Well, let's open to Paul's letter to the Colossians. We've read these verses earlier, but we're going to read them again. There's only three verses. We covered the first 12 verses in Colossians last week. beginning in verse 12, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He has rescued 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. There's an awful lot there, folks. The Gospel writers wrote about Jesus in the Gospels. We learn a lot of things about Jesus. We learn about his human ancestry. We learn about his divine ancestry, his conception, his birth, his life on earth, the things he did and said. In the Gospels are recorded sermons of Jesus and accounts of some, not all as John tells us, of the miraculous things he did. healing the sick, restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, calming the wind in the seas, feeding thousands with just a few fish and a few loaves of bread, casting demons from possessed people, raising the dead back to life. That's quite a full sentence, isn't it? And in the Gospels are accounts of Jesus' suffering and His death at the hands of both the Jewish religious leaders and the Roman government, and of His resurrection and His ascension back to the Father. We saw all those things and more in the Gospel of Matthew. Now, this letter to the church at Colossae is written by a Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus. We know him now as Paul. He had been a persecutor of the church that Jesus had established, and he was called to a different task in many ways than were the 12 apostles. Part of the reason for Paul's calling was to explain the meaning of Jesus' life, death, resurrection, ascension, and coronation in heaven. Let us never, by the way, forget his coronation, or as some call it, his exaltation. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John wrote down what Jesus said and did. Paul often wrote about the meaning of what Jesus said and did, and just who it was that had come into the world and lived among us. And that's what Paul does here in this letter that he addresses to the saints and faithful brethren at Colossae. About 30 years after Jesus' ascension and exaltation, someone, most likely this man named Epaphras, had brought the gospel to the people in Colossae. Colossae was nearly a thousand miles north and to the west of Jerusalem, about a hundred miles east of Ephesus. And in Colossae there was both a pagan and a Jewish population, and there were many different religions practiced there. And here's the thing about different religions. Apart from Christianity, they're all false religions. And false religion always poses a danger for those whose faith in Jesus is weak. See, those whose faith is weak are subject to influence from error. And Jesus said, the only way, the one and only way to salvation is through believing in Him. He is the only way to the Father. But in Colossae, there were those who held other beliefs, just like there are in our world today. And those people were seeking to influence them, just as people in our world today are seeking to not only influence the church, but intrude upon the church and bring sinful practices into the church. There were those who said, well, you can still believe in Jesus, but if you're really to be saved, you've got to do some other things, maybe perform the Jewish rituals, maybe some pagan rituals. And all of those claims that they were making to the Christians in Colossae were false. People can be saved only one way, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And no one's work Whether we're talking about ceremonial works like sacrifices or sacraments as some call them, or moral good works, none of those are good enough to save anybody. Only belief and trust in the good works of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross can save anyone. So here's Paul when he's writing this letter, he's in prison in Rome. Likely between 61 and 63 AD, the church in Colossae has been established. And while he was in prison in Rome, he wrote some other letters, Ephesians, Philippians, and a letter to a man named Philemon. Paul wrote to exhort the believers in Colossae and in other cities, because he said to them, pass this letter when you're done with it to the church in Laodicea. And he's urging them to not depart from the pure gospel word. It's the same thing we urge one another to do every Wednesday, every Lord's Day, to not depart from the pure gospel, the word, or relapse into paganism or Judaism. So last Lord's Day, we looked at Paul's greeting to the saints at Colossae and his prayer for them. And it's a wonderful prayer. I want to look at it for just a second again, maybe for some of you who wouldn't have been here. Here's what he prayed, that they would be filled with the knowledge of his will. Why? Because knowing God's will is absolutely necessary to living according to God's will. One can't live according to God's will. One can't live in a way that pleases God if one doesn't know what pleases God. Paul also prayed. that they would know God's will so they would bear fruit. See, He wants us to be fruitful people, to tell people about Christ, to bring others to Christ, to help disciple people in Christ. He wants us to bear fruit in the nature of serving Him and serving others. And Paul prayed they would be strengthened in their faith. If you're looking for a model for prayer, if you want to pray for somebody, here's some things you can be praying for them. That they'll be strengthened in their faith, that they'll increase in the knowledge of the Lord, that they'll know His will, that they'll walk in a manner worthy of Him. Paul prayed with these goals in mind. And he concluded his prayer for the believers in Colossae in verse 12, where we're going to pick up this morning with these words, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Now in these few words, Paul affirms that it is God and not anything we have done or could do, but God who has fitted us to spend eternity in glory with Him. It's a work of God. As Paul puts it here, He qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Now he's speaking of light here because he's going to talk about darkness in the next verse. And how did God do this? How did He qualify us? Through the incarnation of His beloved Son, the eternal Son of God. And through the life that Jesus lived, and the death He suffered, and His glorious resurrection. Now, it's a fair question, why was it necessary for God to become human? And it's critical to our understanding of the work of Christ that we understand this. Where did this darkness come from? Well, when God created the world, was it dark? What did God say when He first created the world? He said, let there be light. He looked upon all that He'd created and said what? It was good. He saw that it was good. And this doesn't surprise us, it shouldn't surprise us, because God is good. And what He makes would be good. All that He does is good. So, after speaking these worlds into existence, He created, He formed man, not by speaking him into existence, but He formed him from the dust of the ground. Man was formed from the material of the creation and he breathed life into him. The first man, Adam. And God gave Adam breath, life, and a garden paradise in which to live. Light, it was in light. And that man, our oldest ancestor, had something very special. He had fellowship with God. He could talk with God. And God gave Adam a companion, a wife, so they could have human companionship with each other. And they had a most blessed and pleasant existence. The Bible doesn't tell us for how long, whether it was an hour, a day. But in the garden that God had given them, He gave them only one commandment in this blessed place. They could eat from and enjoy any tree in that garden except one. Now, understand, there was nothing evil about that tree or the fruit on that tree. But God required one thing of the people He created, that they submit to His authority. And if they did, they would remain in the light. And God told them, if they did refuse to submit to His authority, they disobeyed Him, they would surely die. And we know from Genesis chapter 3 that Adam and Eve failed this test. They failed because Satan, an angelic being who himself sought to be the ruler of all things, persuaded them to believe not God, but Him. Satan persuaded Adam and Eve to believe Him. And so that day, disobeying God, Adam and Eve died spiritually. It's important you understand what that means. It means they became separated from God. And they and all their descendants would, because of that sin, die a physical death. And they were cast out of the paradise that God had given them. And the world fell symbolically that day into what the Bible often refers to as darkness. I believe, by the way, I know many people don't believe this, but I do, that the great tribulation spoken of in Scripture is this. It is this darkness that the world has been in since the day of that sin. But the fact of the darkness is unquestioned in Scripture. It was as though the Lord had said to them, if you want to be ruled by Satan, very well, you will be ruled by Satan. And that day, Satan gained something of what he was seeking. He gained power over humanity. Scripture would call him the god of this world. 2 Corinthians 4, 4. Jesus would use a similar term to describe him. The prince of this world. And all men and women are born into this world in which sin and death rule. And Satan's method of rule is deception. It's lies. If we're going to understand being rescued from the darkness, we better understand what the darkness is. This is it. 2 Corinthians 4 tells us the God of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. This is why only God can save us. When we follow the meaning of the darkness through the New Testament, it's described as a power. that's both wicked and monstrous. It holds all men in its authority, and all are powerless to escape by their own strength. This is what the Bible teaches us. Only the Father could affect our rescue. Now, if we don't understand we're born in the darkness, and that all apart from Christ are still in the darkness, we're not going to understand the Word of God. But God could rescue us. Why? Because He created Satan and He is more powerful than Satan. And beginning in verse 13, Paul begins to teach his readers about what God has done for His people and about the Lord Jesus Christ. What do you suppose is the first thing he tells us about the work of Christ and His Father? Colossians 1.13, He rescued us from the domain of darkness. He rescued us and He transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son. Verses 13 and 14 are two of the richest verses in all of Scripture. They give us part of the answer to the question, what has God done for us by the work of Christ? He has rescued us. This is the headline of the work God performed through His Son. He has rescued us. Do people even realize they're in darkness? Most don't. Do people even realize they're in desperate need of rescue? We know many who don't. Do we realize that we were or may still be in desperate need of rescue? And if you haven't repented and believed in Christ and surrendered your life to Him, you are in desperate need of rescue. No sense in me standing up here and putting some nice frosting on it. Rescue from what? Rescue from the domain of darkness. This is the Word of God. It's the domain of darkness that all men have been born into because of sin, from the time of Adam's rebellion against God. We only see darkness for what it is when we have light to compare it to. In the darkness long enough, it seems normal. And 2 Corinthians 4-4, which we looked at, tells us the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. He blinded their minds so they cannot see the light. So something has to happen for us to be rescued. Let me tell you a little bit else about the domain of darkness. It's the realm in which Satan exercises jurisdiction over human hearts, over human lives, over activities, over all the powers of wickedness. It's a power and authority that he stole by deception in the garden. when he persuaded Adam and Eve to doubt what God had said and to believe Him and not God. And the darkness, folks, is a place of hate, selfishness, greed, pride, murder, drunkenness, idolatry, lies, sexual immorality, robbery. That's the darkness. It's the world we live in. It's a place of bondage. It's a place of enslavement to sin and to sinful, self-serving desires. And we were all born into this darkness. We were all born concerned with our own well-being above all else, not with serving God. And we were born with a desire to serve ourselves above all others. We love ourselves. We don't have any trouble doing that. That comes naturally. But God's command isn't to love ourselves. God's command, and Jesus said this was the first command, is to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second, Jesus said, is like it. To love our neighbor as ourself. To love others as ourselves. And this requires a change in all of us. We were all slaves, helpless and hopeless and chained by our sins until our conqueror, the conqueror, came to our rescue. This is the story of the gospel. He brought us out of the dark, out of the dismal realm of false ideas and sin and false ideals invented by sinful men into the light of true knowledge, into the light of truth itself. He rescued us. That's what that ark was about. It was a picture showing us of the need that we have to be rescued by God. And He rescued us by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's how He did it. And He transferred us. Paul writes to the kingdom, the kingdom of the Son he loves. Notice the tense of the word transferred. It's past tense. In Greek, the word here is called the aorist tense. This speaks of a completed action. Not just past, but completed. It's already been done. It's already been inaugurated. And look who's king in this kingdom. It's the Father's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The same one who taught the disciples those three years. Same man who worked all those miraculous signs and wonders, who healed the sick and who cured the lame, who cast out demons, who exercised authority over the wind and the sea. It's the same man who was beaten and whipped and spit upon, who was mocked and then murdered on a cross after a sham trial. It's him. It's this same man, at the same time fully God, who is king in this kingdom that we've been transferred to out of the realm of darkness. It's his kingdom. And, you know, as he was about to go to the cross declaring victory over the domain of darkness, Jesus said this, John 12, 31, Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. John 16, 11, the ruler of this world has been judged. It's now the kingdom of Christ. This is the kingdom Jesus inaugurated in His first coming. One day He will hand the kingdom over to His Father. Look at what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, 24. Then comes the end when He hands the kingdom over to the God and Father when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. But folks, this eternal kingdom has begun on earth. But when Christ hands the kingdom over to His Father, it will be, for all eternity, a heavenly kingdom. But what is certain is that believers have already arrived in the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love. You know that feeling of blessing that sometimes comes over you? When you hear the truth, when you know that God has spoken to you, when you realize that whatever it is that's blessed you has come from God, it's a foretaste. We already partake of this promised glory. And if you have any doubt that the kingdom's already come, you need only look at Jesus' words. Well, first those of John the Baptist, Matthew 3.1, in those days John the Baptist came preaching, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus in Galilee in 4.17 of Matthew, repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Look at Luke 17.21, behold the kingdom of God is in your midst. And we've been granted entry into this kingdom because we have received the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. We've been born again. John 3, 3 and 3, 5, Jesus tells us, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Unless a man is born again of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And the Holy Spirit, Indwelling every true believer is what Scripture calls the pledge, the first installment of our inheritance with the saints for all eternity. The Spirit of God within each believer is the guarantee. If He resides in you, it's the guarantee of eternal glory. In verse 14, Paul tells us of other blessings Jesus accomplished for His people. In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Redemption and forgiveness of sins. Together they speak of a payment made by one person to secure freedom and forgiveness for another person. This is a concept that we see way back from Mount Sinai in the Old Testament. Redemption, or ransom as we're going to see is a better term, refers to the act of buying someone, usually a relative, back from bondage, or paying a debt for someone else, and freeing them from that debt. For example, a slave would be in bondage to the slaveholder. Another man would pay the ransom and the slave would be free. Or a debtor would be said to be in bondage to his creditor unless he paid what he owed. And once he paid what he owed, he'd be released from the obligation. But when someone else, a substitute, paid the debt for him, he would be said to have been redeemed by another. And the one who paid the debt was called a redeemer. But imagine the magnitude of the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ. It was like no other redemption ever made. He redeemed every person who would ever believe in Him. As I said, payment of ransom is a better term in English for us than redemption. For us, ransom better conveys the idea of a payment for something who's being held by someone else. held captive. And Jesus used this same word, by the way, to describe why He became human. Matthew 20, 28, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. He would be the price. His life would be the price for our freedom, for our forgiveness. We read the same thing in Mark chapter 10. Jesus' life was the ransom. Paul joins the payment of the ransom with forgiveness in this verse. He speaks of a price paid and forgiveness granted. By his offering of himself as our substitute, Jesus paid the ransom. But only for the sins of those who would believe in him. Jesus only died to pay the price for those who would believe in Him. You're not forgiven if you don't believe in Him. You have no benefit from Jesus' death if you don't believe in Him. The wrath of God remains on all unbelievers. They're not freed from the penalty of their sin. They're not freed from bondage to sin. John 3.36 teaches us this. In other words, the benefits of that ransom payment are conveyed to us, how? Through faith, through opening of our eyes to the meaning of that truth, that Jesus died for our sins. I don't know how it all works in God's divine plan. I know the Bible teaches that as clearly as it possibly could. So what were believers redeemed from? To what were we being held in bondage? Well, Scripture teaches two things. That first, that all are under the wrath of God. As Paul put it in Ephesians 2, 3, we are all by nature children of wrath. And John just told us, 336, those who don't believe remain under His wrath. But we're born children of wrath, and this is so because God is righteous, God is just, and there must be a punishment for sin. The Bible tells us, both Old and New Testament, that the penalty for sin is what? It's death. And our own death could not be of such value to appease the wrath of God that's upon us. It couldn't be of sufficient value to restore us to fellowship with God. Just killing us wasn't going to restore us to a relationship with our Father. We can't atone for our sins, folks, because we don't have enough good in us to do so. Jesus, though, Jesus is different. He lived a sinless life, and so God would accept His voluntary offering of Himself on the cross as the payment for our sins if we believe in Him. That's what redemption is. He freed us. And for those who believe in Him, God has released us from the obligation to pay for our own sin. These are two of the most important verses we're ever going to read. I'm going to say that again. For those who believe in Him, God has released us from the obligation to pay for our own sin. If you don't believe, you're going to pay for your own sin, and you're going to pay for it for all eternity. And so Paul says, in Christ we have redemption, meaning the forgiveness of sins. Jesus did something more because think about it if he just died Well, then okay, maybe we've the sins are paid for but what's still missing we stay dead. Ah But Jesus did something else after he died he overcame death See we can die, but we couldn't have conquered death It's only because he has been raised that we too are raised. I Look at all that Jesus accomplished. 1 Corinthians 15, 22, As in Adam all die, referring back to that death sentence in the garden, so also in Christ all will be made alive. And there's another aspect to this redemption. Because of the sin of Adam, all his descendants, including all of us, were born with an inclination a desire to sin. Anybody here ever, have you ever had the experience of wanting to sin? I know you have. We want to sin. It's our nature to want to do what we want. It's our nature to rebel against God. Paul teaches that not only have all sinned, but that we were all in bondage to sin. That means we were born as slaves of sin. But by and through faith in His sacrificial offering of Himself on the cross, He's caused us to be released from bondage to sin. He's freed us, and here's how we notice this, to actually desire, to actually want to serve Him and our brothers. I hope, once we've made a profession of faith and come to Christ, that we've begun to serve others more abundantly than we had before. This is one way to recognize those who've been redeemed. It's a new desire not to sin, but a desire to serve God and His people. And Jesus' voluntary death, preceded by His sinless life on the cross, meant all of this and more, as we're going to see throughout this book. In this passage, Paul speaks of the blessings that God has bestowed on His people through faith. That's so critical to all of this. Believing God and believing in His Son is the key that unlocks the door to all these eternal blessings. It's God's work, not ours though. And there's something else in Paul's words here that I want to share with you. Because in his teaching in these three verses, verses 12, 13, and 14, is an echo of Paul's own experience on the day that he was rescued from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of the Son of God's love. As Paul's writing here, Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we can see how He must have thought back to His own conversion, to that day as He was traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus, intending and hoping to arrest and persecute Christians. and his own testimony before King Agrippa at his trial in Caesarea. It's recorded by Luke in Acts 26. Remember, as he was traveling to Damascus that day, breathing threats and murder against the disciples, Saul was a man living very much where? In the darkness! And then look what happens. Acts 26, 12, While so engaged, Paul writes, as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining all around me. and those who were journeying with Me. Verse 15, And I said, Who are you, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet, for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness, not only to the things which you have seen, but also to things in which I will appear to you. Now look at verse 17 and 18, Rescuing you From the Jewish people and from the Gentiles to whom I'm sending you to open their eyes that they may turn from what from? Darkness to light and from what from the dominion of Satan to God so that what so they may receive forgiveness of sins and verse 12 and inheritance among those who have been sanctified how by faith in me and All of the themes of Colossians chapter 1 verses 12 through 14 appear in Paul's own testimony of his own miraculous conversion to faith in Jesus. His own rescue from darkness. His own deliverance from the dominion of Satan to the kingdom of God. The forgiveness of his own sins and the promise of his own inheritance in light. And you want to hear some good news after all this talk about darkness? That same miracle occurs in every man, woman, and child who comes to faith in Jesus. If you truly believe in Him, and all He has said and done and promised, and if you've turned from your sin and turned to following Jesus, you've received that wonderful miracle. But if you haven't turned to Jesus in faith, Believing He is the eternal Son of God, come in human flesh. Believing He lived a perfect life of obedience to His heavenly Father. And believing in His death as the payment for your sins. And in His bodily resurrection, back to life. And it's my prayer that today will be the day. This morning will be the morning. And this moment will be the moment that you cry out to Him for forgiveness. and that you once and for all place your trust in Him. Eternity is at stake here, folks. I pray this will be the hour that you resolve to turn from your old life and turn to a new life in Christ. Father, I pray that from this moment forward, all of us gathered here will resolve to walk, to live in a manner worthy of You. who've given us so much and who has blessed us so abundantly. Pray this morning that this word will seek deep into our hearts, Lord. Convict us of our failures, move us to trust in you, serve you, your people, our neighbors, our communities. for Your kingdom and for Your glory. In Christ's name, amen.