If you will, turn with me to
the book of Colossians. The book of Colossians, chapter
3. My subject, and I pray it's God's
message for you in this hour, is about the sufficiency of Christ. We talk about religion, especially
those in religious circles, and they like to talk about all the
old experience they had, and I can go back to the day and
the time, and they're always either talking about the past,
or they're talking about something that they've done, or something
that's going on. Let me tell you what believers
talk about. I'll tell you what they think about. the sufficiency
of Christ. Christ is all. Christ is all. In verse 10 he tells us that
believers have put on the new man. Religion tells us that the
new man is our renewed self. All of a sudden this old man
that was so rebellious and so sinful and so aggressive toward
God, all of a sudden he's supercharged. He's a supercharged individual
and now he's going to go do this and he's going to go do that.
That's not the new man. The new man is Christ. Now hear what I'm telling The
new man is Christ. I need him as much after he saves
me as I did before. I can't do anything now that
I couldn't do then. But I don't have to. He did it
all. He did it all. The heart of true
religion is Christ. It's discovering the sufficiency
of Christ. They talk about this inspired
man, this new self, and he's inspired to walk upright and
honest among men, one who's determined to do right and shun wickedness. And certainly, this is true of
all believers. But this is not what putting
on the new man is. Verse nine tells us we have put
off the old man. Who's that? That you. That you. Ever how you are, that's
you. Put that off. Put that off. The
only thing worth having is Christ. That's all. That's the only thing
worth having is Christ. And I need him as much after
I have faith as I did before. I need him. Not all people are lewd, wicked,
unchecked rebels. Paul was saved. He wasn't none
of those things. He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees.
He was a religious man. He was honored among the Jews.
He was honored among the community. He was an honored man. He was
honest. He paid his bills. He lived upright as touching
the law, the righteousness which is of the law. He said I was
blameless. He told me not to work on Sunday
and I didn't work on Sunday. He told me to do this and do
that and I did it. I'm blameless. And I met a lot
of folks growing up in religion who were blameless. If you wanted
to look around the community, you wouldn't find any better
person than my dad. My dad was honest, he was generous,
he did all those things, but he was self-righteous. He was
self-righteous and he didn't trust in Christ. Put off that old man. And some
are not lewd and wicked young chicks, some just everyday people.
They work hard, they have families, they're valued members of society. But that don't mean they're saved.
That don't mean they're saved. They're vile sinners in their
nature just as Paul was. What about his zeal? Paul said,
you got some things you think you can brag about? He said,
I got more. I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I circumcised on the
eighth day. And he just goes on and on with
all of these things that religious people are trying to attain.
He already had them. He had that. That Ethiopian eunuch. He was
a devout man. If you read the story, everybody
talks about his baptism and talks about Philip going out there
to preach to him and all those things. Take a look at who this
Ethiopian eunuch was. He was a devout man. He just
made a journey for 100, 200 miles and took all of his servants
with him so he could go to Jerusalem and worship according to the
word of God. But he come back just as ignorant as he was when
he went. He didn't know a bit more about God when he come back
than when he went to Jerusalem. And he was sitting there reading
the book of Isaiah. And Phillip come around, the
Lord said, go join yourself to that chariot. He went over there
and he said, you understand what you're reading? He said, how
can I except some man tell me? He said, scoot over. He got up
there and preached Christ to him. As soon as he did, he said,
there's water. What does hinder me from being
baptized? And he said, do you believe with all your heart?
He said, I do, I do. He said, there's water, stop
the chariot. They went down, he was baptized.
That man wasn't a, he wasn't a lewd, wicked man. He wasn't a town rebel. He was a religious man, a devout
man, and there's thousands just like him that are lost. They're
religious, but they're lost. Actually, religion, false religion
is a step down from lewdness and adultery. I've had people
tell me this. daughter, their son went off
to college, and I said, is there a church over there? No. But
they go down to the First Baptist Church, and I'm just happy because
at least they're going to church. That ain't nothing to be happy
about. Ain't nothing to be happy about. What are they hearing
down there? Huh? What'd our Lord say to those
Pharisees when they come up? He said, you vipers. But we wouldn't
talk, if the pastor from First Baptist Church came over, we
wouldn't call him a viper, Christ did. Christ did, you vipers. John the Baptist did. We'd say,
come up here and sit in the front. No, John the Baptist said, you
go on back home and don't come back till you have something
to repent about. You come back with repentance
and I'll preach it to you. Our Lord was rarely rejected
by sinners. Mostly it was old established
religion that rejected him. They couldn't stand him. He said
of those who mocked him in Bethsaida, he said, it'll be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you. Capernaum. He couldn't hardly do anything
in Capernaum for unbelief. They despised him. And he said,
it'll be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment
than for you. You think religion's a step up?
Christ said it's a step down. He said, the degree of your punishment
in hell be greater than it was on Sodom. If Sodom had seen the
works that you've seen and seen the man that you've seen, they
would have repented in sackcloth and ashes. And you just bowed
up, rejected me, and went your way. Religious men have things to
put off in the old man. Thoughts of self-righteousness,
they need to be laid aside. All our righteousnesses, the
Bible said, are filthy rags. That old leper had to cover his
mouth with a rag. Can you imagine the pus and blood? And I can't even make it sound
as sick as it really is. That's a filthy rag. A menstrual
cloth is a filthy rag, according to the law. And Isaiah said,
all your righteousnesses, the best things that you ever thought
about, that you've ever done, all your righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. Filthy rags. We need to put those thoughts
of self-righteousness aside. Some kind of thoughts of inherent
goodness. We talk like that all the time,
don't we? I do. It just comes out. Boy, that's a good person. You remember when the rich young
ruler come to Christ, he said, good master. Boy, Christ stopped
him dead in his tracks. He said, why callest thou me
good? There's none good but God. Don't we think sometimes, well,
I'm better than he is? Put that aside, lay it aside,
put aside, put off that old man, put him off. Put him off, put
off those thoughts of inherent goodness, rewards for your service. Well, they told me, he said,
well, it says right there, the Lord greeted them in heaven and
said, well done, thy good and faithful servant. You know what
the believers rewarded for? Christ's righteousness, because
he made it as much ours as it is his. Huh? That's right, and he looks at
you, he said, he said of you back in Colossians 1, where he's
talking about how he reconciled us, he said he's made us spotless
before the presence of God. Now listen to this word, unreprovable. God said, well, one more thing
he lacked. No, unreprovable before his sight. That's righteousness. That's
goodness. That's what we need. And all
these thoughts of rewards for our service, they're rewards
for those things which Christ has given us, because he's truly
given them to us. We're truly righteous before
God. A godly walk under threats of punishment. I had a fellow,
I've known him for 40 years, and he was beginning to attend
the Grace Church again, Starting to get a little bit of hope about
him, I started talking to him and this is what he told me.
He said, don't get me wrong. He said, I've left that church
again for the same reason I left it for the first time. He said,
don't get me wrong, the gospel's important. But he said, we need
a little law. You don't want no law. All I
want's what I got coming. You don't want that. You don't
want that. What you want is grace. What
you want is mercy. You don't want that. Put those
things off and a godly walk under threats of punishment. Do I have
to be threatened to walk before God? My soul. He gave himself
for me. He spared not his own son, delivered
him up for us all. He's given us all things. And
I need to have the whip to You have to beat your wife, get
her cooked. I hope not. Okay. Christ loved us, he said, and
gave himself for us. Hadn't we ought to love one another
the same way? Shouldn't I ought to? You know
what the first of the commandments is? Love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second one
just like it, love your neighbor as yourself. He said on these
two commandments, hence the whole law. If you don't do everything
in that law by love, you've transgressed everything in the law. Our Lord
obeyed that law perfectly out of his love for his father. Now
you think about that. His love, his love. And that's how we love one another.
We don't know anything about love except of what we've learned
in Christ. And that love, that love doesn't
require anything from the other person, does it? He provided
everything for you. I need to love you without condition.
Unconditional love. Levels of acceptance and favor
with God. Some are up here and some are,
ain't no levels. My soul was saved by grace. Amen? Saved by grace. You got the same
righteousness I do, the righteousness of Christ, if you have him. You
see where I'm going? It's the sufficiency of Christ,
it ain't you. God calls a preacher. You think
he called that man so he could display his gifts? No, he said
he put it in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power
might be of the Lord and not of us. That's why he called us
to preach. Put his message in a flower pot. I don't go outside and glory
in the flower pot all winter. I wait till it's full of flowers,
and then I go out there and look at it and glory. A glory with
what's in the pot, not in the pot. You see what I'm saying? That's it. That's grace. I'm
trying to tell you the truth. Christ's sufficiency is the heart
of the gospel. He's sufficient. He's sufficient. Our text in verse 11, now listen
to this. He said where, where's he talking
about in Christ? In Christ, you read through that
chapter, you'll see that's what he's talking about. He's been
talking about it all the way from chapter one. And who Christ is. And he comes down here and he
said, there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, is what? All. Well, what's that mean? It means all. It means all. Yeah, but what does all mean?
It means all. He's all. There's nothing else.
It's just Christ. Christ is all. And Christ in
you is the hope of glory. What Christ? The Christ that's
all. Are they preaching that or are they preaching another
Jesus? I preach a savior that saves,
a redeemer that has redeemed. He entered into that holy place
one time, not without blood. He took his own blood, entered
into heaven itself, and obtained eternal redemption for us. It's
in his hand. He has it. He has it. Oh, lay aside that old man. Christ is all. Put him on. Put
on the new man. He's all. Now listen. And then
all. And that's my message to you
tonight. The gospel is the gospel of Christ. It's not a gospel
of reformation. It's not civic duty. It's not
political influence. It's not any of those things.
It's not trying to get you to be a better person. When you
know Christ, when you see Christ, you'll be the person unlike anybody
else. You'll be a changed person. You'll
be a changed person. The hope of glory is Christ in
you. And when he tells us to put on
the new man, he's telling us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Over in Ephesians four, I don't know if you're familiar with
this chapter or not, but in Ephesians chapter four, Paul tells us that
Christ gave some ascension gifts. When he ascended back into glory,
he gave gifts. What did he give? He gave apostles. Twelve apostles. Paul was an
apostle called out of due season, but he gave twelve apostles.
Prophets, all the prophets of the Old Testament, given of God.
And there's no apostles in our day, and there's no prophets
in our day, but there are these two, evangelists and pastor-teachers. These are gifts from God to his
church. What's their mission? Why did
Christ ordain such men? Ephesians 4.12, for the perfecting
of the saints. You mean a man can under the
ministry attain perfection, perfect obedience, perfect walk, perfect
righteousness? No, that's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about that perfection of Christ. By one
offering, listen to this, Hebrews 10.14, by one offering, he hath
perfected forever them that were sanctified by that same offering.
Read verse 10 and verse 14. He sanctified, he come down and
did the will of God, accomplished the will of God, the redemptive
will of God, redeemed his people, did everything God sent him to
do, and God raised him up into glory. And in that one offering,
he sanctified forever all his elect, And then in verse 14,
he said that same offering. He perfected everybody he sanctified. Perfect in Christ. Well, what
are we doing? Preachers are for the perfecting
of the saints. And you must be perfect to be
saved. Perfectly good, perfectly honest, perfectly righteous.
And we are in Christ. We're sent, Ephesians 4 verse
12, listen to this, for the edifying of the body of Christ. That's
what I hope I'm doing tonight. I hope I'm teaching you something. We're sent here for the edifying
of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the
faith. Now watch this. And of the knowledge of the Son
of God unto a perfect man. What does our knowledge of God
have to do with that? because he's the only perfect
one. And true knowledge of God will
tell you that. Here's my perfection, it's in
Christ. The perfect man. Unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. The new man is Christ in you.
God the Holy Ghost, through the ministry of evangelists and pastor
teachers, shows chosen sinners the full sufficiency of Christ.
And if you will, I'd like to focus on verse 11 of Colossians
chapter three. And in this verse, I find two
things that we need to say. First of all, Christ is all.
There's nothing else there. If somebody tells you, yeah,
yeah, you need to hear that grace, but just walk away. Walk away. There is no but. Christ
is all. He's all. Well, what does the apostle mean
when he says Christ is all? Well, he's all in the eternal
councils of God. You weren't back there. I wasn't
back there. Who was back there? He was. He was. Who did God give all these things
to do? In the volume of the book, it's
written to me. I come to do thy will, O God.
Who did he give it to? He gave it to Christ. He's all in the eternal counsels
of God. And we got a beautiful picture
of this over in Revelation chapter five. He begins this vision with
one sitting on the throne and he's holding a book and it's
sealed. This book is sealed. Seven seals. Those seals are
the perfections of God who holds the book. And John started looking. He
was allowed by the spirit of God peer into heaven itself,
and now he sees this one seated on the throne. He's holding a
book, but it's sealed. And they started searching around in heaven
to see who was worthy to open the book or to look on it. Nobody. Nobody worthy. He began to weep.
Began to weep. And he said, weep not. The Lion
of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, he hath prevailed to
open the book. And he came, he said, and took
the book. Why did he take it? Because it
was given to him of God. He took the book. What is that
book? That's the book of all God's eternal decrees. That's
what it is. And when Christ in Hebrews 10
said, in the volume of the book it's written of me, he ain't
talking about this book. He's talking about the book of
all his eternal counsels. It's written of me. I come to
do thy will, O God. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Is that sufficiency? He's all sufficient in the eternal
counsels of God. Listen to this. This is over
in Acts 2.23. Peter stands up on the day of
Pentecost, and he starts preaching, and he said, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel of God, the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God, you took with wicked hands and crucified
and slain. What delivered him? The eternal
counsels of God. Acts 4, 27, he said, for of a
truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou has anointed,
Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and all the
people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. He's all in
the eternal counsels of God. It's all about Christ. He's all
in the revelation of God. I'm forever hearing these things.
Hate to use the term Pentecostal, but that's what they were, the
Pentecostals. And they're standing up and they're saying, God told
me to do this. God told me, I saw God. God talked
with, you ain't no such thing. Scripture said no man has ever
seen God. To look on God, he destroy you. You couldn't stand in the presence
of God. And then Philip, when Christ
had raised from the dead, he come up to him and he said, show
us the father. He said, have you been so long
time with me? Have you not seen the father?
I and the father are one. I'm one. No man knoweth the father
save the son, and listen, he to whom the son will reveal it.
The son is all in the revelation of God. In 1 John chapter 5 verse
20, he talks about in that day, he said, and we know that Christ
has come and given us an understanding that we might know him that's
true and that we're in him that's true. Even in who? Even in his, the
Lord God, even in him, in my God. This is the true God in
eternal life. It's to know God, but you can't
know God apart from Christ. Read John chapter 17, it says
the same thing. It says the same thing. God, my father, has given me
power over all flesh that I might give eternal life to as many
as he's given me. And this is eternal life, that
they might know thee, the only true God, and me whom you sent. Christ is all in the revelation
of God, and he's all in the justification of God's people. Who is he that
condemneth? It's Christ that died. When Christ died, did he actually
put my sin away? Or am I still paying for it?
Did he actually satisfy the justice of God, or do I have that yet
to do? When Christ, listen to this,
once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. He put it away. You may remember
it, but he don't. Your sins and iniquities I remember
no more. That's what he said. You gonna
remember them, but he ain't. He put them away. Was his blood
sufficient to put them away? He said it was. He said it was. It says in Romans chapter 4 verse
25, he was delivered for our offenses. Now watch this, and
raised again for what? Our justification. Justification. The reason for the death of Christ
is that God can be both just and justifier. and declare his
righteousness for the remission of our sins. I was in a Nazarene
church one time, just a kid. I'll never forget it. There was
a blackboard where they'd teach Sunday school and stuff. And
the preacher turned around and got that piece of chalk and he
said, here's your sin, one, two, and he started naming sins. And
he was making those lines and a little diagonal. He said, here's
forgiveness. He took the eraser and erased
it. That ain't forgiveness. Sin has to be paid for. God don't
take his race and say, well, I'm gonna let you go this time.
No, your sin has to be paid for. He can't justify you unless your
sins have been paid for. Had I known Christ put away my
sin, he raised him from the dead. And he declared once for all
the justification of his people. There's no compromise on the
part of God in the forgiveness of sins. Christ bore our sins
in his own body on the tree. So Christ is all in the eternal
counsels of God. He's all in the revelation of
God and he's all in the redemption of chosen sinners. He redeemed
us by his blood. He's all in the justification
of those he died for. He said, if Christ be not raised,
here's what Paul said, 1 Corinthians 15. If Christ be not raised,
your faith is in vain, and you're yet in your sins. And then Christ is all in his
present reign in glory. We look at the government and
all the shenanigans and things that's going on all over the
world, and boy, we just want to go stick our head in the sand
somewhere. What's going on? You want to know what's going
on, I'm going to tell you. Everything that God wills to be done, that's
exactly what's going on. Never has been anything else.
He ruling over all things. He's seated at the right hand
of God. He worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will. There's nothing being done out here that's not the will
of God. Nothing. Just like he used Nebuchadnezzar
years ago, he came down and destroyed Jerusalem, tore down the temple,
defiled all the vessels, all of that stuff. You know what
God called Nebuchadnezzar? My servant. He did what I sent
him to do. You think it's any different
today? Not one iota. My Lord sits on the throne and
he's sufficiently reigning over all things. He said he's the
Lord of the dead, no man liveth to himself, no man dieth to himself. Whether we live, we're the Lord's.
Whether we die, we're the Lord's. He's the Lord. And I tell you,
the biggest thing you'll ever wrestle with in your life is
what's my Lord gonna do with me? It ain't what you're gonna
do with him, it's what he's gonna do with you. What's he gonna
do? Well, I don't know, but I can tell you this. When he wills
to save a man, he sends a preacher. He don't send a vision. He don't
send a feeling. He sends a preacher. And he preaches
to them. Who does he preach to? Those
that God in his providence gathers to hear him. How shall you hear? He said in Romans 10 without
a preacher. How you gonna call on him in
whom you have not believed? How you gonna believe in him
of whom you have not heard? And how you gonna hear that a
preacher? And how on earth is he gonna preach if I don't send
him? I tell you, you find a preacher sent of God and you gather to
hear him, you better hear him. You better listen. Now if he's
not of God, walk out the door. But if he's of God and he's got
God's gospel, oh, you better listen, you better listen. Could
be God gonna save your soul. Could be. Could be. Oh, listen to this. Then we're
talking about his present reign and glory. He said, in whom also
we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. What kind of things? All things. Now, you can't work
things after the counsel of your own will unless you're arranging
all things from the throne. You can't do it. He said, would you be willing
to come down here and preach to us again? I said, the Lord
willing. Lord willing. I'm not in charge. He is. He is. He said, I'm God. He said, there's nothing out
here to compare God to. I'm God. He said, there's none
like me. What do you mean? I declare the
end from the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I'll
do all my pleasure. What's his pleasure? Having predestinated
us onto the adoption of children. by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. He's gonna do all this pleasure.
He's gonna save all those he predestinated. He predestinated
all those that he chose. Predestinated us unto the adoption
children and then when the fullness of the time was come, God sent
forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law that they might receive What? The adoption. What adoption? One he predestinated. You see
what I'm saying? Made known unto us the mystery
of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed
in himself. And then Christ is all in the
preaching of the gospel. There's nothing else to preach.
Nothing glorifying to God. Well, how do I know if I'm called
to God? Listen to this. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
Christ in me, that I might preach him among the heathen. What's
required? Christ revealed in you. There's nothing else to preach.
All power is given unto me in heaven and earth. Now you go
preach. That sound to me like he's all in the ministry, don't
it? Uh-oh, here's a big creek we
got to jump. He's all in the believer's walk. Colossians 2.6, flip over there
and let's read that. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord. How did you receive him? Well,
you received him as he is, as God has testified it, he's all.
That's how you received him, he's all. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in him. Rooted, build up in him. established in the faith as you've
been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. How do I walk
every day? I walk in his righteousness.
I walk in his love. Huh? What else do I need? I don't
need anything else. I need somebody behind me with
a whip, cracking a whip on my back. Don't you do that. He loves us. We walk in that
love. In his perfection, we walk in
his sufficiency. What in the world do I worry
about anything? He said, listen to this. He didn't
say, now don't worry a whole lot about tomorrow. That ain't
what he said. He said, take no thought for tomorrow. Tomorrow
take care of itself. I'm on the throne. I'm running
things. You don't have to think about
tomorrow. Sufficient is the evil of the day. Deal with that. You
don't need to worry about tomorrow. He is the tomorrow. Without him,
there is no tomorrow. You see what I'm saying? I'm
talking about the sufficiency of Christ in the believer's walk. He doesn't walk hoping to be
a, well, I hope I can do better today than I did yesterday. If you did, it wouldn't accomplish
anything. We walk in him, in his perfection. And you can't
walk in his perfection and love without doing good work. A lady called me, her husband,
been drinking real bad. Threatening to beat her and I
don't know what all. And she said, you really need
to come and talk to him. And I said, honey, I don't want
to offend you. But if I can't inspire him with an all-sufficient,
all-loving Savior, what in the world good's it gonna do me to
stand out in your front yard with my finger in his face? What
good's that gonna do? It ain't gonna do no good. No
good. Preach Christ to him. Preach
Christ to him. When Christ is revealed in you,
your whole person will change. All your activities will change,
your thoughts conversion. All of a sudden, somebody, Henry
went to school, Henry Mahan went to school with him years ago.
We hadn't seen him since seminary. And Henry was walking to church
one spring morning. It was nice and sunny and he
was walking up to church and this guy was on the other side
and he spied Henry. And he said, Henry Mahan. And
he come running across there and talked to him for a little
bit. They hadn't seen each other since seminary. And he said,
Henry, you still saved? And they said, well, I don't
know. He says, is Christ still on the throne? Huh? Is that where your salvation
is? Isn't that what he says here in Colossians chapter 1? Isn't
that what he's talking about? If that's your hope in him and
him in you, all my soul. That's where all of our hope
is. He's all in the believer's walk. Christ is all. And then
secondly, it says he's in all. All who truly believe, believe
that Christ is all. Well, how do I know if I'm a
true believer and have Christ in me? Because I got no other
hope. And that what he does, he shut
you up to Christ. Man traveling up there in West
Virginia years ago and they had these old visible gas tanks. Some of you might know what I'm
talking about. fill them up full of fuel, and it'd go up one,
two, three, four, five gallon, whatever. You'd see the fuel
in there. Then he'd take the hose and put it in the old model
A or whatever it was, and you'd watch that gas come down in there
and go into the tank. He'd pay him for the, and he
stopped that old station, and he went inside, and this old
fella, old Pete, sitting on the front porch in an old shirt,
bib over all, had an old piece of firewood whittling on it,
and he went in there, He looked up on the shelf, and there were
some of the prettiest carvings that man ever seen in his life.
And he was just spellbound by them. And he looked over, and
here's one of his old Jed Clampett hound dogs. And that thing looks
alive. It's so perfect. And he got that
down, and he asked that man, he said, did somebody actually
carve this? Oh, yeah, yeah, old Pete. He
said, who's old Pete? He said, that's that old fellow
out there on the front porch. that guy out there whittling?" And
he said, yeah. He said, I want it. He bought it and he walked
out there and he said, are you Pete? And he said, yeah, I am.
And he introduced himself and he said, how on earth did you
take that piece of firewood and make this hound dog? Old Pete
thought a minute. He said, I just cut off everything
that wasn't a hound dog. That's what preaching is. I'm
trying to cut off everything that ain't Christ. Cut it off. Cut it off. And the more you
cut off, the more you start to see that sovereign Christ, that
all-sufficient Savior, whose blood put away our sin, whose
love, He loved us from all eternity. Do you know that creation, if
you read Colossians chapter one, he tells you that Christ was
all in creation, and he's talking about the Christ who redeemed
you. He's all in creation. Creation was created for us.
God's gonna manifest his glory in the salvation of the people,
so he creates all creation just for this. And we take the one
crowning event in all creation, the glory of Christ crucified.
and we run and we snatch on to this and that and something else
and something. Preaching just cuts off everything
that ain't Christ. That's what it is. He's all and
he's in all. Now in the beginning, Christ
put us in him. God put us in Christ. Ephesians
1.3. According as he hath chosen us
in him, before the foundation of the world. He put us in Christ.
When you come to believe, he puts Christ in you. You've been
in Christ from all eternity. Now he's gonna show you who Christ
is. He's gonna reveal it to you.
And he reveals it to us by faith, in truth, as he is, not how men
imagine him to be. And he that's revealed in us
is all. Several years ago, my wife was
diagnosed with brain cancer. And I didn't know, I thought
she'd had a mini stroke, same symptoms. And I went down to
the emergency room and they told me, said, she has to be operated
on immediately. She's got a massive brain tumor.
I'd left the dog there, no water, no food, no nothing. I had no
idea we was going to be gone that long. So the ambulance come
to get her, take her to the hospital. I ran home to take care of the
dog. And then I run back. When I got to Shreveport, I couldn't
find the hospital. And now it's 12 o'clock at night.
And I can't find this hospital. I'm driving everywhere. There
are no signs. There's nothing. Finally, down in the dark. scary
into town I spied a cop and I went over there and pulled in the
parking lot and told him what was going on he said just follow
me so I did and we drove for about 10 minutes pulled right
in the parking lot of the hospital and I got out to thank him and
he said oh he said I think I can do a little better than that
and he took me all the way up to where she was and his wife
was my wife's nurse And he took me right up to the
door and he said, now there's the one you love. That's what
I'm trying to do. That's what I'm trying to tell
you. I'm trying to take you to the one you love, Christ, and
the one that loves you. If I can do that, I'll be as
happy as that cop. He was so happy, he just smiled
from ear to ear. Oh, thank God. Our father. We know that these meetings are
not just gatherings. They're not just social events.
They're not just a bunch of folks coming together. But we're gathered
here in your name. And we're gathered here to worship
you. We're gathered here to give you praise and honor and glory. And Lord, I pray for the message
that I preach tonight. I pray that it's glorifying to
you, glorifying to your great perfect character, glorifying
to our Lord Jesus Christ. And for his sake, I pray that
you use this message in the hearts of everyone that's gathered here.
We ask it for Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you.