That's good. He just had to go and play that.
It was so we had to sing it. I understand you sung that down
at Cherokee, didn't you? I've heard several comments.
the people that were there, and what a blessing. A lot of people
haven't heard that. That's good. Colossians chapter 2 now. Colossians
2. We just sung a hymn. An H-I-M. And that's what this book is. It's a hymn book. The book of
Colossians, the whole book, the whole scriptures from start to
finish is taken up with him. Colossians, though, especially
Colossians, is a hymn book, an H-I-M book. As all the scriptures,
unto him, the scripture says, unto him give all the prophets
witness. Christ crucified. He's the word
of God, he's the theme of the scriptures, and he's the theme
of our song. Or should be. Should be. Brother Scott said one time,
every message without Christ in it is a crime, is a crime
in its execution. Every song sung without Christ
in it is a, is a crime in its composition. Shouldn't have been,
shouldn't have been sung, shouldn't have been written. Unto him. He's the theme of our song. Unto
him. That's what we're going to sing throughout all eternity.
One song, unto him. Unto him who washed us from our
own sins in his own blood. And everything the church says
and does should be related to him. Everything. Our song should
be about him, our messages. Our messages should be about
him, our methods. should be looking unto him. Our
goal should be to win him, to know him, to be found in him. Our purpose should be to glorify
him. Everything should be unto him. Because without him there would
be no church. Right? We wouldn't even be here
this morning were it not for him. So everything should be
in his name and toward him. In reading through Colossians, two phrases struck me, just captured
my attention. Two very short phrases, each
one having two words. Two phrases captured my attention. Three, really, but two of them
mean one and the same thing. I want you to notice with me
how often God records these phrases, by him and then with him. By him and with him. I know you've seen how it says, And we have looked at that before,
but in him really means the same thing as being with him. OK? But I want you to notice
with me how many times, how often God Almighty records this through
Colossians, by him and with him, speaking of himself and speaking
of Christ, him. All right? Look at chapter 1,
verse 1. One, it says Paul, an apostle, a messenger, a preacher
of Jesus Christ. Christ was the theme of his preaching,
the reason for Paul being an apostle. That was the purpose
of the apostle. That's what they were called
to do, as is every true preacher. Any man who's standing up this
morning to preach, and he's not preaching of Jesus Christ. have to believe God didn't send
that man. Right? An apostle of Jesus Christ, by
the will of God. The will of God is that we preach
His Son, preach Him. And he says, by the will of God,
I'm called, I'm chosen by God, I'm equipped by God, I'm sent
by God. By God, I'm sent. By God. By God, I'm sent to preach about
Christ. at the priest's cry. God put
me in the ministry, Paul said. He's the one that put me in the
ministry, sent by him and for him, for Christ. Paul said this
in another place, I am what I am by the grace of God, by the grace
of God. And if you have been here more
than once, everyone in here has, and no new faces But you'll notice
that nearly all of our messages have pretty much the same sound to them, don't they? They
all pretty much sound the same. I hope so. I hope they're in
the same key. You know, we play all our songs
the same key, don't we? Middle C. Middle C. That's the middle of the piano,
isn't it? What you tune the piano to. That's the middle, that's
the heart of the gospel. Christ, the heart of the Scriptures.
We tune all our messages and all our songs to Middle C—to
Middle Christ. And you'll notice that, I hope.
You'll notice that all these messages have the same sound
to them. A certain sound, Terry, a certain
sound of a certain Savior, of a certain salvation, starts with
a C. It's certainly so. It's to certain
people, too—chosen people. That starts with a C, too—chosen. Well, they have a certain particular—I
just like all those words, don't you?—a certain peculiar sound
to them, peculiarly Christ. I am what I am by the grace of
God. We're saying much the same thing over and over and over
and over again, as we should, as we should. We talk about the
grace of God, the sovereignty of God. We talk about Christ
a lot. talk about our sin and how our
sins are put away by Christ, and talk about the gospel, the
gospel, gospel, gospel. As one woman said in derision
of a preacher—she meant it for evil—she told one of our brethren,
she said, Oh, you preach this gospel, gospel, gospel, that's
all you preach. He took it as the highest compliment ever paid.
He said, Write that on my tombstone, would you? Well, you see, I am
what I am by the grace of God. Everything we are, and have,
and will be, and will do, and are, will be, we owe to the grace
of God, so we preach about God, the grace of God. Everything
is by God, by God's grace, right? By Christ. Everything's done
by Christ, for us. For Him, but, yes, for us, by
Him. You remember me telling you where
the term bigots came from? They call us bigoted here. They say, you're all too narrow,
too bigoted, you're too narrow, you're bigoted. Well, that's
all right. I'll take that term, if you want
to get to the heart of what it means. I'm just as narrow as
Christ. He said the way is narrow, didn't
he? He said straight is the gate
and narrow is the way that leads up. Well, I want to be just as
narrow as that way is. What is that way? The way. Christ
said, I am the way. There is no other way. I am the
way. That's narrow, isn't it? Well, I'm a bigot, too. I'm a
bigot. Not against black people or red
people or yellow people or white people. The term came when there
was a man back in olden days under some pagan ruler and some
pagan religion. This fellow forced everybody
to bow their knees to him. Bow their knees. When he came
by, they were forced to bow to him, and this one fellow said,
in the language of that day, he said, Begot, I will not. Begot. What he said was, By God,
I will not. By God, I will not. This man
was a believer. He only believed in bowing his
knee to God Almighty, not to man. A man who believed in the
grace of God, who by God he was what he was, had what he had,
by God, not by this man, but by God. And he said, Begot or
by God I won't bow. So I'm a by God. By God, by God
I believe what I believe. By God, that's how I'm saved,
by God. by Christ, and Christ is God. Look at verse 13. It
says that He had delivered us from the power of darkness, translated
us unto the kingdom of His dear Son, and now He's starting to
talk about His Son, in whom, in Christ, we have redemption
through His blood. Did you notice—I know some of
you probably did—how it keeps using the the positive tense,
the past tense, and everything, in whom we have, we have redemption. Have him made peace. You that
were, yet now hath he. Chapter 2 says, buried with him. Verse 11 says, in whom you were
circumcised, past tense, are risen with him. You being dead,
hath he quickened. blotting out, having spoiled. Do you notice that? I kept trying
to emphasize that when we were reading. It's done. It's done.
In Him. We'll read on. It says that Christ
is the Son of God, in whom, verse 14, we have God's people, those
who have been sanctified and called and given to Christ. paid for their sins by Christ,
into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have, we have
redemption. They have redemption. Might have,
not might have, not will have someday, but they have redemption.
How? Through his blood. Yes, even the forgiveness of
sins, all of them, past, present, and future, gone, forgiven, put
away. Verse 15, because he's the image
of God, the invisible God, that's who it is. He expressed Him. He is God. That's how He can
do what He did. That's how He can forgive sin,
because He is God. He is God, and the firstborn
of every creature, firstborn from the dead. Verse 16, and
here's where it starts saying, "...by Him." All right? Notice with me. I'm just going
to show you a few times where it says, "...by Him." Verse 16,
"...for by Him," by Christ Jesus, "...were all things created."
By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, that are
in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, dominions,
principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him. You
notice that? Things in heaven, that means
the birds and the bees, in the heavens, the atmosphere, things
in earth. Plants, animals, things, he's
the creator. Jesus Christ is the creator. He's God. Without him was not
anything made which was made. He is God. By him. And we look to be things visible
and invisible. In the heaven of heavens, the
heavens of heavens, that is the spiritual world, Christ created
all things, the angels, the cherubs, the seraphs. That's what we studied
Wednesday night, wasn't it? How that Christ created all things.
That means even the devil. Right? Oh yeah, that's things. Dominions,
principalities, powers, visible or invisible, Christ created
them, right? Hmm? Oh yeah. And being creator, that
means that he's owner over all things and controller over all
things. By him, read on, and for him. For him. And in case you aren't here Wednesday,
I do want you to turn to Proverbs 16. All right? Turn over to Proverbs
16. I told the folks that Wednesday
night, I said, if you haven't ever seen this verse in Proverbs
16, If you're seeing it for the first
time, it should change your theology forever. Proverbs 16, you see,
Jesus Christ is the one that made devils. Satan himself. Oh, yeah. By him, all things,
right, were created. Inherit, heaven, visible, invisible. Right? You say, no, he created
them angels and they became devils. Known unto God, it always works
from the beginning. Acts 13, 18, right? Known unto him are
all his works from the beginning. That's Acts 15, 18. And he created everything the way—and
the only way I can describe or explain why he allowed a purpose
for them to become devils is, it says, it created for him.
Somehow or another they were given glory. Somehow the fall of man—I kind
of have an inkling why, but I'm not going to take the time to
go into that. But it's going to give him glory. That's why
he did it. That's why. That's why there are devils.
Otherwise, there would be none. There would be no devils. There'd
be no Satan. If somehow or another all that
was going on didn't give Christ glory, there wouldn't be. Everything
is for his glory. Proverbs 16, verse 4, the Lord
hath made all for himself, all things for himself, yes, even
the wicked, for the day of evil. Isn't that
what it says? If you have a King James Bible,
that's what it says. Tell her what these other perversions
say. But that's what that says, that
even the wicked for the day of evil. Explain it, preacher. I can't. I just know it's so.
It's just so. All things created by him and
for him. All right, turn back to the text.
Read on. By him, by Christ. By him. Look at verse 17. And Christ
is before all things. That means above all things.
He is above all things, and by Him all things consist. He upholds
all things. Hebrews 1, 3 says, He upholds
all things by the word of His power. That's Christ. In other words, everything consists,
everything was created by Him, everything subsists and consists
In Him. In Him we live and move and have
our being. In Him. In Christ. Jesus Christ.
In Him. He has absolute control over
all things, because all things are in Him, in that sense. Nothing,
as Martin would say, nothing rides or wiggles except the Lord
of glory makes it ride or wiggle. He, as we said, not as Pharaoh,
falls to the ground without your heavenly Father. What does that
mean? Without Him looking on and speaking,
oh, poor wish that hadn't happened. No, it didn't fall, except that
He ordained it. He said, yeah, but it has your
Heavenly Father in it, not a hair of Him falls to the ground for
what He wouldn't ordain it. That's right. That's right. Why do I always look at you,
Stan? I quit looking at you. I look at everybody. They all
get a mirror. But it sucked. It sucked. And you men were full heads of
hair. Henry, what do you have that you have not received, buddy? It's a little glory, isn't it?
All right? I'm not making a thing of the
Scripture, but it's so. We're people. It's glory to something. Glory to something's on our hair.
There's no reason you have a full head, because God ordained it.
The reason I don't is He ordained it. I ought to submit to that.
We ought to submit to it, Stan Shipman. Submit to it. It'll
be inevitable. But Jesus Christ is in control
overall. Nothing rides or wiggles. Nothing
exists or deceases. Nothing ceases to exist. He says,
I make alive, I kill. Hear me? Somebody dies, God kills
them. Is that right? Deuteronomy 32,
29, is that it? I think that's it. He said that. 1 Samuel 2, he said that. Isaiah 45, he said that. I ruined,
I healed, it made them sick. God made them sick. Isn't that
right? He's over all things. Jesus Christ. Right? Yes. He determines. I wound, I heal, I kill, I make
alive. That's the reason when somebody
dies, we don't sorrow as those who have no hope. Why? God killed
them. He had a good reason. It wouldn't
happen. He's through with them, or they'd
still be alive. Right? That's our comfort. It's
all our comfort. And whatever he does with him,
it's fine. He'll do right. Isn't that our
comfort? He'll do right. He can't do wrong. He makes a lot. He can. So everything by him, by the
word of his power. Nothing acts or reacts except
by him. As it says, all things were created
by him and for him. For him. The means of our creation
was by his power, and the reason for our creation is for his glory.
The means of creation was by His power, and the reason for
creation is for His glory. The means of salvation is by
His power, totally by Him, and the reason for salvation is for
His glory. By Him and for Him. By Christ
and for Christ. All right? Read on. Verse 18. He's the head. He's the head
of the body. The church, who's at the beginning.
He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. Over and above all things he
has the preeminence. He said, all authority is given
unto me. I'm the Lord. There's none else.
There's none beside me. There's none equal with me. Everything
is unto me. I'm above all. I'm from above,
you're from beneath. I'm the Lord. You call me Lord
and Master, you say I was, so I am. I'm from above, you're
from beneath. I've got all preeminence. All
authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. All authority,
all power is given unto me. He has the preeminence. I'll
never grow tired of hearing that. I'll never grow tired of preaching.
Him, the Eminent One, He's His Eminence. Be a good title to
use for Him, His Eminence. That's the preeminent one. Verse 13, "'For it pleases the
Father that in him should all foolishness dwell.'" Let's turn
to that a little more. "'In him all foolishness,' God
places all things in the hands of His Son. All the power, all
the authority, all the reign, all the rule, all the people,
all the places, all the things, all who are saved were given
to Him by the Father to save.'" to fully save me, to make full
redemption. So he came to earth, verse 20,
and he made peace. Let's turn to that a little longer,
through the blood of his cross. He made peace. Peace on earth.
That's what the angels said when they announced his coming. They
said, peace on earth. Glory to God. That's why I came.
Glory to God. And what else? Peace on earth.
Good will toward men. Goodwill. He is our peace. He's the peace offering. God
sent the peace offering. He obtained peace. He purchased
peace, our pardon. The chastisement that was necessary
for our peace laid on Him. He obtained peace for His people,
for God's chosen. Bloodshed. Without shedding of
blood, no remission. Death. The soul that sinneth
or surely die, Christ died. He ain't right, but he's risen
again. He's even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us by himself. So Christ by himself. See, all
things were by him. Christ by—don't you love that
Hebrews 1, 3, is it, or 5? 1, 5, when he had by himself
purged our sins? Let me look it up. I'm misquoting
my scriptures today, aren't I? I want to make sure you're not
to misquote. Verse 3, "...when he had by himself
purged our sins." Hebrews 1, 3, "...Christ by himself." Jesus
Christ paid it all. All the debt I owe. Did you hear
what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned. Paid for. You're free. They're
all taken away. He paid it all. By Him, I say. Verse 20. Paul says this for
emphasis. He says, By Christ, verse 20,
made peace through the blood of His cross. By Him, yes, to
reconcile all things in Him. He said, By Him, I say. By Him,
I say. Do you hear what I say? By Him,
I say. Not you, Him. You and Him. It's by Him. I say. God says. I can say it. God says. By Him, He says. By Him, reconcile
all things. By Him. Because of Christ. By or because of Christ. God
loves us, receives us, forgives us. Christ did all of this by
Himself. By Himself. He did that. By Himself. Verse 21. Read on. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in you, you say, Percy, we've already gone through
this. I had such a good time, we're going to do it again. I'm smiling, he heard it before.
We'll do it again, right John? To write the same things to you,
to me, is not great, is it? And it's salvation to you, it's
safe. You want to hear it again? Huh? Want to hear it again? And you, yes you, that were sometimes
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, you, the
likes of you, think of it, hath he, and you hath he, reconciled
to himself. Christ did all this by him and
you, by him, by him, by himself. All right, now down to chapter
2, Colossians chapter 2 and verse 11. It says, in him, in Christ
also—you got it? Colossians 2, 11—in Christ also
you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. This is difficult. The average
person understands this thing of circumcision, but this—Paul
said in the book of Romans, he said, true circumcision is circumcision
of the heart. It's a spiritual one. The outward
fleshly ordinance of circumcision was cutting away of a fleshly
part and putting it away, and then the new, the picture of
this spiritual circumcision is the cutting away of the old heart,
stony heart, or the removal of sins, the removal of sins and
casting it away. It says here in verse 11 that
this circumcision, not the one with hands done by a doctor to
children, but this is the putting off of the body of the sins of
the flesh. It's a spiritual work done by
Christ, the great physician himself, Dr. Jesus Christ. He did this
work, this spiritual work, this circumcision. By Him, by Him,
say, it was done by Him. It was done on Him, too. Done on Him, too. His flesh was
cut and torn for us, wasn't it? He was broken, bruised for us,
so that that would not have to actually happen to us. By Him,
and you, by Him. In Christ to crucify, in Christ
we are circumcised spiritually. He put away our sins and cast
them behind our sin, it, like the foreskin, cast away, cast
behind God's back, by him, the circumcision of Christ, Christ
being crucified and wounded for us. Now, notice with me how many
times he says, with him. Notice he says, by him, by him. All things were by him. All things
created by him, by him are all things created, and by him all
things consist. And it says he made peace to
the blood of his cross by Christ, by him. And there it says that
we are circumcised by Christ, by him. Now look how many times
it says, with him. All right? Verse 12. It says
we're buried, God's people are buried with him," in Baptism,
or that he's killed with Christ. Paul said in Galatians 2.20—I
know one person in here, that's one of their favorite verses—he
says, Paul said, I am crucified with Christ, with Christ. I was killed with Christ. When
Christ was crucified, when Christ was wounded, when Christ was
bruised by the Father, I was with him. I was with Him, in
Him. See the same meaning there that
says, I went through in Him? The same meaning with Him. I
was in Him. I was with Him. I was with Him. I was killed with Christ. Look
at chapter 3, verse 3, across the page. It says, You're dead. You're dead. Your life is hid
with Christ in God. You're dead with Christ. Yeah,
but God's going to hold you accountable for what you did. No, no, I was
crucified 2,000 years ago. No, I'm dead. You can't dig a... Here's a man who's committed
a crime, and he goes to a court of law, and they convict him,
and they sentence him to death, and they hang him. They hang
him. and put him at burial. Now, he hangs there and he's
dead, right? For the crimes he committed, he's dead. He's dead. All right? Now, what are they
going to do to him? They take his body down and they
put it in a grave and they cover it over with this. Now, he's
really dead now. He's buried. He's graveyard dead. As Murray would say, he's graveyard
dead. That's dead dead, isn't it? Huh? What's the What's the court of
law going to do? Is they going to say, well, let's
dig him up again and punish him all over again and he won't get
enough? He's dead! Huh? That's all you can do to
him is kill him. Can't dig him up and try him
again and hang him again. He's dead. Well, that's what
the scripture says about God's people. They're dead. You're
dead. And it's not going to be a judgment for God's people.
Why? They've been killed, right? They're dead with Christ. You're
dead. You're dead. Your life is healed
with Christ. I was killed with Christ 2,000
years ago. Yes, sir. All right, look at
chapter 2 again, verse 12. Buried with him in baptism is
just a He's not saying that you're buried with Christ in the waters
of baptism. That's not what he's saying there.
He's not saying that, well, you're going to have to be baptized
or your sins aren't going to be put away. No. That's just water,
same as water you get bathed in at home. It's just like a
big bathtub is all that is. All right? That doesn't make
your soul clean. any more than your bathtub at home, right?
All that is is a symbol, a public confession, an answer of a good
conscience toward God. What? Conscience from being purged
from dead waters? Why are you saying, I was killed
with Christ? What? This is what I'm saying
publicly. I'm going down under the waters
as just a symbol, a public confession that when Christ was crucified
as me, he did that for me. And when Christ was buried, He
did that to me. I was buried with Him. And when Christ came
out of the tomb, I rose too. I'm going to come out. I'm going
to stay under that water. Hold on. And that's all he's saying. Baptism
is just a picture, just a symbol. It's not the actual putting away
of sins, and that's what—but he says we actually were immersed
in Christ and killed right along with Christ, considered by God
in Christ, by God, with Christ, considered by God, with Christ,
in Christ. And baptism, he said, we're buried
with him in baptism wherein also you're risen. Or in that symbol,
symbolic thing, we're risen with him. Risen with Christ. To walk in a new creature. A
new creature. Since God has saved me, I'm a
new creature. A new creature, right? And there
is a new creature inside me. Actual, actually judicially,
spiritually, and actually. created in the image of Christ.
All right, now let's read on. This is important. This is very
important. It says that you were buried
with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him,
with Christ, through the faith of the operation of God, who hath
raised him from the dead. or the faithful operation of
God. You see that? Some of you know
what I'm getting at here. Now I want you to turn. This
is said one, two, three, four, five times. This was misprinted
five times. The one word of. Just turn to,
let's see where two of them are. Galatians, there are two of them
in the book of Galatians. Turn back there, all right? Turn
back Philippians, back, Ephesians, and two of Galatians. All right? I want you to see this. That
little word of ours, your salvation hangs on that little word. Yes,
it does. I'm telling you, son. Now you're
in a sure place. What the world thinks is a misprint
is my salvation. You know what? Oh, my. What the world thinks is a misprint
is my salvation. You say that King James is not
inspired. Well, it's mighty close to it.
Even the printings of English. God ordained that this be printed
down just like that. a little word off. Not in, but
off. So let's read it. Galatians 2,
verse 16. Now knowing that a man is not
justified by the works of the law, or that is God does not
accept or approve of anybody by you doing anything or not
doing. Thou shalt, thou shalt not. That's
not why God accepts anybody. You're doing. We don't. Not justified by the works of
the law, but by the faith, by your faith in Jesus. No, it doesn't
say that either, does it? It doesn't say that either, does
it? What does it say? But by the faith of Jesus Christ. His faith. See, he didn't need
faith. Well, he did, he lived by it,
didn't he? Scripture says he lived by it, didn't it, John?
Over in Hebrew, true faith was made perfect. By faith, oh, Jesus
Christ, by His faithfulness, by His faithful work, being faithful
to God, faithful to God's Word, faithful to God's law, faithful
to me, and saving me. I will be saved by my faithful—Gray
is my faithful one. I'm going to be saved because
he abides faithful. Huh? He's the faithful one. Read on. It's misprinted again. That we might be justified by
the faith of Christ. Not by the works of the law. And I believe over in Habakkuk
where it says the just shall live by faith, where it's printed
the first time. Have you ever noticed that? The
first time that the just shall live by faith, how it reads? The just shall live by, what
does it say? His faith. His faith. We're talking about
a man shall live by his faith. Well, yeah, but no, his faith. Huh? His faith. 2 Thessalonians,
I do want you to turn there. 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians
3. You've got to see this, people.
You've got to see this. I'm not just making this up.
It says of him four times. Romans 3, Galatians 2, Galatians
3, Ephesians 3. 2 Thessalonians 3, look at verse
2 and 3. It says that we need to glorify Christ. Finally, brethren, pray for us
that the word of God may have free course and be glorified.
You pray for me right now that I might be able to make this
clear. All right? You understand? Even as it is
with you. You understand it. Some don't.
Pray that they do. Verse 2, and that we may be delivered
from unreasonable and wicked men. All men don't have faith. But, verse 3, the Lord is faithful. who shall establish you and keep
you from evil." And I love that passage over in 2 Timothy that
says, if we deny him, well, he'll bite his face off. He can't deny
himself. Peter, now let me just illustrate
that. Peter denied our Lord, didn't
he? Does that mean Peter was lost? Does that mean Peter was,
he was, now he was cast out? Oh no. Oh no. Christ couldn't
deny himself. He said Peter was in him. And
you're in him by faith. Whose faith? His faith. Your
faith is just realization of his faith. You understand that? Am I making it difficult? What
your faith is, John, your faith in Him is believing it's His
faith that saved you, that's going to keep you safe. That's
faith. Nothing more, nothing less. It's
not doing anything, it's believing that it's His faith. That thoroughly
confuse anybody? I don't want to leave that thought
there until everybody understands. It's not my faith, you see. It's
not little faith, big faith. Abraham believed because he had
great faith. Ask Sarah about his great faith. Just ask Sarah about how much
he believed. When he came down to Egypt that
day, a couple of fellas took a look at his good-looking wife,
and they said, Hey, who's that? Abraham said, That's my wife. You get away from her. No, he
said, I don't know. She's my sister. Take her. Oh, what great faith, Abraham. No, the Lord was faithful to
Abraham, they said. Should have cast him off right
there, shouldn't it? Well, you worthless, don't you remember what I did
to you, Abraham? No, he didn't. He forgot. He
had little faith. Oh, yeah, little faith. Christ
said, You see, if you had the faith as a great minister, you
see, that implies, John, we don't have that much. Doesn't it? Man wants to say, if you had
the faith as a great minister, you see, tell him, King, you
do not worry about a thing, buddy. Nothing. Do you worry? Yeah, you do. What's your hope? There being him, that he's one
of the bad faithful. and that you're in him, that
you're in him, and you'll always be with him. He cannot deny himself. He says. And you are him. You are his body. You can't deny
his body. Whatever my head goes, my body
goes with it. Whatever my head does, my body
gets the blame or the glory to cut it through, doesn't it? That's right. That's the picture
of Christ. Scripture says we're crucified
with Christ, we're buried with Christ, we're risen with Christ,
we're quickened together with Christ. Look back at the text
again, Colossians 2, "...quickened together with him," verse 13,
"...with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, quickened
or made alive with Christ. Christ said, Because I live,
you shall live also." You dead sinner, you're going to live.
You're going to live. to the whole mind. You know,
what caught my attention about this with him is this point right
here. Just the thought of being with
him. You know when you're with someone,
when you're with someone, that person is in charge of you. You understand? It doesn't say God
with us. It doesn't say that. It is Christ
with us. We hope for that. The only reason
he's with us is because we're with him. Now listen to me. When
somebody's with you, my daughter, say I go someplace and she's
with me. What does that mean? That means
I'm the one. She's with me. I'm the one in
charge here. If I'm driving an automobile
and people are in the car with me, who's in charge here? The ones in the back seat, I
don't care what they say. I drive, and I just do, if you
don't like the way I drive, get off the sidewalk. You know, that
kind. I'm in charge here. They're with
me. You see that? That's what's so
blasphemous about this city is God's my co-pilot. What does that mean? It means I'm
the one in charge here. God's with me. He does what I
want to do. He goes where I want to go. You know, He's with me.
That's not what this says. We're with Him. I'm with him. If you ride on an airplane, I
don't want to talk. Believe me, you don't want to
fly that airplane. If they offer you an option,
when you get your ticket, next place you go, say, would you
want to drive, Henry? What if they say at the ticket
counter, they will give you first class back there in the passenger
seat. Oh, you can fly. What are you going to say? Oh, no. Jimmy,
I thank the majesty. It doesn't matter. Just let him
fly. Let that captain fly. You see, he's qualified. I have
never said, I can't fly. I can't save myself either. Christ
is the captain of my salvation. And better yet, if this old soul
flies, he's going to make it fly. Eh? He's the captain. He's
the captain of my salvation. I'm just an old deckhand, you
see. I'm just along for the ride. I ain't even a co-pilot. I'm not even a co-pilot. Turn
over to Genesis chapter 8 with me. Genesis 8. All right? Hurry. Turn over to Genesis 8.
You hurry, I'll hurry. You drag your feet, I'll drag
my feet. Genesis 8. You see, we're just along for
the ride in this ship called Christ our Lord. He's in control. Look at this. You see, I'm with
Him. Now, I'm with Christ. Who are you with? Is He with
you, or are you with Him? Am I splitting hairs here? No. Salvation's right here. Is He
with you, or are you with Him? Look at Genesis 8, verse 1, "...and
God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle
that was with Noah in the ark." And God remembers Christ, the
everlasting covenant He made with Christ, that bow. Henry,
remember I told you about that, when we saw that rainbow that
day? And he studied in Bedford's class, the rainbow was God's
covenant with man to say, I'll never destroy this world again
by water. Well, the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ is his covenant with his people that says, I'll not destroy
you. Got this bow hanging over you, this cross, this one seated
for you in heaven. Crying. God remembers Christ
in every living thing. Everyone who's been quickened
together with him in the ark. God remembers. All the burnt
cattle? In the ark, in Christ. Remember the story of Paul and
that ship? Paul said, I'm confident now.
God's told me that everybody that stays with me in the boat's
going to be saved. That's Christ, isn't it? With
him. I'm with him. How about you? Huh? I'm with him. I'm with him. Abraham Lincoln,
I think it was, that said this. Back during the Civil War, one
of the soldiers said to him, he said, I sure hope
God is on our side. And Mr. Lincoln was wise. I don't know
if he was a believer, but he sure said some good things. He
wisely said to that soldier, he said, soldier, he said, it's
not God being with us or God being with them. That's not the,
God being on our side or God being on their side. The answer
is, are we on men's side? Who's on the Lord's side? That's
what Joshua said. Huh? Our side's wrong. Everything about us is wrong. See, we've got to be with him. How do you get with him, in him,
on his side? Do you remember back in school,
choosing sides? Huh? Every now and then I'd get
to be captain of my softball team at recess. You know, I'd
be captain, and there'd be another fellow captain, or basketball,
and you know, what would happen? People would decide to get on
my side? Oh no, because I'm the captain. I decided who was on my side. And so I chose, you know, the
best one. Well, my captain, he's the one who decides who's on
his side. Of God are you in Christ? Who
of God, who decides who's in Christ, who's on his side? Huh?
But he doesn't choose the best. He doesn't say, well, there's a
strong one, I'll choose him. He doesn't say, there's the best
one, I can get some glory. No, he chooses the worst. What
if I were choosing my side, Stan? I'd say, well, I'm going to choose
the worst players here. And I chose five of the ten,
however many were the worst. I'll choose the worst. Well,
I'd have lost, wouldn't I? Christ, you say, He chooses the
worst and He wins this way. He wins all the glory. He gets
all the glory. They don't even, they don't score
points. He scores it all. I'm on his side. I'm with him.
Now you remember one time I took Hannah down to the railroad?
You remember that story? I took her down to the railroad?
And that's a vast place, down to the roundhouse where they
make, Steve, roundhouse where they make, work on locomotives.
It's just a big, dangerous, loud, noisy, it's a dangerous place,
isn't it? Anywhere on the railroad is dangerous.
It's just a dangerous place to work. They'll beat back your
wits. You gotta be, you gotta be You
know, grown person, grown man. And if Hannah just wandered down
there by herself one day, she'd have gotten killed if somebody
hadn't have grabbed her first. So what are you doing here? You
can't be here. You don't belong here. You have no business here.
Little girls aren't allowed here. Get out of here. But no, you
see, one day I took her. And nobody said that to her.
Nobody said, well, boy, you can't come in here. What are you doing
here? You're not allowed here. Well, she's with me, he said. And being with me, that gave
her all four rights and titles to be there. Who are you? If
they'd asked her, who are you? What are you doing? She'd say,
I'm with him. And they said, oh, well, OK. And that's what
you're going to have to do. Oh, Roland Hill, that old preacher
one time, he said, the story goes that he dreamed he died
and went to heaven, and one of the angels asked him at the gate
and said, Roland Hill, what right you got to enter here? A sinner
like you, what right you got? What makes you think you can
come in here? What right you got? Roland Hill said he dreamed
that. If your dreams are this solid,
so is your faith. Roland Hill said, I'm here on
the rights of another. You see, I'm with Him. Who? Him, right there on the throne.
I'm with Him. He brought me. He called me.
He bought me. He died for me. He said, come,
here I am. I'm with Him. Is he with you? He's with me. Well, come on in. Why didn't you say so? By him,
I say. With him. With him. All right,
we'll close this theory for you, and then I'll quit. a little
bit. That's just 33 cents, and you're
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Your life is hid
with Christ. See, I have a robe on. And I'm
sure glad I'm not wearing one of those silly robes that they
wear this morning. Much of them are wearing, you
know, these, you know, these fellows. They have those robes
on. I do have a robe on. You can't
see it, but it's a good one. Oh, it's a beautiful one. God sees it, and God looks at
it, it's gold. The king's children, see the
king's daughter, Solomon says, is all glorious. Her works are
tapestry made by his hands. This robe, I'm talking about
a covering of righteousness that Jesus Christ worked by his hands. A beautiful covering, a robe,
a covering that makes this old Jacob. Listen to me now. Dear brother, this robe I've
got on, it makes this old Jacob look and smell and feel like
Esau. You understand that? Huh? This old robe makes me look and
smell and feel like Christ. This old sinner makes me look
and smell and feel like the eldest son who is the heir. Huh? Hmm. It covers me. The Father accepts me. I have
a righteousness, a righteousness of Christ. My life is hid. Oh,
don't you like that verse, Colossians 3, 3? You're dead. Oh, the sooner
the better. Right? The sooner the better. And your life is hid. Your life
is hid, John. It doesn't say your past life
is hid. It doesn't say it, does it? It's your life. That means
past, present, and future. Your whole life. From the start,
it's hid. Sins you have committed, hid. God doesn't say it. I don't remember. God says, if the books were brought
out, oh, there's John Day. He's guilty. God says, no, I'm
not. Well, he says, look, I don't see a thing. I don't see a thing. All I see is red. Covered. Well, I know there's
sins there somewhere. That's the past. But right now
he's a sinner. Look at him. Look at him. I don't
see a sinner. It's like me taking my glasses off, John. I don't
see you too clearly. You look pretty good. No, John
looks as good as the rest of you. Man. That's being blinded. Well, God
sees me just like Christ. And I ain't being blinded. It's
because of that. It's up cover. He sees red. He sees righteousness. He sees me wrapped in the robe
of the life of Christ. You see, presence. Presence is. The future. Well, John, you're
going to get old. You're going to get even uglier. I'm talking about myself too,
buddy. Right? We're all going to get old and
ugly and wrinkled. Every prettiest woman here is
going to get ugly. And I'm telling you before God Almighty, by nature,
you're ugly right now. Unless you're in Christ. And
you got this robe on. Most of us here, physically,
our clothes makes us look pretty. You take them off, we've all
looked ugly. Yes. Every last one of us. And the
older we get, the uglier we're going to get. Hmm? Not to God. Not to God. You get prettier growing in the
image of Christ. You're dead. Your life is ahead
with Christ. With Christ! Where? With Christ! He's got you under His robe. Like your daughter, your child
getting under your You ever get under your mother's robe, you
know? Hide? Hide me, O my Savior, hide. Hide me. Hiding in thee. Hide me. Hide my life, O Christ. Cover me. Cover me in that robe
of righteousness. Is righteousness a doctrine?
Or is it a person? I am with Christ. Your life's
hid with Christ. Verse 4, and look at this. In
Colossians 3, verse 4, it says this. It says, When Christ, our
life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. Give me just a minute, will you?
Just one more minute. Christ said in John 17, I will. This is what I want. This is
what I will. What do you want, son? I'll give
you to the half of my kingdom, to the whole of my kingdom. Father, I will. This is what
I will. But they also whom thou hast given me be with me. Where? Where? Where I am. That's the play on words into
tongue. Where I am. That they may behold the I Am,
may behold my glory. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, behold the I Am, with the I Am, with the I Am. And yes, we are right now seated
with Him in Christ right now, as He is. Did you ever hear that
message, as He is? My brother Scott? As He is, so
are we. Now, in this world, as He...
I know that, yes. Someday, someday, we will actually
be. I'm not just talking about spiritually
or judicially. I'm talking about actually. That's
the part, you and me. Yes, you and you. And me? Who, me? Yes, me. You and me. together with him. With him. Who? Him. Daddy? Daddy won't be daddy. Turn over
1 Thessalonians 4 and I'll quit with this. I promise you this
time. I promise you. I'll quit with it. 1 Thessalonians
4. Someday we're going to actually be with Him. Paul said to be
with Him is far better. Far better. You see? Like that
one fellow said, I'm ready to soar on the wings of eagles.
I've been with these turkeys too long. With Him! Barber, with Him! I wish I could get ahold of that.
I wish I could get ahold of you. We're going to be with Him. I don't know if you've ever been
around a famous person at some time or other. If you have, you
probably went and told somebody about it. Hey, I was with, like Stan, if he ever met Dale
Earnhardt, he'd go around telling everybody about it. I was with
Dale Earnhardt when he was there. Private joke. He wouldn't be
singing. He wouldn't be coming. But if
he did, if it was some famous person, he'd go around telling
everybody, hey, I was with, I was with So-and-So. Shake his hand.
The guy's all right. We're going to be with Him. Moses knew. That's what we're going to say.
I ain't going to have him. I'm going to be with him. Now, I doubt every day that these
people are going to start talking about being with daddy and mama.
I just don't think they know the heavenly Father. Evidently, heaven to them is
going to be with daddy. Heaven to the believer is going
to be with the Father. Truly, our fellowship is with
the Father. Christ said it. He has a healing in healing.
Someday we'll know, even as we've been known, we'll know we have
the mind of Christ, and we'll think like Him. Christ said one
day, He said, Who is my mother? My brother? Tell you, we need
to get in the right perspective now, don't we? Start now. The more joy we'll have in him
if we start now. Jesus is my father. You see,
in heaven, there's not going to be any daddy or mama or children
or parents or cousins or anything. Christ said the same thing. He
said there's neither married nor given in marriage. You see,
Christ represents his people as children. He said, behold,
I am a children. He said, father's children. Now
all children is not going to be daddy and mama. They're going
to be the heavenly father and all childrens, all little childrens. You see, that is above father
as son, right? My father right there has hold
rank on me. Nothing happening, he's going
to be my brother. We're going to be equal. Is that
right? Oh yeah. And that's the reason
I'm going to be looking for that here. I'm going to be looking
for scars. He who is my dad, my father. He who is my—you're
not going to be looking for your husband, father. You're not going
to be looking for—you'll make sure he's your husband. Stars
in heaven. And Earl will be your brother.
You say, I can't understand that. No, you can't. You don't know
now as you'll be known, as you are known. But then you will
know. You'll know you have the mind of Christ. That's when you
won't be disappointed if daddy ain't there. You won't know daddy.
You won't be just four brothers not there, you're all the brothers
there. You see? Christ is heaven. Whom have I,
David said in Psalm 72, whom have I in heaven but thee? Heaven
is him, to be with him. Who do you look forward to going
to see? Who do you look forward to being with? I look forward
to being with you. I really do. I like being with
you now. But I tell you, to be with him
is far better. I've been in too many services
with you where he wasn't around. And that's no good. I've been
up here too many times where he wasn't here. And to be, believe
me, to be with him is far better. With him. And 1 Thessalonians
4 says this, verse 17, "'Someday we wouldn't be alive if we're
still here when Christ comes and remains. We'll be caught
up together with them, with the people, yes, and the clouds,
and we'll all meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be.'" With Him. With Him. Oh, with Him. With Him. with Him. Well, like I said, now, we need
to get this in proper perspective now. Now. Salvation is by Him, it's
for Him. Salvation's for us to win Him,
be found in Him, to know Him, to be made like Him, and our
glory someday will be to be with Him in glory.