you up, puts you on his shoulders, and carries
you back to his fold. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Christ said it himself. You didn't
even choose me. I chose you. You understand,
if he told that to his disciples, Guess what, that applies to us
folks. He never did anything different. We're no better than his disciples
were. Not even close. Because what it means, and that's
the title, Paul, what does it mean to be saved? Or what it
means to be saved? It means to be saved. It doesn't
mean to get saved. There are a lot of people running
around telling people how to get saved. Get saved doesn't
work. You have to be saved. And you
have to be saved by someone other than yourself or your preacher. Or your thoughts, or your mind. Verse 12 states it this way.
I can't pass by this, I love this verse. Giving thanks unto
the Father, what? Which hath made us, made us,
made us meet. To be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. We don't save ourselves. If God hasn't made you meet,
you're not meet. If God hasn't fitted you, you're
unfit. Now people don't wanna hear that.
You understand? You can say everybody's a sinner,
Walter, but if you tell them they're unfit for heaven, they
might be offended. Not only that, you're unqualified
for heaven. You have to be made qualified.
You have to be made fit, or you never will be fit. And that's
what I wanna talk about. Because what it means to be meat,
what? to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints and light. Brothers and sisters, that's
what it means to be saved. So, then he starts to explain
it a bit. Verse 13. To be saved, to be
saved means you have been past tense. delivered from the power
of darkness. This includes Satan. I'm not
gonna spend a lot of time on that. But listen, I know, yes,
we do teach that Satan has no power except what the
Lord allows him. Our Lord has all power. You understand,
there's none left over. But he does allow Satan to do
some certain works. He allowed him to tempt Job. He did. And Satan is absolutely
nothing compared to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord. Satan is nothing compared to
him. However, this is also true, He's got more power than we got.
You understand? Satan is a lot more powerful
than we ever will be. It says in Ephesians 2 and 2,
you don't have to turn there. It says, wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world. But he didn't
stop there. He said, according to the prince,
the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience. That's Satan. 2 Timothy 2 and verse 25, he says,
in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves, if God
peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth,
and that they may recover themselves, where? Out of the snare of the
devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. You understand? There is a power of darkness. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost. In whom the God of this world
has blinded the minds of them which believe not. Lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. There is the power of darkness. The power of darkness is real. And believers have been, past
tense, delivered from the power of darkness. We were there just
like what I read. That's where we were. The times before when you never
heard, really heard, understood, loved, believed the gospel, Your
mind was blinded. Understand? That's why we talk,
we preach, we read that the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord
has made even both of them. Because if he doesn't give you
sight, the light shining all around you won't do you any good. Because you won't see, because
you can't see. The power of darkness still exists,
but we have been delivered from it. I like that, I do. There's another scripture where
it talks about false Christs and prophets would deceive the
very elect, if it were possible. If it were possible. It's not
that we're so smart, though. Don't get cocky. It's because of God. He's delivered
us from the power of darkness. You understand, I sometimes find
it fascinating where if you do turn on the television and you
can hear people lying to people supposedly in the name of Christ.
And yet how I can hear every lie, they just eat it up like
candy. They love it. They love it. You know why? They're blind. And their leaders are blind.
And they're both headed for the ditch. And that's what Christ
said. If they're blind, leave them
alone. They be blind, leaders of the
blind, and they will both end up in the ditch. We've been delivered
from ending up in the ditch. Because that's where I was headed.
That's where I was headed. But now I do want to make this
point. The darkness is still here, out there. Oh, wait a minute. There's some darkness in me.
There's some darkness in me. Still the old man. You know,
there's a new creature. The old creature's still there
too. Paul the apostle said it after he was saved. In my flesh
dwells no good thing. And he's the one who told us
to mortify our members. And yet he said, in my flesh dwells no
good thing. What hope have we got? Guess
what? In your flesh dwells no good
thing. In your flesh dwells no good thing. In your flesh dwells
no good thing. There's a darkness still there.
But thank God we've been delivered from the power of darkness. The authority of darkness is
the word. By his grace, by his powers,
believers are no longer under the authority of darkness. As sin reigned unto death, Even
so, grace reigns unto everlasting life by Jesus Christ. We were delivered by Jesus Christ,
our Lord, from the power of darkness. And that's one of the things
that means to be saved. Second thing, to be saved means
to have been translated into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. to the kingdom of his dear son. Now wait a minute. I know some people say Christ's
gonna have a future kingdom. You saying he's got one now?
Yes. Does that mean he's not gonna
have a future kingdom? No. Guess what? Jesus Christ has
always had a kingdom. Because you understand, he is
now coming again as the king of kings and the Lord of lords.
Now, you put that together with a little bit of primer, Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So what does that mean? That
means that Jesus Christ has always been the King of kings and the
Lord of lords. Jesus Christ, he is the kingdom. And he has always had a kingdom. and his people he puts into his
kingdom. And in fact, it says here, giving
thanks unto the father who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear
son. The father put us in Christ. The father put us in kingdom.
And Jesus Christ said, nobody's plucking anything out of my father's
hand, ever. Oh, I like that. You know, when Jesus Christ was
here, he preached the kingdom of God was at hand. You know
what that means? That means the kingdom of God
was at hand. That's the fuller, deeper meaning right there. You
understand? The kingdom of God was talking
to him. And you know what they did? They walked away from him. They turned their backs and they
walked away. preach it's and Saying the time is fulfilled
the kingdom of God is at hand repent ye and believe the gospel He's the gospel He's the kingdom
He's the life. He's the way and he's the truth
and guess what we see Without him opening our eyes. We see
nothing. We just saw a man and Who is this guy talking big?
Oh, but if he's opened your eyes, you understand when he said,
I am, he meant I am. Them Jews took up rocks of stone
because they knew what he meant, but they didn't believe he's
the one. We've been translated into his
kingdom. The word translated means carried
away. rescued, and in this case, transferred. You understand? We were under
the power of darkness, under the authority of darkness, and
now he has translated us, transferred us into the kingdom of his dear
son. Now you understand, when you're
in Jesus Christ's kingdom, He is sworn to protect his subjects. That's what a king does, you
understand? What Paul read this morning, they attacked David's
place, took away his subjects. Guess what? David recovered all. I like that statement. I like
that statement because David is a type of Christ. And I'm
gonna tell you this, Jesus Christ has recovered all. Now he's bringing
it in as he sees fit. I don't know why he brought me
in in 1982, Walter, but that was my time and my place. That
was it. And guess what? I was in before
I knew it. You understand, because you can
be translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom
of his dear son, and you're still not sure what's going on. But
it doesn't matter, it's not up to you. It wasn't up to me. It was God who did it. Oh, but
thank God he didn't leave me in ignorance. He found me in
ignorance because I was ignorant. We've been transferred from darkness
into his marvelous light. His kingdom. You understand?
We're in. That's what it means to be saved.
We're in the kingdom of God and the king is looking out for us. He's making sure we got enough
to eat. He's making sure we got clothes to wear. He's making
sure that his banquet table is full. You understand? Thank God, I don't have to go
to McDonald's to eat. I can come here. I don't have
to go to a free will assembly. Not that I would anyway, but
it's OK. I don't have to. Ah. Our king has all power given
to him by the father who put us into him. None can stay his hand or even
has a right to ask him any questions, what do you think you're doing?
Although man always does. And guess what? Being in the
kingdom means all things work together for good. To them that
love God, to them that are what? That called according to his
purpose. We have been translated into
the kingdom of his dear son. That's what it means to be saved. What's the next thing, third
thing? To be saved means to be redeemed by his blood. by his blood, in whom we have
redemption through his blood. Now, this I found fascinating. Because in verse 13, you look
who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated
us into the kingdom of God. Both of those are in the past
tense. This is talking about believers now. It's not talking
about unbelievers, whether they be elect or no. It's talking
about people who know Christ. If you know Christ, if he's been
revealed to you, you have been delivered from the power of darkness
and you have been translated into his dear kingdom. That was
done when he brought you in. It was done in eternity past
in the counsels of God, but it comes to pass in time. But here, in whom we have redemption
through his blood. That's present tense, Walter.
That's right now. Right now. We have redemption
by his blood. We are, present tense, his purchased
possession. You understand, our king's bought
us. What? By his blood. You understand? We were his by right of creation. I read it when I read the beginning.
He created all things. And there's nothing been made
that wasn't made by him. He owns us by creation, but this,
we are his purchased possession, his special purchased possession
by his blood. His blood was only shed once.
Only shed once. It was only shed once. There is no reapplication of
the blood. Read Hebrews 6. There is none. But we are still his purchased,
his prized possession today. You understand? Today I am redeemed. I come to tomorrow, tomorrow
I'll be redeemed. He bought us with his own precious
blood. He's never gonna let us go. We are his purchased possession
now and forever because Jesus Christ bought us with his blood. He owns us. We're his. And because we are His, He is
mine. He's my King. He's my Lord. He's my God. The only reason I can say that
is because He has made me His. We are owned by God. He made
us. What? Meat. to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light. He made us heirs of
God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ himself,
our Lord, our God, our Savior, our King, is not ashamed to call
us brethren. His brothers and sisters in Christ. Mm, we are a prized possession
of the king of glory. He's made of kings and priests
under our God. His Holy Spirit, God himself,
the Holy Spirit, abides, resides, and is inside us. We have redemption by his blood. What does it say? You are not
your own. You are bought with a price. And that price was more precious
than silver. All the silver and all the gold
in the world. His precious blood. He gave his
life for his sheep, his people, his brethren. His brethren. That's what it means to be saved.
We are redeemed. Today right now The fourth thing
to be saved means to be forgiven of sins His blood was shed for
the remission of our sins He took our sins upon himself the
father laid upon him the iniquity of us all He was cursed with
the curse that was on us He became a curse I was born cursed. And he became a curse. And that
curse was the curse of death on the cross because of my sins. And guess what? This is also
present tense. This is related back to the statement
in whom we have redemption in present tense through his blood,
even in present tense, we have the forgiveness of sins. You
understand? I'm still sinning. I know there are people out there,
and we have a name for these people that say they haven't
sinned since they've been saved. We call them liars. Because that's
what they are. If you say you have no sin, you're
trying to call God a liar. And I got nothing to tell you.
Because God's not a liar. But this is present tense. We
have the forgiveness of sins. Guess what? Today. We live till
tomorrow, we'll have the forgiveness of sins. Tomorrow. Jesus Christ paid for all of
our sins, or we're doomed. Understand? Paul wrote that the flesh and
the spirit fight against each other. And the flesh sins. And that's true. But before he
wrote that, he wrote this. He was quoting the Psalms. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. I love that scripture. Because
you understand, That's today too. It says the Lord will not impute
sin to someone. Guess what? He never will impute
sin to someone. To that someone. What someone? The ones that have
been delivered from the power of darkness, the ones that have
been translated into the kingdom of his dear son, and the ones
in whom has redemption through Jesus Christ's blood. They have
the forgiveness of sins today and every day. And guess what? Every sin. Happy is that man. Blessed is that man. Happy is
that man. And that's what it means to be
saved. Believers, believers can say
this. We are delivered, translated,
redeemed, and forgiven. And you know what I had to do
with any of that and all of that? Absolutely nothing. You know
why? Because we're talking about his
salvation. We're talking about God's salvation. I'm talking
about the salvation of Jesus Christ. And when I say it's of
Jesus Christ, I mean it's from Jesus Christ. It didn't come
from me. I was busy wandering. You understand? I had a full time occupation
being lost. Because that's all I knew. Salvation is of the Lord. This
is what it means. Delivered, translated, redeemed,
and forgiven. Jesus Christ saves sinners. Who but a sinner would need this
much salvation? You understand? Righteous people
don't need this much. They'll tell you so. People who
think they are righteous will tell you they don't need that
much salvation. I can help. No, I can't. No, I can't. I can't help with any of this.
If I could overcome the power of darkness, I could have put
myself into his own kingdom. And I couldn't do that. And trust me, there's no way
there's any redemption would have come from my blood. Not
before I was saved, not after I was saved. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
saves. This message of the salvation
of Jesus Christ is for all sinners. Those sinners he has saved, those
sinners he is saving, and those sinners he shall save. And you
know what? I fit into all three of those
categories. I like that, I like that, I remember what Earl said.
I am saved, I am being saved, and I shall be saved when I awaken
his likeness. But right now, Psalm 103 says
this. Know ye that the Lord, he is
God. It is he that hath made us and
not we ourselves. We are his people. And the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless
his name. What does it mean to be saved?
It means that you know this. You know, know ye, that the Lord,
he is God. He is God. See, the world doesn't
understand that the Lord, that Yahweh is Elohim. They think
he's up there, you know, vaguely, sometimes paying attention. No,
uh-uh, you don't understand. He works His will everywhere,
all the time. We don't understand it. Sometimes
we may not like it. But you understand this, know
the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in life. What are we to do? Enter into
his gates with thanksgiving. Thank God. If you know him, thank
God. Praise him, enter into his courts
with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless
his name because I'm gonna tell you something, folks. If you
are saved, he did it. He did it all. That's what it
means to be safe. If God didn't save you, you're
not safe. If you think you had something
to do with it, you might wanna make your calling and election
sure. Because the Bible's clear. We have nothing to do for salvation. We got plenty to do because of
it. And he'll work in you both the will and the do of his good
pleasure. but thank God, bless His holy name, praise Him, and
enter in, enter in. Our Heavenly Father, thank You,
Lord, for what You have done for us, to us, and in us. Your salvation is higher than
we can understand, is greater than we will know until we all
awake and his likeness will know better. Thank you, Lord. Be with Walter as he comes to
preach your gospel. Give us ears to hear, eyes to
see, and a heart to understand. Bless your word, Lord. Bless
your word unto us, your people. In Christ's name we pray, amen.