Eyes to See pt.2

If you would please take up your
Bibles and turn once again to Paul’s letter to the Colossians,
where we find ourselves once again in chapter 1. We have sensed already the intimacy
and the warmth of this letter, even though these people were
people whom Paul had never met, at least not at this point. Paul’s
fellow worker in the gospel, Epaphras, had brought a full
report to Paul, a full enough report that an immediate connection
between Paul and these people, this church, was formed. And
having received word of this faithful little church in Colossae,
Paul begins his letter, as we’ve seen, with an expression of thanks
to God the Father for the work of grace that he had done in
these people’s lives. That work resulted in their salvation
out of sin and death. That is the theme of Paul’s opening
prayer in verses three through eight, the saving grace of God
that had come upon the Colossians. The gospel had been faithfully
preached and eagerly received, and God’s grace had begun a magnificent
work there. And that grace was evidenced
by their faith in Christ, by their brotherly love, and by
their eternal hope. And so Paul had much for which
to give thanks. But it’s almost as if Paul doesn’t
want the Colossians to be too surprised by this work of grace. That work of grace was no different
than anywhere in the world where it had been preached and received.
And in that sense, it was a great encouragement to the Colossians. What happened to them in and
among them was really to be expected. It’s not that Paul desired to
take away from that, which they had experienced, rather he wanted
them to grasp the amazing power of the gospel. And so in the
second portion of that opening section, verses five through
eight, he tells them about four magnificent features of the gospel. We looked at these several weeks
ago. He presented its inherent trustworthiness, as he says in
verse five, it is the word of truth. And that ensures two additional
features. The individual impact of the
gospel, that it indeed had come to the Colossians individually. The gospel was preached and received,
and it became a powerfully effective presence in their lives. But that same effect was the
common effect of the gospel. The gospel had gone forth into
all the world and was bearing fruit and increasing. But the
gospel, the word of truth, was only effective, Paul reminds
the Colossians and us, it was only effective because of the
personal communication of the gospel. Some believer had taken
personal responsibility to tell others about the Savior. And
in the case of Colossi, Some believing individual had come
to them to share the good news about Christ. Paul tells us that
his name was Epaphras. In this opening section, Paul
not only expresses his gratefulness to God for his work in their
life, and he declares the magnificence of the gospel, but he also prays
for these believers. As we saw last Lord’s Day, Paul
makes one request of God on their behalf, a definitive prayer that
these young believers would come to fully know God’s will. That knowledge, Paul will go
on to say, will be imparted to them through spiritual wisdom
and spiritual understanding. But such knowledge is not an
end in itself. Paul makes this one grand request
because it will change believers’ lives. For our purposes this
morning, we’ll read only the request portion of this section,
verses 9 through 14. Colossians chapter 1, verses
9 through 14. 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, so that you will 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, strengthened with all power according to His glorious might,
for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving
thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the
inheritance of the saints in light, for he who rescued us
from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom
of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness
of sins. And we left off last week in
the middle of that latter portion, 9 through 14. Paul has made an
abrupt transition there, verse 9, from the thanksgiving portion
of his prayer to the request that he makes to God on behalf
of this church. And he tells us the reason that
he is appealing to the Lord. We noted that it was because
God was so powerfully at work already in the Colossian people
that Paul basically asks for more. Because of the faith, love,
and hope that God was already producing among this body of
believers, Paul asks for even more grace. And so in doing,
Paul does something exceptional here. As I mentioned last week,
we tend to pray only or primarily for those in need, physically,
spiritually, financially. That’s not what Paul does here.
He doesn’t go around the room and take a bunch of prayer requests. He prays for the Colossians because
they are doing well spiritually. The Colossian church was a solid,
faithful, growing church, a church committed to Christ, and that’s
what prompts Paul to pray all the more for them. Paul maintained
a vigorous prayer life for all of his churches, the Colossians
included. He was always praying for them,
as he says in verse 3. He never ceased, he says here
in verse 9. Essentially, what Paul does is
that because they have been faithful in the measure of grace that
they’ve received, he seeks more of God’s grace so that they can
be more useful to Christ that they would have an even greater
impact, not only on their church, but on their entire community.
It’s a very different approach to prayer, isn’t it? The Colossian
believers were off to a great start, but they were far from
complete. And so Paul expresses his desire
that they might grow in the knowledge of God. Paul desired that they
would have an even greater impact on their world, and so he humbles
himself before God to make an even greater request, that God
would essentially give these believers eyes to see, spiritual
vision. That’s what Paul asks of the
Lord on their behalf. The spiritual vision is the one
thing needful for these young believers to develop a godly
perspective for their Christian lives. And so Paul asked that
God would provide specifically that they be filled with the
knowledge of God’s will. Not God’s will as we saw in the
sense of his great plan of redemption, that we would know the very mind
of God, but God’s moral will for their lives, that they would
know how it is that God wants them to live. And he doesn’t
just pray for a measured amount of this knowledge, but they would
be filled with it. Filled to overflowing. Not just
knowledge, but super knowledge. The ability to apply what they
know to daily living. So to be filled with the knowledge
of God’s will is to know and understand the moral absolutes
and biblical principles presented in scripture for our sanctification. These principles are only found
in Scripture. And so Paul basically prays that
God would draw these believers ever deeper into his word. Paul speaks of the means of gathering
this knowledge of which he speaks. It’s acquired by what he says,
spiritual wisdom and spiritual understanding. The Holy Spirit
must supply these two graces, wisdom and understanding. Wisdom
is that capacity to accumulate and arrange principles from Scripture. We begin doing that as soon as
we’re saved. We hear a principle articulated in Scripture, and
then we begin seeking how that applies to our particular life.
Understanding is that ability to apply that wisdom to our lives. And Paul desired for these Colossians
that spiritual grace of God, and for good reason. Glance down
at verse 10, he gives us his explanation right there. So that
you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please him in
all respects. And suddenly, Paul acknowledges
that they couldn’t possibly be doing that already. This was
a young church, young believers. The spiritual knowledge, wisdom,
and insight are productive. They do something. They produce
good things in the believer’s life, their conduct, their speech,
their affections, their demeanor. And here in verse 10, Paul is
stating the spiritual result of spiritual knowledge. Godly
thinking will produce a godly life. If a believer is filled
with God’s knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, then walking
in a manner worthy of the Lord will be the result. Paul here
employs one of his favorite metaphors, as we saw, that of walking, referring
to a person’s entire course of life. The spiritual knowledge
for which Paul prays will produce a worthy walk. Right doctrine,
rightly applied, produces a God-honoring life. Such a believer will be
pleasing to God, not perfect, Not in heaven yet, but ever growing
in grace to Christian maturity. And so this walking worthy of
the Lord, pleasing him, what does it look like? In the four
and a half verses remaining, all the way down to verse 14,
Paul tells us what it looks like to walk worthy of the Lord. He
gives us here the benefits of spiritual insight. He details
what it looks like to walk worthy of the Lord, as hard as that
is to grasp. And these aren’t so much goals
for which the believer to shoot, but they are examination points
by which we evaluate our progress as believers, to indicate how
productive our knowledge of God’s will is in our life. we considered only the first
of the four last week, it’s right there in the middle of verse
10, where Paul says, bearing fruit in every good work. And just to review, if our life
is being impacted by the knowledge of God, we will be increasingly
sanctified as evidenced by our deeds. Paul says that we will
be fruitful. If a Christian has begun to feast
on God’s Word, discovering and applying its principles to their
life, Paul says they will be fruitful. We’re reminded that
Paul has already employed both of those words, bearing fruit
and increasing, back in verse 6. And Paul did so there to show
that the gospel preached and received resulted in salvation. What was true generally in the
world was also true of the Colossians. But here in verse 10, Paul uses
fruit bearing to refer to the believer’s growth in grace, the
fruit of righteousness. Paul had already acknowledged
that the people of Colossae were saved. So here Paul is referring
not to salvation, but to sanctification. The Christian is to bear fruit
in every good work. The fruit bearing to which Paul
refers here occurs in the sphere of good works, righteous standards, selfless giving, deeds of kindness,
service to Christ and to his body, a love for God’s people,
a love for one’s neighbor, and so much more. These are the fruit
of good works. And such are not only present,
but they are, Paul says, increasingly present in the believer’s life.
There’s a second indication of this influence by the knowledge
and wisdom and understanding of God, it’s that last line in
verse 10, if you would glance there. So the four indications
that our life is being impacted by the knowledge of God, the
first is that we will be increasingly sanctified, and the second is
that our knowledge of God will be growing continually. Glance
at verse 10, where he just says, increasing in the knowledge of
God. There’s a second indication of
walking worthy, as God would have us to walk, and it comes
from accumulating spiritual knowledge. Glance down, if you would, at
the very end of verse 10 again, not only will such a believer
bear fruit, he or she will be increasing in the knowledge of
God. I would only bring your attention
to a slight possible adjustment to that translation. Instead
of in the knowledge of God, it could be translated by the knowledge
of God, featuring the knowledge of God as the sure means of growth,
the sure means of increase. And that presents this beautiful
image of God’s grace, doesn’t it? It’s like the rain from heaven
coming down and lending growth to the plant. Either way, God’s
Word is going to impact the believer so that more of God’s Word is
desired. There’s a dangerous tendency
among believers. We have this inclination to think
that we reach some kind of plateau in our Christian life and we
tend to level off or take a break, an extended vacation from growth. And we know that there may well
be, in fact, we may be certain that further growth is needed.
We know that we need to grow. Greater measures of grace are
surely available for us, but right now, we’re content to just
take a break. We’re content to hit pause in
our Christian life. We think that we’ve earned a
rest, and it starts with our leaving off of the nourishment
of God’s Word. I would suggest to you that such
thinking is extremely dangerous. It’s one of the most perilous
places a Christian can find him or herself complacent. We need
to grow as Christians consistently and constantly. It’s that simple. There are no resting places.
There are no pull-offs on the road of righteousness. There
are no plateaus in the Christian life. There is no pause in the
growth of grace. One of the marks of production
in the spiritual knowledge, wisdom, and understanding is an increase
that is insatiable hunger for God’s Word. The Christian cannot
get enough. He or she will constantly be
drawn to the Bible for comfort, for instruction, for wisdom,
for guidance, for edification, all of it. The believer is, as
Peter says in 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter 2, the believer is to long for
the pure milk of God’s word. As I said, there are four indications
that God’s knowledge is impacting our lives as believers, and we
find the third one in verse 11. we will be increasingly sanctified,
our knowledge of God will be growing continually, and thirdly,
we will be supernaturally strengthened. Verse 11, where Paul says, strengthened
with all power according to his glorious might for the attaining
of all steadfastness and patience. Verse 11, this third indication
that we are walking so as to please the Lord, walking worthy
of our calling in Christ. Here Paul says that the believer
will be strengthened with all power, literally in all power
being empowered or strengthened with all strength. This is a
proof of the grace at work in the Christian’s life, and this
is not human strength. This is not toughening up in
order to bear up under whatever it is we’re facing. This is divine
strength, as Paul makes clear in that prepositional phrase,
according to his glorious might. This is God’s strengthening of
the believer. We can certainly come to grips
with our own human limitations. Our strength fails, doesn’t it? Sooner or later, we run out of
gas. We get weary. We tire out. We quit. We come to the end of
our ability, and we’re often tempted to quit altogether in
whatever endeavor we’re engaged. Without God’s power, we are weak
and ineffective. We falter, and we fail. But in
God’s power, in God’s power, we never find the end. We never
find the bottom. We never exhaust God’s supply
of strength. We can never exhaust divine resources. By and with God’s empowerment,
we are made strong, spiritually strong. This is precisely the
kind of power that Paul desired for his churches, that they would
know and experience this supernatural strength. Listen to how Paul
prays for the Ephesians in chapter one. In his letter to them, I
pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you
will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches
of his glory, of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the
surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe. These
are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might.
Three different words for God’s divine power. Consider how Paul
characterizes this strength in Colossians chapter one. He calls
it the power of his glorious might. That word glorious elicits
images of those awesome manifestations of God’s glory so often pictured
in the Old Testament. We can think of God’s glory as
his revelation of himself. Here, God is revealing himself
in and through the believer by means of his great power. Our faith is strengthened when
we see God equipping us with his power to get through whatever
it is he’s called us to experience. And that, and no other, is the
kind of power that is poured forth into the believer, the
power of his glorious might. And if you would please, look
at the end of verse 11. What Paul concludes that this
power is able to produce, he doesn’t present the empowered
Christian as some kind of a superhero. He points only to two very basic
Christian graces. Very practical. He says that
this strengthening is for the attaining of all steadfastness
and patience. Those are similar words, but
have a very different reference. Steadfastness speaks of endurance
in circumstances, trials, difficulties, temptations. Patience, on the
other hand, refers to forbearance with difficult people, the ability
to hold back on retaliation or revenge toward those who have
wronged us. And I suppose that there are
more than a few of us who need help with both of those two virtues. Most of us struggled with steadfastness,
dealing with life’s circumstances all week long. And more than
a few of us may well have struggled with patience, even driving here
this morning. God equips the Christian for
a brave and courageous perseverance, even in the face of great difficulty. God’s might also enables the
Christian to bear up under unjust treatment. And fresh supplies
of this strength, it is always available to the believer by
God’s grace. This supernatural strength is
exhibited in steadfastness and patience, the sure results of
Christian maturity. And as forecasted, there is a
fourth indication that our life is being impacted by the knowledge
of God. And we find that in verses, pardon
me, 12 through 14. Four indications that our life
is being impacted by the knowledge of God. We will be increasingly
sanctified. Our knowledge will be growing
continually. We will be supernaturally strengthened. And number four, our life will
be marked by a grateful heart. Verse 12, joyously giving thanks
to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance
of the saints in light. There’s a lot there. I’ll tell
you right away here, we have one of those difficult little
interpretational challenges that pop up now and then, and it involves
that word joyously. It’s actually two words in the
Greek, literally with joy. And the difficulty lies in is
the connection of this word or words. They could be connected
with the immediately preceding words, steadfastness and patience
with joy. And certainly, Paul is not calling
believers to a joyless patience, just stiff upper lip kind of
a thing, grin and bear it. But that’s one option. that he’s
called us to steadfastness and patience with joy. The other
possibility is to connect these words with what follows, as we
have, as even the New American Standard has, giving thanks or
with joy giving thanks. Commentators are just about evenly
split, wouldn’t you know it, on this question. At the end
of the day, it doesn’t really make a great deal of difference
whether one is exercising patience joyfully or joyfully giving thanks. Either way, the person is joyful,
as he or she ought to be, and these four indications of the
grace of God are all blended together anyway. So regardless,
Paul says here, fourthly, that one of the indications of God’s
grace at work in our lives as believers is the grace of thankfulness. And it almost goes without saying
that just as with our prayers in general, our thanksgiving
is offered up to God the Father. He is the one who, as James tells
us, gives us every good and perfect gift. He is the one who, as Paul
declared to the Athenians, gives life and breath and all things. He is the one, as Paul promises
in Romans 8, will freely give us all things. Of course, we
should express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father Paul commends
thankfulness to his churches with a special frequency and
a special urgency. To the Ephesians he says that
Christians should always be giving thanks for all things in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. Always. Believers should always be looking
for something for which to thank God, even in the midst of their
most difficult circumstances. Thanksgiving, Paul tells the
Philippians, is the antidote to worry. That’s a good fix for
so many of us. Philippians 4.6, be anxious for
nothing. But in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God. Bring your needs, bring your
requests before God, but when you come to him, as you come
to him, come with thanksgiving. Find something in the midst of
what it is you’re experiencing for which to give God genuine
thanks. There’s another verse that you
certainly know in this regard, 1 Thessalonians 5.16, 5.16-19,
Paul says here, that no matter the situation,
no matter our personal circumstances, we should return thanks, not
necessarily for the difficulty, but in the difficulty, in the
midst of the challenges that we’re facing. There will be things
for which to give thanks. Gratitude helps us maintain a
balanced perspective in the midst of these circumstances. Such
thankfulness naturally comes for the Christian. It should. Thanklessness actually characterizes
unbelievers, not believers. You might remember in Luke 17,
he records the account of Jesus healing 10 lepers. Remember this? Jesus directs them to go and
show themselves to the priests and their complete healing occurred
on the way. All of them were miraculously
healed, and yet only one returned to Jesus to thank Him. Paul speaks
of the same tendency among heathen in Romans 1, that even though
they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks. Thanksgiving is a special feature
of the Christian. He or she looks and observes
all of God’s providences and finds something for which to
give thanks. Thanklessness, on the other hand,
characterizes the unbelieving heart. As believers, we can thank
God for who he is in his character and his being. We can thank God
for what he has done in creation, in salvation. through Christ,
providing His Word, the Scriptures, as well as for the many graces
and opportunity that He extends to us. As I said at the outset,
our expressions of thanksgiving ought to be offered up to God
the Father. We know that. And we hardly need
any further description of Him. And yet, that is exactly what
Paul provides in the remaining words. Would you glance down
again at verse 12? Of the Heavenly Father, Paul
adds this description. The Father who has qualified
us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. God divinely
enables the believer, qualifies us to enjoy a spiritual blessing. We’ll generalize it for a moment. He, of course, is talking here
about the act of justification. God’s declaration of us that
we are righteous. God fits us for heaven. He’s the one that qualifies us.
He’s the one that makes us able. Justification is God’s declaration
of those who place their faith in Christ, he declares them to
be righteous, even in the righteousness of Christ. As Paul says it so
clearly in 2 Corinthians 5, one of my favorite verses, we become
the righteousness of God in him, that is, in Christ. Justification
is not a process. It is a life-transforming declaration
that occurs in an instant in the believer’s heart and life.
Paul says here that so qualified or justified or enabled, we are
made to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. That’s
such great news, but I imagine that most of us had no clue what
that meant when we walked in. This inheritance of which Paul
speaks is not a monetary thing. It’s not silver or gold or some
kind of heirloom that we will acquire one day. Literally, Paul
says that believers will have their part in the lot. Now, typically, if we share something
with others, if you drive on your way home and you stop and
get the most delectable pie, to share with others, you’re
going to get a portion of it. Not the whole pie. Not if you’re
fair. The more people included in that
sharing, the smaller our portion. That’s just reality. But the
part of this lot The inheritance that we receive from God as believers
is not diminished in the least. We all get the whole pie, if
you will. We inherit God’s rich blessings
as believers. We inherit heaven. We inherit
eternity, and I would suggest to you that this inheritance
ultimately is Christ himself, whom believers will enjoy and
worship for all eternity. Such a glorious celebration,
sadly, is not for everyone. It is only for those whom Paul
identifies as saints in light. Fascinating phrase. This light
of which Paul speaks is certainly spiritual light, that much we
know, but there are many different ways that we can understand this
light. In scripture, light is used as
a metaphor to present many different spiritual realities. Peace, holiness,
love, divine revelation, God’s glory, and so many others. So at least initially, it is
difficult to speak with any degree of certainty about what Paul
is referring to here when he says that we are saints in light. But the following verses make
it absolutely clear what Paul is pointing to. Would you glance
down at verses 13 and 14? For he rescued us from the domain of
darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Paul makes
it very clear here now that this light is the opposite of spiritual
darkness, which held us captive in our unbelief. It’s the domain
of darkness, as Paul calls it. Literally, he rescued us out
of, as in out of the grip of this domain of darkness. The
same word translated, this rescue, is translated here, at least
in our version, as delivery. Rescue. Jesus uses this word
when he teaches his disciples to pray. You’ve probably seen
this many times. Deliver us from evil. And Paul
opens his second letter to the Corinthians, giving glory to
God, who delivered us from so great a peril of death. And will
deliver us, he on whom we have set our hope, So the reference
here to the domain of darkness from which we are rescued is
the realm over which the devil exercises his authority. For
now, in our natural state, without God, without hope, we are held
captive in our sin and unbelief. We were in spiritual darkness
in our natural condition. That’s where we lived. And it was inescapable, except
for God’s grace. In his recounting and commission
of his, pardon me, in Paul’s recounting of his commissioning
to ministry in Acts chapter 26, Paul says that Jesus told him
this, that his ministry was going to be one of opening people’s
eyes. Listen to this. to open people’s
eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, from the dominion
of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins.”
Well, you know, Paul’s thoughts there are so similar to his thoughts
here in Colossians that he is surely drawing on that earlier
testimony. His God-given mission was that
of rescuing those that were in darkness. But once granted that
necessary grace which showed to us Christ our Savior and told
us of his atonement for our sin, by faith we were transferred
to a new domain, the domain of light. the kingdom of his beloved
Son. Listen to how powerfully he speaks
of it in 2 Corinthians 4. God, who said, light shall shine
out of darkness. Where did God say that? The book
of Genesis, the opening chapter of Genesis. Light shall shine
out of darkness is the same one who is shown in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. God is the one that does the
work. God is the one that brings us to the light. Peter uses this
same imagery in his first epistle. Speaking of him who called you
out of darkness into his marvelous light. And as believers, we don’t
have to wait till heaven to dwell in this light. As believers,
we’re already dwelling in this domain. If possible, Paul says
it even more directly to the Ephesians in 5.8 of that letter,
you were formerly darkness. And I love the way he says that.
It’s not just that you were in the domain of darkness, you were
darkness itself. You weren’t just a participant,
you were doing exactly as the devil would have you. You were
formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as
children of light. So that now, Paul says, as a
believer, not only are we part of that realm of light, we are
representatives of that realm. We are made part of that light. If you glance down at these verses
once again, By faith in Christ, we are transferred to a domain,
a new domain, from the domain of darkness to the domain of
light, the kingdom of His beloved Son. And would you just please
consider Paul’s description here of God’s Son? Paul says that
it is in Him that we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. In these
two simple phrases, and what a passage to draw us to the Lord’s
table. In these two simple phrases,
Paul speaks of the same reality from both a positive and a negative
perspective. We gain something, and we lose something. With redemption,
our sin is paid for in full. Redemption is a special theme
to Paul, always attributed to the Lord Jesus. Romans 3 24,
we are justified by His grace through, pardon me, we are justified
as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ
Jesus. First Corinthians, Paul says
essentially the same thing. By his doing, you are in Christ
Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Payment has been made. Ransom
has been paid. And we are freed from that dark
domain in which we were held captive. With his second word, forgiveness,
there is a taking away. We lose something here. This
word is used to present a prominent gospel-centered theme throughout
the New Testament. Bear with me for a moment. Jesus
himself used the word at the inauguration of the Lord’s table
in Matthew 26. This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Peter used it at the conclusion of his first recorded sermon,
Acts chapter 2, repent and each of you be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. In Acts chapter
10, Peter uses that same word in preaching the gospel to Cornelius,
remember, and his friends. of him that is of Christ all
the prophets bear witness that through his name everyone who
believes in him receives forgiveness of sins what glorious news no
wonder they all repented and placed their faith in Christ
The writer of Hebrews, oh, brace yourself, he adds two very important
uses of this word. The first in Hebrews 9.22. He says that without the shedding
of blood, there is no forgiveness. There is no other path to God.
There is no other way to be forgiven. We can’t just ignore our sin.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Christ’s
blood atonement for sin, your sin, is absolutely vital for
forgiveness. And then in 1018, it concludes
that where there is forgiveness, there is no longer any offering
for sin. What a beautiful verse. Jesus
Christ’s sacrifice need never be repeated. The newly commissioned Apostle
Paul employed this same word in Acts chapter 13 in his message
to Pisidian in Antioch. Speaking of the Savior, Paul
declared, therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that
through him, that is through faith in Jesus Christ, forgiveness
of sins is proclaimed to you. And Paul, presents the same wonderful
truth, capturing both words, redemption and forgiveness, in
the opening chapter of Ephesians 1-7. In him, that is in Christ, we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace. What glorious news for
the believer as we examine our hearts and our lives in preparation
for the Lord’s table. Would you humble yourselves at
the throne of grace?