Now, my text this morning is
found in Colossians chapter 1. If you'd like to turn in your
Bibles there, Colossians 1. I'm going to be dealing with
verses 12 through 14 concerning the subject of qualified, delivered,
and forgiven. Qualified, delivered, and forgiven. That psalm that I had Brother
Mark read is a special, special psalm as they all are. But it's
a psalm of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. But it begins by
asking a pertinent question that we all must face. It says this
in Psalm 24 verse 3, Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord. Now
that's a way of asking this question. Who's going to come into the
presence of Almighty God? Who's going to be accepted with
God? Who's going to be favored with
God? Who's going to do that? It says,
or who shall stand in His holy place? The place of holiness. Well, here's the answer. Look
at verse 4 of Psalm 24. It says, He that hath clean hands
and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity,
nor sworn deceitfully. That's who. Now, if God the Holy
Spirit has convinced you or me of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment, We'll know this, that based upon ourselves, based
upon what we find within ourselves, based upon our works, verse four
disqualifies us. Do you know that? It disqualifies
me. Somebody says, but you're a preacher. Still disqualifies me. I'm just a sinner saved by grace
preaching to others who are saved by grace and some who are still
lost in their sins. He that hath clean hands, that's
sinlessly perfect, a pure heart, that's no thought of sin, no
motive, pure. But then he gives us some hope.
Look at verse five, he says, he shall receive the blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Now if you got clean hands and a pure heart, Why would you need
salvation? You see, a person who is not
drowning, you don't need to jump in the pool and save him. But now, if you're a sinner, then you need salvation. Christ's
name is Jesus, for he shall save his people from their what? Their
sins. So if you're not a sinner, you
don't need salvation. In fact, I don't even know why
you're here this morning. Because you're just sitting here
amidst a bunch of sinners. It's like, why would you go to
the hospital if you're not sick? So he's talking about righteousness
from the God of his salvation. And who's he talking about? Well,
he's talking about sinners saved by grace based upon the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says in verse 6, this
is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face,
O Jacob, or O God of Jacob. Those who seek the Lord there
are those who are God's elect. They are those whom the Holy
Spirit has given life and they seek Him and they seek the God
of Jacob. Jacob is specifically mentioned
because he is one of the major types in the Bible of sinners
who do not deserve salvation but who are saved by the sovereign
grace of God through the righteousness, the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in the last part of that psalm, he shows you how all this
comes about. Look at verse 7. Lift up your
heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors,
and the King of glory shall come in. That's how it all comes about.
Through the King of glory. And who is the King of glory?
Verse 8. The Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle. Who's that talking about? That's
talking about Christ. He's the King of glory. He's
the one strong and mighty in battle. He went to war against
sin. He went to war against Satan.
He went to war against death. And He was mighty in battle.
He conquered them all by His obedience unto death on the cross
as the surety and the substitute of His people. How in the world
could I say that I have clean hands? I'm a sinner. There's only one way I can make
that statement honestly before God and before you. And that
is based upon the righteousness, the cleanliness of the Lord Jesus
Christ imputed, charged to me. How can I say I have a pure heart?
Well, what is a pure heart in the Bible? It's a pure, it's
a heart, the mind, the affections, the will, the conscience that
the Holy Spirit has sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Now that's the pure heart. It doesn't mean that in my mind
I don't have evil thoughts, sinful thoughts. I do. I have to fight
it. It's a warfare. But what can
wash away my sins? What keeps God from charging
me with my sins? It's Christ that died, yea rather
He's risen again. Seated at the right hand of the
Father, ever living to make intercession for me. He says, who has not lifted up
his soul into vanity and sworn deceitfully. That's a way of
describing unbelievers. Those who have lifted up their
soul into vanity. They imagine that God will save
them or bless them or accept them based upon their works,
their efforts, their cooperation, their decisions. God will not
accept you based upon that. There's only one ground upon
which God will accept a sinner, and I've already stated it. Those
who have received righteousness from the Lord, the righteousness
of Christ, the blood of Christ. And when you see that and believe
that and submit to that, you can honestly say you have not
lifted up your soul unto vanity. Doesn't mean you don't still
have sinful pride. You do. We all do. But it means
when it comes to salvation and a right relationship with God,
I have only one hope. And that hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. That's it. He's the King of Glory.
Lift up your heads, he says in verse 9. O ye gates, even lift
them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come
in. He's the forerunner of his people. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He's the Lord
that cannot be defeated. He's the King of Glory. Now think
about that. Now turn to Colossians 1. Now,
if what I've just preached is your hope, If that's your hope,
if that's really your hope, and if it's really my hope, then
let me tell you what we ought to be doing. We ought to be spending
our lives giving thanks unto the Lord. Look at Colossians
chapter 1 verse 12. He's talking about giving thanks
unto the Father. How can I look upon God as my
Father instead of my righteous judge? He must be both. And the
first thing he says about giving thanks unto the Father, look
at it. If we're truly sinners saved by God's grace in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, is there any limit to the debt of love
and gratitude that we owe our Heavenly Father? That's a debt
that'll never be paid, but it's not a legal debt of law. Understand
that. If we're in Christ, we do not
owe any debt to God's law and justice. It's paid in full. He
redeemed me. Redeemed how I love to proclaim
it. Redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb. My debt to God's law and justice is paid in full by the
death of Christ. I don't owe a debt, legal debt.
But I'll tell you something, we owe God everything, our very
lives, in that debt of love and gratitude. We're to express our
gratitude in faith, believing God, repentance, turning away
from self, perseverance, clinging on to Christ and holding on to
him for dear life, obedience, worship, and praise, not to be
saved, but because we already are by his grace. Not to purify
ourselves in such a way as to make ourselves fit and qualified
for heaven, but because we already are. You see, these are not ways
by which we earn God's favor and blessings. These are not
the grounds upon which we ascend unto the
hill of the Lord. There are ways that we express
our love and our gratitude to God for all that he has freely,
unconditionally given us in Christ. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And so in our text here in Colossians
1 we have the summation in three words, have a summation of all
this in three words of all spiritual blessings given us and the first
one is the Look here in verse 12, it's the word meet, M-E-E-T,
it means qualified. That's what it means. Look at
it, verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father
which hath made us meet, qualified to be partakers, that word partakers
simply means what it says, to take part in, to share in. We take part in, we share in,
partakers of the inheritance. What is the inheritance? The
inheritance is salvation and all of its blessings and benefits,
eternal life and glory. And it is an inheritance. We
didn't earn it. We don't deserve it. It's all
of grace. Christ is the one who paid the
price. And it's the inheritance of the
saints who are the saints. That's not somebody that some
funny guy in Rome canonizes and checks out who did things, whether
or not they did miracles. Listen, if you're a believer
this morning, you're a saint. I mean sanctified one, one whom
God has set apart. And if you're a saint, you're
a sinner saved by grace, you're washed in the blood of Christ,
clothed in his righteousness, and you are a possessor of an
inheritance. Peter said it was an inheritance
that's incorruptible. and cannot be taken away. So
it's the inheritance of the saints, those who believe in Christ,
and it's the inheritance of the saints in light. What is light?
Light is truth, not in believing a lie. People today call Christianity
salvation by the grace of God conditioned on you, conditioned
on me. That's a lie. That's not Christianity. Christianity is salvation conditioned
on Christ. Christianity is Christ who fulfilled
those conditions. Christianity is that which Christ
accomplished that ensures the salvation of all for whom he
died, was buried, and arose again. That's God's grace. Grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. and him that cometh me I will
in no wise cast out. What qualifies me for salvation? What qualifies you for salvation?
For blessings, for eternal life and glory. Listen to me, it's
not our faith that qualifies us. It's not our repentance that
qualifies us. It's not our obedience. It's
not our sincerity. It's not our good intentions.
It is Christ crucified and risen from the dead alone. You understand
that? It's His blood that washes away
all my sins, that makes me clean. It's His righteousness charged,
accounted, imputed to me, that justifies me before God eternally. It's His power that gives spiritual
life and knowledge whereupon we're given the gifts of faith
and repentance to lay hold of Him who qualifies us. You see
the difference? Those who believe their faith
qualifies them for salvation. You know what they believe in?
They believe in their faith. They have faith in their faith,
not in Christ. If you have true saving faith,
you have faith in Him who qualifies you by His blood, by His righteousness. It's His power that preserves
us under glory by which He causes us to persevere. Christ is all and in all. That's our hope. That's our ground.
I have no qualifications for salvation. for blessing, for
benefits from God, for a right relationship with God. I have
no qualifications to ascend unto the hill of God's holy presence,
but Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead, His righteousness
imputed. That's my only qualification.
Now that's it. Yes, God gives us faith to believe. Yes, He brings us to repentance,
which is a gift of God. Yes, He preserves us under glory
by causing us to persevere. But that's not our qualifications.
One qualification, the blood of Jesus Christ. All right, here's
the second word. Look at verse 13. Who hath delivered
us. We're not only qualified, we've
been delivered. Christ has delivered us. from
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son." Christ has delivered us from the legal debt
of sin and the law by being made sin for us and dying on the cross
to make us legally righteous in God's sight. That's deliverance
by redemption. In Hebrews chapter 1 and verse
3, it talks about that Christ is the brightness of God's glory,
the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the
word of His power, when He had by Himself did what? Purged our
sins. You see, you weren't there in
person. If you're a believer, you were
there in a representative, in a substitute, but you didn't
help Him. You didn't help him out in this.
He by himself purged our sins and when he did it, what did
he do? He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
You see, this picture that preachers paint today of Christ hanging
over the banister of heaven trying to beg and plead you to walk
the aisle for him, that's not scriptural. He sat down. sat down. Why? Because He said
it. It's finished. What's finished?
Our sins are put away. Righteousness is established. God is just to justify the ungodly. He secured the salvation of all
for whom He died. And as a result of this deliverance
by redemption, Through Christ assured in substitute, you know
what he does? Look at verse 13 again. He delivers
us from the power of darkness and translates us into the kingdom
of his dear son. That's deliverance by the power
of Christ through the Holy Spirit in regeneration and conversion,
in the new birth. You see, Christ's righteousness
imputed to us is the ground of our salvation, and it's the source
and power of our regeneration. Turn over to Galatians chapter
four, if you will. Let me show you this. In Galatians
chapter four, in verse four, speaks of God sending forth his
son. In verse four. of Galatians 4,
it says, when the fullness of the time was come. That was the
time that God appointed before the foundation of the world in
sovereign electing grace when he chose his people in Christ
and gave them to Christ and determined to save them by his grace through
Christ. Well, when that time came, God
sent forth his son. That's his deity. Christ is the
second person of the Trinity. Made of a woman. That's his sinless
humanity. He's God in man. God manifest
in the flesh. Made under the law. That's all
of salvation conditioned on Christ. His law keeping. His justice
satisfying death. And he did it to do what? Verse
5. To redeem them that were under the law. That's our, that's our,
the ground of our justification is the redemptive work of Christ,
which was the price, the price was his blood. Now look at the
next line, that we might receive the adoption of sons, see that's
all based upon what Christ did, verse 6, and because, listen
to this, and because you are sons, or since you are sons. Now, whatever he's going to say,
it's not said in order that we might become sons. It's because
we are already sons, children of God. Because, and that by
the blood of Christ, by the electing grace of God before the foundation
of the world, and by the redeeming grace of God through Christ on
the cross, we're already adopted into his family, already children
of God, and how do we know that we're children of God? Look at
verse six, that because you are sons, or since you are sons,
God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
crying Abba Father. Now, what is that? That's talking
about the new birth. The Holy Spirit gives life to
the children of God, spiritual life. He raises us literally,
spiritually from the dead. And what does he do? He gives
us new knowledge. He reveals things to us. Look
at verse 13 of Colossians 1 again. He delivers us from the power
of darkness. You know what the power of darkness
is? It's the power of ignorance and deception. That's what darkness
is. Satan uses that power to keep
sinners in a state of unbelief. We read that in 2 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 3. Remember what it says? If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds
of them that see it not." That they might not see the glory
of God in Christ. That's basically what it says.
All right? That's the darkness. It's the
darkness of sin. And never forget this. It's the
darkness of man's false free will works religion. It's the darkness that keeps
sinners thinking that they make the difference in saved and lost. That they, that they, that salvation
is conditioned on them and what they do rather than upon Christ
and what he did. It's the darkness of false, false
gospels. that set sinners on to what they
call obedience, but aimed at establishing their own righteousness
before God rather than submitting to Christ as their only righteousness
before God. Well, when the Holy Spirit comes
in power from Christ, he delivers us from that through the preaching
of the gospel. That's why Paul said in Romans
1 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power
of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first
and the Greek also for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live
by faith. What is the righteousness of God there? It's what Christ
did. It's the merits of his obedience
unto death. It's his righteousness imputed.
It's his blood. That's what the gospel reveals.
And when He delivers us from that darkness, verse 13, He translates
us into the kingdom of His dear Son. The kingdom of Christ. What
is the kingdom of Christ? Well, it's His church. That's
the kingdom. It's His spiritual kingdom. What
He does is He removes us from one state to the other. Where
as we were in darkness, now we're children of light. You know what
the word church means? It doesn't mean denominations.
It means called out ones, called out of darkness into His marvelous
light. You see, if you're a believer,
And I've said this often, if you're a believer, you're a walking,
talking miracle of God's grace and power. You're not the product
of your free will. You're not the product of your
decision. You're not the product of your baptism. You're the product
of the sovereign grace of God in Christ. You're the product
of his death. Christ's death. He said, unless
the seed of wheat goes into the ground and dies, it won't bear
fruit. But if it dies, it bears much
fruit. Who's the fruit there? That's
His people, His children, His sons, His daughters. How do I
know if I'm a child of God? How do I know if I've been adopted
into His family? How do I know if I've been redeemed
by the grace of God? How do I know if I've been qualified? to stand on God's holy presence
based on the righteousness of Christ in people. How do I know
that I've been chosen of God? Well, have I been delivered from
the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of his dear
son, his church? That's not every denomination
now. That's just where the gospel is preached, where the truth,
remember, it's the inheritance of the saints in light, not in
darkness. The Bible says in Romans 14,
17, the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. First comes righteousness.
That's the ground. That's the cause. That's in Christ. That's His righteousness imputed.
Then comes peace within our hearts. Based upon what Christ did, we
have peace, peace that passes understanding. And out of that
peace comes joy in the Holy Ghost. Look at verse 14, here's the
third word, forgiven. He says in verse 14, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins. The reason that forgiveness is
so emphasized in the Bible is this, and it's for his people,
it's for those who are qualified through Christ by the grace of
God. It's for those who've been delivered from the power of darkness
and translated into the kingdom of his dear son. Why do we need
to have that emphasis on the forgiveness of sin by the blood
of Christ? And I'll tell you why. It's because
even as qualified and delivered by the grace of God, we are still
sinners in ourselves. God states that in Christ, based
on his righteousness imputed that we are truly and really
righteous, perfectly righteous in his sight, legally, objectively,
forensically. But I'll tell you what, brother or sister in Christ,
we just don't see that in ourselves, do we? When I look at myself
in the mirror, I don't see one who is perfectly righteous. I
know it's true, and I know it's true because God says it. That's
faith, walking by faith, not by sight. I don't feel it. How about you? We war against the flesh. We
struggle, we grieve, we suffer. We try to figure it out and we
can't. Why is God doing this to me? You know, that kind of
thing. We can't figure that out. We have to be convinced by the
Holy Spirit that we're truly and completely redeemed and forgiven
of all our sins through the blood, the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? And the only
way we know it is God said it, and that settles it. Think about
it. We've sinned today, haven't we? Anybody that's here, haven't
we sinned today? Won't we sin more? But here's what I'm telling
you. If God chose you and Christ redeemed
you and you're qualified by his righteousness alone, God will
not impute sin to you. You believe that? I'm going to
tell you something, it takes the power of God's grace to really
believe that. Because I don't feel like it
right now. We suffer the consequences of
our sin. Old age, sickness. We can't get away from it. Paul
said that. He said, I want to do good, but I don't even know
how. Do you know how? Christ, the Lord, Acted, thought,
walked in a perfect way at all times. I don't know how to do
that. Do you? If you do, draw me up
a manual and you better have scripture backing it up because
it's not in there. We don't even know how to do
it. You know these people who say, well I finally achieved
sinless perfection. I don't even know how to do that
and they're lying to themselves. They just told a big lie right
there. Sin is all we see around us and
in us as far as our experience and sight, but we know. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn? Sin cannot condemn us. Our sins are forgiven. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. I had a preacher years ago tell
me one time, he said, he said, at the end of the day, he's a
false preacher, by the way, he said, at the end of the day,
he said, if we don't ask God to forgive us of every sin we
committed that day, he won't forgive us. Now, if you dwell on that too
much, you're gonna end up somewhere where you don't wanna be. I told
him, I said, son, I've committed sins today, I don't even know.
What about sins of omission? I can tell you right now, I have
not had a second in myself where I could say I'm perfectly holy
and righteous and pure and uncontaminated from sin. You see, I need forgiveness all
the time. How about you? Well, where's
that gonna come from? You say, well cry enough and
maybe that'll do it. No, that won't do it. You know
we ought to feel sorry for our sins more than what we do. But
you know repentance is not feeling sorry for your sins. Repentance
is a change of mind on the basis of the forgiveness of sins. What
is the ground of the forgiveness of sins? The blood of Jesus Christ.
Somebody says, but if we confess our sins. I'm gonna tell you
something. If you know that Christ's blood is the only ground of your
forgiveness of all your sins, that is confessing. I'm a sinner. I know right now if God were
to give me what I've earned or deserved, it would be eternal
damnation. That's what I confess. And I
confess I have no hope of forgiveness but the blood and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ.