Sermons from the Epistle to the Colossians

Delivered! OUT OF DARKNESS

Colossians 1:13-14

July 11, 1999

Rescues have a way of stirring the imagination and lifting the human emotion to a new level. I was intrigued by a daring rescue of a downed pilot in Serbian territory recently, by a specially trained group of rescuers. The helpless pilot was at the mercy of those who came to rescue him. They were all American soldiers, on the same side in the conflict. Even more amazing is the language of Scripture which describes the Lord as the one who rescues, not those who are on his side, but those who are his enemies. He rescued a pagan Abraham from Ur of Chaldees and gave him an inheritance. He rescued by His mighty, outstretched arm, the wayward children of Israel who were in Egypt's bondage. The book of Judges gives countless examples of the Lord rescuing a stubborn nation that continually fell into the bondage of neighboring people. But the greatest rescue is that which took place at the cross of Golgotha. There, God the Son rescued sinners at the price of his blood. Believers are to live in the light of that wondrous deliverance each day.

It appears that the antagonists at Colossae were insisting that what Christ accomplished was not enough. Secret rites, untapped mysteries, hidden knowledge were necessary they claimed. To this end, the Apostle points these weak believers back to what Christ did and how He accomplished the mission He had received from the Father on behalf of all who would believe.

I. Rescued

The language used is very intentional for turning our minds to the mighty conflict raging at the cross. Here, God is viewed as the great deliverer, combating the evil which enslaves sinners, and triumphantly setting the captives free. "Rescued" is an all-encompassing term, taking into consideration the perfect righteousness of Christ and His substitutionary death at the cross, whereby He satisfied divine justice for all who would believe. The language is simple in pointing to the nature of the divine rescue.

1. From a realm of control

We are immediately confronted with the domain of darkness. The phrase helps us to understand the condition of men without Christ. "Domain" is the word which we often translate as authority or power. It refers to "liberty of action" so that we understand it as an active term rather than a passive, state of being. The implication is that someone is exercising liberty and control over another's life. Rick Melick said it "points to a legitimate right to rule" (NAC 207), so we could say it is the ruling principle over all who are without Christ. The irony in this is seen in those who resist the gospel, claiming they want to maintain their freedom. What Paul is saying, is that man without Christ is not free; he is in slavery. There are a number of texts which help us see what he means by this.

a. Acts 26:15-18 where Paul gives testimony of his divine call before King Agrippa. Our text sounds very much like verse 18! The same vocabulary of "dominion" (exousia) and "darkness" describe the condition of man (notice also "inheritance" of Colossians 1:12, and "forgiveness of sins" in 1:14). It is a dominion of Satan.

b. Ephesians 2:2 explains that this dominion is an active, pervasive influence in the unbelieving, so that they are characterized by a life of disobedience to God.

c. II Corinthians 4:3-4 notice the blinding of the mind of all who are unbelieving. Martyn Lloyd-Jones commented on this:

Had you realized all this? If you are not a Christian there is only one reason for it: the devil will not let you believe. He is blinding you, confusing you with this supposed cleverness, which, the moment you really analyze it is...nothing but hollowness. That is why people are not Christians - not because they have great minds, but because 'the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not' (Love So Amazing 180).

d. Romans 6:16-18 offers startling language describing the unbelieving. Paul insists that every believer was a slave of sin but now has a new servitude to righteousness.

The rescue takes place through Christ, as He "disarmed the rulers and authorities" in His redemptive work on the cross (Colossians 2:15). The claim of Satan over our lives was forever done away with by Him who satisfied divine justice and removed the penalty of sin for all who believe.

2. From a condition of darkness

The dominion (rule, active authority) is characterized by darkness. Lest we get the idea that the dominion of Satan and sin is not so bad, he explains that its whole make-up is darkness. The word "darkness" as used throughout the New Testament points to a spiritual and moral condition dominated by sin. It is used to describe the realm of evil. John 8:12: "I am the Light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life." John 3:19-21 describes both a life without God and the world without God. Darkness is the antithesis of everything good, holy, right, just, pure, stable, and peaceful. It pictures chaos (as in the creation account), instability, a life of sin.

The question for centuries has been, "Is man basically good?" The evolutionist suggests that he is improving. As one writer put it, "Look back at primitive man. Look at him living in caves and scribbling on the walls! Look at how he has developed and look at modern man!" Man may be living in houses and cities, but he is still scribbling on the walls, and even worse! (MLJ 168-169).

A number of years ago, a Jew who had endured the horrors of Nazi concentration camps was brought into the courtroom to testify against his persecutors. He started weeping profusely upon seeing the vicious criminals. When asked why he wept, the answer he gave was stunning. Rather than saying he had flashbacks of the horrors he endured, he said that he was terrified. Not at the Nazi criminals before him, but as he saw their faces he recognized they were normal people, not madmen. It dawned upon him that he too was capable of committing the atrocities he had experienced. Paul summarizes it in Ephesians 4:17-19. Do you find yourself still under the dominion of darkness? See that a rescue has taken place...

3. By divine grace

Notice the context in vv. 11-12, which shows what God has done for his children. The emphasis in the gospel is always on what God has done for us, never on what man has done to improve his conditions. Man's attempts always "fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). It was the living God who found us in the grip of Satan and sin, warped by the influence of the world, characterized by being spiritually and morally darkened. Then He rescued us! The word describes a deliverance from that which holds another by its authority. The implication is that you can never rescue yourself! You cannot escape the dominion of darkness by chance or good fortune. The optimum word describing this rescue is grace. It was God's initiative, God's choice, God's mighty power that brought about our rescue from the realm of darkness.

The amazing thing about this rescue is that God is rescuing those who are at enmity with Him! Hebrews 2:14-15 explains how this act of grace unfolded. The intimidators at Colossae were trying to make these young believers think they were still lacking something, that they still needed to be initiated into secret mysteries or have the insight of a special knowledge. But no. The Apostle declares, God has already rescued you! You cannot add to what He has accomplished! Charles Wesley captured it well in one of our favorite hymns, "And Can It Be?"

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,

fast bound in sin and nature's night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Do you know that reality of having been rescued from sin's grip through Christ?

II. Mission Accomplished

Again, the Colossians were in need of seeing that they were complete in Christ; that all which is necessary to be reconciled with God, God Himself has effected through Christ without our input.

1. Into a new rule

The rescue from the realm of darkness' slavery was not into neutrality. The Lord does not save us then put us into a vacuum by which we choose whether or not we are going to seriously follow Christ. He rescues us, then "transfers us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love" (literally). The word "transferred" was used in the New Testament in the very same way we use it: removing something from one place to another. We speak of transferring universities or transferring jobs. You are moved from one place to another. But here, you are not doing the transferring. God is by an act of grace! We have been under the sway of Satan's dominion, a stolen authority! But no longer! We are brought into the Kingdom of Christ! The word "kingdom" refers in this context to the active rule of Christ as our Mediator. We are probably not to make a big distinction between the Kingdom of Christ and the Kingdom of God. We might view the Kingdom of God as the all-encompassing, eternal dimension of God's rule over our lives. Yet Christ's kingdom is also referred to as being of eternal nature, rather than temporary (II Peter 1:10-11). I like the way Curtis Vaughan put it, that the Kingdom of Christ "is the sovereign rule of the Lord Christ over human hearts" (SGC 33-34). F.F. Bruce explains it like this, "that which in its fullness lies ahead of them has already become effective in them" (52 NICNT). The uniqueness of this Kingdom is seen in Romans 14:17.

We have a convergence of justification and sanctification in this verse (Colossians 1:13). For here the deliverance or rescue is by the work of Christ which satisfied God's righteousness whereby He declares sinners to be justified. The transferring into Christ's kingdom refers to his active rule as Lord over our daily lives. Do you know this reality in you own life?

2. Through redemption by a price

"In whom" emphatically points to Jesus Christ in His person and work. There is no other redeemer nor is there any redemptive work which we can accomplish. It is Christ, the Mighty One, alone. An old Welsh hymn captures this (v.1 Titus Lewis, v.2 Anonymous, 1773-1811):

Mighty Christ from time eternal,

Mighty, He man's nature takes,

Mighty, when on Calv'ry dying

Mighty, death itself He breaks.

See His might,

Infinite,

King of heaven and earth by right!

Mighty was He in heaven's purpose,

Mighty, in the pledge to save,

Mighty, from His birth to Calv'ry,

Mighty, bursting from the grave.

Still will He

Mighty be

When things hidden now we see.

What does he mean by "redemption"? The word pictures a slave, hopelessly entrapped in slavery, being bought out of his bondage and set free. There is always a price involved in the redemption, a price which the slave cannot meet. Out of mercy, someone outside of his life pays what price was demanded for him to go free. We are redeemed from the curse of the law, by Christ becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Leon Morris quotes another writer who expresses it with clarity:

Like a black thundercloud the Law hung over men's heads, and they looked up to it in fear that at any minute the lightning of the divine judgment might flame out from its heart. What could be done? God took the initiative. Christ came and on the cross bore for us the doom which sin involved...Christ bore the penalty, which in strict justice we ought to have borne...Death was a curse of the Law, and that curse Christ took upon Himself (V. F. Stone quoted by Morris in The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, FN #1, 56-57).

3. Characterized by forgiveness

"The forgiveness of sins" is set in apposition to "redemption." This is not because the terms are equivalents, but it is through the redeeming work of Christ that we are forgiven (see Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:13-14). Redemption implies a deliverance from something in order to be delivered unto something quite different. Here, forgiveness is seen as a breaking of the old power that held the sinner in its slavery. "It is inconceivable that God should forgive the past, and then send us back incapable of living a new life. Pardon without deliverance would be a mockery, and it is never so contemplated in the New Testament" (Richard Lucas BST 42). The believer is no longer under tyranny to earn forgiveness. It is already his through the redemption which is in Christ.

Now, as those rescued from the domain of darkness, transferred into the active, sovereign rule of Christ who has redeemed you and forgiven you, never give thought to adding to what Christ has done. Look to Him. Live in the wonder of His glorious Person and work. Glory in the grace of God shown to you. Be encouraged, the Lord is all you need.

Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods Baptist Church.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:

Copyright South Woods Baptist Church. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org. Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and suggestions about our site can be sent here.