Some people measure what is true in a variety
of different ways. Probably the most recent way
that our culture has measured truth is by the
simple statement that everything is true. That
takes you off the hook, doesn't it? Just say
everything is true. It's called relativism. The
problem with measuring truth that way is that
It leads to personal hopelessness and cultural
despair, and that's just where we are as a people.
Because you see, when everything is true, it
means nothing is true. There is no meaning to
anything. Out of the ashes of the despair in
our culture, over that philosophy that everything
is true, There is quickly arising another way
to measure truth. It is asking the question,
does this work? Does this philosophy, does this
religion, does this idea work? Does it have some
power, some ability to bring about change? Can
it deal with human suffering? Will it give meaning
to existence? Does it work? I believe the world
is frantically looking for some idea, some religion,
some theology, some truth that has power to it.
In the past, truth has tended to be measured
by its rationale. If you could reason it out,
it would be true. But I believe now, in the 1990s,
truth, at least in the Western civilization,
is starting to be measured by its power. That's
important for us to note. Because the evangelical
church has historically sought to prove the truth
of God and His self -revelation, by arguments,
by rational evidence. The world is no longer
impressed by that. Because of the relativism
of the world, its response to our rationale is,
well, that's true for you, it may not be true
for me. If that's your belief, that's fine for
you. Now, I believe the world is looking for
power. It wants to find something that works.
And ladies and gentlemen, the gospel of Jesus
Christ is not only true, it works. It is the
power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.
The Apostle Paul prays in Colossians chapter
1 that we believers might personally be strengthened
by the reality of God's power that dwells in
us. We come back to this text of Colossians 1
and to the end of the prayer that he offers on
behalf of his readers. We pick it up in verse
11, where he says, being strengthened with all
power according to his glorious might for the
attaining of all steadfastness and patience.
joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has
qualified us to share in the inheritance of the
saints in light. For he delivered 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 prays that we might
be strengthened with the indwelling dynamic of
God. He says that this will result as we increasingly
come into a more intimate knowledge of God, as
we are filled with God's will, as he says in
verse 9, and then bear fruit and increase in
the knowledge of God Himself in verse 10. And
so my point this morning is this, coming to know
God intimately allows him to release his dynamic
power in our lives. That power is there. It is
when you and I come to know God more intimately
and personally that he is free to release that
power in our lives to glorify himself. There
are two aspects of this power that he talks about
that are laid before us in the text. He talks
first about the design of God's power and then
the demonstration of God's power. As he thinks
about the design of God's power, he begins by
pointing out its very nature to us. He uses a
verb strengthened and the noun power. They are
both the same word. Related to the word dunamis,
that is the noun. And if you were to spell that
out with English letters, you would find that
it's the beginning of our word dynamite. It refers
to the dynamite, the dynamic, same idea, the
dunamis of God. That is God's ability, God's
strength. being strengthened with all dynamic,
all dynamite, all dunamis from God. And notice
he describes this with an adverb, all power.
Do you remember in Ephesians 6, 18 he says, praying
with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit?
All prayer. We understand that to mean that we're
to pray with all kinds of prayer. And when he
talks about being strengthened with all power,
what he's saying is that God has power for all
kinds of needs. One commentator, Herbert Carson,
wrote, for every requirement there is power available.
That's his point. The nature of God's power is
such that for every requirement you may have
in your life, there is power available from God.
Is it a need in your marriage? Is it a need in
your parenting? Is it a need with some sin or
temptation? Is it a need that you have with an
emotion in your life that is consuming you? Is
it a need with a relationship? He says that God
has all power and we can be strengthened by it.
And its release is not once for all but it is
a lifelong experience because he says being strengthened
and that's in the present tense which means being
constantly, continuously strengthened. It is
a lifelong experience and process. This release
of God's power in us. And notice the measure
of God's power. He says this is according to
His glorious might. According to His glorious
might. Let's suppose that you had a financial
need. And you made the big mistake of coming
to me to ask for help. and standing over here
10 feet away is a man who is a billionaire. I
may be able to give you something out of what
I have, but here is a man who can give far greater
than I can toward your need if he desires to
do that. I can give you according to what I have
But think of what He can give you according to
what He has. You see, the measure of the all
power that is available to us is the glory of
God. According to the power of His glory, His
majesty, writes the Apostle Paul. So when we
think of the design of God's power, remember
that it is the dynamic of God that is constantly
available to you. And there is no way to measure
the limit of this power. It is according to His
glorious power. I think that Paul has some specific
demonstration of that power in mind. When he
writes that phrase turn back with me to Ephesians
for a moment and look in chapter 1 where we find
a very similar expression not identical but similar
Here he is praying for the Ephesians He prays
that their eyes may be enlightened Sounds like
Colossians doesn't it? That's why they're called
the twin epistles He prays that they may know.
Know what? Well, while he said know the will
of God in Colossians, here he says, you may know
the hope of his calling. What are the riches
of the glory of his inheritance in the saints?
Verse 19. And what is the surpassing greatness
of his power toward us who believe? Notice again
the power. the surpassing greatness of God's
power toward us who believe, in accordance with
the working of the strength of his might. A very
similar phrase to what we're looking at in Colossians
1. And then he goes on to say, which he brought
about in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly
places. And so the Apostle Paul gives us a picture
of this power that is according to God's glory.
And that picture is an empty tomb. And a Savior
who is seated at the right hand of the Father.
So great is God's power that He is able to reverse
death. He is able to bring his son from the grave
alive and to exalt him and seat him at his right
hand in heaven. That is how great God's power
is, and he says, for you and for me, that power
is in you. And he says, I pray that you may be
strengthened with that power of the resurrection
of Jesus. Now as we think again about the design
of God's power notice that he gives us the intent
of this power back in Colossians chapter 1 Strengthen
with all power according to his glorious might
for or unto the attaining of all steadfastness
and patience He says that the intent of God's
power in us is to give us endurance. And that
endurance is pointed in two slightly different
directions. The first word is the word steadfastness.
Literally it comes from a word that means to
remain under. To remain under. It means to remain
underneath the pressure of your trials He is
talking about those experiences that come especially
from God in our lives The trials that God brings
to us to grow us and he says I pray that you
may be strengthened with this power that God
has in your life So that you will learn how to
abide up under the trials that come to you as
aliens and strangers in this world. I want you
to learn to endure those trials because God purposes
them for good. The idea behind the word steadfastness
is the opposite of cowardice, running away. Do
you ever feel like David did? Oh, if I were just
a bird, it can fly away to the mountain. If you
could just get away from the pressure. Paul says,
no, I want you to learn to be strengthened in
the midst of it and to abide underneath it. To
bear up under it by the power of God being released
in your life. And then he uses the word patience.
The word patient means to suffer long. It has
the idea of distancing yourself from an angry
response. The focus here is not on circumstances
so much as it is on people. It's a whole lot
easier to take circumstances than people, isn't
it? I heard one pastor say one time, I would
love ministry if it just weren't for people.
And he smiled because that's what ministry is
about. People. Here he prays that we may experience
patience, that we may suffer long with people.
The opposite of this idea is retaliation. Getting
even. taking vengeance, getting back at somebody.
And there are people just flash through your
mind, right, when you say that? Oh boy, those
people. Paul says, I pray that you may find God's
power released in your life so that you will
know how to suffer long with nasty, mean, inconsiderate
people. I wish that he had said that the design
of God's power was that it might be released
in us and we could perform miracles. Don't you
wish that? I pray that you may be strengthened
with all power so that you can call down fire
from heaven on those who are your enemies. Wouldn't
that be wonderful? Oh, if that were the design
of God's power. Or if God had said, that His
power in us was going to cause us to do signs
and wonders. And there are people who think that
unless you do signs and wonders or have some
bizarre experience, you have not experienced
the power of God. Listen, the design of God's
power is not for signs and wonders and miracles
in our lives. It is for transformation of our
character. It would be appealing were it otherwise,
but it's not. God wants to change us. And when
he talks about steadfastness and patience, he
picks at a couple of characteristics that all
of us are still learning about in our lives,
aren't we? He prays that we may know the power
of God. understand what its design is in us.
God wants to change us on the inside. Now the
Apostle concludes this opening to the Epistle
by talking about the demonstration of God's power.
He begins by saying, joyfully giving thanks.
As I pointed out last week, that's the last of
the results of knowing God's will and knowing
God personally. It is bearing fruit, increasing
in the knowledge of God, being strengthened,
giving thanks. But as the apostle is thinking
about this power of God by which we can be strengthened,
He says, joyfully giving thanks to the Father.
And he's going to tell us now how God's power
has been demonstrated on our behalf. I'm going
to take them a little out of order from what
he names them here in order to make them chronological.
And so I'm going to begin with verse 14. Where
he says, in whom? In Christ the Son, the beloved
Son. we have redemption. God has demonstrated
His power in that number one, He has redeemed
us. This word means the complete release of a
slave. It means a prisoner of war for whom a
price has been paid and now he can go back home
and be free. God's power is so great that he
is able to pay the redemption price. He doesn't
name it here, he does in a parallel passage in
Ephesians 1 and verse 7 where it says that is
through the blood of Christ. The price demanded
by God's justice for our sin and our rebellion.
was human death. Thank God that He by His power
provided a substitutionary sacrifice on our behalf
in His Son so that we might not have to experience
that death that we deserve. God demonstrated
His power on Calvary's cross when He caused the
weight and the guilt and the penalty of your
sin and mine to be placed upon His beloved Son.
And in the shedding of His blood, in His death,
He provided for our debt payment, our ransom
payment, so that we can be released and set free.
He calls this redemption the forgiveness of sin.
Literally this word is the removal of sin. The
word forgive means to send away, to send away,
get rid of our sin. The psalmist in Psalm 103
says, as far as the east is from the west, so
far has he removed our transgressions from us.
That's forgiveness. So, God's power is so great
that, number one, He provided the redemption
price so that we could have our sins removed
from us. Number two, He delivered us from the
domain of darkness, sins, slavery, from which
we were redeemed, entailed of being dominated
by what he calls here the domain of darkness.
This word domain is a word that he uses elsewhere,
and again it's back in Ephesians, the 20th epistle,
chapter 6 and verse 12, where he says, for our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but
against the rulers, against the, what's the next
word? Mine has powers against the world forces
of this darkness. The word powers there is the
very same word as domain in Colossians 1 .13.
For he delivered us from the powers of darkness.
What is he talking about? Darkness is used in
an ethical sense in the Bible, that which is
sinful, that which is unclean. And certainly
we have been delivered from ethical darkness,
but I believe he is talking here also about spiritual
darkness and about wicked spirits. He says we
have been delivered from their domination, from
their power. Robert Gromachy, writing about this
book of Colossians says, this expression from
the power of darkness points to the kingdom of
Satan, which is marked by sin and moral darkness.
The concept of darkness includes an opposition
to the light as well as an absence of it. The
unbeliever is not only without God in the world,
he is also against God. This is a realm of moral
rebellion, insubordination, and creaturely independence.
And so this darkness is the realm of hostility
toward God. It is the realm headed by Satan and
his powers of darkness, which is insubordinate
and rebellious against God. And he says that
God's power is so great that He has delivered
us from that power. The word delivered means
to be rescued. He has rescued us by His divine
intervention so that we are no longer a part
of that domain. We're no longer under the thumb
of the powers of darkness. Thank God. The third
demonstration of His power. He transferred us
to Christ's Kingdom. The word transferred means
to move from one place to another. How many of
you have ever been transferred? Oh, you've had
very stable lives. Nobody here has been transferred.
To be transferred means to be colonized. It was
a word used in the secular literature of that
day of a colony of people that were taken from
one place and moved to another. It means to be
deported. And so it's saying here that God by
His power has transferred us. He has moved us.
Not to a new geographical location, but to a
new spiritual position. He has placed us into
the kingdom of His beloved Son. That is the rule
of Jesus Christ. So no longer are we under the
rule of the powers of darkness. We have been
moved to a new spiritual position so that we
are now in the kingdom or under the rule of the
Son whom God loves, Jesus Christ. For 16 years
John Kovacs was among those who lived in the
railroad tunnels in New York City. They call
themselves sometimes the mole people because
they live underground in darkness. Amtrak bought
the tunnel in which John Kovacs lived. that prepared
to reopen this track and the tunnel, forcing
him out. It happened at a particular time when
the city of New York had just begun a new program
to help people like that who were homeless, to
change the homeless into homesteaders. And so
after spending 16 years of his life underground
as a mole, He was transferred to a farm in Upper
New York State where he became a farmer, an organic
farmer. He was quoted as saying, the air will
be better up there. I'm not going to miss anything.
I'm not coming back. I want to tell you something.
God has done something far greater than that
for you and me. He has taken us out of the darkness
and He has given us new life. He has made us
a part of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. We don't
want to go back. We have a city that we're heading
toward, whose builder and maker is God. We are
citizens now of the eternal kingdom of Jesus
Christ by the power of God. Fourthly, and finally,
he has qualified us, it says, to share in the
inheritance. Literally he says that we have been
authorized, we have been made sufficient, we
have been named on the will as we might say it.
So that we have a claim, we have a right to something,
an inheritance. It is not an inheritance we deserve,
it is Christ's inheritance and we have been placed
in Christ, therefore we are qualified to share.
in the inheritance that all of the saints will
enjoy in light. Notice again the contrast between
the saints in light and the powers of darkness
that once held us in bondage. He's drawing upon
an illusion here probably of the Old Testament
saints, the Israelites, who after they had conquered
the land, divided it up. It became their inheritance.
You and I do not have a piece of real estate
as our inheritance. Our inheritance is one that
is reserved in heaven for us. It is said to be
incorruptible. It is unstained. It is said to
be unfading. and it is kept safe for us in heaven.
And so we are sharers of that eternal inheritance.
No wonder that the apostle gives thanks. What
amazing work the power of God has accomplished
on our behalf. Now he says, considering all that
God has done for you, I pray that you may be
strengthened with that same power. That power
that raised Jesus from the dead. That exalted
Him to the right hand of the Father in heaven.
I pray that you throughout your life may learn
to have that power released in you. So that you
may be changed. Made a new person. Have you experienced
the dynamic of God in your life? The apostle
warns about those in the last days who will have
a form of godliness, but who will deny the power
of it. That is, there will be an exterior of
godliness, a show, an outward form of religion,
but no power. And you see, he's saying in that
context at least, that the power is the proof.
The power is the test that is real. Have you
experienced the dynamic of God in your life,
this God who redeems, this God who delivers,
this God who transfers us, this God who qualifies
us to be heirs of Christ? I'll tell you something,
this is the truth that works. This is the truth
the world is looking for. And we need to be busy
helping them to see it. Are you growing in your
intimacy with God? In your knowledge of God?
So you can experience this power released in
your own life. To bear you up in life's circumstances
so that you remain under them and don't run away.
to strengthen you so that you don't retaliate
against people who are hard to live with. Do
you long for that power? Do you need that power?
It's there. And Paul prays for you and he prays
for me that we may be strengthened with it. In
Philippians 3 he puts it this way, that I may
know him and the power of his resurrection. and
the fellowship of his suffering being conformed
inwardly to his death. If, in fact, this is the
power of the resurrection we're talking about,
resurrection implies death. To experience this
resurrection power in our lives, there also has
to be death. And I want to suggest to you this
morning that that death is death to ourself.
And one reason that we may not be experiencing
God's power if we're not is that self is on the
throne and not Christ. We cannot live to please
ourselves and experience the power of God being
released in us. Who's on the throne of your life?
Self or Christ? Are you experiencing God's dynamic
at work within you? One dry cleaner who also
did dyeing of fabrics had a quaint little sign
outside his shop. It said, we die, D -Y -E, we
die to live, and we live to die. Just change
the word die Apply it to self and I think we
have a principle here For God's power being released
in us as believers. We must die to live and Living
die to self As long as we argue and put self
on the throne as long as we resist God as long
as we are insisting on our own way God's power
will be there, but it will not be released. How
tragic. When we have God's power that we can
experience and know that can change us, make
us new people. Somebody asked George Mueller
one day the cause, the secret of his fruitfulness.
And he said, there came a day when George Mueller
died, utterly died. No longer did his own desire,
preferences, and tastes come first. He knew that
from then on Christ must be all in all. Before
we can know resurrection power, we have to die.
And when we die, that power will be released
in us. And throughout our lives we can begin
to experience the depths of it that are according
to the glory of God and His power. Let's pray
together. The Spirit of God is the one who brings
to us this power. we need him to fill and control
our lives. Are you willing to die to yourself,
to be broken of selfish habits, to put to an
end self -centeredness, to confess the sin of
self -realization, self -actualization, and see
self as on the cross. You know, it's when we
come to that point of desperation, we come to
die, that God's resurrection power can be manifested.
There are some of you hungry for power in your
lives. God's power. This is the way. This is
how you do it. This is how you experience it
Being made conformed to his death Or Jesus, you
know where each of us needs to die to self Self
is on the throne self -renes, and consequently
your power within us is restrained. Oh, I pray
that each of us may truly be willing to die to
self, be conformed to Christ's death, that we
may then experience the power of His resurrection
in this pilgrimage that we're on in the world.
Oh Spirit of the Living God, Fall fresh on us,
I pray. Work new in our lives. Bring revival.
In Jesus' name, would you stand with me please
and let's sing this chorus.