I pray the Lord would reveal
this today. I pray the Lord would truly reveal
this today. For our Bible study, just a moment ago, we saw where
the Apostle Paul said that we should put off the old man in his sinful deeds. Put off the old man of this sinful
flesh and put on the new man of the holy divine nature as
2 Peter 1.4 calls it. The nature that is given to us
and created in us. Paul said put off the old man
and put on the new man. And we just ended the Bible study
by asking the question, how do we do that? How do we do that? The answer on both accounts is
by looking to Christ. Looking to Christ. How do we
put off the old man? By looking to Christ, not by
overcoming our sin. by looking to Christ. How do
we put on the new man? By looking to Christ. Not by
creating our own righteousness within ourselves and producing
our own holiness, our own sanctified, holy condition for ourselves. Not by that, but by looking to
Christ. Look to Christ, look to Christ. What's the answer? Look to Christ. Verse 10, right here in Colossians
3 verse 10, it says, And have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him that created
him. When that old man rises up, and
overtakes us. And He will. He will overtake
us. When that happens, how is the
new man renewed in our minds? When the old man is on top, how
is the new man renewed in our minds? Verse 10, He said, You've
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the
image of Him by looking to Christ. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to Christ. Look to the Lamb of God. Now, how do we do that? What
does that mean? I could stand up here and say
that all day long. But what does that mean? If we
look to Him, does that mean know that He exists? No. What does that mean? If we look
to Christ and we truly look to Christ and we truly see Him,
what will we see? If we're really looking at Him,
not looking at the thought of Him, the idea of Him, what other
people say about Him. If we truly look to Christ and
we truly see Him, what will we see? Verse 10, 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 nor free, but Christ is all. and in all. What is it really to look to
Christ? And I pray the Lord will cause
me to look to Christ today. I pray the Lord will cause you
to look to Christ today. I pray the Lord will cause us
to see Christ today. What is it really to see Christ
and look to Christ? What is it really? It's to see
Him to be all and in all. How do we put off? How do we
ignore? How do we turn our eyes away
from and not give attention to the sinful wickedness of the
flesh? It's by looking to Christ. How do I put on? How do I focus
on and give attention to the holy righteousness of God? How do I do that? It's by looking
to Christ. How do I truly look to Christ? It's by seeing Him to be all
and in all. Now what does that mean? What
does it mean to say Christ is all and in all? Let's start with
Christ is all. All right. Let's start with that.
We're going to let the scripture answer that for us. Let's go
to a few places here. Go with me to Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10, Peter is speaking here in verse
37 on the subject of the Word concerning
Jesus Christ that was published throughout all Judea. He said,
that Word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all
Judea. What was that Word? concerning
Jesus Christ that was published throughout all Judea. Look at
the end of verse 36. He is Lord of all. He is Lord of all. What do we
see when we truly see Christ? He is Lord of all. Romans 9 verse 5 says, He is
over all. He is Lord. He is Lord. What does that mean? That means He is sovereign. He's
in control. He's the owner. He's the ruler. He is risen from the dead and
He is Lord. Every knee shall bow. And every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. He is Lord of all. He is Lord over all. What does that mean? It means
He's God. He's God. He is the fullness
of God, God over all. When people see Christ, and let
me just really try to clarify this, I'm not talking about the
single word Jesus. Is His name Jesus? Yes, call
His name Jesus. But when they see the Christ,
when they see the Christ, until that moment they see a good man,
a fairly helpless man, Someone who can put in a good
word. When men see Christ, they see
God. They see the one who sits on
the throne. He is Lord. He's not the son
of the Lord. He's not the son of the sovereign.
He's not the son of the one who's in control and the one who is
ruling everything. He is Lord. God, Father, Son,
and Spirit made him Lord. He's Lord over all. He is the
creator of all. Who is the creator of everything?
Jesus Christ is. Who is the sustainer of everything?
Jesus Christ is. Christ is Lord of all. I don't ever get tired of saying
that. I really don't. I don't ever
get tired of seeing that. May our Lord keep it that way. If
it stays that way, that's His doing. But thank God, He's Lord,
all right? Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
1. Lord of all. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30. It says, "...but of God the Father
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Christ is made
unto us wisdom. Christ is our wisdom. All of it. All of it. What do God's people know? What
do they know? Christ. They know Christ. What do God's people need to
know? They need to know Christ. They
need to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Do they need to know anything
about dispensationalism? No. Do they need to know anything
about transubstantiation or millennialism? No. No. When that thief on the
cross said, and you think about this, when that thief on the
cross said, Lord, would you remember me when you come into your kingdom?
Would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? He didn't
say because I have studied a full doctrinal discourse on isms and
schisms. He didn't say, he didn't even
know what that was. This is what he knew. Life eternal. Is knowing you. Life eternal is having you. Life eternal is being in a union
with you. Being forgiven by you. Being
given the grace and the mercy from God that comes only through
you. Paul said, oh, that I might know
Him. Not doctrine, Him. Not history, Him. Oh, that I might know Him. If
a sinner knows Him, a sinner knows all he needs to know. That's
the truth. All he or she needs to know. Christ is all of our
wisdom. Verse 30 says, Christ is all
of our righteousness. The scripture says, all of our
own personal righteousnesses. That means everything that we
try to do to be good in God's eyes. All of our own righteousnesses
are filthy rags. But we have a righteousness before
God that when He looks at us, He says, well done. And Christ
is it. He looks at us in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. He is all the righteousness that
there is to have before God. So verse 30 says, Christ is all
of our wisdom. Christ is all of our righteousness.
Christ is all of our sanctification. People try to progress in sanctification. That cannot be done. Outside of Christ, there is no
holiness here. Outside of Christ, there's no
holiness. In Christ, as holy as He is,
that's how holy we are before God. He's our holiness. So in order to progress in sanctification,
we would have to progress to a level higher than Christ. Not only is that impossible,
that's blasphemy. That's blasphemy. The idea of
progressive sanctification is blasphemy. Christ is our holiness
before God. All the holiness that we have.
Christ is all. Christ is all of it. Christ is
our wisdom, Christ is our righteousness, Christ is our sanctification,
and Christ is our redemption. Christ paid the price. He bought us. He redeemed us
from our sin in full. We don't add anything to it.
We don't help Him save us in any way, shape, or form. Christ
is our salvation. All of it. His blood paid all
of it. Verse 31 right here says, that
according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. He gets all of it. He gets all the glory. God forbid
that we should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When it comes to God's glory and when it comes to our glory,
Christ is all. He's all of it. Look with me
right here at 1 Corinthians 2, verse 1. And I, brethren, when I came
to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring
unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know
anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Christ
is our message. All of it. He's all of it. Years ago, a person who knew
something of what we believed asked a person who attended here, what do they preach? What are
their messages like? When you go and listen week after
week, is it all just about election? Do they just preach about election
all the time, just over and over again? It's just all election?
And the person who attended here said, no, really it's just all
about Christ. And I thought, good answer. Good
answer. Do we preach on election? Sure
we do. It's in Christ. Do we preach
on particular redemption? Most definitely. It's in the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What about irresistible grace?
Christ is the irresistible grace. Well, will God's saints persevere
all the way to the end? In Christ? You better believe
it. Absolutely. When it comes to our message,
Christ is all. Galatians 2.20 says, Christ is
our life. All of it. Paul said, I live,
yet not I, it's Christ living in me. Hebrews 12 verse two says,
Christ is our faith. All of it. He's the author of
it. He's the finisher of it. Ephesians one verse three says,
Christ is every spiritual blessing that comes to us from the father.
All of them are in him. He is all of God's grace. He
is all of God's mercy. He is all of our peace. He's
all of our joy. He's all of our comfort. Christ
is all. Christ is all. Now because Christ
is all, Christ is in all. Ephesians 1 verse 11 says, He
works all things after the counsel of His own will. Everything that
happens is by the hand of His doing. Everything is according
to the hand of His will. He is in all. Turn with me if
you would to Romans chapter 8. Watch the word He. Watch how
many times it says He. Romans 8 verse 29. It says, For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified,
and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we
then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. He is in all of his people. He is in all that happens to
his people. He did it. He did it. He did
it. He did it. He did it. He did
it. He did it. We have things that
happen to us and situations that come to us. A lot of times we
don't understand them and our natural response is I need to
pray to him and tell him about this so he can know what's going
on so he can help me out of it. He's the one who put me in it.
He's the one who put me in it. He is in all. He is in all things. And how
glad are we to know that for God's people, verse 28, Romans
8, verse 28 says, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. He is all, thank God he's in
all. He is in every event, every circumstance,
every pain, every pleasure. What is it to see Christ? What
is it to see Christ? It's to see him in every sickness,
every healing. He's the doer of it. Christ is
with his people in all of it. All of it. Now, I thought long
and hard about not reading the Huckster to you today. I've read this to you so many
times, I pondered this for quite a while, I really did consider
not reading this to you today. And I cannot bring myself to
do it. Maybe next time we're in Colossians
3, verse 11, I'll not read this to you, but today is not that
day. Nobody declared Christ is all. Like Happy Jack. Nobody as clearly, nobody as simply as this poor
huckster, Happy Jack, did. All right, so here it goes. Charles
Spurgeon told this story. He said this huckster, Jack,
was a poor, wicked fellow who had gone about from village to
village swearing, drinking, huckstering, and perhaps pilfering. Some thought
him half-witted, but the story would show his wind to be sound
enough. He heard a poor woman sing somewhere,
I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my
all and in all. He remembered the words and what
was better, he felt their sins. He felt their sins. I'm a poor
sinner. Can we enter into that? That
moment where we go from men and women are sinners, this world
is full of sinners. Oh, just sinners against God,
everybody's sinners, to that moment where we go, oh, I'm a
poor sinner. Nothing at all. Thank God Jesus
Christ is my all and in all. He kept on humming these words
to himself till God's good spirit engraved them on his heart. So
he assayed to join himself unto the church, but the brethren
looked suspiciously at him and inquired, What is your experience? He said he had no experience
but this, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ
is my all and in all. The good elders very properly
asked, are you converted? Have you been born again? And
Jack replied, I do not know much about these things, but I do
know and am sure of I'm a poor sinner. and nothing at all, but
Jesus Christ is my all and in all. They put him back for a
while to try if he would grow in his knowledge, but he never
went an inch beyond the first standard. He knew what he did
know and to that he held fast. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all. but Jesus Christ is my all and
in all." Well, they must take him into the church. They could
not well refuse a man with such a confession of faith. And when
he was in the church walking with the brethren, he was happier
than the rest of them. At which they greatly marveled
and one said to him, Brother Jack, don't you sometimes feel
doubts and fears? Doubts, he said. What do you
mean? I never doubt that I'm a poor
sinner and nothing at all. For I have daily proofs of it.
And why should I doubt that Jesus Christ is my all in all? For
He says He is, and I must believe Him. Ah well, said one, sometimes
I enjoy good frames and feelings and feel very happy, and then
I lose them and sink in spirit. Jack answered, I never get lower
than I am, for I'm down at the bottom, a poor center, and nothing
at all. I cannot get lower than that,
can I? But I'm also at the top. for Jesus Christ is my all and
in all. I cannot get higher than that,
can I? They tried him many ways with their blessed experience
of which you and I have got cartloads, perhaps wagon loads, but he could
not be drawn out from his one firm position. They tried him
with their various attainments, depressions, anxieties, quibbles,
and questions, but still the huckster would not budge. He
had bought the truth and would not sell it. And so he stuck
to, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my
all and in all. May God teach that to us. May
God teach that to us. There's a holy God that I can't
please, but Christ did. There's a holy law that I can't
keep, but Christ did. There's a perfect righteousness
that I can't earn, but Christ did. There's a convicting record of
sin that I cannot erase, but Christ did. There's a great judgment that
I cannot endure, but Christ did. There's an eternal death that
I cannot rise from, but Christ did. And if He's made me to be
all in all with Him, He will raise me up with Him at the last
day. Look to Christ. Look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. May God teach us to truly believe
on Him, hope in Him, rest in Him, trust in Him. Look to Christ.