chapter of the book of Colossians. Third chapter of the book of
Colossians. It says, "...if ye then be risen
with Christ." That is, you can't be risen with Him unless
you're dead with Him, unless you've died, unless you've been baptized into
His death. It said, "...he was delivered for
our offenses." and raised again for our justification. So if you've died with him, then
you've risen with him. And you're seated in the heavenlies
with him. In the book of Romans, in that
seventh chapter, it says, in the sixth chapter of the book
of Romans. It says, For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, have we died in him? Have we been killed? The old man dead? Well, if we
have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we
shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, when he died, we died, if we be believers
in the Lord Jesus, we died with him and in him on the tree, that
the body of sin might be destroyed. that henceforth we should not
serve sin. That is, that sin would no longer
reign in us. Sin is in us, but it doesn't
reign in us like it used to reign in us. There's a difference between
sin in us and living in sin. We don't live in sin, but we
have a nature of sin which is still there. So in light of this,
he says, we henceforth should not serve sin. For he that is
dead who died in Christ, who was crucified with Christ, is
freed from sin. So if ye then be risen with him, seek those things which are above.
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections, set your mind on things above, spiritual things,
heavenly things, not on things of the earth. Don't be taken
up with the things of time. For you're dead! There you go
again. You're dead! God regards us as
dead because of our union, which isn't, I remind you, a vital
union with Christ. God pictures us dying in the
Lord Jesus, being crucified in the Lord Jesus. you are dead,
then your life is hid with Christ in God. And when Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him
in glory. So he gives some instructions
here as to how we ought to act one toward another. and unto
all men. We are to love all men, especially
them of the household of faith. Well, mortify therefore your
members, control them which are upon the earth, fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness
which is idolatry, for which thing sake the wrath of God cometh
on the children of disobedience, into which ye also walked some
time when ye lived in them." Remember I told you there is
always a past and there is a present. Times gone by, he said, I was
a blasphemer. But now I'm not a blasphemer
anymore. I've been regenerated and quickened
and I've come to believe that he whose name I blasphemed is
the only name given among men whereby we must be saved. And
here it says, in which he also walked sometimes. That's what
we used to be. We walked like this, and all
of us had something to do with this uncleanness and fornication
and inordinate affections and covetousness and this idolatry. We worshipped something, mostly
ourselves. Well, he goes on and says, But
now, Ye also, ye that have been risen with Christ, whose life
is hid in God, but now ye also put off all these things, this
anger and wrath and malice and blasphemy and filthy communication
out of your mouth. You've got an evil nature. Sin's
in you. Sin's in you. There's no such
thing as sinless perfection. There are millions of people
alive on earth at this given time, as I speak right now, that
believe that when God saved them, He took away everything and there
is no sin in them, no sin no more. They live perfectly, they
believe, absolutely holy before God. No, there is sin in us. We have a sinful nature and the
devil is so cunning and so on top of things
that sometimes he'll overcome us and we'll fall into things
like this, anger and wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing
that ye 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 there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian Scythian, bond or free. Now, whether there are Greeks
or Jews, God is effectually calling people,
even in our day, into a state of regeneration. He is quickening
those who are dead in trespasses and in sin. and bringing to bear
on their own souls and hearts their awful wickedness and their
condition. But he is doing this now, affectionately
calling people into a state of regeneration with no regard to
their distinction as to whether they be Jew or Gentile. whether they be black or whether
they be white, he's effectually calling into regeneration, apart
from distinction of nations or color or creed, his people. So it matters not what nation
a man's in. His color or his religion has
no influence whatsoever on the new birth. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all and in all. That is that Christ is the
first cause of all things. He is the author of the old creation,
and he is the author of the new creation. He is all and in all. He is the believer's life, he
is the believer's wisdom, he is the believer's righteousness,
He is the believer's sanctification. He is their food. He is their
clothing. He is their strength. He gives
them comfort here and also glory in the world to come. And they
esteem him over and above all other creatures and all other
things because he is all and in all to them." Now, these three
words, Christ is all, these three words
are the foundation or the essence and the substance of Christianity. Christ is all. There is nothing
else worth talking about. I don't care about the great
minds that gather at various times to talk about the universe
or talk about the heavens and split the atoms and talk about
this power in light of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of that is
just foolish speaking. It doesn't mean a thing. It doesn't change anything. Christ is all. That's what it
means. A right knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ is essential to a right knowledge of sanctification
and a right knowledge of justification. To find out who this man is,
God declares that he is all. And, you know, regardless of
what I think or anyone else thinks, this is the solemn declaration
from the God of heaven. This is what He has said. He
said He is all and in all. The man that follows after holiness. You hear that expression used
a good bit in our day. that we are followers after holiness. Well, the man that follows after
holiness will make no progress whatsoever until he gives the
Lord Jesus Christ his rightful place. His rightful place is
Christ is all and in all. Now, Christ is all in the counsels
of God concerning man. Now, there was a time when the
earth had no being. It was without form and void. It is not that we could see. It had no existence. It is hard
for us to comprehend, to realize. that there was a time when there
was no dirt and rocks and trees and water and sun or moon or
stars. There was that time. We have that upon the authority
of God himself. There was a time when this earth
had no beam. As solid as the mountains here
in West Virginia, appear to be, and as boundless as the oceans
appear, and high as the stars appear in heaven. They once did
not exist. And man with all his high thoughts
about himself was an unknown creature. Where was the Lord Jesus Christ
then? God said Christ is all and in
all. Now before there was anything,
no earth, no seas, no sun, no moon, no stars, no mountains,
no rivers, not even you and I. Where was the Lord Jesus Christ
then? Christ was all, even then. Listen, it says in that seventeenth
chapter of the book of John. Well, let me turn to the first
chapter of the book of John. I said seventeenth chapter. I'll
get back here in a minute. first chapter of the book of
John. Listen to what it says. In the
beginning was the Word, that's the Lord Jesus. Before anything
existed, before creation, in the beginning was the Word. The Lord Jesus. And the Word
was with God. That's the Lord Jesus. And the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. Where was the Lord Jesus? All
things were made by Him. By who? By the Lord Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things
were made by him. And without him was not anything
made, that was made. In him was life, and the life
was the light of man. Where was he at? Even then, Christ
was with God And He was God, even then He was the Beloved
of the Father. Now turn with me to the 17th
chapter of the book of John, if you want to. If you don't,
just hang in there a minute. John chapter 17 and verse 5. It says, And now, Father, this
is in this high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus, he says, I have glorified thee
on earth. That means he's done the will
of God on earth. Remember I told you here the
other day, the will of God was never done by man upon this earth
until the God-man came, and he done the will of God. And in
doing the will of God, he glorified God. And in the process of glorifying
God, he wrought salvation to poor sinners like you and I.
I have glorified thee on earth. I've magnified the law. I've
kept the law. I've bore the curse of the law.
I've established righteousness. I've been perfectly obedient. And I suffered the debt that
my people owed. I've glorified thee. It's the
main object of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is not
to save sinners, but it's to glorify God. It's to undo what
the first Adam did. That's the objective and the
desire and the delight of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to do the
will of God. And he said, I've done that.
I've glorified thee here on earth. I've finished the work which
thou hast given me to do. There's nothing left to do. I've
done all that needs to be done. There's nothing left to do. I've
finished it. Now, Father, now, Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self. Now listen to this, with the
glory. which I had with thee before
the world was." Where was he before the world was? He was
with the Father, and he was glorified with the Father, and that's what
he's saying here. In verse 23 of this same chapter,
it says this. It says, verse 22, "...and the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them." that they may be
one even as we are one, our oneness with the Lord Jesus. I am in
them, I am in them, and thou art in me, that they may be made
perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast
sent me and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Thou didst love me from the foundation
of the world. I had glory with thee before
the world began. Even then he was the Savior because
the Bible says that he was foreordained before the foundation of the
world. And it says that those who eventually would believe
his gospel, he said, were chosen in me before the foundation. Even in the counsels of God,
Christ is all and in all. He, the Christ, here in the Scriptures,
is held up, and I read one verse to you that has something to
do with it. He, the Christ, was held up as
the true light of the world. He was the light of the world
before there was a world. He was the light before there
was any light. There come a time, there come
a time when sin entered this world. Sin entered through the
disobedience of our first father Adam and our mother Eve. Sin entered this world and when
they ate that forbidden fruit, they lost that holy nature that
they had. and they forfeited the friendship
and the favor of God and become guilty and corrupt and helpless
and hopeless sinners before God, this human race. Sin then becomes
a barrier between them and God and had he, had God, dealt with you and I in Him,
had God dealt with Adam and Eve according to what they deserved,
there would be nothing before them but death and hell and everlasting
ruin. But where was the Lord Jesus
Christ then? That's what I want to know. not a week after, not a month
after, not next year, but in the very day he was revealed
to the trembling hearts of our first parents, Adam and Eve,
as the only hope of salvation. The very day that they abandoned
God, goodness and his mercy and turned themselves over to Lucifer
the devil. That very day God revealed to
them that the Lord Jesus Christ would be their only hope of salvation
and that this man who was to be the seed of the woman, would
win for sinful man an entrance into God's heaven and God's paradise
even then. He, the Christ, was held up unto
them to be the light of the world in the very day of the fall of
man. never had any name been made
known from that day by which a soul might be saved except
his name. From that time until this time,
no other name has been mentioned that could save a man. could
save a sinner like me, except the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. For by him all saved souls have
entered into heaven from Adam to this present time. And without
him, and without him, absolutely none has ever escaped hell. Without him, nobody has ever
escaped hell. There's not a man that's a woman
or a boy or a girl that's ever died and somehow signaled to
the living. We're all right, don't worry
about us. No, they're in hell. Without
God's Christ, who is all and in all, they're in hell. There came a time when the world
seemed sunk and barren in the ignorance of God. After about 4,000 years, the
nations of the earth had seemingly clean forgotten The Egyptians,
the Assyrians and the Grecians and the Roman Empire had done
nothing whatsoever but spread ignorance and superstition and
idolatry. Well, the poets, the historians
and the philosophers, with all of their so-called brain power,
all of these had no right knowledge of God. As a matter of fact,
the Bible says there in the book of I Corinthians, I believe,
that by wisdom, the world by wisdom knew not God. Wisdom won't cut it. The whole
world becomes dead in ignorance. dead in trespasses, dead in sin. And what did Christ do then? Where was he at? Well, you know
and I know that he left the glory which he had from all eternity
with the Father. And he came down here upon this
earth to provide a salvation for his people. He took our nature
upon Him. He was born a man, and as a man
He did the will of God absolutely perfectly. While which we had
left undone, our Lord Jesus Christ did perfectly. He took our nature
upon Him. and was born as a man. And as a man, he did the will
of God perfectly. As a man, he lived for us. As a man, he suffered for us. As a man, he brought in an everlasting
righteousness. And as a man, he redeemed us. from the curse of the broken
law. He died for our sins as a man. He rose again for our justification
as a man. Listen, the time will come. There
will be a time. We may not live to see it, and
we may live to see it. But there will come a time when
sin shall be cast from this world. There will come a time when evil
and wickedness will not abound. There will come a time when there
will be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,
the Bible says. Where shall Christ be then? what He is now. He'll be the
King of kings and the Lord of lords. He shall return to this earth. And the Bible says He shall make
all things new. He'll reverse the order. The
world is filled with wicked unrighteousness, God-hating people. But when he
comes, he shall come in the clouds in heaven with power and great
glory, and the kingdoms of this world shall be his, lock, stock
and barrel. And to him, when he comes, Every
knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that he is who
God said he was, the Lord of lords, king of kings. Christ is all, and every knee
will bow, and every tongue shall say, Ah, there is a day coming when
all shall be judged. The sea will give up her dead,
and death and hell will deliver up the dead that are in man. And all that sleep in the grave
shall awake and be judged. Where will he be then? then shall be the judge. He will sit on the judgment seat
and he'll say to those on the right, Blessed are ye, enter
in to the kingdom prepared for you, the foundation of the world. Enter in to the joy and the rest. but on those on his left hand. He'll turn them into that
awful place, that lake of fire. Now, what I want to know in closing
is this. Is there anybody here under the
sound of my voice that thinks little of him of whom I've been
speaking? the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
I'll tell you, if you think little of Him, you are very unlike God,
because God thinks a whole lot of Him. God says, This is my
beloved Son, and I'm well pleased in Him. And if I'm ever going
to be pleasing to God, I'll have to somehow get in His Son. Well, listen, there are some
here, I'm sure, that think little of the Lord Jesus. You are of
one mind, but God is of another. You think it enough to give Christ
a little honor, a little reverence, a little respect, you'll give
Him a dollar or two now and then. And you'll attend the place where
the Word of God is being preached once in a while. But in the eternal counsels of
God the Father, in creation and in redemption and in judgment
and even in restitution, in all these, Christ is all and in all. And he that honoreth not the
Son, honoreth not the Father. So I advise you here this morning,
if you think little of Him, you better reverse your position and learn Him. You need to come
unto Him. Come unto Me, all ye that labor
and are heavily laden. labored to find favor with God. Lay aside your doing and come
to me with all of your sins. He loves sinners. You can't seem
to say that enough. God loves sinners. He didn't
come to save righteous people. He came to save sinners. so hopeless that they couldn't
save themselves. And when the man gets to that
place that he can't save himself, then he is a fit candidate for
God's salvation. Salvation is all of grace. Where is he now? He is on the
throne and he is clothed with authority. And God's given him
power over all flesh. He has power over everything
that moves, everything that wiggles, every leaf on the tree that shakes
in the wind. He has power. God's given him that power. God's
given him the glory which he had with the Father. Before he
came, he rules and he reigns. There's no getting around it.
This stand will be dismissed.