The next 30 minutes or so, declare
to you from God's word, all the purposes of God. All the purpose
he purposed before the world began. All the mind of God. All the will of God. Make known to you the will of
God. All the Word of God, I will try
to declare unto you in about 30 minutes or so, all the Word
of God. All the mysteries of God, I want
to try to know in about 30 minutes. All the creation of God, the
reason for it, all the salvation of God. All the eternal mysteries, all
the wisdom of God, all the knowledge of God, all the understanding
of God, in about 30 minutes. In fact, I can sum all that up
in three words. Christ is all. He just said it all. Look at
verse 11. He's speaking of our Lord being
in Christ. In Christ, verse 11 of Colossians
3, there is neither Greek nor Jew nationalities, it's a new
nature, new race of people, circumcision or uncircumcision, under the
law, barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free, but Christ is all. And in all. Christ is all. Christ is the sum and the substance
of this book. He is the purpose, the mind,
the will of God, creation, salvation, everything, Christ is all. Throughout this book of Colossians,
it speaks of Christ being all the preeminence of God in Him,
all the fullness of God in Him, all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge in Him, all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and so
on and so forth. So therefore, if Christ is all,
Christ is all, That means everyone else is really nothing at all. Right? Everyone thinks they're something.
The scripture says if any man thinks he's something, when he's
what? Big zero. Big zero. You know, this is us. I just shouldn't offend any of
God's people. What do you got there? If you
put three zeros together, what do you got? You got zero. Okay, let's put a few more. Now how many? What you got there? You still got zero. Now what do you got? Put one in front
of it. Now they're worth something.
in themselves, they're worth nothing. But in Christ, we're something to somebody in
Christ. Not in ourselves, but in Him. Only as we're found in
Him. Outside of Him, we're nothing.
Nothing. Paul said, I'm less than the
least. We're all a bunch of nothings. And so if Christ is all, everyone
else is nothing at all. If Christ is all the wisdom and
knowledge of God, if you don't know Jesus Christ, you don't
know anything at all. Right? If Christ is the wisdom
of God, the knowledge of God, if we don't know him, we're fools. That's what the scriptures calls
those that don't know God, the fool that said no God. So if Christ is all the wisdom
and knowledge of God, it doesn't matter what a person may know. If they don't know him, they
know nothing. All right, if Jesus Christ is
all the treasures, blessings, riches, in him are hid all the
treasures. If you don't have Christ, then
you have nothing. And it is certain. that everything,
every possession, everything in this world will be destroyed,
will be burned up, will be lost, except the unsearchable riches. Scripture says, there is he that
hath great riches and yet hath nothing. And there are he that
hath nothing that is. If you have Christ, you have
the unsearchable riches. Christ is all. All right? Well, let me tell you this. When we say we preach Christ,
it's not just a slogan, is it? When Paul said, I'm determined,
he came to Corinth. That was a city, a metropolitan
city, people all over the world, much like New York City or something
today. He came to that place. It was a center of arts and science
and medicine and sports. It had it all. Paul didn't come
there to debate those things, to talk about those things, to
discuss those things. He said, he said, I am determined
not to know anything among you, except say Jesus Christ. So when we say we preach Christ,
when your pastor says that, and that's what the scripture said,
Paul said, and you know it's so, you hear him preach constantly,
don't you? And the men he has stand up here.
They preach Christ, don't they? Why? Because Christ, Jesus Christ
is all the religion anyone needs. Let me say that again. Jesus Christ
is all the religion. All right, let's look at this
a little bit, all right? Look at Ephesians 1, go back
there. Everyone knows this truth, loves. Jesus Christ is all the purpose
of God, the will, the mind of God. You want to know why God
purposed everything, what the purpose of God in everything
is, what the will of God is in everything? Here it is. In Ephesians
1, and oh my, couldn't we go through these verses? But in
verse 8, he says to his people whom he's made known that Christ
is all. He says he's abounded, verse
8, he's abounded toward us in all wisdom. He's given us all
wisdom. One time he told the Corinthians,
you know all things. Didn't he? You know all things.
He that is spiritual understandeth all things. There are these silly
little pinhead people out there that call themselves spiritual,
you know, because they sit cross-legged and gaze at their navel and stuff
like that. Oh, he's so spiritual. She's
so spiritual. If she didn't know Jesus Christ,
she's not spiritual. A spiritual person is one, and
we looked at this the other night, or whatever, that a spirit-filled
preacher and a spirit-filled people and a spirit-filled church
are those who know Jesus Christ, who worship Jesus Christ, who
are taken up with Jesus Christ. Because he is all. And he's the
mind of God, the will of God, So someone who understands all
things understands that all things are in Christ, for Christ, because
of Christ. Look at it, verse nine. He's
made known unto us the mystery of his will. He's revealed this
unto his people according to his good pleasure, which he purposed
in himself. What is that? Here it is. The
mind, the will, the purpose of God, the reason for all things.
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven,
which are on earth, even in him, because in him, in Christ, we've
obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
will, that we should be to the praise of his glory who first
trusted in Christ. Right there's the will, the mind,
the purpose of God, the reason for all things. Everything God did, purpose is
for his son, for his son's glory. Creation, the next thing. Christ
is all in creation. Look at Colossians 1. Go over
to Colossians 1. Jesus Christ is all in creation. In fact, all things were made
by him. And without him was not anything
made that was made. He is the creator. He's the reason
for these things. The reason God, he, and the Father
made all these things. Look at it in verse 15. Colossians 1, Christ is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, and by him,
for by him were all things created that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible, invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or power, all things were created by him and
what? For him, for his glory. He's before all things, the next
verse. and by him all things consist. He made everything and everything
was made for his glory. Everything was made for his glory. Man was created in his image. Adam was created in the image
of God, which is Jesus Christ. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body. He is the image. When God said,
let us make man in our image, What's that? The image of God. Everything. Everything is a monument to. Everything is to the praise of
the glory of God's Son. That's why He made it. That's
why He made it. Everything. The trees. Christ
is the tree of life. The trees clap their hands at
Him. The rocks. He's that rock of
ages. Cleft for me. The clouds are
the dust of his feet. And on and on it goes. The birds
sing up here. Everything. Man was created for
his glory. To enjoy the Lord Jesus Christ
and to show forth his glory. That's why God created man. He
had these people, this person wrote a book years ago, A Purpose
Driven Life. I hope you have that, burn it.
You don't need that. Right here is the purpose of
God. You don't need that. And what that is, is give people
it feels like worthless, you know, and give you some kind
of purpose in life. Every human being was created
for the glory of God, down to the glory, the praise of the
glory of His grace. And only God's people, now man
has lost that image. Man has come far short of that
glory, but God predestined of people to be conformed to the
image of his son. Why? To the praise of the glory
of his breath. Make them like Jesus Christ.
Salvation is not just to keep people out of hell, it's to make
something good out of them. That's why I started talking
to you about those zeros. We're only good as we're in Christ,
and Christ in us. That's why he made a new race
of people, just like Jesus. Like Barnard used to say, old
brother Barnard, he's from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. But he said in his old Carolina
way, he said that God got up from breakfast one morning and
he took one look at his son and he loved him so much, he said
he determined to have a whole bunch of boys just like him. Now that's oversimplified it,
but that's exactly why God created this and recreate, that's why
he had mercy upon and purpose to have a people like his son,
his son, everything. Our Lord made everything and
everything were down to the glory of our Lord. God said, let there
be light in the beginning. God said, let there be light,
what's that? Jesus Christ, he's the light.
Well, who's the one that said that? Who's the word? Jesus Christ. When God created life, life,
Christ, that's Christ. He is life, the way, the truth,
and the life. He's all, isn't it? Everything
is a monument to him. And so everything, all the works
of man that are for his honor, for his glory, all that man has
done, all the monuments to men will be will be cast down. When
our Lord said there won't be one stone left standing on another
about that temple. Remember they were all taken
up with that edifice, that building. And our Lord said, you see these
things? And even the disciples were taken up with the beauty
of that place. But he said there won't be one stone left standing
on another. But what stone will be left standing? There will be one stone. The
chief cornerstone. And that's Jesus Christ. Here's
another illustration. When God destroyed this world
by flood, when God destroyed this planet
and everything in it, and all the works of man, and all the
men in this world, and women in this world, and everything
that man has ever done or accomplished, all the paintings he's done,
all the music he's done, all the edifices he's built, everything
he's built, The water covered it all, destroyed it all. It
covered the highest mountain that men love to talk about climbing,
scaling, Mount Everest. I've summited four or five times.
Well, God covered that with water. All the accomplishments of men.
You know what was standing? You know what was risen above
that? You know what had risen above everything on this earth? The ark! And there was no man seen. But the ark, that's Jesus Christ. But there were some living, but
you didn't see them. The ark. That's the only reason
they were living. That's the only reason that God's
mercy upon them. That's a picture that Jesus Christ
is all. Everything that does not give
glory to Jesus Christ, when it's all over, God has shown us that so many
times. He's all the fullness of God. Look at chapter 1 of
Colossians, verse 19. All the fullness of God. It says,
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Oh, my. John quoted this. Who is sufficient for this? I
wish you'd come up here and deal with this. The fullness of God. Fullness of God. 9 of chapter
2 says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead body. In other words, Jesus Christ
is fully God. He's fully God. He is fully God. The old writers used to say,
very God of very God. And he's fully man. Can you explain
that? Who can understand that? Nobody.
It's so, and he is fully God. He has all the fullness of God.
All that God is, the essence of God. God is spirit. And yet, God took a body. All the power of God. All the
sovereignty of God. He says, as the father hath power
at this to quicken whom he will, even so the son hath this power.
All judgments committed unto me, Christ said. All the fullness
of God. All the sovereignty of God. We
just read that. All things were created by Him. You know, they call Mary the
mother of God. Isn't that such blasphemy? Actually, the child that was
in her arms was her father. That child was her father. Explain
that, priest. Well, I can't, but I just know
this. A child was born, but the son, the everlasting son was
given. And called his name Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father. Men couldn't understand this,
could they? When he was on the earth. And
they don't understand it today, so they don't believe it. We
do, don't we? Why? Because the Son of God has
come and given us an understanding that we might know Him that is
true, and we're in Him that is true, even in His Son, Jesus
Christ, because He's the true God in eternal life. We would
know Him. The Lord turned to the disciples
one time and said, who do men say that I am? And they started
giving the description of it. Some say you're one of the prophets,
like Samuel, Elijah. Now if you say that about me,
that would be quite a compliment, wouldn't it? He's the next Elijah. If you say that about John, he's
the next John the Baptist. What a compliment that would
be. That was no compliment to the Lord Jesus Christ. That was
degrading to him. Moses said he's that prophet.
Capital P. I think it's Hebrews 3, it says,
let us consider the Apostle, capital A. Apostle is never capitalized
in the scripture but one time in front of Jesus Christ's name.
High priest is never capitalized in the Bible except right there
in front of Jesus Christ's name. He is the high priest. And all
these fellas today are imposters. We have a high priest already,
Jesus Christ. All the fullness of God. They
didn't believe he was God when he was upon this earth. How can
you? You're just a man and you make yourself to be God. That's
what they said about him. You're just a man and you make
yourself to be God. No, you got it backward. See,
judgment is turned backward in them. Understanding is all wrong. It's all, he got the cart before
the horse. He was God, he is God. He made himself to be a
man. It says in the volume of the
book it is written. The body has self-preparedness.
He was eternal, he has no father or mother. How can he be God
and yet be the son of God? Well, he is all the fullness of God. Very
God of very God. He did only the things that God
could do. He said only the things that,
one time, oh, I love this. He said that man that was sick
of the palsy and they let down that bed through the roof at
his feet, And the first thing he said, the greatest words that
man ever heard. A man who's lying there on that
bed, never walked in his life, lying there on that bed, completely
paralyzed from the cold. The Lord Jesus Christ looked
at him and said, son, thy sins be forgiven. And I just believe that man smiled.
I just believe that man had peace and joy like he never had before.
He's still lying there paralyzed. The Lord did the greatest thing
for him. He forgave all sin. And those enemies of his said,
who can forgive sins but God? That's why you don't, I don't
know if anyone here came out of Catholicism. There still is,
I don't know. Come out of it. The Lord bring
you out of that. Those impostors, those fellas
that sit in those little booths back there. Filthy, vile, wretched
fellas that people feed their sins to and feed their wild imaginations
to. Despicable. They're anti-Christ.
They're impostors. Jesus Christ is the only priest
you need. Jesus Christ is the high priest
of God. In fact, you go to him and he
himself will personally forgive all your sins. The only one who
can. He's our priest. Him dwelleth all the fullness
of God, all the power of God, the sovereignty of God, the character
of God. I think there's another Iowa. Is God holy? Is God just? Is God righteous? Yes, He is.
There's really only one holy man to ever walk this earth. Holy means totally consecrated,
dedicated for the glory of God. Holy. He came into this world
holy, unblameable, unreprovable, separate from sinners. Holy means unlike, other than. Oh my. Came to be our holiness,
separate, sanctify us by his sanctification. Holy. He is the
goodness of God. When our Lord told Moses, when
Moses said, Lord, show me your glory. Remember that? Lord, show me your glory. And
he said he'd seen many things. He'd seen God's creative glory.
He'd seen God's power. The Red Sea parted and so forth.
He said, but show me your glory, your person, your character.
You really are. Show me your greatest glory. And our Lord said, I'm going
to make all my goodness pass before you. Everything that's
good about God, I'll make it pass before you. What's that?
What? Jesus Christ is the goodness
of God. Is God love? Oh, behold, what
manner of love. Greater love hath no man this.
How do we know God is love? Because He sent His Son. He is
love personified. Hanging on that cross. Does He
love sinners? Does He forgive? Will God forgive
sin? Hanging on that cross, the first
words out of His mouth. The very ones that nailed Him.
God mercy? Yes. God grace? Yes. He's the gift of God. He's
all. God long suffering? Our Lord
said to his disciples one day, I love you. He said, how long
must I bear with you? Christ is all the word of God.
We looked at this a little bit, didn't we, the other night. He's
all the word of God. All that God has to say to man
is concerning Jesus Christ. God, Hebrews 1 says, God, in
sundry times, in divers manner, different manner, spake unto
the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by his word. You know this. All of Hebrews,
what's Hebrews about? Hebrews is a summary of the whole
Old Testament. What's it about? Well, how did
it start? talking about God's son. He is light. In him we live and
move and have our being like that sun in the sky. The tabernacle,
God created all things and he said he made the heavens as a
tabernacle, a monument to the sun. He's put the sun, that ball
of the sky and he put that there
and every eye must behold that sun every day. And it's no coincidence
that the name sounds just like son. Everyone is forced to see
that the son, and if there's no son, we're dead. In the son,
we live and move and have our being. Well, that's speaking
of Jesus Christ. He that hath not the son. It's all redound to the glory
of his son. The calendar. Everyone is forced
to look at the calendar. A.D. B.C. For Christ, all time
is measured by Jesus Christ. Measured around the crucifixion
of the life. That's the center of the universe.
Center of time. B.C. That's ground zero. May I say
that? That's what it all points to.
The Old Testament, everything pointed to that, and everything,
we look back to that. He's all the word of God, all
the prophecies of God, the revealed will and mind of God, all the
prophecy to him, give all the prophets witness, all the types,
all the symbols, all the shadows, all the pictures. Quoted this
the other night, when our Lord appeared to those two disciples
on the road to Emmaus, It says he expounded unto them in all
the scriptures a thing concerning himself. Wouldn't you have loved
to heard that man? Wouldn't you have loved to heard
him preach on Abraham and Isaac? Wouldn't you have loved to heard
him preach on Boaz, the kinsman of redeemment? It's his book and it's all about
him. It's his autobiography. It all redounds to his glory. Jesus Christ is all the wisdom
of God, the knowledge of God. Look at Proverbs 8. You know
this, Proverbs 8. Go over there real quickly. Close this. I haven't told the
half. Had all day long, the half would
still not be told. But as I said, we can sum it
up in these three words. Proverbs chapter 8. You may,
you may not know this. Those in this congregation do,
you've been taught well, that wisdom is Christ. Christ is all
the wisdom of God. And this whole chapter speaks
of him and it's the word spoken by him. Verse eight, he says,
all the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There's nothing
forward or perverse in them. They're all plain to him that
understand it and right to them that find knowledge. Read that
again. It's all plain to him that understand
it. And I quoted 1 John 5 to you,
that He's come and given us an understanding. It's all plain
when God opens the Scriptures to our understanding, to see
Christ, then it becomes very plain. You start looking at these
Old Testament types, that's Christ. Do you remember the first time
you saw these types opened up to you? Like Noah's Ark. People come in and they've never
heard the gospel before. The Lord begins to reveal himself
to them, and they see these things that we've seen so many times,
like Noah's Ark, and they're like little kids. Wow! Dad, I
didn't know that! He's Noah's Ark, isn't he? He's
a smitten rock, isn't he? He's a manna from heaven, isn't
he? Huh? He's the Passover lamb. He's
the woman seed. He's all that. A young man told
my son-in-law, who's a pastor in Kingsville, been sitting under
the Word for years. And finally, one day, big old
tears running down his face, he said to Gabe, he said, I didn't
know Jesus Christ is in all the Bible. That's why God wrote it. It's not just a book of, you
know, ever quaint sayings and wisdom and knowledge and know
how to live in this world? Christ said, no. He said, I am
come that they might have life. Christ is life, to know him is
to have life. God wrote this book so that we
might know his son. This is life eternal, that they
might know thee, the only true God. God reveals himself only
in the Bible, in the scripture, from the preaching of the scripture.
And his son, who was sent, revealed to the preacher. I said, if I be lifted up while
we preach, we're like that pole that Moses held that serpent
on. That's our only purpose in it. That's the purpose of this
book. That's the purpose. He that hath
the Son hath life. P. Whitman. He's all. He's all. He's wisdom. Look at
this in Proverbs 8. It says in verse 17, I love them
that love me. Who does God love? He doesn't
love everybody in this world. He loves those in Christ. There
was no bumper sticker on the outside of that ark. Smile, God
loves you. Wouldn't that be a mockery? God didn't love those people
outside of that ark. He hated them. He destroyed them. You
don't destroy those you hate, I mean you love. Don't burn up
things that you love. You keep them. Those in the ark, that's who
God loved. If there was a bumper sticker, it's on the inside of
the ark. Smile. God loves you. The love of God
is in Christ. Is that what Romans 8 and 29
said? Yes. He is the love of God. He
said, I love them that love me. He said, the Father loved them
that loved me, didn't he? That's what God's holding this
whole world accountable for. They don't care about God's son. And I didn't care about him.
And you didn't care about him over the time. But God, rich
in mercy for his great sovereign love, electing love, chose some
people to do what? To love his son. to fall in love
with his son, to marry his son. It's like the bride for Isaac. It's like the bride for his son.
Every one of them were forlorn women like Gomer. They weren't
nice, sweet, beautiful ladies. Forlorn women, all of them. God
chose some of them to fall in love with His Son, for His Son
to come down here and redeem them and become their bridegroom.
In heaven, we've got this thing of marriage all wrong, don't
we? Huh? Man-made ceremony. What we do
is we parade the bride down. Oh, look at the bride. Isn't
she beautiful? While the groom's standing over to the side, hoping
she'll say yes. Isn't that right? I sure hope she doesn't change
her mind. Poor little old fellow, little meek and mousy little
fellow over there. Not in heaven. Going to parade the Son of God
down the aisle. by all the brides and look at the altogether lovely
son of God. I'm just so thankful he choose
an ugly bride like me. That's what it's all about. That
he would come down here to save such despicable creatures like
us to the praise of the glory of his grace. I'm not mad at anybody. I'm mad
at religion. I hate what they're saying about it. Jesus Christ is all. He gets
all the glory. In heaven, not one human being
is going to get any glory. Not going to share any glory.
Nobody in there. Everybody in heaven knows why
they're there. They're there for one reason. Jesus Christ.
But they had nothing to do with it. They didn't choose Him. They
didn't decide to believe on it. They didn't accept Him. It's
the other way around. He chose them. They're accepted
in Him. He's the one that did the deciding. It's the glory. Call it glory. Everybody there is just so grateful
to be there. Oh, it's all playing. Jesus Christ
is our salvation, all the salvation of God, the love, the mercy,
the grace, the forgiveness of God, reconciliation. God who's
angry with the wicked every day is not angry with his people,
why? Because he poured out his wrath on Jesus Christ. He's not
angry with his people because Jesus Christ bore all the wrath
and the judgment of God for them. Not because they decided to turn
over a new leaf, not because they quit their meanness, But
because Jesus Christ bore the wrath and the judgment of God.
Because Jesus Christ was made sin for them. That's why. All
of God's people know that. The salvation of God. Everything. All the promises of God. All
the promises of God. Are not if, and, but, or maybe,
but yea and amen. God has declared it. The decree,
I've set my king on my holy hill of Zion, and every single person
I've given to him, he shall not fail or be discouraged. Every
single person I've given to him, every single person that comes
to him by the Spirit of God, every single one that is in Jesus
Christ, like those in that ark, he said, I will never, never
cast them out. They are saved eternally, accepted,
loved, mine forever. Say that. All the blessings of God, all
the blessings of God. Paul mentioned those blessings
in Ephesians 1. He didn't mention one material
thing. Not one single material thing. Not food, not clothing, not a
shelter, not a possession. He said, blessed be God, blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, where? Wisdom, right? Sanctification.
And he's in all. Let me close with this. Christ
is all and in all. He's in all his people. Christ
in you is the hope of glory. As said, God didn't save a people
to just keep them out of hell, but to make something out of
them. Predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. And Christ
is in all his people. Character of God. You say, I
don't see it. Well, you're not supposed to. You're not supposed
to. But can you not see it in your
brother? Can you look at your brother? Craig, can't you look
over here at one of these brothers and say, He's a Christ-like man. And they look at you and say
the same thing. You look at the mirror, you look within, and
you can't see it. See, that'll keep you from looking
to yourself. That'll keep you from taking some glory in yourself. It'll keep you looking to Christ. He's in all His people. And if
you'd cut open the mind, the heart of all of God's people, you'd ask them their hope of
eternal life. You'd ask them if they hope to
be with God someday, if they hope that they're a child of
God, if they hope they're saved. If you cut into the mind, the
heart of all of God's people, that all of them, all of them,
all of them will give you a one word answer. I ask people that they're religious. That's what I ask. What's your
hope? Go to heaven someday. What's
your hope? Every one of God's people. Stop and think about it. They
say, Jesus Christ. My wife one time was talking
to a, was a, during all that, knew
him and we hadn't seen him in a while and she saw him downtown,
where, and was all excited and he said to
her, he said, I got saved the other day. He said, I got saved the other day. My wife is a woman of understanding. She frowned and she said, I'm
sorry to hear that. Johnny, he thought, he's just
going to be so happy. What do you mean? What do you mean? You're sorry to hear that? She
said, well, if the Lord had saved you, He would have said that.
He would have said, the Lord saved me. Oh, he said, I meant that. He
said, that's not what you said. Is that being too narrow? Brother, if somebody is drowning
out there and they can't get back to shore and they're going
down, all right, and I send my son And this is a despicable criminal,
no good, worthless person, ain't worth saving. And I send my only
child out there to save it, and my child died saving that person. When they come back to shore,
and my son brings them back, and my son lays down his life
saving that person, that person better not say, well, I accepted
him. I let him save me. My son, this is the only way
a human being can be saved is by Jesus. That's right. You better believe
it. The person who's really been
saved by Jesus Christ is going to be telling everybody. What
if you were saved by that man? What would you be saying? What
if John said, John Chapman is the best man I know. He died
for me. Oh, I love John. What can I do for His honor and
glory? Huh? That's what is in everybody. They know who saved them. And
they dare not share the glory at all. And if they're going
to tell anybody about their salvation, this is what they're going to
tell them. Praise of the glory of you.