Some of our brethren here are
home right now sick. And from experience, I can tell
you that when this is all over, you will see two things. Number
one, you will see that the Lord's grace is sufficient. And number
two, you will see that God still reigns upon His throne. And it's
good. It's all good. And we thank the
Lord for it. I thank the Lord for allowing
me to be here. Thank you, Brother Paul, for asking me to stay.
I'd like to read a verse of Scripture to you before we turn to what
will be our text. So go with me, if you would,
to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians 3. While you're turning
there, Let me set up this message by telling you that the longer
that I go, the longer that I live, the longer I study this Word
and think on these things, it is becoming more and more
clear to me, and I mean this sincerely, it is becoming more
and more clear to me that this is all about Him. Everything is zeroing in on that.
This is all about Him. This is all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. And whenever I say this, what
I mean is everything. Everything. It's all about Him. Now look with me at the last
line of Colossians 3 verse 11. It says, Christ is all and in all. Christ is all and in all. True worship. is all about Him. You think about
worshiping something. If you were going to worship
something. I have a music background. Most everybody I'm sure has been
to a concert. All the people in the crowd, they're all looking
to one spot. Worship is all about the object
you're worshiping. True worship is all about Him. The more that He is the object
of our worship, the more we're truly worshiping. The gospel is all about Him. Everybody wants to sing gospel
songs and, you know, it's all about me and it's all about you
and it's all about mama. That's not the gospel. The Gospel
is all about Him. If we want to preach the Gospel,
we have to preach Him. There's a lot of very horrible
truth in here about us. We'll read some things and think,
oh no, that's the truth, buddy, that's the truth. But if we want
to preach the Gospel, we have to be talking about Him. It's
all about Him. Who He is. How many times have
we heard this? I think about all these men who
preached before us. And they stood up and they said,
it's all about who He is, what He has done, why He did it, who
He did it for, where He is now. It's all about Him. All about Him. We preach Him. That's the simplest way to say
it. Do we preach three R's? Yes, we do. Do we preach five
points? Yes, we do. But what's the easiest
way to say it? We preach Him. We preach Him. We worship Him. Our fellowship is around Him. Our doctrine is Him. He's our doctrine. Christ is
all. and in all. That's our message
every time. Every single time. That's why
we only have one message. It's because that's the message
every time. Christ is all and in all. That's our message. That's
our gospel. That's our doctrine. That's our
hope. That's all our hope is that Christ
is all. That's all of it. Now, I want
us to see this morning how Christ is our all from 1 Corinthians
1, where our brother just read. This is going to be our text.
1 Corinthians 1. One verse in particular is the
text, but let's begin reading in verse 23. 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23, Paul said, Preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews, that's a stumbling
block. Unto the Greeks, that's foolishness.
That's all you're going to preach every time you stand up? Unto
them which are called, though, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger
than men, For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, Not many noble are called,
but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound
the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of
the world, and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea,
and things which are not to bring to naught things that are. 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." What he just said
was, Christ is all and in all. Now let's see that and really
enter into that, focusing in on one verse, verse 30. He said,
but of Him are you in Christ Jesus. He tells us who He's talking
to. He said, of Him are you in Christ
Jesus. He's talking to all those who
are in Christ Jesus. That's who He's writing this
to. There are two types of people on this earth. Those who are in Christ Jesus
and those who are out of Christ Jesus. Eternal life is being found in
Christ Jesus. And eternal death is being found
out of Christ Jesus. It comes down to that. Either we're in Him, and safe
and secure from all alarm, or we're out of Him, and we're going
to stand before the judgment throne. Our only hope before
the judgment throne is being found in Him. That's it. That is it. Alright, now. How
do we get in Him? I want to be in Him. How do we get in Him? That's
a question when I was a kid, I used to ask myself that question.
How do you get in Christ? Verse 30 tells us, He said, Of
God are you in Christ Jesus. It's a work that God does. It's a work that only God can
do, and it's a work that God has already done. God the Father put every soul
that would ever be in Christ, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world. You know, when you first hear
that, fear comes over you. As soon as you get a hold of
that, that's the truth. Strikes a little bit of fear
in you. Because you realize the work is finished. That work is
done. That decision has already been
made. It's settled. And the question that immediately
comes is, am I in Christ? And how can I know if He put
me in Christ? How can I know if He put me in
Christ? How can a sinner know if he or
she is in Christ? What is the evidence of a sinner
being in Christ? What really is the evidence?
If we all want to know, if we're in Christ, what is the evidence
of whether or not a sinner is in Christ? Here it is. If a sinner is in Christ, that
sinner will cry out to God from the depths of his soul, please
put me in Christ. That's the evidence. The sinner
will cry, please let me be found in Him. Every day, all of his
days, he'll cry, please let me be one of them. Please let me
be found in Him. If I'm not found in Him, I have
no other hope. I'm begging, I am begging. Even
me, even me. Let me be found in Him. Please let me be found in Him.
That is the evidence of a soul that is in Christ. That's what a soul does that
was before the foundation of the world placed in Christ. A soul that is not in Christ
will not see the need of crying, please put me in Him. and won't
do it, not from the depths of his soul, not in absolute despair. A person that is not in Christ
does not see himself in the flesh to be a hopeless condition before
God. All those in Christ do. Those
who are out of Christ see a little need for improvement, but there's
something here to work with. But those who are in Christ,
in their own flesh, They see there is nothing in themselves
that will commend them to God. They see a hopeless condition. But every soul who does see the
need and does cry out for mercy, to every one of those souls,
verse 30 says, of Him are you in Christ Jesus. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. Now let's see how Christ is all
in all four of those things that he just mentioned. Verse 30 says,
But of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us wisdom." Of God. By God. Christ has been made
unto us wisdom. Here's what that means. Christ
is our wisdom. Well, if we want to talk about
our wisdom, it all funnels to one word. Christ. Christ is our wisdom. We need
wisdom, and we don't realize how desperately we need wisdom.
We need it so badly. In our simple-mindedness, we
think, yeah, it'd be a good idea to have wisdom. We probably ought
to ask for some wisdom. It'd be better to have wisdom
than foolishness. So, it's not just a good idea,
it's life and death. Honestly, it's eternal life.
and eternal death. Moses said, oh, that they were
wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their
latter end. That God would teach us to number our days, that we
may apply our hearts to wisdom. Solomon said, with all thy getting,
get understanding, get wisdom. He said, wisdom is the principal
thing. What wisdom is He talking about?
Is He talking about the general wisdom of the world? Look at the end of verse 20.
It says, Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? So foolish. Well, then does He
mean the wisdom of just particular men that others in the world
you know, think they seem to be wise men. Maybe not the mindset
of the whole world, but just individuals. No, look at verse
19. He said, For it is written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. And He will. If a man thinks
himself to be wise, God will show and convince, if he belongs
to Him, if He put him in Christ, He'll show him, I'm nothing. If a man thinks himself to be
wise, he's a fool. And once a man realizes he's
a fool, God, that's wisdom coming out. What wisdom is he talking
about? What must we know, really? What
must we know? The answer is we must know a
person. We must know a person. Our Lord
said to His Father, this is life eternal that they might know
Thee. There are some people in this
world, and I know who they are, but I don't know them. This is life eternal that they
might know Thee. This is what the Apostle Paul
said. He said, every other knowledge that there is. He was an educated
man. Only one of the apostles who
went to seminary. And he said, I throw it all out. Before God
would use him, he had to throw it all out. And he said, every
other knowledge, every other doctrine, every other religion,
every law, everything else that there is to know, in his own
words, he said, it's all dung. It's just dung. He said, I must know Him. Oh, that I might know Him. He
is our wisdom. He is our knowledge. He is our
theology. To know Christ is to know it
all. Matthew 11.27 says, No man knows
the Son, but the Father. And no man knows the Father,
but the Son. But to all of God's people in
Christ, Christ is going to reveal Himself. We can't know Him if
He does not reveal Himself. And Christ is going to reveal
the Father in Himself. In John 10, our Lord said, My
sheep know Me. You think about that. My sheep
know Me. Have they ever physically seen
Him? Aside from those years that he
was on the earth? No. But he said, they know me. And
he said, they hear me. They know when it's my voice.
And he said, they follow me. And that's wisdom. That is wisdom. The Apostle Paul said, I know
whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day. That's wisdom.
That's wisdom. Christ is the answer to every
question. Christ is the solution to every
problem. That's what it means to say,
He is our wisdom. He's our wisdom. When I first
got to Kingsport, especially that first year, looking back
on it, I feel like I was thrown to the wolves. People were coming
out of the woodwork, not in the congregation, just in town. Kingsport
is a very religious town and word got out that I had come
there and men, I guess I was fresh meat for them to spar their
knowledge with. I got calls from all kinds of
people. They wanted to just talk over the phone or they wanted
to go to lunch. They didn't want to come to the service, they
wanted to go to lunch. I had a guy tell me one time
he wanted to take me to lunch and talk dispensationalism. And
I said, well, I don't mind going to lunch with you, but that's
going to be the shortest conversation you've ever had in your life.
He said, I don't even know what you're talking about. And I wasn't
trying to be sarcastic. I was just honest. I didn't even
know what he was talking about. I had a guy one time ask me,
he said, are you a premillennial, a amillennial, or a postmillennial? I said, I don't even know what
that is. Honestly, I kind of asked around,
but I don't know what that is. Not really. I had a guy come
in one time, one Sunday morning, and he said he hadn't decided
if he was going to sit down and stay for the service. He said
he hadn't made up his mind yet. He said, before I do, I need
to know where you stand on Daniel's 70 weeks. I said, I don't have
the slightest. I know somehow it points us to
Christ crucified, but I don't know. I just don't know. I'm sure they all think I'm about
the dumbest preacher in town, but here's the thing, this is
what I'm trying to tell you. I'm okay with that. I literally
am. When people say, I get this question
all the time, where did you go to seminary? Here's my answer,
I didn't. I'm okay with that. I think about
Peter and John or James or whoever it was standing before the council,
immediately those Pharisees realized, these are ignorant and unlearned
men. Yep, that's us. That is us. This is what the Apostle Paul
said. He said, we willingly are fools
for Christ's sake. We have on purpose, this is what
he said in the next chapter, verse 2. He said, I have determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
With all those people, I always tell them, if you want to talk
Christ crucified, I can enter into that a little bit, but on
all that other stuff, I don't know. I don't know. So verse
30 says, of Him are you in Christ Jesus? who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness." Righteousness means rightness. It's the act of doing right. Don't you wish you did right?
Don't you wish you did right? In our sinful flesh, nothing
is right. It never has been, it never will
be. This is what Paul said in Romans 7. He said, in my flesh
dwells no good thing. If you just want to talk about
my flesh, not Christ in me, but if you want to talk about this
flesh right here, He said no good thing. I think about Spurgeon's
story of the huckster. This is all that man could say.
I'm just a sinner, nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all
in all. That's it. He is our righteousness
before God. He is our good deeds before God. He is our obedience before God. Look with me at Romans 10. Romans 10 verse 1, it says, Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, not according to
wisdom. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness." And
I'll tell you this, whenever wisdom comes to a sinner, that's
the first thing they realize. God's righteousness. That's what
they say. I'm trying to do something here
that Christ has already done, and I can't do. Verse 3 says, "...they, being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God." What is the righteousness of God?
Verse 4 says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to every one that believeth. He is our fulfillment of the
law. Don't you love knowing that?
He is our perfect record. Could you imagine going to stand
before God, bringing your own deeds? Could you imagine? We don't need to try to earn
our own Perfection, He earned it for us, He gave it to us,
in that we can rest from all our labors as God has from His.
So Christ is our wisdom, Christ is our righteousness, and if
you go back to 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30 says, But of Him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification. Purity. That means holiness. Righteousness is perfection without. Going about doing good. Sanctification
is perfection within. To stand in God's presence, we
must be perfect without and within. Verse 2 of this chapter says,
we are sanctified in Christ Jesus. We're made pure in Him. Not in ourselves, but in Him.
1 Corinthians 6 verse 9 says, Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind. nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And such were some of you, but
you're washed." But you are sanctified, but you are justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Cleansed,
made pure in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit
of our God. Colossians 2 verse 10 says you
are complete in Him. You're complete, totally pure,
totally holy in Him. A few years ago, I was talking
to a group of very dear brethren in another place, not in Kingsport,
but they had just come out of a very hard bondage religion,
a very, very hard works, false religion, one that even claimed
what we call the doctrines of grace. But it was just still
hard bondage. And they were constantly being
pressed to increase in holiness and purity. And it's called progressive
sanctification. And what they were being told
was, if you don't see yourself being more holy, you're not a
child of God. They were under this bondage
of trying to do something they can't do. If Christ is our holiness,
that's as holy as you get. To get any holier than Him is
blasphemy. But they were trying to do something
that can't be done, and all that leads to is self-righteousness. And utter despair. Hopefully
utter despair. Just, I can't do this. I can't
do this. But anyway, the Lord... The Lord
pulled him out of all that. He was so gracious to them. And
He showed them grace. And He showed them Christ. And
He brought them out of all that. And I was talking to one of the
young men about all that. And he was asking about sanctification
and, you know, what he'd been told and what he's seeing. And
I quoted to him our text this morning. Christ is our sanctification. He is our purity. When that question
is asked, what makes you worthy to walk into heaven? Here's the
answer. Him. What gives you the right
to walk in? You're going to have to ask Him.
You're going to need to talk to Him. He's my purity. He's my right. He's my worthiness.
He did it. He is it. Don't look at me. Not
unto me. But unto Him, Christ is our holiness
and purity. And I was talking to that precious
young man, and he just stared off for a minute and thought
about that, and he said, isn't that so relaxing? I said, it sure is, my brother.
That's relaxing. That's relaxing. Back in our
text, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 30 says, "...of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and
sanctification and redemption." Redemption means salvation. It means deliverance. It means
payment in full. Christ is all of it. He is all of it. He is the only
reason for our redemption. He didn't start the pavement
and leave it up to anybody to finish it. He is all of it. We are saved only because of
Him. Only because of Him. Turn with
me to Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 verse 29, it says, Let no corrupt communication
proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use
of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice, And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you." That is about the sweetest, most glorious verse. God, for
Christ's sake, God the Father has forgiven us for all of our
sin against Him. All of this sin that we daily
commit, David said, against you and you only have I done this.
All of this sin against Him, He has forgiven us fully, completely,
totally, for one reason only, for Christ's sake. is for Christ's
sake. The shed blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, that has paid our debt in full. Paid it in full. Because of that, the only plea
that needs to be made, and this is the only plea that can be
made, for Christ's sake. That's all we can say. For Christ's
sake. That's all the Father needs to
hear. To welcome one of His own into His kingdom. That's all
He needs to hear. For Christ's sake, that is music to his ears.
I'll close with one more story. And I don't know if I've told
it here or not, but I don't care, I love telling it. A few years ago, Sophie was in
young elementary school. She still is. But she was probably
five, six, seven, I don't know what, you know, I tell everybody
it was about that time when you don't have any front teeth. But the girls had things going and
Hannah couldn't be everywhere at once so we had to divide and
conquer and it was at Thanksgiving. Sophie's school was having a
Thanksgiving lunch, turkey and dressing and all that and the
parents were invited to come. So I was going to Sophie's school
and I got there And I don't know what's going on. I don't know
where to go. I don't know what to do. I just
showed up and I walked into the cafeteria and all these kids
are in line. They've got this big table set
up serving their lunch and so I'm just standing there waiting.
Sophie and her little friend are in line together. And I watch
them, they get their trays and they get their food and they're
walking all the way across the cafeteria to me and it's loud
in there, parents and kids and I can't hardly hear anything.
But they're walking over and Sophie is talking to me, she's
talking to me, telling me something and I can't really hear her or
I don't know what she's saying and I'm trying to get my bearings
and she's just telling me something and I finally start to gather
that her little friend, who I'm looking back and forth at her
and her little friend is just locked on me. She's telling me
that her little friend, her mom had to work and she couldn't
come to the Thanksgiving lunch today and wanted to know if she
could sit with us. But as this is going on and I'm
trying to figure all this out and I'm Looking at Sophie and
looking at her the whole time, that little girl is nodding her
head at me. She's just looking at me, nodding her head at me.
I'm looking at Sophie and Sophie's explaining and I look at her
and she said, it's okay. It's okay. I know her mother. And I looked at Sophie and Sophie's
talking and I looked back at her and she said, I know her
mother. And I looked at her and she said,
it's okay, I know her mother. And I get what's going on. And
I said, wait a minute. You know her mother? She said,
yes, I know her mother. I said, well, then you come on.
Absolutely. If you know her mother, then
you're sitting with us. And what that little girl was
saying was, for Hannah's sake, For Hannah's sake, will you please
have me? Can I please sit with you for
Hannah's sake?" And that's what we do to the Father. We come
going, for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. Please have
me for Christ's sake. Please welcome me for Christ's
sake. Not because of any decision I
made. Not because I straightened up
and flew right. Not because of me, anything.
For Christ's sake. That's all I have. Is for Christ's
sake, accept us in Him. Because He's all we have. He
is our all and in all. When the Father hears that, the
Father says, absolutely. You're sitting with us at our
table. You'll be seated with us at our
table. I'm telling you, the longer we go, I mean this sincerely,
the longer we go, the more we're going to realize this is all
about Him. One day in glory, we're going
to know it perfectly. We'll never stop crying that.
Never. Christ is all and in all. All right. Thank you, Brother
Paul.