Colossians chapter 1, we'll be looking at verses 12
through 23. My subject, the inheritance of the
saints. That's what the preaching of
the gospel is to the saints every time we gather. It's the reading
of your will. It's telling you what God, this
hope that's laid up for you in heaven. That's how Peter described
it. Believers are a people who at
one time had nothing. But now, by the grace of God,
have all things. They have everything. But at one time, we had nothing. Peter said, which in time past,
talking to the believers, talking to the church, which in time
past were not a people. Do you know back in Isaiah, God
said, all the inhabitants of the earth are like grasshoppers. Grasshoppers. In time past, you were not a
people. You were a grasshopper. You weren't
even considered. But are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And then the Apostle Paul would
also remind us of the days before our conversion. and remind us
of the poverty left us by our father Adam. He said in Ephesians
2.12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens
from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. That's poverty. And when Paul
speaks here being without Christ, he's not talking about being
without the benefits of Christ. Those benefits were given us
from all eternity. He's talking about being without
a knowledge of Christ. And without a knowledge of Christ,
you're without a knowledge of the covenants. You're without
a knowledge of who Israel is. And you're without God, a knowledge
of God. What were we ignorant of? We
were ignorant of Christ, God's purpose to save a people in Him,
of His being set up from everlasting. Did you know any of those things,
those of you who grew up in religion? Did you ever hear Him even mention
any of those things? Christ being set up from all
eternity? An everlasting covenant of grace?
I never heard a word about it. Not a word about it. That Christ
was the surety of an everlasting covenant of grace, the federal
head and representative of all his elect. That he was God over all, blessed
forever. God's people were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world predestinated under the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to
the good pleasure of His will. Did you know any of those things
before? That's what Paul is telling us. That at that time, you didn't
know Christ. You were without Christ. You
didn't have any hope in Christ. And brethren, all that took place
before our calling I'm talking to the saints now. All that took
place before our calling is called provenient grace. That is grace
before grace, or grace upon grace, however you want to translate
it. Turn with me to John chapter 1. Let me see if I can show you
what that means. Having just stated His eternality,
His character, and purpose in coming, and stated clearly concerning
the new birth and what it's all about. John turns again to our
Savior and tells us in verse 14 that the Word, this eternal
Word by which the worlds were framed, this eternal Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. And he says, John, bear witness of him, that is,
John the Baptist. And cried, saying, this was he
of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me. Now listen to this. And of
his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace. That's pervenient. That's grace that went beforehand. That's the grace of God's predestination. That's the grace of God's eternal
election. That's, unto us, that's the grace
of his incarnation. That's the grace of his dying
on the cross. That's the grace of his resurrection.
That's the grace of his reign in glory and his intercession
for you. All this took place and you didn't
know anything about it. You didn't know anything about
it. Because at that time, you were without Christ. You didn't
have any knowledge of Him, any hope. I'll tell you what, it's
worse than that. You didn't even know you needed
a hope. Not only didn't you have one, you didn't even know you
needed one. Children of God, long before
we were born, long before the world was created, Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, was appointed as God's sovereign mediator of
redemption. He's the mediator king. But you
and I didn't know anything about it. Not until the Spirit of grace
through the preaching of the gospel came in power and made
us able to be partakers of this inheritance, this inheritance
of enlightened saints. Saints enabled by God to become
sons of God and believe on His name, born of God. We didn't
know that God our Father had made provision for us and His
Son. We didn't know that. I didn't know anybody made provision
for me. I thought it was all up to me.
That's what I was told my whole life. Your destiny is in your
hands. We didn't know that God chose
a people in Him which He set apart for great blessing and
favor and glory. We didn't know that God Himself
in sovereign grace made provision for every aspect of our salvation. We didn't know that. We didn't
know that creation and providence is according to His redemptive
will and according to His sovereign
purpose. We knew nothing about the promised
seed whereby all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
And because of our ignorance, we not only had no hope, but
we didn't even know we needed a hope. And worst of all is our ignorance
of God. Now, creation bears witness of
God. There's too much order. in creation
for it to be a work of circumstance and evolution. There's too much
order. There's too much preservation.
And there's too much purpose. And then every man's born with
a conscience which tells him that there is a God and that
this God will punish sin. But there's nothing in creation
and conscience to reveal to us the mercy and the grace and the
goodness and love of God. And there's nothing in creation
and conscience that'll tell us anything about what it takes
to satisfy that justice of God and that righteousness of God
of which our conscience speaks. And so Paul tells us that at
that time you were without God in the world. Now what's that
in the world mean? That means subject to their ideas
and concepts of God. That's what that means. He was
in the world with no true knowledge of God, being told by every Tom,
Dick, and Harry who God is, who Christ is, and what salvation
is, who didn't have a clue. Oh, but bless God, He did not
leave us to ourselves, but in His own time opened our minds
and hearts to see the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. and made us heirs of grace, and
heirs of mercy, and heirs of Christ, and heirs of God, and
God to be our Father. Oh, my soul. I have no... I can't even touch the fringes
of what it means for God to be my Father. Huh? It means everything. It means
everything. Now here's what I hope to do
this morning is to go through Colossians 1 verses 13 through
23 and show you some of what it means to be an heir of light
and something about what this inheritance is. Paul begins in
verse 13 telling us that he hath delivered us from the power of
darkness. and have translated us into the
kingdom of His dear Son. Now, I don't know how you think
about that, how you think about the conversion of a sinner, what
you think about his new birth, what you think about his experience.
He come, he heard, he believed. What do you think about that?
You think that was something he did, something that just happened,
some circumstance happened, it was an accident? No, he did these
things because it's part of his inheritance. He had nothing to
do with it. The grace of God set that up. And the grace of God accomplished
it. And the Spirit of God come and made it effectual. Now, he says here that he had
delivered us from the power of darkness. The power of darkness
basically lies in two things. It lies in a fallen, depraved
nature. None that understandeth, none
that seeketh after God, they've all gone astray. They have together
become unprofitable. All their righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Man at his best states altogether
vanity. You can go on and on in the scriptures,
but they describe the total depravity of a man. That's what it's stating. fall into depraved nature. He's
got a mind that's enmity against God. He'll take anything. I don't care. You can make a
marble, God, and put it on the wall. He'll worship it. You can
make a frog of God, and he'll bow down before it. You can make
a statue of bronze, and he'll take his children and lay it
in his hot arms. You can go on and on. They worship
snakes, he says, over in Romans chapter 1. Worship man, he worshiped. Snakes, four-footed beasts, and
creeping things. Worship anything. Back in Egypt, they had a god
made out of dung. It was the dung god, and they
worshiped that. Oh, it's man's fallen nature. In John 3, 19, our Lord said,
and this is the condemnation that light has come into the
world and men love darkness rather than light. Here is God Almighty
come in human flesh. This is the God-man. This is
God Himself in a man. He's ever with God and ever with
man. And He stands before men and
in perfect wisdom declares the gospel of God's sovereign grace.
and they turn back to their darkness rather than light. That's the
condemnation. It's a depraved nature. I go
home a lot of times feeling defeated. I could have said that better.
I could have explained it more. I could have defined it better.
I should have took a little more time. I should have done. It's
got nothing to do with it. It's got nothing to do with it.
This depraved nature, I don't care how clear you make it, this
depraved nature does this. We ain't having it. And you might apply what our Lord
says over here in John to men whose deeds were evil and wicked,
being murderers and adulterers and robbers and so on. But here
in particular, He's addressing these self-righteous Jews and
the false religion of His day. And He's saying their deeds were
evil. Their deeds were evil, being done to be seen of men,
done for their own glory, done for reward, and done for self-promotion. Their deeds were done contrary
to the word of God and without proper motivation. Their very
works were a denial of the necessity of the coming of Christ which
stood before. Men love darkness rather than
light. That's just a fact. And they
do that because their deeds are evil. Their faith is not a godly
faith. Their repentance is not a godly
repentance. Their works are works of self-righteousness. And their worship is idolatry.
And they pray to a God who cannot save. He can save you if you let Him.
I heard one say that not too long ago. If you let Him. Say,
God's knocking on the door. Will you open the door? What kind of God do you got? I tell you, if God wants in,
He'll kick the door down. Boat, bar, and jam. He'll come
in. He'll come in. But in great mercy, the kindness
and love of God our Savior appeared, He says, not by works of righteousness
which we've done, but according to His mercy. He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. which
He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, showing
to us that being justified by His grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3 verses
4 through 7. Our inheritance consists of a
translation. Here's the second thing I want
you to see. A translation. From one kingdom to another.
What in the world is he talking about? Well, over in Romans 6,
Paul describes it better than anybody I've ever read. He describes
it being translated from one kingdom to another. He says,
know you not that to whom you obey his servant you are? Do
you know that? That's whose servant you are,
whom you obey. But he said, God be thanked,
you were the servants of sin. That's what you were. You served
self, you served Satan, you served sin. But you obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made
free from sin, you become the servants of righteousness. That's
what it means, being translated from one kingdom to another. Taking out from under that power
of darkness and translating you into the kingdom of His dear
Son. And then thirdly, our inheritance
consists of a blood-bought redemption. Jesus paid it all. That's what
that hymn writer wrote. All to Him I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Listen to this, Colossians 1.14,
in whom we have redemption. We're not trying to be redeemed.
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins. Our sins had incurred an infinite debt, a debt which the
suffering of all men for eternity could never satisfy. You ever
wonder why when He talks about hell, He talks about the fire
that burns forever and ever and ever? And when he describes hell,
he calls it everlasting torment. Why is that? Why is that? Because all the men in all the
world suffering for eternity could never pay the debt that
sin incurred against the holy God. That's why. That's why it
don't matter how long you suffer. I heard a man in desperation
one day. He said, I've suffered enough.
I've suffered enough. You haven't even begun to begin. There's only one payment sufficient
to satisfy the debt of sin, the blood of Jesus Christ, our substitute. Isaiah said that God will see
the travail of His soul. and shall be satisfied." Not
when he sees the travail of your soul. When he saw the travail
of his son's soul, that soul that he made an offering for
sin, when he saw that, he was satisfied. He was satisfied. What will that piece of inheritance
be worth to you at judgment? Huh? What would that be worth? How could you even possibly begin
to describe What kind of wealth is contained in that blood-bought
redemption? What's it worth to you right
now? Those of you with a guilt-laden
conscience, what's it worth to you right now to know that He
put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself? Once, it said, in
the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. And then fourthly, our inheritance
consists of a true knowledge of God. We know that Jesus Christ
has come and given to us an understanding that we might know him that's
true, that we're in him that's true. This is the true God in
eternal life. And then listen here in Colossians
1.15, it says, this one who redeemed us by His blood who is the image
of the invisible God. I get weary hearing people talk
about their having seen God. I saw God. I died, they say,
and I saw God. John 1.18 says, no man has seen
God at any time. That's good enough for me. But that's not all it says. It
says, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
Father, He hath declared Him. And the only way you can see
God by faith, and the only way you can see God by faith is to
see Christ. Because God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto Himself. This is the God-man. It's the God-man. No man knoweth
the Father, save the Son, and He to Whomsoever the Son will
reveal Him. Matthew 11, 27. They got all tore up. He said He was
going to leave them. And He said, where I go you know,
and the way you know. And they said, wait a minute,
we don't know the way. And we don't know where you're
going. He said, I am the way. I am the way. I am the truth.
And I am the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by Me. And God coming into the flesh
is God revealing Himself to men. That's what that is. Will God save sinners? Christ
did. Will God have fellowship with
men? Christ did. You see what I'm saying? This
is God. This is the God-man. Everything I know about God,
I know from studying him. Will God speak and teach ignorant
sinners? Christ did. Will Christ take us into glory? He turned to that thief and he
said, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise. He said, to know me is to know
my Father, and to see me is to see my Father. It is the inheritance
of enlightened saints to see and know God and have eternal
life. Fifthly, what does our inheritance
consist? What is it to be an heir of God?
It consists in the knowledge of the purpose and will of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now listen to this, Colossians
1, 16 through 19. For by Him were all things created. By who? Our Redeemer. Our Redeemer. Things that are
in heaven, things that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by Him. Now watch this. for Him. And He's before all things, and
by Him all things consist, that is, they have a continuance,
are being ordered and maintained. And He's the head of the body
of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things He might have the preeminence. Why would God create the world
by His Son? Because creation will be the
stage upon which God shall manifest his glory. And that glory is
manifested in the redemption of a people through his son. And therefore, he's had his redeemer
to create the world. Without him was not anything
made that was made. And everything, I'm convinced
of it, everything that's made in some way, shape, form, or
fashion is made to manifest that redemptive glory in Christ. You know, Job kind of got on
his high horse with his friends. He got fed up with them. They
were sorry comforters. And they come to him and they
just made his misery worse. And he kind of got up on a high
horse and began to talk down to them. And when he did, the
Lord got him. spiritually by the collar. And
he said, now you gird up yourself like a man and you answer me.
I'm going to ask you some questions. And he started talking to him
about the snow, and about the migration of geese, and about
creatures of the sea. And he went on and on and on,
chapter after chapter after chapter, just as fast as he could put
it out. And Job finally put his hand over his mouth. He said,
once have I spoken, yea, twice. He said, I don't speak again. This is the Redeemer creator. And there's a purpose and glory
in everything that's made. And he knows it. He knows it. And some of those things he allows
us to see. But in that day, we'll know.
We'll know. This is the stage upon which
God will manifest His glory so that creation is a work of redemption. And so has its purpose in the
Creator who is before all things and has its preservation in Christ
by whom it consists. God's not willing that any should
perish. But He's long-suffering to us.
He's not willing for any to perish, and that's why He preserves the
world. There's nothing in or about this world that's not given
its being to this end. And so Paul tells us in Romans
8 and 19 that the earnest expectation of creation waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God. Have you ever thought about creation
that way? It's waiting. That was its purpose.
And that's why it's being preserved. And that's what it expects to
be done. All the conversion of all His elect. And our Savior is preeminent
in creation, being the one mediator between God and men. And He is
the faithful steward of it. And He's Lord over it. And He
does as He pleases in it. And He's the head of the body
of the church. And I'll tell you what a wealth of knowledge
there is in that, if you could comprehend it. Just in the fact that he's the
creator and governor of the universe. And that one is head of the church. He who is the head of the church
is also the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. You say, Preacher, you're taking
all the glory out of the Trinity. I ain't doing any such thing.
Listen to verse 19 of Colossians 1. It pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. And I'm telling you this morning,
you don't know anything at all about the Spirit of God except
what you know about Christ. And you don't know anything at
all about the Father except what you know in Christ. And Paul gives warning on down
in Colossians chapter 2, he said, don't you listen to these philosophers.
Don't you go out here and listen to these scientists and philosophers
and these deadbeat religionists. You keep your eye on Christ because
in Him, now listen to this, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. This is not just God come into
the flesh, but this is the Father, Son, and Spirit in the flesh.
All the fullness of the Godhead abides in Him, and you're complete
in Him. You're complete in Him. This
is the inheritance of enlightened saints. Enlightened saints understand
this. They know this is God. This is
God. And then sixthly, we have a full
and complete reconciliation in Christ. Colossians 1.20, and
having made peace. Who made it? Christ did. Aren't you tired of hearing people
say, I made my peace with God? You didn't do any such thing.
God makes that peace. How did He make it? Through the
blood of His cross. by Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. Now, let me tell you
what I think this is saying. There's untold millions today
who have heard false preachers crying, peace, peace, where there
is no peace. And believing them have rested
in this false sense of reconciliation. But here Paul assures us that
the blood of Christ has reconciled not only things here, but things
in heaven. Nothing's going to be reconciled
here that's not reconciled there. That's where they're off. We've
offended God. We've offended His justice, His
righteousness, His rule. And if things are not reconciled
there, they're never going to be reconciled here. And it's
not until you have some understanding of how God reconciled Himself
that you're going to be reconciled. The blood of Christ is reconciled,
not only things here, but things in heaven. What things? The wrath
of God, the justice of God, the righteousness of God, the purpose
of God, You can feel so reconciled by
a false sense of peace as to close your eyes in death without
a worry. I've seen it. I've seen it. David was angry at the attitude
of the wicked. He looked at the wicked. He was
trying to serve God. He was trying to walk with God.
And he got angry. He saw the wicked. He said there
wasn't any bands in their death. It come time to die, and they
died in relative peace. They wasn't upset. They wasn't
struggling. No bands in their death. He said,
their strength is firm. They're not in trouble as other
men. Neither are they plagued like other men. When he saw it,
it was painful to him. Psalm 73, 17. Until I went into
the sanctuary of God. But then, he said, I understood
their end. You don't need a peace that only
reconciles here. You need a peace that reconciles
here and in heaven. And that peace purchased by the
blood of Christ was sufficient to reconcile all things, both
here and there. Now, here's the last thing. Saints
and light have the hope of the Gospel. Colossians 121, and you
that were sometime alienated. Enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight, if you continue in the faith, grounded and settled,
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, the gospel
which you heard and which was preached to every creature which
is under heaven, where Rabbi Paul had made a minister. Now,
Jesus Christ Himself. Hear me. If you don't hear anything
else I've said today, you hear this. Jesus Christ Himself is
the Gospel. The Gospel is a person. It's
not a what. It's a person. There's no hope
outside of Christ. I don't care what you know. There's
no hope. The hope's in Him. When I call on men to believe,
I'm not calling on you to believe a bunch of doctrines. I'm calling
on you to believe in the person. The doctrine just tells you who
the person is. Jesus Christ the Lord is the
hope of the gospel. Saints in light are persuaded
by the word of the truth of the gospel that He is sufficient
to save their souls. Isn't that what Paul said? I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I committed unto Him against that day. There's two things which we as
saints inherit concerning this faith in Christ. Perseverance
and preservation. This work of faith is a real
work. It's a divine work. It's an effectual
work, and it shall be proved to be so by the perseverance
of every one called of God. They're going to keep on keeping
on, no matter what. No matter what. Listen to this. John said they
went out from us. Some of them did. But they were
not of us, for if they had been of us, they no doubt would have
continued with us. No doubt about it. Why? Because
it's the real work, and it's the work done of God. Now, if
you got a false profession, if you're trying to build your hope
on something you experienced and something you thought and
something you dreamed or something somebody said, you're in trouble. Somewhere down the line, this
is going to fail. But this faith, when God gives
it, that gift of His grace, it doesn't fail. Listen to what
he says. He said, we're not of them who
draw back under perdition. We're of them who believe to
the saving of the soul. And the Scriptures also teach
preservation. You know why believers persevere?
Because they're preserved. They're preserved. Peter said,
we're begotten of God unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ to an inheritance. Isn't that what we're talking
about? To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you. Now listen to this. Who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. ready to be revealed in the last
time. Huh? We persevere because we're
preserved. Jude said, unto Him that's able
to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise
God our Savior be glory and majesty and dominion and power, both
now and forever. Inheritance. Inheritance. Why do them people gather over
there and sing those songs, them old ancient hymns and things
that haven't been around in years and get up there and it seem
like they just go over and over and over the doctrines and what's
going on over there? We're heirs of His grace. Heirs
of His mercy. Heirs and joint heirs with His
Son. Giving all things in Him.