Turn back in your Bibles to that
third chapter of Colossians where we read. I'll read again that
eleventh verse, where there is neither Greek nor Gentile nor
Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, But Christ is all and in all. If you wanted a three-word
phrase to sum up the whole Bible, to sum up all of Holy Scripture,
and to sum up the Gospel, it would be this, Christ is all. That's the statement that sticks
out to me in that 11th verse. Christ is all. As a matter of fact, Christ Himself
says in John 5 to those Pharisees, He says, you search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. and they are they
which testify of me." The Spirit of prophecy is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then Paul says in Romans
1, when he begins that amazing book of solid gospel doctrine,
he says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle
separated unto the gospel of God concerning his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. I thought about it this week
a lot. The great sufficiency of Christ
can be seen in the singularity of Christ. Christ is all. And Paul says to those Corinthians
that he was fearful of and sought to warn, he said, "...but I fear,
lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled or deceived Eve through
his subtlety, So your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ." That word simplicity there means singleness
of Christ. And we find this singleness of
Christ in such statements as these. Paul writing to Timothy. saying, for there is one God
and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Just one Mediator. And he is that one man described
as the man, Christ Jesus. We hear it also in Peter's preaching
there in Acts 4, when he said to his hearers and his questioners,
by the way, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name
given under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved."
None other name. Salvation in no other. And then also you can hear it
most definitely in the words of our Lord in John 14. When
Jesus makes this statement concerning himself, he says, I am the way,
I am the truth, I am the life. and no one comes to the Father
except by me." Now, oftentimes, as a preacher of the gospel,
I get accused of being narrow-minded and having a narrow message. But all I state is what God himself
says, and most especially Christ. He said, I am the door. There is no other door. And the gospel is not about choices. It doesn't have to do with faiths
or various ways. There is only one, just one. One way in your case, one way
in my case, one way in every sinner's case, and that one way
is the same. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And He has to be that One, because
as is stated here, He's all. If He's all, then He has to be
the One. And that is true. What Paul says
here not only fits into this text and context, but as I said,
it fits the whole of the divine revelation, and it sets forth
in the beginning that Christ is all when it pertains to God
Himself. As a matter of fact, the only
God that his people will ever see is Christ. He says things like this, I and
my Father are one. He tells men and women in every
age, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. We read in John's
Gospel, in those opening words of that great gospel record,
that the Word was God, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. The Word is God, and He's the
same One that was made flesh and dwelt among us. Paul writes
to Timothy and he says things like this. Great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The angel commands that his name
is Immanuel, which being interpreted is what? God with us. And so, in the divine revelation
of God, as He reveals Himself, He reveals Himself in Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The Son, who is in the bosom
of the Father, He hath revealed Him, or He has declared Him,
and that means told Him out. How has God revealed Himself? How has He told Himself out in
Christ? Not only in His attributes, Christ
displaying all the attributes of God, He displayed all the
attributes of God. He displayed that divine omniscience. He knew everything. He knew what was in the heart
of every person. Not only omniscience, but omnipotence. He had all power. He said, all
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. The greatest demonstration
being opening the hearts of dead, blind sinners. Almighty God is
Christ. The divine holiness. He who knew
no sin. He who knew no fault or error,
said no evil, spoke no sin, here He is, the living God. Here He is in righteousness and
wisdom and all the attributes, but most particularly, All that
is ever to be known about God is demonstrated and Christ is
found out to be all when He's hanging there on that cross.
Christ crucified is all that is to be known in mercy and grace
about God. Christ is all. As a matter of
fact, if you look back over in chapter 2, down at the 8th and
the 9th verse, here's a warning from the Apostle Paul. He says,
beware. lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. Why? For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. Now you can just study that until
you have no more breath and you will not ever exhaust it. You will never know all there
is, but that's what it says. In Christ is all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In a man, in a body. But not only is Christ all as
far as the divine revelation of God is concerned, Christ is
all in creation. I used to wonder why men would
struggle and try to promote and defend evolution and such notions
as these, why was the importance of doing that when it was obvious
that these things did not evolve or just happen by themselves? There it is, because if the other
side of that coin is none other than Christ Himself, and He's
all in this creation. Look back over in chapter 1 of
Colossians, where we find in that 16th verse the Apostle Paul,
by the Spirit of God. Here's the other side of that
man-made theory and promoted false notion, which is so obvious
that it cannot be true. But here's what we have to believe
otherwise. In verse 16 of chapter 1, "...for
by him," were all things created that are in heaven and that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. Now, it just always boils down
to this. We're either going to believe
God in this, or we're going to be deceived and led away by stupid
theories which cannot be proved, and fly into the face of God
and Him saying that His Christ is all in this creation. Listen to the Apostle John. He says, "...all things were
made by Him." Who's that? This Word He's talking about. "...all things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made." It didn't
just pop into existence. When you listen to the account
of creation in Genesis 1, it says that He spoke and out of
nothing He created these things. You lift up your sleeve and you
look at your watch, find instrument that it is. Would you dare imagine
that such a delicate piece just happened to exist somehow that,
well, it would be now instead of cogs and wheels, probably
circuits and such as that. Would you just imagine that somehow
you just walked out and picked up something like that, such
an intricate piece, and it just happened to be? No. He says he made all things. And John goes on in this, in
John 1 and verse 10, he says, "...he was in the world, and
the world was made by him, and the world knew him not." He made
the world. The world was made by him, and
yet he was once in this world. That's amazing, isn't it? That's
what the Scriptures say, that Christ is all in the creation
and the sustaining of this world. And then we find out this in
the Bible here, Christ is all as the sovereign ruler and disposer
of all things in providence, all the affairs of this life,
this world, these nations. He is all as the ruler and guide
over everything that happens. Just look back again at that
first chapter. And in that 17th verse it says
this, "...and He is before all things." That means He's before
all things as the Creator. But it means also He is above
all things. He rules and He reigns. It is He of whom it is said that
He does what He will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of men, and there is not anybody that can stay His hand or stop
Him or slow Him or say unto Him, What doest Thou? He's all. All power given Him in heaven
and in earth. He does always His will. behind every second cause in
this universe is the first cause, the one who does everything that
he will, works everything after the counsel of his own will,
whatsoever his soul desires, that does he in heaven and in
earth. Why? Because he's all. He's the
almighty ruler, the all-powerful one. the sovereign Lord of the
universe. There's nobody above Him. There's
no court of appeal. But as sinners, and that's what
we all are in ourselves, but as sinners, what we need to know
most of all is that Christ is all in salvation. That's the most important things
to us. He is all in salvation because
if we remember Simeon's words, led by the Spirit, he is salvation. The Lord had told Simeon, that
old aging man who was in the temple every day, he had told
him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ. And one day, into that temple,
is brought this young child by the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And when he lays eyes on this
child, when he looks at him, the Spirit of God makes him to
know, this is the one. And so he says, Lord, now let
your servant depart in peace, because I have seen your salvation. He wasn't looking at a plan.
He wasn't looking at somebody's idea, somebody's theology or
something like that. He was looking at that person,
God manifest in the flesh. He was looking at the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's all. As a matter of fact,
the gospel wherein Paul says in Romans 1 and those 16th and
17th verses, wherein he says, for therein, that is in the gospel
of God, is the righteousness of God, we find out that Christ
is all in righteousness. You say, what do you mean by
that? I mean, He's the only righteousness there is. Period. And he has caused his apostles,
by the Spirit of God, to write down so that you and I would
know that we are a part of this fallen race of Adam, of whom
he says, in this race there is none righteous, none good. No, not one. Not one. You don't have a righteousness
of your own. I don't have a righteousness. We're like Paul said of his own
people, saying that they were in error, they had a zeal toward
God, but it was not according to knowledge and truth. He said
they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, are going about
trying to establish their own righteousness, and they've not
submitted to the righteousness of God. What's the righteousness
of God? It's all in Christ. Not your
decision, not your prayer, not your works, not your baptism,
not any of these things, not your morality. The only righteousness
there is, is Christ. And this is what Jeremiah the
prophet said of this righteousness which, by the way, God requires. Jeremiah says, in his days, Judah
shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. Israel and Judah
there being used as pictures and types of the Lord's people. Judah is that people of whom
the Lord would come, having praise for the Messiah. Israel is that
people, royal people in Christ. These are God's elect people.
These are the church which is His body. He says, in His days
they will dwell safely, they will be saved, and this is the
name whereby He shall be called, the Lord our God. Righteousness. Jehovah Sidkenia. But then he goes on a little
bit later, and he speaks not of the Messiah, but he speaks
of the elect of God. He speaks of his spiritual Israel,
and he says of them, and this is the name whereby she shall
be called. Oh, she's got something of her
own. No. This is the name whereby
she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness." Why is that
necessary? Because He's the only righteousness
there is. He's the only one. Turn over
to 1 Corinthians and that first chapter, and listen to Paul in
1 Corinthians chapter 1. He's just got through saying,
just like the prophet of old, no flesh can glory in His presence. He says in verse 30, but of Him,
that is, of God, Are ye in Christ Jesus? What does that mean, in Christ
Jesus? It means God of Himself, of His
own will and purpose. He chose us in Christ. He views us in Christ. He redeemed us in Christ. He calls us in Christ. And He gives us faith to believe
in Christ. And it's all of God. But of Him
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us." Our decision
didn't make Him that. Of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now, I just imagine
Had we eyes to see and understanding to understand what really sums
up all of this salvation that glorifies God, that we would
find out that those four words pretty much sum it all up. And
he says, in all of it, Christ is everything. Think about that. Turn over to 2 Corinthians and
the 5th chapter. And look down in that last verse
of 2 Corinthians 5 and hear the same apostle as he says this,
"'For He,' that is God again, "'hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him.'" He is everything. If you're ever made the righteousness
of God, which, by the way, is the only righteousness there
is and the only one God will accept. It will be God who has
made us the righteousness of God in Christ, because Christ
is all righteousness. As a matter of fact, He's described
Himself as the way, and He is the way of righteousness. He is the way of peace. There is no other. I know how
we are as sinners. We love choices. We'll love the
preacher best who'll give us the most choices. We'll love
the religion best by nature that'll give us the most choices. And
we despise the gospel by nature. We have a natural enmity against
God because He says it is Christ who is all. And that's it. That's it. Paul says in Romans
8, he said, it is God that justifies. Then he says this, it is Christ
that died. What's the ground of that justification? When God in eternity declared
by an act, by what one man called an imminent act and decree of
God, He declared all His people righteous in His sight, and He
blesses them accordingly. How did He do that? In Christ. It is God that justifies, declares
not guilty, declares righteous. It is Christ that died. He is
everything. He's everything. As a matter
of fact, Paul says that in Romans 3. He says, "...being justified
freely by His grace." That is, having been justified, declared
righteous and not guilty by God, freely, without any cause in
ourselves, by His grace, undeserved favor and goodness toward us,
Somebody says, well, God just said that. No, He didn't. Why? Because He's holy. Because He
must punish sin. So Paul goes on in this same
statement, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption,
through the death, through the sacrifice, through the redeeming
blood that is in Jesus Christ. He's everything. And he's not
only all righteousness, he's all wisdom. I wish we could get
a hold of something like this. Colossians chapter 2, and look
again at what he says in Colossians chapter 2 and that third verse. Now, you can't say you believe
the Bible and not believe this. That's always amazing to me.
These people believe the Bible, but they don't believe everything
that the Bible says. What does it say in that third
verse of chapter 2? It says, "...in whom..." Who's
he talking about? He's talking about Christ. "...in
whom are hid, no man sees it, knows it of themselves, they
count him worthless, but in him are hid..." What's that next
word? "...all." All. the treasures."
He didn't use that word by mistake. The Spirit of God does not use
a word like that, like it's so flippantly used in our day. If God says it's the treasure,
it's the treasure. "...in whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge." As a matter of fact, over in Proverbs
8, There's somebody who refers to himself as, I Wisdom. And he says, I dwelt with the
Father before the world ever was. He looked upon me with favor
before the world ever was. Before all things, I Wisdom. That's Christ. He is not only
the all-wise God, but He's called wisdom. If you remember Paul
giving that word first in what it says that God has made to
His people, Christ, he says He's made Him unto us wisdom. What
is that wisdom? It's that wisdom by which the
divine dilemma of the ages is solved. Some of you will get
up tomorrow morning, and you'll have things you need to do, problems
you need to solve, and you shake your head, and maybe at the end
of the day, you'll not have figured out a way to solve your own little
puny problems. But I'll tell you what, there's
a bigger problem. And you've never begun to consider the gospel,
you've never begun to consider a relationship with the living
God until you've been brought down to consider this, the question
of the ages, and it is this, how can this God, immaculately,
infinitely, wholly, inflexibly just, who has already declared
himself as such, who has already said that he will by no means
clear the guilty, who has already stated that he must punish sin
and that the soul that sinned shall surely die. How can that
God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, how can he
bless a sinner. How can he call that sinner righteous? How can he, Lee, in his holy
self, reach out and embrace and pull that sinner into his holy
being? How can he demonstrate love toward
that rebel? How can he, who's of that purer
eyes than to behold this sin, how can he look on this sinner
with favor? when that sinner in themselves
can do nothing. Everything they do is polluted
by sin. They cannot in any way make atonement
for their sins. They cannot in any way please
God. How then can this God save this
sinner? How can He in any way look in
favor on me? Now, I'll tell you what men do.
Number one, they reduce God down to being much, much less than
He is. And then they take and they raise
up man to being much more than He is. But in the end, God is
still the same and man is still the same. And only the infinite
wisdom of the divine person could ever solve such a riddle as that. You remember old Daniel? Daniel,
because of a decree that was made by the king, and the decrees
of the Medes and Persians kings, they, according to scripture,
could not be altered. And so when Daniel was found
to be in violation of that decree, that king had no choice. He liked
Daniel. But he had no choice but to sentence
him to that actual punishment, which was to cast him into the
den of lions. But you know somehow Daniel lived,
because the angel of the Lord shut the mouths of those lions. Who do you think that was? There
is one who is called the angel of the covenant. The angel of
the Lord. That word angel just means messenger,
Christ. And it isn't just Christ in a
person. Here is the wisdom of God hanging on that cross. Christ crucified. Men would look
at that man and they'd say, that's the most foolish way of solving
a problem I've ever seen. Oh no, it's the wisdom of God.
How is it the wisdom of God? Because God in eternity appointed
him as the head, the surety of his people. And he assumed responsibility
for all their sin at that hour. And what is taking place on that
cross is now the time has come for the surety to pay. There's
a transaction that's being made. The Bible says that the whole
earth became dark in that hour. And the reason why there's darkness
everywhere is because there's a transaction in that darkness
going on between the Father and the Son, between a just God and
the surety of his people, and the shepherd is being spitten. The price has now to be paid. He's come to lay down his life
for the sheep. This isn't something that's gone
on out of control. Our Lord kept talking about Manar. It's coming, it's coming. It's
not yet come. They tried to kill Him. They
couldn't do it. They tried to cast Him off a cliff. They tried
to stone Him. But there's an appointed hour. He hangs on that cross between
heaven and earth. And though they took him by wicked
hands, Peter says in that first message, you took him and by
wicked hands you slew him, but it was all according to the determinate
counsel and foreordination of God. Payday. The sin debt must
be paid. And all through this book, he's
been showing that the only way sin is atoned for, the only way
God in his justice is satisfied, the only way that he can be appeased
in his wrath in the matter of sin against him, is by the shedding
of blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. And the Bible says that Christ
offered the one sacrifice for sins for everyone. He appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He didn't do like every one of
those other earthly priests, although they typified Him. They
had to do it over and over again. He went into that Holy of Holies
once. He had His blood. That's all. That's all God will accept. He
tells us that. And not only that, Christ is
all sanctification. There's no progress in sanctification. The Bible says that God's people
do grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. But all of sanctification
is in Christ. He's all of it. In Hebrews, he
makes it so clear, chapter 2, for both he that sanctifies and
they who are sanctified are all of one. He is our sanctification. He's all our holiness before
God. For the witch calls, he's not
ashamed to call them brethren." Listen again. Hebrews 10, "...by
the witch's will," whose will? God's will, "...we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once." About
a little later in Hebrews 10, "...for by one offering, He hath
perfected forever them that are sanctified. You just can't add
anything to perfection. Do you understand that? Because
Christ is all. He's everything. He is all in
redemption and in forgiveness. If you look back in chapter 1
of Colossians to that 14th verse, speaking of Christ the Son, God's
dear Son, it says, "...in whom we have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sins." Where is forgiveness at? Where is the remission of sin
at? In Christ. And Christ is all in the church. He's all that the gospel preaching
in the church is. He's all the worship in the church.
He's all the ordinances in the church. It's all about Christ.
Verse 18, Colossians 1, and He is the head of the body, the
church. who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all..." Now, that has a thing behind
that, doesn't it? But if you notice in its italics,
the translators of the King James added that word. "...that in
all he might have the preeminence." He's all in that eternal inheritance. You just turn with me for a... bit to Ephesians 1, and look
back in Ephesians 1 at that 11th verse. I tell you, it's worth
your time to think about these things. He's all in this inheritance. There are a lot of people in
this world, they're wrapped up in religion, and it's all about
what they're doing. It's all about what they've done.
It's all about what they feel, but it's really all about Christ.
Look at the 11th verse of Ephesians 1, "...in whom also we have obtained
an inheritance..." The same inheritance Peter calls incorruptible, undefiled,
reserved in heaven. being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will." Where is it at? God gave it to His people
in Christ. That's why this notion of rewards. How can there be rewards? If everything is, first of all,
all of grace, and secondly of all, all in Christ. How can you get more than me? When the best thing you ever
did is just like the best thing I ever did? Worthless. All this inheritance is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, is He not,
in Hebrews called, the heir of all? And did not Paul in Romans
8 speak of believers as being joint heirs with Christ? If he's all in the inheritance,
the only way that I can ever have any of it is to be in Christ. He's all. You see, in short,
what the Bible says and what the Gospel says and what I'm
trying to say is that if you know Christ, if you trust Christ
and only Him, if you rest in what He's done, plead His blood,
His righteousness, believe on Him alone for all, you have it
all. You have it all. I can rest,
I have it all. As a matter of fact, Paul says
in Ephesians 1, that third verse, that he's already blessed his
people with, what's that? All spiritual blessings. Now, I got news for you, these
things we call blessings nowadays, he says he's going to destroy
with fire. And all that will be left, is
all spiritual blessing. And he says, he blessed us and
gave them to us when he chose his people in Christ before the
foundation of the world. All spiritual blessing. Now, look back at Colossians
2. I want you to catch Paul's drift, if you will. He's writing
to these professing believers, writing to the church at Colossians.
Look down in verse 4. He says, "...and this I say,
lest any man should beguile you with enticing words." For though
I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in the Spirit,
joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up
in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught,
abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware! lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after
the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." In other
words, he said, beware unless somebody tells you that there's
something else other than Christ. Beware unless somebody comes
along and tells you there's something more than Christ. Yeah, these preachers who say,
well, you know, we got to preach Christ, we got to preach the
gospel, but we got to preach other things too. There's more
than Christ. Well, they didn't get in this
book. I was just told recently about some preacher that a fellow
that I know asked about kind of challenged him a little bit
on what he was preaching. Well, he didn't even really have
to challenge him. When he got there to hear him that Sunday,
after it was over, the preacher told him, he said, you got me
on a bad day, bad day. Well, he said, but you didn't,
you didn't preach Christ. You didn't say anything about
Christ. He said, well, I can't do that all the time. He said,
I've got people that have got marriage trouble in this church.
Well, I'll tell you what, if he did, The only remedy for them
is Christ. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. But look at that
tenth verse. That's a humdinger there. And
you are complete in Him. If He's all to God, and I'm in
Him, I'm complete. I'm all too. I'm all too. If you have Christ, you have
it all. All God has given, all you need,
all you could ever want, all there is in His grace. But, and
you make sure you hear this, if you don't have Christ, You
have nothing. Nothing. You may have something
to you, and you may have something to this world, but you have nothing
before God. You have no hope, no righteousness,
no salvation, no peace, no joy, no forgiveness, no prospect. Nothing. As a matter of fact,
that's what I call this message. All or nothing. But I'm going
to go one step farther than that. You really have less than nothing. You say, how can you have less
than nothing? Because you have an eternal deficit. You have an eternal insufficiency. You say, what do you mean? You
have eternal want, lack. And that's why hell is eternal.
because the infinite God has been sinned against, and God's
justice is never satisfied in the matter of our sin, and we'll
never have anything, or any way, or any prospect of making an
end of our crime against Him. And that's what he means when
he says in Ezekiel, "...say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord
God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." That means
that God, in the matter of His justice, is never satisfied in
the death of those who die without Christ. And that's why their
separation from Him is for eternity. He says, but the wicked, but
that the wicked turn from His way and live. Turn ye, turn ye
from your evil ways. What does that mean? Your evil
ways of trying to save yourself, please God, and establish righteousness. Do you remember what it says
in Proverbs? There is a way that seemeth right
to a man. The end thereof are the ways
of death. All the ways of death are really
just one way, man's way, which is in exact opposition to Christ,
who is the way. He says, for why will you die,
O house of Israel? You see, it's Christ and all,
or it's nothing. It's only Christ, and that means
it's all. where it's nothing and less than
nothing. Christ is all. You know, if you read that to
Mark, it's going to say the same thing. The last day upon this
earth, the last man that actually opens a Bible and reads that,
it's going to say the same thing. But it's going to say the same
thing for all eternity. Christ is all. Father, this day,
open our blinded eyes. Give us new hearts of faith subdue
the rebellion in our minds, overcome our natural fallen understanding,
and reveal to us the glorious Lord Jesus Christ, and help us
not only to see Him as all, but to trust Him as all, and to forsake
and repent of everything else. Because if we have Him, we have
everything. And without Him, we have nothing. We pray in His glorious name. Amen.