Well, we've already read Colossians
chapter one, but if you'll turn with me again to that passage,
please, I just want to read a few verses which will be where our
thoughts will center this morning. Colossians chapter one, and I
want to read from verse 12 through to verse 14. Colossians chapter
one, verse 12 to verse 14. 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. Lord Jesus Christ sent his servant,
the Apostle Paul, to be a messenger, a minister, an apostle, a message
bearer, a bearer of light, gospel light. The Apostle Paul was a preacher
of light. He preached illumination in a
time of darkness. He preached a message which shone
into the dark hearts and recesses of men's minds and brought forth
light in them. And there is a reference here
in this passage to the inheritance that we are partakers of and
that is that we are partakers of an inheritance of the saints
in light. I have a prayer this morning
that the Lord will grant us light, that he will grant us light and
illumination and understanding as we turn to the scriptures
and consider the word of God before us. It is uncertain whether
the Apostle Paul ever personally visited this church in Colossae,
whether he ever personally visited the Colossians. He certainly
was in the area. And it would appear that if he
did, it would have been during one of those journeys that he
made where the reference is simply in Scripture that he visited
all the churches. And it's possible that he visited
the church here at Colossae. But it does not appear at least
that he had visited that church before he wrote this letter to
them. The men who laboured in the church
of Colossae were Epaphras, who Paul calls a fellow servant and
elsewhere a fellow prisoner of his, Timothy, who was sent by
Paul, probably bearing this letter, and Onesimus, who had been a
slave to a man who lived in this area, a man called Philemon,
and Philemon also was likely a member of this church here. These are the names that we've
heard about, these are the names that are connected with this
little fellowship here in Colossae. And yet it's clear that the Apostle
Paul had a burden on his heart for the well-being of the saints
in this city, this town. It wouldn't be a very big place.
He had a burden and he was rejoicing in the testimony that he had
heard from others concerning these people. And he was anxious
for their spiritual well-being and for their growth in the gospel. And so he writes them a letter.
He writes them a letter in order to express those things which
he had received from the Lord and desired to convey to them,
and his own personal love and regard and concern on their behalf. And I think there's a lovely
picture there, right at the very beginning, to see that the Lord's
people have this affinity together. We have a concern for one another. We have a burden for one another.
And whether we are known personally to one another or not, or whether
we have to deal with one another sometimes through intermediaries,
those that travel back and forward, sometimes over great distances,
the reality is that wherever the Lord's people are known to
one another, We should pray for one another. We should be concerned
for one another. We should have a desire for the
well-being of one another. And we should seek the Lord's
blessing in our prayers for one another as the apostle did here
for these brethren at Colossae. I want to draw your attention
this morning to a number of things that the Apostle Paul said. I'm
not going to keep you too long today, but I want you to see
that these words that the Apostle Paul has spoken, these words
that he wrote in this letter to the brethren here, the Colossians. They have a value and a power
and an import, a meaning, which goes beyond the immediate addressees,
the immediate recipients of this letter. The message that he sends
has been of a blessing to the Lord's people throughout the
ages in the church. and it is a blessing still to
us. Let us read the word of God as
if it was sent personally to us. Let us endeavor to try and
disconnect the historical context, the historical dimension of these
things, because these things have been given to us by the
Lord to be our daily bread, to be our sustaining food. throughout the days of our life.
That is why we come to the Word of God with an anticipation.
We come to see what the Lord will teach us. Like all of scripture,
these things are written that he might believe that Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of God. It's profitable for us to read
these things, profitable for our doctrine, profitable for
our reproof, for our correction, for our instruction in the things
of righteousness. You know, I'm under no illusions
this morning when I come to you. The things that Peter Many has
to say don't really matter very much. And if I differ at all
from those things that are written in this book, then I hope that
you will forgive me and forget what I've said very quickly. It's what the word of God says
that's important. And I will only be of service
to you today to the extent that I bring forth the Lord Jesus
Christ from what he has revealed of himself in this book. Paul told the Corinthians, I
was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. Yet I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. He knew where the power was. And I know that this congregation
is having a bit of a difficult time just now. And I know that
there is a lack of continuity in the ministry that you get.
I know that there are various preachers come to minister to
you from time to time. And as long as they keep to this
point that they are preaching Christ to you, then you will
be blessed to hear what they have to say. It's not about the
man behind the pulpit. It's about the message that that
man brings. Better the humblest, most inadequate,
faltering preacher who ministers the truth to your soul than the
greatest orator that doesn't know anything about the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah said, if they speak not
according to this word, to this testimony, it is because there
is no light in them. we would be those saints in light. We want the light. We want the
illumination. We want the Lord to shine in
upon our hearts that we might see and understand his truth
and his gospel. Now it's certainly the desire
of this man that he be a workman that needeth not be ashamed,
who rightly divides the word of truth. That's a privilege
that the Lord gives to his church as he has granted those resurrection
gifts to his people. Yet I say again, that it isn't
the man, the matter is the gospel, the gospel of grace. There are plenty who claim to
be preachers today. and they will come and they will
preach works, and they will preach law, and they will preach duty,
and they will preach obligation, and they will preach what you
need to do. And there will be plenty who will say that if you
do these things, then you can have a good hope, you can have
a good assurance that the matter of the gospel is in you. But
I say to you, the comfort that comes from the gospel is not
a comfort based upon what we do and our success or failure
therein, but it is rather the comfort which comes as grace
to a needy soul, a blessedness which we appropriate because
of what Jesus Christ has done for us. a completeness, a comprehensiveness
in the work of Christ that is gifted to us, granted to us,
given to us, from which we draw our peace, our succor, our help
in times of difficulty. It is not do this, do that, or
as Paul says in chapter two, the Colossians, touch, taste,
handle not, It is rather the obtaining of peace with God. Peace in time, peace in your
life and circumstances, and peace for all eternity. Peace with
God through the gospel, through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul began his letter to the
Colossians. Perhaps we say he began as he
meant to continue. He says in verse two, grace to
you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace,
peace. Peace and reconciliation. That's the heart of the gospel.
That's the essence of the word of truth. that God has made peace,
that God has reconciled sinners to himself. There are three lessons
that I want to draw from this passage this morning for our
comfort and edification. Three lessons that Paul brings
both to confirm and to inform our trust in God's sovereign
grace. Saving power, that peace generating
gospel. The lessons are this, thanksgiving,
prayer, and the work of God. That's pretty straightforward,
isn't it? That's what we're here for. Thanksgiving, prayer, and
the word of the work of God. In Colossians 1, verse 3, the
apostle writes, we give thanks to God and the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. The apostle told the
Colossians whom he hadn't met, I'm praying for you. I'm praying
for you, praying always for you. The first thing that the apostle
tells these Colossians that he's doing is he is giving thanks
to God for them. The Apostle gives thanks to God
for the Colossian brethren. Now I say to you this morning
that the only wisdom that there is in the Apostle Paul writing
that is if God deserves the thanks for what had been done in Colossae. Why would he thank God for the
work that had been done in Colossae if, in fact, the thanksgiving
should have been more appropriately given to the Colossians? So many preachers today talk
about man's free will. So many preachers talk about
the things that men have to do for God. And yet, Give credit
where credit is due. Why did Paul, if he believed
that doctrine, not say to the Colossians, I thank you for believing
in God? I thank you for establishing
that church there in Colossae. I thank you for ministering the
gospel and desiring to follow after God. That would have been
to give credit where credit was due. But the very first thing
that the apostle does is to thank God for them. And why did he
do that? Well, obviously because he knew
that God is sovereign in all his ways and his works. And if
we are going to give the credit for any spiritual activity, any
spiritual light, any spiritual growth, any spiritual illumination,
it has to be to go back to God. He is the one who initiates.
He is the originator of all spiritual illumination and understanding. Paul never talked up men. He always honored God. And if the instructions and the
admonitions of the New Testament are man's duties to be done,
then why give thanks to God for their accomplishment? Paul says, look at verses three
of this chapter. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since
we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus. He gives thanks to God
for the faith of the Colossians. He doesn't thank them for their
faith, he thanks God. your faith in Christ Jesus and
the love which ye have to all the saints. Now love is the totality
of a relationship between one another. Everything that we do
for one another ought to be motivated by this love. And he found that
love in the lives of these men and women who had faith in Christ.
You see, that's the fruit that flows from the gift of faith,
a love for the brethren. It exists. It doesn't have to
be worked for. It doesn't have to be imposed. It's not a duty that is incumbent
upon us as men and women in the body of Christ. We have a love
for the brethren. We have a love for Christ and
we have a love for one another. It exists amongst the body of
Christ and the Apostle Paul thanks God for it. because it is through
that love that everything that we do is done one for another. And Paul traces it to its original
source. And he goes on to say, for the
hope which is laid up for you in heaven. Paul thanks God for
the faith of the Colossians. He thanks God for the love and
the works of the Colossians, which flow from love. And he
thanks God for the hope that is laid up for the inheritance
that they have in heaven. Now, I pretty much think that
that amounts to the fullness of all that we have as believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The faith that has been given
to us, the love that we have for the brethren from which flows
everything else, and the hope that is laid up for us in heaven. If these three things are ours
by God's initiative, and Paul says they are because he thanks
God for them, then it shows us today where our attention should
be directed. We give thanks to God for the
faith that he has given us. We give thanks to God for the
love that has been generated in our hearts, one for another.
And we give thanks to God for that hope that he has placed
there and the things that are laid up for us in heaven. Second
thing that the Apostle Paul does is he not only thanks God for
these qualities, these gifts, these attributes in the hearts
and lives of the Colossians, let us expand that and say all
of the Lord's people and the Lord's people here today, we
give him thanks for these things, but the Apostle prays to God
on their behalf. What does he pray for? Paul prays
to God for the Colossians' spiritual growth and well-being. He goes to the source, he goes
to the origin, and three requests again are made on believers'
behalf. Paul asks the Lord for all heavenly
blessings and for spiritual experience. Look at verse nine. That ye might
be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding. What a prayer for the apostle
to make for these Colossians. And what a prayer for us to lay
hold upon this morning. These words are for you just
as much as they were for the men and women of Colossae. These
words are given to us in the word of God. He has granted us
these words as our own, and as Paul prayed it for that church,
so we discover that he prays similar things throughout his
epistles for the congregations that he's writing to, and he
has written these things for every generation that has come
after. What a prayer! that you might
be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and
spiritual understanding. Filled with the knowledge of
God's will. It's an extraordinary statement,
the will of God. the will of God, the will that
created the universe, the will that has established the church,
the will that forged the covenant of grace, the will that sent
the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross, that you, that
I, would be filled with a knowledge of that will and all spiritual
understanding. The will of God ranges from abstaining
from fornication to the eternal salvation of his
elect, from the way in which we live here in this world to
the eternal dimensions when we will move into the presence of
God and there serve him and praise him endlessly. That's the will of God. And he
calls upon God to teach his people and to give them a spiritual
understanding of all of these things. Listen, we might not
think of ourselves as being very much, and there is a place for
humility. There's a place for realism when
we think about ourselves. And I sometimes tell the people,
I look out in congregations and I say, what a ragtag, bobtail
lot you are. And that's right, that's all
we are. We're the feeblest, we're the little rabbits on the mountainside. We're nothing. We are so inadequate
as far as this world is concerned, as far as our roles are concerned. What is the best thing we've
ever done? Man, you look at your job and you go in and you worry
about it. Am I doing right? Am I satisfying
my bosses? You look at your family and you
think, have I done it right? Have I made so many mistakes?
You look at your relationships and sometimes they're a catastrophe. You look at the things that you've
built around about them and the reality is it doesn't amount
to a heap of beans. And yet, Paul prays that the
Lord will give us all spiritual understanding and a fullness
of the knowledge of the will of God. Earthen vessels, bits
of clay, and yet what has been poured into those clay bottles
is extraordinary. If you are one of the Lord's
people, this prayer's for you. Paul prayed it for you. all wisdom,
all spiritual understanding, filled with knowledge. And that's
not just head knowledge. That's not just an ability to
recite some verses or get first to the passage that's being read
in the Bible. Although there's every advantage
of familiarity with the Word of God, we should encourage it
and we should have a burden for it, but it's not our head knowledge.
It's a heart knowledge. It's an experience of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's an awareness, and that's
why we come together to worship. That's why we have our services.
That's why the Lord has ordained it like this, that two or three
should gather together, and he should come amongst us, and he
should illuminate and lead us into truth. This is what we're
doing. This is what the fulfillment
of this way of spiritual understanding is for the church in our age. Divine wisdom and spiritual understanding
is a truth that sets us free. sets us free from the constraints
of this world, sets us free from the anxieties of our life, from
things to do with money and debt and things to do with frail bodies
and weakening backs and sore hips. A knowledge of the gospel,
a knowledge of spiritual things, a knowledge of what God has done,
a knowledge of the will of God and the purposes of God in Jesus
Christ liberates us from these things and causes our spirits
and our souls to soar as we understand who God is and what he has done
and what has been accomplished in Jesus Christ. And the mediocre
Lives that we live and the constrained lives that we have in this flesh
are seen in their proper context as merely the passage through
this fallen world that the Lord has caused us to walk, ere he
gathers us to himself in that eternal realm where we will enjoy
the fullness of Christ's presence and all the blessings laid up
for us. that some who have gone before
are already experiencing, and we long to partake of and enjoy
together with them. Paul writes to the Corinthians
in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, but of him that is God the Father
are ye in Christ Jesus. He was consistent in his letters
to the churches. He knew where the thanks had
to be given. And as he prayed on behalf of these people, he
says, of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. All that we have of a spiritual
Nature and understanding derives from God, comes to us through
our union together with the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 16, verse
13, the Lord himself says, "'Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he will guide you into all truth, For he shall not speak
of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak,
and he will show you things to come. He will show us eternal
things. He will show us things of God's
will and purpose, things to do with the covenant of grace, or
as it's called in Scripture, the covenant of peace, because
as we've already said, that's the heart of the gospel, that
peace has been forged between a holy God and sinful creatures
by the work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. By that great redemptive
act, by that atoning sacrifice, by that precious blood that was
shed, a cleansing has taken place, a union has been made, a reconciliation
has been given, and peace has been forged between two implacable
and otherwise irreconcilable foes. Oh, God's love has brought
us to himself. And as the Holy Spirit hears
these things and sees these things, hears that great covenant decree
go forth, who will I send? Here am I, send me. So he reveals
these things to his church. and he establishes us in the
gospel, and he shows us the truth of this work of salvation, and
he shows us wherein our peace is to be found and discovered. Verse 10 says, that ye might
walk worthy of the Lord, unto all pleasing, being fruitful
in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Now
please see this. I want this to be a clear message
that I've left with you this morning. The apostle is not imploring
the Colossians to live holy lives. He's not cajoling them into doing
the right thing. What he is saying here is that
he is praying that the Lord will enable them to walk worthily. He is asking God that they will. He is putting the obligation,
not on the creature, but on the creator. And he's saying, make
these people conformed to the image of Christ. Is that not
the great work of predestination? That we should be conformed to
the image of His Son? That we should be made Christ-like?
Is that not what He has done? Is that not the work of grace
in our lives? Feeble as we are, weak as we
are, sinful as we are, Yet in Christ we have been made one
with him, so that God looks upon the Son, as Charity Lees said
in her hymn, he looks on him and pardons me. By keeping them, by staying them, the Lord, of course, is pleased
to do these things. For he loves his people and he
is bringing his people into conformity with himself. That in that day
to come when we leave this body, when we lay these bodies down,
when we put the dust back to the dust and the ashes back to
the ashes and the clay pots finally smashed, then we will see him
as he is and we will be like him. We will see all that he
has accomplished in our lives through these years. When we
were not aware of the things that were being done, we will
see that the Lord's evident handiwork was there all the days of our
life. Herein is my Father glorified,
says our Saviour, that ye bear much fruit. so shall ye be my
disciples. Hands up, all those who have
borne much fruit this week. Do we see it? Lord, when did
we do these things? When did we help those that were
in need? When did we help the captives?
When did we go about and do? Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
me, You see, as we are given spiritual understanding, as we
are given spiritual light, as we see the will of God at work
in our lives, as he conforms us to the Lord Jesus Christ,
it is happening even almost unconsciously in the lives of his people. We
don't see things the way God sees things. We don't see things
the way the angels see things. We look on these bodies, we look
on these souls, we look on these lives, and we say, what a mess. And the Lord looks on these things,
and the angels look upon them, and they rejoice and wonder at
what God has done in his people and for his people. The apostle
adds again that we should have an increase in knowledge. He
wants us to be filled and then to keep on increasing. That's
what you call a lot of knowledge. And that is our portion. As the
gospel is preached, as the Holy Spirit teaches us, these are
the blessings that we have. that we would be strengthened,
verse 11, with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all
patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. The apostle prays
that the Colossians will be strengthened, made mighty, mightily strengthened
according to his glorious power, the power of God at work in the
lives of his people. how weak we feel, how prone to
sin, how much we fall, how badly we struggle, yet the Lord's people
are, in reality, overcomers. He will keep us. We will endure. Our strength is not in ourself
or our abilities, it is in Christ. And by divine design, when I
am weak, then I am strong. Let us believe it. Often we feel
feeble, but the reality is that Christ is strengthening us and
enabling us every day. We feel like Daniel in the lion's
den, and yet their mouths are shut, and he will not permit
us to be overwhelmed, and he will not permit us to fall and
slip away. He said unto me, my grace is
sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.
Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities
that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Paul writes to
the Philippians, I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth
me. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and they shall
not faint. The last thing that the Apostle
Paul says here is that he thanks God for the work of God amongst
them. If there was any doubt in where
the power lay, where the initiative lay, where sovereign grace flowed
from, the Apostle Paul is dispelling it here. He thanks God for their
faith and for their love and for their hope of eternal life.
He prays to God that they might be spiritually illuminated and
that they might be strengthened and he gives God the glory for
the work of the Spirit and of grace amongst these people. Colossians
1, 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. God the
Father has made us meet. That word meet, that's the old,
the archaic use of the word. It means he's made us prepared. He's made us correct. He's made us right. that we might be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints. Made us meet. He's done it. The
job's done. It's a completed work. He has
made us meet. He has given us everything that
is necessary. Paul could not describe sovereign
grace better than that, that he has made us meet whatever
is required, whatever is demanded, whatever the law says, made meet. You've been made right, you've
been made righteous, you've been justified. Whatever our conscience
says, pardoned, you've been made meat. Whatever the devil says
in his temptations and his accusations, you've been made meat. The work
has been done, he has made us meat to be inheritors with the
saints, the sanctified ones, the holy ones. He has made us
as holy as Christ himself, united to Christ by that eternal love,
by that elective purpose, by that justification in which the
Lord Jesus Christ took all our sin, became sin for us, and we
the righteousness of God in him. He has made us meet. That calling
which goes forth in the gospel brings us into that experience
of the meekness, the preparedness, the correctness, that state of
justification which we possess in the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
requirement completely satisfied. And that's what God does for
his chosen people. That's what he does for sinners
brought by faith to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their
salvation. Meat is suitable. We're suitable for glory. Meat is prepared. We're prepared
for the presence of God. Everything has been dealt with.
We are his workmanship, Paul tells the Ephesians. He has formed
us and he has made us new. He has made him to be sin for
us and he has made us acceptable in the beloved. He has made us meet. How has
that loving, gracious, omnipotent God accomplished this? He has
liberated his people from Satan's grip. He has converted us to
himself. He has delivered us from the
kingdom, from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the
kingdom of his dear son. God is at work in this. He has
taken the initiative. He has done it all. How passive,
how reliant, how incapable we are of doing anything to please
God. He has done all that is necessary. We who are sinners, lost, condemned,
undone, are redeemed by grace, bought from slavery, brought
into a knowledge of the truth, set free from the curse of the
law. Colossians 1 verse 14 says, we
have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. We have been given into the hand
of Christ. We have been united to him. We have been given to him in
that eternal covenant, and he has bought us with his precious
blood. We are made meat. Our sins are forgiven. He has
cleansed us and made us whole. To whom then is thanks due for
all this? Thanks is due to our God, Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. To whom do we pray for added
help? To our God, Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit. who has accomplished every requirement,
fulfilled every need, paid every debt, satisfied every demand,
bestowed every necessary grace. Our God, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Beloved, Now are we the sons
of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, and we shall
see him as he is. Amen. May the Lord bless you.