Mike graciously agreed to come
and play the piano and do some singing for us while David and
Susanna are out of town. And Marty, of course, has been
laid up for a while. And she is also out of town,
so I thank you and Debbie for coming. Actually, Debbie's fixed
breakfast for me a couple of times down at the restaurant. I put in a plug for your restaurant. So she fixes good- is that M
and J? I'm not advertising at all. But it is good. Go back to the book of Colossians
chapter 3. if you would please, Colossians
chapter three. And I have looked at this verse
of scripture quite a bit of late and I realized the fact that
this is way, way yonder, bigger than anything I can handle. And
I suspect that I'll have a couple of more messages from this. But
my text is found in verse 11, chapter 3 of Colossians, verse
11. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all. and in all. The title of the
message is Christ is all. More simpler words you couldn't
find. But the depth of these words
is beyond comparison. Just three single syllable words. It's amazing as you read the
scriptures how that God the Spirit can speak in ways that meet the
needs of his people and minister to us. And so often the words
are quite simple. We do a disservice to our listeners,
and I'm speaking to preachers, if any should be listening, or
those of our congregation who speak from this pulpit. We do
a disservice to our listeners if we speak words that folks
cannot understand. The message of the gospel of
God's grace is the declaration of what God has purpose to do,
what God is doing, and what God shall do. And it's really quite
simply set forth in the word of God. I will tell you this. You will,
if each one of you will learn, sooner or later, The gravity
of these three words, Christ is all. If you learn the great
importance of these words in this life, that's salvation. For to know him is to have everlasting
life. But if you don't come to understand,
if the Spirit of God is not pleased to teach you in this life that
Christ is all, you will learn this at the judgment. For at the judgment every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess that our Lord Jesus Christ
is indeed the Lord over all, blessed forever, and that he
is all. I do pray that you will not have
to be brought to the gates of death or beyond to learn how
important this is. Christ is all. You know those
three words? That's the essence of true Christianity. You can't boil it down any simpler. This is the substance of all
true Christianity. And here is the essence of all
true preaching. If you hear a sermon and the
Lord Jesus Christ has not been exalted in his person and in
his work of redemption, you have heard a worthless sermon. I know a preacher may say many
truthful things, but if he has not set forth that Christ is
all in the economy of grace, in the purpose of God, in the
word of God, in the gospel of God, and in the salvation of
your soul, if a preacher has not set that forth, he's failed
in his duty to you And furthermore, and more importantly, He has
failed in His responsibility to God. You see, God sent the darling
of His bosom into this world. Christ Jesus, our Lord, born
of a virgin, lived a life of perfection. And He died on the
cross of Calvary. As the only Savior of sinners,
He died to satisfy God. He died to do something for the
Father, for the Spirit, to satisfy His own justice and legal demands. He died under the wrath of God, and He was buried. And he arose
again the third day, having justified his people by his bloody sacrifice,
and he's gone back to heaven. If we fail to set forth our Lord
Jesus in that capacity, if I fail, just bring him home to me. If
I don't set him forth as Christ being all, all you need to know,
all the one you need to worship, I said this morning, the fullness
of the Godhead is found in Him. It pleased the Father that in
our Lord Jesus Christ, all the Godhead dwells bodily. If we
don't know Him, if we don't preach Him, whatever else we preach,
whatever else we know is worthless. And I'll tell you, this is as
vital as it gets right here. And if you hear a sermon when
Christ is not exalted, and then you go back and hear
the same man, he makes the same mistake, the first time is his
fault. The second time is your fault. Look back at chapter one. This
morning, of course, I dealt briefly with verse 18, where we read the Spirit of God
says, at the very end of verse 18, that in all things, He might
have the preeminence. He holds the very first place. He's the chiefest. He's the fairest
among 10,000 to our souls. If you go back just a little
bit further than that, Ron read this to us in chapter 1 and verse
12, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. How can
I be meet? How can I be fit? to inherit the inheritance God
has for His people, and how can I be fit, how can I be worthy
to enter into the very presence of God? Now, that's something
I wanna know. That's something I've gotta know.
I wanna be accepted by God, and you do as well, don't you? When
I leave this world, whenever that is, I wanna go to be with
the Lord in glory, Well, what must I have to be
fit for the presence of Almighty God who is holy beyond description
and righteous in all His ways? Well, I'll tell you this, I have
to be holy. I have to be righteous. And I'm
not talking about righteousness of my own or a holiness that
I've tried to live and create for myself, my friends, you're
either holy or you're unholy. You're either righteous or you're
unrighteous. And the holiness I've got to
have, the righteousness that I've got to have, that you've
got to have, has got to be equal to the righteousness of our Lord
Jesus Christ. You say, I'm trying to live a
good life. Hooray, wonderful, that's great. Live a good life. But I'll tell
you this, that's not holiness. That's not righteousness. God
demands perfection. You see, we've heard In religion
today, we've heard so much about being good, living by the golden
rule, being charitable, things of that nature, that most people
today don't have the foggiest idea of what a holy God demands. He doesn't demand the best you
can do. He demands the best he can do. He doesn't demand that you put
your best foot forward. He demands that you be equal
in holiness and righteousness to his darling son. Now, how
can I be holy and righteous in God's eyes? How can I stand before
him? Well, certainly not in my own
self-righteous rags. Isaiah said, Our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, that's sold minstrel's cloths. That's what your righteousness
is to God. You go ahead and present to God
and see what he thinks of that. You offer him the best you can
do. See how far they'll get you. They won't get you anywhere.
But if you offer to Him His Son, the glory of the Son of God,
the righteousness of the Son of God, the holiness of the Son
of God, oh God, I'm nothing. I'm a defiled son of Adam. I got nothing to present to you,
but I come to you, Father, through your Son. through His perfections,
through His merits, through His blood. Now that'll open up the
gates of heaven for you. If you're brought to see by the
Spirit of God that Christ is all, you see, He's our fitness. He's our worthiness. Do you desire to enter into the
paradise of God? I do. Alan, you do. Yeah, all the rest of you do.
We wanna enter into the paradise of God. Would you love to hear
the words of the Savior whisper in your ear through the spirit
of truth as he takes the word of God home to your heart in
your dying moments? Today, thou shalt be with me
in paradise. I believe I could die like that. Well, the only fitness he requires
is the fitness that he himself supplies. Christ must be made to us by
the Father to be wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. And in those four things, there's
nothing that you render to God. I don't believe anything, there's
nothing in there that you've got to do. You see, our message is not do,
it's done. Like fella said one time, most
people have a do-do religion. Ours is done, but it's finished.
That's what Christ said. It's finished. And this is amazing, an amazing
fact that even now in our sinfulness, yet being in Christ and one with
him, united to him by free and sovereign grace forever, We're
fit for glory right now. Ain't that amazing? We're worthy
of heaven right now. Because you see our holiness
and righteousness as old brother Bunyan used to say, he said,
my holiness and my righteousness is seated at the right hand of
God. Christ is all. And I'll tell you this, I've
learned a lot during my ministry of 46 years. I'll tell you the most important
thing I've ever learned. Would you like to know the most
important thing I've ever learned? Christ is all. in all things concerning our
souls, in all things concerning the knowledge of God, in all
things concerning the word of God, in all things relating to
eternity, and in all things relating to the glory of God, Christ is
all. He's all the message of this
book. And he's all to be preached. You see, Christ is the foundation
of all true doctrine. He's the life of doctrine. He's
the heart of doctrine. And he's the motive for all true godliness. He's the message of all true
preaching, and he's the object of all true worship. Christ is
all. I want you to look at a passage
of scripture. I was looking at this this afternoon, and Luke,
if you'd look in the book of Luke with me, chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. Turn over there. Let me read just a few verses
to you. Luke chapter 10, verse 38. Luke 10, 38. Now it came to pass as they went
that he, our master, entered into a certain village And a
certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had
a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard
his word. Oh God, make me like Mary, to sit at his feet and hear his
word. Sometimes we're so busy talking,
we don't have time to hear. Sit and listen. Oh God, close
my mouth and open my ears and open my heart. Look at verse 40, but Martha
was cumbered about much serving and came to him and said, Lord,
Dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?
Bid her therefore that she help me.' And Jesus answered and said
unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about
many things. And that word troubled really
means you're divided about many. You got too much on your mind.
You got too much going on. Do you say that sometimes? I
got so much going on. Well, that's the way it was with
Martha. She had too much going on. But he said to her, but one thing
is needful. There's nothing simpler than
one. But one thing is needful. And Mary hath chosen that good
part which shall not be taken away from her. One thing is needful. Let me tell you what you need
to do. All of you who are here, all of you who are watching,
and listen to me, let me tell you what to do. Sit at his feet
and listen. You see, at his feet, that's
a place of worship. At his feet, that's where you're
gonna learn. At his feet, that's where you're
gonna honor him. You see, Judas kissed him on
the cheek, but he had sold him out. Mary sat at his feet, as though unworthy to even kiss
him on the cheek. She humbled herself. Humble yourself
before God. She did, she did. Let's be wise and join Mary at
the master's feet. That's the place of mercy. That's
a place of grace. That's a place of salvation.
That's a place of forgiveness. You interested in those things?
All of those things, all you need, if God makes you aware
of your needs, is to be found in Christ is all. He's everything. You see, at His feet's a place
to be chosen because that's a place of instruction. It's a place
of learning. It's a place of discipleship. There alone you will learn His
Word. You'll learn His will. You'll
learn His way. You'll learn of His salvation.
You'll learn of Him. Come unto me, he said, all you
that labor and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. That's what he said, isn't it?
Learn of me. Not learn more about this or
more about the Baptist denomination or more about church history
or all of this. Learn of me. Lord, I don't know much, but
I wanna know more about him and I wanna know him, know him. Christ is all, Christ is all. And you notice, and don't be
afraid of this part now. There in verse 42, One thing is needful, and Mary
hath chosen that good part. What have you chosen? Say, well, we're a sovereign
grace people. We don't talk about choosing anything. Well, now
hang on a minute. Our Savior said Mary hath chosen
that good part. Oh. Fatalists don't like to hear
that. What have you chosen? That's the good part. Oh God, give me a will to choose
Christ. Give me a will to desire to know
him in the power of his resurrection. Hear me, there's a choice to
be made. Is that right? That is right,
isn't it? There's a choice to be made.
If we would have salvation, enjoy salvation, enjoy the benefit
from this one needful thing, there's a choice to be made.
Oh God, give me a willingness to come to Christ only, just
to seek to know Him. If you sought to study him for
the rest of your life. Just study him. That'd be a worthwhile education
right there. What do you think we gonna be
doing forever in glory? You know what I think? I think
we'll be like a bunch of Marys, sitting at his feet. listening and not troubled about other
things. Our Lord, He is fixing our attention
on that which is truly vital. See, there are some things that
are nice to have but you really don't need them. They're not
needful. Money is nice, but it's not needful. You can live without it, without
very much anyway. Property or fame or power or
any of those things, they're all nice. Prosperity, rank, they
all may be good in their place, but they're not needful. They
aren't needful. You see, there are many people
who have power and rank and honor in the eyes of the world. They
have all that, but they don't have Christ, who is all. And
what I'd say about them, they're the poorest of the poor. I don't
care how rich they are. but a person who has been shown
grace by God, who's been shown what they are
by nature, and that Christ is all. He's
all in salvation. He's all in redemption. He's
all in reconciliation. He's all in forgiveness. A person who has been shown that
Christ is all, who sits at his feet and listens. They're rich. They're rich toward
God, rich in grace, rich in mercy. Christ is the one thing needful.
Jeremiah says in Lamentations 3.25, The Lord is my portion. He's our portion. And you know
what that means? He is our inheritance. I know
you can listen to the so-called gospel songs about a mansion
in heaven and all those kind of things, and go click up your
heels on the streets of gold. You can go ahead and have all
that if you want. Christ is our portion. He is
our inheritance. That's the reason we do not believe
that there are different degrees of heaven. Because you see, heaven is to
be with Christ, who is all. Wherever He is. When we die, that's where we
gonna be. I may mention to you, was it
Wednesday night I mentioned that book by Philip Henry? Was that
Wednesday night? It was? Okay. Christ All in All. And I mentioned it to you, and
so Nancy wanted to borrow my copy of it, and so I was letting
her read it, and then I just took the time this afternoon
to read the last two chapters, where Christ is all. But he made
this observation. He said, what is a sick man's
all in all? A physician and a cure. That's
what a sick man's interested in. Folks, we're sick. We got disease. We got the leprosy
of sin. He's the great physician. with
his stripes we're healed. We're sick in sin and dying and
Christ laid down his life to save poor sin sick soul. I'm
one, I'm one. And Philip Henry also wrote,
what is a condemned man's all? A full pardon. A full pardon. Man's in prison
and he's guilty. And somebody comes along and
says, the king has pardoned you and the jail cell opens wide. Ooh, that says all in all, a
pardon, a free pardon. And Philip Henry continued, he
said, what is a naked man's all in all? Rich clothing. Christ is our righteousness. And Philip Henry said, and what
is a hungry man's all in all? Food. Man's starving to death. So here's
$100. He said, I can't eat that. Give him food. For those of you whom the Spirit
of God has made hungry, I give you Christ, who is the bread
of life. And the banquet of mercy is served
up by one host, our Lord himself. And I can almost hear him say
to all of his children, come and dine. Come and dine. That's what we've done today,
isn't it? We've dined on rich things. And Philip Henry said, and what
is a man who's deep in debt? What's his all in all? Assurity. Assurity. Somebody to pay my
debt. Christ paid the debt we owe to
the justice of God by his substitutionary death upon the cross of Calvary.
He paid somebody's debt, I know that, and they're debt free. And the only way you can know
that you're debt free toward God and that he paid your debt
is if the Spirit of God brings you to cast your soul upon Christ who is all. God help us to do that. I think
I'm gonna continue this maybe next Sunday morning, Sunday night,
I don't know. But I've just barely scratched
the surface of it. But you kinda get the idea, don't
you? Christ is all. Well, let's sing closing song,
we'll go home.