Colossians 1 1-14

##

“Has Redeemed me Lost and condemned”

Colossians 1:1-14

Catechism

Introduction:  A pastor met a young boy walking past his church.  The boy was carrying a rusty cage with several birds inside it.  They were nervously fluttering around.  The pastor inquired of the boy, “son where did you get those birds?”  “I trapped them out in a field”, the boy replied.  “What are you going to do with them”, the pastor asked.  The boy said, “ I’m going to play with them and then when I’m done I guess I’ll feed them to and old cat that we have at home.”  The pastor then offered to buy them.  To this the boy exclaimed, “ why would you want to do that, “ they are just old ugly birds and they can‘t even sing very well.  The pastor replied, “I will give you ten dollars for them.”  “Okay” said the boy, “but you are making a bad deal.  With that the pastor gave the boy his money and the boy skipped off whistling as he went his way.  The pastor then took the cage through the church to the back door.  There he opened the door to the wire cage.  He then helped the struggling creatures out of the cage and helped them fly off into the blue sky.  The next Sunday he took the empty cage to church to illustrate how Christ had come to seek and to save those who like the birds were destined to destruction.  It is a beautiful illustration of how Jesus has redeemed you a lost and condemned creature.         

I.          In the Devils Cage

A.        Like the birds, we were trapped in the Devil’s cage.

            1.  Paul to the Colossians calls this cage the dominion of darkness.

            2.  In this darkness there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

            3.  This the darkness is darker than death or the pain that death causes.

B.        The Devil’s cage is a place for lost and condemned sinners to spend eternity.  There they will experience the wrath of God forever.

II.        God set up a Kingdom for us to Inherit

A.        It is the kingdom of light where darkness did not exist.

B.        It is His Son’s kingdom.

C.        This kingdom was set up for us from the beginning of time.  It was prepared for us.

III.       But No One was qualified to live in His kingdom

A.        What sinner can see the face of God and live?  There was not one righteous person.  No. Not one.  No one was worthy to enter the Son’s kingdom of light.

B.        Our sin’s trapped us in the cage of the Devil’s darkness.  There was no escape for us.

C.        Because of the Father’s love He set in motion His plan to rescue lost sinners.

                        1.  The Scriptures say, “He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

                        2.  God our Father brought us into His kingdom of light by redeeming us.

IV.       Redemption means Paying a Price.

A.        Jesus took our place in the Devils cage -- the cage of punishment, darkness and death.

B.        The price that was paid was God’s only Son Jesus, who gave His own life for us.

C.        Jesus allowed Himself to be bound to free us from our sins that bound us to the dark cage.

D.        Jesus set us free from the valley of the shadow of death -- the darkness that knows not the light of God.

E.         By forgiving us of our sins we are free from our former life in the Devil‘s cage.  We are like redeemed slaves, set from our old masters.

Conclusion:    Jesus has redeemed you a lost and condemned creature.  You are free to serve Him in thanksgiving, doing what is pleasing to Him.  You are free to fly in the new life He has given you.