Thank you, Mike. There was an old woman, very
poor, a widow, very poor, a believer,
a saint who trusted Christ, believed Christ, loved the Lord Jesus
Christ, and all her hope in Christ. Very poor. She lost most everything,
everyone. She'd sit in her house, and she
had a little bread on the table for her present meal. And she gave thanks, and she
said, Thank you, Lord, for all this, and Christ too. Brother Scott Richardson one
time said, Christ is all to you. If He's all you got. If Christ is your life, He's
all you need. The Lord is going to, if we live
long enough, He's going to take everything and everyone away
from us. And we will, if we really do.
If Christ is our life, we're going to be left with only Him.
And that's going to be enough. In Colossians chapter 3 is the
text, Colossians 3. Colossians 3, you know this verse
well. And the last line, just three
words, is the purpose of God, the mind of God, the will of
God, the fullness of God, all the Word of God, the wisdom of
God, the knowledge of God, the salvation of God, all the promises
of God, the blessings of God, the glory of God, all in three
words. And I'm going to attempt to say
it in three words in about 30 minutes. The last line says,
Christ is all. Christ is all. Three words. Some
and substance of everything. The reason, the purpose of creation,
the world, the universe, eternity, the kingdom of God, us. That's
the reason. Christ is all. Now, what does
that mean? Well, it means exactly what he
says. Christ is all. And since Christ
is all, and all that that means, that means everyone else. And
everything is. There's really nothing at all. That's what the Scripture says.
Every man at his best state is altogether what? Vanity. And
vanity of vanity, all flesh and everything in this world is vanity.
It's all perishing. We just read that in Hebrews.
Everything was going to perish. Everyone is going to perish.
But thou, Lord, remaineth forever. Since Christ is all, The wisdom
here. Colossians is not a book more
full of Christ and full of His glory and full of wisdom, treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, than Colossians, what you've been
looking at. We just looked at this two months ago, do you remember? Christ is all, but you cannot
exhaust it. But it says, in Him are hid,
hidden, revealed His people, but hidden all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. If Christ is all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge, and Him is all the wisdom and knowledge,
if you don't know Him, no matter what you may know, no matter
how wise you may appear to the world, you know nothing at all. so true of this world. God hath
made foolish the wisdom of this world. It all seems profound
and wise to the people of this world, the technology and all
that man is doing, but man says there's no God. How foolish can
you be? If Christ is all the treasure,
all the blessings, all the riches, all the riches, if you don't
have Him, No matter what you may have, you're poor and needy. You're poor. He himself had no
earthly riches. None. Not one single thing that
man thinks he needs to make him happy and make him rich. He didn't
have any of those things. He was the richest man on earth. The richest man on earth. My
father preached a message entitled that. How I became the richest
man on earth. How? He bestowed on me the riches
of Christ. Unsearchable riches of Christ.
Joint heirs with him. Alright, for a few minutes, for
a few minutes, I want to talk to you about how Christ is all. purpose of God. Brother John
said you could preach Ephesians 1 every time, okay? Go there
with me. Ephesians chapter 1, chapter
1. And I told him, this is how you
know the gospel is truly gospel to you. Gospel means good news. It never gets old. And there's
always some Like that manna, those who needed manna, who were
hungry and thirsty, it was the same manna. It was the exact
same bread that they ate for 40 years. Now some of them got tired of
it. That means they didn't know God. They just weren't God's
people. But God's people went out every
day and collected, gave thanks, and it was still sweet as honey,
the wafer dipped in honey. Forty years later, is the Gospel
still sweet to you? When I announced, turned to Hebrews,
Ephesians 1, yeah, Hebrews 1, Romans 1, John 1, what did you
do? Yes! I love that. Ephesians 1, Christ is all the
purpose, the will, the mind of God. Verses 4 and 5 say He chose
us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, that He gave us
to Christ to make us holy to His people. And to present us
blameless, faultless, He predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will.
This is the will of God. Are we talking about the will
of God? He worketh all things, verse
11, He worketh all things after the counsel of His will. Well,
His purpose, verse 9 and 10, look at it. God's will is essential
will and purpose for everything and everyone. The reason He made
everything. And everything fulfills His purpose. He says He made known unto us.
that which he purposed in himself, that, verse 10, and the dispensation
of the fullness of time, when it's all said and done, he's
going to gather together in one, that is, in Christ, all things
in Christ, in heaven, which on earth, even in him. And he says
three times, to the praise of the glory of his Christ, his
Son, his Christ. It's the purpose of God is in
Christ. The creation of God. Look at
Colossians 1. I won't have you turn too much,
although I have 189 scriptures written down here. But Colossians
1, and you know these verses. Christ is all the purpose of
God. He is all in the creation of
God. He is the reason for it. He is the reason it exists. He
created it. And it's all for His glory. So
if we look at Colossians 1, 16 and 17, by Him, Christ, verse
15, where do you stop? Where do you start? Verse 15,
He's an image of the invisible God, the firstborn, that is,
the first body of any creature, first body. And God made Him
a body, though He existed before He took this body. Now, that's
a mystery. Verse 16, for by Jesus Christ
were all things created in heaven and earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones, dominions, principalities, power, all things were created
by Him and for Him. He's the reason for creation. He's before all things, and by
Him all things consist. In Psalm 19, and you don't have
to turn, but I'll read it for you. The Lord, the Scripture
says the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament showeth
His handiwork day unto day, utter speech, night unto night, no
speech or language where the voice of God's glory and power
and Godhead is not heard. He said the line day and night
goes throughout the whole world, the ends of the earth, and in
the heavens He set a tabernacle, as it were. to display one thing
in whom all life lives, the Son. The Son. That's talking about Jesus Christ.
He is the Son of Righteousness with healing in His way. And
it says His goings forth is from the end of the heavens. What?
The sun in that sky? Well, the Son of God. Nothing
hid from the heat thereof. Nothing out from under His sovereign
reign. Creation of all things. Do you
remember when our Lord took three of His apostles up on the Mount
of Transfiguration? Now, He had a body of a man.
And he looked no different. Brother John and I were talking
about our Lord's bodily appearance. There was no form, no cumulus.
You couldn't distinguish him from any of his disciples. John
brought out this point. He said Judas had to go up to
him and kiss him in order for them to recognize, this is the
one. He looked just like him. Dark
skin, dark hair, no beauty about him. He wasn't higher or taller
than anybody else. He was just like them. Made in
the likeness of Seneca. And Judas was traded with a kiss.
At any rate, he took James and John and Peter, Simon, up on
that mountain, all right? And they really didn't know who
he was yet at their mountain. And he peeled, as it were, back
his flesh for them to see God who dwelleth in light that no
man can approach unto. Not just a man. And most people
in the world don't know him. He can tell, David said, the
transgression of the wicked saith within my heart there's no fear
of God before their eyes. The way they refer to Him, the
way they depict Him, the way they preach Him, what they say
about Him, and how they approach Him. The disciples, it says they were
sore afraid. Sore afraid. When He called the
ocean and stilled the wind, you know what it says? It said they
feared exceedingly a man. Because He's not just a man.
He's God. Creation. He's the Creator. And
Peter went ignorant. Peter said when he woke up, when
the Lord put back on his flesh, Peter said, let's build three
tabernacles. Let's build three monuments. And God hadn't spoken
out loud in many years. And God spoke in a voice, this
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him. Don't build a monument to Moses.
Don't build a monument to Elijah. Don't build a monument to anyone
or anything. Worship Him. Isn't that what
we read in Hebrews? He's the reason for creation.
All creation worships Him. All creation worships Him. And
if we're a new creation, if we're His new creature in Christ, you
know what you're going to do? You're going to worship Him.
You're going to see in Him. The Son is going to rise in your
heart, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. He's going
to dawn on you. You know, when you really meet
the Lord Jesus Christ, all questions of man's will and God's will
will be answered. When you're born again, no more
questions. You know, salvation is 1,000%
of the Lord. When He raises you from the dead,
quickens you by His power and His grace, you will know, I was
dead and now I'm alive. I was blind and now I see. And
He did it. Free will. I was dead. Dead. All of a sudden. Saul of Tarsus,
he thought he knew God, thought he was righteous, he was zealous,
he was all this, and he quoted the Bible, and he read the Bible,
and didn't know God, didn't know Jesus Christ. He called him Jesus,
and he said, I'm going to put an end to this Jesus thing. And
he met the Lord Jesus Christ. Saul said, this is what I will
do. I have free will, and I will do this. And when the Lord came
to him and dashed him on the ground, What will you do? You know, the first thing Saul
said, what will thou have me to do? I'm in your hand to do
as you say. And I'm way ahead of myself here.
That's all right. Christ is all in creation. He's
all the fullness of God in Colossians 1.19. It says, "...it pleased
the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell." What does
fullness mean? Well, this is not full. This is three-quarters full.
But if I filled this up, you couldn't put anything else in
it. You couldn't add anything to
it, could you? If it's full. He's all the fullness
of God. You want to know God? No, Christ. He's all the fullness of God.
God is love. How do you know God? No man knoweth
the Father but the Son, neither whom the Son were revealed unto. God was manifest in the flesh. And again, the world didn't know
Him. He hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and
He revealed them unto babes. And what did they find out? That
that man is God. God, our Savior. God, our Lord. Not our Savior that will make
Him... Make Him Lord. Nobody knows Jesus Christ who
says such things. They just don't know Him. And I pray that the Lord will
be with us after this. Some of you said the same thing, didn't
you? Some of you in religion, you thought the same thing. But
God. All the fullness of God. All
the fullness of the Godhead, Colossians 2.9 says, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, all the sovereignty of
God, all power, Christ said all power is given unto you. A man? Yeah. He proved that, didn't
he? The elements, the animals, devils,
everything was subject, did His bidding as a man. The elements
instilled them. Wind, stop. Waves, lie down. Like you tell a dog, lie down. The ox knows his owner. The ass
knows his master's crib. Man doesn't know his creator
until he reveals himself. The elements did his bidding. Animals. You remember when he
was tempted by Satan and went into the wilderness? It says
he was with the wild beasts. With the wild beasts. I love
thinking about that. I'm quite sure the doves were
landing on his shoulders. That they were all coming to
him. Wild beasts. That's what I did. This wild
ass is cold. Didn't you? Tamed me. And I came to him. He was with
the wild beast. They did his bidding one time.
They needed money for taxes. He called us fish. Bring us a coin, fish, animals,
devils. Remember, the devils had to take
orders from Him. He came to that town and the
man was filled with the devil. And the devil said, we know who
you are. Are you coming to torment us before it's time? Meaning,
we know you're going to do with us as you please. And they begged
Him. Leave us alone a little while.
Let us go into those pigs." And he did. He did. Devils. Satan. Devils. Angels did His bidding. Men. Everybody does His bidding. He's sovereign. All the fullness
of God in His sovereignty, all the fullness of God in His character,
holy, declared to be the Son of God by the Spirit of holiness. He stood before man, men, and
God and said, Who convinces me of sin? Now, who can be sinless
but God? No thoughts of sin. No sinful
word. No sinful action. No sinful deed.
Nothing but purity and holiness and goodness. The mercy of God. Merciful. Loving. Love. God is love. Jesus Christ
is the love of God personified. Behold, they said, how He loved
Lazarus. He came to Lazarus' tomb. He
came to Mary and Martha. His delights were with the Son
of Man. Why? Because He loves His people. He loves to dwell
with them. He loves to be with them. His
pride. Oh, He for richer and for poorer
became Our husband, didn't He? Oh, He in life or death became
our husband, didn't He? Oh, He made a vow to us and He
never broke it. He never will. Love. All the fullness of the love
of God, the mercy of God, the kindness of God, all that fruit
spoken of in Galatians 5, of love, joy, long-suffering, peace,
that's Him. And our fruit comes from Him.
All the fullness of God. He is all the Word of God. Jesus
Christ is all the Word of God. All the revealed mind and thoughts. All the prophecies. Everything
in Scripture pertains to Him. Everything. Mandy and I were
talking this morning about a young man who said he thought he was
looking for the truth. But he contacted her and said
that he found a church close by. And that's where he's going. And he came here for a while. But he said, it's biblically
based and Christ-centered. I don't like that term, Christ-centered. Do you ever hear Paul say, my
message is Christ-centered? He said, I'm determined to do
nothing in my game to save Jesus Christ. You see, when you see
the Son, have you ever looked at the Son? Have you? You can't look at it long, can
you? You're blind. But if you just glance, just
get a glimpse of the sun, you know what you're going to see?
Sunspots everywhere. You're going to see the sun in
everything you look at. When you see that, what else
do you need to see when you see Him? To Him give all the prophets
witness. Christ said, they are they which
testify of Me. And Him is everything. He, one
time, He appeared to two disciples. He has disguised Himself after
He had risen from the grave. Two of His disciples were walking.
They were talking about the Kingdom of Israel. They were talking
about Jesus. We thought He was going to restore
the Kingdom to Israel. What do you mean? He is the King. His Kingdom is forever. It's
not a physical kingdom. You're not going to see them
erect a temple in Jerusalem. Jesus Christ already erected
it. It's His church. Instead, it's
going to come down from God on earth to receive us. It's not a place. It's a people
in Him. Well, this young man said, I
found a church. Well, you can find them. They're
everywhere. If that's what you're looking for. When Philip heard
of Christ, when our Lord found Philip, you know what Philip
said? We found Him. Him. So what was he looking for from
then on? Nothing. Christ is all. You hear this message of Christ?
Where is He? He's on our hope. All our wisdom,
all our righteousness, all our sanctification, all our redemption,
all our salvation, all our peace, all our joy, all our namesake. Christ is all. Hosea, in the
book of Hosea, O Ephraim, he was first joined to his idols.
And the Lord said, you're mine, Ephraim. Ephraim represents every
child of God. In the end, the last thing that
Hosea the Ephraim said, what have I to do anymore with us,
with anything or anyone? He said, I heard Him. I have it all. I haven't cried.
The Lord told the disciples. Many disciples walked no more
with him and all that. They were hard saved. And the
truth was, their heart was in the Word. They wanted the Word,
like Demas. And they walked no more with him. Well, he turned
to his disciples. They said, oh, will you go away?
Simon Peter said, to whom? Not what. You're our everything. You're our life, you're our joy,
you're our peace, you're our comfort, you're our father, you're
our mother, you're our husband, you're our brother, you're our
high priest, you're our prophet, priest, king, you're everything.
That's like a little baby, totally dependent on his mother. That's
who Jesus Christ is to all his people, all his people. And you hear him, the woman at
the well, She was religious. She was religious. And she had
many questions, didn't she? Well, you say, this is the place.
And we say, this is the place. And so on. And Christ said, you
don't know what you worship. You're just religious. Like Nicodemus. He said, his conversation with
Nicodemus lasted about four minutes. You can just keep talking and
keep talking. And when Christ reveals Himself to you, no more. And our Lord said to Nicodemus,
you must be born again. Born from above. And when you
are. And the seed He puts in you.
What's the seed He puts in you? It's the Word. What's the Word?
Christ. You'll see Christ. You'll see
Christ is out. The woman at the well. She had all these questions.
Alright. And the Lord? Revealed to her,
you don't have anything, you don't know anything. And he gave
her up a thirst, didn't he? And she came the same way, every
day, same way, every day, same way with a water pot she got
from her grandmother's. It was an old heirloom. She wouldn't
trade that water pot for anything. Which represents our old profession
of faith, our old heart and all that. Just everything, this old
empty vessel. She came to get the water. And
when Christ gave her a thirst and a hunger and a thirst for
the Christ, she said, when Christ has come, He'll tell us all the
things. She said, I am. You know what she did? Dropped
her water bottle. Dropped that water bottle. Don't
need that. Don't need anything. Why? I haven't
met Him. You know what she did? She went
back home. You know who she spoke to? Him. She said to the men,
all the men there, come see a man. And hopefully when you go and
talk to people out there in the world about what we do here,
hopefully you'll say, come hear Christ preach. You won't look for a church,
you'll look for Him. He's the Word of God. He's everything.
He's all the types, all the symbols, all the shadows, all the studies. Every person, somehow, someway,
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Every major personality of the
Scriptures. Even some women. Even some women,
like Abigail. Or, I don't want to dismiss it. Okay, he is all the wisdom and
knowledge of God. Colossians 2 verse 3 says that
in him are hid, and he can't be known by study in the Bible.
Jesus Christ cannot be known by study in the Bible. You say,
what are you talking about? Illustration. Our Lord sent a deacon named
Philip. He walked, I don't know, he ran,
I don't know how many miles, out in the desert. There was
one fellow who was a eunuch, Ethiopian eunuch, head of, brilliant
man, head of all the treasures of his master, okay? He's a brilliant
man. He's a rich man. He'd come to
Jerusalem to worship, okay? Maybe to study the Bible, whatever
they called it, Korah, whatever. He's riding back in his chariot.
And you're talking about election, you're talking about the sovereign
will of God. This man wasn't asking, wasn't looking, wasn't
calling. He was just sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah
53. Of all places. And the Lord said to Philip,
go down to the desert. There's a fella you're going
to preach to. He pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them. What the world calls foolishness.
I don't need that. Yes, you do. It's not the preacher
or the preaching, it's the message. But this is the means that God
has chosen. Jesus Christ was a preacher. There's not a person
in Scripture saved apart from preaching to God. Not one. You won't find him. The Lord
sent Philip down there to that fellow, and he ran. He was running. That's what a preacher runs.
Run. They hope the gospel runs well. He ran up to the chariot,
and he's reading out loud Isaiah 53. And Philip said, Do you understand
what you're reading? Do you know what he said? How can I? Now this is a brilliant
man. This is a powerful man. This
is a rich man. This is a knowledgeable man.
Intelligent man. He said, How can I? Phillips said, well, scoot over.
And he got up in that chariot, and he preached. What did he
preach? Not watch. He preached Christ. That's right. From Isaiah 53. All right? All
right. What's baptism? What do you mean,
what's baptism? It's confessing Christ. You're
not confessing yourself. All right? Philip, in the course
of his message, preaching Christ crucified, buried, risen again,
Christ dying as a substitute for his people, for the transgression
of God's people, and God laying on him the iniquity of all his
people, and making his soul an offering for sin, and by his
stripes are healed wounds and bruises and making his soul an
offering for sin, a burnt offering for sin, showing this eunuch
how he's a sinner through and through, and Christ is his only
hope. And God laid on him the iniquity
of all his people, made his soul an offering. And then Simon Peter
said Christ was buried, putting away the sins of God's people.
But he rose again, proving who he was and what he did, that
God accepted it. Like the high priest of old coming out of the...
coming out of the Holy of Holies, blood accepted. And he went back
and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high, the work
is finished, nothing left to be done but for him to round
up his people by the preaching of the gospel. He said, that's
it. And then he said to the eunuch, now Christ told us to go into
all the world and preach this gospel. And he that believeth
in Christ and is baptized, confessing him, who he was, what he did,
crucified, buried. I believe who he is and what
he did. I believe he did this for sinners.
I hope he did it for me. But I'm confessing him. And he
rose again, and I want to be quickened together with him and
someday sit with him in the heavens. That's what baptism is saying. And they were riding along, and
there was a lake or a pond or whatever, and a unit said, stop! What does it mean to be baptized?
He said to be baptized, confess Christ. I believe it. Philip
said, if you believe with all your heart. I believe Jesus is
the Christ, the Son of the living God is all mine. I believe who
he is. Philip said, let's go. I got
down in that water. Baptism doesn't do one thing
for anybody. Doesn't put away one sin, doesn't
change you, doesn't wash you, doesn't do anything. It's just
a confession of Jesus Christ. It's the way God said to me. He's all the Word of God. Where
am I? The wisdom and knowledge of God. Oh, I was going to have
you turn to Proverbs 8. Proverbs 8. Oh, wow. All the
wisdom of God. Proverbs 4, Proverbs 8. Ecclesiastes. Interesting. And
Ecclesiastes I don't want to misquote it,
but just saw that this morning. Just wonderful. Ecclesiastes
8, just like Proverbs 8. Read it sometime. Who's a wise
man? Who among you can interpret a
thing? And he went on to talk about Christ and every purpose
of God. It's just wonderful. Read a few
sentences. But this all speaks of Him. The
Lord Jesus Christ. He is all the wisdom of God,
all the knowledge of God. He's all the salvation of God. God is holy. God is righteous. God is a consuming fire. And I told you about Him. He
showed them who He really is. Light. It's countless. Anybody
has a picture of a fellow with a beard and they call him Jesus,
they don't know him. They've never seen him. Never
seen him. That's an island, that's an island.
There's no description of him in the Bible. Except the one
in Revelation. His countenance has that what?
Sun that shines on Australia. Voices of many waters. He's holy, he's just, he's righteous. Oh, the salvation of God? God
is holy. God is just. He will by no means
clear the guilty. But God said, I'm going to be
merciful to him, I will be. I'm going to be gracious to him,
I will be. I'm going to make all my goodness pass before you.
I'm going to save some people. And this is how. He said, this
place by me, the rock, I'm going to put you on it. He had Him
standing on the rock first, Moses. And it says, the Lord came down
and stood with Him there. Who's that? Jesus Christ. I'm
the rock. He's the rock. And then He put
Him in the rock. The cleft of the rock. He's on
the rock. He's in the rock. Do you understand? We're so blessed, aren't we? He's all the salvation of God,
like that ark. Noah's ark. Everybody outside
that ark got paid. Everyone in that ark, God loved
them. How do you know? He saved them. He loves all He
saved. And you know what? Everyone He
loves and everyone He purposely saved, you know what He'll reveal?
In the ark. In the ark. No animal went on
that ark of His free will. Lions don't come when you call
them. Well, these did. Noah went out and said, you're
not the king of the jungle. I am. Gone. And he came like
a house cat. Get that out. That's what the
Lord does for every one of His people. They all come. They all
come by His power, by His Word. He's, all the promises of God,
Scripture says in Him, all the promises of God are what? Yay! I love that word, yay, Y-E-A,
you know, yes, yes it's yay, but it's more than that, it's
yay! You know when you cheer for something that gives you
great joy and it's like the victory of something, you know, yay! Everybody in heaven's gonna be
hollering, yay! He obtained the victory. Amen
means All the promises of God are yay and amen. It means certain,
sure, unchangeable, that's the way it is and nobody can stop
it. And when you say amen, you say, that's what I believe. And
everybody in glory has seen His glory and are there because He
brought them there and washed them in His own blood are going
to be saying yay and amen to the glory of God. Not Jesus Christ. All the promises of God. You
can trust Him fully. You can't trust anybody else,
but you can trust Him. You should. He's all the blessings
of God. All the blessings of God. All
the preeminence of God. I don't know where you go with
this. He is heaven itself. David said this, Who have I in
heaven? That's the reason when you come
and really meet the Lord Jesus Christ, when He reveals Himself
to you, and He puts you in one of these heavenly places, and
you hear Christ pray, and if He blesses you with the Spirit
to hear Christ pray, high and lifted up, and enables you to
worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and don't need any flesh. You just rejoice. You feel like,
I'm as close to heaven as I can get. In this heavenly place,
when the Lord blesses us, when the Spirit of God comes and shows
us Christ, we don't want to leave. We don't have to go back out
there. Can we just stay here? Well, one day we will. We'll
stay all together, doing one thing. See, He's heaven. He's heaven. And the Scripture
says in our text, He's in all His people. Christ is all and
in all. What does that mean? It said
Jew, or Gentile, or Greek, or barbarian, Scythian, Mongol,
Greek, male, female. He's in all His people. Christ
is all and in all His people. This is how you know who His
people are. If you open up their hearts,
and God looks on the heart, you know what you'll see? Faith in
Christ and love for Christ. If you ask that, What their hope
of heaven is. Who they're looking for. They'll
tell you. Him. One answer. Because to them,
Christ is all. He's all. And He's in them. And they're in Him. And they're
one. And they're married. And they're
going to live someday happily ever after. Okay.