Please take your copy of God's Word, turn to Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapter 1.
I've looked around the room a bit this morning and just been with the children down front.
! I think we have some guests with kids that have been here with us before, so this is not a massive surprise.
But just for the sake of everybody, I wanted to remind us in brief why we like to have the children
in the service with us. And I'm going to do so by reading from that opening paragraph on the bulletin,
which is there every single Sunday. And maybe you're tired of it, but I would encourage you to
not be and maybe even read it every single Sunday. About halfway down, it says we place high value on
the health of families and our corporate meetings are multi-generational in that children remain
together with families in the meetings to allow and encourage families to function and grow together.
There's a great deal of value in children getting to see what's important to their parents,
to sit and learn to be church people. We believe that each Christian, young and old,
has a distinct role in promoting the spiritual maturity of others. And on that note, just to say
to you parents, I know it adds some stress. I've been there sitting with the young ones,
thumping them on the head, not hearing a lot of what's going on.
But let me just encourage you to not be stressed. It's good for people. It's good for us to love kids
and to not be so easily distracted, to sit and focus our attention on what really matters.
Beloved, if you're engaging your mind in what we're doing together, little outcries from the
kids should not be a problem. I preach. I preach through a lot of that kind of stuff. And to be frank,
I don't even hear it sometimes. Sometimes Sam will say, boy, the kids were rough today. And I go,
really? I didn't even hear that. Let it be part of our normal gathering together, that we're a faith
family and that our family includes little ones, right? This is precious to me right now, okay?
If it gets hard for you, we do have some practical helps, a space across the hall where we're piping
video and sound over there. We have a nursing room. It's that door. You'll see it in the hallway with the
opaque window in it. And there's a key in that little drawer as you go out the door that gets
you in there if you'd like some privacy to nurse. But just please don't be stressed about it because
we certainly are not. Our text for this morning is Colossians 1 verses 9 through 14. Please follow
along as I read.
thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved
Son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. This is God's word to us. It was written
for his glory and our good. We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises
and obey its commands. Now this morning I'd like to invite you to make four observations with me from
this morning's text. And this is a quite a big bite to chew off here. I really probably
this text I could see the the clear potential for four sermons coming out of it. I will tell you that
my notes are quite a bit longer than they typically are so I'm going to try to move quite a bit faster
than I do. Let me encourage you to be an active listener this morning. I think it's very very
difficult to listen if you're not taking notes. A pen in hand certainly helps. So let me encourage you
to try to stay engaged with me. If you're like me you like to read the old dead guys. They typically
have so much more to say in their books particularly the Puritan writers and they like to make lists
within lists within lists and it's incredibly easy to get lost on where you even are. You're on like
Roman numeral number seven underneath subheading number two for the main point they're trying to
make and you have to back back up and do that and I'm going to do that to you a bit this morning. So
four observations from this text is the main thing but I also have three lists within the major list
so notes may help you this morning. Be warned. Four observations. Observation number one.
Paul and Timothy's example of intercession. Paul and Timothy's example of intercession. Notice this.
Look at it. Observe it with me together. And so from the day we heard. Heard what? It is made known to us
your love in the Spirit. Verse 8. Epaphras has come to them and said these people love one another
in the Spirit. So from this day we have not ceased to pray for you. This is intercessory prayer. We're
noting Paul and Timothy's example of intercession. Intercessory prayer simply put is the act of praying
on behalf of others. It's the act of praying on behalf of others and it is a bold act of love. To go before
the Father on behalf of someone else is a great great expression of love for them. James 5 16. James exhorts us
to confess our sins to one another and pray for one another intercede for one another that you may be
be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Now we are found,
if we are in Christ, we are found as righteous in Him. We have the ability, we have the capacity to
approach the throne because our sins have been forgiven in Christ and we have been given, we have
been, it has been imputed to us His righteousness. As we're saying, in the beloved, right? When God looks at
us, He sees Jesus Christ and the prayers of the intercessor are based in the redemption of Christ
as He is our intercessor and the great example on our behalf of intercession. Romans 8 33 and 34,
Paul writes, who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is to condemn.
Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that, who was raised, who's at the right hand of God,
who indeed is interceding for us. He sits at the right hand of the Father and He says, when I come to God,
this is Nathan. I died for him. I paid the penalty for his sin. He has been given my righteousness.
Listen to His request. There's much intercessory prayer in the Bible. A few examples. Job prayed for his
friends. Job 42 10. Moses prayed for Aaron. Deuteronomy 9 20. David prayed for Israel. 2 Samuel 24 17. So did
Isaiah and Daniel and Ezekiel. Get those references from me later if you'd like. Nehemiah did the same.
Chapter 1 verse 4 through 11 of Nehemiah. Jesus prayed for the apostles and the rest of those
who would and will follow him as his disciples. John 17 9-24. Epaphras prayed for the Colossians.
You see this in Colossians 4.12. Just a page over from where we are. And here we see that Paul and
Timothy also prayed for the Colossian church, even though they did not know them personally.
In verse 8, they had heard from Epaphras of their love for one another in the Spirit.
They knew that we would know Jesus' disciples by their love for one another. So they had been given
evidence that the Colossians were their brothers. They had been adopted into the same family and
therefore they loved them, even though they did not know them. They did not establish the church there.
It's likely that Epaphras, the beginner of the church, had heard the gospel in Ephesus where Paul
was preaching. And the text states that they prayed for them continually. We have not ceased to pray for you.
God has accomplished mighty things for his people using the prayers of his people on their behalf.
Charles Spurgeon, on the presence of examples of intercessory prayer in the Scripture, said this,
Intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What wonders it has wrought. The Word of God
teems with its marvelous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in thy hand. Use it well. Use it
constantly. Use it with faith. And thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren.
Intercessory prayer, because it is the way in which God chooses so often to act in the lives of others,
has great power. And so you have a ministry in our church. As a congregant of Christ Family Church,
whether you're a member or just a regular attender, as a person sitting here today, you have a ministry.
Pray for one another. Second observation. So that was the first one. Paul and Timothy's example of
intercession. We ought to intercede for one another. Secondly, let's look at Paul and Timothy's actual
intercession. The last half of nine. Asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So they make a request that they be filled with knowledge.
Filled with it in a controlling way is what Paul is driving at here. That they so know something
that they be moved by it and controlled by it. The Greek word here is epi-gnosis. Gnosis meaning knowledge
and an added preposition to the front of that, epi-gnosis, heightens the veracity of the noun. It means a deep
and thorough knowledge. Epi-gnosis. A deep and thorough knowledge. A knowledge that fills to the point of
controlling and changing who they are. There's a great error in the church today. It certainly exists in ours,
and that is the error of mysticism. I hear way too much talk about feelings giving us direction. I feel like
this is the way I ought to go. I feel called to a particular vocation or particular activity or particular
city. This is not the language of the Bible. Our heads are never meant to be divorced.
From our hearts. They don't function separate from one another. In fact, they're like,
I'm connected by a conduit. Right? I get to you in preaching through your head.
Rightly, I get to you through your head. Right? I speak the truth to you, and you take it in,
and you consider it, you think about it, and you give it application to your being.
Is this who I am? Do I hold up to this truth? Do I rejoice in the truth of the gospel? This is the way in
which we work. Some preaching these days simply appeals to the heart. Moves you in some way. There
are many speakers who we would classify. I would bow to their speaking prowess. They move people,
but they say very little. You feel something, but what do you do with that something? You have some
bit of revelatory joy, and then it fades away because it has no basis in knowledge. Our heads are never
meant to be divorced from our hearts. Proverbs 19.2 warns that it is not good to be without knowledge.
Isaiah 5.13 states that it was for lack of knowledge that the Israelites were led into exile. They did not
know God and how to worship Him. Therefore, they were punished severely, led into exile. Knowledge is a
major theme in the scriptures, and certainly, and especially, I would say, in Paul's writing. Let me show
you a few examples. 1 Corinthians 1.5. He writes that in every way you were enriched in Him and
all speech and all knowledge. He prayed in Ephesians 1.17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.
In Philippians 1.9, he states, and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge
and all discernment. Most of his letters lay a doctrinal foundation before giving any practical
exhortation. Right? He roots the very activity of our lives in who God is and what He has done on our
behalf. Romans, there's 11 chapters of doctrine before the five chapters of exhortation. Now, in light of
all these things, so therefore, because of everything I've told you to be true about the gospel of Jesus
Christ, live this way. Galatians, the first four chapters are doctrine. The last two, exhortation. Ephesians,
it's split evenly, three and three. Philippians and Colossians follow this pattern. Doctrine first, then
exhortation. Knowledge and then applied knowledge. So he prays that they would have knowledge, but knowledge of
what? Not just general knowledge, not knowledge of psychology or biology, but knowledge of God's will.
Knowledge of God's will. And here they are not referring to God's will for your life in a specific way,
in a concealed way. Who you should marry, where you should go to school, what type of job you should
take. John MacArthur calls this dot theology, that we have this idea that there's some perfect will in
which we're meant to channel it. We got to get in there just perfect and thread it just right for God
to be pleased with us, right? People get so consumed with that. College students, you especially, in the
stage in your life where many things are being laid out before you, and there are a lot of opportunities
and options. The largest part of my counseling as a pastor is counseling people on what decisions they
should make. And so often there is no clear answer. I go, that's a good decision, and so is that one.
This is not the God's will he was referring to here. He's referring to the God's will as revealed
in the Scripture. The revealed will of God. Those things that we are meant to be practicing.
John MacArthur organizes these well, and I appreciate he's got a wonderful sermon on this you can go
search for, where he summarizes that if you will practice the revealed will of God, after that,
do whatever you want. If you can say to yourself honestly, I'm practicing the revealed will of God
as shown in the Scriptures, then it'll be obvious to you where you should live and who you should marry
and what job you should take. John MacArthur organized it this way, six things God wills for your life.
Here's your second list. I'm going to run through it fast with no Scripture proofs at all, because it's
not the thrust of today. One, that you be saved. That you come to saving faith in Christ. That your
eternity be secure in Him. Second, that you be Spirit-filled. That you walk by the Spirit.
Third, that you be sanctified. That you are set apart for God's purposes, and you are about this
activity, this synergistic activity of becoming perfect day by day, pursuing holiness, putting off sin,
putting on righteousness. Fourthly, that you be submissive to authority. Varying authorities.
Governmental authority. Authority in the church. Wives with husbands. That you be submissive to authority.
Fifthly, that you suffer. The will of God. That you suffer. That you suffer for His name's sake.
And sixthly, that you be satisfied. Now, MacArthur actually says thankful, which expresses it better,
but it just drives me crazy that He used all S's except for that one. So, that you be satisfied,
by which I mean thankful. That whatever circumstance you walk through, you recognize the sovereignty of
God in all things, and that you give Him, ascribe to Him proper thanks for whatever it is that you're
going through. And that if you're practicing these six things, and these are general and summary
for the Christian life, then you just do whatever you want.
C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity said,
God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than of any other slackers.
If you are thinking of becoming a Christian, I warn you, you are embarking on something which is going
to take the whole of you, brains and all. You heard a believer say that they don't enjoy theology,
or that they don't want to be theological. If you're going to speak of Christ, you're being theological.
And you better be sure that you're getting it right.
So, Paul and Timothy's prayer is not just that they be filled with the knowledge of His will,
but Paul adds, in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Here's a sermon in and of itself. Wisdom and understanding taken together, this is my definition,
is the ability to discern the truth and give proper application to said truth. The ability to discern
the truth and give proper application to the truth. But their prayer is that they would do this in all
spiritual wisdom and understanding, which states the source of the wisdom and understanding. Not human
wisdom and understanding, but spiritual. The Spirit of God bringing to us revelation as we read God's Word.
Douglas J. Moo, which you'll I'm sure hear me quote a number of times as we study through Colossians,
because I have a wonderful commentary by him on the book, said,
The Spirit is the source of the wisdom and understanding that the Colossians were acquired
as they negotiated their way through the maze of first century worldview options. They needed the
Spirit of God to help them understand the way in which they were to go, what they were to believe. And this
is equally true of us. Heresy abounds in our day. There is much to be warned.
But let me just do so in a general way, in the way in which we're meant to be working together
by having you turn to Ephesians chapter 4. Mark Colossians in some way, your finger or your handy ribbon.
In Ephesians 4 verse 11, Paul talks about the varying roles in the church that have been given to the church.
In verse 12, for the work of equipping the saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.
So the leadership in a church, those particular positions in a church are meant to equip the saints
for the work of ministry, which is the building up of the body of Christ. This is the work of ministry
that has been given to all of us. We all have this activity that we are to be about.
And then starting in verse 13, if you'll follow along with me.
Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
There's that knowledge again.
To mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves,
and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
There's much blowing around out there.
And we must be founded in the truth of the gospel so that we won't be tossed to and fro.
Now the connection for you is that back in verse 4,
Paul writes there is one body and one spirit.
And how did Christ give the gifts at work in verse 11?
He gave them by the Spirit.
He is the very source for this giftedness.
And he is the strength and the ability to carry out this work.
And so as Paul is praying, Paul joined with Timothy.
It's what we assume with the plural pronouns there.
That as he's praying this, he's not disconnecting it from activity in the church.
Right?
He's praying that we will attain this type of knowledge that we'll be working together with spiritual wisdom and understanding.
That there will be an activity about that.
Again, you have a ministry in our church.
Helping someone else along.
I know that you don't feel like you've arrived yet.
Neither do I.
I tremble sometimes at the things I have to teach.
I tremble when somebody comes to me with a question that is so far outside my scope.
But we have the Scripture.
We've been given the Word of God.
And we've been given the Spirit of God to give application for it.
Dive into that.
You have a ministry in our church.
He or she may be sitting to your right or your left.
Across the room.
Begin to identify people.
I can tell you now that if you come to me and ask for something to do, what can I do to help out around here?
Be ready because I'm probably going to go see him.
No one's talking to him right now.
This is your ministry today.
Go get busy doing that.
And see if there's anything you can do to invest in that person's life.
I will make you busy.
Imagine a community of faith that is constantly in a big complex web just preaching the gospel to each other all the time.
In all the varying ways.
And we do this in a high degree as a church already.
It needs to happen more.
You have a ministry in our church.
We observe Paul and Timothy's example of intercession.
Paul and Timothy's intercession itself.
What was it that they were praying for?
However, thirdly, let's observe the aim of Paul and Timothy's intercession.
So they make this intercession on behalf of the Colossian church.
And this information is now passed on to us that we may be filled with the knowledge of God's will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
But there's an aim for that.
Not just that we know things.
That we have this big fat head full of information.
But that we're able to work that out.
And Paul is not shy in giving to us the way in which that should be working out.
So the intercession is aimed at five things.
Five things.
Number one.
Here's your second list within your list.
A worthy walk.
Number one.
A worthy walk.
Now he is not communicating that our walk is what makes us worthy.
This is not what he's saying.
What he's saying is that because we are found worthy,
we will walk in a particular way.
A walk refers to the daily pattern of life and includes those activities seen and unseen.
It includes the way you think, the way you feel, the way you act and speak.
As I said, we are found worthy.
We are only found worthy in this absolute sense in Christ.
And because we're worthy, we should walk in a way that is pleasing to God.
We have been redeemed.
This is the monergistic work of God.
God Himself worked that change in us.
We have been changed.
We have been made His.
Now we are being sanctified synergistically.
We have an activity and a part to play in that.
Galatians 2.20, Paul writes,
I have been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.
So even as we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling,
we do so by the power and strength of God in us.
There's a wonderful hymn that doesn't really match our musical style,
although maybe Wes could pull it off for us sometime.
Written by Martin Luther called,
A Mighty Fortress is Our God.
And the second verse reads like this.
I really debated singing this, but I'm not going to.
It's hard to get the tune out of your head though once it's in there.
Just listen to the words.
Did we in our own strength confide,
our striving would be losing.
We're not the right man on our side,
the man of God's own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He.
Lord, sabay off His name from age to age the same,
and He must win the battle.
And He will for sure.
Lord, sabay off means God of the universe,
which is where Paul heads next in the text.
I'm so excited about next Sunday,
in the text for us next Sunday.
Okay, so this is the first aim.
A worthy walk.
Secondly, a fruitful life.
The last half of verse 10.
Bearing fruit in every good work.
In every good work,
and all of the activity that is set before a Christian,
that we would bear fruit.
That we would reproduce ourselves.
My mind is drawn to the parable of the sower in Mark 4,
which we just completed preaching through.
Jesus' explanation in Mark 4.20 says,
This is the mark of the good soil.
The one who has received the Word,
and accepted the Word,
placed faith in the Word,
had the Word change them,
had the Word set them about an activity,
bear fruit in varying degree.
Don't compare yourself to another,
but is your life bearing fruit?
This is one of the aims of Paul's prayer
for the Colossian church and for us.
The third aim,
growth in knowledge.
This has been already a prayer
that there would be a filling of knowledge,
a changing of their direction,
God's will,
but now he's asking for a growth in it,
an increase in the knowledge of God.
The writer of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 5.12,
For though by this time you ought to be teachers,
you need someone to teach you again
the basic principles of the oracles of God.
You need milk, not solid food.
The writer of Hebrews is saying,
you are babies still in the faith.
We are meant to grow in our knowledge of God.
We can certainly know the Gospel.
We must know it.
We must have it preached to us
in order to place our faith in it.
But we also must grow in our Gospel knowledge.
Learn it.
Understand it.
Turn it over.
It's so beautiful.
And look at it from all of its varying perspectives
that you might have a deeper understanding
of who God is,
a greater understanding of who you are,
which will do nothing but cause you to exalt
in the personal work of Jesus Christ.
We must grow in the knowledge of God.
I hope that you can join in with the psalmist
in Psalm 119.97
and say,
Oh, how I love your law.
It is my meditation all the day.
We cherish it.
That it is precious to us.
That we be a people of the Word.
So many of us are biblically illiterate.
And we wonder why we have problems in our life.
Fourthly,
fourth aim,
spiritual strength.
First part of verse 11.
May you be strengthened with all power
according to His glorious might.
Now the word strengthened in Greek
is a present participle,
which means it's an ongoing activity.
Not like God charges us up with strength,
but that He's constantly providing strength.
According to His glorious might,
the strength of all power
according to His glorious might,
which means that the power available to us
is the limitless power of God Himself.
Paul prayed in Ephesians 3.16
that according to the riches of His glory,
He may grant you to be strengthened with power
through His Spirit in your inner being.
We have been given this
if we are found in Christ.
Strengthened with all power
according to His glorious might.
And the last aim,
fifthly,
endurance with thankfulness.
Last part of verse 11.
For all endurance and patience with joy.
Now endurance and patience are closely related.
If there is a distinction to be made,
endurance deals with circumstance
while patience deals with people.
Both are concerned with trials of various kinds.
So endurance and patience.
We are to endure not merely as stoics,
gritting our teeth,
bearing down.
Think that this is a particular challenge
and problem for American men.
We've kind of ingrained in us
a culture of the cowboy, right?
Grin and bear.
We're not to do it as stoics,
but with joy.
For all endurance and patience.
With joy.
And then we're said,
in the beginning of verse 12,
giving thanks to the Father.
Joy overflowing into thanks.
Look at a wonderful example of this
in Acts chapter 5.
After the apostles had been on trial,
verse 40 and 42.
And when they had called in the apostles,
excuse me,
this is the council.
When they had called in the apostles,
they beat them
and charged them
not to speak in the name of Jesus
and let them go.
So they are strictly warned
with a beating
to not speak in the name of Jesus.
Then they left the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer dishonor
for the name.
Right?
Giving thanks
that they were allowed to suffer
for the name of Jesus Christ.
And the verse 42 says,
and every day in the temple,
so in a public place,
and from house to house,
they did not cease teaching or preaching
that the Christ is Jesus.
Enduring with patience
and joy and thanksgiving.
Back to our main list.
So we've got observations.
Firstly, Paul and Timothy's example
of intercession.
Second, Paul and Timothy's intercession.
Thirdly, the aim of Paul and Timothy's intercession.
And then fourthly,
the confidence of Paul and Timothy's intercession.
The confidence of Paul and Timothy's intercession.
Last part of 12
through the end of our text.
Now, note with me four reasons
for their confidence.
Last list.
Four reasons for their confidence.
You can see why I could have done
four sermons on all of this.
Now, by confidence of their intercession,
I do not mean what makes them confident
to intercede,
although that's still true of them here.
Previously stated,
it is because Christ is our great intercessor
that we have the confidence to intercede.
But what I mean when I say
four reasons for their confidence,
I'm talking about what makes them confident
that God will answer in kind
to their requests.
That He is favorable to these things.
That they can pray these things in His name.
And that He will, in fact,
deliver on those requests.
So, reason for their confidence,
number one.
The inheritance given to the saints.
Last half of 12.
We have been qualified to share
in the inheritance of the saints
in light.
We are unqualified apart from the grace of God.
Totally cut off.
Nothing we could possibly do.
This is the great lesson of the moral law.
That you cannot keep the moral law.
That God's requirement of us
as sin-stained being is too high.
It's impossible for us to do
apart from the grace of God.
There's strong language in the Scripture about this.
Paul writes in Ephesians 2, 1-3,
and you were dead in the trespasses
and sins in which you once walked,
following the course of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that is now at work
in the sons of disobedience,
among whom we all once lived
in the passions of our flesh,
carrying out the desires of the body
and the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath
like the rest of mankind.
This is who we once were,
and this is who you are
if you're not found in Christ.
We are ensnared.
We are trapped by.
We are being lorded over by
the prince of the power of the air.
Praise God.
Because of His deliverance in Christ,
this has changed for us.
We are now His.
Romans 8.14 says,
For all who are led by the Spirit of God
are sons of God.
Now ladies,
when you see that language
in the Scriptures,
please don't think
that the Scripture is being translated
in an outdated way.
That it's important for the translators
to go back and use
some gender-neutral language in that way.
If they were to do so,
they would neuter the text.
It's making a very strong point.
The fault is not in the translation.
The fault is in your understanding
of who these letters
were originally written to.
A very patriarchal society,
to be sure.
In which only sons
received any inheritance.
The way in which a lady,
a sister,
was to gain an inheritance
was to be married.
This is the way that wealth
was passed along.
So ladies,
you want to be sons of God.
What that language communicates.
But I do appreciate,
in verse 17,
Paul goes on to say,
and if children,
then heirs.
Heirs of God
and fellow heirs
with Christ.
We are all
full family members.
No distinction is made
between us
if we are found
in Christ.
We have been
qualified now
to share
in the inheritance
of the saints
in light.
I think John's writing
helps expound
on that idea
of the inheritance
of the saints
in light
a bit for us.
1 John 1,
verse 5,
this is the message
we have heard from him
and proclaim to you
that God is light
and in him
is no darkness
at all.
If we say
we have fellowship
with him
while we walk
in darkness,
we lie
and do not practice
the truth.
But if we walk
in the light
as he is in the light,
we have fellowship
with one another
and the blood
of Jesus' Son
cleanses us
from all sin.
Of course,
1 John being the great
test of our faith,
but we can certainly say
that if we pursue
righteousness,
if we're hating
the world
and we're loving
the things of God,
we're walking
in the light.
God is light.
In him there is
no darkness
at all.
We have been
granted,
qualified,
to share in the
inheritance
of the saints
in light.
Now, I know
that many people
struggle with this.
The great aim
of pastoral counseling
is to draw
people's minds
back to the Gospel.
To unravel
all of their thought
and all of their emotion
and get them back
to the place
to see who
they are
because of God's work
on their behalf.
I know that many
of you struggle
with besetting sin.
Habitual type
of sin.
And while we see
much evidence
of the pursuit
of righteousness
in your life,
there are things
that cause you
to fall
again and again
and again.
I know that many
of you walk around
with a great deal
of guilt
and feelings
of inadequacy.
Let me draw
your mind
back to the Gospel.
This is what
Paul is doing.
He's rooting
the very foundation
for his request.
All of these
good things
he desires
to see happen
in the life
of the Colossian
believers
in the Gospel
truth.
A pastor
named Sam Storms
in a book
he wrote
called The Hope
of Glory,
which are meditations
on Colossians,
wrote,
whatever feelings
of inadequacy
or sense of shame
or depths of despair
may have crippled
you till now.
God has qualified
you to share
in the inheritance
of the saints
of light.
If you find yourself
saying,
I'm not up to the task,
I'm a miserable failure,
I'm a hell-deserving wretch,
I don't deserve
to stand in God's presence,
the only thing
I should inherit
is death.
God now says
to those who are
in Christ
qualified,
forgiven,
adequate in Jesus,
righteous in my Son,
come and receive
and enjoy
your inheritance
together with
all the saints
in the life-giving,
soul-cleansing light
of my kingdom.
Praise God
that we have
an inheritance.
Reason two
for Paul and Timothy's
confidence
delivers
verse 13
says He has delivered
us from the domain
of darkness.
We've been brought
to the domain
of light,
the kingdom of light.
He's delivered us
from the domain
of darkness.
We have been rescued
from the power
of evil.
It has no ultimate
sway
over our lives.
Do you believe
that you've been
set free
from sin?
many of you
act as if
that's not
the case.
You've been set
free from it.
It no longer
has dominion
over you.
John writes
in 1 John 4
4,
He who is in you
is greater
than he
who is in the world.
So the second
reason for their
confidence
is our deliverance.
Third reason
for our confidence
is the Colossians
in our
transference.
We've been
transferred.
We've transferred
us to the
kingdom
of His
beloved
Son.
We're no longer
citizens of the
world.
We're now citizens
of the kingdom
of God.
We do not differ
in degree.
We do not differ
in degree.
We're not a little
better than we
once were.
We are different
than who we
once were.
We don't differ
in degree,
but we differ
in type.
1 Peter 2.10
Peter cites
from Hosea,
Once you were
not a people,
but now you
are God's people.
Once you had
not received
mercy,
but now you
have received
mercy.
And on what
basis are we
citizens of
God's kingdom?
On the basis
of righteousness.
This is our
key to the city.
This is what
grants us
access to
God's kingdom.
But not ours.
Christ.
Again,
Christ has
imputed to us
His righteousness.
The reason Christ
had to come and
live a perfect life
was so that
He fulfilled
the law.
So that He came
and lived it
perfectly.
And He therefore
had an account
to credit
to us.
Righteousness
to give
to us.
Christ.
There's a
double imputation
of Christ
in redemption.
We're given
Christ's
righteousness.
And fourthly,
the fourth reason
for their confidence,
we're given
forgiveness.
Our sins have
been forgiven.
Verse 14,
in whom we have
redemption,
the forgiveness
of sins.
Because God is
perfectly just,
God could not
simply dismiss
sin.
That would not
be justice.
He has to
punish sin.
It is infinitely
offensive to Him,
so He punished
infinitely in
Christ our
sin.
We are imputed
the suffering
of Christ.
That has been
forgiven us.
Our sin has been
wiped clean because
it has been punished
in Christ.
I'm going to
read it to us
at the closing
of the Lord's
Supper for the
benefit of our
souls.
This is what
causes Paul to
launch into a
cosmic,
Christological
hymn in
verses 15-20.
This kingdom
in which we
have been
delivered to,
the forgiveness
of our sins
in Christ,
is what causes
Him to go on
to say these
magnificent
things about
who He is,
was,
and now is
to us
in this day.
Praise God
forevermore
for the person
and work
of Jesus Christ.
Because of who
the Colossians
were,
and because of
who we are,
if we are in
Christ,
we only have
two choices.
Be obedient
or make
excuses.
You have been
delivered.
You have been
set free.
You have been
given all the
power you need
to live for
God.
So be obedient
or make excuses.
It's the only
two choices
you have.
because of
who the
Colossians
were,
and because
of who we
are,
if we are
in Christ,
Paul and
Timothy can
confidently ask
and know
that their
prayers will be
answered,
and we can
pray in the
same way for
one another
and have the
same confidence
before God.
And I hope
that you will
begin to do
so if you're
not already.
In closing,
let me read
the text to you
one more time.
And so from
the day we
heard,
we have not
ceased to
pray for you,
asking that you
may be filled
with the knowledge
of his will
and all spiritual
wisdom and
understanding,
so as to walk
in a manner
worthy of the
Lord,
fully pleasing
to him,
bearing fruit
in every good
work and
increasing in
the knowledge
of God.
May you be
strengthened with
all power
according to
his glorious
might for all
endurance and
patience with
joy,
giving thanks to
the Father who
has qualified you
to share in
the inheritance
of the saints
in light.
He has delivered
us from the
domain of
darkness and
transferred us
to the kingdom
of his beloved
Son in whom
we have redemption,
the forgiveness
of sins.
Let's pray
together.