The Power Of Darkness
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 5th May service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Col 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
The Power Of Darkness
Our attention this Lord’s Day will be on a few verses from Colossians chapter 1. We shall return next week, God willing, to the prophecy of Isaiah. Colossae was an ancient city in Phrygia in modern day Turkey. It is not clear if Paul personally visited the city but he did send preachers there. By this epistle he also ensured the true gospel was known there and that the name of this city, long since lost to time, should remain precious to all Bible believers.
In praise of grace
Paul never missed an opportunity to preach the Lord Jesus Christ and his letter to this young church begins with praise to God for bringing these saints to a knowledge of gospel truth. His message is all about God’s goodness and he leaves the Colossians in no doubt as to where worship and gratitude for all spiritual blessings must be directed. Paul repeatedly tells them how much he thanks God for them. He attributes salvation to the work of God and not the will of man.
Saving the whole man
Paul thanks God for the Colossians’ faith in Christ, for their love for the saints, and for their hope of glory and everlasting life. Actually, these three favours summarise every believers’ complete spiritual inheritance and God’s purpose in us. Faith is God’s gift to spiritually dead souls. It brings us new life in Christ. Love, being the fulfilment of the law to a spiritual man, is perfect obedience to God in this new life. Our heavenly glory is the eternal reward for all for whom Christ died. Everything is God’s free gift. Every spiritual blessing is by grace.
Passive recipients
As well as giving thanks to God for the gifts given to the Colossians. Paul also prays to God that these believers will be ‘filled with the knowledge of (God’s) will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding’. Again, the apostle traces all our blessings of spiritual wisdom and understanding to God’s goodness and seeks an increase and enlargement at the divine source. In the end there is nothing of man’s doing in salvation and nothing in our spiritual experience concerning which our flesh can boast.
An extraordinary inheritance
To be ‘filled with the knowledge of God’s will’ is an extraordinary request, yet Paul asks for it! The will of God ranges from requiring moral rectitude in His creatures to the covenant of grace with Christ’s deliverance of the elect from judgment. What can it be to be filled with such knowledge? This is not mere head-knowledge or religious theory. It is possessing divine wisdom, enjoying spiritual understanding and knowing the truth that sets a sinner free. It is possessing Christ, receiving the Holy Spirit and every other spiritual blessing in heavenly places. It is ‘the inheritance of the saints in light’.
True (imputed) righteousness
Paul is not imploring and cajoling the Colossians to walk worthy of the Lord under an imposed duty to a legal framework. It is not the law that motivates Christian obedience but love and gratitude. Paul calls believers to walk worthy of the holiness we have and the perfect righteousness with which we are viewed in Christ. By asking God to enable this Paul is requesting that God keep the Colossians – and us – stayed and safe in Christ, ‘strengthened … according to his glorious power’. Which of course the Father is pleased to do.
This is ‘the work of God’
Finally, the apostle describes the work of God. If we were in any doubt where true power in salvation lies, where grace originates, the apostle dispels it right here. God the Father has ‘made us meet’ to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints. Paul could not describe sovereign grace better. From eternal love, election, justification, calling, and all other graces, God supplies every requirement to fit His people for glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ has set us free from the power of sin and Satan. He has delivered us from the power of darkness. This liberating work of God will be the focus of our attention in the sermon tomorrow.
Amen
Our hymns are below.
Hymn 1
Gadsby selection 592
“Mighty to save.” Isa. 63. 1; 19. 20; 43. 11
W. Gadsby 8.8.6.
1
Mighty to save is Christ the Lamb;
Let all the saints adore his name,
And make his goodness known;
With one accord proclaim abroad,
The wonders of their Saviour, God,
Whose blood did once atone.
2
Mighty to save! nor all sin’s power
Can hold the sinner in that hour
When Jesus calls him home;
Nor Moses, with his iron rod,
Can keep the trembling soul from God,
When the set time is come.
3
Mighty to save! he saves from hell;
A mighty Saviour suits me well;
A helpless wretch am I;
With sin oppressed, by law condemned,
With neither feet nor legs to stand,
Nor wings from wrath to fly.
4
Mighty to save! he saves from death;
O may I, with my latest breath,
His mighty power proclaim.
Ye sinners lost, and wretched too,
He came to save such worms as you,
And mighty is his name.
5
Mighty to save! let Zion sing
The honours of her God and King,
Whose love no change can know.
With cheerful hearts, and cheerful voice,
We’ll in the mighty God rejoice,
And sing his praise below.
6
And when the icy hand of death
Shall steal away our mortal breath,
Our joy shall still increase;
Yes, with a loud immortal tongue,
We’ll sing, and Christ shall be our song,
In realms of endless peace.
Hymn 2
Gadsby selection 1083
“Doubtless thou art our father.” Isa. 63. 16; 64. 8
A. Steele C.M.
1
My God, my Father, blissful name!
O may I call thee mine?
May I with sweet assurance claim
A portion so divine?
2
This only can my fears control,
And bid my sorrows fly;
What harm can ever reach my soul
Beneath my Father’s eye?
3
Whate’er thy providence denies
I calmly would resign,
For thou art just, and good, and wise;
O bend my will to thine.
4
Whate’er thy sacred will ordains,
O give me strength to bear;
And let me know my Father reigns,
And trust his tender care.
5
If pain and sickness rend this frame,
And life almost depart,
Is not thy mercy still the same,
To cheer my drooping heart?
6
If cares and sorrows me surround,
Their power why should I fear?
My inward peace they cannot wound,
If thou, my God, art near.
God the Father has ‘made us meet’ to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints. Paul could not describe sovereign grace better. From eternal love, election, justification, calling, and all other graces, God supplies every requirement to fit His people for glory. Our Lord Jesus Christ has set us free from the power of sin and Satan. He has delivered us from the power of darkness. This liberating work of God will be the focus of our attention in the sermon tomorrow.
5th May 2024