Would you turn with me to the
third chapter of Colossians? Colossians chapter 3. So blessed to be with you. Colossians chapter 3. Beginning in verse 9. Lie not one to another. Now it's never okay to tell somebody
a lie. You know that. I shall not bear
false witness. But what he is talking about
isn't so much telling out and out lies as projecting an image. Why am I saying that? Because
he Down, a verse or two down further, he says, we're all one
in Christ Jesus. Don't project yourself to be
holier or just be yourself. Don't project an image of religiosity
and piety where you're trying to make a distinction between
yourself and somebody else. Don't project an image. Just
be yourself. You know, we're all alike. I'm
just like seven billion other people. We're all just alike.
There's no difference. No difference. And in Christ,
we're all alike. Perfectly like him. There's no
difference. No difference. So don't lie to
one another. Don't try to project some phony,
pious image. Lie not one to another. Seeing
that you put off the old man with his deeds and put on the
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
him that created him. Now here we read about an old
man and a new man. An old man and a new man. Now, he says put off the old
man. Does that mean that I don't deal
with the old man anymore? No, if that was the case, I wouldn't
sin anymore. I have an old man right with
me right now. Hate him, can't wait to get rid
of him. He's a continual grief to me. And he's a continual grief to
you, this old man, this sinful man, this man that is nothing
but sin. But we also read of a new man.
The new man in Christ Jesus is called a creative act of God,
a new creature. Light be, light was, the creative
act of God. Life be, light was, the creative
act of God. And this new man, you know the
old man doesn't do anything but serve the new man. That old wicked man that you
have, you know what he does? He forces you to look to Christ
only and really he is a slave of the new man. He doesn't know
it. He doesn't know it but he is. The old man and the new man. Now this new man has a new knowledge. I love that passage of scripture,
for God, who commanded the light to shine out of the darkness,
has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, let's go
on reading. Lie not one to another, seeing
that you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have
put on the new man. which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him. Where? Where? There is neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian-Scythian bond nor free. Now where this knowledge is,
all fleshly distinctions are done away with. Every single
one of them. This is the only place where
they are. Where this new man is. There's no Jew or Greek. All racial distinctions, all
social distinctions, all religious distinctions, all intellectual
distinctions, all gender distinction even, and cultural distinctions,
they're done away with in Christ. You are all one in Christ Jesus. That's why I say don't lie to
one another. You're all one in Christ Jesus. Paul said in Galatians
3.28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor
female. All these distinctions work with
the same. With the same, there's not clergy
lady, there's not one up here and one down here. We're all
one in Christ Jesus. Now, what is this special knowledge
that the new creature, the new man, possesses? Here it is, and
Cody prayed this at the end of his prayer, where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free, but Christ is. All. Now that's the understanding
of the new creation. That's what the new creation
knows. If God has done anything for
me or you, this is what we know. I mean, this is what we're in
complete agreement on. Christ is all. Now I fear that becoming cliché
to me. That's what I fear. Okay, I got
that down. Let's go on to something else. No, there's nothing else
to go on to. Christ is all. In all. Everything we hear must pass
through this gate. Christ is all. If it's contrary to that, it's
wrong. Everything we believe must pass
through this gate. Christ is all. If it doesn't pass through that
gate, we've lived the wrong thing. Anything we experience that's
contrary to this, Christ is all, is an experience we better crash. Any question we may have, If
the answer is contrary to Christ is all, we don't have the right
answer. In our preaching, everything
that is said must go through this gate. Christ is all. Or it is not God-inspired preaching. Now, this is what every believer
is united on. Oh, we have such agreement here.
Christ is all. Now, we know that, first of all,
because I just read it. This is what God's inspired word
says. Christ is all. And we believe
this because God's word says Christ is all. But you know what? We have a great desire for Him
to be all. Because if He's not all, that
means something expected out of me. And I'm in trouble if that's
the case. I greatly desire... I know the Bible teaches He's
all in salvation. But I've got a vested interest
in this thing. If He's not all in salvation, I am in trouble. And so are you. I love thinking of this. Christ is all, and He's only
all to you if He's all you have. If you have anything else, if
you have any experience, if you have anything you've done or
stopped doing that gives you some kind of assurance of salvation,
it's false. is all. I think the best way I can illustrate
this from scripture is to talk a couple minutes about an individual
named Mephibosheth. Most of you remember him. David
has become the most powerful man in the world. He had all
the countries paying tribute to Israel to keep them from getting
in trouble. The scripture actually says the
fear of David came upon every nation. God blessed him in such
a way that he became the most powerful man alive. Whatever he wanted, that's what
was done. And after 2 Samuel 8, when you
read of all his exploits, it's put him into this position of
power. Chapter 9 starts off with this. Is there any yet of the house
of Saul that I can show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? For Jonathan's sake. Not for
any other reason. You see, he remembered a covenant
that he and Jonathan had made many years before. Jonathan said,
I know that God is going to make you the most powerful man in
the world. He's going to destroy all your
enemies. You're going to be top dog. Now,
after I'm dead and gone, will you remember my descendants in
mercy and show them kindness? Jonathan has been dead many years. And from this position of power,
he remembers this covenant and says, Is there any from the house
of Saul that I can show him the kindness of God for Jonathan's
sake? God says, Is there any of the
house of Adam that I can show kindness to for Christ's sake? And the man by the name of Ziba,
He was one of the servants. He says, yeah, there's one. There's
one. But he can't do anything for
you. He's lame in both of his feet. You see, he became lame through
a fall. He was dropped. And he's lame
in both his feet. He can't work for you. He can't fight for you. All he
can do is be carried. That's it. There's nothing that
he can bring to the table. You want him? He can't even get
to you. Go fetch him. Go fetch him. He's brought into the presence
of David. He didn't know what was going
to happen. He knew he was in the house of Saul. And usually
what they did back then, you just kill everybody in the house
of the king. Just take care of that problem.
He can't come back and get vengeance. He didn't know what was going
to happen. And David looked at Mephibosheth. His name means
shameful thing. Why would somebody name their
parent or their kid that? But he did. Shameful thing. Mephibosheth. He looked at Mephibosheth, and
I don't have any question who he saw. He saw Jonathan. He said,
I'm going to surely show you the kindness of God for Jonathan's
sake. Now, what is the one reason?
This is what I'm trying to talk about. What's the one reason
that the Lord would have favor on me or you? For Christ's sake. You see, Christ
really is all. You believe that, don't you?
Christ is all. All God has for the sinner is
in Christ. Christ, the Lord, God's prophet,
God's priest, God's king. Christ the Lord. Jesus is the
Christ. Jesus is the Word of God. Jesus is the One who brings us
to God as God's priest. Jesus is the King. The King of
all. The One who rules. The One whose
will is always done. Jesus is the Christ. And Christ
is all. In all. All God has for the sinners
in Christ, I love this, Christ Himself is the pledge of salvation. What do I mean by that? He that
spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not? Now what that means is there's
nothing you can do to mess us up. How shall He not with Him freely
give us All things. Christ is all. He's all we have. He's all we need. You're complete in Him, the scripture
says. And really, He's all we want. I just want to be found
in Christ. That's all I want. That's my
only desire, to be found in Christ. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faithfulness
of Christ. The righteousness which is of
God, by faith. He's all for us. He's all to us. He's all in us. Even the faith we have is from
Him. Now, I've got several statements
I want to make about this Christ being all, but we've got to begin
here. Jesus Christ is all in the Scriptures. Now you haven't understood the
Scripture. I haven't understood the Scripture until I understand
this. Christ is all in the Scripture. To Him give all the prophets
witness. He said, you search the Scriptures and in them you
think you have eternal life. If I can just figure out how
to do what this says to do, I'll have eternal life. They are they
which testify of me. All of them. I think of what
the Lord said to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. He said
in verse 25 of Luke 24, you don't have to turn there, I'll read
it, O fools and slow of heart to believe all, A-double-L all,
that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ, who suffered
these things, to enter into His glory? And beginning in Moses
and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in some of the Scriptures
that pertain to Him, know that in all the Scriptures the things
concerning Himself." That's all the Scriptures. All the Scriptures. Christ is all in the Scriptures. Most of you have heard this,
but maybe some of you haven't. Spurgeon tells the story of a
young man who, after he finished preaching, he was pretty impressed
with his message. That's always funny when somebody
is impressed with their message. I'm sure I've been. He comes
down cocky and asks an old believer, what do you think about my message?
He said, it was a very poor message indeed. And the man was shocked. He thought it was good. I mean,
he said, well, what's my speech? Poor? No, it was great. Were
my illustrations good? Yeah, they were fine. Was I wrong
in my doctrine? Well, no, you said what the... No. Well, what's wrong then?
You didn't preach Christ. And the man replied, but Christ
was not in the text. And the man said, young man,
there's a saying that says every road leads to London. And every
text leads to Christ. He is the only message of Scripture. All Scripture. And if I don't
see that, I don't have the meaning. No matter, well, I know the historical
context. Who cares? Christ is all in all
the Scriptures. And we know this because this
is what the Word of God teaches us. Christ is all in all of the
Scriptures. Christ is all that God is. He's all in the Scriptures and
He is all that God is. He's not like God. He's not like
God at all. He is God. Jesus Christ is God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. He is God. In the beginning was the Word,
a distinct person, The Word was with God, a distinct person. The Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
is, is, always. The same was in the beginning
with God. He is the image of the invisible
God, and all we'll ever see of God is Jesus Christ. He's the
express image of His person, the brightness of His glory.
Philip said, show us the Father, and we'll be satisfied. I think
of what the Lord must have sounded like when He said, I've been
some long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor. Now, that word Counselor is a
verb. He's not somebody you go to to
get good advice. He's the one who's counseled.
decrees are always done. He's the wonderful counselor,
the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Somebody says, explain that.
I wouldn't give it a shot. I just believe it exactly as
he says. This is that child that's born,
that son who's given, and the government is upon his shoulders. He, Christ, is all that God is,
and Jesus Christ is all in the purpose of God. Jesus Christ
is all in the purpose of God. God's got one purpose. God's
got one agenda. The glory and honor of His dear
Son. Everything God does, He does
for the glory of His Son. I love the way that parable begins
about the wedding garment. It starts this, and this is a
summary of the whole Bible. This is a summary of all that's
true. The kingdom of heaven is like
a certain king which made a marriage for his son. That's his purpose. That's what all the Bible's about.
It's for His Son. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell, that in all things He might have
the preeminence. Now, God created the universe
for the glory of His Son. That's His only purpose. He wasn't
lonely. He created the universe to display
the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. You know, the fall of Adam. Could God have prevented that?
Of course He could. It was a part of His purpose. It was a part
of His purpose. The fall of Adam was so that
Christ could go to the cross and manifest His glory. That
is God's purpose in all things. The glory and honor of His Son. That's His one purpose. He doesn't
have another purpose. One purpose. And Christ is all. It's what Paul called in Ephesians
3, verse 11, the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Everything has one purpose. the glory of Jesus Christ. Now, if you don't love Him, you
probably won't like it. But if you love Him, you will
want it to be that way. Jesus Christ is all in all of
God's counsels toward man. All that God has for the sinner
is in His blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1 verse
3 says, He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings. And that's the only kind of blessings
that are eternal. Well, God's blessed me with,
well, it's going. I got a good house. I got a good
car. I got health. Well, you're going to lose all
that. The only blessings that count eternally are spiritual
blessings. And He has blessed us with all,
all spiritual blessings. In heavenly places, in Christ
Jesus, all that God has for the sinner is in His Son. Now listen
to this scripture, 2 Timothy 1.9. Everyone ought to have this
one committed to memory. He saved us and He called us. What came first? He saved us. Then He called us. Every aspect of our salvation
is all complete because Christ is all. He saved us. He saved
us. I love that language, don't you?
He saved us! And He called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the
world began. All God has for the sinner is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God will not speak to nor be
spoken to apart from His Son. All that God has for the sinner
is in Christ is all. Jesus Christ is all in salvation. Christ is all in salvation. Now the best way I know how to
illustrate this, this is not even an illustration, this is
the truth. This is just the truth. Christ is all in salvation to
this extent. Salvation does not end with the forgiveness of sins.
Well, if you believe If you repent, if you fill in the blank, you
will have the forgiveness of sins. Salvation does not end after
you follow some kind of formula with the forgiveness of sins.
Salvation begins with the complete, full, putting away forgiveness
of sins. That's where it starts. You don't
do something to be forgiven, you find out you've been forgiven.
Salvation begins with the full, free forgiveness of sins. Now
how can you say that? Because Christ is all in salvation. That's how I can say that. Christ
really is all in salvation. I don't have anything else. I
don't do anything to bring about the forgiveness of sins. Christ
is all in the forgiveness of sins. He's all in salvation. All that God requires of me,
He looks to His Son for. You believe that? All. Jesus Christ is all in salvation. I think of everything that we
experience or understand from the Bible and salvation, He's
all in it. He's all in my election. I've chosen Him. Christ be my
first elect, He said, then chose us in Him our living head. He's
all in my justification. I'm saved by His righteousness.
He's all in my redemption. He paid for my sins. He's all
in my new birth. He birthed me into the kingdom
by His Spirit. And you know what? The knowledge,
the evidence that someone's born again, they really believe Christ
is all. Do you believe Christ is all
in your salvation? Do you really believe that? If you do, you've
been born of God. Christ is That's the knowledge
of the new creation. Christ is all in our doctrine.
No doctrine is understood apart from Christ at all. No doctrine
is understood apart from union with the Lord Jesus Christ, being
one with Him. He's all in all of our doctrine.
You know, I've got several things written down here, but I'm just
going to deal with this one thing. use one word that most completely
describes God's salvation. It would be the word sanctification. Now, how is that? Well, sanctification,
most people, most religious people look at it, they kind of separate
it from justification and its holiness. Well, sanctification
is set apart I was set apart by God in eternal election in
the Lord Jesus Christ. I was sanctified. I was set apart. I was declared to be holy by
the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree, by the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. I was sanctified by the Spirit
of God when I was given this holy nature. This new nature
that was not there before. And the reason I'm given this
nature is Christ is all in my salvation. I have the mind of
Christ. It's not just that I think like
Him. Every believer has His mind. He's all in our preservation. We're preserved in Christ Jesus.
He's all in... Whatever doctrine it is, He's
all. He's all. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
in providence. You know what that means? That means everything that happened
yesterday, everything that happens today, and everything that happens
tomorrow, without exception, is His will being done. He's
the cause. He's the cause of all things. He's the cause of all things. I'm saying He's the cause of
all things. He said, I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. And everything that happens is
His will being done. Isn't it wonderful to live in
a world like that? Nothing to worry about, really.
I mean, whenever we start worrying and fretting and being upset
about how somebody's treated us or what's happened, oh, it's
His will being done. What a joy that is. I wish I
could put that in a bottle and just never forget it. Everything
that happens is His will being done. He's the Lord of Providence. He created time and space, the
universe, and everything that happens in time is His will being
done. He's all in Providence. He's
all in Providence. And He is all in our experience
of the Gospel. Now what do I mean by that? He's
all in our experience of the gospel. Well, he's the author
of our faith, isn't he? And he's the finisher of it as
well. And somebody had to believe God perfectly. It ain't me or
you. We didn't do it. There's never
a time when we can say, I cannot say, I believe, help thou my
unbelief. It's always there. It's always there. And yet we
can't not believe. The new nature always believes. The old nature
never believes. You know that so. But I'm looking
to His faith. That's what I believe, is His
faithfulness. I live yet, not I, but Christ
liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me. and gave Himself
for me. You and I repent of? I repent
of anything that's contrary to Christ is all. It's wrong. It's wrong. Anything, that's
what repentance is. You repent of anything that runs
contrary to Christ is all. You know, in my experience, in
my experience, when's the last time you confessed your sin properly?
Has it ever happened? Well, in case you're wondering,
let me tell you, no. No. There's always been a measure
of insincerity. There's always been a measure,
even the very sin you're confessing, you know you'll commit it again.
I hate saying that, but that's so evil. That's the wickedness
of our... My confession is no good. But He said in Psalm 38, I'll
acknowledge my transgressions. I'm looking to His confession.
How about your sorrow for sin? You ever been sorry enough? Have
you ever had true sorrow as it ought to be? You don't even know
how bad your sin is and I don't either. But He said, I will be sorry for my sin. My sin truly became His sin. And He said, I'm sorry for it. And
He's the only one who ever was able to express true sorrow.
You know, I was trying to preach a couple of weeks ago on meekness.
And meekness is that attitude before God. It's a Godward attitude. It's what only the elect have.
It's a fruit of the Spirit. It's an attitude that says everything
God does is right with regard to me. By His grace, it's all
good. I bow to it. And that means when
somebody mistreats you, if you're meek, you say, God told them
to do that. It was good for me. It's exactly
what I needed. Now, how often do I feel that
way? And I said after the service
to a lady in our congregation, I said, I don't know if I know
anything about meekness. And she says, well, The Lord's meek, and that's your
meekness. His meekness. You see, He's made
unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Now, what gives me assurance? Christ is all. What gives me
peace? Christ is all. What is my hope? Christ is all. What makes me
happy? Christ is all. Jesus Christ is all in our experience. Any experience we have that's
contrary to Christ is all is no good. It's not real. Maybe
you're having a dream. Maybe I don't know. But it's
no good. Christ is all in our experience. He is all, and listen to this,
He is all, Christ is all in our motivation. To seek to serve, to avoid punishment,
or hope of reward is mercenary. It's just mercenary. It's not
real. Christ is all is what makes me
not want to sin. Somebody says, well, if you say
Christ is all that, I'll encourage people to sin. Not a believer. I'm not worried a bit about that.
And hearing that Christ is all is what makes you want to follow
Him. To deny yourself. You know what's
going to make you want to deny yourself when you see Christ
is all? You'll want to deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all in our preaching. Paul
said, I determined. not to know anything among you
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." And I'm still thinking about
what Chris said. If any message we preach, if
we can't title it, Christ Crucified, something to do with that, we
probably ought to get rid of it. Not probably, we should get
rid of it. We should get rid of it. I don't
care what the subject is. If it's not Christ is all, Christ
crucified, It's no good. And you know, I really believe
that. I believe that. I'm not just saying that. I believe
it. Christ is all in our preaching. Anything that's not Him, or He's
not all, is no good. Christ will be all in judgment. You know, the thief understood
this. Lord, remember me. That's all that's needed. You
remember me. When you come into your kingdom,
you're not going to stay dead. You're going to come back as
a mighty, reigning, ruling king. Oh, the faith the Lord gave that
man. He saw that one nailed to the
cross. He knew he was the Lord. Lord! Remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. The only difference between someone
that's saved and someone that's lost is Christ is all. That's it. And he'll be all in
heaven. David said, as for me, I'll behold
thy face in righteousness. I'll be satisfied when I wake
in thy likeness. The Lord said, Father, I will
that they whom you have given me be with me, that they may
behold my glory. Now that is heaven. That is heaven. Christ is all. Christ is all.