Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 January 31, 1892) was a British

Reformed Baptist preacher who remains highly influential among

Christians of different denominations, among whom he is still known as

the “Prince of Preachers.” In his lifetime, Spurgeon preached to around

10,000,000 people, often up to 10 times a week at different places. His

sermons have been translated into many languages. Spurgeon was the

pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London for 38 years. In 1857, he

started a charity organization called Spurgeon’s which now works globally. He also founded Spurgeon’s College, which was named after him after his death.

Spurgeon was a prolific author of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, a commentary, books on prayer,

a devotional, a magazine, and more. Many sermons were transcribed as he

spoke and were translated into many languages during his lifetime.

Arguably, no other author, Christian or otherwise, has more material in

print than C.H. Spurgeon.

Special Thanksgiving to the Father

This message was preached on February 15,

1860. The sermon is prefaced by a letter, which Mr. Spurgeon wrote in

June of that same year, as he was on the continent. This is the letter:

MY DEAR BRETHREN,

I have journeyed happily to the borders of Switzerland, and already feel

that the removing of the yoke from the shoulder is one of the readiest

means of restoring the metal powers. Much of Popish superstition and

idolatry has passed under my observation, and if nothing else could make

me a Protestant, what I have seen would do so. One thing I have learned

anew, which I would have all my brethren learn, the power of a personal

Christ. We Protestants are too apt to make doctrine everything, and the

person of Christ is not held in sufficient remembrance; with the Roman

Catholic doctrine is nothing, but the person is ever kept in view. The

evil is, that the image of Christ before the eye of the Papist is carnal

and not spiritual; but could we always keep o’er Lord before our eyes,

his spiritual sense, we should be better men than any set of doctrines

can ever make us. The Lord give to us to abide in him and so to bring

forth much fruit.

Baden-Baden, June 15th, 1860                     C. H. Spurgeon

You can read the sermon, from Spurgeon.org below this video, or you can listen to the sermon being read here, on this VIDEO by Christian Praise and Worship in Songs, Sermons, and Audio Books

There is also a video playlist of Spurgeon sermons available here –

Charles Spurgeon Sermons Playlist 2: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…

A Sermon(No. 319)

Delivered on Sabbath Evening, January 15th, 1860, by the

REV. C.H. SPURGEON

At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

Published on Nov 26, 2013

Charles Spurgeon Sermon – Special Thanksgiving to the Father

Charles Spurgeon Sermons Playlist 2: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=…

Link to my “Christian Devotional Readings” Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christ…

http://www.sermonaudio.com/main.asp

Colossians 1:12

Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers

of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from

the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his

dear Son

Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon (June 19, 1834 January

31, 1892) was a British Reformed Baptist preacher who remains highly

influential among Christians of different denominations, among whom he

is still known as the “Prince of Preachers.” In his lifetime, Spurgeon

preached to around 10,000,000 people, often up to 10 times a week at

different places. His sermons have been translated into many languages.

Spurgeon was the pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London for 38

years. In 1857, he started a charity organization called Spurgeon’s

which now works globally. He also founded Spurgeon’s College, which was

named after him after his death.

Spurgeon was a prolific author

of many types of works including sermons, an autobiography, a

commentary, books on prayer, a devotional, a magazine, and more. Many

sermons were transcribed as he spoke and were translated into many

languages during his lifetime. Arguably, no other author, Christian or

otherwise, has more material in print than C.H. Spurgeon.

https://www.youtube.com/user/stack45ny

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet

to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath

delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the

kingdom of his dear Son.”—Colossians 1:12, 13.

THIS PASSAGE IS A MINE of riches. I can anticipate the difficulty in

preaching and the regret in concluding we shall experience this evening

because we are not able to dig out all the gold which lies in this

precious vein. We lack the power to grasp and the time to expatiate upon

that volume of truths which is here condensed into a few short

sentences.

We are exhorted to “give thanks unto the Father.” This counsel is at once

needful and salutary. I think, my brethren, we scarcely need to be told

to give thanks unto the Son. The remembrance of that bleeding body

hanging upon the cross is ever present to our faith. The nails and the

spear, his griefs, the anguish of his soul, and his sweat of agony, make

ouch tender touching appeals to our gratitude—these will prevent us

always from ceasing our songs, and sometimes fire our hearts with

rekindling rapture in praise of the man Christ Jesus. Yes we will bless thee, dearest Lord; our souls are all on fire. As we survey the, wondrous cross, we cannot but shout—

“O for this love let rocks and hills

Their lasting silence break,

And all harmonious human tongues

The Savior’s praises speak.”

It is in a degree very much the same with the Holy Spirit. I think we

are compelled to feel every day our dependence upon his constant

influence. He abides with us as a present and personal Comforter and

Counsellor. We, therefore, do praise the Spirit of Grace, who hath made

our heart his temple, and who works in us all that is gracious,

virtuous, and well-pleasing in the sight of God. If there be any one

Person in the Trinity whom we are more apt to forget than another in our

praises, it is God the Father. In fact there are some who even get a

wrong idea of Him, a slanderous idea of that God whose name is LOVE.

They imagine that love dwelt in Christ, rather than in the Father, and

that our salvation is rather due to the Son and the Holy Spirit, than to

our Father God. Let us not be of the number of the ignorant, but let us

receive this truth. We are as much indebted to the Father as to any

other Person of the Sacred Three. He as much and as truly loves us as

any of the adorable Three Persons. He is as truly worthy of our highest

praise as either the Son or the Holy Spirit.

A

remarkable fact, which we should always bear in mind, is this:—in the

Holy Scriptures most of the operations which are set down as being the

works of the Spirit, are in other Scriptures ascribed to God the Father.

Do we say it is God the Spirit that quickens the sinner who is dead in

sin? it is true; but you will find in another passage it is said “The

Father quickeneth whom he will.” Do we say that the Spirit is the

sanctifier, and that the sanctification of the soul is wrought by the

Holy Ghost? You will find a passage in the opening of the Epistle of St.

Jude, in which it is said, “Sanctified by God the Father.” Now, how are

we to account for this? I think it may be explained thus. God the

Spirit cometh from God the Father, and therefore whatever acts are

performed by the Spirit are truly done by the Father, because he sendeth

forth the Spirit. And again, the Spirit is often the instrument—though I

say not this in any way to derogate from his glory—he is often the

instrument with which the Father works. It is the Father who says to the

dry bones, live; it is the Spirit who, going forth with the divine

word, makes them live. The quickening is due as much to the word as to

the influence that went with the word; and as the word came with all the

bounty of free grace and goodwill from the Father, the quickening is

due to him. It is true that the seal on our hearts is the Holy Spirit,

he is the seal, hut it is the Eternal Father’s hand that stamps the

seal; the Father communicates the Spirit to seal our adoption. The works

of the Spirit are, many of them, I repeat it again, attributed to the

Father, because he worketh in, through, and by the Spirit.

The

works of the Son of God, I ought to observe are every one of them in

intimate connection with the Father. If the Son comes into the world, it

is because the Father sends him; if the Son calls his people, it is

because his Father gave this people into his hands. If the Son redeems

the chosen race, is not the Son himself the Father’s gift, and doth not

God send his Son into the world that we may live through him? So that

the Father, the great Ancient of Days, is ever to be extolled; and we

must never omit the full homage of our hearts to him when we sing that

sacred doxology,

“Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”

In order to excite your gratitude to God the Father to-night, I propose to

dilate a little upon this passage, as God the Holy Spirit shall enable

me. If you will look at the text, you will see two blessings in it. The

first has regard to the future; it is a meetness for the inheritance of

the saints in light. The second blessing, which must go with the first,

for indeed it is the cause of the first, the effective cause, has

relation to the past. Here we read of our deliverance from the

power of darkness. Let us meditate a little upon each of these

blessings, and then, in the third place, I will endeavor to show the relation which exists between the two.

I.

The first blessing introduced to our notice is this—”God the Father has

made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in

light.” It is a PRESENT BLESSING. Not a mercy laid up for us in the

covenant, which we have not yet received, but it is a blessing which

every true believer already has in his hand. Those mercies in the

covenant of which we have the earnest now while we wait for the full

possession, are just as rich, and just as certain as those which have

been already with abundant lovingkindness bestowed on us, but still they

are not so precious in our enjoyment. The mercy we have in store, and

in hand is after all, the main source of our present comfort. And oh

what a blessing this! “Made meet for the inheritance of the saints in

light.” The true believer is fit for heaven; he is meet to be a partaker

of the inheritance—and that now, at this very moment. What does this

mean? Does it mean that the believer is perfect; that he is free from

sin? No, my brethren, where shall you ever find such perfection in this

world? If no man can be a believer but the perfect man, then what has

the perfect man to believe? Could he not walk by sight? When he is

perfect, he may cease to be a believer. No, brethren, it is not such

perfection that is meant although perfection is implied, and assuredly

will be given as the result. Far less does this mean that we have a

right to eternal life from any doings of our own. We have a fitness for

eternal life, a meetness for it, but we have no desert of it. We deserve

nothing of God even now, in ourselves. but his eternal wrath and his

infinite displeasure. What, then, does It mean? Why, it means just this:

we are so far meet that we are accepted in the Beloved, adopted into

the family, and fitted by divine approbation to dwell with the saints in

light There is a woman chosen to be a bride; she is fitted to be

married, fitted to enter into the honorable state and condition of

matrimony; but at present she has not on the bridal garment, she is not

like the bride adorned for her husband. You do not see her yet robed in

her elegant attire, with her ornaments upon her, but you know she is

fitted to be a bride, she is received and welcomed as such in the family

of her destination. So Christ has chosen his Church to be married to

him; she has not yet put on her bridal garment, beautiful array in which

she shall stand before the father’s throne, but notwithstanding, there

is such a fitness in her to be the bride of Christ, when she shall have

bathed herself for a little while, and lain for a little while in the

bed of spices—there is such a fitness in her character, such a grace

given adaptation in her to become the royal bride of her glorious Lord,

and to become a partaker of the enjoyments of bliss—that it may be said

of the church as a whole, and of every member of it, that they are “meet

for the inheritance of the saints in light.”

The Greek word, moreover, bears some such meaning as this though I cannot

give the exact idiom, it is always difficult when a word is not used

often. This word is only used twice that I am aware of, in the New

Testament. The word may be employed for “suitable,” or, I think,

“sufficient” “He hath made us meet”—sufficient—”to be partakers of the

inheritance of the saints in light.” But I cannot give my idea without

borrowing another figure. When a child is born, it is at once endowed

with all the faculties of humanity. If those powers are awanting at

first, they will not come afterwards. It has eyes, it has hands, it has

feet, and all its physical organs. These of course are as it were in

embryo. The senses though perfect at first, must be gradually developed,

and the understanding gradually matured. It can see but little, it

cannot discern distances. it can hear, but it cannot hear distinctly

enough at first to know from what direction the sound comes; but you

never find a new leg, a new arm, a new eye, or a new ear growing on that

child. Each of these powers will expand and enlarge, but still there is

the whole man there at first, and the child is sufficient for a man. Let but God in his infinite providence cause it to feed, and give it strength and increase, it has sufficient

for manhood. It does not want either arm or leg, nose or ear. you

cannot make it grow a new member; nor does it require a near member

either; all are there. In like manner, the moment a man is regenerated,

there is every faculty in his new creation that there shall be, even

when he gets to heaven. It only needs to be developed and brought out:

he will not have a new power, he will not have a new grace, he will have

those which he had before, developed and brought out. Just as we are

told by the careful observer, that in the acorn there is in embryo every

root and every bough and every leaf of the future tree, which only

requires to be developed and brought out in their fullness. So, in the

true believer, there is a sufficiency or meetness for the inheritance of

the saints in light. All that he requires is, not that a new thing

should be implanted, but that that which God has put there in the moment

of regeneration, shall be cherished and nurtured, and made to grow and

increase, till it comes unto perfection and he enters into “the

inheritance of the saints in light.” This is, as near as I can give it

to you, the exact meaning and literal interpretation of the text, as I

understand it.

But

you may say to me, “In what sense is this meetness or fitness for

eternal life the work of God the Father? Are we already made meet for

heaven? How is this the rather’s work?” Look at the text a moment, and I

will answer you in three ways.

What is heaven? We read it is an inheritance. Who are fit for an inheritance? Sons. Who makes us sons? “Behold what manner of love the Father

hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” A son

is

fitted for an inheritance. The moment the son is born he is fitted

to be an heir. All that is wanted is that he shall grow up and be

capable of possession. But he is fit for an inheritance at first. If he

were not a son he could not inherit as an heir. Now as soon as ever we

become sons we are meet to inherit. There is in us an adaptation, a

power and possibility for us to have an inheritance. This is the

prerogative of the Father, to adopt us into his family, and to “beget us

again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the

dead.” And do you not see, that as adoption is really the meetness for

inheritance, it is the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of

the inheritance of the saints in light?”

Again, heaven is an inheritance; but whose inheritance is it? It is an inheritance of the saints.

It is not an inheritance of sinners, but of saints—that is, of the holy

ones—of those who have been made saints by being sanctified. Turn then,

to the Epistle of Jude, and you will see at once who it is that

sanctified. You will observe the moment you fix your eye upon the

passage that it is God the Father. In the first verse you read, “Jude,

the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are

sanctified by God the Father.” It is an inheritance for saints: and who

are saints? The moment a man believes in Christ, he may know himself to

have bean truly set apart in the covenant decree; and he finds

consecration, if I may so speak, verified in his own experience, for he

has now become “a new creature in Christ Jesus,” separated from the rest

of the world, and then it is manifest and made known that God has taken

him to be his son for ever. The meetness which I must have, in order to

enjoy the inheritance of the saints in light, is my becoming a son. God

hath made me and all believers sons, therefore we are meet for the

inheritance; so then that meetness has come from the Father. How meetly

therefore doth the Father claim our gratitude, our adoration and our

love!

You will however observe, it is not merely said that heaven is the

inheritance of the saints, but that it is “the inheritance of the saints

in light.” So the saints dwell in light—the light of knowledge,

the light of purity, the light of joy, the light of love, pure ineffable

love, the light of everything that is glorious and ennobling. There

they dwell, and if I am to appear meet for that inheritance, what

evidence must I have? I must have light shining into my own soul. But

where can I get it? Do I not read that “every good gift and every

perfect gift is from above, and Cometh down”—yea verily, but from whom?

From the Spirit? No—”from the Father of lights, with whom is no

variableness, neither shadow of turning.” The preparation to enter into

the inheritance in light is light. and light comes from the Father of

lights; therefore, my meetness, if I have light in myself, is the work

of the Father, and I must give him praise. Do you see then, that as

there are three words used here—”the inheritance of the saints in light,”

so we have a threefold meetness? We are adopted and made sons. God hath

sanctified us and set us apart. And then, again, he hath put light into

our hearts. All this, I say, is the work of the Father, and in this

sense, we are “meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in

light.”

A few general observations here. Brethren, I am persuaded that if an

angel from heaven were to come to-night and single out any one believer

from the crowd here assembled, there is not one believer that is unfit

to be taken to heaven. You may not be ready to be taken to heaven now;

that is to say, if I foresaw that you were going to live, I would tell

you you were unfit to die, in a certain sense. But were you to die now

in your pew, if you believe in Christ, you are fit for heaven. You have a

meetness even now which would take you there at once, without being

committed to purgatory for a season. You are even now fit to be

“partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” You have but to

gasp out your last breath and you shall be in heaven, and there shall

not be one spirit in heaven more fit for heaven than you, nor one soul

more adapted for the place than you are. You shall be just as fitted for

its element as those who are nearest to the eternal throne.

Ah! this makes the heirs of glory think much of God the Father. When we

reflect, my brethren, upon our state by nature, and how fit we are to be

fire-brands in the flames of hell—yet to think that we are this night,

at this very moment if Jehovah willed it, fit to sweep the golden harps

with joyful fingers, that this head is fit this very night to wear the

everlasting crown, that these loins are fit to be girded with that fair

white robe throughout eternity, I say, this makes us think gratefully of

God the Father; this makes us clap our hands with joy, and say, “thanks

be unto God the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the

inheritance of the saints in light.” Do ye not remember the penitent

thief? It was but a few minutes before that he had been cursing Christ. I

doubt not that he had joined with the other, for it is said, “They that were crucified with him reviled him.” Not one, but both; they

did it. And then a gleam of supernatural glory lit up the face of

Christ, and the thief saw and believed. And Jesus said unto him, “Verily

I say unto thee, this day,” though the sun is setting, “this day

shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” No long preparation required, no

sweltering in purifying fires. And so shall it be with us. We may have

been in Christ Jesus to our own knowledge but three weeks, or we may

have been in him for ten years, or threescore years and ten—the date of

our conversion makes no difference in our meetness for heaven, in a

certain sense. True indeed the older we grow the more grace we have

tasted, the riper we are becoming, and the fitter to be housed in

heaven; but that is in another sense of the word,—the Spirit’s meetness

which he gives. But with regard to that meetness which the Father gives,

I repeat, the blade of corn, the blade of gracious wheat that has just

appeared above the surface of conviction, is as fit to be carried up to

heaven as the full-grown corn in the ear. The sanctification wherewith

we are sanctified by God the Father is not progressive, it Is complete

at once, we are now adapted for heaven, now fitted for it, and we shall

enter into the joy of our Lord.

Into

this subject I might have entered more fully; but I have not time. I am

sure I have left some knots untied, and you must untie them if you can

yourselves; and let me recommend you to untie them on your knees—the

mysteries of the kingdom of God are studied much the best when you are

in prayer.

II.

The second mercy is A MERCY THAT LOOKS BACK. We sometimes prefer the

mercies that look forward, because they unfold such a bright prospect.

“Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood.”

But here is a mercy that looks backward; turns its back, as it were,

on the heaven of our anticipation, and looks back on the gloomy past,

and the dangers from which we have escaped. Let us read the account of

it—”Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath

translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” This verse is an

explanation of the preceding, as we shall have to show in a few minutes.

But just now let us survey this mercy by itself. Ah! my brethren, what a

description have we here of what matter of men we used to be. We were

under “the power of darkness.” Since I have been musing on this text, I

have turned these words over and over in my mind—”the power of

darkness!” It seems to me one of the most awful expressions that man

ever attempted to expound. I think I could deliver a discourse from it,

if God the Spirit helped me, which might make every bone in your body

shake. “The power of darkness!” We all know that there is a moral

darkness which exercises its awful spell over the mind of the sinner.

Where God is unacknowledged the mind is void of judgment. Where God is

unworshipped the heart of man becomes a ruin. The chambers of that

dilapidated heart are haunted by ghostly fears and degraded

superstitions. The dark places of that reprobate mind are tenanted by

vile lusts and noxious passions, like vermin and reptiles, from which in

open daylight we turn with disgust. And even natural darkness is

tremendous. In the solitary confinement which is practiced in some of

our penitentiaries the very worst results would be produced if the

treatment were prolonged. If one of you were to be taken to-night and

led into some dark cavern, and left there, I can imagine that for a

moment, not knowing your fate, you might feel a child-like kind of

interest about it;—there might be, perhaps, a laugh as you found

yourselves in the dark; there might for the moment, from the novelty of

the position, be some kind of curiosity excited. There might, perhaps,

be a flush of silly joy. In a little time you might endeavor to compose

yourself to sleep; possibly you night sleep; but if you should awake,

and still find yourself down deep in the bowels of earth, where never a

ray of sun or candle light could reach you; do you know the next feeling

that would come over you? It would be a kind of idiotic

thoughtlessness. You would find it impossible to control your desperate

imagination. You heart would say, “O God I am alone, alone, alone, in

this dark place.” How would you cast your eyeballs all around, and never

catching a gleam of light, your mind would begin to fail. Your next

stage would be one of increasing terror. You would fancy that you saw

something, and then you would cry, “Ah! I would I could see something,

were it foe or fiend!” You would feel the dark sides of your dungeon.

You would begin to “scribble on the walls,” like David before king

Achish. Agitation would cease hold upon you, and it you were kept there

much longer, delirium and death would be the consequence. We have heard

of many who have been taken from the penitentiary to the lunatic asylum;

and the lunacy is produced partly by the solitary confinement, and

partly by the darkness in which they are placed. In a report lately

written by the Chaplain of Newgate, there are some striking reflections

upon the influence of darkness in a way of discipline. Its first

effect is to shut the culprit up to his own reflections, and make him

realize his true position in the iron grasp of the outraged law.

Methinks the man that has defied his keepers, and come in there cursing

and swearing, when he has found himself alone in darkness, where he

cannot even hear the rattling of carriages along the streets, and can

see no light whatever, is presently cowed; he gives in, he grows tame.

“The power of darkness” literally is something awful. If I had time, I

would enlarge upon this subject. We cannot properly describe what “the

power of darkness” is, even in this world. The sinner is plunged into

the darkness of his sins, and he sees nothing, he knows nothing. Let him

remain there a little longer, and that joy of curiosity, that hectic

joy which he now has in the path of sin, will die away, and there will

come over him a spirit of slumber. Sin will make him drowsy, so that he

will not hear the voice of the ministry, crying to him to escape for his

life. Let him continue in it, and it will by-and-bye make him

spiritually an idiot. He will become so in sin, that common reason will

be lost on him. All the arguments that a sensible man will receive, will

be only wasted on him. Let him go on, and he will proceed from bad to

worse, till he acquires the raving mania of a desperado in sin; and let

death step in, and the darkness will have produced its full effect; he

will come into the delirious madness of hell. Ah! it needs but the power

of sin to make a man more truly hideous than human thought can realize,

or language paint. Oh “the power of darkness!”

Now, my brethren, all of us were under this power once. It is but a few

months—a few weeks with some of you—since you were under the power of

darkness and of sin. Some of you had only got as far as the curiosity of

it; others had got as far as the sleepiness of it; a good many of you

had got as far as the apathy of it; and I do not know but some of you

had got almost to the terror of it. You had so cursed and swore; so

yelled ye out your blasphemies, that you seemed to be ripening for hell;

but, praised and blessed be the name of the Father, he has “translated

you from the power of darkness, into the kingdom of his dear Son.”

Having

thus explained this term, “the power of darkness,” to show you what you

were, let us take the next word, “and hath translated us.” Whet a

angular word this—”translated”—is. I dare say you think it means the

process by which a word is interpreted, when the sense is retained,

while the expression is rendered in another language. That is one

meaning of the word “translation,” but it is not the meaning here. The

word is used by Josephus in this sense—the taking away of a people who

have been dwelling in a certain country, and planting them in another

place. This is called a translation. We sometimes hear of a bishop being

translated or removed from one see to another. Now, if you want to have

the idea explained, give me your attention while I bring out an amazing

instance of a great translation. The children of Israel were in Egypt

under taskmasters that oppressed them very sorely, and brought them into

iron bondage. What did God do for these people? There were two millions

of them. He did not temper the tyranny of the tyrant; he did not

influence his mind, to give them a little more liberty; but he

translated his people; he took the whole two millions bodily, with a

high hand and outstretched arm, and led them through the wilderness, and

translated them into the kingdom of Canaan; and there they were

settled. What an achievement was that, when, with their flocks and their

herds, and their little ones, the whole host of Israel went out of

Egypt, crossed the Jordan, and came into Canaan! My dear brethren, the

whole of it was not equal to the achievement of God’s powerful grace,

when he! brings one poor sinner out of the region of sin into the

kingdom of holiness and peace. It was easier for God to bring Israel out

of Egypt, to split the Red Sea, to make a highway through the pathless

wilderness, to drop manna from heaven, to send the whirlwind to drive

out the kings; it was easier for Omnipotence to do all this, than to

translate a man from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear

Son. This is the grandest achievement of Omnipotence. The sustenance of

the whole universe, I do believe, is even less than this—the changing of

a bad heart, the subduing of an iron will. But thanks be unto the

Father, he has done all that for you and for me. He has brought us out

of darkness, he has translated us, taken up the old tree that has struck

its roots never so deep—taken it up, blessed be God, roots and all, and

planted it in a goodly soil. He had to cut the top off, it is true—the

high branches of our pride; but the tree has grown better in the near

soil than it ever did before. Who ever heard of moving so huge a plant

as a man who has grown fifty years old in sin? Oh! what wonders hath our

Father done for us I He has taken the wild leopard of the wood, tamed

it into a lamb, and purged away its spots. He has regenerated the poor

Ethiopian—oh, how black are were by nature—our blackness was more than

skin deep; it went to the center of our hearts; but, blessed be his

name, he hath washed us white, and is still carrying on the divine

operation, and he will yet completely deliver us from every taint of

sin, and will finally bring us into the kingdom of his dear son. Here,

then, in the second mercy, we discern from what we were delivered, and

how we were delivered—God the Father hath “translated” us.

But

where are we now? Into what place is the believer brought, when he is

brought out of the power of darkness? He is brought into the kingdom of

God’s dear Son. Into what other kingdom would the Christian desire to be

brought? Brethren. a republic may sound very well in theory, but in

spiritual matters, the last thing we want is a republic. We want a

kingdom. I love to have Christ an absolute monarch in the heart. I do

not want to have a doubt about it. I want to give up all my liberty to

him. for I feel that I never shall be free till my self-control is all

gone; that I shall never have my will truly free till it is bound in the

golden fetters of his sweet love. We are brought into a kingdom—he is

Lord and Sovereign, and he has made us “kings and priests unto our God,”

and we shall reign with him. The proof that we are in this kingdom must

consist in our obedience to our King. Here, perhaps, we may raise many

causes and questions, but surely we can say after all, though we have

offended our King many times, yet our heart is loyal to him. “Oh, thou

precious Jesus! we would obey thee, and yield submission to every one of

thy laws, our sins are not wilful and beloved sins, but though we fall

we can truly say, that we would be holy as thou art holy, our heart is

true towards thy statutes; Lord, help us to run in the way of thy

commandments.”

So,

you see, this mercy which God the Father hath given to us, this second

of these present mercies, is, that he hath “translated us out of the

power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son.” This is the

Father’s work. Shall we not love God the Father from this day forth?

Will we not give him thanks, and sing our hymns to him, and exalt and

triumph in his great name?

III. Upon the third point, I shall be as brief as possible; it is to SHOW THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO VERSES.

When

I get a passage of Scripture to meditate upon, I like, if I can, to see

its drift, then I like to examine its various parts, and see if I can

understand each separate clause; and then I want to go back again, and

see what one clause has to do with another. I looked and looked again at

this text, and wondered what connection there could be between the two

verses. “Giving thanks unto God the Father, who hath made us meet to be

partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Well, that is

right enough; we can see how this is the work of God the Father, to make

us meet to go to heaven. But has the next verse, the 13th, anything to

do with our meetness?—”Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness,

and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” Well, I

looked it over and I said I will read it in this way. I see the 12th

verse tells me that the inheritance of heaven is the inheritance of

light. Is heaven light? Then I can see my meetness for it as described

in the 13th verse.—He hath delivered me from the power of darkness. Is

not that the same thing? If I am delivered from the power of darkness,

is not that being made meet to dwell in light? If I am now brought out

of darkness into light, and am walking in the light, is not that the

very meetness which is spoken of in the verse before? Then I read again.

It says they are saints. Well, the saints are a people that obey the

Son. Here is my meetness then in the 13th verse, where it says “He hath

translated me from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear

Son.” So that I not only have the light, but the sonship too, for I am

in “the kingdom of his dear Son.” But how about the inheritance? Is

there anything about that in the 13th verse? It is an inheritance; shall

I find anything about a meetness for it there? Yes, I find that I am in

the kingdom of his dear Son. How came Christ to have a kingdom? Why, by

inheritance. Then it seems I am in his inheritance; and if I am in his

inheritance here, then I am meet to be in it above, for I am in it

already. I am even now part of it and partner of it, since I am in the

kingdom which he inherits from his Father, and therefore there is the

meetness.

I

do not know whether I have put this plainly enough before you. If you

will be kind enough to look at your Bible, I will just recapitulate. You

see, heaven is a place of light; when we are brought out of darkness,

that, of course, is the meetness for light. It is a place for sons; when

we are brought into the kingdom of God’s dear Son, we are of course

made sons, so that there is the meetness for it. It is an inheritance;

and when we are brought into the inherited kingdom of God’s dear Son, we

enjoy the inheritance now, and consequently are fitted to enjoy it for

ever.

Having

thus shown the connection between these verses, I propose now to close

with a few general observations. I like so to expound the Scripture,

that we can draw some practical inferences from it. Of course the first

inference is this: let us from this night forward never omit God the

Father in our praises. I think I have said this already six times over

in the sermon. Why I am repeating it so often, is that we may never

forget it. Martin Luther said he preached upon justification by faith

every day in the week and then the people would not understand. There

are some truths, I believe, that need to be said over and over again,

either because our silly hearse will not receive, or our treacherous

memories will not hold them. Sing, I beseech you, habitually, the

praises of the Father in heaven, as you do the praises of the Son

hanging upon the cross. Love as truly God, the ever-living God, as you

love Jesus the God-man, the Savior who once died for you. That is the

great inference.

Yet

another inference arises. Brothers and sisters, are you conscious

to-night that you are not now what you once were? Are you sure that the

power of darkness does not now rest upon you, that you love divine

knowledge, that you are panting after heavenly joys? Are you sure that

you have been “translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son?” Then

never be troubled about thoughts of death, because, come death whenever

it may, you are meet to be a “partaker of the inheritance of the saints

in light.” Let no thought distress you about death’s coming to you at an

unseasonable hour. Should it come to-morrow should it come now, if your

faith is fixed on nothing less than Jesu’s blood and righteousness, you

shall see the face of God with acceptance. I have that consciousness in

my soul, by the witness of the Holy Spirit, of my adoption into the

family of God, that I feel that though I should never preach again, but

should lay down my body and my charge together, ere I should reach my

home, and rest in my bed, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” and more,

that I should be a “partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light.”

It is not always that one feels that but I would have you never rest

satisfied till you do, till you know your meetness, till you are

conscious of it; until, moreover, you are panting to be gone, because

you feel that you have powers which never can be satisfied short-of

heaven—powers which heaven only can employ.

One

more reflection lingers behind. There are some of you here that cannot

be thought by the utmost charity of judgment, to be “meet for the

inheritance of the saints in light.” Ah! if a wicked man should go to

heaven without being converted, heaven would be no heaven to him. Heaven

is not adapted for sinners; it is not a place for them. If you were to

take a Hottentot who has long dwelt at the equator up to where the

Esquimaux are dwelling, and tell him that you would show him the aurora,

and all the glories of the North Pole, the poor wretch could not

appreciate them; he would say, “It is not the element for me; it is not

the place where I could rest happy! And if you were to take, on the

other hand, some dwarfish dweller in the north, down to the region where

trees grow to a stupendous height, and where the spices give their

balmy odours to the gale, and bid him live there under the torrid zone,

he could enjoy nothing; he would say, “This is not the place for me,

because it is not adapted to my nature.” Or if you were to take the

vulture, that has never fed on anything but carrion, and put it into the

noblest dwelling you could make for it, and feed it with the daintiest

meals, it would not be happy because it is not food that is adapted for

it. And you, sinner, you are nothing but a carrion vulture; nothing

makes you happy but sin, you do not want too much psalm singing, do you?

Sunday is a dull day to you; you like to get it over, you do not care

about your Bible; you would as soon there should be no Bible at all, You

find that going to a meeting-house or a church is very dull work

indeed. Oh then you will not be troubled with that in eternity; do not

agitate yourself. If you love not God, and die as you are, you shall go

to your own company, you shall go to your jolly mates, you shall go to

your good fellows; those who have been your mates on earth shall be your

mates for ever; but you shall go to the Prince of those good fellows,

unless you repent and be converted. Where God is you cannot come. It is

not an element suited to you. As well place a bird at the bottom of the

sea, or a fish in the air, as place an ungodly sinner in heaven. What is

to be done then? You must have a new nature. I pray God to give it to

you. Remember if now you feel your need of a Savior, that is the

beginning of the new nature. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ;” cast

yourselves simply on him, trust in nothing but his blood, and then the

new nature shall be expanded, and you shall be made meet by the Holy

Spirit’s operations to be a “partaker of the inheritance of the saints

in light.” There is many a man who has come into this house of prayer,

many a man is now present, who has come in here a rollicking fellow,

fearing neither God nor devil. Many a man has come from the ale house up

to this place. If he had died then, where would his soul have been? But

the Lord that very night met him, There are trophies of that grace

present here to-night. You can say, “Thanks be to the Father, who hath

brought us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the

kingdom of his dear Son.” And if God has done that for some, why cannot

he do it for others? Why need you despair, O poor sinner? If thou art

here to-night, the worst sinner out of hell, remember, the gate of mercy

stands wide open, and Jesus bids thee come, Conscious of thy guilt,

flee, flee to him. Look to his cross, and thou shalt find pardon in his

veins, and life in his death.