I invite you this morning to take your Bible and turn with us once again to Colossians chapter 1. Book of Colossians chapter 1. In verses 9 and 10 we have seen how Paul shared with this church at Colossae the prayers he offered up for them. His prayer and desire was that the will of God be done in their lives. And that's really the prayer of any true man of God, is that he wants to see the will of God done in the lives of those that he preaches to. Paul's desires were the same as Christ's desires for the church. We've seen thus far how Christ desires that His church be filled with the knowledge of His will. How He wants us to walk worthy of the Lord. How He wants us to be fruitful in every good work. how He wants us to increase in the knowledge of God. And last week we saw how He wants us to be strengthened with all might according to His glorious power. Now there's one more thing that Paul mentions here that God desires from His church, and that's found in verse 12. And that's this, Christ wants His church to be thankful to the Heavenly Father. Let's read verses 12 through 14. He says, "...giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." I understand that these epistles, though they were addressed specifically to the churches that are named, they were also addressed to edify all the brethren of all the churches who read them, including the churches of our day. They're given on our behalf. And so Paul, the things that he enumerated as Christ's will for his church at Colossae, it also applies to us as well. You know, I'm thankful that the Word of God never gets outdated. It's always up to date. And, you know, we don't need to scrap it. It don't need to be rewritten. It needs to be re-read, re-studied, but not re-written. Amen? We just need to read it, and absorb it, and believe it, and obey it. In Paul's prayers, you'll find one thing that was a constant in his prayers. As you look at his letters to these churches, he was always thankful, wasn't he? That's a constant in each of these places that we find him writing. There's so much that we need to be thankful for, amen? I mean, God has done so much for us. And that's what I want us to take a look at today. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will stir within our hearts an attitude of gratitude and praise toward God for all that He's done for us. Now, what do we as believers need to be thankful for? We see here in these three verses that He enumerates five things. First of all, we need to be thankful that God has made us fit to receive an inheritance. Look at there again, verse 12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. The phrase hath made us meet means to enable or to qualify. We've been qualified to receive an inheritance. And I want us to turn to a couple of different places here in Scripture. Hold your place there and turn with me please to Romans chapter number 8. Romans chapter number 8. When we were born into this world, we were born spiritually destitute, weren't we? We were spiritually poor and had nothing. We were bankrupt. But once we came to Christ, understand that we immediately became heirs and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We became rich, not only rich in salvation, but rich in all of what Christ owns and what is His. He has enabled us. He has qualified us to be partakers with the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Romans 8 verse number 29. Romans 8, and to get to the right place would help in my script. Here we go, Romans 8, 29. It says, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called, whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Now he talks about that we're glorified. You know, one of these days the Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to see Him in glory, aren't we? He is glorified. And we're going to be glorified together with Him. Look there at Romans 8 and verse number 16 and 17. He says there, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. So we'll be glorified together with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are heirs and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Take a look at 2 Corinthians 5 for just a moment. 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5, and I want to pay attention to verse number 1 and some verses following here. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 1 says, For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, talking about our bodies. If we had this earthly tabernacle dissolved, he said, we have a building of God, and a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. You know, as we look at houses today, they're some glorious houses, aren't they? You know, you look at some things that folks are building and you say, man, how in the world did they put that thing together? you know, some monstrosities. But I think about the greatest, whatever the greatest house is here on planet earth does not even begin to compare with the house that we have not made with hands, the one that's eternal in heaven. So notice verse 2. He says, For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for this selfsame thing is God. who also hath given us the earnest," or they've given us the down payment there, of the Spirit. The Spirit, what he's talking about, the Holy Spirit has been given to us, and the Lord says, hey, you know, I'm with you, and I'm going to come back and get you. It's the assurance that we have that He's going to come again as He said He did. Look at verse 6, Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, and I say willing rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him." Listen, God has made us fit to receive an inheritance. I don't believe that our finite minds can comprehend just exactly what we have waiting for us in glory. Revelation 21 verse 27 says, "...there shall no wise enter into it." Talking about the heavenly Jerusalem. There is not going to enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." We live our lives here in this sin-cursed world, on this sin-cursed planet. And you know, we can enjoy some things, but there are a lot of things that we don't enjoy. I mean, some of us in the past few weeks, we've had sickness in our life, haven't we? We've had some things that came, You know, the effect of that sickness on our bodies is not something that we desired. We wanted to see it go away. You know, there's coming a day when the curse of sin is going to be done away with. When we're not going to face sickness. We're not going to face death anymore. Revelation 22 verse 14 says, Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates of the city. Looking forward to entering into the gates of the city and seeing what that tree of life is all about. Amen. The Bible says there in Revelation 22 that it's got 12 men or fruit. I would not tell us what kind of fruit, but I can tell you it's good fruit. Because God's the one that made it. 1 Peter 1, verse 3-5 talks about how when we were born again, we were born again into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And it talks about that inheritance that we have. And it gives a description of it this way. It says that we have an inheritance that's incorruptible. It's incorruptible. It's undefiled, that fadeth not away, and that is reserved in heaven for you. What a blessing, amen. When you think about our earthly inheritances that we may receive. I received a little bit of inheritance from my mom this past year when she passed away there in September. And you know, it's not a whole lot, but it's a lot more than what I had before. But you know, it's limited in what it can do. It's going to be gone one day. It was limited, but listen, it's going to fade away, but the one that's in heaven, it's incorruptible, it's undefiled, and it doesn't fade away, and it's reserved in heaven for us. God has made us fit to receive that inheritance. Second thing I want you to see, back in our passage, is that God has delivered us from the power of darkness. That's what it says there in verse 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. When we think about when we were born into this world, we were born desperately needy, weren't we? desperately needy. And the power of darkness was sweeping us away. Sin was already in our lives and already had a grip on our lives like an undercurrent. The word delivered has the idea of somebody being drawn out of a rushing current. Have you ever seen somebody saved from drowning? Pulled out of a rushing current? I grew up on the coast and we used to go to my uncle's. He had a cabin that was on the Little Satilla River. The only thing about the Little Satilla, though, it had a lot of currents, a lot of undertow. It's not a place where you would want to go out there and swim. You could see them swirling. I remember back during Hurricane Dora that one of my cousins had a fiancé who was trying to help my uncle secure a cabin cruiser that he owned as the storm was moving in. Well, the storm was making the currents even more difficult, and though he was a good swimmer, he jumped into the water and was going to grab a hold of the rope to secure the boat with when he dived into the water and never saw him again alive. He was found after the hurricane swept through many days later. He had drowned, even though he was a good swimmer. That's what sin does to us. It doesn't matter how you think you can endure the storms of this life. The storms of this life can be most terrible in our lives, but it's not terrible with the Lord Jesus Christ in our lives. The word delivered, though, has the idea of being rescued out of a rushing current. Psalm 38 verse number 4, the psalmist put it this way, For mine iniquities are gone over my head as a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. And they are, aren't they? If we didn't have the Lord Jesus Christ, we would have to go through the burdens of this life without Jesus in our lives. It is a heavy burden. It was a heavy burden before. Psalm 40 and verse 12 says, For innumerable evils have compassed me about, and mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me. There's a passage of Scripture in the book of Acts in chapter number 28 where where the Apostle Paul was, he was before King Agrippa, and he was giving a testimony of what the Lord had called him to do, how the Lord had appeared unto him, and the message that was given to him was this. Listen to Acts 26 and verse number 16. The Lord told him, He said, But arise, stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. He said, To make thee a minister and a witness, both of the things which thou hast seen and those things in which I will appear unto thee, delivering thee from the people and from the Gentiles unto whom now I send thee. And listen to what He says. He says, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light. That's what the gospel does in our life, isn't it? It turns us from the darkness of sin, from the darkness that we knew before Christ Jesus, and we have the light of Christ living in our lives. God delivered us from that power of darkness which was so great a power. In fact, it was the reason why Jesus came. In fact, Hebrews 2 and verse 14 tells us, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he, speaking of Jesus, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Aren't you glad to have light, the light of Jesus Christ shining in your life? Listen, there are a lot of folks who don't have the Lord in their life. This is what the Bible says about those that are lost. In 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3 and 4, But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. You see, Satan wants to keep folks blinded. He wants to keep them in the dark. But we've got the light. We have the light of Christ. We've got the gospel of Jesus Christ who lit up our lives. And we're to be lights shining in this dark world, showing others the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. And those blinded eyes, you know, the Lord can touch those blinded eyes. He touches them with the gospel. The gospel is what opens. The gospel is what brings forth a conviction of sin and of righteousness and of judgment through the Holy Spirit of God bringing that from the preaching of the gospel. So God has made us fit to receive an inheritance. God has delivered us from the power of darkness. But we see the third thing there in verse 13, is that God has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. That's exactly what it says there in chapter 13, the latter part of verse 13, hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. Well, what's that talking about? Well, we know that Christ is going to have an earthly kingdom one day, but that's not what Paul is talking about here. He's speaking of something that had already happened to these believers at the time of their salvation and happens to us at the time of our salvation. We used to be under the control of Satan and our sinful flesh, but now we're part of a new kingdom. Amen? There's a new king reigning. that reigns in our lives. King Jesus is now in charge. He is Lord. I want you to think about that. Think about Jesus for just a moment. Jesus is God. And Jesus is reigning in our hearts. Think about it for just a minute. He's omniscient. Jesus knows everything. That means if He's in your life, He will never lead you wrong. He knows exactly what's the best for you and me. Amen? Does Jesus know what's best for your life? He most certainly does. You know, sometimes we think we know, and we go along in life and we'll choose a route ourselves that looks like it's going to be okay. We become kind of like Lot. We choose with our eyes rather than going before the Lord and asking Him what direction we should go. Remember Lot's eyes got him in trouble. He chose him, that plane there that was on the outskirts of Sodom and Gomorrah. And it wreaked havoc in his family. But listen. The Lord is omniscient and He'll never lead us wrong. He knows what's best for us. Not only that, He's omnipresent. That means He will never leave me nor forsake me. Wherever He calls you to go, whatever He calls you to do, whatever place that you might be, He's there. Isn't that a blessing? Not only that, He's omnipotent. He will empower me for whatever task that He calls me to do, and He'll empower you for what He calls you to do. Romans 14, 17 says that the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. The kingdom that we live, the kingdom that we're not a part of, is a kingdom of righteousness. It's His righteousness that's been added to our lives. And He wants us to live in His righteousness. It's a kingdom of peace. He purchased our peace. There on the cross of Calvary. He is our peace. And He wants us to have peace in our lives. And as we surrendered to Him, we can have peace in our lives. It's not only a kingdom of righteousness and peace, but it's a kingdom of joy in the Holy Ghost. And He wants us to have joy in our lives. In the midst of whatever circumstances that there are. Paul talked a lot about joy. In fact, as he wrote to the Philippians about joy and told them to rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice, he was writing that from a prison cell. You say, how is that possible? Because of Jesus in his life. He didn't joy in the circumstances he was in. He joyed in the Lord. That's where our joy comes from. It comes from knowing that God has His hand no matter what circumstance that we are in. We are His and He is ours. We see another thing we've been given. There in verse number 14, it says, Colossians 1.14, "...in whom we have redemption through His blood." We have redemption through His blood. In other words, God has paid the price of our sin. And listen, He's the only one that could pay the price of our sin. We could try to begin paying for our sins, and we'd never have enough paid out to equal what sin has wreaked havoc in our lives. Redemption means to set free and enslave people. Matthew 20 and verse 28 says that the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and listen to this, and to give His life a ransom for many. Aren't you glad you're one of the many this morning that he gave his life for ransom for? I mean, we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. Think about that. Look at Galatians chapter number 3. Galatians chapter number 3. And we see there in verse number 10. Galatians 3 verse 10. And he was trying to convince these Galatians who had been influenced by the Judaizers. These folks, they had trusted the Lord as their Savior, but then they heard the Judaizers say, well, you know, Christ is not enough alone. You've got to keep the law too. And He was showing them how utter foolish that was. Look at verse 10. He says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. Listen, if you're trying to be saved by keeping God's law, you're going to utterly fail. We all utterly fail. For by the works of the law is what? It's just the knowledge of sin. There's no justification. Look at verse 11. He says, But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us. Aren't you glad? Listen, if the law could not bring the righteousness that we needed. The law could only bring death, could only bring the curse. We needed someone to get us away from that curse. Christ is the one. Verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He took our curse, didn't He? For it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. We've been redeemed from the curse of the law. Listen, we've been redeemed from all iniquity. Titus 2.14 says that. It says, Who gave Himself for us, talking about Jesus, that He might redeem us from all iniquity. I like that word all, don't you? And those of you that have been here for a while, you know what we say, right? All means all, and that's all that all means. All iniquity. We're talking about the iniquity of our past, the iniquity of our present, the iniquity that we might have in the future. Listen, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself peculiar peoples, zealous of good works. It's a precious redemption, isn't it? We were redeemed, not with corruptible things, but with incorruptible, by the precious blood of Christ. As 1 Peter 1 verse 18 and 19 talks about, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, that redemption we have is a precious redemption. But I'm glad it's a sufficient redemption. 1 John 2 verse 2 says, He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And that word propitiation looks at the mercy seat. You think about it, there's a heavenly mercy seat that matches the one that he described and prescribed for Moses and the children of Israel to build, to be a part of the tabernacle. Remember they would make the sacrifices and they would take the blood from the sacrifice and they would pour it upon the mercy seat. And that's where they would get the covering for their sin for that year. They would have to do that the Day of Atonement. They would have to do that continually every year. But Jesus is our peace. He's our propitiation, that blood. And He only had to do it once for all. He's the propitiation for our sins. His blood satisfies Our God who saw our sin, but now all He sees is the blood of His Son. And it's a sufficient redemption. And I'm glad it's also an eternal redemption. Hebrews 9.12 says, Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And Hebrews 10, 14 says, For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. So God has paid the price of our sin. A price that we could not pay. A price that no one else could pay for us. It took the sinless Son of God to pay that price. Then we see because God has paid the price of our sin, God has also forgiven us of our sin. And that's the last thing we see this morning in our passage. It says there in verse 14, Colossians 1.14, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Even the forgiveness of sins. Look at Colossians 2 and verse number 13. Colossians 2 verse 13 says here, it says, And you being dead in your sins, And the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened, or made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Again, all means all, and that's all that all means. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, talking about the law, that the law was contrary to us, wasn't it? Which was contrary to us. Took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Thank God we have forgiveness. God's forgiveness is always associated with the blood of Christ. God does not arbitrarily or sentimentally forgive sin. I know some people have the idea that when everything is said and done about this earth, We leave planet earth, all of us, and we're standing before God, that God's just going to say, well, you know, y'all just all come in. It ain't going to be that way. If you're not covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, you don't have that forgiveness of sin. Acts 10, 43. It talks about to Him, that is to Jesus, give all the prophets witness that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. See, now His blood is sufficient for the whole world. There's enough covering by the blood of Jesus to forgive anyone. They provide a covering for anyone that will come to Him, but you've got to believe in Him. because only those who believe in him shall receive remission of sins. 1 John 2.12, the apostle wrote, he says, I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. Ephesians 4.32 says, God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Listen, forgiveness causes us to be blessed. The psalmist said as much in Psalm 32. Verse 1 and 2, he says, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Aren't you glad the Lord is not going to impute your iniquity, your sin to you? It's been placed on Jesus. My transgressions are forgiven. My sin is covered. I'm blessed because the Lord is not going to impute. My iniquity on me. He's imputed it already to the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgiveness causes us to be blessed. Forgiveness should cause us to fear God. Psalm 130 verse 4 says, But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. You know, we find forgiveness with the Lord and He wants us to fear Him because of the forgiveness that He gives to us. Forgiveness should also cause us to love Jesus. Remember in Luke 7, verse 47, where it says, Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. I wonder, how is your love for Christ? How much have you been forgiven? We've all been forgiven greatly, haven't we? Our love for the Lord ought to be great. Think of all this, this morning, that we've seen that God has done for us who are saved. What should that do for us? What does it cause? Thankfulness to gush from our very lives. Not just thanking God with our lips, but thanking Him with our lives. We ought to want to show God with our lives how thankful we are for all that He's done for us. Now listen, if you're not a child of God today, you also have some things to be thankful for. You can be thankful that you're still alive right now. You still have a chance to be born again into the kingdom of God. You can be thankful that God's still seeking for you, for you would have never sought Him out. He's left His Holy Spirit to convict you of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment, and to draw you to Himself. You can be thankful that you have heard the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for your sins, because it's only the gospel of Jesus Christ that can bring salvation in your life. Now, if you really want to be thankful for what God has done for you, you need to reach out in childlike faith and receive what God has done for you through Jesus. Amen? To me, the height of ingratitude is someone providing a gift at great cost and you saying, no, I don't think so. What do you think about your children, those of you that have children? They have a birthday and you love your child and you want to give them a gift and you give them the gift and they turn it down. Now that would break your heart, wouldn't it? It would. You think about the gift that was provided through the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest gift that has ever been given. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. to reject God's Son that was given in such a way that we might have the forgiveness of sins, that we might have life eternal. It's the height of ingratitude. So if you've not trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, trust Him today. And if you have trusted Him, how's that Thanksgiving going in your heart for all that He's done for you? Are you showing Him that Thanksgiving in and through your life? I trust that you are. Let's bow for prayer. Father, we just thank You so much for all that Jesus has done for us. Lord, we know we came into this world all the same way, needy, lost in our sins, spiritually bankrupt, but Lord, You provided exactly what we needed through Christ Jesus. Lord, help us to see all that we have. We not only have eternal life through Christ, but we are heirs and joint heirs through Christ Jesus. And Lord, when we view all that you've done for us, all the many spiritual blessings that we have in Christ, Lord, may our hearts want to show that gratitude through our lives. Lord, work in the hearts during the invitation today, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand. I'm going to have a hymn of invitation. As the song plays, if you need to come, I'll be down front to help you if you need help. The altar is open if you need to come.