Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20070513.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Colossians: Maturing Over False Beliefs By Christ's Supreme All-Sufficiency
Part III: Valuing The Spiritual Standing We Have In Christ's Supreme All-Sufficiency
(Colossians 1:13-14)
  1. Introduction
    1. One of the most effective ways to counter the beliefs of cultic or false, legalistic teachings that manipulate the believer to feel obliged to heed unbiblical, man-authored rules to gain God's favor, is to appreciate the favorable standing before God we Christians already have in our Supreme, All-Sufficient Savior.
    2. Paul made this point in Colossians 1:13-14, a point we have as our edifying focus in this lesson:
  2. Valuing The Spiritual Standing We Have In Christ's Supreme All-Sufficiency, Colossians 1:13-14.
    1. The Epistle to the Colossians has as its theme "the supremacy and all-sufficiency of Christ", and Paul promoted it to equip his readers to resist errant beliefs that hindered them from trusting in Christ's supremacy and all-sufficiency, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., p. 1690, "The Colossian Heresy."
    2. So, having heard of their conversion to Christ (Colossians 1:3-8) and of the battle they had with cultic and legalistic beliefs (Colossians 2:6-8, 18-23), Paul briefly mentioned a description of the wealth of their standing in Christ that revealed God's infinite, blessed acceptance of them in Christ, Colossians 1:13-14:
      1. Paul wrote that the Colossian believers had been rescued by God from the dangerous power of darkness, the rule Satan, the god of this world, Colossians 1:13a (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:3-4):
        1. The word "delivered" (KJV, ESV) ("rescued" NIV) in Colossians 1:13a is from the Greek term, errusato that means to rescue one from dangerous entities such as from the jaws of lions (2 Tim. 4:17) or from the future Great Tribulation (1 Thess. 1:10), cf. U. B. S. Greek N. T., 1966 ed., p. 694; Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p. 744-745.
        2. The entity from which they had been rescued was Satan's dominion, Col. 1:13a; 1 John 5:18.
      2. Then, instead of leaving the believer positionally dangling in a spiritual zone where he could again become prey for Satan to enslave him again in dangerous spiritual darkness, God had "transferred" (the meaning of the verb metestaysen) him AWAY FROM the dominion of darkness and INTO the Kingdom of His Son, Colossians 1:13b; Ibid., Arndt & Gingrich, p. 500.
      3. Yet, Paul went beyond referring to Jesus as God the Father's Son to call Him "the Son of His love," placing special emphasis on the Father's infinite love for Christ, Col. 1:13c; Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.
      4. Thus, God the Father has transferred the believer from Satan's dominion into the dominion of Christ where the believer also shares the benefit of the Father's expressions of infinite love already showered upon His Son, the Lord Jesus! The believer need not fear the Father's lack of acceptance of him; in the Son where the believer positionally stands, the Father's infinite love is being showered upon him!
      5. So, Paul's adding the facts that in the "Son of His love", believers have redemption and forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14) offers great relief from obligations to heed cultic and legalistic false rules:
        1. By Christ's "redemption" is meant that (1) Christ paid the ransom at the cross (2) to remove us from the curse of the Law and (3) released us from "the bondage of sin into the freedom of grace," 1 Cor. 6:20; Gal. 3:13; 4:5; 1 Peter 1:18; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Ephesians 1:7.
        2. "The forgiveness of sins" positionally comes through the cross for the believer as well, for God in Christ at the cross provided this forgiveness, cf. Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14b.
      6. In summary, then, if the believer focuses on his standing in Christ to which he has been transferred away from Satan's dominion, and where he has the redemption from sin and God's forgiveness, which redemption and forgiveness are enjoyed in the sphere of his being the object of God's infinite love liberates the believer from obligation to false cultic and man-made rules so he might live by GRACE !
Lesson: If we believers have been rescued from Satan's awful dominion and have been positionally transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father's love, and there we enjoy redemption from sin and the forgiveness of sins, FOCUSING on these riches in Him leads us to REFUSE to feel obliged to heed man-authored rules to GAIN the favor of God we ALREADY RICHLY POSSESS in our Savior!

Application: May we RELAX in GOD'S ACCEPTANCE of us in Christ and RESIST FALSE RULES!