In this sermon, Pastor Joe Babij examines Colossians 1:12-14 where the apostle Paul prays that believers might be filled with joyful thankfulness. From this passage, Pastor Babij explains four things God has done for his children that should generate thankfulness as the crowning virtue of your Christian life:
1. God Qualified Us For an Inheritance (v. 12)
2. God Rescued Us from the Domain of Darkness (v. 13a)
3. God Bought Us into Christ’s Kingdom (v. 13b)
4. God Redeemed Us from Our Sins (v. 14)
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Summary
We are reminded of four profound things God has done for us in salvation, drawn from Colossians 1:9-14. Walking through Paul’s prayer for the Colossians, we see that growth in the Christian life is fueled by knowledge, wisdom, and understanding — and that a life of genuine thankfulness flows from meditating daily on what God has accomplished for us in Christ.
Key Lessons:
- God qualifies us for an inheritance we could never earn — at conversion, he makes us fit for heaven through Christ’s sacrifice alone.
- God rescues us from the domain of darkness, a supernatural power we were utterly helpless to escape on our own, and transfers us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.
- Redemption and forgiveness go hand in hand — Christ paid the full ransom for sin, canceling every debt so that nothing can condemn those who are in him.
- Fruit-bearing, steadfastness, patience, and joy are the practical marks of a life growing in the knowledge of God — and this growth requires a steady diet of God’s Word.
Application: We are called to meditate every single day on what God has done — qualifying, rescuing, transferring, and redeeming us — so that genuine thankfulness and joy overflow into a life that pleases God in all things and bears fruit for the gospel.
Discussion Questions:
- What does it mean practically to ‘walk in a manner worthy of the Lord,’ and where do you see that most challenged in your daily life?
- How does understanding that salvation is entirely God’s work — not our own — change the way you approach thankfulness and worship?
- In what areas of your life do you need to more consistently meditate on what God has done, so that joy and peace replace anxiety or spiritual stagnation?
Scripture Focus: Colossians 1:9-14 — Paul’s prayer for spiritual growth, culminating in four saving acts of the Father: qualifying, rescuing, transferring, and redeeming believers through Jesus Christ.
Outline
- Introduction
- Review: Prerequisites for Growth
- Walking Worthy: The Purpose of Growth
- Four Things God Has Done: An Overview
- God Rescues Us from the Domain of Darkness
- God Transfers Us to the Kingdom of His Son
- God Buys Us: Redemption and Forgiveness
- Our Response: Giving Thanks
- Call to Examine and Respond
Introduction
I think we have been transported to Heaven this morning. I’d like to thank all our praise groups. I think we have three now that put the time in every single week to come and prepare songs and practice them and then bring them to us on Sunday morning.
That is really a privilege, and watching out also for the theology of the song, the songs are in line with scripture and with the character of God. We come together and we sing and give praise to God, which we ought to do, right?
That’s what we ought to be doing all the time, not just Sunday morning. You should be singing it in your car on Monday morning and in the office and everywhere you go.
Let’s look at the word of God this morning, Colossians 1.
Father, as we turn there, I have a word of prayer. Again you bring us here today on this Lord’s day, and we really do thank you, Father, for the blessings you have bestowed upon us.
Lord, as we think of church history and all those who have gone before us who actually died for the word of God, for a stand on the word of God, we can sit here in America with our Bibles in hand and we can worship you and listen to your word. Thank you, Lord, for that.
I pray that we would never take that for granted. I pray we would always take that as a privilege. I pray in Christ’s name, amen.
Review: Prerequisites for Growth
Colossians chapter one. Last time we were in this passage I left you with a pile of bricks and mortar and sand in your driveway. The problem some of you face is that you still have a pile of bricks, mortar, and sand in your driveway and you haven’t done much with it.
If you are a born-again Christian and the Holy Spirit of God indwells you and you have been sitting under sound teaching and preaching from God’s word and you have been informed with the knowledge of God’s will, you are no longer ignorant. You are now responsible.
You have to start now working out what the Holy Spirit of God is working in you, because we’re cooperating with God in our sanctification, not in our salvation. God’s done it all there, and we’re going to see that this morning.
So far, just to bring you up to speed, we have covered two of the three headings. The first two prerequisites for growth are in verse nine. Paul is asking here in verse nine for something to be given, and the verb indicates that Paul is asking for himself on behalf of the saints.
His request is for enlightenment, which includes three prerequisites. It says in Colossians 1:9, “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.”
That is a prayer request that Paul’s offering up before God on behalf of the people. We should be offering that up on our behalf, on behalf of each other in the church, all the time. We should be praying for one another.
This prayer is vital for us. We all need this. We need these things.
With all the Bible-based facts and information about the knowledge of God’s will, you are now enabled to build something out of those facts by being filled with the knowledge of God’s will and wisdom. With wisdom, you take all the information and all the facts that you hear from the word of God and make something useful out of them, actually live them out. That’s understanding.
“With wisdom, you take all the facts from God’s Word and make something useful out of them — actually live them out.”
You take the bricks and the mortar and the water and you joyfully construct your life by the knowledge of the word of God, while he enables you and me to reach the goal of being filled in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Walking Worthy: The Purpose of Growth
And what is the purpose of this growth? Well, in verses 10 and 11, the purpose of the growth is so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Once a believer starts putting the spiritual knowledge into practice and continues, growth begins, and growth should never stop once it begins. The request for expanded productivity becomes a reality for us in our Christian life. The saint starts to walk according to God’s will, the lights are turned on, in other words.
The goal of the knowledge of God’s will is twofold in our passage. It’s to bring one’s life into balance, because before you believed, your life was out of balance. Matter of fact, your life was chaotic, it was chaos.
Secondly, in verse 10, to please the Lord in every kind of way. So you should start doing that. Who can actually please the Lord in every kind of way?
I can’t say that I do that every day, but that is our goal. That is the purpose of this knowledge, right? You learn to do that.
“To please the Lord in every kind of way — that is the purpose of this knowledge. You learn to do that.”
You start dropping off sin, you start dropping off old habits, you start, actually sometimes you have to lose some people that are in your life because they’re not good for you, right. You just have to stop reading some things, stop going to certain blogs, stop posting certain things on Facebook. You need to stop doing things that you once did because you find out this doesn’t please God.
I want to do the things that please the Lord, and when you do that you’re going to find that it fuels your joy, it fuels your thankfulness. Where does this worthy, balanced life show up?
Fruit Bearing and the Knowledge of God
Well, in verse 10, it shows up in fruit bearing. It says here in verse 10, bearing fruit in every good work. Fruit bearing for Christians is to be a continuous thing.
As this fruit bearing takes place, more knowledge is required to grow. If Christ saved you from sin, then and only then you have good works to please the Lord. Remember, you can’t have good works to get saved. Good works come after salvation, because now it’s part of salvation, it’s part of what God gives us.
The believer grows bearing all kinds of fruits, such as it says in verse 10, the fruit of good works. Ephesians tells us, bearing fruit in every good work. Why? Because we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
I like the passage of scripture in Acts 9 where it talks about Dorcas. She gets sick and all the people are coming, and Paul comes, and I think she ends up dying in that passage. The scripture says she was rich in good works.
What kind of works did it mention there? She was making quilted things for people and passing them out and making sure she was meeting people’s needs. That’s it. Paul came and raised her from the dead.
That is something that is part of the Christian walk in life, that we are ordained to good works. What’s the purpose of good works? To show people who God is, to have an open door for the gospel. It’s not the end in and of itself. It is the means—the means of evangelism is to do good works.
“Good works are the means of evangelism — to show people who God is and open a door for the gospel.”
Also, the objects of good works are people—people first, the household of God, and then everyone else. Who is everyone else? Our neighbor, strangers, our enemies, all of them. We’re to do good works.
What is the realm of good works? The realm of good works is that we are living now in a changed realm. We have a changed life, and that’s where we live and that’s where it shows up. It shows up in you now doing those things for others.
In verse 10, it shows up in the increased knowledge of God. What you find as you start growing in the knowledge of God, you want more. You want to know who he is, you want to know what he’s done, you want to know the depth of it.
Remember, this means an intimate, a personal, a special knowledge of God the Father. As a Christian takes in the truth, both understanding and heart are expanded, and mental power is multiplied and moral power is multiplied. Bearing fruit and growing is accomplished by means of the knowledge of God.
Christians grow by spiritual knowledge, and only a steady diet of the spiritual fruit from the Word of God will continue that growth. If you step away from the Word of God, if you somehow close it, don’t read it, don’t listen to it, don’t meditate upon it, don’t expect to grow.
You stifle your growth by not having the desire for the sincere, unadulterated milk of the Word of God coming constantly into your soul to nourish it and make it strong, so you can stand firm.
“Only a steady diet of the spiritual fruit from the Word of God will continue that growth.”
Strength for Steadfastness and Patience
It also shows up in verse 11 by the strength that God gives you to live your Christian life. It says, “Strengthen with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining of steadfastness and patience, joyously.”
Here’s Paul’s request for enlightenment with power, so the saint can shine forth the attributes of Jesus in their life. The believer is being acted upon by God and given the strength to shine forth these qualities in living every day in a very practical way, in two areas: steadfastness in circumstances and patience with people. And to do it how? With joy. That is supernatural, as I said last time.
Saints need the knowledge of the power of God in order to be strong for every kind of steadfastness and patience that we are going to need, whether it’s under assaults, contrary relationships, or hostile forces. A Christian can overcome.
It could also be what’s happening in the flow of our nation, that Christians are going to become more in the crosshairs of government, of officials, because we’re getting in the way of their agenda.
This strengthening takes place as one increases in the knowledge of God, and all this spiritual growth turns out to be very practical in every circumstance of life. What more does the Christian really need when in the midst of a hostile world? It is steadfastness and patience coupled with joy, because that’s Christ’s likeness. That’s how we’re going to display Christ’s likeness in the world.
“Steadfastness and patience coupled with joy — that’s Christ’s likeness, and that’s how we display it in the world.”
It also shows up in verse 12, of a heartfelt joy towards the Father, giving thanks to the Father. Without the heavenly Father qualifying us, being for us, we would never be fitted for this growing life of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding.
These truths are all praiseworthy, because without the Lord we would not be saved, without the Lord we could not grow in this rich, abundant life. And that’s what it is.
Four Things God Has Done: An Overview
I want you to direct your attention now to verse 12 of chapter 1, because we’re going to look at this third point: the praise given to whom growth is possible. That praise in verse 12 is that we give thanks to the father.
We give thanks to the father. We would not have known the father or could not even call upon the father until we actually have come to Christ, believed in Christ, been forgiven of our sins, and now we are brought into the family of God. Now we can call the heavenly father our father, because we’re in the family, and that’s very important.
There are four things God has done for us, for his children, that we should think about every single day if we’re going to maintain a thankful and joy-filled life. These things are otherworldly.
I like when we get to it in Colossians where Paul says you’re living like you’re still on earth. Well, we are still on earth, but your mind and your heart ought to be in heaven, right? Because we need to start thinking like God wants us to think. That’s how we become overcomers.
There are four things that God has done for us that we ought to be thinking about every single day, and these four things generate thankfulness. As a crowning virtue of the worthy Christian life, it starts with giving thanks to the father. Joy and thankfulness are a result of victory that has been given to us by God.
“Joy and thankfulness are a result of victory that has been given to us by God.”
God Qualifies Us
The next few verses notice the release of praise for salvation and the source of all spiritual growth. In verse 12, notice what it says: “Giving thanks to the Father, and here’s the first thing, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
Here’s the first thing the Father does: he qualifies us for something. God has already qualified us for the saints. That means he makes us capable, he makes us able, he makes us suitable. A very simple way to put it: he makes us fit for our inheritance.
God made us fit to share in the inheritance through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We have no fitness in ourselves. We don’t have any fitness in or of ourselves for sharing in the inheritance of God’s people. We can never have this on our own. It is only God who qualifies us for this Christian life and for heaven.
None of us are fit for heaven. There was a point in time when this being fit for heaven happened: at your conversion. What do I mean by conversion? I mean the effectual call of God, that inward call. The day you heard the message of the gospel, you understood the message, you received it by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and you repented of your sins, and now you’re continuing to follow him. That’s real conversion.
Not just saying, “I profess Christ” and nothing happens afterwards. I just checked the box and hopefully that’s one of the many things I have to do in life to get to heaven, to where God wants me to be. No. God has done it all. He’s done every bit of it.
“We have no fitness in ourselves for sharing in the inheritance of God’s people. It is only God who qualifies us.”
The Effectual Call and Our Inheritance
And so because of that, God has sent his son to die to procure eternal life for you. For whom he predestined, these he called, and whom he called, these he justified, and whom he justified, these he will glorify.
According to the confessions of the church, what exactly is the effectual call? Here’s the definition by one confession. It says, “Effectual calling is the work of God’s almighty power and grace, whereby out of the free and special love to his elect, and from nothing in them moving him thereunto, he doth in his acceptable time invite and draw them to Jesus Christ by his word and spirit, savingly enlightening their minds, renewing and powerfully determining their wills, so as they, although in themselves are dead in sin, are hereby made willing and able to answer his call and to accept and embrace the grace offered and conveyed to them.”
That is what the effectual call is. In other words, you cannot resist that call—irresistible grace. God overwhelms your will by the knowledge of the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ, and you say, “Lord, I believe it. I believe you died for me in my place as my substitute.” And that day, that’s the change that takes place that day.
Why is that? He saves us to share in the inheritance of the saints. This is definitely an allusion to the Old Testament concerning the inheritance of ancient Israel. Remember when they went through the promised land, each Israelite, once they were done getting all the land and fighting all the battles, was given an inheritance of property.
An inheritance is something allotted, it is something assigned, it is something conferred by right of position and relationship. It is not won by one’s own effort, else it is not an inheritance. Our inheritance is salvation. This is what we inherit. It is what God gives us. It’s nothing we can do to get it.
It is what we participate in with all the rest of the saints. That’s our inheritance. That’s where it starts, and that has been given unto us.
An inheritance goes to those who are in the family. If you’re not in the family, you don’t get the inheritance. Just like the Apostle John says in John 1, “But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even those who believe in his name.”
The Apostle Paul is referring to our heavenly inheritance also. But each believer has a share, a lot given to them in this life, and that share starts with salvation. The saints have a blessed lot of bearing fruit of all kinds, being empowered for perseverance, to please God in all things.
But who are the saints? In verse 12, who qualified us to share the inheritance of the saints in light? These are those—the saints are those who have been sanctified by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
The book of Hebrews says it in a different way: “By this will we have been sanctified, or set apart, made saints, through what? Through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
All believers in Christ are saints. Every believer has been sprinkled with his blood and brought under the shelter of its enduring value. Every believer has been purged from guilt and condemnation. Every believer has been invested with God’s righteousness in Christ. Every believer has been accepted by God the Father because of Christ.
That means every believer is set apart. This is a judicial setting apart, and it is made sacred and very dear to God, because we are now his own property and part of his family. Once we’re in the family, once we are his possession, no one could take us away from his possession. No one can rob us from God’s security. We are in the palm of his hand. We have a protection that no one could mess with.
It is God’s own act that makes us saints. We don’t make ourselves saints. The church doesn’t make saints. God makes saints.
“We don’t make ourselves saints, the church doesn’t make saints — God makes saints.”
Saints in the Light
But I want you to notice in verse 12, it says he qualifies us in his inheritance of the saints in light. Now you say, why? What’s why is that dangling there, in light?
Why? Because we weren’t in light before. We were in complete, total darkness about everything—about life, about what’s the purpose of life, what’s important to do in life, what happens after life. We were in complete and total darkness.
It doesn’t matter how many degrees someone could attain, no matter how smart they are in the upper housing group of their brain, they were in darkness. They were left to their own whims about thinking about how to solve problems, especially the deep problems of life.
But here it says, to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Now in the Greek it has a definite article there, and so that means the definite article would be “in the light,” meaning we’re talking about some light other than the light we normally have a relationship with in this world. This is God’s light.
And part of the lot the saints have is entirely in the light, and light is an emblem of truth and holiness and purity and perfection. So we have been brought into this new walk, onto this new walking path, in which the light has been turned on, and now we see things through the prism of scripture, we see things through God’s word, because before we just walked on the path of darkness.
And we know from scripture, God’s light. First Timothy tells us that he dwells in unapproachable light. Also in James, James says, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
The Bible says that Christ is light. Jesus again spoke to them, saying in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
See, you see now how miraculous the Christian life is. This is not just some small little decision you make and nothing changes in your life. When you come to Christ, the lights turn on, you see everything differently, because God is in you by his Spirit.
He has given you the word of God. The word of God is light. The word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
So in other words, I can walk around, I know where the potholes are, I know where the stumbling blocks are. Why? Because God shows me them. He shows me them by the word of God, he shows me how to live, how not to live, what pleases him, what doesn’t please him. I didn’t know how to do that before, no one knew how to do that before, until they come to Christ.
In fact, in the New Jerusalem, when we get there, there’s no need. The Bible says there’s no need of luminaries. Why is there no need? We don’t need the sun or the moon.
For it says in scripture, “And the city has no need of the sun and of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.”
See, this is our destiny, but it’s also our present. You’re going to be walking in a light, and you’re going to be continued to be walking in the light for all eternity. You’re going to see things clearly, you’re going to see things just the way they really are, and that’s the good, bad, and the ugly, and then we can determine what’s the good in the midst of all the other garbage.
See, that’s what God does for us. That’s real conversion. That should be happening in your life every single day. It should be happening in your life, and that’s why we have such a hunger for the word of God, because we want to know more.
“When you come to Christ, the lights turn on — you see everything differently, because God is in you by his Spirit.”
So now we enjoy the full blessing of God as children of light. That’s what Paul said in Thessalonians: “For you are all sons of light and sons of the day, we are not of the night nor of the darkness.”
So the rays of light are knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. The opposite of light is darkness, and both the light and the darkness are viewed in scripture as powers, the former as the means for making us bear fruit and grow, and the latter as the authority or power from which the Father rescues us.
So we ought to be releasing thanks of praise to the Father, because he has made us fit to share in the inheritance through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. See, it’s the heavenly Father who did this by his mighty act of rescue, a glorious act to transfer us into a saving possession.
A possession. That’s why we read Acts 26, where Paul’s mission in the world, given by God, was to do what? To open their eyes, so that they may turn from the darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, and that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among those who have been sanctified. He’s just saying the same thing there as it’s saying here in different words. It’s the same thing, the same consistent message.
“We ought to release thanks to the Father, because he made us fit to share in the inheritance through Christ’s sacrifice.”
God Rescues Us from the Domain of Darkness
If we look back at Colossians 1, notice the second thing that God does. It says the Father does in verse 13: the Father has rescued us from something. It says, “For he delivered us from the domain of darkness.”
I was studying this passage of scripture and something dawned on me. I’ve been saying this in the past and I have to change. I used to say the kingdom of darkness or the kingdom of Satan. It doesn’t say that. It says domain of Satan.
Now that changes things. The Greek here, translated “domain,” is actually a word that means authority or supernatural power or ruling power. So if we, or anyone, is to be rescued out of the power domain of darkness, then it is required that a power greater than that power has to rescue that person.
The power domain is the characteristic and ruling principle of any kind of region. With unbelievers, we dwell before conversion to Christ in a power domain where everyone holy is within its grip. There is nothing you can do to rescue yourself or remove yourself from this power. You’re absolutely subject to it. You’re helpless to gain any kind of escape or release. You can do nothing about it.
Every single person who’s ever been born, from the time of the garden where Adam and Eve fell from God and God shut them out, has been walking in darkness. Every single one of us is walking in darkness, and we’re in a domain that is controlled by a fallen angel called Satan. There’s nothing you can do to rescue yourself from that domain.
You are in it. In that domain, what happens? In your natural state you love darkness rather than light. That’s what it says in John 3: men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.
Listen, I’m loving my sin here. Don’t shine any kind of light on it. Why is sin done at night and in dark places and in secret? Why do we hide it? It’s because we don’t want people to find out about it.
But when the light comes, it starts shining on your life as a believer. What happens? You start seeing all the darkness. I didn’t know I was that wicked. I didn’t know I was that hateful. I never loved anybody in my life. It was all about me. We begin to see those things. Why? Because the light of the gospel is shining in your heart.
Also, the sinner resides in darkness in an unilluminated state. Look what Luke says: “To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.” See, that’s where we are. We’re sitting in darkness, and we don’t know it.
We think we’re in control. We think we know everything that’s going on. We’re smart. We can get by. We’re Americans. We have a step up. All that stuff is a bunch of hogwash. We were in this domain and we’re in it. It’s under its control.
“When the light of the gospel shines in your heart, you begin to see the darkness — and then you can be set free from it.”
Also, in that domain, hatred abounds towards God and people. First John tells us, “But the one who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness.”
And then sinners walk in darkness where no fellowship with God takes place. It doesn’t matter how religious a person is. It says here, “If you say that we have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and we do not practice the truth.”
Satan’s Domain and Its Power
And a lot of religious systems, all that they do is they kind of coddle the conscience, so you think you’re doing as much as you can to be a good person. All that is, is the kingdom of darkness just manipulating you so you stay within his confines.
Satan will give you anything you want. He will allow you to have all the pleasure and joy and money and everything you need in this world. He will do anything, he will give you anything, he will say anything, he will lie to you, so you stay in the kingdom of darkness. That’s what he’s doing.
I’ve already mentioned, but I cannot mention this domain of darkness without mentioning God’s greatest antagonist, which is Satan. After his fall from God because of his pride, he has hated God ever since.
Satan is in the world, and the world, really, the world is in the embrace of the devil. First John tells us, we know that we are of God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
The devil wants to keep the lost in the dark and ignorant of the gospel. It says in Second Corinthians, “Whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
He wants also to delude and trip up the saved and rob them of their peace and joy and stifle their growth and ruin their testimony as children of light. Darkness is ungodliness, it’s opposition to God, it’s estrangement from God.
It includes all those dreadful evils which are involved in the evil state of heart and mind. It’s the power of sin, it’s the tyranny of error, it’s the slavery of corruption.
These are everywhere you go you find them, and it’s not new today, they’ve always been here. Maybe because of our global network of information we just know about them sooner, but the evil’s always been there, the tyranny has always been there, the slavery to corruption has always been there.
These are everywhere and are the characteristic of human nature and existence. It always has been. In other words, the world’s mad, the world is going mad, it’s madder than ever. And it’s not political, it’s not social, this is spiritual. We’re talking about a spiritual battle with wickedness in high places.
Whatever’s going on in our world, whether it’s political, social, or otherwise, Satan is pulling the strings. God’s allowing him to do that because his days are numbered, his time is short, judgment is coming.
He’s already been judged by the cross, just a matter of time before it all comes to a crashing end, but a victorious end for those in Christ.
Satan is a usurper. He actually has no right at all, he’s a rebel. He is one who has taken an authority unto himself that was not his to take. He was never given it, he was never meant to rule humans, he robbed it.
The devil has taken upon himself an authority that was never given to him. He does not have a kingdom, he is a power, but it’s only a stolen power. He has no right to have it, but he does use that power to try to overcome believers and to definitely keep those who are in his bondage in bondage.
There’s no way at all possible that any human being, no matter who they are, how much strength they have, how much knowledge they have, can rescue themselves from that. They are there and they’ll stay there.
It was Martyn Lloyd-Jones who said this: being a Christian is not to have a nice comfortable feeling inside you, but to enter the kingdom of God. The kingdom of Christ. To be a Christian means to be taken out of that horrible darkness, out of the life of sin and shame and evil, to begin a life that is a new life, that is a new start, that you have a new heart.
It means now you belong to him who says, “I am the light of the world, anyone who follows me will not walk in darkness.” Christianity is to belong to God who is light, and in him is no darkness. It is the realm of light and of glory and of holiness and of purity and of peace everlasting. It is the inheritance of the saints. That is what he gives us.
In other words, what I am saying is that the one who rescues you from that domain of darkness is God the Father through Jesus Christ. That ought to bring praise to our lips and worship to our heart, that he has done that, and nobody can undo that.
We release thankful praise to the Father because he has by his power rescued us out of this power domain of darkness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
“To be a Christian means to be taken out of horrible darkness and to begin a new life, with a new heart, belonging to the light.”
God Transfers Us to the Kingdom of His Son
But he just didn’t do that. There’s a third thing he did in Colossians 1:13. Notice what he did: the father now transfers us. It says, “and transfers us to the kingdom of the beloved Son.”
Satan has a domain, Jesus has the kingdom, right? That kingdom is the kingdom of his beloved Son. The very word transfer means to be removed, to be changed from one domain to a kingdom, from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of light. It’s a change of king and realm.
This word is sometimes used to describe the deportation of a population from one country to another. Jesus transfers us to a new kingdom, the kingdom of our beloved Son.
The world’s gone mad. There was a psychologist who is now passed away, but his name was Dr. Charles Berg. He wrote a book many years ago, and the title of his book—now he wasn’t a Christian, actually he was an avowed atheist, but he was a scholar, and he did write a book.
Instead of calling the book mankind, he called it mankind, and the reason why is he was studying the origin and development of the mind in human beings and why they act the way they do. He expressed the notion in his book and his writings where he says that mankind are all a little mad. People are all a little mad, victims of a protracted and still uncured psychosis.
It cannot be otherwise, as described as supernaturalist taboo that colors the social life of people and their personal conduct to such a degree that human thought is founded upon delusions.
Now you would have to say, well, what was the solution once he got done with this research? His solution was this: that parents should be trained in psychotherapy and teach it to their young children before they further corrupt their children to where they would be beyond the cure.
Here’s a man who studied mankind and came up with the conclusion that mankind is mad, but had no solutions. He was right on, except he had no solutions. Brilliant man with no solutions.
Jesus—the father rescues us from the domain of darkness and he transfers us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Children of God have been lifted from the domain of the devil and are now children of his kingdom. In this kingdom, Christ is above all, Christ is Lord and king of all, and Jesus Christ is the preeminent one, which we’re going to find out in the passages that follow this.
It’s just like an airplane rises above the law of gravity because the power of the engines produce a stronger power than gravity itself. The power of God lifts us above the pull of damnation and death and the power of the domain of Satan. The saints are now free from the power of darkness completely, and now they alone walk in the light as God is in the light.
We should release praise and thanks to the father because by his power he has transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That’s what he’s done, and these are the things that ought to be on our mind all the time, so we can constantly thank God every day and praise him, and that should fill our joy.
“The power of God lifts us above the pull of damnation and death, and now the saints walk in the light as God is in the light.”
God Buys Us: Redemption and Forgiveness
But there’s one other thing in verse 14 of chapter 1 of Colossians: that the Father has bought us for himself. Notice what it says: “In whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins.”
What is a ransom? A ransom is a price for liberating either a person or a thing that has been taken or possessed by another, to set it free by the payment of a price. The word redemption has the same idea. You redeem something by paying a price to get it back, and it has come back to you when you do that, to release a prisoner by a payment.
In Matthew, he says he gives his life a ransom for many. In Timothy it tells us, “Who gave himself a ransom for all.” That’s what Christ has done.
The teaching here is that Christ by his death and resurrection looses our bonds and sets us free, who are prisoners, and he does it by paying a price. That price was the price of his precious blood, where he died on the cross and shed his blood. The Bible says, “The precious blood of the Lamb, unblemished, spotless, the blood of Christ.”
Jesus met the holy demands of God’s law on that cross, and the ransom has been paid on Calvary by his death. Through faith in Jesus you have been set free.
The end of Colossians 1:14 shows us that redemption and forgiveness go hand in hand. It says, “The forgiveness of sins,” because without the shedding of blood there is no washing away of sins. The word translated forgiveness means to send away, it means to cancel the debt, that there’s no debt that we have to pay. Christ paid that debt fully for us.
The heavenly Father through Christ not only set us free and transferred us to this new kingdom, but he canceled every sin debt, every sin, so that we cannot be enslaved to them again. We can no longer be condemned by anything that we’ve ever done.
If you are truly in Christ today, nothing can condemn you. Satan cannot condemn you; you are now in the light. Satan can’t make any indictment stick against you again. Remember, he’s an accuser of the brethren, is he not? His accusations mean nothing because you are in Christ.
As it says in Colossians 1:20, “And through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” We are at peace with God.
Can you think of that for a minute? Being at peace with God. Everything’s done. I can sit down and relax. The light is given to me, the kingdom is mine, but I have to get through this life. I have to live in a way that pleases God. That’s what I have to do, that’s what you have to do.
We should be releasing thankful praise to the Father, because by his power, by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, he bought us from the slave market of sin and washed us clean by the blood of Christ. No condemnation to those who are in Christ.
“The Father canceled every sin debt so that we cannot be enslaved to them again — we can no longer be condemned.”
That means that Jesus Christ is the preeminent one in the salvation of sinners. No other person could redeem us, forgive us, and transfer us out of the domain of darkness into God’s kingdom and make us fit for the Christian life and for our inheritance. No one else could do that; there is no other way.
Our Response: Giving Thanks
What is our part? Our part is to give thanks to the Father. Is that too hard to do? But you can’t do that without knowledge behind that. What am I thanking God for? My new car? That I got for this new project that I finished? For my health? I mean, all those things we should be thankful for, but specifically I’m thanking God for so great a salvation that he accomplished for me.
So I can have peace of heart, so I can have genuine joy, so I can live my life knowing where I’m going. Not only that, I can have the light of the gospel shine on everything I’m doing, to know whether I please God or not, and not wonder whether I do. I actually know I do. That is a far different place than we ever were before conversion.
Our part is to give thanks, because he has done everything. Salvation is altogether, entirely of him. What he has done to enable us to enjoy this great salvation: he qualified us, made us fit, he rescued us, he transferred us, he bought us. This is the glorious character of so great a salvation.
Are you giving thanks to the Father for those reasons? To understand them, and you are thanking the heavenly Father for them, you are a Christian. And I’m not talking about just once in a while, this is an everyday thing.
You walk outside the door, say, thank you, Lord, thank you for what you’ve done, thank you for your greatness and kindness towards me. I don’t deserve any of it, but I thank you. All day, living that way.
“He qualified us, rescued us, transferred us, and bought us. This is the glorious character of so great a salvation.”
Scripture tells us that you ought to hold fast to those things, because that’s where Satan wants to take them away from you, and you can’t, but he wants to try.
Call to Examine and Respond
If you never think about those things, maybe you could care less about those things, maybe you think there’s more important matters in life, well, today you need to check yourself to see if you indeed are in the faith, unless you believed in vain.
Look at Colossians 1:23. Notice what it says: “If indeed you continue in the faith, firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.”
In other words, he’s writing against the false teachers now, because their false teaching wants to remove them from what they heard in the gospel. You have to know, you have to do these things if you want to be right with God. And God is saying, no, it’s all done for you, it’s all done.
Now you have to go live for Christ. You’re giving everything to live for Christ.
So let’s think on these things every day, so that it would fuel our knowledge, it will fuel our understanding, it will fuel our thankfulness, it will fuel our joy.
So are you in the light, are you in darkness? That has to be the question. And don’t fool yourself, don’t deceive yourself to think, well, I prayed a prayer 10 years ago and I’m covered. No.
Today, right now, if you die today, would you go to be with the Lord because of what Christ did on your behalf, and you lived that every day? That’s a Christian.
So are you in the light, are you in darkness? That’s a simple question. The answer has to be yes or no.
And if the answer is no, then you have to ask Jesus for the salvation only he can give. You have to come, run to him, where you’re not guaranteed tomorrow. Turn and repent of your sin and have faith in Jesus Christ, and he will rescue you, he will transfer you, he will forgive you, he will wipe out your debt, and he will bring you to be with him in glory.
That’s something to give praise about. That’s where we ought to think as believers. And if you live there, your little big problems, you think, become awful small, because God’s going to give you the wherewithal to deal with them in the spirit of a steadfast, patient joy.
He’s going to do that. These are the things that you and I ought to be practicing, and believe me, I know by experience, when you practice them you actually have a peace and a joy that you really don’t have any reason in this world that should be giving you that, except God, right? That’s where you want to live.
“God will give you the wherewithal to deal with your problems in the spirit of a steadfast, patient joy.”
But if you don’t know that, today is the day of salvation. Please talk to someone today, come talk with me, let me share the gospel with you, let someone in our church share the gospel with you, so you can come to know Christ as Savior, and you can be rescued from the domain of darkness in which you live right now.
Let’s pray. Lord, thank you this morning for the clarity of the word of God. Thank you, Lord, that the word of God does not pull punches, it hits us squarely in the gut and it reaches down to the thoughts and intents of the heart and exposes us for who we really are. Thank you, Lord, for that.
And I pray, Lord, because of it, because of these things, because of what we learn from the word of God, we could be Christians who are praising you constantly, who are thanking you for so great a salvation. And Lord, that would make us citizens that are very productive in this world, citizens who are concerned about lost souls, concerned about the spiritual growth of others, concerned about the glory of God in this world.
So I pray, Lord, no matter how dark the world gets, the brightness and the illumination of the gospel is brighter still. So Lord, make us children of light and allow us to live that way every single day of our life. And as we do that, we would give you all the praise and the glory and the honor for all that you have done and will do in our life. And I pray this in Christ’s name, amen.