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LSB Colossians 1:9 - 14

9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. .

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(It may be interesting to note that the following paragraphs I'm about to read were written on the morning preceding Charlie Kirk's political and christian convictional based assassination. That happened later in the day following what I'd already written. But what a sad illustration of what I'm about to teach!) Here is what I'd already written
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Within the verses that we've just read together this morning is a verse that has been one of a select few, sort of, life verses for me. The truth within it is foundational to my complete interpretation of the entire Bible. It has within it a solid foundation with which I have built my entire theology. Bedrock.

It's one of those truth's, at least for me, that once I saw it, I could never unsee it, and then you begin seeing it all over the Bible, everywhere you read. So I'm going to begin with that verse, actually 2 verses, and sort of work backwards this morning.

Look with me, and let's begin our thoughts this morning with vss 13, and 14.

13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

In my 1972 Bible, I have lots of scrawls in the margins and when I began to discover this world shattering truth I quickly found it almost exactly stated the same in two other places, and not insignificantly by two separate apostles, saying the exact same thing.

In Acts 26:18, when Paul is sharing his conversion testimony with King Agrippa, listen to what he recounts that Jesus the Messiah told him at his conversion, as he's knocked flat onto the ground;

16 ‘But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; 17 delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

Jesus is sending Paul to the gentiles, and for what specific purpose?

18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’

OK, then, the third verse I scrawled into the margin of my 1972 Bible, is 1 John 5:19. Listen to what the apostle John says and see if perhaps the lights come on.

We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 1 Jn. 5:19

Beloved, my whole world view is based here in these verses. It answers 10,000 questions. Why is there so much evil? Why doesn't God do something about it?

The idea being taught here is that of dominion. Authority to reign. That's what the word "kingdom" in the bible means. Authority to reign.

So we learn that Satan has a dominion in this world. He holds the authority to reign, as we speak, in this world. That's an eye opener. And we should note, it is a usurped dominion held by the power of sin, and it is temporary. God is rightful owner of His creation. Satan's temporary dominion is stolen.

Another greek word in the 1 Jn. 5:19. It says the whole world. The greek word for world there is kosmos. And kosmos isn't necessarily talking about the real estate. The word kosmos means world systems. In this case, Satan has dominions over the world systems of evil.

Satan has a million plans and systems in place that make this world run under his control which is in direct conflict with God.

Well! Why doesn't God crush him and eliminate evil, and return this world to godly order? Is God powerless to overcome Satan and his evil plans for this world. What's He waiting for.

The answer, is the book you hold in your hands. God could have crushed the rebellion in one day, with one word, and swept everyone into hell forever, but He chose to do it according to a perfect plan that reveals His glory and His grace, and His love, and His wrath, and in fact, if you find a good list of God's attributes, every single one of them is displayed within God's plan to ultimately crush Satan and evil, and retake this world, and reign here in glorious righteousness for a thousand years on David's throne in Jerusalem, and then after another uprising, to destroy this heaven and this earth and create new ones.

The drama begins in Genesis 3 and ends in Revelation 22. A complete sovereign plan reversing the fall in Genesis 3 is unfolding. Beginning with the Patriarch's in Genesis, and working through Israel, the nation He chose to reveal His truth to in written form, and through whom, the Messiah came, and then the church age, which we are in, which we believe is nearing it's completion, and after that, 7 more years of history for Israel, "Jacob's trouble", the tribulation period, and at the end of that time, Jesus returns to reign on this earth for a millenium. A thousand year reign of this kosmos under the dominion of Jesus, instead of Satan, and then final things, the elimination of the old heavens and earth and new heavens and new earth for eternity.

It's all spelled out in this book. You really ought to read it, so when the world explodes into some new war we haven't even thought of yet, you understand that there are dominions we cannot see, which are on course to complete God's sovereign plan, already spelled out, in eternity past, and revealed in this book.

So, then, look again at Colossians 1:13,14.
13 For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Two kingdoms. Two dominions. Two authorities to reign, in those verses, that are in conflict with each other, combative war against each other. Satan's kosmos. His world with all of it's evil systems churning to keep control of this planet through the power of sin and evil.

And we were trapped in that rebellion. Born sinners. Hopelessly caught in a fight we had no control over. Born into Satan's rebellion and on our way to perishing with the planet along with all evil.
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But God intervened and rescued us from our dilemma. We are literally snatched out of the fires of judgement about to overtake this world.

We who are christians are purchased out of the domain of darkness through the precious blood of Jesus which flowed out of Him as He died, in our place, receiving in Himself the punishment which was due to us. He paid our debt and then He arose from the grave. Alive. Death could not hold Him.

And those of us who have believed and embraced the finished work of Christ on the cross, on our behalf, we have believed that His substitutionary atonement for our sins was effectual, we have been adopted as sons and daughters of God. Brethren of Jesus who purchased us.

Snatched out of the dominion of Satan, and, this is important, placed under the dominion, the authority to reign, of Jesus. You are bought with a price.

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God with your body. 1 Cor 6:19,20

Snatched out of the kosmos of darkness in order to belong to and honor and glorify Jesus. We (christians, real ones, who have the indwelling Holy Spirit who has quickened us from spiritual death, to spiritual life) We are of God, and the whole world lies in the dominion of the evil one. 1 Jn. 5:19

Those are the two singular possibilities. My sweet neighbors, who I love, but who are not christians, dwell in Satan's kosmos. Only two possibilities. And once this truth grips you, as you read through the pages of your Bible, you see it over and over.

Cain vss Abel. Abel was God's, Cain was Satan's. Cain slew Abel. And so it goes. God's camp is at war with this world and Satan's camp ever since. Beloved, we are enemy combatants in a war zone, and we are massively outnumbered. About half of one percent worship God here where we dwell. I think that's a fair number.

Consider your odds. 0.5% and the opposing 99.5% will use deadly force to gain their victory for Satan's cause. OK, that's probably hyperbole, but I will say, that without the power of a Sovereign God on our massively outnumbered side of the battle, it would be a mass slaughter.

Read it in the book of Revelation, when the restraints of our God are removed for a time period. 100% kill rate for those who profess Christ in that time frame. It is the restrainer who limits Satan's efforts in our age.

OK, the theme of the entire Bible, therefore, is summarized in these verses. Good and evil. God and Satan. The war of the ages. An elect remnant who are snatched out of this condemned world and delivered to God's kingdom, who now belong to Him, who have been purchased by Him. We begin to understand so very much because of those truths.

Some evil occurs like 911, or Charlie Kirk's assassination, and people stand around and blame God. Where was God? Why didn't He stop it? But because of the truths of this book, we understand, we're dwelling in the usurped realm and dominion of Satan who would actually do more evil if he were allowed.

It's Satan's cosmos that murders the babies. It's Satan's cosmos that wants to disfigure and destroy lives. It's Satan's cosmos that is working to destroy families and marriages between one man one woman. It's Satan's cosmos that has caused our nation to abandon it's christian roots with the restraints of this book that brought universal thriving. We've jettisoned truth and embraced evil. What do you expect?

OK, time to move on. But first a disclaimer. Nothing I've said so far is political. The Bible explains where evil comes from and why the world is dark. That isn't politics, it's biblical truth.

But does Satan use politics to advance his cosmos, his world systems of evil. Oh! You'd better believe he does. The old testament looks at different kings that were in place and then looks through those political forces and sees Satan driving their policies. Satan is driving this world, and it's headed towards a destruction that will ultimately expose all evil.

Jesus will crush Satan's cosmos and set up a kingdom of righteousness. Which I might add, with the curse reversed, will see thriving and wellness and happiness, the likes of which this world had not known since the fall, in the garden of Eden. The earth itself groans, waiting for that day. It's coming beloved.

OK, that was our introduction, let's return to our passage, which is Paul, praying for the christians at Colossae, and by extension, this prayer is also for us. These things are what Paul wants for you and for me who are removed from this world and placed in the kingdom of God.

9 For this reason also, since the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

As soon as Paul learned that there was a solid growing church in Colossae, his immediate reaction was to pray on their behalf. Why?

Beloved, it's what we do. We pray for each other. I love the little phone thing dinging from time to time. Prayer changes things. When Kristina texted that she was losing blood at a frighteningly rapid rate and they were going full speed towards Bishop, how many of you stayed up into the night praying.

Prayer is a grace. Have you worked for someone who told you, I don't pay you to think, just follow my orders, that's all I want from you. I have. Fine, I'll follow your orders and we'll spend $18,000 for a specialist to come after 10 days to fix something I could have fixed in 10 minutes if you'd listened to my idea.

Now that's an imperfect example, because God truly does not need our help or our ideas or any input about how we think He should fix a problem, but He graciously entreats us to pray for things.

You say, why would I bother? He already promised me that all things work together for the good of the elect.

Prayer is a grace. He graciously allows you a purchase into what He's doing. Not only that, but sovereign God, in His providence could do the thing 10,000 different ways, and your prayer may well cause Him to do it in a way that makes your purchase into the doing of it meaningful and rewarding to you in the bargain. Faith grows when we see God at work accomplishing things we've asked and prayed for.

Prayer gives me a personal investment in what God is doing. Prayer is hard work. When I pray for something specific, I become vested in the answer. Prayer is a very real connection to what God is doing.

When I went to Idaho to pick up the wretched antique car you can see over the fence in my back yard, I really enjoyed the guy that I bought if from. He was a bit of a wild man. Boundless energy being throttled by advanced diabetes. He'd lost a leg, but you could tell, maybe that was a good thing.

He had a lifelong friend visiting with him helping him who was a christian and who was witnessing to him. It was obvious his expiration date was approaching. He's my age, so that goes without saying even without the disease. And I just started asking the Lord to be gracious and save him. He'd be a really fun christian. I enjoy christian wild men. It's just fun to watch God reign in really masculine men and make them useful. God can turn what the feminista world calls toxic masculinity into godly masculinity. Men glorify God, when the toxins are washed away.

I bought an antique junk car, but I also gained an investment in a soul that I want to see transferred into God's kingdom. That's what prayer does. It gives me very real purchase into other people's lives and even destinies.

Paul says he has not ceased from praying for them. That doesn't mean Paul never slept. It means that when Paul is awake, there's a continual conversation with his friend Jesus, daily, about everything that's important to Paul. And these folks became important to Paul from the moment he heard about them.

Then Paul tells us how he prays for them, which is perhaps a lesson for us to learn how to pray for each other? Ya think? Yeah.

9b ...and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

There's actually a lot to unpack in that little tongue twister of a Paul mid sentence. I say mid sentence because with Paul, almost everything is a mid sentence. Paul could write a whole book and on page 348 put a single period. That's just how his brain worked.

But for us lesser brains, we do well to dwell on one idea at a time.

First is that word filled. and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

To be filled is to be driven by whatever it is that filled you. A ship is driven by the wind that fills up a sail. The man that assassinated Charlie Kirk was filled with rage and hate, so he picked up a gun and that drove his actions.

What is it that Paul asks God to fill us up with that would drive our actions?

Three words. Knowledge, spiritual wisdom, and understanding. Hmmm... Now where would christians gain those things. Any thoughts? Maybe in His revelation, His book that He inspired and gave to us.

I'm being facetious. Of course that's where we go in order to be filled up with knowledge and spiritual wisdom and understanding. In fact those three words might even be selective of different areas or types of literature present in the Book.

Knowledge might be a reference to the gospel's. And by extension the entire old testament leading up to the good news. Spiritual wisdom, if it were a category I wanted to especially work in, might be Job, the Psalms, and the Proverbs, and even Ecclesiastes. James is a new testament wisdom kind of writer. Understanding sends me to Paul's logical mind in his letters of exhortation and correction. The book of Hebrews is an understanding book.

I left out one word didn't I. and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

His will is the theme of what the other things are working towards. We laid a good foundation for this idea of His will earlier this morning when we talked about God's kingdom in opposition to Satan's cosmos.

In the Lord's prayer, what does Jesus tell us to ask for? Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Thy kingdom, thy authority to reign on earth as opposed to the usurper who reigns in terror now, come.

We're praying for the day when God wins. When He comes and retakes this world and crushes Satan's reign. When His will is done here instead of Satan's will.

OK, then what is Paul asking for the christians at Colossae here. He wants them to be filled up with the knowledge and wisdom and understanding of what God is doing, both in the immediate future they're living in at present, as well as the future day when Christ will reign.

And Paul wants that biblical world view to be the thing that drives these christians both at Colossae and by extension, you and me, in Tonopah, in 2025.

We're in a war zone beloved. In America we got rather lazy over the last 2 centuries. Our forefathers designed a governement that was extremely user friendly to christians. There was little pressure against christians here, and we got lazy thinking that's just the norm.

Guess what. Shots got fired across the bow this week. Suddenly, Paul's prayer for the christians at Colossae have great meaning. We can no longer lolligag through life in a user friendly to christians world. Paul's prayer hits home for us. Here. Now.

and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

Knowledge and wisdom and understanding of what God's will requires in a hostile world is imperative all of a sudden. It's time for christians to pay attention. The easy user friendly to christians world has vanished like the morning fog.

We need to wake up to the realities of what Paul prayed for these christians long ago, which we desperately also need in our theatre we're living in now. Paul wants the driving forces of our lives to be the knowledge and wisdom and understanding of God's will for a specific reason. Next verse;

10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God;

Ignorant christians, who lolligag through life, living totally according to their glands, for themselves, do not please God. Nor do they cause any conflict or challenge to Satan's cosmos.

Is being pleasing to God something that you think about? I think that's why God gives men wives. We learn the basic principles on a smaller scale. If I bring a V8 engine into the family room and take it apart, my wife would be displeased. I've learned, I'm a little hard headed, but I've learned that pleasing your wife is important.

How much more God! When knowledge of His will and spiritual wisdom and understanding fill up the sail that's driving our lives, we live with different goals. We don't live with this world's goals.

Paul's calling for people to live lives now that impact the kingdom of Jesus. I mean, if you understand the forces that are controlling and driving this world and the future is spelled out in this book, how do you then live?

If this life is 5 minutes long, in eternity measure, and you understand why this world is reeling with evil, Satan has usurped control here and the whole world is destined for cataclysmic judgement, but Jesus has made a way of escape, do we just live for ourselves and our McMansions?

I'm preaching to myself this morning. I'm painfully aware that the impact of spiritual fruit in this world that I'm leaving behind is pretty shallow. Pretty small. Tiny little impact. Satan isn't sending any gunmen to silence me.

Paul is praying for a whole church of Charlie Kirk's. Listen again to his prayer. That's what he's praying for.

9 For this reason also, since the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and multiplying in the full knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Our forefathers in this land designed a place, an experiment in freedom that was so user friendly to the christians it was designed by and for, that we got too comfortable.

These words in Paul's prayer became sort of optional. We read biographies about christians who live that way, but we're fine here, with our freedoms and our plenty and our comfort.

When you read through this prayer of Paul's, answer this question for yourself, at least. According to what Paul prays for the church here, was Charlie Kirk supposed to be the exception, or the rule?

Vs. 11 being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience;

There's a progression here for christians that follow the normal progress of what Paul prays for us.

Vs. 9 we're filled up with knowledge and spiritual wisdom and understanding. If something scratches you, you bleed bible. The revelation of God in all of it's differing forms and styles becomes our driving force. Our worldview is bibline.

Vs. 10 That filling up with Jesus and God and this book, combined with the indwelling Holy Spirit of Jesus and God causes us to walk. We live to please our Lord. We live lives worthy of our Lord who rescued us out of this perishing world. And because of those realities, fruit happens. Multiplication of the Kingdom of God happens. How can it not??

vs. 11 With those things in place we are strengthened with otherworldly power, according to God's glorious might, and we are steadfast in that kingdom lifestyle, patiently.

If we were living lives according to vss 9 and 10, strength and steadfastness and patience would be necessary, because, as we've seen this week, when you do live like this, Satan fights back. If you aren't experiencing any push back, it's probably because you aren't pushing. Charlie Kirk was inflicting direct real pain on Satan. He was a singular headache to Satan.

OK, vs. 12, and I feel like the guys who inserted the verse numbers in the 4rth century might have gotten this break in Paul's logical thought wrong, so I've included the last word in verse 11 here with vs. 12.

joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

I have no idea why God chose me as one of the half of one percent who dwell here, to quicken from death to life. He made me alive together with His Son, the Lord Jesus, who dwells in me, who is my friend.

Then he gave me this phenomenal book full of revelation that is impossible to find out, except that God has showered His elect with knowledge and spiritual wisdom and understanding to live by.

I live in utter astonishment that God has qualified ME, of all people, for some reason He chose ME to be qualified to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

What is the inheritance of the saints in light you ask? I have a limited example for you. A metaphor with limits. I'm a film guy. When I slide a sheet of film into the back of my antique camera and then expose the picture I've focused, onto the film, there's a latent image waiting on that film.

We went to Utah for a family reunion and on July 10th at about 8:30 in the evening I made portraits of our family on 6.5X8.5 inch film. Those portraits are still in the film holders. The latent image is undeveloped. But it's there. Just waiting for me to find time to develop the film. Then the images can go on display.

We, beloved, are the saints. It isn't a catholic church thing. Any christian who has Jesus living inside their heart is a saint. Millions of us. Alive today on this earth. And billions of us sleeping in the graves for 2000 years.

A day is coming when Jesus will call ALL of His saints, out of the graves, and those who are alive and remain, also, to meet Him in the air. That is the inheritance of the saints in light. That moment when Jesus shouts;

Come UP Here . . . Rev. 4:1b . . . 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17 After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
1 Thess. 4:17 . . . 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. Romans 8:19

All of the christians, the living and the dead, are like a latent image waiting for the developer to make it a picture. We are waiting for the moment in time when we all will be gathered together with our Lord, in glorious light, changed, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Lord's command.

That's the inheritance of the saints in light. And I'm one of that number.

joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 Who rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Paul prays for christians that will stand out in their distintives, and who will challenge this world with God's revealed truth, displayed with spiritual wisdom and power. By extension, he prayed that for us, right here in Tonopah