Word of Salvation – Vol.11 No.43 – October 1966
Give Thanks To Your Father For The Inheritance With The Saints
Sermon by J. J. C. Westera on Colossians 1:12
Scripture Reading: Colossians 1:1-14
Psalter Hymnal: 53:1,3,5; 61:1 (after Law); 327 (after Confess.);
303:1 and 4; 69 465
Beloved Congregation,
Our theme for today’s sermon is “Give Thanks to your Father, for the inheritance with the Saints”.
We will consider that
- the Father has adopted you;
- He has sanctified you;
- He has enlightened you.
Paul has written this letter to the Christians in Colossae , a city in Asia Minor. This congregation was not established by him but by Epaphras, his beloved fellow servant.
Paul wrote this letter because he had heard about the dangers threatening the congregation of Colossae. There were false teachers who taught that Jesus was not the only and the exclusive way of salvation. According to them salvation depended also on works.
The Christian had to keep the laws of the Jews and he had to be circumcised.
The purpose of Paul’s letter was and still is to show his brothers in the Lord that Jesus’ blood has fully satisfied for all our sins and that His redemption is all that we need.
There is no salvation but by Jesus and by Jesus alone..! Though these false teachings threatened the congregation, Paul had also heard of their faith in Jesus Christ and of the love they had for all the saints and he thanked God for that. Moreover he prayed for them that they might increase in the knowledge of God and please Him, bearing fruit in every good work.
God is worth serving for He had done a lot for them. They were gentiles and they lived far from God, but He has qualified them to share in the inheritance of the saints in light and therefore they are asked to give thanks to God, to the Father. God has performed a great miracle for them.
Their qualification as heirs with the saints is His work. They were not qualified because of their own merits. Far from that! They did not deserve anything of God but rejection and condemnation. God has made them heirs out of mere grace! He has adopted them as His sons. Therefore Paul wrote, giving thanks to the Father. The Father must make it clear what takes place when we become qualified heirs with the saints. We cannot be heirs unless we are adopted by God as His children and being His children we are made fit to share in the inheritance of the saints.
That inheritance is now ours. We have a right to it, given to us by God our Father. He has adopted us and made us His children. We can be very happy and very thankful. We don’t have to worry nor fear for the future. God’s children may be in such trouble today, that they cry because of many, many things which are against them. Maybe they live in miserable circumstances as many of God’s children do – not all of them live in such luxury as we do – one thing all of us must keep in mind, we are heirs, qualified heirs of the inheritance of the saints!
It may be denied or disputed, there may be no paper nor certificate, so to say, but nevertheless this qualification of God is a powerful one and is of great value. This qualification of God is sure and indubitable because it is sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s own Son.
You become God’s children and as such heirs of the saints because Jesus has paid for your sins and has made you God’s own. When you think of the greatness of this inheritance and of your own unworthiness, of your sins and your misery, you may ask how is it possible that you, weak and evil person, deserving nothing but God’s wrath, are an heir of this rich and mighty inheritance. You are right. This is an impossibility. It is impossible with us, with me and you, but it is possible with God. He has adopted you, He has made you His sons in Jesus Christ. Have faith in Jesus and come to Him. Flee to Him as your Saviour and if you do so, no man, no angel, no devil, no power can disqualify you, nor can take away your right. Don’t ever plead yourself, your goodness or holiness, for it is nothing in the sight of the Lord; it does not count anyhow for your qualification as heir. The only thing you do by faith is, to plead Jesus and His work. You come to Him as you are ‘without one plea but that His blood was shed for you’. Even Satan is not able to change that qualification. He would like to, but he cannot for it is sealed by the blood of Jesus.
As long as you stick to that you are safe. As long as you believe in Him and hide yourself in Him as in a rock, many things may happen but you will not be disappointed. Your heritage is sure and safe. But, you know what happened in Colossae to those Christians over there can happen to us too.
There are always persons or things, false teachers or false doctrines eager to mislead you. Pray much and listen carefully to the word of salvation, whether it is the message of Jesus Christ, of Him who was crucified for your sins. Having faith in Him means that you forsake all and trust Him.
The F of faith stands for forsaking,
the A for all,
the I for I,
the T for Trust and
the H for Him.
So FAITH means Forsaking All I Trust Him. Having such a faith you are qualified heirs. Even the murderer on the cross – as poor as he was – became one and he did not have to wait for it. Your share is there as soon as you have faith in Jesus!
But let us never forget it is the inheritance of the saints. God has not only adopted you as His children but He has also sanctified you. God has not only delivered you from the power of Satan and from the dominion of darkness but He also transferred you to the Kingdom of His Son.
There you are and live. There you belong and must behave yourself according to it. Let us never forget that to be heirs, means to be sons and to be sons means to live with the Father in His house. You listen to Him, obey Him, are satisfied and enjoy the things of the house. If a child does not enjoy the things at home he does not feel at home, he is not happy. He longs for something else outside the house. If a son does not listen to his parents, he does not act like a son. He is disappointed or indifferent.
Well that can be the case here too, although it is never Father’s fault. It is always our own fault. We are blind or deaf to the goodness of God, of our heavenly Father. Sin has too much say and influence, and our desires are still sinful and too far away from God.
The younger brother in the parable of the prodigal son was not happy at home and so he left it. He did not understand his father, nor his father’s love and care.
Later on in that foreign country he learned to understand his father. He came back seeing how wrong he was, confessed his sin and started to love his Father, his house and his Father’s work and food and presence, His fellowship and His love. He searched for it every day and he found it time and again. Though the older brother stayed home, it was a burden for him to be in his Father’s house. His heart was not in it and he did not see his Father’s goodness and mercy. He earned his living at his Father’s place.
Do we feel at home in Father’s house? Do we like to listen to God? Are we eager to know Him and to serve Him out of gratitude? Paul prayed for the brethren in Colossae that they might be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Paul knew that this was necessary. After all, the inheritance is an inheritance of the saints, of those who are sanctified. It means that they are washed from their sins and are set apart, called by God to serve Him.
We must realise that. We are committing sins time and again in thoughts and words and deeds. Many sins. But, strictly speaking, it is an impossibility. It contradicts our qualification. Therefore John the holy apostle in his letter can state that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1John 1:8). But he also says, No one, who abides in Him (that is Jesus) sins; no one who sins has either seen Him or known Him (1John 3:6). We often commit sins and we still have our many shortcomings, but we don’t live in sin any more nor in its house or its dominion. We live in the house of the Lord in the kingdom of Jesus Christ and we stick to its rules.
That is asked of us and we have to obey lest we would be disqualified. You know that can happen to a football player. He can be disqualified because he does not stick to the rules, which must be kept. He can be sent off the field and be forbidden to play. In the Kingdom of God there are rules too. Laws which we are supposed to keep. We must stick to these rules lest we would be disqualified; and the inheritance would be taken away from us!
No doubt we are saved by grace and not by works. We are heirs by adoption and not by our good behaviour or something like that, but that does not mean that we can do what we like.
There are rules, laws in the kingdom of God and He maintains them. He writes them down upon our hearts so that we love them and don’t like to break them because we love the Lawgiver, God the Father.
To be a shareholder is not a matter of qualification only but also of a life according to that qualification. There must be fair play also in the Kingdom of God, in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and in the city of the saints.
Ah well, we fall short, I know, terribly short. So often our life in the Kingdom is not up to the standard. Not at all. We time and again sin against the rules of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. But here too as everywhere you have an advocate in Jesus Himself.. It is His Kingdom and you are His citizens, He supplies what you need. He is the fulfiller of your faith, and God who qualified you because of Jesus, is faithful and having started His work in you He will finish it.
Lord though I walk midst troubles sore
Thou wilt restore… my faltering Spirit.
Though angry foes my soul alarm
Thy mighty arm… will save and cheer it.
Yea, Thou wilt finish perfectly
What Thou for me… hast undertaken.
May not Thy works in mercy wrought,
E’er come to naught…, or be forsaken.
Qualified and sanctified we give thanks to the Lord and live in the light of His countenance. After all the inheritance of the saints is an inheritance of the saints in light. To be adopted and to be set apart for the service of God, to be washed in Jesus’ blood from all your sins and to be transferred to His Kingdom means that we are enlightened, so that we know God and have peace with Him.
Knowledge of God makes things clear. It chases darkness away, the darkness of soul and mind. You know, don’t you… how dark it can be? You know don’t you?- how sin blinds us. We don’t see a thing. We don’t see our own misery, our own faults but see those of others all the better. We don’t see God and Jesus, we don’t recognize them nor need them. We are as blind as a bat. That is true and you will admit that, as soon as you see Jesus and believe in Him. The Pharisees thought that they saw because they did not know that they were blind and that they needed the healing of Jesus. Just as the man born blind. We may think that we see but if we don’t know that we are blind we don’t see at all! If we don’t know that we need Jesus to heal us we will remain blind. Jesus says the same to us as what He said to the Pharisees: If you were blind you would have no guilt, but now that you say we see, your guilt remains.
To share in the inheritance of the saints, to be qualified as shareholders makes you walk in the light, but always wondering, always in great humility. It is all grace, mercy. It is all forfeited blessing and we never can boast of ourselves nor can we live by ourselves. We must glorify God always and must live with Him. In His light do we see light (Psalm 36:10).
There may be a lot of darkness round about us and many mysterious things may bother us so that we don’t know what to think of them. People may be bewildered by flying saucers and other strange things which have never been seen before, but you don’t walk in darkness and in fear. You walk in light. You walk in the light of Jesus and of the saints. He will show you the way. Jesus is there and He says to you, I am the Light of this world, also of your world today. You can not be lost in the darkness of this generation nor in the dominion of that darkness. You are not even in it anymore. You are transferred to the kingdom of Jesus, which is a kingdom of light and of truth. Your conversation is already in heaven. (Phil.3:20)
Your inheritance is an inheritance of the saints in light. Not in darkness, not in doubt. Not in insecurity or in uncertainty but in the security and assurance of Gods own Word and of His Holy Spirit, who testifies with our spirit that we are children of God!
Amen.