Maybe I should not share today. Is that a sign? A sign of the Lord coming? Yeah, the Lord is coming soon here. We good? Okay.
Turn to Colossians.
Some might take a guess what my message is on today. Christmas? No. Oh, my glory. The what? No, what did we worship today? Freedom? Well, that is my message today.
I feel like I really do not need to share, because the Lord brought out in worship just about everything I was going to share. So that is great. Praise the Lord for that.
Colossians 1:13-14—and we will read a few more verses in Colossians:
Giving thanks unto the Father, Who hath qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light;
Who delivered us out of the power of darkness,
and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love;
in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Then, in Colossians 3:1-4:
If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.
Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth.
For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Let us pray.
Oh, Lord, we are so thankful this morning that You have freed us from all things. Lord, we praise You for that. Lord, I do pray that Your Spirit would be upon us now as we share, as we hear the Word, and as we read it.
Lord, I pray that You administer to each one of our hearts, and may we be drawn ever closer to You, Lord, just relishing and delighting in what You have done. In Your name, I pray. Amen.
The last several months, I have been meditating in Colossians, and this verse—verse 13—just really captured my heart. I was thinking about the rescued ones: the journey from being rescued—or actually, before they were rescued—all the way through Colossians to Colossians 3, where the rescued one ends up.
I would say it is a documentary of the rescued ones. You understand what I am saying? Really, we are all the rescued ones, so it could be a documentary of our condition as well.
I feel that so much of what God has done for us—not that we take it for granted, but we have heard it so often that, not that we overlook it—I am probably talking about myself—it kind of does not mean as much as it used to.
When I considered how He rescued us, it really brought everything else into greater focus and appreciation of what our Lord has done.
To start off, we are going to consider who holds us captive. I have asked two guys to read a couple of verses. We are going to read Galatians 1:4. John, would you read that? And, Prim, would you read Acts 26:18? I will read Ephesians 2:2.
Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father.
Acts 26:18:
To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.
Brothers and sisters, once you are captive, you are held captive in a domain of darkness. It is this present evil world, the domain of Satan, the prince of the power of the air.
It is an actual domain—usurped, no doubt, but still a domain. Those who are held captive are in darkness. They are in great evil, and they are under the power of Satan.
It is an evil, dark, malicious domain that they are under. So often, we forget how crushing the domain of darkness can be, how dark it actually is.
I was wondering, “Lord, how can I share about ones who are under that domain?” At the prayer meeting, someone mentioned Psalm 107. So let us turn to Psalm 107 to consider the condition of those who are held captive.
Turn to Psalm 107. We will begin reading in verses 10 through 20. As we read, consider the condition of the captive ones.
There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death,
being bound in affliction and iron,
because they rebelled against the words of God,
and contemned the counsel of the Most High.
They are in misery. They are chained up. They are bound because they rebelled against the Word of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
Go down to verse 14:
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and brake their bonds in sunder.
The ones held captive were in darkness, and they were always under a shadow of death.
For He hath broken the gates of brass,
and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
These captive ones are held in a fortress, with a cage all around them. There is no way for them to get out.
Fools because of their transgression,
and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul abhorreth all manner of food;
and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble,
and He saveth them out of their distresses.
He sendeth His word, and healeth them,
and delivereth them from their destructions.
They are under destruction, under the power of a malevolent force. That is the way we were before we were rescued.
It is not like these souls could walk out on their own. They were helpless, unable to save themselves. Now, we know the doctrine: “Oh yeah, we know we cannot save ourselves.” But have we forgotten the condition of the lost, where they really cannot save themselves?
We could not save ourselves, brothers and sisters. We were under the domain of darkness, and that domain is crushing and blinding and horrific. As we go on through this morning, just remember: that is where this soul—that is where we—start.
Back to Colossians. The word rescue carries the idea of dragging a person out of the jaws of danger.
So when He says, “He rescued us,” it is a forceful entrance. The Lord Himself dragged that person, that soul, out from the jaws of danger.
Now, I had never considered it in that light. Have you? Our rescue was a forceful rescue.
This is talking about the domain of darkness. You get from this that the domain of darkness does not want to let any soul go out of its control and authority.
The Father is the Rescuer. He comes in with mighty force and takes that person out of the jaws of danger.
This morning, as I was meditating on this, I thought of David. Remember, he was taking care of the sheep, and he said, “When my lambs were attacked, what did I do to rescue them?” He said, “I went and grabbed that lion, tore open his mouth, and took the lamb out.”
What a violent way to rescue your lamb. But he had to, because the lamb was in the clutches of a lion. To me, that is such a picture of what God has done for us.
We were being torn by that lion, and He came and opened the mouth of the lion and took us out. He rescued us. What a wonderful thing He has done for us.
It is a forceful taking out of the mouth of the lion—our rescue.
I will read this, 1 Samuel 17:35:
I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth;
and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard,
and smote him, and slew him.
Now, what a great story. The Lord rescues us that way.
If you go back to Colossians, the One in verse 13 is the Father. The Father rescues us.
Now, in Galatians, there is the same kind of thought, though it is not exactly the same. Galatians 1:4 speaks of the Lord Jesus, “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us from this present evil age.”
Then who rescues us? Of course, the answer is yes. It is not either/or.
Back to Galatians: the last part of that verse says, “According to the will of our God and Father.” The Father wills, and the Son gave His life so that God could come in and rescue us.
Colossians 1:14 says, “In Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” We all know that the basis of our rescue is the blood of the Lord Jesus. But our Father had to come in with great violence and rescue our souls. That is the emphasis here in Colossians.
The Lord is our Rescuer. But the Lord continues to rescue us. It is not a one-time rescue.
Salvation is one time—yes, you are rescued—but He continues to rescue us.
In the Lord’s Prayer, the phrase, “Deliver us from evil,” is the same word used here for rescue. So we pray to our Father, “Deliver us from evil. Rescue me from evil.” That is a continuing prayer that we have before our Father.
This was said today in worship. Romans 7:24:
Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
That is the same word: rescue.
2 Timothy 4:18:
The Lord will deliver me from every evil work,
and will save me unto His heavenly kingdom.
The Lord will rescue me.
And 2 Peter 2:9:
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation.
The Lord’s heart of rescue is not just to take us out from the dominion of Satan. He is also wanting to rescue us—as was shared this morning—from ourselves, from our old life, and from any attempt of the enemy to assert his authority in our lives.
We are continually rescued by the Lord. The enemy is not happy that we are in the kingdom of the beloved Son, and he is always trying to recapture us, as it were. The Lord is always our Rescuer.
How many times in your life, brothers and sisters, have you known the rescuing power of the Lord? You know the Lord. You love Him. But you have gotten into something that is too strong for you to get out of, and you cry out, “Lord, rescue me.”
The Lord has a heart to continue to rescue us. It is not just a one-time thing. Praise the Lord for that.
Listen to these words in Psalms. Psalm 6:4:
Return, O Lord, deliver my soul:
save me for Thy lovingkindness’ sake.
The saints of old knew the rescuing power of God.
Psalm 18:19:
He delivered me, because He delighted in me.
The Lord loves us, and He will rescue us because He delights in us.
Psalm 34:17:
The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth,
and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Now, you young people, I have heard in school class many times that you are in a test, you are a little nervous about it, and you pray to the Lord. There is no trouble too small or too large that the Lord does not want to come in and rescue you.
The Lord hears you, and the Lord rescues. I think this is just a wonderful fact, a wonderful experience—to know the Lord’s rescuing power.
Psalm 34:4:
I sought the Lord, and He answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
This one I especially like. It took a lot of courage for this man to write this:
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me:
make haste to help me, O Lord.
“Lord, it is too slow. I need help. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Help me. Rescue me.” Psalm 40:13.
Praise the Lord. He still is our Rescuer. He rescues us.
But He does not only rescue us to bring us out and then leave us alone. That is not His heart. What does He do next?
He rescued us from the domain of darkness,
and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.
That word transfer is a high-tech word because it has the word meta in it. It means to change locations.
The idea is to change from one country to another: to take you out of one country and place you into another country. It is to remove you from one authority—the authority of the first country, the first domain—and place you into the authority of the other.
That authority is the Lord Jesus as King of His kingdom. So you have been transferred.
You did not get a work visa or a temporary visa. It is not a temporary thing. You have been totally transferred to another kingdom.
You are under the authority of another King and no longer under the authority of the domain of darkness.
Ever since studying this, there have been several times when I have had to say, “Lord, You have rescued me and transferred me to Your kingdom and Your dominion. I am not under this force that seems to be coming against my soul.”
I am out from under any authority of the enemy—and you are too. We all are. He has no right to you because you have been taken out of his domain and put into the kingdom of the beloved Son.
Many times in your life, you need to stand on that. We have been praying for some people where it seems that the domain of darkness has come over them somehow. I am weak in this area, but it seems like it should not be.
We have been placed in the kingdom of the beloved Son, and that has no more authority over me. I know that through the flesh and that kind of thing, the enemy can gain control, but our stance should be, “Lord, I am in Your control, under Your domain.”
It is almost like the hand of hell comes out and tries to grab you and pull you back into its domain. You have a right in the Lord Jesus to say, “No.”
I think you almost have to be charismatic about it—Pentecostal—and say, “No. In the name of Jesus, you have no control over me. The blood of Jesus is over me, and you have no right to me. You have no right to my soul.”
I have been practicing that and have really enjoyed standing in these simple facts. These are things that we all know, but, brothers and sisters, to stand in prayer and faith is a wonderful thing.
We have been so removed from one kingdom to the next that we are now strangers and pilgrims to the old, present world. One of the verses we read spoke of the evil of this present world. We are now aliens and strangers.
It is quite interesting in Ephesians. It talks about being aliens and strangers to the kingdom of God, or to Christ. When you were in the domain of darkness, you were an alien to Christ’s domain. When you are in the domain of Christ, you are an alien to the other. You are almost always a stranger, no matter what.
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and sojourners,
but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints,
and of the household of God.
What a blessed verse. Philippians 3:20: “Our citizenship is in heaven.” That is it. Our citizenship is in heaven.
Now, brothers and sisters, we know this, but our citizenship is in heaven. We belong to heaven. We belong to the kingdom of God. So praise the Lord, we are aliens and strangers.
Really, are you a stranger? Does the world consider you a stranger—a strange person? If they do not—excuse me, Roger, I point to myself—am I a strange person?
Well, yes, but not in the way you are thinking. Am I a stranger to the world? Do they consider me a stranger, like I am from another place?
How would they know that, other than the life of Christ being so evident and the kingdom of light shining through me so much that they say, “You are a stranger. You are from another place. Where are you from?” That kind of idea.
Sometimes I think we—Roger again, I mean myself—we get too comfortable in the domain of darkness, in the world, and we lose that sense. We just become comfortable.
The other thing that I have to struggle with is that I love politics. I love that kind of thing. But the things of this world can start grabbing your heart and pulling you down and under.
Instead of being like a stranger to it, you become too familiar with it somehow. Do you understand what I am saying?
You can almost sense when your heart is going away from the land of the Lord, from citizenship in heaven, and you are becoming a citizen of the earth again. The Lord does not want that. We are citizens of heaven.
May the Holy Spirit really help all of us to walk as strangers, as pilgrims in this land, and not become tied to it. Most of us work. I watched football last night. The Bears were so rough and tough on Green Bay—thanks, Jerry.
But you can get captured and captivated once again by the world, and God does not want that. We are citizens of heaven.
We have been transferred to the kingdom of the beloved Son.
What a contrast between the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of Satan, and the kingdom of the beloved Son.
The Holy Spirit could have said, “You were transferred to a heavenly kingdom,” which we already know. Or, “You were transferred into the kingdom of the Son.” But He said, “You were transferred to the kingdom of the beloved Son.”
The Son upon Whom His love rests. The Son in Whom He takes great delight.
It is almost as if the Father, after seating the Lord Jesus at His right hand and exalting Him—after giving the kingdom to His Son and taking delight in His Son’s rule—looks at the rescued one who was in prison, with no way to get out.
He takes him out of prison, and then He puts him into the kingdom of His beloved Son. It is like He is saying to you and me, “I want you to enter not only into a new authority, but, to an even greater extent, into the relationship I have with My Son, Whom I love so much.”
So it is a kingdom of love. We are brought into that kingdom of love. We are brought into that expression of love the Father has for the Son, and the Father has for you and me. It is so wonderful.
The contrast is stark, is it not? Darkness and light. Life and death. Love and hate.
But I think it is so wonderful that we are brought into the kingdom of His beloved Son.
I want you to consider now: not only has this rescued one been taken out of the kingdom of darkness and put into the kingdom of the beloved Son, but he has been put into Christ Himself. He has been put into the church.
In Colossians 1:15-20, the Holy Spirit through Paul just breaks out in great worship concerning Who the Son is. In that wonderful section, which is too much for me even to share on, there is this one verse in verse 18:
And He is the head of the body, the church.
The Lord Jesus is declared as the King of His kingdom and also as Head of His body, the church.
We know from the rest of Colossians, up to chapter 3, that we are placed into Christ and Christ is placed into us. So think of it: this rescued one has been placed into the kingdom of the beloved Son, but even more, he has been brought and placed into Christ Himself—into the King Himself.
That is why, in Colossians 3:1, we see, “If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above.” How could that captive one even have thoughts toward the Lord?
But God has done such a wonderful work that He has placed us in His Son and raised us up with Him, that we can now seek the things above. We can seek the things of heaven and have the direction of our lives pointed toward heaven.
I was considering, “How has the Lord done this? How has He placed this one into Himself? How could I explain it?” Well, I cannot, except I am going to share three verses with you. May the Holy Spirit help us.
Look at Colossians 3:3:
For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Hidden with Christ. This Greek word is called crypto—my second high-tech word today. Meta means we are changed from one place to another, and crypto means hidden or concealed.
We are hidden, concealed, in Christ. I guess crypto means hidden currency or something—nobody can come at you—but we are hidden in Christ.
Romans 6:5:
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death,
we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
This word united carries the idea of being planted together. It means connected and joined together in union with Christ.
Then 1 Corinthians 1:30:
But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
Who was made unto us wisdom from God,
and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.
“But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus.” This carries the idea in the Greek of being ingrafted into—connected, joined together, united.
The wonderful fact is that we are united to Christ, hidden in Christ, joined with Him to such a degree that when He died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried. When He rose again, we were raised. When He ascended to the throne, we ascended. When He was seated at the throne, we were seated.
I cannot explain it, but it is true. In the Spirit, we are united with Christ to such a degree that we are united with Him in all of His work. You all know this. This is nothing new.
Look at the wonderful verses in Ephesians, at the end of chapter 1. Verse 20 speaks of the great power that works within us:
Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead,
and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places.
That is the Father speaking of raising up the Lord and seating the Lord. Now, Ephesians 2:6:
And raised us up with Him,
and made us to sit with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
Our unity with the Lord is so great that we were raised and seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We have wonderful songs about it.
Again, you are rescued. You are in prison. The Father comes in and tears that prison apart to get you out. He places you in the kingdom of His beloved Son, under a new authority.
Then He places you in His Son, so that you, a wretched, poor soul, are now seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ.
Do you see the amazing difference from where you start to where you end up? It is certainly not the end, because one day we are going to be with Him forever and ever.
But this so struck me: the journey in which the Lord has put us. We know all about it, but it is an amazing, astounding thing that God has done.
Not only is this rescued soul seated with Christ, but he is also placed in the church. In the church, he is going to thrive. The Lord is going to deal with him and give him the life of the Lord to such a degree that he becomes someone the Lord can be pleased with.
I want us to look at Colossians 3:12.
This is the kind of church, the kind of body, the Lord wants us to be, so that these souls who have been rescued can come and flourish in it.
Put on therefore, as God’s elect, holy and beloved,
a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering.
Romans 5:5 says:
And hope putteth not to shame;
because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts
through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.
The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. All of these things have to be done by the Holy Spirit and shed abroad in our lives and in the church because of what the Lord Jesus has done.
I believe Titus 2:10 says, “Adorn the doctrine of God.” Have you ever seen that phrase? Adorn the doctrine of Christ?
Adorn is used in Peter when he is talking to the ladies of the church: do not adorn yourselves with beautiful things on the outside; adorn yourselves with what is inside. But that adorning means to beautify. It means to put a garment on, to make yourself pretty, to make yourself beautiful.
Now, men do not do that, thank goodness, but women do. That is not the point. The point is adorning.
One commentator said these things that are put off and put on throughout this passage are like taking garments off and putting a garment on.
In Colossians 3:12, these things are the adornment of the heart that we put on. They are the beauty of Christ that beautifies the church. To some extent, this is the bride making herself ready.
Put on therefore, as God’s elect, holy and beloved,
a heart of compassion.
The church—all of us—should have a heart of compassion that we put on. We have seen today the great compassion of the Lord to rescue us. Do we have the same heart as our Lord Jesus and our heavenly Father to rescue?
We should put on a heart of kindness. God’s house should be full of kindness, one to another. To anyone who enters, we should have hearts of kindness.
Put on a heart of humility—to be humble before each other, all of us humble before the Lord. No arrogant soul here. All of us humble. No dominant personalities, no rushing over each other.
Hearts of humility. Hearts of gentleness. Gentleness of voice.
Most of these things, I am saying, “Lord, if I do not put these on, it is not happening.”
Patience. Put on a heart of patience. These are beauties of the Lord that He wants us to have.
Bearing with one another, and forgiving each other,
if any man have a complaint against any;
even as the Lord forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on love,
which is the bond of perfectness.
Even as I was meditating on this, I would say, “Man, Lord, that person is really…” Then He would bring this up. I would be complaining in my spirit—not in the spirit of my soul, but in my flesh. I would be complaining about something, about some person, and the Lord really rebuked me.
Put on all these things. Bear with one another and forgive. Forgive to the point that the person who bugs you, the person about whom you have so much complaining, never knows about it because you have already forgiven them.
Then beyond all these, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
So, brothers and sisters, in an assembly—in every assembly of the Lord—if these attributes, these things of Christ, are evident, that soul who was rescued is going to thrive. It is going to grow. It is going to flourish. That is the way the Lord wants it, I think.
Let us pray.
Lord, I want to thank You so much that You have rescued me. You have rescued all of us. Lord, You have placed us in Your Son’s kingdom. You have placed us in Your Son Himself. You have raised us up and seated us with Him.
You have placed us in the church, a place where we can see the life of Christ evident and flowing among us. Lord, You have done a great thing for us. May we not take for granted the wonderful things You have done.
Lord, even as we praised and worshiped You, You freed us from everything, and You have given us everything. I cannot help but think of that wonderful verse in Ephesians:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places in Christ.
Surely, Lord, You have blessed us with every spiritual blessing. You have blessed us in our precious Lord Jesus, and we bless You and thank You for it. In His name, I pray. Amen.