So will you return to those of
you that were in the Bible class. Curtis let the cat out of the
bag and said I was going to preach from the same passage that he
was dealing with this morning. And I'm very thankful that he
went before I did because I might have goofed up what he had to
say. But Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. Now instead
of reading the entire passage, I want to begin at verse 9. Colossians chapter 1, verse 9. Let us pray. Lord, thank you for letting us
gather here this morning. Thank you for the wonderful hymns that honor and exalt the triune
God, and especially our Savior, the Lord Jesus. We were born and raised on various
a fountain filled with blood and a host of others. But in
our generation, the hymns that are sung in the modern church is not worthy of worship. It is denying the power, the authority, the
wisdom, the mercy of your love for us
in Christ. So Lord, as we come to this particular
portion of Scripture, some of us now the second time this morning, But reading it more than once,
in fact, reading it many times does not assure that we have
registered in our minds what we have just read or heard read.
Lord, we need your help and your aid. You have certainly, in the last
thirty-plus years in this place, You have on many occasions spoken
peace to a lost sinner, telling us and him that without
him we are nothing. Without him we can do nothing.
Without him we are nothing. Therefore, Christ is all. Oh, help us now. Carefully, deliberately, to address
this particular subject, Christ is all. We beg for this aid to the hearts
and minds of each one of us present. And wherever else in the world
this message goes, that your blessing might be upon it. We thank you in Jesus' name.
Amen. All right, beginning at verse
9 in Colossians chapter 1. Now, just because I was going to read
this much in all of chapter 2 now, But I've scaled that back because
I don't think I'd have any time left, and I don't need a lot
of time this morning, but I do need a little bit. Alright, verse
9, chapter 1. For this cause, we also, since
the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire
that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will, in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Please underline that word spiritual. There are two ways of reading
our Bible, that is, to look at it in light of what we are in
the flesh. And that's worthless and useless.
It has to be spiritually understood and applied and believed. All
right, verse 10. that you might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthen with all might,
according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness. giving thanks unto the Father
who has made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light, who has delivered us from the power of darkness, that's
the power of the devil, and has translated us into the kingdom
of his dear Son. And how did he do this? Did the devil just say, well,
you're free to go anytime you want to go? Oh, no. He'd keep you forever, and me
too. But when God says, come, we have
to come. No matter what the circumstances
are, we will come to Him. We will. He has translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son. And speaking of his Son, in whom
we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of
sins. Verse 15, who is the image of the invisible
God? The firstborn of every creature,
for by him 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 were created by him
and for him. It is his divine choice. As to
who sits in the chair of the president all over this world,
if they have presidents, if they have kings, if they have dictators,
whatever they are, God put them there. And when he sees fit,
he'll remove them. He sometimes gives us kings and
presidents that is designed for us on purpose. As a nation, we deserve the sorriest
crooks you could put in Washington, and that's just about what we
have. Don't you forget I said this,
and we deserve it. We deserve it. Speaking now of Christ still
further, He is before all things, verse
17, and by Him all things consist or are held together. I don't often quote Mr. Graham,
but he writes something in the paper every Friday, I think it
is, or Saturday, I don't remember. I didn't bother to read the article,
but the title caught my eye. Why do some people say that Jesus
Christ is God? You can't read this passage and
say anything else. If he ain't God, there is no
God. He's God our Savior. God our
Lord and Christ. He made all things. He causes all things that he
made to exist. And when he no longer has any
use for them, he'll dispose of them. But not till then, and
that time is not yet. Verse 17, And he is before all
things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of
the body, the church, which is the beginning of the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Christ is the preeminent One. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell." In Christ should all fullness
dwell. Now what kind of fullness is
this? It's the fullness of God, and it's the fullness of a man
without sin, the God-man Christ Jesus. He has a human nature. But since he didn't get it from
Adam, it has no sin. It is a sinless, spotless human
nature. But at the same time, he's God.
You don't quit being God. Verse 20, and having made peace
through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things
unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things in earth
or things in heaven, And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled."
Now let's stop on that little phrase right there a minute.
Who are these people that the Lord Jesus is said to have reconciled? For if you prefer, God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have determined this to
be the case. The triune God has he reconciled. Reconciled. This precious saving
work of the Lord Jesus Christ is the alone basis of our reconciliation. So it tells us in verse 21, look
at it really closely, you that were sometimes alienated and
enemies, Alienated from whom? Enemies to whom? To God. Now, I don't know where you grew up,
but I grew up believing that I loved Jesus from my diapers
upward. And that ain't what this says. It says that a human birth is
a birth that is alienated from God. And the only thing that
can bring us to Him is the precious blood and sacrifice and life
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Preachers can't keep their mouths
shut about telling you how much God loves you. I'm here to tell
you this morning, if you ain't His, He hates you. And you need
to find out how you can get in touch with him. See if you can
find some mercy before we find utter condemnation. You that
were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind to God. That's what we wanted. That's
what we chose. In spite of this, yet now has
Christ reconciled. He reconciled us to God. Who
put Christ to death on that cross? First of all, it was God Almighty. He said in no uncertain terms
from that tree, my God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?" And
yet he knew. Our Lord Jesus knew why he was
there. He knew what he went there to do. How do we know? The dying thief, the one that
came to his senses before he actually died, the other one
died unrepentant. This man said, of all the places, And of all the
physical appearance of Christ, he's hanging on that cross, blood
is streaming down his body, and he's dying like the rest. The
difference is they'll die when their time comes, and Christ
cannot die until he wills himself to die. That thief said, Lord, remember me when you come into
your kingdom. Now, he didn't look like a king.
The physical sight of Christ did not accomplish this in this
man's soul. But I know one thing. He became
a believer right on the spot. And Christ gave these words to
him that he gave to nobody else. Today you shall be with me in
paradise. He went to heaven without being
baptized. He went to heaven without being
a tither. He went to heaven without being
a Baptist. He went to heaven as a sinner,
because Christ saved him from those sins. And if you and I
ever see heaven, we'll see it the same way. Yet now, Has he reconciled, verse
22, in the body of his flesh, through death, to present you
holy, that's H-O-L-Y, and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight? And there are no attempts at
this. God doesn't attempt. Therefore,
God the Son does not attempt. Whatever He does, He does with
utter success. He cannot fail. He must prevail. I'll guarantee if we live to
see it, it won't be long before you can't find those words in
a modern hymnal. I forget the name of the hymn,
Fairly long one, and it's difficult to sing, but it has some beautiful
words to it. That's for certain. Where was I? Let's go to 23, wherever we were.
It's all right. Colossians 1.23. Curtis, we're back to that if
business. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel which you have heard and which was preached
to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister."
Now, this if clause, it's a tiny little word, but it's dangerous
to the soul's health and welfare. We automatically construe from
that, if I do this, God will do that, and I'll tell you that
ain't so. It is not so. There are some
things that when we see them, we conclude certain things about
this person. But in this case, it is not based
on if they do this. But if they are doing this, it
is then certainly a declaration that God has performed a work
of grace in their heart. We can't serve God like we are. We're just poor sinners, and
everything we do is tainted with our sin. I've got to hurry up. I'm never going to get to where
I want to be. I'm going to stop at 23, because I've got to deal with
some questions that arise. out of this and also acknowledge current belief among Baptists
and Methodists and Presbyterians and Catholics and Episcopalians
and everything else there is out there. We've got to find
out what's going on around us, what kind of religion our neighbors
have, our friends have, our family members have, Is Christ my all and in all? So the subject is Christ and
me and Christ and you. Here's the first thing. The whole entire work of salvation,
from start to finish, is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It
ain't nothing about me and it ain't nothing about you, it's
all about Him. It's all about Christ. Linwood Campbell told me, I believe
it was Linwood, somebody realized that their new preacher seemed
like this denomination started with an M, but I won't go any
further than that. But I forget how many months
this person kept this record. He didn't mention the name of
Jesus Christ a single time in like six months. Well, what are
you going to talk about? Oh, we're going to talk about
the church? We're going to talk about the Women's Missionary
Union? About men's brotherhood and we're going to do this? No,
no, no. We're going to speak of Christ.
That's the only hope a sinner has. And believers never, ever
tire of hearing about Christ. He's precious to us. Put it another way, Christ is
salvation. He not only completed the work
of salvation, he is salvation. Now, I'm sure, relatively sure, no
specific person in mind, but I'm sure that on an average Sunday,
and this may or may not be what you call an average Sunday, but
there are people who come here occasionally to worship, maybe
regularly to worship, who question what we've just said, that Christ
is everything. Salvation is Christ, and Christ
is salvation. So in case that is the case today,
in what particular aspect is Jesus Christ not enough? Can you name anything? in which Christ is not enough.
Well, my Lord, if he's not enough, all the people on this earth
gathered together can't be enough. Christ is everything. He's all
and in all according to these passages in Colossians. Let me ask you this question.
Is divine justice not satisfied with Christ? And here's the answer. Did he
rise from the dead? If he did, his sacrifice was
accepted. He's the risen Christ. Paul said
plainly to the Corinthians, he said, if Christ is not risen
from the dead, our faith is vain. It ain't no good. It's foolish. If Christ is not alive, then
we might as well worship something made out of stone or whatever
people make idols out of these days. I'm not sure I know which.
The biggest idols we make is right up here between these thick
skulls of ours. Next, would we prefer working
to earn our way to heaven? Because I can tell you, It is
a sure defeat. Christ is our only hope of heaven. Is Christ's work not enough?
Why do you think he spent thirty-three years in this world? This world
sure didn't like him. And religious people were leading
the ranks who did their best to destroy him many, many years
before his time, his hour had come. God does everything on
time, neither early nor late. And Christ died when it was his
time to die. If Christ's work is not enough,
We ought to lock these doors and leave and never come back. If Christ's work is not enough, what more is required? Well,
some people tell us to take part in these symbolical washings,
you know, to get rid of our sin. or to eat a certain specific
diet so it will probably make you as thin as a piece of spaghetti,
but what are you going to do? What on earth can we do if Christ
is not everything? What about our clothes? Our clothes. I've deliberately saved a little
bit of time. I want you to put a marker here
where we are. And the first place I want you
to turn is... I'm changing my mind. I want to take a different direction
on that. Let's see. I want you to turn. to Mark, Gospel of Mark, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, remember that? Mark chapter 2. Now you remember at the outset
this morning, I don't remember when I made the remark, but I
know I made it. That the secret to reading and
understanding the Bible requires one to be spiritually alive. You just can't understand this
book if you're dead in trespasses and sins. You can't do it. And let me show you some things
now that make a world of difference. When you look at it physically
and you look at it spiritually, there is a whole big difference.
Here we are in Mark chapter 2, verses 21 and 22. Now here is an illustration given
by the Lord Jesus Himself in regard to this matter that we
are considering, and that is, we are trying to show that nothing
that we do can be laid down beside what Christ is and has done. Finished, He said, on the cross. Alright, verse 21. No man also
sews a piece of new cloth On an old garment. Now I know you
ladies know very well, some of you are old enough to know this.
Some of you younger ladies do not know what we talk about.
If you sew new cloth to an old garment, it will make the tear
worse. Okay? Now that applies to what
we're talking about. I'll come back to it in a second. It says, else the new piece that
filled it up takes away from the old, and the rent or the
tear is made worse. And no man puts new wine into
old bottles. Now please understand that these
are not glass bottles. I don't know that glass had been
invented by this time, but it's immaterial if it was or not.
The bottles to which our Lord refers are leather. And once you have put new wine
into those bottles, and then the next year you try to put
them back in the same bottles, they're going to burst. Okay? So the second thing is, no man
puts new wine into old bottles. It's just, you just don't do
it. Unless you just want to throw
it away. Else the new wine does burst
the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles are
marred. But new wine must be put into
new bottles. Therefore, the grace of God in
Christ, salvation, must be put in sinners who are born again. If we have no spiritual capacity
about us, We cannot possibly understand any of these things.
They're foreign to us. Oh, but when God saves us, the
light comes on. We see stuff that we ain't never
seen before. Alright, let's take another case
in point. If you don't want to turn, it's
fine. I'm going to go all the way to the book of Joshua. Chapter 24, Joshua was second in command
as long as Moses lived, and when Moses died, Joshua became the
commander-in-chief of the armies of Israel. And they were still
in the wilderness, and now they're beginning to enter the promised
land. And in verse 19, well, let me give you the answer of
these people. Joshua has, in effect, already
told them as clearly as words can tell them, that they cannot
obey the law of God. You simply can't do it. Now,
plenty of people, they'll tell you they keep all the big ten,
all this kind of stuff. But it ain't so. Let me read
it to you now. This is way back, a long time
before Christ came to this earth. The people answered and said,
this is in verse 16, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord
to serve other gods. We'd never do such a thing. My
Lord, they had already participated in the very same thing in the
wilderness. For the Lord our God, He it is
that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from
the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our
sight and preserved us in all the way wherein we went and among
all the people through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out
from before us all the people, even the Amorites, which dwell
in the land. Therefore will we also serve
the Lord, for he is our God." Now, you want to adopt that statement? I'm pitching to prove to you
that you can't do it. You might want to. You might
say you can. But you can't. And Joshua said
to these very same people, verse 19, you cannot serve the Lord. You cannot serve the Lord. He
is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions
nor your sins. And if he doesn't, we cannot. We cannot serve him, we cannot
love him, unless our Redeemer has redeemed us and brought that
redemption to our soul. All right, I've got two or three
more, but I'm going to just do one. I'm going back to the New
Testament, to the book of Romans. That is in the New Testament,
isn't it? Here it is, Romans 10. The Lord Jesus cannot be helped by spiritually
dead sinners, no matter how nice they might be. No matter how
beautiful they might look, we cannot help Christ. He must help
us. Shall a worm of the earth, which
the Bible calls us a worm, be needed to complete the work of
Him who made this world and everything in it? Are we trusting partly in Christ
and partly in ourselves? Then our hope is dead and vain. It describes for us seven things
that all true preachers know and observe and preach and teach. And here's just one of them.
Just one. I'm going to start with verse 3.
No, I'm going to start with verse 2.
Paul is speaking of his fellow Jews who are unconverted, who
are thirsting for Christ's blood. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. It's a misguided,
misdirected zeal. For they being ignorant, ignorant
of what? God's righteousness. God's holiness. Who God is. To be ignorant of
Him. Man, we ain't even got to kindergarten
yet. Not only ignorant of God's righteousness. Now this is Paul's description
of his own nation that he loves dearly. You can't read Romans
9, 10, and 11 without being overwhelmed by that. They, being ignorant
of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. And that's what's required. We've
got to fall flat on our face. Lord, you don't owe me anything
except hell. I'm just a poor beggar begging
for mercy. That's all you can do. That's
what you need to do. That's what I need to do. And
here it is. Christ, this is the fourth verse,
for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. And if you have believing friends,
and I put believing in quotation marks, who say that they are
righteous, I tell you they are liars. And if you'll bring them
to sit in one of these pews, I'll say it to their face. We just love lies until God conquers
us. And Lord, we still can lie. If we are trusting partly in
Christ and partly in ourselves, then our hope is dead and vain. Christ must be everything, or
he ain't anything. I started to say he ain't nothing.