We're back, okay. If you would
turn to Colossians chapter one, I'm gonna read from verse 12
probably to verse 17, because I can't stop in the middle. 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. Now what I want to talk about
today is delivered and translated, but I can't read that without
reading the rest, because it's all related, every little bit
of it. Now this is Paul's letter, as
he says in verse two, to the saints and faithful brethren
in Colossae, at Colossae. I do want to point this out. All of Paul's letters in the
Bible are written to believers. That's just a fact. Now, I don't wanna say that Paul
never wrote to unbelievers. He says, we don't have any of
that in this book. I wouldn't be surprised if he
did. I know he spoke to unbelievers because he spoke in public. But
these epistles collected in the Bible are all, every single one
of them, to believers. Now, unbelievers are free to
read the Bible and listen to sermons, but this epistle is
for those who are right now, when he wrote it, and right now
here, those who are faithful brethren in Christ. The question is, can you believe?
I hope so. I hope so. Most people cannot,
but if you believe, this epistle and this message is for you.
I will say again, I've got nothing new. There is nothing new. But this is going to be hopefully
the same old gospel, the same old good news about Jesus Christ. He starts off in verse 12, giving
thanks unto the Father which has made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. He said previously, where is
it? Verse nine says, for this cause
we also, now this letter is addressed from Paul and Timothy. That's what the we is. We also,
since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and
desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will
and all wisdom and all spiritual understanding. Thanks to the Father. Giving thanks unto the Father. That's what we're to do. as per
the instructions of the Son. When you pray, pray on this wise,
our Father. That's who you are to pray to.
And that's who Paul was praying to here. We are never told, and
it's very little spoken of, but we are never told in the New
Testament to pray to Jesus Christ. And we are told to call upon
the name of the Lord. And when you pray the father
in my name, there you are. But he said, pray to the father.
That's what Paul's doing. Our father who art in heaven
and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And that's
talking about the father's will, which is exactly identical to
the son's will. But Jesus Christ made the distinction. and we are to recognize it and
behave appropriately. Paul is being explicitly clear
here. If you are a saint, a faithful
brethren in Christ Jesus, it is because the Father's will
is done. You give thanks to the Father. Now there's no question what
Paul's writing here The saints and the faithful are to give
thanks to him who has made us meet. What's that word mean? Fit, qualified,
certified, however you want to say it. Because the implication here,
when Paul says this, he made us meet, The implication is quite
clear that guess what? We weren't meet. We weren't fit. We weren't qualified. But give thanks to God if you
are. And this is a thing now, right
now, when he's writing this letter to these Colossians who believe.
God already has made you meet if you believe. The reason we weren't meet, the
reason we weren't fit is that we were ungodly. And because
we were ungodly, we were unrighteous. And God demands absolute righteousness
and holiness. And the Father provides absolute
righteousness and holiness in Christ Jesus. Because the saints and faithful
in Christ Jesus were at one time unsaintly and faithless. We all were that at one time. And we give thanks to God since
we heard of your faith. That's what he says in verses
three and four. And it is your faith. But it's
only your faith because he gave it to you. He's the one that made us meet.
He's the one, if you're faithful, he's the one that made you faithful.
If you're a saint, he's the one that made you a saint. There's
no question here. We give thanks to the Father
who made, wait a minute, See, up to verse, well, actually all
the way up to verse 12, Paul's talking to them. Paul's talking
to the saints and faithful at Colossae. But now here he changes. He says, giving thanks to the
Father who made us meet. He has included himself and Timothy
in that same very group. Why? That's the switch from you
to us. But we're still talking about
the same thing. Because Paul is including himself and Timothy
in this statement and he's going to describe what all believers,
every single one, I wrote this down yesterday,
that he hath made us and not we ourselves. We give thanks to God. We give
thanks to the Father for being made meat. And why? What's it say? To be a participant in the inheritance
of the saints in light. That's what it means to be a
partaker. You are a participant. You're not an outsider because
he has brought you in. He has brought you in Christ.
We're not on the outside looking in. We're not on the outside
looking up. He's brought us in to his family. We are to be a
participant in the inheritance that is given to the saints in
light. And Paul is here saying, we are
participants right now in this inheritance. Romans 8 and verses 16 and 17.
Let me just read that so I don't mess it up. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. Verse 17, and
if children, then heirs. We are heirs now. We are heirs now. Heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ. So be that we suffer with him
that we may be also glorified what together together There is an in Christ and there
is a without Christ But these are those that are in Christ
and they are made to be partakers participants in this inheritance
right now if you are in Christ you are a child of God and And
right now, if you are a child of God, you are an heir. You are partaking, you are participating
in this inheritance of the saints in life. And this goes for apostles
as well as people. Preachers as well as members. There's no difference here. Paul
included himself and Timothy in this statement. You're either
our partaker or you're not. That's the division and that's
the only division here. Again, this has nothing to do
with whether you're elect or not. This has whether or not
to do with whether or not you are in Christ at this time. You
may be elect and not in it. Because at one time, Paul was
consenting to the death of Stephen. He wasn't a partaker then. I
believe he was a child of God. I know he was elect. God knew
him in his mother's womb. But there had to come that time
when that apostle had to be brought in and he was brought in into
what? Into this. He was made meet to
be a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. And that
is the same place that we are brought into. Because if we are children, we
are heirs and we are heirs now. on this earth as we walk around. Now I'm not talking about feelings,
because you may not feel it. Your circumstances may dictate
your attention be elsewhere. Now that's your fault, not circumstances. I can blame me for anything.
It's easy. It's easy to be distracted when
you're human. But nevertheless, whether I'm
distracted or not, I'm a partaker. Whether you are troubled by your
circumstances and what's going on in your life, you're a partaker. If you are in Christ, if you
are one of the faithful brethren, what's a faithful brethren? Faithful
brethren is one who believes, full of faith, one who has been
given faith by God. It's not that you're faithful
and you come every Sunday, rain or shine, sleet or snow. No,
no. Because it's not faithful to
here, it's faithful to Him. That's where it lies. And if
it's in you, it's in you whether you know it or not at the present
moment. Thank God it is. Because the Father, and it says,
Guess what? Made us. That's past tense. It's past tense. The father hath
qualified us. It's about the facts. Feelings
aside. Facts. He's made us meet. And guess what? If he makes you
meet, you're meat. And that sounds funny because
we have two definitions for the word meet, but in two different
spellings. But if he's qualified you, you're qualified. If he's
fit you, that song, I like that, you know, and fit us for heaven,
to be with you there. We can't go like we are. Not
naturally, no way. But if he's made you fit, you're
fit. Guess what? It's his work, he'll
take care of it. He hath made us and not we ourselves. Because this is not dependent
on anything you do or anything you feel. Because if you are
now in Christ, the Father hath made you qualified. And he has made you a joint heir
with Jesus Christ. And we're to rejoice in that.
We are to rejoice in that. We are to be glad of that. First Thessalonians five and
verse five says, ye are all the children of light. The children of the day. We are
not of the night and we are not of darkness. Now that doesn't
mean darkness ain't around us. That doesn't mean we don't go
through the night sometimes. but we are not of the night. We are not of the darkness. We
are of the day. We are of the light. Why? Because we are in him who is
the light. And how do we get in him? The
father hath made us qualify. Then he states this, who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear son. Now this is still talking
about the father. This is still referencing, what,
the father of lights. From whom cometh down all the
good gifts. There are no good gifts except
for the ones the father of lights gives. And we are partakers of
this inheritance, what? With the saints of light. And
we are the children of light. Why? Who hath delivered us. This is salvation. You say what
you want and do what you will. I come down the aisle and I pray
the prayer. Now this is salvation right here. And guess what? You didn't do any of it. Here's the apostle to the Gentiles,
the apostle Paul and Timothy, sending this letter to the saints
in Colossae, congratulating them on how wonderfully they got themselves
saved. No, not even close. He didn't even tell the Colossae,
they took the first step. He starts off with God, he's
gonna continue with God, and he's gonna finish with God. Because
this is all the work of God. who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness. So first of all, who does this
salvation? The Father. This is the salvation
of the Father given to those whom he has given to the Son. And this also is all in the past
tense. This is all something he has
done for everyone that is in Christ at this time. And there's no difference in
the saints and the faithful brethren, because still Paul's saying,
who hath delivered? What? Us. And hath translated
who? Us. Apostles and brethren alike. Preacher and not alike. It's
just amazing to me. I'm not saying there's a general
salvation, but I'm gonna tell you this, the salvation of God's
elect is done exactly the same way to every one of God's elect. It's not just out there and available
for everyone. No, that's not what this is saying.
God has to do it. And if God doesn't do it, It's
not done. Now, there's counterfeits everywhere. You know? I remember somebody
saying one time, well, the only reason a counterfeit has a value
is there's actually some real stuff out there somewhere. I don't know what value it is
to be a counterfeit Christian. I really don't. Maybe it helps
some people in business. I don't know. For some people,
it is a business. That's a whole other thing. It's
always been good business to make people feel good. That's
why they left Christ and walked no more with Him when He talked
to them and told them exactly how it is. But this is all in the past tense
because if you have been brought into Christ, you are in Christ
at this time and this is the truth of His salvation, the Father
hath delivered you from darkness and translated you, what? Into
the kingdom of his dear son. That is salvation. That's the salvation of the father. That's the salvation of Christ.
That's the salvation of the spirit. This is the salvation of God.
He does it all. Like I said, I got nothing new. You were delivered and translated
by the Father, and God is the cause of your salvation. Because it's His salvation. Why? That your faith should not
stand in the wisdom of men, but where? In the power of God. And it says, we are delivered
from the power of darkness. Hath delivered us from the power
of darkness. I wrote this down for second
Corinthians four and verse three. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them that are lost in whom The God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. That's being
in darkness. That's being in darkness. That's
darkness. Lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. God doesn't ever, I don't know
how to say, God doesn't ever not shine. Why do you say that? It's not possible for God to
not shine. It's not possible for the gospel,
the true gospel, not to be the truth. The problem was with us. That's what we've been delivered
from. The darkness that was within. Ephesians 5 and 8 put it this
way, for ye were sometimes darkness. But now, but now there's a difference. There's been a difference made
who have delivered us. Ye were sometimes darkness, but
now are ye light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. This
is where we all were, including the Apostle Paul and Timothy.
Every single one of us, we were in darkness because our minds
were blinded. There was nothing wrong with
the message, there was something wrong with us. And if God doesn't do
something for you, there's always going to be something wrong with
you. And that's just the way it is. That old beggar told him, and
he meant it. He says, I don't know who this
man is yet. I don't know nothing. But I do
know one thing. He says, whereof I was blind,
but now I see. If you don't start there, you
haven't started. If your eyes haven't been opened,
if the blindness has not been removed from your mind, you have
not been delivered from the power of darkness by the Father. That's
where it is. We were brought out of darkness,
but this is another one, I like what you say sometimes, but he
just doesn't leave you there. He didn't put us in a neutral
position. You understand? He brought us out of darkness,
but he didn't just leave us out of darkness. He translated us
into the kingdom of his dear son. And guess what? This happens
to every single child of God. How were we delivered? We were
translated. You look it up, it means transferred. I like that word. You were in
the power of darkness and he transferred you. That's right,
because guess what? When you're transferred, you
ain't where you used to be. You used to be here in darkness.
Now, you're in the light. And guess what? Once you're transferred,
there ain't no going back. They frown on that thing. You've
been, you're gone from here. Now you're an alien to the darkness
and a citizen of the light. Because this is where we live
now. I like that. Darkness to light. And it happened when you were
quickened, when you were made alive in Christ. And I'm not gonna make a big
point of this, but I'm not gonna ignore it either. He's translated
us into a kingdom. And you can take that however
you want to. But you look that word up, guess
what? About 200 some odd times it's used as kingdom. So I'm
assuming that's what it means. So I'm also assuming, because
of what it actually just says, that his dear son has a kingdom
right now And I'm in it. And you're in it. If you're in
him. Now I know some people have a problem with that. That's their
problem. It's okay. I like being in his
kingdom. I like the idea of being in his
kingdom. And I like the idea of the fact that God took me
from here and he put me in here and I am in the son's kingdom. And he is my Lord right now. He was my Lord when I was here,
but I didn't know it. My mind was blinded, not only
to the gospel, but to him. I mean, it's so bad, we are so
depraved that when people heard him talk and he told them the
truth, they left him in droves. In a couple cases, by the thousands.
Because if I had been there with Peter and the apostles and he
was preaching those 5,000, And they were eating it up there
until he got to the end and told him, no man can come unto me
except to be given him of the Father. No man can come unto
me unless the Father which has sent me draw him. And then they
all left. You know, if I'd have been with
the disciples then, I'd have been talking about building a
big church. Because we have 5,000 members
right here. But no, they heard him speak and they left. Why? They're still in darkness. and they hadn't been translated
into the kingdom of the father's dear son. It makes a difference. Excuse me, he makes a difference. And we are in his kingdom now. Now. And that is part of being
a partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light. If you're born again, unless
you're born again, you ain't gonna see the kingdom. Unless
you're born of the water and the spirit, you ain't gonna enter
the kingdom. But guess what? If you are born again, you're
gonna see it. And if you are born from above
and you are born of the water and the spirit, you are going
to enter that kingdom. And Paul says we have now. Now
anybody else can say anything they like. This is America. You
have your freedom for blasphemy. God don't give you that freedom.
That's true, Walter, that's it. God don't give you the right
to believe whatever you want. America does. And I can't help you. Because if the gospel's hit,
it's hit to them, they're lost. This message is for believers.
Whether you know you're a believer or not. How do you know you're a believer?
You believe this? You believe him? You believe his apostles? You believe his message? It's
the only way we got to tell. And if you want to hate it, you
want to fight it, go right ahead. Millions do. Other millions just
ignore us and hope we'll go away. Well, I'm going home when I get
done, but that's about it. This is where we are right now. How did we get here? The father
did it, but now it switches from the father to the son. Because
it says, we've been translated into the kingdom of his dear
son. So the reference has changed of who Paul's writing about.
The subject of the sentence now, the subject of this phrase of
the sentence, because this is all these seven, nine to 17 is
one sentence. But the subject of this phrase
here, is now the son in whom we have redemption through his
blood. What? Even the forgiveness of
sins. He hath delivered us and hath
translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. How is that
possible when we are ungodly, unrighteous sinners in whom we
have redemption through his blood? That's the only way it's possible. And I'm gonna tell you something
else. It ain't that it's possible, it's certain. Who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of every creature? If you've seen Christ, you've seen
the Father. If you've seen Christ, you've seen the Father. And if
you know the Father, you know the Son. And if you don't know
the Son, you don't know the Father. If you don't know the Father,
you don't know the Son. Because these three, including the Holy
Spirit, are one. Just one. There's no way to separate
them. They don't have a different message. So there's only one message,
and it's the message of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption
through His blood. So what's the conclusion of this
whole matter? Christ Jesus is all. By him, he is before all
things, and by him all things consist. Christ is all. Christ is all. But now, what
I do want to point out, is before Paul started this, verses nine
and 10, it does say, For this cause, we also, since the day
we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and desire that
ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding. But he doesn't stop there. You
know, there's a purpose for wisdom and spiritual understanding.
There's a purpose for the gospel of Christ in your life right
now. What's he say? Verse 10. ye might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing
in the knowledge of God. We preach the gospel, and because
we preach the gospel, we preach walk. You're not gonna walk perfectly,
but Paul said, I want you guys to have this, that you would
walk. That you would walk. Walk worthy of who? The Lord. You don't have to worry about
walking worthy of me, or walking worthy of Walter, and walking
worthy of Earl. You can walk worthy of the Lord. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation where
ye are called. Paul wrote that, Ephesians four
and one. First Thessalonians 2 and 12,
he said, that ye should, that ye would walk worthy of God. Why? Who hath called you unto
his kingdom and glory. And glory. And I read it earlier, ye were
sometimes darkness, but now are ye light. What? In the Lord. Walk. Walk. As children of light. Because we are many things in
and of ourselves and none of them are good. But what we are in Christ is
good. And nothing but good. We're in
his kingdom. The kingdom of the father's dear
son. And we're in that kingdom because
he put us in that kingdom. And we are to walk worthy of
it. We're not gonna walk perfectly, I know that. Endeavor. I'm not going to say endeavor to
persevere because I like that movie. But we are to endeavor. Therefore, walk. I used to be told when I was
growing up sometimes by my parents by teachers, a couple of drill sergeants when
I was in the army, would you please act like you got some
sense? Most days I didn't listen. But
that's what this is. If you've been translated, if
you've been delivered out of darkness and translated into
the kingdom of his dear son, Act like it. Walk. Just, that's
all I'm saying. That's what Paul was saying.
Just walk. Do the best you can with what you got. But never
forget how you got there. That'll help you walk. Remembering
Him is always best for your walk. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. but most of all thankful
for everything you have done to us, for us, in us, around
us, through your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. Be with Walter
as he comes to deliver the message today and help us to understand
your words and your will and your way as we do go forth to
walk in this world. In Christ's name we pray, amen.