I'll open our Bibles today to
the first chapter of the letter of Colossians. Colossians chapter
1. I told someone this past week
that this holiday, Thanksgiving, is my favorite holiday of all
of the holidays our country celebrates. And this person responded back
about the food, the food that is associated with the holiday. But my liking of this holiday
really has nothing to do with the food. I do thank God for
the food that he has provided for us, and I heard just this
past week of some people in another country that made me realize
again how truly blessed we are in this country concerning the
food, the provisions that we enjoy. But my liking of this
holiday has nothing to do really with the food. I like this holiday
because it is one in which our God, the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, is given thanks. I recognize that those people
who began this holiday, this tradition
in our country, they recognize this truth. They did not thank
the wind, for the provisions. They did not thank the sun. They
did not thank the rain. Some people worship all of these
as gods. Many people have worshipped the
sun as God, and you can see why people apart from the truth might
choose to worship the sun. Others, apart from the knowledge
of God, have worshipped the wind. Many societies, I believe, worshiped
the rain god. We lived for a time in a country
and among a people who especially recognized the rain god. But
I thank the Lord for this holiday because it's one in which the
true and living God, at least when this tradition was started,
that he is recognized and that man confess that all Blessings,
whether they be temporal blessings or spiritual blessings, they
all come from God. He is the fountain from which
every blessing that men enjoy comes. As Thomas said, it is
a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord. And it is good, isn't
it? It's good. It's good that we
come together. like we do today, this morning,
and give thanks unto the Lord. For every blessing, every benefit
that we have today, you and I, we recognize they all come from
Him. They all come from God Almighty,
through His Son, Jesus Christ. But our text this morning is
going to be verse 12, where the apostle says, giving thanks unto
the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. And I want to point three things
out to us before we come to the text about this passage of Scripture. But first I want to point out
that Paul was a prisoner in Rome, we believe, when he wrote this
letter to the church at Colossae. And they were a people, a group
of people, a group of believers who had received the gospel,
not by hearing Paul preach, but rather by one of Paul's fellow
servants, a man by the name of Epaphras. You notice that in
verse 7. He said, as you also learned
of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful
minister of Christ. Paul was not the man who was
blessed of God and used of God to bring the gospel to Colossae. If you look over in chapter 2
and verse 1, he mentions the fact that these people had never
seen his face. He said, for I would that you
knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea
and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. So the
first thing we notice about these, to whom Paul wrote, giving thanks
unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the
inheritance in light, these were believers who had received the
gospel, not by hearing the apostle Paul preach, but another fellow
laborer, a man by the name of Epaphras. And then I want you
to notice that Paul mentions what has been called the three
cardinal graces. That is, these three graces accompany
salvation. And they are faith, love, and
hope. These three graces accompany
salvation. If you turn over a few pages
to the right, the next letter, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and
verse 3, The Apostle writing to these believers said, remembering
without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father. And remember 1 Corinthians 13
and verse 13. The Apostle said, but now remaineth
faith, hope, love, or charity, and the greatest of these is
love. So these are three cardinal graces
which accompany salvation. In other words, everyone who
is saved, everyone that God saves, you will see these three graces
in their lives. The first one, of course, is
faith. And if you look back now the other way in your Bible to
Galatians chapter 3, Galatians chapter 3 and verse 26, the scripture here says, for
you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. It is by faith that we come to
know Him. as our Lord and Savior. No one
has experienced the grace of God in salvation who does not
believe, who does not have faith in Christ. Do you? Do you this morning, do you have
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? This
is what the Apostle says, for you are all the children of God
by faith. We come to know that we are His
children by faith. Faith, not in just anything,
but faith in Him, in Christ, in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then notice this about this
faith, if you turn over just a page in Galatians chapter 5
and verse 6, because you see, You'd be hard pressed today to
find anyone in this country who would not admit, oh yes, I believe. I believe in Jesus. But with
what kind of faith? With what kind of faith do so
many people believe in Christ? Well, there's this distinguishing
mark about true faith, about the faith of God's elect. Notice
here in Galatians 5 and verse 6. The apostle said, for in Jesus
Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. It doesn't matter whether man's
been circumcised according to the law or he recognizes he doesn't
need to be circumcised. He's not under that law of Moses. But that's not the important
thing, Paul says. One or the other, whether you
tithe or you don't tithe, whether you are You've been baptized
or you haven't been baptized. This is what is all important. Not circumcision, not uncircumcision,
but notice it is faith. But what kind of faith? Faith
which worketh by love. When a person truly believes
in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will want to serve the Lord Jesus
Christ. Many people say, Oh, I believe
in Him. I trust in Christ. But they don't
serve Him. They don't have that desire in
their heart because their faith is dead like they are. No, here are three cardinal graces
that accompany salvation in the heart, in the life of everyone. upon whom God has mercy and salvation. Faith in Christ, and this faith
is a faith which worketh by love. And number three, hope. Hope. That's that expectation. Look
with me to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3 and verses 2 and 3. Well, I'll read
verse 1 also. Can't pass this one up. 1 John
chapter 3 and verse 1. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. I mean, you can just sit there,
camp there for a while, meditate, think about what manner of love
God hath bestowed upon us. That we, that we that I should be called the Son
of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew him not. Don't expect the world to know
that you are a child of God, that you are one of God's children.
The world did not even recognize the Son of God. The world lieth in the wicked
one, under the power of darkness, as we will see in just a moment.
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, for we shall see him as he is, and every man
that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. When a person truly believes
in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will have this love, he will
serve God, not for reward, not because he's promised heaven,
not because he's promised the Lord your crown or anything like
that, no, out of love, out of gratitude. And he that has this
hope, this hope of eternal life, will purify himself. If any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. old things are passed away. He
doesn't go on living that same old life. He has a new life in
Christ. Now the third thing here in our
text that I would point out. First of all, Paul wrote this
letter to the church at Colossae, a people to whom another brother
had brought the gospel. And Paul mentions these three
cardinal graces that are true of everyone that the Lord saves. Notice in verses four and five,
he said, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of
the love which you have to all the saints for the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven. But here's something else. I
want us to notice An example the Apostle Paul gives us as
to how we should pray for one another, how we should pray for
other believers. We see this in his prayer in
verses 9 through 11. He said, for this cause we also,
since the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you and to
desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will
in all wisdom. and spiritual understanding,
that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Well,
that's something there we all need to pray about, isn't it?
I know I do. That I might walk worthy, worthy,
worthy of this calling, worthy of His love, worthy of His blood,
that I might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being
fruitful. That's what we desire is to be
fruitful, isn't it? Be fruitful in every good work
and increasing in the knowledge of God. We know maybe, maybe
about enough about God to fill a thimble. Maybe, maybe we know
that much. Don't you want to know God, know
more about Him, to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ? Strengthened, oh how we need
to be strengthened with might. We're as weak as water in ourselves,
all of us are. We need to be strengthened with
might, with His might, according to His glorious power. unto all
patience and long-suffering with joyfulness." Now here we are
in our text giving thanks unto the Father. Giving thanks unto
the Father, which hath made us meet, and this word meet, it
could be translated qualified, which hath made us qualified,
which hath made us fit, to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. Well, first of all, what is the
inheritance of the saints in light? What is this inheritance? Well, it's the kingdom of God.
That's what it is. It's the kingdom of God. The
Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew chapter 25 speaks about the time
when He will say unto those on His right hand, in other words,
His sheep, He will say, I like that word, don't you? Come. Our Lord used that word, didn't
he? Come. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If any man thirst,
let him come unto me and drink. In the last day, we read here
that he will say, come, you blessed, blessed, blessed of my father. Oh, how you've been blessed.
How you've been blessed of my father. Inherit. You don't earn
it. You don't deserve it. Of course
not. Inherit the kingdom. prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. We enter this kingdom by birth. Our Lord said, verily, verily,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And this kingdom is a kingdom
that begins in this life, a kingdom of grace. And it ends or it goes
on, it never really ends. in eternity as a kingdom of glory. This is the inheritance of the
saints in life. This kingdom we inherit, a kingdom
of grace in this world and a kingdom of glory forever and ever. Now I have three truths that
God's children recognize. which will cause them to give
thanks, as our text says, giving thanks unto the Father, which
hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in life. First, God's children recognize
why. God's children recognize why
we must be made meet. We must be fitted, qualified. to be inheritors of the kingdom
of light. You see, by nature, when we come
into this world, we're not associated with light, but rather with darkness. Darkness. Notice that in verse
13. Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness. Darkness. God's children give thanks unto
the Father because we recognize why it is that we must be made
meek to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. If you
look down to verse 21, the apostle says, and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works. That was our condition. Associated
with darkness. Alienated. Alienated, the scripture
says. And enemies in your mind by wicked
works. The word alienated, the English
word alienated, I found it's only in one other passage, one
other verse in the New Testament. And that also came from the pen
of the Apostle Paul writing to believers, but this time at Ephesus. And he said, having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. To
be alienated, what does it mean? to be alienated. Why it is that
we must be fitted, qualified to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints and light? Because by nature we are alienated. That is, we are under the power
of darkness. And that power of darkness, of
course, represents Satan. He's the prince of the power
of the air. And he is the prince of darkness. And you young people here today,
I don't listen to music that's popular today, but don't, listen,
don't play with darkness. Don't play, don't listen, don't
entertain anyone that speaks to you about the power of darkness,
that is Satan. Don't listen to that, and don't
hear that. Don't fool with that. Because
Satan is a real being, and he is the prince of the power of
the air, and it is a power of darkness. And all of us, when
we come into this world, we are alienated, because we're alienated
from God, because we're under the power of darkness. Now this darkness is threefold. This darkness involves ignorance. I don't mean ignorance in the
sense that your IQ isn't very high or your education isn't
great. Listen, you can have doctor's
degrees from Rice and Stanford and all these great learning
institutions and still have what I'm talking about here, ignorance. Because the scripture says, the
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them,
for they are spiritually discerned. To be under the power of darkness
involves ignorance. That is, ignorance of the things
of God. Ignorance about God. What's he
like? Ignorance about God. We're living
in a world that is under the power of darkness, and men by
nature are under this power. And a second thing about this
darkness, not only does it involve ignorance, that is spiritual
ignorance of the things of God, but it also involves misery. That is, we're under the wrath
of God by nature. And you know the sad thing about
this misery, this darkness of misery, is that a man may be
under this and be under this darkness of misery and not be
sensible of it. Not sensible of this truth. He doesn't understand, doesn't
know. that he's under the power of
darkness. Not sensible of the misery that
he's under. And that's the reason men can
just go along through life and pay no attention to their soul
and their relationship to God. And like I read this past week,
this man pointed out that philosophers, they like to talk about death.
Yes, they'll tell you about death, But that's as far as they go.
But the Scripture goes one step further. It's appointed unto
man once to die, but after this, the judgment. And man may go
merrily on their way through life, not recognizing that they
are under the power of darkness. They're under a power of misery. And one day they're going to
face God Almighty. unprepared. And secondly, or
thirdly, this darkness involves pollution. Here comes the wicked
works. That's what Paul said in you
that were sometime alienated, alienated in your mind and by
wicked works. That is the filthiness, the ugliness
and filthiness of sin. God's children recognize why
we must be made meat to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light. In other words, the way I was,
and you can say the same thing, whenever God began a work of
grace in your heart, before God was merciful unto me, if he had
picked me up and put me in heaven, heaven would have been hell for
me. And it would have been hell for you too. Why? I didn't love
Christ. I didn't have any desire to worship
God. I was alienated from God. I was
under the power of darkness. A man must be lost, right, before
he will be saved. God's children, we recognize
why. Why it is that we must be made
meat, we must be fitted, we must be qualified for this inheritance
of the saints in light. By nature, we were not qualified. It'd be like putting a person
in the ocean. We're not qualified like the
fish, are we? The fish, they do fine in the
ocean. Swimming under the water and
all of that, but you and I, we're not equipped, we're not qualified
to live under the water. And I tell you, as we come into
this world alienated from God by darkness, we're not qualified
to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light. God's
children give thanks unto the Lord, because we know why we
had to be qualified. And number two, God's children
recognize the way we are made meat. We are qualified. Notice the end of that verse,
verse 21. Paul said, and you that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled. We had to be reconciled. That's
the way that we've been made meet, been qualified to inherit
the inheritance of the saints in light. We've been reconciled.
Now to reconcile, I know, you know what this means, but bear
with me one more time. What does it mean to be reconciled?
Well, to be re-consoled reminds us that there was a time when
we were consoled to God. We didn't need to be re-consoled,
we were consoled to God. And that's when we were in the
loins of our father and mother Adam and Eve, as we came from
the hand of God as our Creator. We were not at enmity with God,
We had peace with God, had fellowship with God, had communion with
God, but it's because of sin. Sin entered into the picture
and we fell in our father Adam. When you think about the garden,
and this is why the Old Testament is so important as well as the
New Testament. People say, well, I just want
to read and study and hear from the New Testament. Listen, there's
a continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament,
and we go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 to see why
it is that we need to be reconciled, reconciled unto God. Because
we fail in our Father Adam. We became sinners. We came under
the power of darkness. Think about that day in the garden.
When God came, the scripture says, walking in the cool of
the day, and cried out, Adam, where art thou? He wasn't asking
for information, was he? Where was Adam? Adam, because
of his sin. Because his mind was darkened. He's under the power of darkness
now. He tries to hide himself under
the trees, among the trees, and covers nakedness with fig leaves. And God called him. What did
God call him to hear? Adam, come here, I want you to
hear something. You're going to hell. That's
what I want you to hear. You're going to spend eternity
under the curse of God. being damned of God because you
have sinned. That's not what he called him
to hear, was it? Come, Adam. What did he hear? The promise of the Deliverer. The one who would come, the seed
of the woman, and bruise the head of the serpent, and in doing
so, reconcile his people unto God. It was a message of grace. A message of grace that Adam
overheard. How are we reconciled to God?
Well, it is only through the person and work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. You can't reconcile yourself
to God. There's a foolish saying, you
know. I read this the other day. Someone
said, well, make your peace with God. Well, you'll be a long time
trying to do that. and come up short. The only way
any fallen son of Adam is ever reconciled unto God is through
the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice
how we see that here in this text, in this passage of Scripture. First of all, men are reconciled
unto God through the person and work of Him who is the Son of
His love. You notice in verse 13 it says,
"...who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath
translated us into the kingdom of..." Do you have a Bible that
has marginal reading? "...transferred us into the kingdom
of..." The authorized version says, his dear son, but you look
in the margin, the kingdom of the son of his love. The son of his love, God only
begotten son. And then he's also identified
here, not only as the son of God's love, as one with the father,
but he is one who is God, no less than God. He's the image,
verse 15, He's the image of the invisible God. You want to see
God? You want to know God? You see
Him in Christ. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. God's a spirit. We're reconciled unto God through
the Son of His love, through the One who is the image of the
invisible God. And then, not only that, but
he is the one in whom it pleased the Father that all fullness
should dwell. Verse 19. For it pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Everything that you need, everything that any sinner needs,
to come into the presence of the thrice holy God, it's found
in Jesus Christ as a fullness in Him. Fullness of redemption,
fullness of forgiveness, fullness of acceptation, fullness, whatever
it is that any sinner needs, you'll only find it in the person
and work of Jesus because it pleased the Father that in Him,
not in the Virgin Mary, not in the Baptist church, not in a
catechism or a creed or a system of doctrine, it pleased the Father
that in Him, that is in Christ, should all fullness dwell. And it is through the person
and work of Him who gave His life blood on the cross and finished
the work. You notice that in verse 20.
It says, And having made peace through the blood of His cross
by Him, by Christ, to reconcile all things unto Himself by Him. I say whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven. In other words, whether you are
living here on this earth like we are today or those saints
who are already in heaven. The only way anyone is ever reconciled
unto God is through the blood, the lifeblood, the death of Jesus
Christ our Lord. There were two eras that the
Apostle Paul especially refutes in this letter of Colossians
because he knew that these false teachers would come and they
would teach these things, they would bring these things, and
they're still with us today. There would be those, first of
all, who would deny the deity of Christ. Oh, He is a God. Yes, He is a God. He's the highest
of all of God's creatures, but still He's a creature. No, no,
no. He is God of very gods. He is the only true and living
God manifest in the flesh. And the second era, well he did
his part, now we've got to do ours. No, no, no. Men and women are reconciled
unto God through the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. Let me come to the third point
briefly. God's children recognize who
we must thank. Giving thanks unto the Father.
It's our delight. Isn't it your delight? If you've
been reconciled to God today, and I know many of us here have,
thank God, thank God, giving thanks unto the Father. Isn't
it our delight? Isn't it our goal? Isn't it our
desire to give all the glory and all the honor and all the
praise unto Him? Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy great name give glory. We thank God that salvation
is of the Lord. It's of the Lord and it's planning.
God planned salvation from before the foundation of the world.
It's of the Lord and it's purchasing. The Lord Jesus Christ purchased
our salvation. And it is of the Lord in execution,
because we were in darkness and He came to us. He came to us. We recognize the truth that being
made meat is God's work. It's God's salvation. We could
never have made ourselves meat, qualified ourselves. It is God
who opened our hearts, Just like he opened Lydia's heart,
your heart, if he hasn't opened it, is shut. It's shut. Like in Pilgrim's
Allegory, you've stacked all the furniture up against the door, and you're
determined he's not coming in. And if he leaves you like that,
That's what's going to happen. But we give thanks unto the Lord
that He opened the door. He opened our hearts. He convicted
us of sin. He gave us a new birth. He's
the one who passed by and He said, live! We couldn't have done that for
ourselves. We had no desire to do it. And even if we had had
the desire, We did not have the ability. But oh, thank God today
we have a new nature, and it is a new nature to love and to
enjoy God forever and ever. We've been made meat, giving
thanks unto the Father. So I love this holiday, don't
you? Thanksgiving. I just love, I just wish everyone
would thank God I wish everyone, everyone I know,
everyone I come in contact with, I just wish everyone would just
be thankful to God, don't you? Those of us who know Him, we
have so much for which to thank Him. Well, Happy Thanksgiving. God bless you. We'll meet tonight
again. We won't have a service on Wednesday.
But I trust that all of us will be especially thankful, not just Thursday. God's children
are thankful every day, aren't we? Every day. We're going to sing this hymn,
Saved by Christ.