I'm glad to be here. It's good
to see y'all again. I find you well. It's good to fellowship. It's good to worship together
this morning. Let's look at Colossians chapter 1 together. I appreciate you having me. Pray the Lord will meet with
us and speak to us this morning. Colossians 1 13 Let's look at actually let's
look at verse 12 giving thanks Colossians 1 12 giving thanks
unto the father Which hath made us meet? To be partakers of the
inheritance of the Saints In life you remember the Rich
young ruler asked, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Well, that's not how you inherit.
This is how you inherit. The Lord made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance and having exhorted us to give thanks to
God the father for that. Paul enlarges in these next verses
on what it is to be saved by God and what we have to thank
him for. Being thankful. It's such a simple thing, and
yet an elusive thing. You remember in Romans chapter
one, our Lord lists thanklessness among what we might consider
the most gross of sins. And yet we don't think about
it when we are unthankful or fail to be thankful. How terrible that is. To thank
God is to acknowledge that He did it. If I thank God for saving
me, That means he saved me. It's simple, but a profound thing
to be thankful. Neither were they thankful. God
help us to thank him for what he's done for us. When God saves a sinner, there's
a question of fitness. Think a little bit longer with
me in verse 12. Made us meet To be takers, that
means to make sufficient, to render fit, to equip one with
adequate power to perform duties. Without me, you can do nothing.
But the Lord makes us meet. He is our meatness, our sufficiency. And we know how he does this
for us. He tells us in his word clearly how he does that for
us, how he makes us meet, how he makes us fit. In Galatians 2.20, Paul said,
I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I. Not the old me. Not my nature. But Christ liveth in me. That's
how he does it. He indwells us. He lives within
us. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. who loved
me. Notice how he identifies it.
The one that loved me and gave himself for me. That's my fitness. That's my
sufficiency to be in the presence of God. He gives us his spirit. Romans 8, 9, you're not in the
flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit of God
dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. If you're a believer, you
have the Spirit of Christ. It's not you, but Christ that
liveth in you. 1 John 4, 12, No man hath seen
God at any time. If we love one another, though,
God dwells in us. And His love is perfected in
us. Hereby know we that we dwell
in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.
to make sufficient, meet to be partakers, to make sufficient.
This is what we're to be thankful for. Well, how does that happen? How are we sufficient? Second
Corinthians 3, 5, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to
think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,
who also hath made us able ministers of the new covenant, not of the
letter, but of the spirit, For the Lord killeth, but the Spirit
giveth life. Whatever our role in His kingdom,
He makes us sufficient for that, as well as sufficient to stand
before God. Now consider verse 13 with me. This is a further description
of what God did for us. And this is what God did for
us. It's done. If you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, you just believe in what he told you that he did for you.
He's not asking you to do something. He's telling you what he did
for you. He delivered us from the power
of darkness. Can we be thankful for that this
morning? Where would you be this morning?
Where would you be? if God hadn't delivered you,
saved you from the power of darkness. We're taken captive by Satan
at his will, by nature, 2 Timothy 2.25. In meekness instructing
those that oppose themselves, we're so captive by the power
of darkness that we're our own worst enemy. If God, peradventure, teach,
instruct, and just maybe, God. I don't know if God will do anything
for you or me this morning or our loved ones that we pray for
and agonize over before the throne of God. I don't know if He'll
do anything for them. But if He does, I know how He'll
do it. If God, peradventure, will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, he'll be pleased to save sinners
by the preaching of the gospel. And if he's pleased, if he, peradventure,
is pleased to give them repentance, they'll say, that's the truth. And that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who were taken captive by him.
at his will. Has he done that for you? Thank
God. Giving thanks unto the Father.
We're helplessly steeped in spiritual darkness by nature, the power
of our own nature to render us blind to God and the things of
God. This word delivered in our text
is wonderful. It means what you think it does
when it talks about delivering us from rescue or save, but the
very first definition of the word is to draw to oneself. How does Christ save us? He draws us to himself. To draw,
you think about it, delivered. Delivered from the power of darkness.
How? He drew us to himself. He is the light of the world. He is deliverance. He is salvation. No man can come to him except
the Father, which hath sent him drawing. And he said, I'll raise
him up at the last day. Translated, drawn by God, removed
from one place to another, brought to the Savior. Does any of that sound like a
decision you make? When Jonas said, salvations of
the Lord, it was after I suspect he tried everything he could
to get out of that whale's belly, you think. He called it the belly
of hell. I don't imagine he was just reclining
in there enjoying the smell of it and the fear that would be
involved in that. He wanted out of that whale ever since he got in there, but
he couldn't do anything about it. What's he going to do about
it? He's probably inside of a whale
as long as this building. Helpless to do anything about
it. From the belly of hell I cried. And then God delivered him. Translated him from the darkness onto a sunny beach. That's how
God saves sinners. That's what he did for me and
apparently the Apostle Paul. Because he said he delivered
me, he translated me from the power of darkness. I couldn't get out. Free will has no place in any
of that. We're under the power of darkness,
the prince of darkness himself, and then we're in the kingdom
of the Son of God. By the deliverance of Christ,
ruled and reigned over and controlled by Christ's will. And rejoicing
to be. So I heard somebody say in a
very good message recently, you're somebody's puppet. It is that
you're controlled by somebody. Not a lifeless puppet without
will or presence of mind, but you're under control of somebody.
His people rejoice to be under his control. Look at verse 14
in our text, in whom we have redemption through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins. not only then made sufficient,
made meet, but made worthy. Worthy. Knowing what we need to know, being able
to do what we need to do in His kingdom, that's the other word,
making us sufficient. When I read the definition there,
to make us fit to perform duties, He is our sufficiency, but also
sinless, washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
so without any spot or wrinkle or stain or any such thing before
God, Christ is both our sufficiency and our sin offering, our redemption. And it says through his blood,
Christ crucified is our hope and message. He is our perfect
example in everything. But God said, when I see the
blood, not see you imitating Christ and doing your best, you
know, to walk in his step. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Romans 3, 24, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation, a sin offering, through faith
in His blood. Do you believe in the blood of
Christ? Do you believe that His precious
blood is sufficient to wash all of your sins away? Acts 17, 2, and Paul, as his
manner was, went unto them in three Sabbath days, reasoned
with them out of the Scriptures. He took the word of God and reasoned
with them. He didn't argue with them. He
didn't debate them. He convinced them from the Scriptures,
opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered. and risen again from the dead,
and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ. It's by the blood of Christ that
we're redeemed, that is, release effected by payment of a ransom. Set him free, I found a ransom. Payment of a ransom. We're released
from the bondage of sin, from the bondage of the law, and exonerated
because the precious blood of Christ was sufficient to pay
all of our sin debt unto God. We're not offered redemption
through His blood, it says. Is that what it said? We are
offered, no, it says we have it. By His grace, we have it. We
have forgiveness through His blood, His blood being shed for
us. We have forgiveness. God redeemed us and forgives
us by the power of that blood. It's not the basis for redemption. It is redemption. You see that
in the text? It is redemption. whom we have redemption, even
the forgiveness. So that the matter of redemption,
forgiveness, salvation was settled at Calvary by Christ, not by
you at an old-fashioned altar. It was done by Christ. It was
accomplished by him at Calvary. And no wretched call himself
a preacher, reprobate, should ever tell you to add anything
to that. Your decision, you're walking
an aisle, you're repeating a prayer, doesn't matter what it is. We're
not trying to get you to do something for God. We're praying that God
will do something for you. We're telling you what he did
for sinners. And praying that he'll mix faith
in them that hear. That's the scripture language
about that. In whom? In whom we have it. We have it. Redemption's not
a doctrine. It's a person. Still learning
that. Verse 15, who is the image of
the invisible God? The firstborn of every creature,
the image of the invisible God. The Lord Jesus said, if you've
seen me, you've seen the father. He is the image of the invisible,
the express image of his person. Hebrews one, one through three. No man has seen God at any time. Listen, John 1, 18. No man has
seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him, that is,
set Him forth. He is where the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God is seen in His face. And nowhere
else You know, you're the only God that anybody's gonna ever
see, then they're a goner. They're a goner. They're gonna
have to see God's glory by faith in the face of His Son. That's
why we preach His Son. And Christ is the firstborn of
every creature, not Himself being a creature, since we're told
in the next verse that all things were created by Him. The idea of firstborn has to
do with preeminence and right. There were birth rights that
the firstborn had. Christ has all the rights, all
of them. He has the right to give you
life if he wants to, if it pleases him to do that. Even as the father
quickeneth whom he will, so has he given authority to the son
to give life to whomsoever he will. and preeminence. John Gill wrote that this means
that Christ is the parent of every creature. That's not a
bad way of saying it. The meaning of it though is defined
better by the scriptures themselves. Look at the next words in verse
16. What do we mean by the firstborn
of every creature? For by him were all things created. that are in heaven and that are
in earth. That's everything. And in case
you think that everything we see was created, no, more than
that. Visible and invisible. Whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Christ
and for Christ, and Christ is before all things, and by Christ
all things consist. That's pretty clear, but overwhelming. The language is so immense. So
immense and all-inclusive that it's just overwhelming. He gives
examples of invisible things that are made, by Christ here,
and not visible ones here, because you don't need an example of
the visible things that Christ made, because it's all of them. Those we see all the time, every
day. The invisible though, it's good
to have some examples of that in there, because we don't see
those, we don't think about that much. Everything we can see,
and even that which we will never see, In this life, Christ was, and notice this,
they were created by him and for him. Christ was selfish in
creation. That sounds bad. No, it's only
bad if you're selfish. Selfishness in us is a sin because
we're unworthy. Covetousness is wrong in us because
we're nothing and we deserve nothing. But for Christ to do
everything for himself, it's just right. It's just good. It's good, it's appropriate.
He made everything the way he wanted to and he made it for
his own purpose. Have you ever wondered about
that in things in creation? Why in the world did the Lord
make ants? What are they good for? Why would
he make a mosquito? Because he wanted to. Is that
alright? We have to bow to his will in
it, don't we? They serve his purpose. Why did he make things in the
ocean that we will never lay eyes on? No man has ever laid
eyes on and never will. Because he likes them. He likes them. He enjoys them.
He did it for himself. He didn't do it for you. Yeah,
he's made a lot of things for us to enjoy, hasn't he? But he
made everything for himself. People spend lifetimes studying
one aspect of his creation and never figure it out. They make
fools of themselves, in fact, trying to figure it out. Thrones,
it says, thrones. He's the king of kings. Sinners,
we think of the throne as the highest place on the earth. Christ
made them, he made them for himself. They're made by him and for him
and he is before them. Dominions, that means authorities
everywhere and everyone who has any position of authority a king,
a boss, a parent, a pastor, a teacher. He has authority over those authorities. Principalities, the word principalities
means origins. Think about that one. He made
origins. He originated origins. Whenever
you trace anything in the universe back to its origin, Christ is
the origin of that origin. You say, well, everything was
the result of a big explosion that happened in space. Okay,
well, I seriously doubt that. But let's just say, for example,
that's what happened. Who blew it up? What did they blow up? Where
did that come from? Christ is the author of everything. and most blessed and wonderful. He's the author, that word means
that by which anything begins to be, the author and finisher
of our faith. When did you first believe on
Christ? What's the origin of your faith?
Well, it was back, no, it was Christ. This is so glorious and clear. Powers. He's the head of all
power. That's that's that word is ability. But there's two meanings to it.
But ability think about ability. Christ is the creator of all
ability. Were you able to get out of bed this morning? Some
weren't. Did you? Christ did that. All ability. Are you able to
worship? Most aren't. That's the Lord. Are you able to comprehend? Many are ever learning and ever
able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Ability. Look at Ephesians 3 with me for
a second. Verse 14. For this cause, I bow my knees
unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom the whole family
in heaven and earth is named. That he would grant you according
to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might. To
have some ability, Lord, give him some ability. with might
by his spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in
your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded in
love may be able." Our text says giving thanks unto
him for these things, that he is the origin of origins, that
he is the one that made you able to do anything, to know anything. And he says that here, may be
able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and
length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ. Are you able to know that love?
It's not the fruit of your flesh, that's the fruit of His Spirit.
And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with
all the fullness of God. You see what He's praying for?
That you may be able, that you might be strengthened in the
inner man and be able to know something of Him and His love
and His grace. And then when He prays for that
and desires that, He does the same thing He told them to do
in our text, give thanks, giving thanks unto Him for that. Now
look at this, now unto Him that is able, to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think according to the power which
worketh in us, which gives us all ability to know Him and to
worship Him and to love Him or anything worth doing. Unto Him
be glory. Give thanks unto Him. In the church, it's not going
to happen anywhere else, is it, but in the church. Oh, may we
give Him glory here. May we give Him glory here. By
Christ Jesus throughout all ages. This world's not going to give
Him glory, are they? By Christ Jesus throughout all
ages, world without end. Amen. I like what Paul said in
another place. Unto Him be glory both right
now and from now on. Oh, that we might be able to
glorify Him right now in our hearts. The reason that this preeminence
in creation now is mentioned in the context of salvation and
redemption. And think about it now, everywhere
we've read in our text, His preeminence Him being the origin of everything
and everybody. Him being the head of all things,
the principalities and powers, things visible and invisible.
He made it all. He runs it all. And all of that
is mentioned in the context of redemption, forgiveness, salvation. You know why that is? Because
all of the universe revolves around the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything he does is for the glory that we can
only see at Calvary. The glory of God. It all revolves
around the cross. He has a universe because he
has a people. And he went to the cross to redeem those people. Ephesians 1 15 through 23, let's
look at that what happened on Calvary is Integral to everything
Christ is and everything he's done and where he is right now Say that again as we turn to
Ephesians 1 here verse 15 What happened on Calvary what Christ
accomplished on by making his own soul an offering for our
sin on the cross is integral and is the point of all that
he has ever done and what he's doing right now. Ephesians 1
15, wherefore I also After I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus
and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for
you, making mention of you in my prayers that the God of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the
spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him." If
you're going to know him, he's going to have to give you that.
No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever
the Son will reveal him." And here he is praying, Paul praying
for this again, now, that he may give you the knowledge, the
spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, the
eyes of your understanding being enlightened. He's got to give
it to you. That you may know what is the
hope of his calling. Got to give it to you. and what
the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and
what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who do believe,
according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought
in Christ, when he raised him from the dead and set him at
his own right hand in the heavenly places far. Where is he now? Who is he? What did he do? for of all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things, to the church, which is his body, the
fullness of him, that filleth all in all." So he's talking
about the redemption that we have in Christ. He's talking
about knowing Him and what He accomplished on Calvary, which
He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and
set Him at His own right hand. And what is He talking about
in the same breath? Far above all principles. That's
our text. And in our text also, it has
to do with redemption. You remember what the Lord said
in John 17, verses 1 through 3? as thou hast given him power,
me power, both ability and authority over all flesh. Why? That I might
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. You see how that Christ, sitting
in absolute sovereign authority, having made everything running everything, having made
it for himself, doing what he does for himself and for his
sheep. It all has to do with the salvation
of sinners in and by him. John 17, one of these words,
spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
may also glorify thee. What is that hour all about?
Why did Christ come to this hour? He said he came to seek and to
save those that are lost. How's he going to do that? But
look at the first purpose mission. Father, the hour has come. This
is it, this is the hour around which all other hours of time
in eternity itself revolves around. This hour. Glorify. Glorify me, that I might glorify
you. And how's he do that? As I has given him power over
all flesh. That he should give eternal life.
How does he give us eternal life? On what basis can we live before
God? Do we have acceptance with God? You see, this is not about you
accepting him. You know that. This is about
him accepting us. How's that happen? That he should
give eternal life to as many as God has given him. The hour has come. the hour of
him shedding his precious blood on Calvary. That is eternal life
to those given by the Father. Paul said, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. We walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. for the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus, have made us free from the law
of sin and death. And what the law could not do,
in that it was weak through the flesh. It's not an inability
of God's law. There's nothing wrong with God's
law. It's the perfect law of God. But because of us, our sin,
our flesh, the law can't save us. But what the law could not do,
God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh before sin, and
condemned sin in the flesh, that we, that the law might be fulfilled
in us, who are not after the flesh but after the Spirit. above all principality and power
and might and dominion. Back in our text in Colossians
1. Let's read it again. Who hath
delivered us from the power of darkness. Again, thinking of
All power. He said, you give me power over
everybody and everything. For this reason, the Salvation
Centers, who have delivered us from the power of darkness and
have translated us into the kingdom of his dear son, in whom we have
redemption. Through his blood, we have it.
Because he died, because he bled, we have it. Even the forgiveness of sins.
The shedding of his blood is the same thing as the forgiveness
of sins. You see that? It's equivalent.
The redemption through his blood, even. Another way of saying that
is, our sins are gone. It's just so simple and beautiful,
isn't it? Religion talks about, well, he did all he could do.
Now it's up to you. No. When he shed his blood, my
sins were gone. And then he told me about it.
And he gave me repentance, and I said, that's the truth. That's
the truth. 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. Firstborn of every creature,
preeminence, right, 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. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the remanence. May God give us
grace to glorify him this morning in our heart and give thanks.
Giving thanks unto the Father for all that he's done. Salvations
of the Lord. Look what he's done for us. Praise
his name. Amen. Bye.