What Happens the Moment You're Saved? Colossians 1 Explained

Okay, it's good to have everybody here and we're going to go right back in and continue on our definitions of salvation that we've had on the board. I erased the last ones and put on a few new ones. But before we move on into our study, we'd like to remind our television audience again that all past programs are available all the way back to Genesis 1-1. That's four and a half years worth now. And we've also had most of them transcribed into little booklets. And on the fly leaf of one of the little booklets we got over there in front of the camera. We have the television log of all the stations where we are currently on the air from the various cities around the world and now across the country. We're not around the world yet. But anyway, they're not getting it on. So we'll just there it comes. There it comes. Okay, so if you can read that anyway, we do have a station in Denver, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Tulsa, of course, and Indianapolis, Roanoke, Virginia, New Orleans, Louisiana, and then the satellite which reaches from coast to coast and a lot of the small Christian stations are picking it up off the satellite and are relaying it. And we appreciate that. That doesn't cost us anything. They do it as a public service and we're getting a lot of response from those people. So anyway, we appreciate all the prayers and all the contributions of everyone that make this possible. Because as I said so often, I'm not an evangelist. I'm not a pastor. I'm not a theologian. I'm just one who loves to teach the book and the Lord is blessing it. My, I wish I could share our mail with more people. But anyway, you continue to pray and be a part of this ministry one way or another. All right, back to Colossians then, and continue on, on all the things that are part and parcel of our salvation. All the things that God did instantaneously, the moment we believe, none of which we could do in the flesh. All had to be by an act of God, and we appropriate it by faith. Remember what I said in the first program, that without faith, Hebrews 11 says, it is impossible to please Him. It has to be reckoned by faith. All right, now we'll come to the one I've got listed up there as number 8. We've been translated. Now, you and I didn't feel ourselves suddenly taking a trip. We didn't sense that all of a sudden we were in one place and now we're in another. But yet the Scripture says that that's what has happened. It's a past tense. It's done. Colossians 1, let's start at verse 12, where Paul, as he is here praying on behalf of the Colossi believers, says he's been giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet, or has prepared us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who, speaking of God the Father now, remember. So God the Father has, past tense, delivered us from the power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now, you don't hear that much, do you? I can't remember ever hearing a sermon on being translated into the kingdom. Now, I've heard a lot of sermons about the kingdom is within you, and all that. But listen, this is talking about a literal kingdom, spiritual as well as physical, one day. Now when John the Baptist, back there in the account of the Gospel, said, "...repent, and be baptized, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." What was he referring to? Well, the King was in their midst, and where the King is, the kingdom was sure to come. But of course, Israel rejected the King and the kingdom, and they crucified Him. He was called back up into glory, seated there now at the Father's right hand. But nothing with regard to His kingship and the kingdom has really changed. He's still the King of kings, and Lord of lords. I've always maintained He's not the King of the church. He's the head of the body. But nevertheless, the kingdom is still centered in the person of Christ. And so, at salvation, along with all these other things that God has done on our behalf, He has translated us from our spiritual darkness, into the kingdom of His dear Son, which of course is in heaven. But, that same kingdom is one day going to yet come and be established on the earth. And we're going to be there with it. And we're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ over that kingdom of which we are now members by virtue of our salvation experience. So look at it again. It's a past tense. He has, past tense, delivered us from the power of darkness. And again, you associate this with a whole ball of wax, really. The power of darkness includes the power of Satan, the principalities and powers that are incumbent upon the human race, but it's also that little Adam that we talked about a program or two ago, and all of His power. All of that has been broken away, and we are now translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. We were just talking at break, 79. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The world out there thinks that they are in freedom, and they feel sorry for us because they think we're bound up with our do's and our don'ts and our inhibitions and so forth. But listen, it's the other way around. The world is out there under the chains of darkness, of rebellion, of satanic power, and we have been set free. We have the best exercise of free will of anybody in this world. And that's why we constantly say that our freedom is not licensed, because our freedom is so God-given that we don't want to do the things that license would, of course, permit. So I never want to be misunderstood that just because we have such freedom, we have that complete exercise now, the free will, that the unsaved person has nothing of. He's bound. He's under chains. We're free, and we've been translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. Now to back that up a little bit, back up a couple pages to Philippians. Next little book to the left. Philippians chapter 3, verse 20. Oh, just another backup to say the same thing. Philippians chapter 3, verse 20. Our citizenship is in Heaven. You don't feel like you're a citizen of Heaven, do you? You're pretty much on terra firma. But by faith, you and I know that we are already citizens of Heaven, because that's what the book says. And so our citizenship is in Heaven, from whence, from that same Heaven, that we look for the Savior, that He's coming for us at the Rapture. I was just reminded the other day that I haven't talked about the Rapture in this program for almost 20 or 30 weeks, so I guess I'm going to have to again one of these days. Maybe our next taping we'll take a good, solid look at this next event on God's calendar. We don't know when it'll be, but we certainly feel like it can't be too far into the future. And that is that soon appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ to meet us in the air. And we know that, again, that's something that we take by faith, because the Word declares it. But anyway, we have been translated now out of the Kingdom of Darkness, out of the Kingdom of Satan and the curse and the old Adam, and we are now a member of the Kingdom, which of course is now located in glory. We're waiting for it to still come, and when Christ returns and sets up His Kingdom, we of course will be in it. All right, now another one that's probably a little harder to swallow is in chapter 8 of Romans again, and that is that we've been glorified. Now this probably isn't quite as definitive as some of these other things, but nevertheless I want to show you the verse. Romans 8, and we'll begin with verse 14, and I have to remind my listeners, Paul always writes to the believer, and so this is for every true child of God, not just for the few, not for the elite, but for everyone. Verse 14, "...for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are already, not going to be, but they are the sons of God, or the children of God." Verse 15, "...for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Now there's another, I've got to digress for a second. The word adoption here doesn't mean what we normally think of, of taking a child from some other union and bringing it in and making it legally ours. The word adoption at the time of Paul meant that they would take a child who had been tutored by tutors under schoolmasters, and at an appointed age they would make him a full heir with the father. In other words, if the father had a business, and this young lad was tutored, when he had finished his tutoring and they felt that he was now ready, they would go through the rite of adoption whereby the father would declare that child a full heir in the business. I always like to think of the first time we were in Israel years ago, and my wife is pretty good at bartering, and we were in one of those shops, and she said all the way along, she said, I'm only going to shop one time, I don't want to be picking up bits and pieces. She said, I'm going to go in and buy what I want, and be over with it. So we went into this one beautiful shop, and there was a little lad behind the counter, he couldn't have been over 10 or 11 years old, and the father was sitting in the back ante room at the desk. She was bartering with that kid, she was bringing the price down, bringing it down, bringing it down, bringing it down, and finally I thought, man the guy is losing money with this kid. He closed the deal, and she paid him, and so I walked back to the gentleman and I said, do you speak English? Oh yeah. So I asked him, I said, can you let that little kid transact business like that? He says, he's never lost me a dime yet. You know why? He had been so tutored and so trained that that father had absolute trust in his negotiating. Well that's what it meant to be adopted, to be put in a place of full responsibility. Now you see that's what God has done with every believer. I haven't even put that in my list. See this is free for nothing. We have been placed as the full child, a joint heir as it says here. What responsibility? That's a responsibility just like that kid. It was his responsibility that she not take him down too far. He had to still show a profit, and it's the same way with us in the Lord's service. He has placed us in places of responsibility, and as I said a couple, three weeks ago, or last taping I think, to handle this Book, whether you're a Sunday school teacher or a women's group leader, or whether you're a missionary or a pastor or whatever, to handle this Book is an awesome responsibility. Don't you ever take it lightly, because these things are eternal, and we have to look at it this way. But here Paul says we've been placed now then through the Spirit of Adoption as a complete heir with the Father, and then verse 16, "...the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we will be..." What? Our, present tense. We are the children of God. And if children, then what? Heirs. And if we're heirs of God, then we're joint heirs with Christ. Now you see the average believer doesn't have a slightest hint of this, that when we became a child of God at the moment of our salvation, the moment we believed, God declared us a full son of the Father, a joint heir with Christ. I can't comprehend that. It's beyond me, because you know what joint heirship means, if I understand the law? For a husband and wife to be joint heirs, what's his is hers, and vice versa, they're co-equal. Do you realize where that puts us? That tells me that one day everything that is Christ is going to be ours. That's awesome. But the Book says it. Everything that's His is going to be ours. Oh, let me show you another verse. Ephesians 1. I'll probably run out of time now, but this is too good. Ephesians 1, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power to usward, who according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under His feet, and hath given Him to be the head over all things to the church, the church which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." Now this is a very good verse, because it was in Wilberton Tuesday night. This word, fullness, could also have been translated the complement, not with an I, but with an E. The Body of Christ, of which you and I are members, is the complement of Christ. Now what's the complement? Well, go all the way back to Genesis. Genesis 2. Adam and Eve before the Fall. In fact Eve isn't even on the scene, just Adam. Eve is still in Adam. But Adam is here, and all the animals are paired up, and when we were teaching Genesis we made a point of this. Let�s start at verse 16 again. Genesis 2. Genesis 2. 18. And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate. And so out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl, and He brought them to Adam to see what He would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, to the fowl of the air, and to every beast. But for Adam there was not found a helpmate for him. What's the word helpmate in the Hebrew? Complement. He was without his complement. What were we talking about? Eve. She�s not there yet. And I always like to make this analogy. Here come all these pairs of beasts, animals, birds, and everything else, all by pairs. And Adam named them. But I�m sure it struck him that he didn�t understand why do all these animals have their mate, male and female, and I�m alone. See that�s what God recognized. And He said, It�s not good for man to be alone. I will make a helpmate for him. As he�d already recognized in the animal kingdom, they had their pairs, but Adam was still alone. And so He creates Eve from out of Adam, and she now becomes then His complement. What does that mean? He�s completed. Now come back again, and I hope you have kept your hand in Ephesians. Ephesians 2 is a miracle of miracles, that even the Lord Jesus, the crowning Creator, God of the Universe, has such a love for His blood-bought Church, His Body, that the Scripture says He doesn�t even consider Himself complete until He has us in His presence. Now if that isn�t mind-boggling, I�d like to know what is. But that�s what the Scripture says. Come back again, verse 22 and 23, and so God has put all things under Christ�s feet, gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His Body, the complement, the completing of Him who filleth all in all. Now that�s something. That�s the joint airship. That�s why what He has, we�re going to one day have. How do I know? By faith. The Book says it. Again, I don�t know of any other way I could explain it. We can�t just lay these things out and say, �Well, that�s where it is.� But the Book says so, and so it�s on that basis that we believe. All right, I�ve got a couple left yet, and we�ve got to be sure and hit these. Come on back to 1 Corinthians now, if you will. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, drop down to verse 12 and 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 12 and 13. And again remember Paul is writing to a Gentile congregation primarily. I�m sure there were Jewish believers in here. But to these believers of Corinth he says, �For as the body, the human body, is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ.� Now here it comes. This is another act of God that you and I never felt. We had no outside manifestation of it. The only way we know that it happened is because the Book says it did. 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 and 13. For by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, are we all, every believer, not just the most elite, not the most spiritual, that�s the man�s idea. But God says by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one body, that Church Universal, that body that includes the believers from whatever corner of the globe they may be. Whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into or partake of one Spirit. Now do you see what that means? That by the invisible act of the Holy Spirit, He places every believer, the moment they are saved, into this body of Christ, which will one day be His Bride. Now again remember we�re not talking in terms of sexuality, we�re talking in terms of position. And so the Bride of Christ will be that consortium of all the believers of the Church Age, who have been placed into the body by the Holy Spirit. Now I�m always emphasizing to my classes here in Oklahoma, I dare say without judging, without looking at any membership list of any group at all, I would just guess off the top of my hat, that probably 50% of every church role is unsaved people. I�m just guessing. Some churches more, some less. Because you see every church takes in people for members that are not saved. And there�s no way they can screen them, because we can�t look on the heart. We can�t determine who�s saved and who�s lost. That�s an area that only God can look into. But into the body of Christ there are no unbelievers. No unsaved person ever is baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. And so that becomes then a criteria as well, not only by having our names written in the Lamb�s Book of Life, but have we been baptized into this body by an act of the Holy Spirit. That guarantees your eternal destiny. And that won�t happen until you�ve believed the Gospel, and all these attendant aspects of salvation have been done at the same time. Hey listen, how can you doubt? How can you doubt if you�ve been forgiven and redeemed and justified, and you�ve been translated, you�ve been reconciled, you�ve been glorified, what else? And then you�ve got doubts? How can you? And every one of these we take by faith. God has said it, we believe it, and we rest on it. Now I know, the old devil likes to come along and pooh-pooh the whole idea, but we come right back and what do we do? We claim it. We claim it. Here it is, God you�ve said it, I believe it, and we hold on to it. God wants us to. He wants us to say, now God you�ve promised. And that�s the whole idea of taking this as the Word of God. See if this isn�t the Word of God, hey then I�d have been better off staying home. I could have been punching cattle all day long. Beautiful day for that. But you see this is more important, because this Book is true. This Book is the Word of God. And this is what we have to rest on. Alright, I�ve got one more left, and I�ve got one minute. Stay in 1 Corinthians, and turn over to chapter 3. Now I guess this is a good place to end this taping. Next taping we�re going to go on into the wrath of God. That�s not going to be as pretty. That�s going to be the other side of the coin, as we go on into chapter 1 and verse 18. But here in Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16, verse 18. No you not, don�t you know that you are the temple of God, the dwelling place of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth where? In you. And that again is a Pauline aspect that is never mentioned anywhere else in Scripture. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, route 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.