All right, now open your Bibles
to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3. I want to read the first 11 verses
with you. Colossians 3, 1 through 11. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. You are dead. Your life is hid
with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil, concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry. For which
things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,
into which you also walked sometime when you lived in them? But now
he also put off all of these—anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy
communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another. seeing
that you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him. Where there is, or in this new
man, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian bond nor free, but Christ is all and in
all. Now, Jesus Christ will never
be all and in all to someone until they first until you first see yourselves
as nothing at all. Jesus Christ will never be all
in all to you unless you first see that you are nothing at all. Jesus Christ will never be that
priceless treasure, a pearl of great price, that the to you. He'll never be that priceless
treasure to you unless you see yourself as worthless. Jesus Christ will never be the
altogether lovely one, like the Scriptures calls him, to you.
He'll not be the altogether lovely one to you unless you see your
absolute ugliness. Jesus Christ will never be the
sufficient and needed Savior to you, man, woman, boy or girl,
Jesus Christ will not be a needed and sufficient Savior to anyone
who has not first seen themselves as lost and helpless and hopeless. What does it mean to be a Christian? Surveys have it that one out
of every two adults in America is a Christian. That's ridiculous. That's absurd.
But what does it mean to be a Christian? The definition is found in two
words. Two words. What it means to be
a Christian is to be in Christ. Christ. Paul, when he first wrote
this letter to the Colossians, he started it out by saying,
to the saints and the faithful who are at Colossae, the saints
and the faithful brethren in Christ who are at Colossae. Grace and peace be to you. In
that same chapter, he said in verse fourteen, in Christ we
have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin, in Christ. Philippians 3, Paul said, Oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having my own
righteousness, which is of the law, but His righteousness. Oh, that I may be found in Christ.
What does it mean to be a Christian? It means to be found in Christ.
What does that mean? Ephesians 1, which we read a
while ago, says, All is to the praise of the glory of his grace,
wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in Christ. God
has made some people accepted in Christ. In Christ we have redemption,
and it's wherein, in whom, In Christ, he has abounded toward
you in all wisdom and fruit, some people. And it's in Christ,
John, he keeps going on, in Christ we have obtained and inherited.
He predestinated, predetermined everything according to his purpose,
all because you're in Christ. Salvation is to be in Christ.
Now, look here in Colossians 3 in our text. Look at the first
three verses. It says, if you be risen with Christ. Now, some
versions say, since you are risen with Christ, he's speaking to
believers. He wrote this letter to the saints, believers. And
he says to believers, since you are risen with Christ, seek those
things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand
of God. Set your affection, your mind,
your heart, your soul, your desire on things above, not on things
on the earth, you're dead. And your life is hid with Christ
in God. Your life is hid with Christ
in God. Do you know what that means?
Do you know what that means? It means salvation, what it means,
to have your life hid with Christ in God. You remember when Moses
was up on Mount Sinai receiving the law? Do you remember what
God said to him? When God was about to give the
law to Moses—God who is a consuming fire, God who is too holy, God
whom no man can see and live—do you remember what he said to
him? He said, Now, Moses, I'm going to hide you in a rock. I'm going to stick you back in
a cave, Moses. You can't see me and live. I'm going to stick
you in a cave, and when I, the living God, who is a consuming
fire, pass by you, you're going to live. And I'm going to reveal
myself to you, just my back part, mind you. But you're going to
see me, just my back part. But you're going to live. I'm
going to hide you in the cleft of the rock while God passes
by. And salvation, brothers, O Lord, is the same thing. It's
for God Almighty to hide us in the cleft of the rock, the rock
of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, that's safe, abiding, and pleasant,
to hide us from the overflowing scourge of God Almighty's wrath
when He passes by, that He doesn't consume us. It's to hide us in
Christ, to hide your life, that life that God sees every error,
every flaw, every sin. all the corruption, he sees it
all. God says, I'm going to hide it. I'm going to hide that from
my face by sticking you in Christ. To be in Christ, to be in Christ
by faith. How do you get in Christ? You
get in Christ by faith. God puts you in Christ by faith.
But to be in Christ by faith, or to consider him as your hiding
place, your salvation, your protection, your salvation. To be in Christ by faith is for
Jesus Christ to be your all in all. Now listen. To be in Jesus Christ by faith
is for Jesus Christ to be to you your all in all. Now, this is the most glorious
text and a message you'll ever hear. And I may take it again next
Sunday morning. We'd do well to take it every
time. Christ is all. Are you with me? Christ is in
you. You're with me. To be in Christ
by faith is for Christ to be all in all to you, and no one
but a true believer—no one is a true believer—if Christ is
not an all to them. That's about as simple. I couldn't
put this thing more simply than that. To be in Christ by faith
is for Jesus Christ to be to you all and in all. And if Jesus
Christ is not all in all to you, you are not a saved person. I couldn't put it any more simply.
More simply. There are six points to this
message. Six points to tell you how Christ is all to a believer. How he is all. Six points. Very
simple. I want to make this about as
simple so that the youngest child in here can understand. Examine yourself to see whether
or not you be in the faith, or rather examine yourself to see
whether or not Christ is in you, or you're in Christ, and he's
all to you. All right? Number one. How is
Christ all to the believer? Number one. Christ is all our
righteousness. Jesus Christ is all our righteousness. You can call it holiness, call
it righteousness. It's one and the same. 1 Corinthians
1 verse 30 says, He is of God. Are you in Christ? Just like
God put Moses in the rock, of God. If you believe Christ, Henry,
it's called God put you in Him by faith. Of God, are you in
Christ? Who of God is made under you?
Wisdom, righteousness. He's made your righteousness.
Do y'all know what that means? Do you know what that means,
that Christ is your righteousness? You've got to. You've got to. Oh, Christ is not all in all
of you. This is the most important thing that Christ is to you,
your righteousness. Turn over to Matthew 22 with
me. Matthew 22. Do you know that union with God
Almighty, to know God, to love God, to be someday with God someday,
the Scriptures likens it to being married, married to God. It says in one place in Isaiah,
thy maker is thy husband. You know, God marries some people,
some human beings. It's called a marriage in the
Bible. He said in the last day, When Revelation talks about the
final day, Judgment Day, he said there's going to be a great marriage
supper, the marriage supper of the Lamb. And all of God's people
are going to be dressed like brides and be robed in white. You know what that is? You've
got to have one on. You've got to have the right
dress on. Look here in Matthew 22. It's a wedding garment. You've
got to have it on. Look at Matthew 22, verse 1.
Christ answered and spake unto them again by parables. He said,
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made
a marriage for his son. Now, God is king. God reigns,
rules among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth.
None can stay in. He's king, all right? He's sovereign, God.
It says this king made a marriage for his son. You know why God
created this world? You know why God created human
beings? Because he was lonely. That's what Oral Roberts said.
He said God was lonely. No, God wasn't lonely. He had
God the Son and God the Holy Spirit with him. He's all in
all. He doesn't need anything else. You know why he created
it? He said all things were created for his glory. to show forth
His glory, to the praise of the glory of His grace. And for His Son, whom He loves
above all others—He loves His Son. He didn't need anybody.
He had His Son. Who would you want—and I'm about
to get to the end of my message already—who would you want after
you've had Christ? You don't need anybody else.
And God the Father had the perfect Son with Him. But he was determined
to show forth his Son, to show off his Son, just, if I may be
so familiar, like you do your own children. You bring out pictures—I
just happened to have, you say, you see my grand—you had any
pictures of your grandkids? I just happened to have an eight
by ten here, framed and signed and numbered. In the same way,
God Almighty—well, much higher than that—God Almighty loves
his Son above all others. And he's determined to show forth
his glory, for him to be seen, to reveal him. And he did do
it for him to be happy, for him to be honored, for him to be
glorified, for him to be exalted, for him to be extolled and praised
throughout eternity. And he said, I'm going to have
a whole—like Martin said, he loved his son so much, he said,
I'm going to have a whole bunch of boys just like him. And they're
going to enjoy him, too. They're going to sing his praises.
So he created a people. to the praise of the glory of
his grace, that they might marry his son," a bride, to be with
him throughout eternity, a bride, a marriage with his son. All
right? Now, you just can't get in to
this marriage. You can't get in to see a king,
especially this one, just when you decide to. You can't do that. I challenge you to go try to
see George Bush right now. for all practical purposes, our
king. Go try to see him. Go up to the White House, go
up to the gates and say, let me in, I want to see George.
That's what they called Jesus, said, he's king, I want to see
Jesus. No, you've got to be called.
You've got to be invited. You've got to be effectually
granted entrance. And you've got to be let in,
all right? And you come in there, And you just can't go in there
looking like any old monk. You can't do it. Look at verse
eleven with me. And the king came in to see the
guests. And he saw there a man which
had not on a wedding garment, a wedding garment. And he said
unto him, friend, how did you get in here looking like that? That's what he said. How did
you come in here? How camest thou in hither, not
having on a wedding garment?" And the man, he may have, Joe,
he may have thought, well, I've got every right to be here. And he was speechless. Well,
I didn't. And the king said, bind him hand
and foot and cast him out of here. In the outer darkness,
there's going to be weeping and ashen teeth. He didn't have a
wedding garment on. Now turn over to Genesis chapter
27 with me. Genesis 27. Do you know what
that wedding garment is he's speaking of? Do you know? It's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to have it on. You've
got to have it on. It's the holy life that Jesus
Christ lived for some human being. Yours won't do. Mine won't do. See, we work up a little life,
don't we? We quit our smoking and our drinking, and we get
religion, and we put on our best Sunday go-to-meet-and-clothes,
and we put all our Sunday school pins on, you know, and we get
morality. We put on our most pious look
and our most worst grin and all this, and we go and we've dressed
ourselves up for God. Hadn't we? Surely he'll accept
this. I look pretty good. You look in the mirror and see
that? You look pretty good. God surely must take notice of me,
and God'll let me in. No, he won't. He said, how did
you get in here looking like that? And some people are going
to be so shocked that God's not pleased with their religion,
their morality, they're going to be speechless. It's the best
time. I thought, surely, if you do the best you can. But I have
a wedding garment, and you don't make it, somebody sews it for
you. Christ did, with his own hands. He worked out this robe with
his own hands. He came to this earth for thirty-three
years and worked out this righteousness, this holy life, by a man with
his own two hands and his own two feet and his head and his
heart and his speech. Perfect! That was pristine white. Beautiful. And God looked at him one day
and said, Oh, you're beautiful. He didn't look too pretty to
men on the outside. But that's the way men look.
God doesn't look that way. He looks on the heart, and He
looked on the inside. He looked at the perfect life
of this man, and He said, You're beautiful. Anybody that gets
in to see me is going to have to look like you. I said it time
and again, you know, I love my daughter so much, and I'm so
pleased with her. If I could have a whole room full of them
just like her, I would. I think. Huh, damn. But I love her so
much, she appeals to me. I'd like to have another one,
just the spitting image of her. The Lord Jesus Christ, he's the
most glorious, most beautiful man that ever lived. And God
said, they're all going to have to look like him. And he works out this perfect
role, and he gives it to some people, puts it on them. Look
here, Genesis 27, and this is a story here you may or may not
be familiar with. We've got to appear before God
Almighty. dressed in Christ's robe of righteousness, His life.
See, God's holy. He won't take the best you can
do. It's got to be the best He can do. You understand that? If you don't understand or hear
anything concerning the gospel, you don't understand that. God won't accept the best we
can do. He'll only accept the best He can do, which is what?
It's the best. It's holy. It's perfect. He said
in Leviticus 22, 21, it shall be perfectly accepted. Perfect,
without spot, without blemish, without taint, without fault,
perfect. Well, here in Genesis 27, another
beautiful picture, another beautiful picture, how the two boys were
going to go appear before their father to obtain the blessing. Jacob and Esau, sons of Isaac,
were going to go appear before this old man to obtain the blessing. According to God's holy law,
only the eldest son, the eldest son is the one who obtains the
blessing. That's the law. The eldest son, the firstborn
among many brethren, he gets the blessing. He gets the blessing. You're blessed through him. Well,
Jacob was born second. He wasn't the eldest. Esau was
the oldest son. You know the story. Esau was
the oldest son. Jacob was the secondborn son.
Jacob wanted to bless him. Little Isaac loved Esau, his
oldest. He loved him. Loved everything
about him. Johnny loved the way he looked. He loved the way he
talked. He loved the way he walked. He loved the way he smelled.
He loved everything about his boy Esau. He's his first boy.
Apple of his eye. Looked just like him. Loved him. And one day, Jacob and his mother
got together. And his mother kind of schemed
around, and she said, well, if you're going to get the blessing,
you're going to have to look like Esau. And so one day while Esau was
out hunting in the field, his mother said, come here, quick.
Come here, Jacob. What is it? What's going on?
We're going to take you into the Father. We're going to take you
in there. He'll know I'm a deceiver. He'll
know who I am. He'll know I'm Jacob. Now we're
going to dress you up like Esau. Come dress you up. And your father
will never know the difference. Here, Genesis 27, verse 15. So this is what happened. Rebekah
took goodly raiment, the clothes of Esau. You see that? Took Esau's clothes, which were
with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her son. Verse
16. And put skins of the kids of
ghosts upon his hands, upon the smooth of his neck. See, Esau
was a hairy fellow, and she had to make old Jacob, who was a
little skinny little wimp, hairless wimp, make him look like Esau,
like a man, you know. We've got to be making him look
like a man. And she put the skins on him, and verse 17, she gave
savory meat, just what the father loved, and bread which she'd
prepared into the hand of her son Jacob. And he came unto his
father and said, Father! And he said, Here I am. Who are
you? If he'd have said Jacob, What did
he say? Verse 19, Jacob said unto his
father, I am Esau, your firstborn. And he came into the Father.
And if we're going to appear before God Almighty, we've got
to appear to be just like Jesus Christ, just like Him, just like
Him. There was an old preacher years
ago. who dreamed that he went to heaven, dreamed he died and
went to heaven. And he stood before God Almighty,
and God Almighty said to him—I forget the man's name. I wanted
to say it was Roland Hill. I'm not sure. It doesn't matter.
But God Almighty said to the man who was standing before him,
he said, Roland Hill, what right have you got to be in here? And you know that some people,
our Lord said some people are going to one day say, well, I
preached in your name. I prophesied in your name. I cast out devils in your name.
I did many wonderful works. I prayed through. I made my decision
for Jesus, you know. I joined a church. I witnessed.
I won three thousand souls for Jesus. I used to go to church
every Sunday. And God's going to say, get out
of here. Well, God asked that man, what right you got to be
in here? The man said, I've got no right at all. I'm here on the rights of another.
I'm here on the righteousness of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm dependent on Him to get me
in here. I'm with Him. You know what salvation is? Salvation
is to be with Him. When you go in to meet this thrice-holy
God, salvation is for Him to have you in His hand, rather
in His bosom, and say, and for Christ to say before that Holy
Father, He's with me! Not standing over there by yourself,
looking pretty good, dressed in rags, you know? Like I've
equated it to a hospital gown, you know? Looks pretty good up
front, and turned around, and you're really exposed, aren't
you? That's man's righteousness. That's man's morality, and looks
pretty good to us, but God sees right through it. It doesn't
cover a thing. The bed's shorter than you can
be covered with. Salvation is for Christ to be in Christ, and
for Him to someday present you faultless, holy, before His presence
and say, He's with me. I fixed Him up. He looks good,
doesn't He? He looks just like me. And the Father says, Come
on in. Bring Him in here. Ah, boy. Number two. So
Christ is all our righteousness. Did you understand that? I took much too long on the first
point, but that is the most important point. Christ is all your righteousness
before this holy God. Number two, Christ is all your
sanctification. He is all your sanctification,
if you're a believer. You see, beautiful clothes won't
cover up a stinking, smelly, dirty man. I don't care how you
dress him up, and men have told me that before. I come home,
you know, after preaching and perspiring and so forth, and
she said, change your shirt. Well, I look pretty good. You
smell bad. And I thank her for telling me that,
believe it or not, after the first time. I got kind of mad
the first time. But I thank her and said, you
know, the Holy Spirit tells us we smell bad, so we ought to
thank him for it. We ought to thank him for it.
The best thing God in the Holy Spirit can do for you is to tell
you how bad you smell to God Almighty, and then to take it
and change all that. It's called sanctification. Very
simply put, it's for Him to wash you in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And you come out smelling like
a rose, a rose of Sharon. Beautiful clothes won't cover
a foul-smelling, dirty body. You've got to be washed, washed,
and you've got to be a sweet-smelling, You've got to be a sweet and
savory smile to God Almighty. Look back here in Genesis 27
again, all right? Look at verse 26. And the father
Isaac, you see, we're going to be near God someday, and he's
going to examine us very closely. And the father Isaac said unto
Jacob, who was dressing up like Esau, said, Come here. Come here. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy labor. Come here. Kiss me." Kiss the son, lest he be angry.
Kiss me, my son. And he came near, verse 27, and
the father went, And he said, You smell good. You
smell like the field. You smell like my son Esau. You
smell good to me. I like that smell. And when you come to appear before
God Almighty, you're going to have to smell good. You're going
to have to be perfumed with the sweet smell and blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to have it covering
you. Perfume you with it. Spice. He whose cheeks are as
bitter as spices. Old, old spice. Created by God
Himself in the person of Christ. Going to have to adorn you with
that. Have to adorn your life. into a sweet-smelling savor,
a sweet-smelling savor. And Christ washes us, washes
his people, and his own sweet-smelling blood perfumes us, washes us
from our filth. The Holy Spirit adorns us just
like Rebecca did her son, adorns our lives, makes us look like
Christ in thought, word, and deed. And someday we begin to
bring forth fruit unto the glory of the Father. And just like
old Jacob brought forth sweet, savory meat, just like His Father
liked. You know, God is well pleased with the works of His
people. He is. In Christ. Not outside of Christ,
He's not. In Christ. Dressed like Christ. Smelling like Christ. In Christ,
the Father's pleased with what you do. Not outside of Him. Not
outside of Him. All right, number three. Point
number three, Christ is not only our righteousness, Christ is
not only all our sanctification, but Christ is all our acceptance. People, God's favorites. Now you think about that. Jesus
Christ has made you a favorite of God Almighty. A favorite. A favorite. You see this little girl? That's
my favorite little girl. Why? She's my only little girl. And
everybody else is a favorite in her. And everybody else is
a favorite to God Almighty in Jesus Christ. He's His favorite. And only if you're in Him. Look
like Him. Love Him. Worship Him. As much as you don't
like my daughter, I don't like you. I'll just be playing with
you. I'm serious. You love my daughter and treat
her right, I love you and I'll treat you right. Now you treat
me wrong and I'm supposed to love you, but nobody says anything
about that. Does the Bible say anything about
that? Pray for them to despitefully use you. You're just about to
use my daughter, I'll punch you in the nose. God Almighty says,
I got one son. I'm in high favor. I'm well pleased with him. He's
the only son God ever had. He says, as long as you're in
him and love him and worship him, God's well pleased with
you. He'll accept you. I told you
a story one time about that man that came to our door, all ragged
and kind hobo looking fella and he came up to the door and my
father went and answered the door and said yes what can I
do for you? The fella said I'm needing some
help and this and that and the other. I just came back from
Vietnam and I don't have a job and I need a little money and
I'm kind of hungry and this and that and the other. And you know you
hear that all the time. I've been bombarded with calls
just recently. Well bombarded with calls over
here. You don't know who to believe. Skeptical of everybody. People
do that for a living you know. Professional bombs. Well, you
know, my dad was a little bit reluctant. Finally, the man said,
I know your son. I know your son Robbie from Vietnam
with him. Is that right? Well, he opened
the door wide and said, come on in here. My wife will fix
you something. Come in here and sit down. Let's talk a while.
You're welcome in my house. You know my son. We are accepted where? In the
beloved. You know Christ? God loves you.
You love Christ? God loves you. You trust Christ? You believe Christ? You bow to
Christ? You kiss the sun? God loves you. You don't? God's
angry with you. And the wrath of God's going
to fall. Paul said it. Cursed is everyone that loveth
not the Lord Jesus Christ. Why does he say that? God said
it first. This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. Don't, and
I won't hear you when you call on me." Christ is all our acceptance
with the Father, all our acceptance. Through Christ Jesus, the Lord
God is propitious to us. You know what that means? It's
a Bible word. Propitious. He's friendly towards
us. He's friendly. He's not angry
anymore. Otherwise, everything we do is unacceptable. It's unacceptable.
Filthy right. The best you can do. Man at his
best state is what? Altogether vanity. I don't care
who the person is, the most moral, who does the most self-sacrificing
works known to man. I don't care who it is. If they're
not in Christ, my faith, God is angry with them. Why? Chiefly because they're working
up this little robe. And they say, I don't need that.
I don't need Christ's righteousness. I don't need your son to cover
me. I can do it myself. I do it myself. God won't have
it. He said, I mean, that's not enough?
My son's not good enough for you? He said, even the plowing of
the wicked is evil. I saw another verse the other day you may have
never seen before. Over in Proverbs it says, even the praying of
the wicked is evil. Praying? Why? I was full of self.
I thank thee, Father, I'm not like other men, full of pride,
full of fleshly motive, vainglory, hypocrisy, and so forth. Even
me, my best prayers are filthy rag. You impressed with that
prayer I prayed to you a while ago? God's not. God's not, unless
he received it in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Unless
he received it covered in a rag, unless the Holy Spirit took that
and made it acceptable for the Father, God's highly displeased
with it. Old Joseph, you remember the
story of Joseph when he was made ruler in Egypt? And all of his
brothers came to see him. You remember what happened? Now,
if all of his brothers who were outsiders, who were enemies,
would have come into Pharaoh, they wouldn't have been rejected.
But Joseph brought them in. Joseph brought all his brothers
in and said, These are my brothers. They've come to live with us.
Pharaoh said, Well, let them in. Let them in. Kill the fatted
calves. They're going to enjoy an abundance.
They're going to live right here with us. And John, that's the
way it's going to have to be with you and me, brother. It'll
have to be with Christ, don't it? In Christ. Christ, our great
high priest, goes in before the Holy Father with some names on
his breastplates. He goes in to God Almighty with
your name on his breastplate. Not just some twelve tribes,
your name, if you're a believer. Steve Parks, if you're a believer,
Jesus Christ goes to God Almighty and says, There's Steve Parks
down there. I bought him. I paid for him.
I paid the price necessary to redeem him. He's mine. I got
his name written right here, right here, right here, and right
here. Let him in. The Father says, Come on in,
boy. Stay busy. Come on in. Sit right down here
at the table, and let's enjoy ourselves. Number four, Jesus Christ is
not only our righteousness, He is not only our sanctification,
not only our acceptance with God, but He is all of your strength
and your help. Christ is all our strength and
our help. A believer can do nothing at
all outside of Jesus Christ, nothing, in the way of worship,
Some of you are struggling with all of your faculties right now
just to listen to what I'm saying. It's everything within your power.
I'm looking at you. Everything within your power
to stay awake to listen to this. Why is that? You can't even listen
for an hour unless God Almighty says, Listen! You try it in you. Sit there.
And like Todd said, if you could have put toothpicks in your ear,
if you had some on you, you'd do it. You can't do it, and you
beat yourself. Come with me. But God Almighty
says, listen, you listen, and you hear, and you go out of there
blessed, don't you? You can't do it otherwise. It
means nothing to you, doesn't it, unless God makes it interesting. It's just so many religious words,
it's just another sermon. A believer can do nothing at
all in a way of worship, praise, service, anything. Can't resist
temptation? You can't resist the slightest
temptation unless God Almighty, Jesus Christ Almighty, helps
you to do it. Not the slightest. But you can do all things through
Christ which strengthens us. He said, without me you can do
nothing, didn't He? Do you feel that, Stan? I do. Oh, I wouldn't stand up behind
this pulpit. I've said so many times, time
and again before I walk up here, I pray to the Lord, Lord, if
thou goest not up with me, don't carry me up there. Do something. Don't let me get up there. I've
been up there too many times without Him, and it's the most
miserable place on earth. Now, I'm telling you, I've been
out there without Him, too, and that's a miserable place to be,
isn't it? A miserable place to be. He said, without me, you
can do nothing. You're weak. You're weak, aren't
you? You're weak. Christ is not strong to you unless
you feel you're weak. Christ said, when I'm weak, he's
what? Strong. He says, you're weak.
You feel weak, Roberta, about the things of God? Christ says,
I'm strong. I'm strong. Daddy, I can't do
it. I hear my daughter say, I can't
do it. I can. You're a baby, aren't you? You're
a baby? Some of you may have been following
Christ and been in this thing for ten, fifteen years or more. You may be old in years, but
you're a baby, aren't you? I'm weak. I'm a baby. Christ
says, I'm a strong man, full-grown man. What do you need? You're
flesh, aren't you? Out of flesh is flesh. The flesh
is just bombarded with temptation and trials and weakness. You
can't do anything. That which is flesh is flesh, isn't it?
Christ said, I'm spirit. I'm spirit. I can do all things. I'm not bound to a body. I have
access to heaven through Christ. He says, you're helpless, aren't
you? Helpless. Helpless. God doesn't help those
who help themselves. That's a lie out of hell. God
helps those who can help themselves. And those who say, I can't help.
He said, I'm a very pleasant help in time of need and trouble. Can't help yourself? That's what
I'm here for. He didn't come to help those
who helped themselves. He came to raise dead people
to life. This religious generation's blaspheming
the name of Jesus Christ. He said, I've come that they
might have life. Listen to this verse in Isaiah
41, 10. Fear not, I am with thee. For all those who need this,
listen. Fear not, I am with thee. Be not dismayed. Don't be upset. Don't be troubled. I am not God. You remember when Christ said
over there and Johnny said, You believe in God? Believe in me.
I am God. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. If it weren't so, I wouldn't have told you. I can't lie. Trust me. I'm thy God. I'll strengthen thee. Yeah, I'll
help you. I'll uphold you in my right hand
of my righteousness." How about you say, the roaring
lion is going throughout there seeking who he may devour. The
roaring lion has got me, but there's a stronger than he. He's
called the lion of the tribe of Judah. That roaring lion who's
roaring around earth, he's a kitty cat compared to the lion of the
tribe of Judah. He'll consume him with the breath
of his mouth. Stronger than he. He's around. As long as he's around, that
lion can't hurt you. How long is he going to be around?
Forever. I'll never leave him. Believe it, believer. Believe
it, for all your health. Fifthly, Christ is all our peace,
all of our peace. As I said to begin with, this
is the most important message you'll ever hear, the greatest
message you'll ever hear. Or it may not be delivered in
the greatest way. If the words, the diction, and so forth may
not be intellectually stimulating enough for you, it may not be
deep enough for you, but it's the greatest message you'll ever
hear. Christ is all our peace. He's all our peace. The law of
God. Now, if you understand anything
about this, this means that Christ is all to you. He'll mean something
to everything to you. The law of God condemns us. It
curses everyone. It continues not in all things
which are written in the book of the law to do a curse. Thou
shalt not. I haven't. So you're cursed. Thou shalt not. Thou shalt not.
Thou shalt not. I haven't. I mean, I have. He
says, don't, but I have. Then he says, do, and I can't.
Right, John? Curse him. Christ was made a
curse for us. Made a curse. And the devil condemns
me all the time. He's called the accuser of the
brethren. Constantly saying, you're not a Christian. How could
you think things like that? How could you do something like
that and be a Christian? How could you be so evil and wicked
and be a Christian? You're no Christian. I said,
maybe I'm not. Christ comes to me in the preaching
of the gospel and says, yes, you are. Not because you're a sinner.
It's because you're a sinner. Self condemning me. My own self,
liar, hypocrite. What are you preaching for? Everybody
knows you. You're a hypocrite. Yeah, I know I am. Christ says,
I know you aren't that. I accept you anyway. I accept
you anyway. I came to save the likes of you.
And old sinners, like that woman caught in the very act of adultery,
the Lord Jesus Christ stoops down right to where they are
and lifts them up, quickens us together with Christ, by grace
you say. And by His grace, He reaches
down, stoops down an old guilty, caught right in the act center,
lifts us up, lifts her up and says, Where are your kings? Let
somebody come. They are dispersed. Let them
come around. Who's here to condemn them? Where
are they? I don't have no man. No man condemns
me, Lord. Neither do I. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are under the arm of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Try. He'll put you in the mouth. This is my son. This is my lovely
bride here. Don't say a thing about my wife.
Don't you dare." Well, Christ said that. But he's not. You watch it. You watch it. I don't condemn you. The Father
doesn't condemn you. I died for you. I paid for you. Why aren't
we condemned? Christ paid the price. He paid
the chastisement of your peace. It was necessary for God not
to be angry with you. Christ took my weapon for me.
He took all the stripes that I was doing. And so there's now
no more condemnation for me. No condemnation. Christ is all
my peace. My peace. When the conscience
comes to you and answers, say, Christ died. When the accuser
comes to you, say, Christ died for sin. When you're self-accused,
you say, well, I just need Christ. Christ is my own. Christ is all the believer's
reward. I'm not told the punchline while
I go there. There's a lot of people out there looking for
rewards in heaven. That's about the most unbelievable thing I've
ever heard of. Let me illustrate this. Let me
illustrate this. You see, when you meet Jesus
Christ, I'm talking about the Son of
God Almighty, the altogether lovely One. See His glory, His
beauty, His sufficiency, His person, His personality. When you meet Him, hear His voice,
you're not going to be interested in hearing Abraham talk. That's what they said about Christ
after He preached, didn't they? Now, they went and they heard
John the Baptist, and everybody loved to hear, John, what a great
preacher. But when they came back from hearing Christ, they
said, no, we're not going to hear John anymore. We've heard
him. After you've seen Christ, after
you've heard him, nobody else will suffice. Nothing else will
do. Nothing else will captivate your
attention. Let me illustrate this. One day, many years ago,
sixteen years ago, over sixteen, I met a little girl caught my
eye. A young lady caught my eye. And
I fell head over heels in love with her. Just slobbering stupid. Couldn't get enough of her. Couldn't
get enough of her. Wanted to be around her, wanted
to hear her voice, call her up, wee hours of the night, much
to the anger and chagrin of her father. But call her up, you
know, go stay too late, much to the anger and chagrin of her
father. I couldn't get enough of her.
Couldn't get enough of her. One day I married that young
lady. Married her. Now I was with her for good. I remember us laying in bed that
first night and saying, I don't have to go home. Did you do that, Stan? You better say yes, buddy. I
remember saying, I don't have to go home. I can stay here with
this one I love from now on. This is where I want to be. We
lived in a little apartment. It wasn't much, was it? Broken
down, hand-me-down furniture propped up with bricks. I didn't
care in the least. I wasn't concerned about what
that apartment was like. Our landlord lived right next
to us. We lived in a duplex. Imagine that. Paper-thin walls. Our landlord lived right there.
I didn't care. I was with her. That's all I cared about. And
you mean to tell me somebody that's in love with the Lord
Jesus Christ, and seen Him, and heard Him, and He's there all
in it all, that they're going to be looking for streets of
gold, and they're going to be all taken up with heaven, and
the things of heaven, and Mama, Mama's going to catch their eye?
Yeah, we're going to be glad to see Mama if she's there, but
if she's not there, we're not going to be disappointed. We'll
be happy if she is. We'll be happy if she's not.
Why? He's there. He's heaven. He is all and in all.