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Epistle of Paul to the Colossians II
Fred R
Coulter—October 23, 1993
This is the
study in the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Colossians, and it is in the Expanded
Amplified Translation, which I have done for the purpose of this study. So
let’s continue on where we left off last time, but let’s just review a couple
of things—down through Colossians 1:6 is where we got last time. So I
want you to understand how these epistles are put together, how God inspired
them to be put together. Not only these, but almost every other writing in the
New Testament. So when you study in the New Testament, you can also see this
pattern that is there.
First of all
in the first chapter as we noted last time, I’ll just rehearse some of the key
words, we have grace, blessing, peace, faith, love, hope, truth, love, hope,
grace. So every one of these epistles starts out with an encouraging and
uplifting and a very important understanding we have to have toward God; that
God is the one who is doing these things for us. Then as we go along,
especially in this first chapter, as we will see, it comes down to the “hope of
glory, which is Christ in us” (Colossians 1:27).
Then in
Colossians 2 he begins to address some of the problems and difficulties that
they have, especially with philosophies and false religious practices, as we
will see, get into quite detail when we get there. Then in Colossians 3 he
shows them how to overcome these things; how to live our lives in a daily,
detailed way.
Now you will
find the same thing in Ephesians and Philippians, here in Colossians, you can
see it in the book of Romans, you can see it in everything that the Apostle
Paul has written. And then when you come to the end, he tries to encourage us
by again getting our minds back on God and seeing the things that we need to.
So this is a real tremendous and inspiring thing that God has given and I think
that all of us as ministers need to pattern our speaking after the way that the
Apostle Paul wrote; and if we do then we are going to find that we are going to
have far more success and be able to help more people. Because after all God
doesn’t want us beaten into the Kingdom of God, He wants us to want to be there
and He wants us to understand
·
His love
·
His hope
·
His peace
·
His grace
because that is what is going to
get us there, as we will see today.
Now let’s
come down here to Colossians 1:6 where we left off last time and went through
and showed about the spiritual fruit of hope and love. Colossians 1:7:
“Precisely as you have been taught in your discipleship by Epaphras, our
beloved and dear fellow servant, who is a faithful and dedicated servant and
minister of Christ; Who also related and declared to us your Divinely inspired
love… [Now wherever the word agape is, I have translated it with the
expanded translation, Divinely, inspired love or Divine love.] …Your Divinely
inspired love and concern in the Spirit. Because of this wonderful report, from
the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying and interceding for you,
beseeching God on your behalf, requesting and petitioning that you may be
filled and be abundantly supplied with the knowledge and full spiritual
perception of God’s very own plan, of His will and personal desire, revealed in
every aspect of spiritual wisdom and sagacity and right-mindedness” (vs 6-9).
Now let’s
follow along here with each one of these verses, let’s take v 9 and look at
some other Scriptures which help amplify this for us and we’ll see the pattern
that he wrote concerning how we are to have this understanding. It is a
spiritual wisdom, and the spiritual wisdom also brings to us and tells us the
intelligent, right-mindedness, and I think that’s something that we need to
focus on as far as the Holy Spirit of God is concerned. Because that’s the way
we need to think. We need to think with the Spirit of God and the way that God
wants us to is to have His Word in our heart and our mind and our being. That
way then, we can do as Jesus said, “To bring every thought into captivity, to
the obedience of Jesus Christ.”
Now let’s go
to Ephesians, the first chapter, and see how Paul continually prayed for all of
those in the Church that they would grow to this knowledge and wisdom and
understanding. And the thing that we need to understand—especially in the
light of the fact that too many of the Churches of God, because going through
and accepting this doctrine of trinity, now are saying that God is a mystery,
we can’t understand—where that is a direct contradiction of what Paul
said. Paul wants us to understand. We’re going to see that these things can
only be understood by the Spirit of God. They’re not going to be understood
because we, as human beings, have great intellect.
Ephesians
1:17: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory…. [Now maybe
you could make that as a long, individual study there yourself, the Father
of glory. What is the glory of God? What is it going to be like when we
have a glorious body and that we are the glorious expression of God’s own
purpose and will and desire?] …may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation… [So these
things have to be revealed, as we will see.] …in the knowledge of Him.”
Now you
might tie in your notes and put there 2-Peter 3:16-18: “that we are to “be growing in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (v 18). And as we
have seen there in Ephesians, the fourth chapter, how that we are to grow up
unto the full measure of the stature and the fullness of Christ. So I tell you,
this indicates to me, that we have a long way to go and what God has for us is
really fantastic.
Now
continuing here in Ephesians 1:17: “…and revelation in the knowledge of Him. And may
the eyes of your [understanding] mind be enlightened…. [Now that
is quite a phrase. I am struck by that phrase so many times, every time I read
it.] …And may the eyes of your [understanding]
mind be enlightened in order that you may [know] comprehend… [Every
where you go God wants us to know, He doesn’t want us to be in doubt. He
doesn’t want it to be a mystery that we can not understand, because the mystery
of Godliness is Christ in us and the life that Christ lived, and
how He came to the earth and then was crucified and resurrected and sits at the
right hand of God, and the mystery of Godliness is that we are going to
also have our part in it, because Christ is the first born among many
brethren.] (Let’s continue here now): …that you may comprehend what is the hope of His calling… [With
this kind of hope, this is to inspire us, this is to uplift us, this is to
really bring us to the knowledge and understanding of God.] …and what is the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints…” (vs 17-18).
Now we are
going to expand somewhat on some of this, as we go through some other
Scriptures today. So right now, we’ll tell you that we’ll go through the
inheritance and so we need to think a little bit more about the inheritance.
God is not going to give us something, which is just kind of ethereal. God is
not going to give us a bag of wind. God is going to give us substance. After
all, God is the one Who created the universe, isn’t He? And God is going to let
us share in that inheritance with Jesus Christ.
Now v 19: “And what is the exceeding greatness of
His power toward us who believe… [and that is the key. You
must believe! The one Who comes to God
·
must believe that He is
·
and you must believe Christ
·
and you must believe in His plan,
·
and you must believe in His hope
·
and faith
·
and love
·
and all of this sort of thing.
Then God is
going to be able to open your mind, to give you strength, to give you wisdom,
to give you understanding and so forth.] …according to the inner working of His mighty power.”
Now, let’s
go to 1-Corinthians the second chapter, and I know that we have gone here
several times recently, but since we are on the theme of this, we need to go
through and really understand it. Let’s back up here to 1-Corinthians 1:26: “For you see your calling, brethren,
that there are not many who are wise according to the flesh… [And that
doesn’t mean that if we have someone who is wise, he is to say, ‘Well, there
are at least a few, aren’t there?’ And there was one man who wanted to have a
ministry toward the intelligent of the world. He used to be in the Church of
God. So when he left, he set up a work where he was going to reach out to the
intelligent of the world. Well, God hasn’t called the intelligent of the world.
Once in a while He calls someone who’s intelligent so at least we can have some
wisdom, but I tell you what, among us, there isn’t anyone who is wise. And our
only wisdom is going to come from God.] …not many who are powerful, not many who are high-born among
you. Rather, God has chosen…”
(vs 26-27).
When you see
the words chosen and calling, you can put in there John 6:44:
‘None come to Me except the Father draw him, and none come to the Father except
through Me,’ and so forth. God is the One who is chosen. So any time you get
down or you get discouraged, or you think that things are really so bad and
rotten and miserable that you don’t know which end is up, remember:
1.
God has called you, personally,
2.
God loves you.
So, it’s no
great thing that we’re the foolish of the world. And He has done this to
confound the wise. And remember at the Feast I went through and showed how that
God is going to make the synagogue of Satan come and worship at the feet of
those who truly love God. “…and God has chosen the weak things of the world… [So, when you
go along and you find you’re weak and you find you are having a difficult time
overcoming, God knows that, He didn’t call the strong and mighty.] …the weak things
of the world so that He might put to shame the strong things. And the [base] low-born of the world…
[I’m sure the Apostle Paul included himself in that because he said that he
was the least of the saints.] …and the despised has God chosen… [So, this is really telling us that
in the world, we may not have the greatest public relations with people, but we
need to have that right relationship with God.] …—even the things that are counted as
nothing—… [The things which are not even counted to be important or
worthwhile or anything.] …in order that He might bring to nothing the things that are; So that no
flesh might glory in His presence” (vs 27-29).
No one is
going to walk up to God and say, ‘God, I knew it! God, I knew it! You just had
to call me because of this or that—yickity, yack!’ No such thing is going
to happen. Verse 30: “But
you are of Him in Christ Jesus, Who was made to us wisdom from God—even
righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption… [Again, notice
the pattern, how the Apostle Paul brings out the very encouraging things before
he gets into any of the difficulties. And believe me, as you know, the book of
1-Cor. is filled with problems.] (Now, let’s finish v 31 here, and then we will
go over to chapter 2): …So
that, as it is written, ‘The one who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” And that
is where everything that we have stands, that is where everything we have
begins and ends, right there, just like we need to picture with the Word of
God. It is not a line, it is not a circle, but it is a sphere. And if we look
at it from the point of view of being a sphere, then the Word of God can have
an infinite number of lines passing through that sphere, and they all connect
with an infinite number of connections to make a beautiful whole and fantastic
picture that we find in the Word of God. But, we’ve got to dig in and get it
out. So it is just like this: When we come to God and glorify Him, when we come
to God and realize, as Paul said there in 1 Cor. 4:7, that there is
nothing that we haven’t received, that it all comes from God. Then we
are made the wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Now, let’s
come to 1-Corinthians 2:1: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with superiority of
speech or wisdom, in proclaiming the testimony of God to you. For I decided not
to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified…. [So, that is
not an expression that we are to look to the cross as some people believe. That
is not an expression that we can now wear crosses or commit idolatry by having
these trinkets and things hanging around our neck. But, this is the crucifixion
of Christ and everything that that stands for, everything that that means. So,
when you look at that, you can put in there, ‘save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified,’ you can put the entirety of the four Gospels. That is a summary of
it.] …And I was in
weakness and in fear and in much trembling when I was with you; And my
message and my preaching was not in persuasive words of human wisdom;
rather, it was in demonstration of the Spirit and of power; So
that your faith might not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (vs 1-5). And, brethren, I just pray that we can come more
closely to the kind of faith that is listed here in 1-Cor. 2:5. That it’s going
to be in the power of God. Now, we have a lot we need to do. We have a lot of
things that need to be accomplished but we can only do it if we have this kind
of faith. And God has to provide.
Now, let’s
continue on here in v 6: “Now we speak wisdom among the spiritually mature that is
those who are spiritually mature; however, it is not the wisdom of this world, nor
of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing. Rather, we speak the wisdom of
God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom… [Now it is
hidden from the world, but not us, as we will see.] …that God foreordained before the ages…
[And we know God’s plan was conceived before He even created the world.] …unto our glory” (vs 6-7). Now think
of that for a minute! Here we are, whatever we are, whatever our physical
condition is, whatever our stature in life is, whatever our life has been, think
of it! That God has called you to share in the glory which He
proposed before the world was. So, that is really something, let’s
really focus on that. I know some people have said, ‘Now we are going through
the dark time between the Feast of Tabernacles and Passover, and that’s Satan’s
greatest hour, with Christmas and all that sort of thing.’ So, if we get down
and discouraged, really focus on that!
Now, notice
v 8: “Which not one of
the rulers of this world has known… [So, God has given us something which
not even the leaders of this world know.] …(for if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord
of glory); But according as it is written, ‘The eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him’” (vs 8-9). I think it
is very important that we understand and realize that this same pattern, before
anything is brought out on how we need to change and overcome, Paul inspires
the people to look to God, inspires them with the love of God, in hopes that
when he brings out the things that need to be taken care of, they will do it
themselves, without having to have some taskmaster with a whip to whip them
along.
Notice v
10—this is a profound verse—and we have read this, and I have given
sermons on it and so forth, down through the time in my ministry—but, just
think of this: “But God has revealed them to us… [God
has made it known! So, if you tell anyone, you are a begotten son of
God, and you are going to become a true spirit, glorified son of God and have
the same existence as God, they won’t understand it. God has revealed
that to us.] (now notice): …by His Spirit, for the Spirit
searches all things—even the deep things of God…. [And,
brethren, pray that we can come to a greater understanding of those deep things
of God; and of the wisdom and knowledge as the Apostle Paul said.] (v 11): …For who among men
understands the things of man except by the spirit of man which is in him?…. [And God has given every human being that spirit of man, so
they can have intelligence, so that they can use their brain, so that they can
exercise choice, etc.] …In the same way also, the things of God no one
understands… [That is by himself, because, the, ‘Eye hasn’t seen, nor the
ear heard, neither has it entered into his heart.’] …In the same way
also, the things of God no one understands except by the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of
the world, but the Spirit that is of God, so that we might know the
things graciously given to us by God… [Now, that’s tremendous, brethren.
That is absolutely, every time I read these things, I just get so inspired, it
just leaves me, in most cases, without the words to express it, but I hope that
with the Spirit of God in you and in me, that God will convey to us what He is
relating to us through the inspired words of the Apostle Paul.] …Which things we also speak, not in
words taught by human wisdom… [Now, if you want to know about man’s wisdom, just get
out that whole 120 page thing that Carl Franklin did on the trinity. That is
man’s wisdom in trying to grope around in the dark and understand God without
going to God and saying, ‘God, teach us of Your way.’ You aren’t going to find
God through that kind of nonsense.] …but in words taught by the Holy Spirit in
order to communicate spiritual things by spiritual means. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; for they are
foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are
spiritually discerned” (vs 10-14).
And so that
is a tremendous blessing, brethren, and that expands out what the Apostle Paul
said here when he wants us to come to the full spiritual knowledge and
understanding and righteousness of God in the things that God wants us to do.
Now, let’s
come back to our expanded Amplified Translation of Colossians
1:10—so we can go ahead with this and understand even more: “That you may
walk worthily, conducting your lives in a manner which promotes growth of
Christian character in the Lord, and which expands into a way of life that is
pleasing and acceptable to everyone… [Which means that, as you grow in the love
of God, obviously] …that you may abound in every good work and endeavor,
thereby growing and increasing in the knowledge and spiritual perception of
God.” Now I translated, ‘the understanding’ as the spiritual perception of God.
Now, let’s
just take one section back here in Ephesians 2, and let’s see how the Apostle
Paul was preaching nearly the same thing that we understand concerning the
works that we need to walk in; concerning our lives and how we need to conduct
them. Ephesians 2:10: “For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto the good works…” And those
are the good works of love and truth and knowledge and understanding.
Now, let me
ask you a question here: What does the world do to get rid of lawbreaking? Now,
let’s think on this for just a minute. And this just dawned on me, just this
passed week. In the world, to get rid of crime, they get rid of the law. When
there is too much marijuana smoking, for example, they want to do away with the
law, which says it is illegal to legalize it. When there is too much adultery
they want to legalize prostitution. And so, the carnal mind, to get rid of the
problem, tries to eliminate the laws and commandments of God. Now then, let’s
apply this same reasoning to how the Protestants look at grace.
Go back to
Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith… [And then
they proceed to take that statement and say that since it’s]: …Not of works, so that no one may
boast…. [And say that then, there is no law, there are no commandments
that we need to follow. So, they take the same carnal-minded approach to God’s
way that with grace, they themselves eliminate the laws and commandments of
God, in the same carnal-minded way that the world does. Now just think on that
and you will see that is exactly how they do it. And whenever they go to Eph.
2, and read those verses, they very seldom read v 10, which says]: …For we are His workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus… [so what God is doing in us, is creating that Holy, righteous,
perfect character. Creating in us, through the hope of glory which is Christ in
us.] …unto the good works that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them”
(vs 8-10).
Now wherever
there is the word walk used, that means the way of life that we are
living, the path of life that we are walking. And, the path of life that we are
walking is:
·
God’s way
·
and God’s Truth,
·
with His love,
·
with His Spirit,
·
with His hope,
·
with His commandments
and as Jesus said, “If you love
Me, keep My commandments.” So, that was really something, I was walking down
the hall coming down to my office here, and it just struck me, just this week.
What a thing. That is amazing. That is how they do the grace. That is what is
so confusing with it. So, we do have good works to walk in. We do have things
that we need to do.
Now, let’s
come back to Colossians 1:11—and hopefully, we will make a little
progress here today, I hope. If not, we will just take it as we need to take
it, and go right on through and finish as much as we can each Sabbath as we are
going along. “(And that through God you may be strengthened, energized with all
power… [now the word power in the Greek is ‘dunamis’—which means energy,
which mean strength, which means it’s the living, vital power by
which God does everything. So, therefore I translated it]: …energized, with all
the necessary power, strength and spiritual courage in every situation
according to the might and the forceful power of His divine majesty and glory;
granting you endurance and patience in all things… [because the word patience,
where it says, in the book of James and this is the same Greek word, it says
patience. You have heard of the ‘patience of Job.’ That has more to do with enduring
patience then just being patient of mind in the way that you don’t get
riled or upset easily.] (This is): …endurance and patience in all things, that
you may have joy and happiness,’ (even in mentally torturous situations).”
Because, this brethren, when we are going through trials and difficulties is
the only thing that is going to keep us in the joy and happiness of God.
Now, let’s
look at one section of verses concerning v 11. Let’s go to 2-Timothy, the first
chapter, and see what the Holy Spirit is to do. See how we are to have the use
of God’s Holy Spirit. And this is something we have to do. I’ll give a sermon
here in the near future on how you use the Spirit of God and what we are to do
with it, what the Spirit of God can do for us and so forth. 2-Timothy 1:6: “For this reason, I admonish you to
stir up the gift of God… [Now the gift of God for any ministry is also by the
grace of God, that’s why Paul said he received the apostleship by grace.] …stir up the gift of God that is in you
by the laying on of my hands.”
So, we need
to understand, it happens to every one of us. Every one of us, as it says there
concerning the ten virgins: we slumber and sleep, don’t we?—that we let
things kind of slack along. So, what Paul is saying here to Timothy, who is a
minister now, any minister who is a minister knows that this also happens to
him as well as to anybody else that God calls because we are struggling against
the pulls of the flesh and the pulls of the world and so forth. So we are “stir up the gift of God that is in
us…” And we do that by prayer and we do that by study, we do that by really
meditating on God’s Word and so forth. And if we can put together the keys of
David a little bit more that would be one fantastic way of stirring up the gift
of God which is in you.
Verse 7: “For God has not given us a spirit of
fear… [and this is what is so absolutely hellacious and damnable for the
brethren of God, when they are put in fear, when they are preached fear and we are going to see that that is the total opposite of what God wants. God
does not want us to be in fear. God does want us to go around in just terror,
as it were, in some cases. He hasn’t given us that spirit.] …but of power, and of love, and of
sound-mindedness.”
That is why
I translated intelligent ‘right-mindedness,’ back in the first chapter
of Colossians, because it gives us the power of a sound mind. “Therefore, you should not be ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; but jointly suffer
with me for the sake of the gospel, according to the power of God” (v 8). And I think we all really need to grasp that and
understand that that is what is happening to the whole Church right now. That
God is putting the Church through all these various trials and difficulties so
we that won’t be ashamed of the Gospel. That if we do have afflictions, that we
are going to be able to overcome them and endure them through the power of God.
Now, notice
v 9: “Who has saved us
and called us with a holy calling… [Boy, I tell you, the Apostle Paul
really, really brings out how fantastic and inspiring that calling is, doesn’t
he? Almost every epistle we see the same identical pattern that God inspired
the Apostle Paul to write the epistles. We see it again, repeated here in
2-Tim. 1.]. …—not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and
grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time; But
has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, Who has
annulled death, and has brought to light eternal life and
incorruptibility through the gospel Unto which I was ordained a preacher, and
an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles; For which cause I am also
suffering these things; nevertheless, I am not ashamed. For I know Whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that He has the power to keep what I have committed to
Him for that day. Hold as the standard for doctrine the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good thing that was committed to you by the Holy Spirit that is dwelling in us” (vs 9-14).
Brethren
that is a tremendous thing! Just put that together and really be inspired, and
of course the Apostle Paul had to be really inspired with it, and he was
confronting some of the difficulties that we are confronting, even today.
Because, if you look at v 15, right here, he says: “You know this, that all those who are in Asia have rejected me…” And I still don’t understand that verse completely but
I think through this series of Scripturalism vs Judaism, and the other
things that we will put together, we may be able to comprehend what was going
on here. But isn’t that something?
·
After all that the Apostle Paul did;
·
after all that he wrote;
·
after all that he taught;
·
after all the love and the joy and the hope and the
goodness and the correction and everything that God had given;
he writes to Timothy and in a very
desperate way and says that ‘you know all which are in Asia turned away from
me.’ So that is something! I tell you, if you think we are living in difficult
times, there you got it right there. And if it is going to be repeated again,
in the end-time, which it very well may be we are not too surprised with the
apostasy then that is taking hold in the various Churches of God.
Now, let’s
go back to our translation of Colossians 1:12: ‘We are giving thanks and
offering up praises of gratitude to the Father, Who has made us competent….
[Now, just turn to your King James for a minute and let’s read that
verse in the King James and we miss one of the most profound and
important things in the New Testament. Colossians 1:11: “Strengthened with all
might, according to His glorious power, and with all patience and with
longsuffering with joyfulness; Giving thanks unto the Father, Who has made us
meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (vs 11-12, KJV).
Now, think of it for a minute, what is the word meet, m-e-e-t? Well, it doesn’t
mean anything in English to us, but the Greek means: made us competent or
has qualified us.
Now, let’s
think about how many sermons that we have heard in the past, brethren, ‘you
have to do this to qualify for the Kingdom of God.’ Yes, it is true there are
things that we need to do, but let’s also understand that it is ‘God who
has made us competent and has qualified us for the
inheritance of the saints in light.’ So, that is really something! That is
something! God is the one who qualifies us, because He has what?
·
He has called us,
·
He has given us His Spirit,
·
He has forgiven our sins,
·
He has sent His son Jesus Christ for the propitiation of
our sins,
·
He has sent Jesus Christ so that we can live our lives
through God’s Spirit, exactly as Christ wants us to, and Christ in us.
So God
is the one Who is qualifying us. That is so very important. And this
has the thing which is so important if you know that God is qualifying us. Some
people think well then you know if you say that God is doing it for us then
everyone is going to slack off and not do the things that they ought to do. No,
that is the reverse. With God’s Holy Spirit, if we know that God is doing this
for us, this inspires us to do more what God wants us to do. Not just the
reverse of it.
Now back to
the Amplified Translation of it here: “…and has qualified us, and has
qualified us for a share and portion of the inheritance and eternal destiny of
the saints (the holy, consecrated, called-out ones in Christ), in the light of
divine truth and spiritual illumination: Who has delivered and rescued us from
the power and authority of the spiritual darkness and moral depravity (of this
world)… [And boy, I tell you we sure see it coming now, in power and darkness,
in evilness. Just as we saw here recently with the situation with the Rodney
King case. Well they finally convicted the officers of depriving Rodney King of
his civil rights who, by the way, is a drunkard and a dope addict and has a
long record. He is out free, making money, giving speeches and all this sort of
good thing, while the officers are in prison; and then those who rioted because
of the first sentence of acquittal against the officers, those who rioted and
burned Los Angeles and went against Reginald Denney, I think it was, and beat
him nearly to death so much so that he is personally injured, permanently for
the rest of his life. They got off scot-free. So you see this is going to turn
this society more into wickedness, more into lawlessness, it is going to put
the dividing line and put people against people and hatred against hatred and I
can just visualize in Los Angeles, that there are going to be more guns and
more shootings and more racism and more hatred than ever before because of this
thing. It is unreal! And that is because, the spiritual darkness and moral
depravity of this world is coming in full force.
Now
contrasted with that, let’s continue and finish off v 13: “…and has caused us
to transfer our allegiance and obedience unto the Kingdom and the governance of
his very own Son, Jesus Christ.” Now, it does not mean as it is implied in the King
James that we are in the Kingdom of God now. Let’s read that in the King
James. “Who has delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us [transferred us] unto the kingdom of His dear Son.” Now, you can put in
a lot of Scriptures there. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
We will be in the Kingdom at the resurrection, etc., etc., etc. So we are not
in the Kingdom now; cannot be because the Kingdom of God is not here. But, we
are under the jurisdiction and governance of the Kingdom of God and His Son,
Jesus Christ.
Now let’s
look at some other Scriptures and expand this out just a little bit here. Now,
Who is the true light? Let’s look at a couple of verses. Let’s go to Acts 26:18
and see that the whole message of the Gospel is to transfer us away from the
power of this world.
(go to the
next track)
The Apostle
Paul showed that was the whole entire purpose of his ministry. When he came to
Rome and was preaching to them there, this is what he taught. He was giving his
defense before he got to Rome. And showing how, what his mission was and was
talking to Agrippa and the whole chapter, you can read that Acts 26. And he
said—v 18: “To open
their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the authority of Satan to God… [unto the power of God] …so that they may receive remission of
sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified through faith in
Me.” Now you see how the Apostle Paul continually preached the inheritance,
the tremendous power of God and how that we are to have our eyes open. Here is
a tremendous, in v 18, summary of the whole Gospel.
Now, let’s
go and see some other verses concerning this. Let’s go to Isaiah 60 and let’s
see the prophecy of Christ coming. If you have the recording of The Messiah this is one which is really very inspiring. There is also another hymn, a solo,
which has been written off of Isaiah 60. Isaiah 60:1: “Arise, shine; for Your
light is come! For the glory of the Lord is risen upon You…. [And that’s sure
true for us, those who have God’s Spirit, it is risen upon us.] …For, behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples, but the
Lord shall arise upon You, and His glory shall be seen upon You…. [And this is
a prophecy of Christ and His first coming, when He came to a world filled with
darkness.] …And the Gentiles shall come to Your light, and kings to the
brightness of Your rising…. [And of course, as we know, that many times the
prophecies in the Old Testament go from His first coming to His second coming,
in many cases intertwine the both of those together. And so sometimes it’s
difficult to really separate it out, but it applies in both cases.] (v 4):
…Lift up your eyes round about, and see: and they all gather themselves
together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters
shall be nursed at your side” (vs 1-4). It blends into the return of Israel,
when they come back out of captivity when Jesus returns, but also it is a
prophecy of us when we are resurrected to meet Christ in the air.
Now, let’s
go to Isaiah, the fifth chapter, and let’s see compared with that how in living
in this world, that is wicked and dark and under the power of Satan the devil,
what is actually happening in this world. We are seeing this today. As a matter
of fact, you could read the whole chapter of Isaiah 5. We will see this is
really something, the way it is coming. Let’s just go to v 20, so we won’t get
detoured too far here. Isaiah 5:20: “Woe to them that call evil good, and good
evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them who are wise in their own
eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (vs 20-21).
Now,
brethren what I have read to you is a summary of what is happening, not only in
the United States, but in the world today. And just think of all the policies
and things that are coming down through the government now. All of the things
that are being declared and we will see why this is happening. Let’s go on now,
v 22: “Woe to them who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to
mingle strong drink; Who justify the wicked for reward, and take away the
righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore, as the fire devours the
stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as
rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because… [here,
brethren, is the cause of the darkness of this world and what Satan the devil
wants everyone to do. You can think about this concerning your federal
government, beginning with the President all the way down through all the congressmen
and Senators and judges and bureaucrats. You can think of this with your state
government and all the governors and their legislatures. You can think of this
with everything that is done in the society and there is this active force to
do what the rest of v 24 says]: …because they have cast away the law of
the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel” (vs
22-24).
And so that is why the darkness is coming on this
world. And brethren, it’s a shame, why should we have to see Churches of God
doing this. Go back to the world to try and understand their perverted
philosophy and understanding of God and go back and reject the laws of God, go
back into the darkness that is there, go back and reject the words of the Holy
One of Israel, which is Jesus Christ, as you know? And it is really quite a
thing!
Jesus spoke
of this…let’s go to Matthew, the sixth chapter, for just a minute here. Matthew
6:22—and it shows how that this darkness can affect so many human beings.
And when you have people, when the wicked are put in power, the vilest of men
come to the fore. Now I just paraphrased one of the Proverbs there. Now,
Matthew 6:22: “The light
of the body is the eye. Therefore, if your eye be sound, your whole body shall
be full of light…. [And that’s what it needs to be, brethren.
·
Our eye needs to be single in purpose toward God the
Father and Jesus Christ.
·
Our eye needs to be single in the understanding and use
of the power of God in our lives.
·
Our eye needs to be single in loving God with all of
our heart and mind and soul and being.
And he says
then]: …your whole body
shall be full of light…. [And that’s why Christ has transferred
us from the darkness and the wickedness of this world.] …But if your eye be evil, your whole
body shall be full of darkness. Therefore, if the light that is in you be darkness, how great is that darkness!…. [And it is
just tragic to see people leaving God, throwing away the Word of God, giving up
on the Spirit of God, going sound asleep at the switch, running off and letting
their lives be filled with darkness and they just don’t understand. So then
what follows on the heel of this is v 24]: …No one is able to serve two masters… [You
can’t serve light and darkness. You can’t serve good and evil.] …for either he will hate the one and
love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon” (vs 22-24).
Now all of
those of you, if you have ever had two bosses, and you get caught in the power
struggle between the two bosses, you know exactly what these verses are talking
about. Well, it is the same thing. If you go back and eat at the table of
demons, as Paul says, then you’re serving two masters. You cannot serve Satan
and his darkness and serve God and His light. We have been called out of that
into His light.
Now, let’s
go to John, the first chapter, because we are going to see that Christ is
that light. It talks about it with the coming of Christ. We know the
first three verses with complete memorization of it. John 1:4: ‘In Him… [that
was the Word Who became flesh] …was life, and the life was the light of men.”
Now, hold
your place right here and let’s just look at Colossians 1:27, because that is
the whole summary of everything that he is doing in chapter one. Colossians
1:27, let’s read that and then come back here to John 1. “To whom God did will
to make known and to reveal what is the riches and the abundant blessings of
the magnificent glory, even the surpassing magnitude of this mystery among the
nations; which is Christ in you, the hope of the magnificent splendor and glory
(which shall be revealed in us).”
Now let’s
come back to the Gospel of John, the first chapter. So He is “the light of
men.” Now John 1:5—when Christ came]: “…And the light shines in the darkness…. [And didn’t
we read the prophecy that darkness covers the earth? Yes.] ...but the darkness does not comprehend
it…. [And it also means that the darkness did not overcome it.] (Then
it says here): …There was
a man sent by God, whose name was John. He came for a witness, that he
might testify concerning the Light…. [capital L] …so that through Him all might believe.
He was not the light, but came that he might testify concerning the
Light. The true Light was that which enlightens everyone who comes into the
world…. [So it is even talking about here in the sense of the spirit of
man, that He gives intelligence to every man. Isn’t that something?] (Now,
notice v 10): …He was in
the world, and the world came into being through Him, but the world did not know
Him” (vs 5-10). That is a profound statement! Isn’t that something? The world
rejected Christ. The world didn’t know Him.
“He came to His own, and His own did
not receive Him; But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to
become the children of God, even to those who believe in His
name; Who were not begotten by bloodlines, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the will of God…. [And here is
a profound verse to even think on here, v 14]: …And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us
(and we ourselves beheld His glory, the glory as of the only
begotten with the Father), full of grace and truth” (vs 11-14).
So,
brethren, it really, really becomes something when we understand the words of
Christ, we understand the plan of God. Let’s go to John, the eighth chapter,
since we are here in the Gospel of John, and let’s see what Jesus said here,
John 8:12: “Then Jesus
spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world; the one who follows
Me shall never walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’” So if you
are following Christ you will have that light of life.
Let’s go to
John 9:4: “I must work
the works of Him Who sent Me while it is still day. When the night
comes, no one is able to work…. [And, brethren, that is going to apply in a prophetic
sense to our very end-time. There have been times when the curtain of darkness
has followed on this earth. Remember there is even a period in European history
which is called what? The Dark Age or the Dark Ages. When what? Satanism
and Catholicism and all of that stuff reigned supreme and brought darkness. So we are going to go through the same thing again.] …When the night comes, no one is
able to work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world”
(vs 4-5).
Now let’s go
to Romans 13. It’s absolutely magnificent how God has inspired His Word and put
it together. It is something else brethren! It is just so great! And I hope
that we can really study these things together and grow in grace and knowledge
together. Romans 13:11: “Now consider this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour that we should be roused out of sleep; because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed…. [And it is getting nearer. Whether
it is going to be the return of Christ or we die in the faith. Remember, Jesus
said, through the prophet Isaiah in Isa. 57, that God takes the righteous away
from the evil which is coming. And that means that when one of the saints dies,
so that is a reality for every one of us. We don’t know whether we are going to
live tomorrow or die tomorrow. We don’t know what the whole situation is going
to be.] ...because our
salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost
over, and the day is drawing near… [Now this is a prophecy for us,
brethren, even though the Apostle Paul felt that in his very own life at the
time that he wrote the book of Romans.] …Let us walk decently, as in the day: not in reveling
and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and
emulation. But let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not make any
allowance for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (vs 11-14). Wonderful,
inspiring and powerful words!
Now let’s
come back to the first chapter of the book of Colossians and let’s go ahead
with it a little bit further. So Christ has called us out of the darkness of
this world. Now Colossians 1:14: “It is through the Son that we are having the
redemption (procured for us by the payment of His very own life at the
crucifixion) through His blood, even the remission, pardon, cancellation and
forgiveness of sins.” And as we see know, there in Psalm 86, where it says that
‘God is ready to forgive.’ God is not there to hold things over our head. God
is ready to forgive, instant to forgive. But then, brethren, we need to respond
in love and obedience and truth and faithfulness and so forth. So this is a
tremendous thing that God has done this for us, that He has made it
possible that we can have our sins forgiven.
Now, let’s
go to the Epistle of 1-John, the first chapter, and let’s see how this works.
And sometimes when we are going along and we sin, we just get so discouraged
and we get so down, that we just don’t go to God with the understanding and
knowledge and attitude that God is there—God will help, God will
forgive—which He is. It is not a matter of taking advantage of grace. And
I know that when you sin and you have a guilty conscience and you feel down,
you feel, ‘Oh man, I just can’t go to God.’ Well, God knows. Listen the one to
whom we have to deal with everything we stand naked before God—so
God knows! So we need to really realize what God has done for us.
1 John
1:5—and we will notice the same, inspiring way that God inspired even
John to write. The same system that we find there in the book of Colossians,
the book of Romans, the book of 2-Timothy and, in fact, all the epistles. 1
John 1:5: “And this is
the message that we have heard from Him and are declaring to you: that God is
light, and there is no darkness at all in Him. If we proclaim that we have fellowship with Him, but we are walking in
the darkness, we are lying to ourselves, and we are not practicing the Truth…. [Now, we
are seeing that happen before our very eyes, those people who are rejecting and
throwing away the Word of God. Those who are saying, ‘Well, we don’t know what
God is. Well, we think God is hypostasis.’ They’re beginning to walk in
darkness and the darkness is coming because Satan has blinding their eyes.]
(Which means then): …we are lying to ourselves, and we are not practicing the
Truth. However, if…
[notice the condition there, that wonderful little English word which is
in all languages, too] …if we walk
in the light, as He is in the light, then we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His own Son, cleanses us from all sin”
(vs 5-7). Now the Greek here means that the blood of Jesus Christ is
cleansing, present tense, us from every sin.
So when we
sin, God wants to clean us up and we need to understand something, spiritually
speaking, all sin is uncleanness. All sin is uncleanness. So
therefore when it says the blood of Jesus Christ is cleansing us from
every sin, that’s a tremendous promise. What we need to do is go to God
and repent and say, ‘Oh God, oh man, I sinned, it is terrible, it is miserable,
it is awful, I feel guilty, I am condemned but I know Your mercy and kindness
and greatness and goodness; that You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, what a
wonderful and fantastic blessing, give me Your strength and Spirit and
understanding that I can go forward and not sin.’ Now that is how we need to
approach God and we will see that here.
Verse 8: “If we say that we do not have sin, we
are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our own
sins… [as I just related to you here. Notice He is going to judge
us, He is going to condemn us, He is going to throw us out. He’s going to stomp
us down, He is going to kill us. NO! it doesn’t say that] …If we confess our own sins, He is
faithful and righteous, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His
Word is not in us” (vs 8-10).
1-John 2:1: …My little children, I am
writing these things to you so that you may not sin…. [God
doesn’t want us to sin.] …And yet, if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with
the Father; Jesus Christ the Righteous; And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for our sins only, but also for the sins
of the whole world” (vs 1-2).
So,
brethren, God can forgive your sins, and sometimes you just need to go to the
Psalms and see how David approached God when he sinned. Come here to 1-John,
the first chapter, and apply this in your life. Go to God, on your knees and
just say, ‘Oh, God, You alone can do this.’ So He is the one Who’s forgiven our
sins and caused us, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ…There are many other
Scriptures we can put together but I will leave, I will give you just a couple
here that you could add to it.
1-Peter, the
first chapter, since we are back here at 1-John, this is too important for us
to pass by. 1-Peter 1:18: “Knowing that you were not redeemed by corruptible
things, by silver or gold, from your futile way of living, inherited by
tradition from your forefathers; But by the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; Who truly was foreknown
before the foundation of the world, but was manifested in these last times for your sakes; Even for you who through Him do believe in
God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your
faith and hope might be in God. Having purified your lives by obedience
to the Truth unto unfeigned brotherly love through the Spirit, love one
another fervently with a pure heart” (vs 18-22).
And boy I tell
you what, if that does not describe what we experienced at the Feast of
Tabernacles, I don’t know anything that does. And that was a tremendous and
wonderful Feast that we had and I just in my own mind trying to capture that
feeling of love and spirit that God gave us there and just retain it as long as
I can.
Now let’s
come back to Colossians 1:15: “Who is the exact image and similitude of the
great invisible God, the firstborn…” Now this creates some difficulties for
people because then they feel that Jesus Christ was a created being. So I am
going to read all the way down through v 18 so we get the full feeling and
thrust of what this is talking about. When we come to the word firstborn,
we are talking about the Greek word, ‘prototokos.’ When we are talking about the
only begotten we are talking in the Greek about ‘monogenes’—which
means only begotten. Jesus Christ was firstborn twice, He was the
firstborn ‘prototokos’—and that had to be after His birth was
completed—with Mary; and we find that in Matt. 1. Now we are talking
about the firstborn, ‘prototokos’ from among the dead. And this is also very
powerful for us to understand that when the resurrection occurs we will then be born again.
Verse 15:
“Who is the exact image and similitude of the great invisible God, the
firstborn (by the resurrection), the prototype of all that God is creating by
this means…. [It says in the King James, the firstborn of all
creation. That is not a correct translation, because the creation that it
is referring there to is all who are created by the resurrection, as the sons
of God.] (Now verse 16): …Because by and through Him (the Son) were all things
created and brought into existence, all things on the earth and in the vast
reaches of the heavens and universe, all visible things and all invisible
things regardless of whether they be thrones or lordships, or principalities or
authorities and powers; all things (everything that exists) were created by and
through Him, and for Him. And He (the Son) existed before every one of these
things, and in Him all things continue to exist and subsist. And He is the head
of the body, the church (the assembly of the called-out ones); He is the
beginning, the originator of all things, the firstborn (by the resurrection)
from among the dead; that He might hold the first rank, and have the highest
dignity and pre-eminence in all things. Because in His Son, God the Father was
pleased to have the fullness and abundance of all things dwell and reside” (vs
15-19).
Now, in
order then to understand this about the firstborn of every creature, then we
have to understand that he is talking about the resurrection. He is not talking
about Jesus Christ being created and then born, as it were. He is talking about
Jesus Christ who was resurrected as the firstborn from among the dead.
Now, let’s
see this in Romans, the eighth chapter—and we will see that He is called
the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:26: “Now in the same way also, the Spirit is conjointly
helping our weaknesses… [That means weaknesses, it doesn’t mean sicknesses, it
means weaknesses. ‘The flesh is willing but the spirit is weak.’] …because we do not fully understand
what we should pray for, according as it is necessary… [You can be
greatly relieved in your prayers, if you go pray and just ask God to help you
with it, God’s Spirit is going to intervene and God’s Spirit is going to convey
to God what is truly in your heart.] …but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings
that cannot be expressed by us…. [So this is not speaking in tongues
because speaking in tongues is something which is uttered. This cannot be
uttered because it goes from you spiritually to God directly, spiritually.] …And the one Who
searches the hearts comprehends what the strivings of the Spirit are because it makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose Because those whom He did foreknow, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His own Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren” (vs 26-29).
So Jesus
Christ was the firstborn from among the dead. And these verses are the two
greatest witnesses that we have that you, that me, that Christ was not born
again until the resurrection. Christ was born again. He was
‘prototokos’ twice: once when He was born in the flesh, the second time when He
was born from the resurrection as the eternal, spiritual, living Son of God.
Now, let’s
go to Revelation, the first chapter, for just one minute, because there is a
mistranslation in the King James concerning ‘prototokos’ that we need to
cover. Revelation 1:5: “And
from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness… [and it says in the King James:
‘the first begotten from the dead.’ Well the Greek here is not ‘monogenes.’ The
Greek here is ‘prototokos’ and should be translated firstborn from among the dead, which shows then the resurrection is the rebirth
experience and truly born again.
Let’s just
finish this off by going to 1-Corinthians 15 because [it] talks about this very
thing of Christ being, in this case, the firstfruits, which then is the
very first one, we have the type of the firstfruits, we have a type of
firstborn. 1-Corinthians 15:20: “But now Christ has been raised from the dead… [Who then is the firstborn from among the dead] …He has become
the first-fruit of those who have fallen asleep…. [He is the first one harvested by the resurrection to
eternal life.] …For since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made
alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruit; then, those who
are Christ’s at His coming” (vs 20-23).
And so that
is a tremendous thing brethren, we will just go ahead and end it right here for
today and we will pick up and carry on with it and hopefully finish the whole
first chapter next week.
All
Scriptures in New Testament from The N.T. in its Original Order, A Faithful
Version
· Exception: Colossians: Expanded Amplified Version
Old Testament Scriptures: King James Version
Scripture
References:
1)
Colossians 1:7-9
2)
Ephesians 1:17-19
3)
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
4)
1 Corinthians 2:1-14
5)
Colossians 1:10
6)
Ephesians 2:8-10
7)
Colossians 1:11
8)
2 Timothy 1:6-15
9)
Colossians 1:11-13
10)
Acts 26:18
11)
Isaiah 60:1-4
12)
Isaiah 5:20-24
13)
Matthew 6:22-24
14)
John 1:4
15)
Colossians 1:27
16)
John 1:5-14
17)
John 8:12
18)
John 9:4-5
19)
Romans 13:11-14
20)
Colossians 1:14
21)
1 John 1:5-10
22)
1 John 2:1-2
23)
1 Peter 1:18-22
24)
Colossians 1:15-19
25)
Romans 8:26-29
26)
Revelation 1:5
27)
1 Corinthians 15:20-23
Scriptures
referenced, not quoted:
·
Colossians 1:1-6, 27
·
2 Peter 3:16-18
·
Ephesians 4
·
John 6:44
·
1 Corinthians 4:7
·
Isaiah 57
·
Psalm 86
·
Matthew 1
Also referenced:
Sermon
series: Scripturalism vs Judaism
Reformatted:
3-20-09 (bo)
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