Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I would like to invite your attention
today to the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 3 verse 11
is going to be our text. Colossians 3 verse 11 and the
Apostle Paul is speaking in this chapter of things which are above. That's what he is, that's the
context of what he is speaking on and that's what he is exhorting
to God's people. He said in verse one, if you
then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above. Seek those things which are above.
And speaking of above, in verse 11, he said, where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all." He said, there,
speaking of above. He said, none of those things
matter. None of those things matter. And the reason is because
Christ is all, and he is in all. Christ is all and in all. One preacher of the gospel years
ago, many years ago, opened his message with these words, and
these are very true words. And I'm gonna repeat to you what
he said. It's gonna take just a few minutes
for me to tell you what he said, but he said, to some people,
Christ is nothing. To some people, Christ is nothing. That's sad, isn't it? Christ
means nothing. He said they don't know anything
about Him. They don't have thoughts of Him. He never enters their
thoughts. They don't consider Him at all,
one way or the other. At no point in their life is
He Is he a true consideration, a true thought? The preacher said, all he is,
is a cuss word every now and then. And we know that's so. Every now and then, men just
use his name to cuss with. Sad, isn't it? The preacher said
to some, Christ is very little. They know very little about him.
But they've heard a few things, they've heard some things. They
believe that he did live on this earth. You ask them, you believe
he lived here on this earth? Yeah, I believe he lived on the
earth. And they respect him for being a good moral man. A good
moral man of history. But they have no real need for
him. They know a little bit about
him, they've heard of him. but they have no real need of
him. The preacher said, maybe if they get in trouble, maybe
if they get in real trouble, they'll call on him as a last
resort. They'll try everything else out
first. And then when all else fails,
they'll call on him as a last resort. But he said, deep down,
they don't even think it's going to help because they think so
little of him. Very little. So he said, some
think nothing of him. Some think very little of him.
But he said some think a great deal of him. Some think a great
deal. To some, Christ means a great
deal. They read his word. They pray
to him. He said they wouldn't eat or
they wouldn't go to sleep without first praying to him. Many families,
they don't sit down to a meal before they pray to him. So to
some, The preacher said Christ is a big part of their life,
a very big part of their life. They advertise him with jewelry. They have, they wear crosses
and things like that. And they advertise him with pictures
and they advertise him with bumper stickers on their cars and things
like that. They see him to be the ultimate
example. to men and women, the ultimate
example of how a person ought to live if he wants to go to
heaven. And the preacher said they try
to copy him. They see him to be the example and they try to
copy him. And he said to those people, he is most of their salvation,
a great deal of their salvation. The majority of it. Their contribution
in the work of salvation is very small compared to his. So the
preacher said, therefore, he means a great deal. All right,
so to some, he's nothing. To some, he's little. To some,
he's much. But the preacher said, to some,
he is all. I mean all. everything, all. All of it. All of it. To some, Christ is all. And I pray that's us. I truly
do. I pray that to us, Christ is
all. A great deal is not enough. Much
is not enough. Most is not enough. I pray that to us, I pray that
to me, and I pray that to you, Christ is all, all. If he is, then that means he
is all in salvation. I mean all. It means he is not
just the ultimate example of the way to be saved. It's what
most men see him to be. Well, he's the example of how
you can be saved. No, no. If he's all, that means
he is the way. He's not just the example of
the way. He is the way. If he's all, then
it means he's not just a big part of our life. It means he
is our life. If you look right here in Colossians
3 at verse 4, the Apostle Paul said, when Christ who is our
life, not a big part, not the main focus, when Christ who is
our life shall appear, then you shall also appear with him in
glory. To God's people, Christ is all. Christ is all. And from the word
of God here, I'd like to declare him to be just that. From his
own word, I would like to declare him to be all. All in all. All in all things, that's what
that means. Now, we could be here a long
time trying to declare everything that Christ is all in. If you
say he's all in all, All in all things, what that means is we
could be here forever. He is all in creation. The scripture
says, all things were made by him and without him was not anything
made that was made. He's all in creation. He is all
in knowledge and wisdom. That woman at the well said,
I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he has
come, he will tell us all things. He knows all things. So how many
things could we declare from God's word that Christ is all
in? We could be here forever. For
the sake of time, this is a 30 minute program. For the sake
of time, let's try to declare seven things. Let's see if we
have enough time to get through seven things that Christ is all
in. And I pray that as we see them,
All of us, you and I both, will believe it. I pray God will give
us faith to believe it to be so. All right, seven things. The first one is the scriptures. The scriptures. Christ is all
in the scriptures. This will open up the scriptures
to us. If you have never seen this before, this is an eye-opening
thing. Over in Luke chapter 24, In Luke
24, verse 13, it says, and behold, two of them went that same day
to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three
score furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while
they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. But their eyes were holding that
they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner
of communication are these that you have one to another as you
walk and are sad? And the one of them, whose name
was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass therein these days? And he said unto them, what things?
And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was
a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and the people. And
he proceeded to tell everything that happened to our Lord on
the cross, how he died and suffered. And it says down in verse 25,
then our Lord said unto them, oh fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?
Now listen to this. He said in beginning at Moses,
that means Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Beginning
at Moses and all the prophets throughout all the Old Testament.
He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself." All the scriptures. Christ is all in the scriptures. I hope God will reveal that to
us. These are not lessons of morality. These are pictures
of Christ. That's what they are. Every word
points us to Christ. Everything that the law demands,
everything that the law promises, Christ is all in it. Right here
in Luke 24 verse 44, he said unto them, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and
in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. He said, it's all concerning
me. And I'll tell you this, the moment
that God opens our eyes to that, and we don't just see lessons
of morality and do's and don'ts, the moment we see Christ, who
he is and what he's done and why he did it, the moment we
see Christ to be all in the scriptures, the scriptures will make sense.
All right, this will happen right here, verse 45. Then opened he
their understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
These are the apostles. These were his disciples until
that moment. They did not understand what
all those Old Testament laws and stories, they didn't understand
that all that was pointing to him and what he would accomplish
on the cross. But he told them right then and
there, all of that is concerning me. It's all pointing to me. And he opened up their understanding
and all of the sudden. Every page of it made sense.
I pray God will do that for us. I pray he will. If we want to
understand the scriptures, we need to understand this. Christ
is all in the scriptures. He is all he's the writer. He's
the author. He's the finisher, the fulfiller.
He's the one who made the commandments. He's the one who satisfied the
commandments. All the scriptures are of him,
through him, to him. Christ is all in the scriptures. All right, here's the second
thing. Christ is all in authority. He is all in sovereign judgment. Over in John chapter five, verse
20 says, for the father loveth the son and showeth him all things
that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these
that you may marvel. For as the father raiseth up
the dead and quickeneth them, even so the son quickeneth whom
he will. For the Father judgeth no man. People have it in their mind
that they're gonna stand before the judgment throne of the Father,
but that's not so. It says in verse 22, the Father
judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. All judgment unto the Son. All
judgment is in His hand. Romans 14, 10 and 2 Corinthians
5, verse 10, they both say, We shall all stand before the judgment
seat of Christ. We need to know something about
this. We truly do. For those who think nothing of
him and for those who think very little of him, let this declaration
be known. We are going to stand before
him in judgment. We're going to. Acts chapter
10 says, he is Lord of all. The word Lord means sovereign,
ruler, controller, owner. Romans 9 says, he is over all. Colossians 1 says, he is the
head of all. In all things, he has the preeminence,
he's first. in all things. In Revelation
19 verse 6 says, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. He alone is the sovereign. That's what it means, reigneth,
the sovereign. Christ is all in judgment and
in sovereign authority. He's all. And he said, can I
not do what I will with my own? Can't I do anything I want to
with everything that belongs to me? He said, I will work and
who shall let it? He does according to his will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
And what doest thou? And what that means is he's all
in judgment. He's all in sovereign authority. Here's the third thing. Christ
is all in the gospel. Christ is all in the gospel. In Romans chapter one, verse
15 says, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the
gospel to you that are at Rome also, for I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It is the gospel of Christ. Did you know that the gospel
is all about Christ? All about Christ. People talk
about the gospel, they say that word in many ways for many things. Oh, the gospel, the gospel, that's
a gospel message, that's a gospel song. Here's what determines
whether or not it is the gospel. Was it all about Christ? That's what, if it wasn't, it
might've been religious, but it wasn't the gospel. The gospel
is all about Christ. The gospel is not about me. If I stand up here telling you
about me and everything I've done for God and everything I
plan to do and everything I, that's not the gospel. I will
not be preaching the gospel. And if I stand up here and tell
you everything about you and everything that you, you, you,
that's not the gospel. Gospel is not about me and the
gospel is not about you. The gospel is about Christ. It's all about Christ. Christ
is all in the gospel. He is all in the good news message. Gospel means good news. And it's not at all what we're
going to do for him. The gospel is about everything
he has already done for us. We preach who He is. We preach
where He came from. We preach why He came. We preach
what He accomplished while He was here. We preach where He
is right now. We preach Christ. We preach Christ. In the Gospel message, Christ
is all. And if He's all in the Gospel,
then that means he's all in salvation and that's the fourth thing.
Christ is all in salvation. Right here in Romans 1 verse
16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. Christ is all in salvation. That Philippian jailer, you may
know the story of the Philippian jailer. He fell down before Paul
and Silas, crying, sirs, what must I do to be saved? This is
what they said. You must not do anything. Christ is all in salvation. That's what they said to him,
they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. When he said, what
must I do to be saved? This was their answer. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not doing something. That's
acknowledging Him to do something. You just trust Christ. You just believe on Christ. Believe Him. What do we believe? To say, believe Him. What do
we believe? Believe that He is all. Believe that He is all in salvation. He is all in the covenant that
God made to save us. Believe that He accomplished
it all. Galatians 3, 17 says, the covenant
that God made was confirmed in Christ and it cannot be disannulled. Why can't it be disannulled?
It's because it was sealed in the blood of Christ, sealed in
his blood. The promise has already been
fulfilled. The payment has already been
made in full. In full. What that means is Christ
is all in salvation, redemption, saving redemption. The payment
that had to be made for our sin against God has already been
made. You have sinned against God.
I have sinned against God. And God said, the wages of sin
is death. But God said in his covenant,
God, the father and son and spirit, they made a covenant. And he
said, I'm going to provide a death for you. This is what he says
to all of his chosen people. He said, I'm going to provide
a death for you. The wages of your sin is death,
but I'm going to provide one for you. I'm going to send Christ
my son to lay down his life for you. I'm going to provide him
to pay that price of blood that is required of you. And God said,
when I see the blood, I'm going to provide it. And when I see
it, when I see the blood of Christ, my son, I'll pass over you. The payment will have been made
in full. So Christ is all in saving redemption. All right. Christ is all in the
scriptures. Christ is all in authority, sovereign judgment
and rule. Christ is all in the message
of the gospel. Christ is all in salvation. Number
five, Christ is all in God's glory. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse
29 says, that no flesh should glory in his presence, but of
him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Seeing
Christ to be all in the gospel and seeing Christ to be all in
salvation, where does that leave boasting? Man's boasting. False religion is so full of
boasting. You'll hear men, their conversation
is I, I, I, I, I. Is that where our boasting ought
to be? No way. He, he, he. All the glory goes
to the Lord. all of the glory. He that gloryeth,
let him glory in the Lord. Paul said in Galatians 6 14,
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's where all of God's people
glory. Christ is all in God's glory
and Christ is all in glory. Heaven itself. And that's number
six. Christ is all in eternal life. In 1 Corinthians 15, verse
22 says, as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive, forever made alive. 1 John 5,
12 says, he that hath the Son hath life. Whoever has Christ,
the Son of God, has life. eternal life. Our Lord said in
John 11, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Christ is life. Christ is all life. Christ is heaven. People talk
about going to heaven. Christ is heaven. Christ is eternity. He is the object and the focus
of it. He is the joy of it. He is the
substance of it. Christ is all. Christ is all,
all in the scriptures, all in authority, all in the gospel,
all in salvation, all in God's glory, all in eternal life, and
here's the last one. Christ is all in His people,
inside His people. Back in Colossians, this time
chapter one, verse 25 says, whereof I am made a minister, according
to the dispensation of the gospel, which is given to me for you
to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery which hath been hid
from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the
glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, in God's people,
Christ is all. Christ is all. He is all their
salvation. I mean all. He is all their desire. He's not just all that they need.
He's all that they want. He is all. He is all. They want nothing else, nothing
less than Christ alone to stand before the judgment throne of
God. They want to stand in Him. Now, here's my question to both
of us. Can we say that? Can we say that
in our hearts right now? Can we say Christ is my all? Christ is my all. Christ is all
my hope. Christ is all my desire. Christ
is all I need. Can we say that? I pray we can. I truly pray we can. May God
reveal that to us and cause our hearts to say Christ is all.
Till next week, may the Lord bless His word to our hearts.
You have been listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like
a copy of this message, or to hear other messages of sovereign
grace, log on to our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.