Colossians 3, our text will be verse 11. And as we just saw, the Apostle
Paul is speaking in this chapter of things which are above. That's
what he is exhorting. He said in verse 1, if you then
be risen with Christ, Seek those things which are above. Seek things above. Now he says in verse 11, 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, above, none of
those things matter. None of it matters. Greek, Jew,
circumcision, uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond-free,
none of that matters. And the reason is because there,
Christ is all. Christ is all. And in all. One preacher of the gospel years
ago opened his message with these words, and these are very true
words. Very, very true words. He said, to some people, Christ
is nothing. To some people, Christ is absolutely
nothing. Christ means nothing. They don't
know anything about Him. They don't have any thoughts
of Him. They don't consider Him at all, one way or the other. At no point in their life is
He a consideration. All He is, is a cuss word. Every now and then they use His
name for a cuss word. He said to some, Christ is very
little. To some, Christ is nothing. To some, Christ is very little. They know very little about Him,
but they have heard a few things. They believe that He did live
on this earth. A lot of people believe that. And they even respect Him for
being a good moral man. But they have no real need for
Him. That's the key. They don't have a need for Him. Maybe if they get in trouble,
they'll call on Him. But deep down, they don't even
think it's going to do any good. Because they think so little
of Him. They think very, very little of Him. Some think nothing of Him. Some
think very little of Him. He said, some think a great deal
of Him. I mean a great deal. To some, Christ means a great,
great deal. They read His Word. They pray to Him. They don't
eat and they don't go to sleep without praying to Him. I put
your fork down. We didn't pray. To some, He is a big part of
their life. They advertise Him with their
jewelry, and they advertise Him with their pictures, and they
advertise Him with bumper stickers on their car. They see Him to be the ultimate
example of how a person should live in order to get into heaven. So they try to copy Him. They want to copy Him. To those
people, He is most of their salvation. Most of it. Their contribution
in the work of salvation is very small compared to His. Therefore, He means a great deal
to them. To some, He is nothing. To some, He is little. To some,
He is much. But to some, He is all. To some, Christ is all. Christ is all. And that's us,
isn't it? That's us. Christ is all. He is all in salvation. He is not just the ultimate example
of the way. He is the way. He is not just a big part of
our life. People love to say that, you
know, He's a big part of my life. Well, He's not a big part of
mine. He is not, He is absolutely not
a big part of our life. He is our life. He is our life. Verse 4 says, When Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him
in glory. To God's people, Christ is all. From this Word, I would like
for us to declare Him to be just that this morning. I want us
to just go through the Word and declare Christ to be all. All in all. All in all things. That's what He is. He is all
in all things. Now I started making a list when
I was sitting in my study. A lot of times I'll just start
to jot things on the side. and I'll realize that I have
five times too much scribble for the amount of time that we
have. And honestly, it became very clear to me that we could
be here a long time trying to declare what Christ is all in,
trying to list the things that Christ is all in. He is all in
creation. He's all in creation. All things
were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made. Christ is 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'll tell us all things. We're just going to wait on Him
to tell us all things. How many things, honestly, from God's
Word could we declare Christ to be all in? For the sake of
time, let's declare seven. All right, seven things, and
I'm gonna be within my time frame, try as hard as I can. Seven things
that Christ is all in, and I pray God will cause us to believe
this to be so. Here's the first one. Christ
is all in the Scriptures. He's all in the Scriptures. Look
with me if you would at Luke chapter 24. 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 communications are these that you have one to another as you
walk and are sad? And 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 there in these days? And he said unto them, What things?
And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was
a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be
condemned to death and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had
been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which
were early at the sepulcher. And when they found not his body,
they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the women
had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, O 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? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself." All the scriptures. The things concerning
Himself. Christ is all in the Scriptures. He's all. Every word points to
Christ. Every single word. Everything
it demands. Everything it promises. Christ
is all in it. Right here, 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 is all concerning
me. The moment that God opens our
eyes to that, This happens, verse 45, then
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. I pray God will do that for us.
If we want to understand the scriptures, we need to understand
this. Christ is all in them. He's all in them. That doesn't
necessarily happen at one moment in one day, but I remember when
the Lord started revealing that to me. It was such a revelation
to me. What does it mean to say that
Christ is all in the Scriptures? What does that mean? This is
what it means. It means He is the writer of
the Scriptures. He's the author of them. And
He's the finisher of them. He is the one who made the commandments. He is the demander of the commandments. And He is the one who satisfied
the commandments. He's the fulfiller. He's the
one who demands, and He's the one who fulfills. The scriptures are of Him, but
they are through Him, and they are to Him. In the Scriptures,
Christ is everything. He is everything in the Scriptures. Here's the second thing. Christ
is all in authority. And we're going to call that
sovereign judgment. Look with me if you would at
John chapter 5. John 5 verse 20, it 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,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. that all men should
honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. All
judgment is in his hands. It has all been placed in his
hands. Romans 14 and 2 Corinthians 5
both say, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. We're all going to stand before
the judgment seat of Christ. And we need to know something
about this. For those who think nothing of Him, and for those
who think little of Him, let this declaration be known. We
are all going to stand before Him in judgment. All of us. Acts chapter 10 says, He is Lord
of all. That means sovereign over all. Romans 9 says, He is over all. Colossians 1 says, He is the
head of all. In all things He has the preeminence. That's what it says. Revelation 16 says, The Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. He alone is the sovereign. The
adversary has no part in sovereignty. He has no part in judgment. He
has no part, I heard a man say one time from a pulpit, you know,
God is really trying to work everything out good for you if
the devil would just stop messing it up. That is not so. There is one sovereign authority. There is one sovereign judge
and his name is Jesus Christ. Christ is all. in judgment and
sovereign authority. This is what he said. Can I not
do what I will with my own? Nobody's gonna mess it up. 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? What that means is He's all.
He's all in judgment, in sovereign authority. Alright, so He's all
in the scriptures. He's all in sovereign judgment.
Here's the third thing. Christ is all in the gospel. Turn over to Romans chapter 1. Romans 1 verse 15, 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. I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. Did you know that the gospel
is all about Christ? It's all about Christ. It's not
about me. And it's not about you. It's
all about Him. Christ is all in the gospel. He is all in the good news message. Every piece of good news is Him. All of the good news is Christ. It's not what we're going to
do for Him. It's what He has already done for us. We preach
who He is. We preach where He came from. Where did He come from? Well,
He came from a manger. He came from Mary and Joseph
in a manger in low beginnings, but He worked hard. No, that's
not where He came from. In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word was
made flesh. We declare who He is, where He
came from, why He came, We preach what He accomplished
while He was here, and we preach where He is now. Where He is
now. That's what it means when you
say, we preach Christ. We preach Christ. In the Gospel
message, Christ is all. And if He is all in the Gospel
message, then it means He's all in salvation. If He's all of
the Gospel, then he's all in salvation. That's the fourth
thing. Right here in Romans 1 verse 16 it 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, fell
down before Paul and Silas, crying, What must I do to be saved? What must I do to be saved? And
in their answer, this is what they said to him, You must do
nothing. That's what they said to him.
You must do nothing. Christ is all in salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. What do we believe when
we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? We believe He's all. We believe He is all in the covenant
that God made to save us. In this work of salvation, a
covenant was made. Don't turn over there, but Galatians
3 verse 17, it says, the covenant that God made was confirmed in
Christ. And it cannot be disannulled. Don't you love that? It cannot
be disannulled. Why can it not be disannulled?
Because it was sealed in the blood of Christ. The covenant
has already been carried out. The promise is fulfilled. The payment has already been
made. Signed, sealed, delivered. That makes Christ all in redemption,
in this work of salvation, the payment that had to be made for
our sins. We've all sinned against God,
and God said the wages of sin is death, but this is what He
said in His covenant. I'm going to provide a death
for you. I don't know if I've ever worded it that way, but
that's what He said in His covenant. The wages of sin is death, and
I'm going to provide a death 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 that blood, I'm going to pass over you. When I see the
blood of my son, I'm going to pass over you. Why? Because payment
is made. Made in full. Christ is all in
saving redemption. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. In order for God the Father to
be satisfied, and in order for Him to accept us as worthy to
stand in His presence, our sin debt had to be paid, and we have
to be perfect. Two things have to happen. And that's what righteousness
is, it's perfection. That's what God demands, perfection. In our sinful flesh, we're never
going to attain it. We just, in our Bible study,
read over all these things that the Apostle Paul, according to
the Word of God, exhorted us to do. And we need to strive
to do them. But in our flesh, we're never
going to attain that perfection. We try and try. We wish we could,
but we're never going to attain it. But in Christ, we're as perfect
as He is. God the Father said, this is
my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. I am well pleased. If
God is pleased in Him and we are in Him, then that means God
is pleased with us in Him. Don't turn. But I love Jeremiah
23, verse 6. In that verse, God the Father
declared concerning Christ for His people, this is what He said,
His name shall be called the Lord our righteousness. The Lord is the righteousness
of His people. So Christ is all in saving righteousness. He's all in the scriptures. He's
all in sovereign judgment. He's all in the message of the
gospel. He's all in salvation. And He's all in God's glory.
He is all in God's glory. That's number five. Go with me
to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 29. It 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 Him to be all in salvation, where
does that leave boasting? If He is all in all of those
things, where does that leave boasting? That's the thing that
gets me about false religion. It's so full of boasting. It
is so full of boasting. The natural vocabulary of the
average religious man or woman is, I, I, I, I, I, I. Here's the natural vocabulary
of the child of God. The child who has seen Christ
to be all in all of these things. He, he, he, he, he. All boasting is left with the
Lord. All the glory goes to the Lord.
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Paul said in Galatians
6 verse 14, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. That's where God's people glory.
Man, they glory in that. They go around telling everybody.
Christ is all in glory. All in the glory of the work
and He's all in glory. Christ is all in glory. That's number six. Christ is
all in eternal life. Look with me at 1 Corinthians
15. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 22, For
as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive,
forever made alive. One of these days we're going
to enter into that. Death reigns over this flesh. Darkness just
hangs over this flesh. Fear. 1 John 5 verse 12 says, He that
hath the Son hath life. Life. Eternal life. Whoever has
Christ, the Son of God, has life. Our Lord said in John 11, Whosoever
liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Christ is life. He is all life and He is our
life. He is heaven. He is eternity. He's the object and He's the
focus of it. He's the joy of it. I love that song. Take the name
of Jesus with you. Hope of earth and joy of heaven. He's the substance of it. Christ
is all. He's all of it. Christ is all
in the scriptures. He's all in sovereign judgment. He's all in the message of the
gospel. He is all in salvation. He is
all in God's glory. He is all in eternal life. And
the last one for this morning is, Christ is all in His people. He is all in His people. Look with me at Colossians chapter
1. Colossians 1 verse 25, Whereof I am made a minister
according to the dispensation of God 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." In God's people, Christ is all. He's all. He's all their salvation and
He's all their desire. Can you say in your heart right
now, Christ is my all? Can you say that in your heart
right now? Christ is my all. Christ is all my hope. Christ is all my desire. He is
all I need. I need you every hour, most gracious
Lord. No tender voice like thine can
peace afford. I need you, oh, I need you. Every
hour I need you. Bless me, my Savior, I come to
you. Can you say that? The huckster could say that.
I told that story so many times, I grabbed the paper just in case
I felt led to say it, but everybody here's heard it. The huckster
could say that. That's a child of God. God blessed
to his heart. I'm just a sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all and in all. And they came
to him and said, well, why should we accept you into this church?
Have you been converted? Have you been saved? Have you
been this? He said, I don't know. I don't know. Are you saved? Are you saved? I don't know.
But I do know that I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all. And
Jesus Christ is my all and in all. Well, why are you so happy? Don't
you ever get down and just get depressed? Well, how can I get
any lower than a poor sinner and nothing at all? And how can
I get any higher than Jesus? Christ is my all and in all.
They tried him with every question and every doctrinal thing they
could think of, and he stuck to his guns. And so do we. I have every question asked to
me and doctrinal thing that people can think of. By God's grace,
we're gonna stick to our guns. We are poor sinners and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is our all and in all. Amen. All right, let's all stand together.