Let us pray. Once again, our Heavenly Father, we come to you seeking for divine assistance, not only spiritual assistance, that what is said would be true according to your word, and that it might find lodging in the hearts of all who hear. But we also ask our Lord that you would be with us physically. strengthen us due to the weakness of our bodies as we live out our lives in this sinful world in a body that is decaying. And we know not how long Our time is upon this earth. Many of us have had various afflictions that have let us realize and know just how weak we are. Things that we do not think will happen to us, happens to us. as it does with many others. And so, we thank you that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever. That you change not. We vacillate in many ways. Oftentimes we reflect upon our sinfulness and our unworthiness, and realize and know that without you, we can do nothing. And so we ask our God for forgiveness, for our slothfulness, our indifference, our focusing our attention upon our own selves. Sometimes we feel sorry for ourselves in our various conditions. And so we ask forgiveness for that as well. We do pray that you would bless us as we Continue to look forth into your Word. And pray, Father, that you would take the truths of the Holy Scriptures and apply them unto our souls. Bless us. to realize and know that we are here on purpose. And as long as we are here, we're here for your honor and your glory. Yes, you know our frame that we are as but dust. And we thank you that we can take comfort that you pity us as a father pities his child. And at the same time, we thank you that there are times when we can submissively kiss the rod that smites us. So we pray that you would continue to be with us, direct us, and strengthen us by your grace and power. Lest we forget it, our God, we are mindful of many people last few days who have lost much of their possessions in the storms and tornadoes. I pray that you would have mercy upon them. We do know that you have your way in the whirlwind, and yet we don't understand all of these significance behind it. But we do ask that you would show mercy unto them. We thank you for blessing those who recently went to Nicaragua to return home safely and to seemingly have had a profitable ministry there these last few days. We ask these things in Jesus' name, Amen. We left off in the first chapter of Colossians, and we're looking at verse 13, but I want to go back, since it's been a couple of weeks, and pick up in verse 9 and to get some of this of Paul's prayer. You know, it's not easy following Paul sometimes, because in his prayer, he starts off asking for things, and then the next thing you know, it's just like Paul has taken off the runway and ascended up into glory to enjoy the gracious fellowship and the blessings of God. And you see that in this, and therefore it's not always easy to know where his prayers stop, or even sometimes where they start. Verse 9, For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, unto the patient and long-suffering and joyfulness, 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, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, or all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. I want to remind you of the two words in verse 11 of patience and longsuffering, that they are synonyms, but they have a little different view of looking at things. And it is generally considered that patience is us dealing with things in our lives. But longsuffering is how we deal with people. And I thought that was a good thing and a good distinction to keep in mind. Patience and longsuffering. That longsuffering is You know, how we put up with people. And patience is how we put up with things that irritate us and try us in many ways. But coming down into verse 13, "...who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, We have been delivered from the power of darkness. Now, sometimes it seems like we're still incaptivated in the power of darkness. We live in the world. The devil, Satan, is the god of this age. And there are many things that really trouble us. But you know why you understand what is true and what is wrong? It's because you have been delivered from the power, the authority of darkness. There's been a change in you. Not as much a change maybe as you would like, But there's been a change in you. Let's look how this Word is used in relation to our deliverance. First of all, in Luke 22. Luke 22. Verse 53. Jesus said, when I was daily with you in the temple, you stretched forth no hands against me, but this is your hour and the power of darkness. This is your hour. This is the power of darkness. Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26. Here we remember Paul was before King Agrippa. And Paul was telling Agrippa what his ministry was. And we take up in the middle of it, in verse 18, to open the eyes to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God." Now, God translates us out of the power of darkness. But the Gospel turns us from darkness to light. The Gospel doesn't deliver us out of darkness, but it turns us from the darkness to the light. And therefore, we need to realize and know that this darkness from which we have been delivered is also involved in the preaching of the gospel. In Ephesians chapter 5, Paul writes there in verse 8, For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord, walk as children of light, proving what is acceptable unto God, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. We were darkness at one time. Not only were we in darkness, we were darkness itself. We thought we knew, but we didn't know anything. And I can remember the days of my ignorance when I was in darkness. But thanks be unto God, He delivered us from the power of darkness. We've been delivered from the power of darkness. If it were not for you being delivered from the power of darkness, you'd be out there on the streets. You might not actively take part of some of the things that others do, but you would be all for it. You wouldn't think anything about it. And some of you have heard you say from time to time, well, I just don't see why anybody can't see the difference. Well, it's because they're in darkness. And if you were still in darkness, you'd see the same thing they're seeing. But it's God that translated it. We didn't all of a sudden get smart. We didn't all of a sudden just wake up and see the light. This is the work of God. This is the work of God. And Paul thanked God that the Colossians were delivered from the power of darkness. Look at 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2 and verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him, notice, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Beloved, if you know anything above what the world knows, it's only because God has called you out of darkness. into His marvelous light. And unless God calls you out of darkness, you'll stay in darkness. You'll stay in darkness. You remember in 1 John, when we went through it in chapter 1 and verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. 1 John 1.6. The idea of an individual being a Christian walking in darkness is contrary to the Word of God. God calls us out of darkness. God calls us out of darkness. And Paul thanked God that the Colossians were called out of darkness. but not only just called out of darkness, but made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, in whom we have redemption, no, excuse me, who has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son. Did you know that you are the subjects of a kingdom? You have been translated into the kingdom of God's dear son. Now, obviously, we could do a in-depth study on the kingdom. It's a large study. It's a large study. But let me just say right off the bat, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of Christ and of God, the Kingdom of His dear Son, And other such-like phrases is all talking about the same kingdom. There's not two or three different kingdoms under Christ. There's only one. There are people that say that the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are different. But let's just look at a few verses. Look at Matthew chapter 19. Matthew 19. Taken up in verse 23. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Now notice right there. Two verses, one right behind the other. Jesus used the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God in the same expression. Not two different kingdoms. Not two different kingdoms. Let's look at Matthew 4. Matthew 4. Verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. But look at Mark chapter 1. Mark chapter 1 and verse 15. And saying, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, and believe the Gospel." Talking about the same thing. One place he says, the Kingdom of Heaven. The other place he says, the Kingdom of God. Not only that, look in Matthew 5, verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. But in Luke, Chapter 6, notice what we see here. In Luke 6, in verse 20, And He lifted up His eyes on the disciples and said, Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. So one, the kingdom of heaven. The other, the kingdom of God. And it's talking about the same thing. And I won't take the time to turn to them, but in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 5, and if you compare that with Revelation 11 and 15, Ephesians 5 verse 5 says, Hath any inheritance in the kingdom of God and of Christ? And Revelation says, The kingdom of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. In other words, these phrases, kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God, kingdom of Christ, they're used interchangeably. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God is one and the same thing. So when you're reading through the Scriptures, and you read that says the Kingdom of Heaven in one place, the Kingdom of God in another place, and you say, what's the difference? Just say, there's no difference. One is looking at it from God's standpoint, and the others looking at it from Heaven's standpoint, but in all reality, they're one and the same. So, you don't have to be worried about that. And so, when Paul said, he was thankful that they had been translated into the kingdom of his dear Son. You're translated into the kingdom of heaven. You're translated into the kingdom of God. You're translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. the only begotten Son of God. Now, I do want to say one thing about that. The begotten Son of God does not mean that Jesus began to be the Son of God at one time. Jesus has always been the Son of God. He never began to be the Son of God. He's always been the Son of God. And He's the image of the invisible God. He's the expressed image of God. You want to see Jesus? Would you like to see Jesus? Or excuse me, let me put it this way. Would you like to see God? Well, I believe that you're going to see God in Jesus Christ. You'll never be able to see God in His fullness. You know why? Because God is everywhere. There's no place where God is not. And you would have to be everywhere to see the fullness of God. You would have to be everywhere to see the fullness of the second person of the Trinity. But the Lord Jesus Christ, in His human body, He's the expressed image of God. And so, if you say, I sure would like to see God, ask the Lord to show you Christ. Look to Christ. Look for Christ as you read and study the Word. Children, as you read the Scriptures, look for Christ. Look for Christ. And ask the Lord to open your own eyes and your own understanding. We need to do that as grown-ups. I confess too often When I'm reading the scriptures, my mind is straying off on other things. I have to come back and think about what I'm reading. Let me say this. Even though we as children of God have been translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, we don't always feel like it. We ought to, but we don't always feel like it. Frankly, This past week has been one of the most difficult weeks for myself. Feeling sorry for myself, feeling down and out, thinking God had forsaken me. You know the routines. You say, well, I don't know what you're talking about. Well, you don't know Christ. You know what? But I don't want us to think that since we are translated into the kingdom of His dear Son, everything's always rosy and bright. We still struggle. We're sinners. We live in a sinful world. We allow our surroundings to dictate to us. Sometimes we get down and out. We don't want to read. We don't want to study. We don't want to pray. We don't want to sing. That's reality. That's reality. And we need to know this and we need to keep this in mind. This is why maybe Paul said at the beginning of his prayer, He said, we do not cease to pray for you and desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. I tell you, beloved, unless I am out of sorts in a way that I shouldn't be, You would not offend me to pray for me that God might fill me with the knowledge of His will and wisdom and spiritual understanding. I need it. You need it. And we need to be mindful of that to pray for one another. We hear of people that have various afflictions. And we pray for them. I've heard of people that are battling cancer and other things that they don't know that I'm praying for them, and no matter to that. But I need to remember also to pray for them that they might have spiritual understanding, that they might be filled with the knowledge of the will of God. You know how you hurt? You know how you get out of sorts when you're not doing well physically? You're no different from any other sinner. You say, well, I sure feel like it. Well, I do too. We all feel like it. But it's not a matter of feeling, it's a matter of faith. In whom we have redemption through his blood. We have redemption. Paul didn't write to the Colossians and say, I hope you will have redemption. He says, we have redemption through the blood of Christ. When's the last time you thanked God for the blood of Christ? That precious blood of Christ. You know, I'm really getting ahead of myself, and I'll probably read this again later on in the book of Colossians. But I've got something here I want to read about the precious blood of Christ. I put this in my Bible case some months ago. This is something that Brother Gass did back in 2010. Now, I want you to compare this to the blood of Christ. Because what I'm about to read to you didn't do anything with sin. But the blood of Christ did. 1 Kings 8.63, and Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered unto the Lord two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. This would be approximately 8,727 55-gallon drums of sheep blood. At about 8.8 pounds per gallon, each drum would have 484 pounds of blood in it. The drum itself would weigh approximately 40 pounds, A drum loaded with sheep's blood would weigh about 524 pounds. To meet Tennessee trucking requirements, you could put about 80 drums on each flatbed truck. You would have approximately 110 flatbed trucks loaded with sheep's blood. And we're just talking about the sheep's blood. But there were 22,000 oxen. With a fairly conservative estimate of 15 gallons of blood to an ox, this would be 330,000 gallons of ox blood. This would be approximately 6,000 55-gallon drums of ox blood. Each 55-gallon drum filled with ox blood would weigh about 524 pounds. To meet Tennessee trucking requirement, you could put about 80 drums on each flatbed truck. You would have about 75 flatbed trucks loaded with oxblood. To transport the blood shed when the temple was dedicated would require 185 flatbed trucks loaded with 55 gallon drums filled with blood. If you decided to transport the blood, 480,000 gallons of sheep blood, plus 330,000 gallons of ox blood, in large tank trucks which carry gasoline, the maximum capacity of these trucks is approximately 3,000 gallons, It would take 270 of these large tank trucks to transport all this blood. All this blood did not do away with even one sin. However, every drop of it was a reminder of the one whose precious blood washed away the sins of all the elect children of God. Hebrews 9, 12. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered him once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 1 Peter 1, 18, 19. For as much as you know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by the tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Ephesians 1, 7. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, according to the riches of his grace. Hebrews 13, 20, now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. A lot of blood, isn't it? Can you imagine seeing that much blood poured out on the ground that day? But you were redeemed. by the precious blood of Christ. Just a few pints, just a few pints in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption. In whom we have redemption through his blood. We have redemption through his blood. I've got several passages here, but I'll look at Romans 3.24. You know it well. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Justified freely. Those of you who have read my book on justification, what's that word, freely? Without a cause. There's nothing in you that would justify you. It's only by the blood of Christ. This is what Paul prayed for the saints at Colossae. for their forgiveness of sins. Aren't you glad that there is forgiveness of sins? Not just sin in the singular. Forgiveness of sins in the plural. Y'all have heard me say this many a times One of the songs that we sing sometimes, it says, my sin not in part but the whole. I normally sing it, my sins not in part but the whole are nailed to the cross and I bear them no more. I do not bear the sins. have forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins. Too often, our prayers are focused on asking, but we need to be mindful of thanking our God for the many blessings given to us in salvation. I've tried to do this from time to time, but sad to say too often, I quickly revert from thanking God to asking for things that I want. I'm thankful that God gives us that liberty Well, before we get into verses 15 through 17, we won't take that up this morning. Lord willing, we'll try to bring something to that this afternoon. But thank God for your redemption. Thank God that you've been translated out of the power of darkness into His dear Son. Make a conscious effort to thank the Lord. You know, if somebody does something for us, we try to go out of our way to thank them for it. We need to go out of our way, as it were, to thank our Lord Jesus Christ for what He has given us. Let's pray. Holy Father, we do thank you for the salvation that was given us in Christ Jesus, even before the world was. We say those words, or at least I can make the confession, say those words, and sometimes it seems much like idle tale. But it's not. It's real. And there is a man in glory right now, seated at your side, making intercessions for us. I thank you, Father, for your long-suffering in putting up with us, or at least with me. Your long-suffering astounds me more and more as I live out my life upon this earth. I thank you for Jesus Christ and the blood of Christ that is more precious than gold. Apply these truths to our heart. And for any here whose heart may not be open to receive these truths, would you open their hearts, O God? Would you show your mercy in such a way and deliver them from the power of darkness Translate them into the kingdom of your dear son. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.