Let's open our Bibles tonight
to the third chapter of Colossians. Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. If ye then be risen with Christ,
that means if you're born again, If you've been raised from the
dead, quickened together with Christ, if God has saved you
by His grace, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection, not
your affections, your affection. Be wholehearted in this. Set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. This
is the only reasonable thing that could be expected, for ye
are dead, dead to the law and dead to the world, crucified
with Christ. And your life, if you're born
of God, if you've been raised from the dead, if you're born
again, your life is hid. held in absolute security, hidden
from the eyes of all the world and all reason and rationality
according to the flesh, hid with Christ in God. When Christ, our
life, when Christ, our life, When Christ, our life shall appear. Notice the words who is are in
italics. That means our translators added
them to make the sentence read more smoothly. A better translation
is just as I've read it to you. When Christ, our life shall appear. Not the most important thing
in life, Not the best thing in life. Not the most significant
aspect of life. Christ, our life, shall appear. Brother Mike and I were talking
about this just a few minutes ago. How soon he shall appear. Either
to take me out of this world or appear again in his glorious
second advent. But when Christ, our life, shall
appear. Then, what a prospect, what a
hope, what a joyful anticipation. Then, shall ye also appear with
him in glory. Mortify, therefore. Mortify,
therefore. The word means subdue. Hold down. Governing subjection,
your members which are on the earth, fornication, adultery,
fornication, incest, bestiality, idolatry. These are evil things. It is way past time that somebody
stand up on their hind legs and tell the truth. In reality, we
live in a world where those things that are contrary to everything
revealed in this book about decency are commonplace even by people
who claim to believe God. He says, mortify your members. These are the things natural
to fallen, depraved humanity. And it begins with fornication.
That's all manner of sexual deviation. And it takes in idolatry. for
idolatry is a whoring from God. Uncleanness, impurity, impurity,
inordinate affection, that is your evil passions. Mortify,
subdue, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, your evil
passions, evil concupiscence, lust, and covetousness. All of this, he says, is idolatry. All of this is worshiping something
other than God. All of this is setting your heart
on something other than Christ and those things which are above.
For which thing's sake the wrath of God cometh on the children
of disobedience? Into which he also walked sometime
when you lived in them. That is to say, this is how we
used to live. This is how we used to live.
Not anymore. This is how we lived before God
met us in our way and stopped us in our mad rush to hell. This
is how you used to live. But now, ye also put off these,
anger, wrath, malice, All of those things that involve ill
intent toward others. Blasphemy. Blasphemy. Now he speaks of that which involves
ill intent toward God. Blasphemy. The blasphemy of God
denying his person and his work as revealed in his son. Filthy
communication out of your mouth. Put these away. Lie not one to
another. That's what it means by filthy
communication. He's not just talking about cussing. And I
recommend you don't do that. But that's not what he's talking
about here. He's talking about deceit, dishonesty. Lie not one to another. See that you put off the old
man with his deeds. mortified, you have subdued,
you have laid aside, you hold in subjection the old man with
his deeds and have put on the new man. You put on the new,
the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. That means, Brother Larry Chris,
you've been created a new man in Christ in righteousness and
true holiness. God's made you, Mike, getting
a new creature in Jesus Christ, partaker of the divine nature.
Oh, now this we put on, continually, day by day, believing on the
Son of God. This new man is renewed, uses
the present tense. This new man is continually renewed. in knowledge, after the image
of him that created him, continually renewed in the knowledge of Christ,
after the image of Christ, our creating Christ. He who is God,
our creator, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, in Christ, In
Christ, now I know I'm talking to folks who spent all their
lives in Alabama. I'm a southern boy, I know what
it is. Listen to this preacher. Listen to God's word. In Christ,
race doesn't make any difference. In Christ, male or female doesn't
make any difference. In Christ, rich and poor doesn't
make any difference. In Christ, learned and unlearned
doesn't make any difference. In Christ, the person who is
most highly refined and the person who is the very lowest rung of
society doesn't make any difference. The only place on this earth
where the ground is level is in Christ. But children of God,
in Christ, the ground is level. and we who are taught of God
ought to deal with one another and with our brethren in just
that way. In Christ, there's neither male
nor female, Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, but Christ is
all and in all. That means if Christ is yours
and Christ is mine, we are one in Christ. and one with Christ,
and Christ is everything. If I'm in Christ, if you're in
Christ, we are one in Christ. Doesn't matter who our mama and
daddy was. Doesn't matter where we came from. Doesn't matter
where we've been. Doesn't matter what we've done.
Doesn't matter what we've experienced. Doesn't matter what we have or
don't have. In Christ, we're one, and one with Christ, and
Christ is everything. I want, as God will enable me,
to focus your attention on these three words in verse 11. Christ is all. And I want to talk to you as
plainly as I can about the most important thing I ever learned. I keep stuff and look it over. I have for years kept all of
Brother Henry Mahan's bulletins that he produced since the day
I met him. And I started receiving them.
Started sending them out electronically. I keep them on my computer. Well,
reading through some of Brother Mahan's old church bulletins,
I ran across a brief article. And that article is what the
Lord used to inspire this message. The article was in the bulletin,
13th Street Church in Ashland, May 19, 2002, just about two
years before Brother Mahan resigned as pastor after faithfully serving
that congregation for 54 years. That particular bulletin contained
several short articles about preaching. This one entitled,
The Musings of a Pastor I Found Almost Prophetic. It was written
by C.H. Spurgeon. Let me read it to you.
It's just very brief. Spurgeon wrote in 1878, I sometimes think if I were in
heaven I should almost wish to visit this congregation to see
whether it will abide the test of time and prosper in the work
of our Lord when I'm gone. Will you keep to the truth? Will
you hold to the grand old doctrines of the gospel? Or will this church,
like so many, go astray from the simplicity of its faith? and set up gaudy services and
false doctrine. God forbid it. When I read those
words, I immediately began to think about the tremendous influence
Brother Mahan's had on my life and ministry and the things God
has taught me and still teaches me through his servant. And this
was my prayer. Heavenly Father, give me grace. to my dying breath to hold fast
that form of sound words which you've taught me in faith and
love which is in Christ Jesus. That which you've committed to
my trust by your spirit, help me to hold it fast for the glory
of Christ. I first met Brother Mayhead,
friend to all of us here, most of us anyway, in the fall of
1969, shortly after Shelby and I were married. I met him in
my hometown, Worcester, Salem, North Carolina. He was preaching
in a series of meetings at Rosemont Baptist Church, where Brother
Herbert Wilson was pastor. And I only got to hear him two
times that week. My work schedule wouldn't let me go any other
times, but twice I heard him. He preached the first message
on Christ, our kinsman, redeemer from the book of Ruth. And the
next time I heard him, he preached from the book of Hosea, chapters
1, 2, and 3. on a portrait of God's sovereign
grace. After that, I frequently heard
others mention his name. But I didn't see Brother Mahan
again for almost six and a half years. Then in April of 1976,
that was 39 years ago if my memory served me well, I was 26 years
old. As I was driving to a Bible conference in Lexington, Kentucky
from over in West Virginia, I decided that I'd stop by Ashland and
visit this fellow I'd heard so much about, and most of it wasn't
very good. And I would give him the advantage of profiting from
my great wisdom. After all, I was 26 years old,
and I'd been preaching for about eight, eight and a half years. I stopped by to see Brother Mahan,
and when I walked in, his office and introduced myself. He was
preparing his message. They were going to be taping
for the television broadcast that night. It was on a Monday.
And we visited for about two hours. And I asked him about
prophecy, and church discipline, and the decrees of God, and the
lapsarian view he held to, and a good many other things that
didn't make a hill of beans difference about anything. And unlike me,
he was very cordial. I'd have thrown me out a long
time before he did, and he never did. But he was very cordial,
listened, and put up with my questions and my insinuations. And as I started to leave, he
took his Bible and just turned it around on his desk just like
that, and he pointed to the text we just read. He said, Brother
Fortner, read that right there. And I started to read Colossians
311. He said, no, no. And he took out his pen. underscore
those three words right there. Read those three words right
there. Christ is all. And I read it and looked up at
him with what must have been a look that said, so what? Christ is all, I've read that
before. And he made this statement to me. He said, if you'll ever
learn those three words, The meaning of what God intends
by those three words. You'll understand this book and
God just might use you to preach what's contained in this book.
And I didn't pay much attention to it. I went on the Bible conference
and came back home. And just a few weeks later, the
Lord graciously calls me to hear what he told me by his servant.
As I said, I've been preaching for eight years. I was four and
a half years into my first pastorate at Lookout West Virginia. And
during those earliest years of preaching, I was a thoroughly
strict Calvinist. I don't even like the term, but
I was a thoroughly strict Calvinist, a thoroughly convinced Baptist.
And my doctrine was precisely accurate. My doctrine was precise
and orthodox. It hasn't changed since. I gave
myself relentlessly to the work of the ministry, studying and
preaching. But something was missing. I lacked heart and fire and life
in preaching. I recited doctrine and recited
it well. I recited orthodoxy and recited
it well. I expounded the text of scripture
and expounded it well, without heart, without fire. I had everything, Brother Larry,
except the message that eternity-bound sinners have got to hear. Everything except the message.
And then the Lord laid me flat on my back in a hospital for
21 days. The doctors told my wife and
I that I had cancer. It had already progressed to
the advanced stages, and they didn't expect me to survive very
long. Immediately, I began to evaluate
what had been my life's work, thinking that it might come to
an end in the near future. After honest, heart-searching
evaluation before God, I had to conclude that those first
eight years of preaching had amounted to very little, if anything. I'd been spinning my wheels in
the sand, doing nothing for the benefit of anyone. I couldn't
see how my labor could possibly have profited anyone. My heart
was utterly crushed with conviction. and I sunk in despair. Dotting all my I's and crossing
all my T's and being very precise in orthodoxy gave me no peace
or comfort of any kind. But then the Lord God graciously
burned these words in my soul. Christ is all. and taught me the most important
thing I ever learned. Christ is all. I pray God will
teach you that. I know he's going to. Either
by his grace while you walk on this earth or in his judgment
in eternity. But either in time or eternity,
we shall all learn that Christ is all. As I prepare to preach
from this text, and I have many, many times since first Brother
Henry called it to my attention, I think, how do I approach it
this time? What does that mean? Stretch the words just as far
as you possibly can. Stretch the meaning just as far
as you possibly can. And when you've meditated on
it and mauled it over as much as you can, understand you haven't
begun to scratch the surface. Is that talking about the life
of a believer? Yes. Is that talking about the Word
of God? Yes. Is that talking about the purpose of God? Yes.
Is that talking about the grace of God? Yes. Is that talking
about time? Yes. Is that talking about the
life we now live in this world? Yes. Is that talking about eternity?
Yes. Christ is all. And I did something as I lay
on my back for those 21 days. I've never done before and I've
never done again. And I don't recommend anyone
to do. I made a very solemn vow. I said to God, and I wasn't trying
to drive a bargain with God. I wasn't trying to get out of
dying. I was perfectly at peace with that. I said, Lord, if you're
pleased ever again to put me in a pulpit, If you're pleased
ever again to enable me to speak in your name, this I vow to you,
I will never again preach anything but this, Christ is all. Never again. And thus far, thus
far, I haven't been turned from that deep-rooted, deep-seated,
divinely given conviction. I've laid aside all the denominational
conflicts and all the creedal conflicts and all the stuff. Folks fuss with me about a lot. About a lot I preach, about a
lot I write. I don't fuss with them about any of it. I just
write it and preach it. Christ is all and nothing else matters. Christ is all and that matters
everything. What does this mean? Christ is
all. In all things concerning our
souls, in all things concerning the knowledge of God, in all
things concerning this book we have in front of us, the word
of God, in all things relating to eternity and the glory of
God, Christ is all. Now let me make three or four
statements. I'll be as brief as I can. I'm
just going to talk to you from my heart, I hope, to yours. First,
in all the purpose, counsel, decree, and work of God, the
triune Jehovah, Christ is all. There was a time when this earth
had no being. A time when there was no time,
no world, no universe, no angels, no devils, no man. A time when
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost dwelt alone in the ineffable
glory of his own holy being. Nothing existed except the self-existent
God. And where was Christ then? Come
back to Proverbs chapter 8. Let's look at some scripture.
Proverbs 8 chapter. He was with the Father. In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was face to face with God, and God was the Word. There are words that are translated
different ways in scripture, accurately translated. And when
the scripture says, the Word was with God, That word with
could read with but a step ahead of, with but a step behind, or
face to face with. When Shelby and I go shopping,
I like it about like most other men do. I'm with her, but she's
a few steps ahead of me. I'm just kind of tagging along. The only time she ever went to
the golf course with me, she was with me. But I was a few
steps ahead of her, she was just tagging along. They're just tagging
along. But you see us sitting there
together, we're with each other, side by side. This word, the
word was with God. One with God. For the word is
himself God. And that's exactly what John
is saying. In the beginning was the word. And the word was with
God, and God was the word. So that before the world was
an everlasting eternity, Jesus Christ is with the Father, one
with the Father, our divine mediator and substitute. Set up as our
substitute. Set up as our mediator. Standing
forth as our covenant surety. Assuming all responsibility for
all his elect. And we were accepted in the beloved. Look here in Proverbs chapter
8. Verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up
from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was. Now this
is our Lord Jesus, God the Son, speaking not as the eternal God
the Son, but rather speaking as our divine surety who stood
forth in the covenant of grace, assuming responsibility for us.
He was set up as such. When there were no depths, I
was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. While as yet he had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. When
he set a compass upon the face of the depth, when he established
the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when
he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass
his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
Then was I by him, as one brought up with him, and I was daily
his delight, rejoicing always before him. Now watch this. Rejoicing
in the habitable part of his earth, but preachers, this is
before the earth was made, wasn't it though? This is before there
were any men. Yes, it was. This is before anything
existed except God. Yes, sir. He says, my delights
were with the sons of men. From everlasting, my delights
were with the sons of men. Our Lord Jesus, for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. What
joy was there for him to be made sin? What joy was there for him
to be forsaken of his father? What joy was there of him to
be made to bear all the fury of divine wrath and justice in
our stead? None at all, but the joy set
before him for which he endured it all was the salvation of his
elect in whom he rejoiced from eternity. rejoicing before the world was,
delighting in the sons of men. Delighting in us as one with
himself, trusted to his hands as our surety. And the Lord God
trusting his son with his people. The son of God assumed total
responsibility for our souls. Now I've said that Everywhere
I've ever preached and I hadn't begun to say it yet The Son of
God before ever the world was Stood forth as our covenant surety
and assumed total responsibility for all his elect That means
John that God Almighty never looks to you for anything only to your surety, only to
our substitute, only to our redeemer. Christ is the good shepherd.
And the good shepherd is responsible for the sheep. The sheep are
not responsible for themselves. Christ, the good shepherd, assumed
total responsibility for us. Then time began. There came a time when the earth
was created, the sun, the moon, the stars, the seas, the land,
and all their inhabitants called into being, made out of chaos
and confusion. And man was formed out of the
dust of the ground. And where was Christ then? We
read it in Proverbs 8. When he prepared the heavens,
I was there. He said, I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him. All things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made. Thou, Lord,
in the beginning has laid the foundation of the earth, and
the heavens are the work of thy hands. There came a day when
sin entered into the world. Adam and Eve sinned against God. Adam plunged the whole human
race into spiritual death and sin and condemnation by his willful
transgression of God's commandment. Adam said to God, get out of
my way. You've got no right to be God.
I'll take over being God. And Adam died, and we died in
Adam. Adam came under the curse, and
we came under the curse in Adam. Where was Christ then? Before
he drove our parrots from the garden, the Son of God walked
one more time in the garden. And he said to the serpent, he
said, I'm going to come and crush your head. And I'm going to redeem
my people. Adam and Eve heard the first
gospel sermon preached to Satan himself. He declared, I'm going
to overturn everything you've done to the saving of my people
and the glory of God by a man who shall come into the world
the woman seed. I'm coming, the seed of woman. And that seed
of woman is what all the mothers in Israel who believed God looked
for and hoped to bring forth from their womb from that time
until at last the Lord God spoke to Mary and said, God has formed
in you that holy thing which shall bring redemption to his
people. You wonder why there was so much
emphasis made in the Old Testament, in the scriptures concerning
the firstborn, and the heritage of the firstborn, the right of
the firstborn, the possession of the firstborn. Because in
that commandment, and in that law, which stood even before
God gave the law on Mount Sinai, was the promise of a redeemer
come in the seed of woman. And every believing woman wanted
to be that woman by whom the Redeemer would come. Why on earth
would Tamar subject herself to behaving as a harlot and take
her own father-in-law into her bed? Why? Because Tamar was determined
not to lose the heritage. She was determined, I'm going
to be in that line. And Tamar is named in the book
of God as the great, great, great, great grandma of the son of God.
She believed God. Why did Jacob and his mother,
Rebekah, want to overcome Esau's plans and his daddy's purposes
so that Jacob, Jacob should have the birthright because his mama
and Jacob understood this is God's promise, redemption through
his son, the woman seed. This is that one who was portrayed
in the first sacrifice made before Adam and Eve left the garden.
God's about to expel them from the garden. He's about to put
flaming swords to guard the tree of life. And he says, now Adam,
Adam, Eve, before you leave here, I want to show you something.
This is how I'm going to do it. And it killed innocent victims
instead of killing mom and dad. And it took the skins of those
innocent victims. And he pulled Adam over to him,
and he pulled Eve over to him. And he pulled off their fig leaves
of their own works. And he put on them the skins
of the innocent victims. And he said, that's redemption.
That's what I'm going to do for you. That's what I'm going to
do for you. And the very day that our Lord expelled Adam and
Eve from the garden, the Lord Jesus stood forth as the Savior
of sinners. And from that day to this, there's
never been any name whereby sinners entered into heaven, but to name
Christ Jesus the Lord. He came forth and his mother
and daddy, his supposed father, Mary and Joseph brought him into
the temple to be circumcised according to the law, because
he must come and fulfill all righteousness. And when they
did, there was an old man in the temple. An old man who had
been waiting. He had calculated Daniel's prophecy. And he said, this is about the
time. This is about the time. Messiah's soon gonna be here.
The Christ will soon be here. And Mary and Joseph brought him
into the temple. And the old man looked up. And
he said, honey, you mind if I hold that baby? And he took that baby in his
arms and said, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace.
Mine eyes have seen your salvation. This is the Holy One of Israel
for whom we've been looking for all these years. There came a
time when the world seemed sunk and buried in rebellion, sin,
engrossed in thick darkness. prisoned with idolatry, utterly
ignorant of God. Now when you get to thinking
about the days in which we live, and we all tend to think there
are signs of the Lord's coming, don't ever think like that. Our
Lord didn't give any signs of his coming. He didn't say, look
what's going on over Israel. Cause when you see those fellows
fighting each other, Christ is coming. They've been fighting
each other ever since he left here. And long before that. No,
no. He didn't give it. He says, not
a sign going to be given you. We're not to be looking for signs.
We're to live every day looking for him. living for him, living
in anticipation of his appearing. But don't ever imagine things
are much different now than they were before. They're a little
different generation after generation as we perceive them. But when
our Lord came into this world, after 4,000 years of existence,
with the influences of the Grecian, the Roman, the Egyptian, the
Persian empires, with all the reasoning and teaching of poets,
philosophers, and theologians, They had all proved one thing. By wisdom, the world knew not
God. And the world was utterly engulfed
in the most gross spiritual darkness, not only among the Gentiles,
where idolatry raged, but among those who called themselves the
seed of Abraham, where they had long ago abandoned the worship
of God in favor of will worship, and in the name of God, worshiped
themselves. And the result was indecency,
immorality, debauchery, such as we read about every day in
the newspaper in our own society. Because as it was in the days
of Noah, and as it was in the days of Jonah, and as it was
in the days of Enoch, this is how folks live. They eat and
drink, they marry, and they're given in marriage. Men and women
live in utter ignorance of God as though God didn't exist. That's
the world into which Christ came. A world overrun with superstition,
ungodliness, and idolatry. And our Lord Jesus Christ stepped
in. Except for a few despised Jews in a small corner of the
earth, the whole world was dead in ignorance and sin. And what
did our Savior do? God stepped into humanity. God stepped into humanity. Who
can talk about that? In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily." I've read the very best works written
by men that I've been able to find over the last 47 years about
the Incarnation, and they've written lots of good stuff. But
I've never read one yet that helped me understand it any better.
Not a one. The Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us. And we beheld
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. That man who stepped into this
world better than 2,000 years ago through the virgin's womb,
that man is himself God. Altogether God as though he were
not a man, altogether man as though he were not God. And he
came here for one purpose. called his name Jesus, cause
he gonna save his people from their sins. He came here to do
that. He came here to save his people
from their sins. He came here to save his people
from their sins. Now the book of God tells us
that we were quickened together with Christ. What does that mean? You mean,
when he, the crucified Savior, came to life in the tomb and
rose up out of the tomb and ascended up into heaven and took his seat
at the right hand of the majesty old Hyde, we were quickened with
him and rose up with him and ascended with him and sat down
with him. That's what the book says. That's
what the book says. When our Lord left this world,
He said, it is finished. And salvation was done. Well,
Brother Don, that just can't be, we weren't born yet. No,
we weren't, were we? Well, if that's the case, then
God, none of this depends on you. You wasn't even born yet. None of this depends on you.
None of this is determined by you. None of this is accomplished
by you. You're not gonna add anything
to it. You're not gonna take anything away from it. This was done when Christ
said, it's finished, and sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. And you know when he did that? You know when
he did that? Read the book of God, you'll find out that he's
described in this book as the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Well, Brother Don, If Christ
is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, then he must have
been accepted and we in him accepted, redeemed, justified, glorified,
sanctified before the world began. You getting close to right? You
getting close? In fact, this is the very language
of scripture. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. That's the very language of this
book, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 3. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. Well, what happens when we're
born again? What happens when we believe
God? Then God causes the light to
shine out of darkness in our dark hearts. And the light of
life is brought forth within us in the sweet experience of
God's grace. That's exactly what happened.
That's exactly what happened. Christ Jesus, before the world
was, stood forth as our surety. He came here in time, assumed
our nature. That's not the right word. He
took upon himself our nature. That's not the right word. He
became what I am. Everything I am. Bone of my bone and flesh of
my flesh. And he walked on this earth in
perfect righteousness and obedience to God for me. for you who are
his, for you who believe, for you who are God's elect, for
you who shall believe tomorrow or next year or next month, for
you who hear this message tonight or maybe a thousand years from
tonight and God gives you life. He did it for all God's elect
in perfect obedience. And then, he who knew no sin, he who could not see it, he who
had no seeing, was made to experience the worst
aspect of humanity. God made him see it. Oh, wonder of wonders. God made
Him sin for us. And when God made His Son sin
for us, when God made His Son sin for
us, God turned His back on His Son, because He is a purer eye
than to behold a nickel. And God's darling son cried from
the depths of his soul with broken heart, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? God forsook his son, until at
last he cries, awake, O sword, against the man that is my fellow.
Smite and slay the shepherd. And God, in all the fury of his
holy being, in all the fury of his holy justice, slaughtered
his son, slaughtered his son, as one worthy to die, for he
was made sin for us. And when he did, When it did, that curtain in the temple separating
the holy of holies from the holy place was ripped in two from
top to bottom. You know what that curtain said?
What did that curtain say for 2,000 years? What did that curtain
say in the tabernacle, letter and temple? That curtain said,
stay awake! Stay awake! Stay awake! You can't
come! You can't come! And when God
slaughtered his son in the place of his people, he ripped it open
and said, come on in. Come and welcome sinners! Christ has accomplished redemption.
Christ has accomplished redemption and we entered in with Him and
sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Christ is
all. That means of Him are ye in Christ
Jesus who of God has made unto us wisdom. He is the wisdom of God. He is
that one personifying himself as wisdom in Proverbs 8. He is
the word of God. He is the wisdom of God. He is
our wise counselor before God, our wise advocate and intercessor,
our wise prophet and teacher, our wise priest, the wise one
who causes us to know God. The wise one who reveals who
God is and all things concerning God. He is made of God and to
us righteousness. Whatever the word righteousness
involves, whatever it is, it's not something you can do. Whatever the word righteousness
involves is what Christ is made of God to us to be. All righteousness. The very righteousness of God,
he's described. His name is Jehovah Sikinyu,
the Lord our righteousness. And sanctification, holiness,
holiness. He, in his eternal decree, separated
us from the rest of mankind in sovereign election. In blood
redemption, he separated us from the rest of mankind in sovereign
redemption. In free grace, he came in regeneration
and separated making us holy, partakers of
his nature, giving us that holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord. He's made of God unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption. Ah, redemption is one of those
great, great, great, great big words used in scripture, which
we limit so much. It's, we think about salvation,
we tend to think about when we first came to know the Lord. But salvation takes in everything.
Redemption takes in everything. Redemption is deliverance. Complete deliverance from sin
and all its evil consequences by the blood of Christ and the
power of His grace. when he gets done, when he gets
done, when our Lord comes again in his glorious second advent
and makes all things new and the kingdoms of this world become
the kingdoms of God dear Son and everything brought laid down
at his feet and everybody acknowledges that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God when he's finished. I don't spend as much time doing
it as I used to. But I like my vehicles to be clean. I like
my shoes to be shined. And when I get done, I go over
them carefully. If I get done waxing that car
and there's a little smudge there, if I've got to go get the wax
out again, and get the sponge out to put it on with again,
and get the buffer out to take it off with again, that smudge
is coming off. It ain't clean until it comes off. It's not
finished until it comes off. Let me tell you something. You
see, God's creation over it is all the slime of the serpent. And Christ will rid God's creation
of the slime of the serpent. so that there's no evil consequence
of sin and the fall left in God's creation. But everything shall
be down to the glory of the triune God through Jesus Christ our
mediator who is all. Oh, God make him all to me today
and tomorrow and every day I walk on this earth and God make him
all to you today and tomorrow and every day you walk on this
earth. Amen.