We live in such a time where
the topics and the subjects of modern day preaching vary from
one end of the spectrum to the other. You name it and it's preached
on. I'm absolutely amazed at that.
And the reason I'm amazed at that is because there's really
only one topic. And there's really only one subject.
And the believer knows what that subject is. or the believer knows
who that subject is. I want you to turn with me first
this morning in your Bible to 1 Corinthians 2. Our text will be in Colossians
3, but I want you to see this very familiar passage of Scripture
for yourself. 1 Corinthians 2, here Paul writing
to the church at Corinth, And verse 1 says, And I, brethren,
when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. Now we
got a lot of smooth talkers with excellent speech today, but they
don't say anything. And they don't declare the testimony
of God. Well, preacher, what is the testimony
of God? Paul tells us right here, verse
2. For I determined not to know anything among you save or except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now that's the testimony of God
right there. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul says in verse three, I was
with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And that
doesn't ever change, by the way. Gene, you've been preaching 40
plus years and it's an awesome thing to get up here and try
to speak for God. We do so with weakness and we
do so with fear and we do so with trembling. And Paul says
in my speech, verse four, my preaching was not with enticing
words of man's wisdom. You know, the enticing, alluring,
attractive, enchanting words of man's wisdom will never, I
mean never, reveal to you the true topic and subject of salvation,
and therefore it'll never save you. Paul said, I didn't come
to you preaching such things. I came to you preaching and demonstration
of the Spirit and of the power of God. And friends, unless God
does the same this morning, none of us will benefit from this
message. Our prayer is that He will do
so, that He'll visit us with the Spirit and the power of God. You know, in Romans chapter 1
verse 16, Paul said, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. And then he tells us why. For
it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.
If you and I are to ever be saved, it'll be by the power of God,
and it'll be to those who believe in Christ that He, God the Son,
was crucified in the room instead of sinners. And Paul said there
in Romans 1, for the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein,
in Christ, is the righteousness of God revealed. Now look at
verse 5 here in 1 Corinthians. That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Now in order
for a sinner to be saved, they've got to hear from God. Not a preacher. not a Sunday school teacher,
they've got to hear from God. And they cannot hear apart from
God's power. Man has no power and man has
no wisdom, and man has no ability to save himself or anyone else. For the kingdom of God is not
in word, but in power. 1 Corinthians 4.20. Verse six,
howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Now that
doesn't mean perfectly holy and righteous in and of themselves,
but those who are in Christ, made complete, of full age, mature
in the things of God, in the revelation of Christ. Read on
verse six, this maturity and revelation of Christ, our salvation
and redemption is not accomplished by the wisdom of this world,
nor of the princes of this world that come to naught." The wisdom
of the world is nothing but idolatry, it's nothing but superstition,
it's political, it's crappy schemes against Christ and His gospel.
Verse 7, but we speak the wisdom of God. in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory,
which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they
known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written, I have not seen nor heard, neither have
entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared
for them that love him. But God hath what? Revealed,
revealed them unto us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. These things, dear friends,
must be revealed to us. We say that all the time, we
can't reiterate it enough. If God doesn't reveal His Son
in us and to us, we'll never see it. The secret things belong
unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong
unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words
of this law, Deuteronomy 29 and 29. Isaiah wrote, who hath believed
our report? And to whom is the arm, the power
of the Lord revealed? At that time, Matthew 11, 25,
at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Lord, give me the faith of a
child, wholly dependent on you for everything. All things are
delivered unto me of my Father, and no man knoweth who the Son
is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and He
to whom the Son will reveal Him." It's all through the Scriptures.
But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. That's why God
separated His people from their mother's womb and called them
by His grace to reveal Christ to them. And Paul said that I
might preach Him among the heathen. And immediately I conferred not
with flesh and blood." See, beloved, we're not born of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of God, or the will
of man, but of God. But of God. So this morning I
want to show you again from the Scriptures the one topic and
the one subject of our salvation. Jesus Christ is all. Turn with me now to Colossians
chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. Christ is the foundation on which
all blessing begins. You know, in the matter of forgiveness,
Christ is all. In the matter of salvation, Christ
is all. In the matter of perfect righteousness,
Christ is all. In the matter of acceptance with
God, Christ is all. In the matter of life eternal,
Christ is all. from beginning to end, everything
you can think of, Christ is all. Here in Colossians chapter 3,
Paul is speaking about putting off the old man with his deeds,
and he's referring to the new man, the new birth, the new creation
in Christ. And in verse 10 he writes, "...and
have put on the new man," there's italicized, having put on the
new. You see, this is all about the new, not the old found in
Adam, and found in the covenant of works, but this is talking
about new. By a new and living way, the
writer of Herod said, which he, Christ, hath consecrated for
us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. And having
put on the new, Paul continues and says, which is renewed in
knowledge, how? After the image of him that created
him, who created the sinner. This is speaking of the new creation,
the new birth of the sinner in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we
see that this is the work of God. Do you see that? This is
the work of God. Salvation's of the Lord, it's
not of man. It's the work of God, not the
work of man. The new man is born after the
image of Christ, not the first man, Adam, but the second man,
Christ. In Adam, all die. In Christ,
all the elect are made alive. And in verse 11, we see that
in this new creation, now look at this, there's neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. Now this is not just a good
slogan for a bumper sticker, friends. This is the gospel. Jesus Christ is all and in all. He says there's neither Greek
nor Jew. Well, what does that mean? Well, there was a time
when light was only given to the house of Israel. There was
a time when the nation of Israel had light and the rest of the
Gentile world was in darkness. God made His covenant with Israel.
Not the world, but with the nation of Israel, with the Jews. God
showed favor to them. They were His people. But now,
according to Luke 2, verse 21, Christ has become a light to
lighten the Gentiles. The Lord told Paul and Barnabas
in Acts chapter 13, he said, I have set thee to be a light
of the Gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth. And it says when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and they glorified the word of the
Lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. The
Gentiles. See, there's neither Jew nor
Gentile in Christ. That's good news to a Gentile
dog like me. I can now eat the crumbs that
fall from the Master's table. As I mentioned a moment ago,
my salvation in Christ is not of blood or heritage. It's not
of the will of the flesh. It's not of the will of man,
but of God. Why? Because Christ is all. There's
neither Jew nor Greek, just sinners predestinated, called and saved
by Christ, for Christ is all. In this new man renewed in the
knowledge of Christ, there's neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. No outward actions, no outward
ceremonies are to be done to be saved. The circumcision of
the flesh, it was ordained of God. It was the mark of the seed
that God had chosen. But now the children of God are
the circumcision. Did you hear me? They are those
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus,
having no competence in the flesh. Christ is all. He's the only
means of salvation. You must have Christ and rest
in Him alone to be saved. Paul says there's neither barbarian
or Scythian. Both the barbarian and the Scythian
are said to be uncivilized. Matter of fact, the word Scythian
means to be savage. The barbarian and the Scythian
were both wild and savage. But hear me when I say, with
Christ being all, there is none, no type, kind, or manner of men
and women who are excluded from the gospel of God in the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ." Whether refined or savage, whether educated
or illiterate, whether wise or ignorant, believing in Christ,
you'll find Him to be all and in all. What Paul is telling
us is this, all conditions and positions of men are included.
There's no reason for anyone to say, well, I'm not worthy.
Of course you're not. Nobody is. That's what makes
it mercy and grace. It's unworthy. You're unworthy. It's unmerited. It's undeserved. It doesn't matter if you're Greek
or Jew. It doesn't matter if you're circumcised
or uncircumcised. It doesn't matter if you're a
noble citizen or an uncivilized savage. There is neither bond
nor free, Paul said. Salvation in Christ shows no
favorites to one who resides in the White House or one behind
bars in a jailhouse. Now that's just a fact. a cultured
aristocrat with diamonds around their neck, doesn't have any
advantage over a criminal who's got an arm collar around theirs.
It takes the same love, it takes the same mercy, it takes the
same grace and forgiveness and power to save one as it does
the other. None are at advantage or disadvantage. The Gospel of God in Christ comes
freely. No learning. No wealth, no rank,
no position is considered. From first to last, Christ is
all. Our healing lies in His stripes.
Our life lies in His death. Our pardon lies in His punishment. For us to add to Christ, who
is all, validates or invalidates and voids and nullifies the freeness
of our salvation. We just lean the weight of our
sin, the pain of our sorrow, the hope of our redemption on
the Son of God who is our all. We asked the question last week,
does thou believe on the Son of God? Do you put all your trust in
Him? You know, with Christ, it's all
or nothing, because Christ is all. If you must add something,
then He's not all. And if you cannot add something,
then He must be all. So it sounds like to me, He's
all. 90% is no more than 10% when
Christ is all. It must be all or it's nothing.
Yea, doubtless, Paul said, I count all things but lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things. and do count them, but dumb,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that righteousness
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith." Philippians 3.8. Salvation is not just knowing
who Jesus Christ is. Salvation is knowing that Jesus
Christ is all. He's all that I have to offer
God. He's all that God will accept. Jesus Christ is all and in all. That's our message. It's always
been the gospel. And until you know that, you'll
always be looking for something else. You'll always be looking
for something to add to Christ and His perfect work. But all
else is dung. You know what dung is. The Greek is not turned into
a Jew. No more than a goat is turned into a sheep. He remains
a Gentile outwardly. You see, our problem is due to
our inward problem. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly. And circumcision is that of the
heart. in the Spirit, not in the letter, being the letter
of the law, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Christ is
all. Now, I want to give you four
things that I believe will comfort you in knowing that. Jesus Christ
is all. He's all in the purpose of God.
My, that's unfathomable, the purpose of God. God's ways have
passed finely down. But Jesus Christ is all in the
purpose of God. You know, there was a time when
the earth was without form. No mountains, no rivers, no seas,
no oceans, no grass, no trees, no stars, moon, or sky, our sun
in the sky. None of these things existed.
Now, if Christ is all, where was He then? Huh? Well, in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. The same was in the beginning
with 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 men. John 1, 1-4. Look back a couple
of pages in Colossians 1. Look at verse 16. For by Him, Jesus Christ, 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, all things. Is that what your Bible said?
All things. were created by Him and for Him,
and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. Christ is all in the creation
of the world. The Lord Jesus was behind it
all. He spoke the worlds into existence. Verse 19, it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. All fullness
dwells in Christ. Why? Because He's all. If something's
full, there's no room for anything else. Isn't that right? Then in the purpose of God, with
no fault at all going to God, sin entered into the world. And
when you talk about God's omnipotence and God's sovereignty and all
things, men foolishly charge God with Adam's sin. So did God
predestinate Adam to sin? Well, we need to be careful what
we charge God with. In a day where men love to talk
about their supposed free will and letting God save them, I
find it somewhat ironic that Adam and his wife Eve, being
the only two flesh and blood beings, other than Christ Himself,
that ever had a free will, by their own free will, chose to
be disobedient. Now, is free will something to
brag about? if we even had one? No. Before the fall, Adam, now stay
with me, before the fall, Adam had the ability to obey God.
And obviously he had the ability to disobey God because that's
what he did. He did so by his own free will. But in man's spiritual death,
that ability was lost. The ability to not sin was also
lost. This is our predicament to being
dead in trespasses and sin. We cannot not sin. Say that again. We cannot not
sin. We no longer have the ability
to choose good and holy and righteousness. The thoughts of our hearts are,
the scripture says, only evil. And not only evil, but only evil
continually. It doesn't leave any room. No
time that we're not evil. Our hearts are deceitful above
all things. Now there are some deceitful
things, but nothing is deceitful as our own hearts. And they are
desperately wicked. Not just wicked, not just bad
wicked, but desperately wicked. Jeremiah 17, nine. No man can
come to God. No man will come to God. We don't
have the ability to come. We don't have the will to come
that we might have life. Not unless or until the Lord
in the day of His power gives us that ability. There's a death
for sin, there's a death in sin, and there's a death to sin. But
being dead to sin speaks of our justification and our sanctification
in Christ, who is all. Have I told you that, by the
way? Jesus Christ is all. He's all and in all. We're dead
to sin, not because we no longer sin, but because we're dead to
sin. Because sin is no longer charged
or imputed to us. The believers discharged from
sin. Christ being made sin for them
discharges sin from them and it charges it to Him. And even better, His perfect
and holy righteousness is charged to the chosen sinner's account. You'll be hard pressed to find
a more glorious gospel than that. That's why Christ is all. God created man in His own image.
Man was given a law. Man had a covenant of works.
God made a covenant of works with man. God put a tree in the
garden. Not just one tree, there was
a bunch of trees. But there was one tree that God said, that's
my tree, and you don't touch it. You don't partake of it. And God said, you can eat of
every other tree, but not this tree. This tree's mine, and if
you eat of this tree, you shall surely die. And man, by his own
free will, Tom, and at that time, his will wasn't
in bondage to sin. He was free. And man rebelled
against God just like Lucifer, like Satan, like the fallen angels,
and man died spiritually, and his will fell into bondage, into
a dead state with the rest of him. Free will? Your will is in bondage to your
sin. Death, condemnation, judgment,
darkness, and evil passed upon all men, for all have sinned. But Christ was still all. Where was He when all that took
place? Well, He was the light that God promised in a dark world. He was the life that God promised
in a dead world. He was the hope that God promised
in a hopeless world. Christ is the forgiveness that
God promised in a guilty world. That's why Christ is all. When
the angels fell, God provided no Savior. Christ took not upon
Himself the nature of angels. They were chained in darkness,
reserved unto the day of judgment. But I've got some very good news
for you. God promised man a Savior. And
His name is Jesus Christ. And sharing Jesus Christ is all.
He's all and in all. Oh, my. Before there was a sinner,
there was a Savior. Well, explain that. I can't.
Not going to try. But I'm going to believe it.
Christ the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
And Christ was all when mankind plunged into evil, sickness,
disease, and death. And the Word that was in the
beginning with God and the Word that was God was made flesh and
dwelt among us. And He is all. And of His fullness have all
we received in grace for grace, for the law which was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Secondly, Jesus
Christ is all in the Bible. We say it all the time. I love
to say it. This is a hymn book. It's all about Him. We sing the
praises of Him in this hymn book. To Him, give all the prophets
witness, that through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall
receive the remission of sins. Acts 10, verse 43. He said, Moses
wrote to me. Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad. In Luke
24, 44, the Lord said, these are the words that I spake unto
you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled
which are written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, in
the Psalms concerning me. How many times have we said Christ
was able to sacrifice? Christ is Noah's ark. Christ
is the Passover. Christ is that rock from which
water flew. Christ was the Tabernacle. Christ
is the High Priest. He's the Mercy Seat. He's the
Sacrifice. He's the Ark of the Covenant.
He's the Bread from Heaven. He's the Brazen Serpent lifted
up for all men to look unto and live. If you don't look, you
don't live. It was Christ he spoke through David in the Psalms,
as we've seen in our study of Psalms. Christ is the scarlet
cord that hung in Rahab's window, and he's the scarlet thread that
binds every page of this book together. What's this book to you? Seriously. It ought to be your most prized
possession, over everything you own. It ought to be the most
prized thing that you have. It's not simply a history book.
It's a book of His story, is what it is. It's a story about
Christ, who is all. It's not a book on how to live.
This is a book on how God died. to save His people from their
sin. Brother Henry once said, if you have not found Christ
to be all in this book, if you've not found Christ to be this book's
beginning, this book's contents, this book's end, in the end,
this book will judge you. That's true. That's what our
Lord said in John chapter 12, verse 47. And if any man hear
my words and believe not, I judge him not, for I came not to judge
the world, but to save the world. But he that rejecteth me and
receiveth not my words hath one that judgeth him. The word that
I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. You don't believe this book?
You reject the words of this book? This book will one day
judge you. Thirdly, Christ is all in the
salvation of a sinner. I bet that doesn't surprise you,
does it? Before time ever was, God purposed to redeem a people. God purposed salvation. He executed
salvation. He applied salvation. He sustained
salvation. He perfected salvation. And He
did it all in Christ. Christ is all in all, my friends. Christ is all in all. He's made
unto us wisdom. He's all our wisdom. Outside
of Christ, there's nothing but ignorance and foolishness. Christ
is all our righteousness. He was made sin, and we were
made the righteousness of God in Him. He's all our righteousness.
Christ is all our sanctification. According as He had chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love. God set His people
apart. He sanctified them. He made them
holy. They didn't make themselves holy.
Christ is all in sanctification. Christ is all our redemption.
In whom? In Christ. We have redemption
through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, Colossians 1.14. Christ
is all our hope. Christ didn't use the hope of
glory. No hope outside of Him. Faith is not our all and an all,
is it? A lot of people make you think
that. You've got to have faith to be
saved. Well, you do, but it's got to be in Christ who's all.
Christ is our all in all. A sinner's not saved because
he believes. A sinner's saved because Christ
died for his sins. A man who doesn't believe that
is not saved. There was once a believer who
was well known among her peers for having great faith. I have
a couple of women that once attended here that come to mind. your
mom and yours. Someone once asked this lady,
are you the woman of which I hear has great faith? And that dear
lady replied, no, but I am a woman who has a little faith in a great
God. Do you believe that Christ is
all? You don't have to have great
faith. You've got to have a little faith in a great God. Works won't save you. Works didn't
die on the cross. Works didn't shed its blood for
you. Works cannot make you whole. Only Christ, who is all, can
do that. Yet a man that does not work
will not be saved. Because faith without works is
dead being alone. One whose faith doesn't act is
if they believe that Christ is all has no faith at all. Jesus
Christ is our redemption. Christ is all in all. And lastly,
in eternity, Christ is all. The Lord told that thief on the
cross, he said, today thou shalt be with me. Not thou shalt be
in paradise, though he was, but thou shalt be with me in paradise. You see, heaven is heaven because
Christ will be there. The joy of heaven is being with
Christ. Paul said, I'm in a straight, meaning I'm in a difficult situation. On one hand, I desire to part
and be with Christ. That's what makes departing this
life so bearable and something to look forward to. I remember,
Your mama, she used to, I'll never forget, I went to the hospital
to see her, we were in from Texas one time, and she said, Brother
David, will you pray that the Lord just take me home? And I'm
like, are you sure you want me to pray that? I never had anybody
ask me to pray that. Will you pray the Lord just kill
me and take me home? And she said, you know, I'm 77
or whatever she was at the time. She said, I'm taking up somebody
else's years. I've only promised 70. I'm taking somebody else's years.
I'm ready to go. My, my, what faith, what faith. I desire to depart and be with
Christ. On the other hand, but to abide
here in the flesh is more needful for you, Paul said. But to depart
and be with Christ, he said, it's far better. That's something
Betty saw. That's something Miss Coleman
saw. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. To live is Christ and to die
is gain. Christ is all in eternity. Face to face with Christ my Savior. I tried to sing it. In Revelation chapter 1 verses
5 and 6, John tells us what our song in heaven will be. You want
to hear it? Let me give you a little of it.
unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,
and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him
be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. And come to Christ. O come today, the Father, Son,
and Spirit say, and the bride repeats the call. For Christ
will cleanse your guilty stains, and Christ will soothe your weary
pains. For Christ is all in all." Christ
is all in all. He's in all who put their trust
in Him. He's not in all the world. Is Christ all in you? May God be pleased to make it
so. For His glory, your good, and for Christ's sake.