Let's go back to that portion
of scripture that he read to us out of the book of Paul's
epistle to the church at Colossae and we'll go here to the book
of Colossians chapter 3. If you really want to be and
if you are in fact a serious student of the scriptures, if
you're really interested in the salvation of your soul, if you
have a desire for everlasting life, then listen to that which
I have to say to you this morning. I have a very, very vital portion
of Scripture to speak to you from, and it's only three words,
and they're found here in the third chapter in verse 11. And
here are the three words, Christ is all. Nancy and I took a brief trip
down to Southwest, Virginia First of the week we got back Thursday About 6 in the evening and we
stopped at a restaurant on the way back and Had a good meal
And I was noticing hanging up on the wall of the restaurant,
which kind of had a western motif, had several irons for branding
cattle. As I looked at those, knowing
what I'd been rolling over in my mind to speak on today, I thought, Lord, if you'd just
brand these three words out of the third chapter of the book
of Colossians, verse 11, the words, Christ is all. Lord, brand
those, not obviously to the flesh, but to the heart. That's the
reason I say if you're really a serious student of the Scriptures,
and I hope you all are, you want to learn the Word of God, you've
got to learn this. The Lord's got to brand this
into our hearts. The study of the Word of God,
Christ is all. And the salvation of your soul. I hope you're interested in that.
Well, I'm interested in the salvation of my soul. Lord, O Spirit of
God, take the branding iron of Your grace, and may these very simple three
words, may these be branded on my heart, in the salvation of
sinners, and as pertains to my salvation, I've got to know this,
Christ is all. He's all to be known. He's all
to be believed. And He's all to be embraced in
love. And if you want everlasting life,
these three words have got to be branded in your heart because
there's no everlasting life anywhere else. Everlasting life is only
in Christ Jesus. He said, I'm the way. I'm the
truth. Then what'd he say? I'm the life. I'm the life. Oh God, give me
everlasting life. I know where life is. In fact,
I not only know the location of life, I know who life is. That's our Lord Jesus Christ.
He is all. If we would understand the essence
of Christianity, if we would understand what Christianity
is all about, here are the three words that head that That very
vital topic. When it comes to Christianity,
Christ is all. Not the church. Not the ordinances. Not your decision. Not your works. Oh God, take this branding iron
of grace and put it in our hearts. in this matter of the salvation
of sinners, true Christianity, Christ is all. That's what I
want, true Christianity. I don't want a fake religion. I want something that's full
of life, that exists for the very glory of God. And in this
entire scheme of redemption and salvation and reconciliation,
I know this, Christ is all. You know that, don't you? He's
all. I tell you what, if you want
wisdom, if you want wisdom to understand the Scriptures, You
won't make any progress in the right direction until you understand
this. Christ is all. If you want to be righteous,
and you've got to be, you've got to be righteous to be accepted
of God. If you want to be righteous,
if you want to be justified, if you want to be forgiven, if
you want to be accepted, you will make no advances in that
direction until you understand this, when it comes to righteousness,
Christ is all. And if you want to be holy, Not as the world views holiness
because the world views holiness as outward performance of duties
and regulations. Not holiness as a denomination
would define it. But if you would be holy and
if you would know something about holiness as God defines it, which
is absolute purity, and perfection, being blameless in His sight. You've got to know this when
it comes to the subject of holiness. And without holiness, no man's
going to see the Lord. In this subject, Christ is all. If you want to know something
about redemption, first of all, the redemption
of the soul, And then secondly, the redemption of the body. If you want to know something
about redemption, debt being paid, all of your liabilities being
charged to Christ Jesus, you had no assets to bring to salvation. All the assets were His. All
the liabilities were yours. If you want to know about the
redemption of your soul by that blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
well, He is all. And if you want to know something
about the redemption of this body which is going to die, go
back to the dust. But our Lord Jesus is going to
have this body too, the bodies of all of His people. He'll have
every speck of our dust. and will receive a body fashioned
like unto His glorious body. If you're interested not only
in the redemption of your soul, but the redemption of your body,
you won't make any headway in your understanding of redemption
until you see this. Until the Spirit of God reveals
this to you. Christ is And I'll tell you, in all things
doctrinal, in all things doctrinal, here is the foundation on which
we build. We build our doctrine on a rock
foundation, the rock of ages, even our Lord Jesus. Any doctrine
not built on Him is wrong doctrine, it's false doctrine. When it
comes to doctrine, Christ is all. And when it comes to the
practical things of life, in that Christ is also all. For He's all our motivation for
living right, for doing right. Here's what Paul said for me. To live is Christ. And to die
is gain. That's what he said. So, having this understanding,
let me make about five statements to you. And stay with me. Hope it'll help you. Number one,
Christ is all in the purpose and all the decrees of God that
have to do with His people. Christ is all. and that purpose
of God and the decrees of God pertaining to His people. I'll
give you a few thoughts from a message I read. And I noted
it. I try to, when I read something
that really kind of jumps off the page to me, up at the top
I'll put, read on. I read this in December of 1974. and it's still with me today. Here's a little message on Christ
is all. He's all in the purpose and decrees
of God. See, there was a time when time
had no existence. There was nothing. There was
nothing. Only God in the eternality of
His being. Only God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit existed. And they existed in
perfect harmony and blissfulness. The earth had no existence. The
heaven had no existence. There was no being throughout
all of eternity except God. Well, if Christ is all, where
was He then? He was with the Trinity because
He's one of the Trinity. In fact, you read in John chapter
1, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word
was God. What is a Word? A Word, as we
use words, these are vehicles of thought, vehicles that reveal
whatever it is that we want to convey to you. It's the only
way I can convey to you my thoughts this morning, and my desires
are through words. They're vehicles of thought,
of expression. If you want to know about God,
if you want to know about the Father and the Spirit, then you've
got to study Christ, the Son of God, because He's all. And
back there in Old Eternity, it says in the book of Proverbs
chapter 8, He was ever the Father's delight. He was the very joy
of the Father. He said in his high priestly
prayer, Father, glorify Thou me with the glory that I had
with Thee before this world was. Back when there was no time,
Christ was all. He was all. But something happened back there
in eternity. There was a covenant of grace.
The establishment of God's everlasting decree to save sinners. With
the Father choosing and the Spirit of God pledging to reveal the
Savior and reveal the Gospel to these sinners. But even then,
even then in that covenant and counsel of grace, Christ is all. And I wouldn't take anything
away from what the Father has done and is doing, nor what the
Spirit has done and the Spirit is doing, but it was covenanted
within the holy counsel of God that that second person of the
Trinity, He alone would take on a union with our flesh. and He would come. He would redeem. He would save. He would shed
His blood to satisfy God and save the people of God's choice.
In other words, in old eternity, Christ is all for He was the
surety of those the Father gave Him. He was the Savior. He was appointed to be the Savior.
There can't be any salvation without redemption, without reconciliation. So when God formulated this magnificent
purpose of grace, of salvation, there had to be one appointed,
one ordained. One predestinated who would Himself
answer for all the sins of all of the people that God the Father
had given to Him in the covenant of grace. And in that covenant,
Christ is all. Christ is all. He's always been all. And then there was a time when
the world came into existence. Everything. Everything created. If Christ is all, where was He
then? Why, He was the Creator. And
so we read in John 1, all things were made by Him, and without
Him was not anything made that was made. Everything was made by Him and
made for His pleasure. He's the Creator. And so we read
in Hebrews chapter 2, And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid
the foundation of the earth. Who laid the foundation of the
earth? Our Lord Christ did. And then there came a day when
something awful happened in this world. There was a rebellion
against God by a man. His name was Adam. He did what God specifically
told him not to do. He could eat of any fruit of
any of the trees of the garden except for one. That stood as
a symbol of the absolute authority and sovereignty of God. Don't
you eat the fruit of that tree now. In the day you eat of it,
you'll surely die. I don't know how many other trees
existed, how much more fruit existed, but Adam, he saw his
wife eat, and he decided that he would go in her rebellion
against God. He ate and he fell, he sinned,
he became a rebel against God. He lost the favor of God. Well,
if Christ is all, where was he then? Well, he himself put on
a garment of flesh so that Adam and Eve could see him. And he
spoke to them. And he told them, actually he
told the serpent, he told the devil, but he spoke it in such
a way that Adam and Eve could hear this. He said, in often
the future, the seed of the woman is coming. A reference to himself,
not the seed of a man. He wouldn't be contaminated with
the sinfulness of man. He's going to be born of the
seed of a woman, born of a virgin. And he said, then the head of
the serpent will be crushed. And then our Lord Jesus, this
one who Christ is all, before the eyes of our fallen parents,
He killed an animal, two animals I suspect, and he skinned them,
he shed the blood of those animals, and then he robed our fallen
parents with the skins of those animals, thus illustrating a
truth that would be set forth all the way through the Old Testament
Scriptures unto the death of the Lord Jesus Himself. The way
that the guilty will continue to live and the way that they'll
go free is for an innocent victim to die in their stead. Well, since Christ is all, what
did He do then? He illustrated exactly what was
going to happen to Himself. Some 4,000 years in the future,
He would die. And then there came a day when
sin Oh, it blanketed the earth. Degradation, corruption, wickedness
was everywhere. After 4,000 years, it was obvious
that all the poets and the scientists and the philosophers and the
educated people, they didn't get nearer to God. They get further
away from God. It was obvious that man, by wisdom,
did not know God and could not know God. And when that had been,
to God's satisfaction, fully exposed, the ignorance of man
had been exposed, if Christ is all, what'd He do then? He came
down here to do something about our dilemma. Oh, bless His name. Born of a virgin, lived a life
of perfect obedience. He kept every law perfectly. God's law, parental law, and civil law. He kept all the law. Thereby
establishing the fact, this man is a perfect man. The Scripture
says in Leviticus 22 and 21 of a sacrifice, it's got to be perfect
to be accepted. He showed that. He showed that
by His life. And then this perfect sacrifice,
He went to the cross of Calvary. If Christ is all, what did He
do then? He bore the sins of His people
in His own body on the tree. He died as our substitute. He
died to satisfy God, to honor justice. He died to put away
the sins of all of His people, which He did. He died to wash
us. He died to robe us. He died to
reconcile us. He died to make us righteous.
Christ is all. He's all. He died for our sins,
1 Corinthians 15, according to the Scriptures. He was buried,
He was raised again the third day, according to the Scriptures.
Forty days later, He went back to heaven. And if Christ is all, What's
He doing right now? Ruling the world. Governing all
things to fulfill His Father's eternal purpose. And He's working
all things out for the good of His people. He has sent His Spirit. multiplied times to individuals
who were marked as being God's people even before the world
began. And the Son of God sends the
Spirit to every last one of them. He makes sure they hear the gospel
of how God can be a just God and a Savior. The gospel of blood,
the gospel of grace, the gospel that salvation is of the Lord.
He sends His Spirit. He sent His Spirit to you. If
you believe the gospel of Christ, that's what He did for you. He
sent His Spirit. He could have passed you by.
He could have left you in your heathen darkness. But he didn't. He didn't. In his own eternal
purpose back before the world began, he saw you. He loved you
with an everlasting love. He appointed you unto everlasting
life. And in his own heart he said,
I'm going to have that one. That's one of mine. I'm going
to redeem him. I'm going to buy her. from the
justice of God. And so He did. And so He was
exalted. And He sends His Spirit. And
you know what He's doing? He's working all things together
for the good of His people. That's what He's doing. Christ
is all. And listen, there's coming a
day when this thing we call time. Time shall be no more. He's coming
back. Christ is coming back. Well,
if He's all, what's He going to do then? He's going to raise
the quick and the dead. He's going to raise the bodies
of those that believe. He's going to raise the bodies
of those who don't believe. He's going to gather everybody
in front of Him. The billions of people who have
lived say, Jim, I don't see how in the world He can do that.
Well, I don't see how in the world He could speak the world
into existence. There's a whole lot of things
that the Lord has done and is doing I can't comprehend. I can't
comprehend how that right now, this very moment, every little
insect in the world, even across the furthest point from Ashland,
Kentucky, every insect is fulfilling his will and going exactly and
doing exactly what his purpose. I can't understand that. My poor
peanut southern brain, I can't get a hold of the eternal purpose
of God. But I believe that He's all-powerful. He's all-glorious. He does His
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. There's nothing that is out from
under the control of King Jesus. Christ is all. And I'll tell
you one of these days, He's going to judge the world in righteousness. That's the standard. And He's
going to separate the sheep from the goats. And he'll say to the
sheep, hey, come ye blessed of my father. Come and inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
And to the goats, those who wouldn't believe him, had no desire after
him, didn't matter to them that Christ was all. For the most
part, to them, Christ was nothing. Oh, maybe he was a little bit
to them every once in a while. Christmas and Easter. But he wasn't all to them. And I tell you what, they're
all going to fall down at his throne. They're going to bend
the knee. And they're gonna say, Jesus
of Nazareth, who lived and died a sacrificial death and rose
again, he is the Lord. And then the one who's the Lord
is gonna cast him into hell. And there's coming an eternity
when the saints of God will all be in heaven. If Christ is all,
What's He going to be then to us? He'll be the object of our
worship forever. That will be our employment.
That will be our enjoyment. I'm telling you, in the purpose
of God, in the decrees of God pertaining to the salvation of
sinners, Christ is all. Let me give you the second point.
Christ is all in the Word of God. Throughout the Old Testament,
you read of all of these sacrifices. In all of those sacrifices, Christ
is all because all of them pointed to Him. Surely you don't think that the
killing of millions of animals over the course of 4,000 years
of the Old Testament. Surely you don't think that they
were needless or useless or pointless or had no meaning. Why do all
those animals have to die? I mean, hey, I appreciate animals
and I don't want to see animals suffer. I have a heart toward
animals. I like cats and dogs and pretty
much other animals unless they're after me. But I get along pretty good with
all the animals. And I, you know, the thought
of an animal, the throat being slit and blood gushing out and
the animal kicking and screaming. I can't even imagine such a thing.
All of those animal sacrifices in the Old Testament pointed
to Christ who is all. He is the sacrifice for sin appointed
by God. The Word of God sets forth all
of those sacrifices. Christ is all in all of them.
and all the pictures of our Lord from Abel's lamb. I mean, you
can go to hundreds of illustrations of pictures of our Lord Jesus,
Abel's lamb, Noah's ark, Noah's sacrifices after the ark landed
on dry ground. The Israelites, the Passover
lamb, the manna, the water from the rock, the brazen serpent,
just go all the way through the Old Testament. All of those Old
Testament pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ, they announce to
us in words, if we're listening, are very, very clear and simple. They're saying Christ is all. It's all pointed to Him. He's all in the Word of God.
And I speak to those of you who are watching by way of the internet.
Perhaps you're sick, can't go to your local church service
this morning, you're watching me. Or perhaps you're not attending,
maybe you don't have anywhere to attend. I don't know what
your situation is, but I'll tell you what, if the preacher you
usually listen to, if his message is not Jesus Christ and him crucified,
I'd find me another preacher. Just being honest with you, because
I tell you, from this pulpit and from the pulpit of every
true servant of God, those three words, those are the words that
are branded on our hearts. Yeah. Branded on the hearts of
the preachers of the gospel. Christ is all. I've got to tell
what I know, and I've got to be a faithful witness of Him
that I know. Christ is all. He's all in the
Word of God. The Bible is not a book of history.
It's not a book of prophecy. Not a book of morality. Now,
there are a lot of things that you can learn from the Word of
God, of course, because it's an accurate record of that which
God has spoken. But the Book of God, it's summed
up in those three words. Christ is all. He's all in the
book of God. And thirdly, He's all in the
redemption of a sinner. And I don't wish to be understood. I believe in the election of
sinners by God the Father. I believe the new birth, the
necessity of the new birth by the Spirit of God. But there's
no redemption without Christ Jesus. Now there's no salvation
without Him. You say, well, preacher, I think
we ought to honor the Father. Here's what our Lord Jesus said. He said, him that honoreth not
the Son of God, honoreth not the Father who sent him. You
say, I want to honor God the Father. Well, then you honor
his Son. Because it pleased God, it pleased
the Father, that in Christ Jesus all the fullness of the Godhead
dwell bodily. That's what it says. And you don't give Christ His
rightful place? You're not honoring the Father. Christ is all in the purpose
and decrees of God concerning the salvation of sinners. Christ
is all in the book of God. Christ is all in the redemption
of sinners. Whose blood washes away sin? In whose righteousness are we
clothed? We're made the righteousness
of God in Him, in righteousness. And righteousness, I cannot stress
to you how vital a subject that is. He is our righteousness. Christ is all in righteousness.
And He'll be all in eternity. Tell you what, here's what Paul
said. He said, I'm in a strait betwixt two. He said, I have
a desire. I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. He didn't say, I have
a desire to depart and go to heaven. He said, I want to be
with Christ. That's what he said. Our Lord
Jesus said to the thief on the cross, today thou shall be with
me in paradise. What is paradise? It's to be
with Christ. Why, I would just venture to
say this, heaven is Christ. He's all of heaven. In fact,
heaven, wherever it's located, wouldn't be heaven if he wasn't
there. So wherever he is, that's where
heaven is. I heard, I got something across
my phone the other day. I get all these internet messages,
you know, and said, the world is, It's going to be a tremendous
uproar through the earth when the Lord comes back and some
are taken and some are left. Well, see, I feel like when He
comes back, that's going to be the end. But you know what? It doesn't matter. I'm going
to be with Him. Let come what may, I'll be with
Christ Jesus. He is all in all to His people. He is our heaven. His praise
will be our eternal song. His glory will be our eternal
delight. And His service will be our eternal
occupation. And His presence will be our
eternal safety. And here's the last thing. Christ is all. He's all that a faithful preacher
has to preach. He's all that a faithful preacher
has to preach. I'm telling you, you hear me
now. And if you don't hear me, if
God doesn't give you ears to hear, These words will haunt
you. Absolutely they will haunt you
throughout eternity. Salvation is in Christ. In salvation,
Christ is all. Not your works. Not your deeds. Not your efforts. Not your good
living. Not your morality. If you're
ever to be saved by the grace of God, the Spirit of God is
going to have to brand these three words on your heart. Oh
God, do it for all of us. Christ is all. And if He brands
our hearts, we're His forever. It's really just, in a way you
can say we've been branded always anyhow. But then it becomes a
reality to us. Christ is all. Well, may the
Lord bless His Word. Let's get our psalm books and
turn to 112.