Colossians chapter 3, our text
will be verse 4. The title of the message is this,
Christ our life. Christ our life. Christ who is
our life shall appear, then should you also appear with him in glory. Period. No question about it. No doubt about it. James asked
the question in his epistle, what is your life? What is your
life? Most people, most people, you
would ask that question of, would answer it by speaking of how
much they possess. They would. What's your life? I've got this, and I've got that,
and a whole lot of this. But Jesus Christ said in Luke
12, a man's life does not, does not consist in those things he
possesses. And James, of course, was speaking
of the brevity of life. Man, it's short. We're almost
at the end of another year. It just seems like a couple weeks
ago that it started and now it's about to close. And James called
our life compared it to a vapor. Man, that's quick. You see it and it's gone. Was
it ever there? A little while, he said, and then it's vanished
away. But Christ, again in Luke 12,
spoke of being rich toward God. rich toward God. Those are where
the true riches are. And Paul tells us here where
our life and riches truly reside. Don't you love it? in Christ. Christ our life. My soul, these
words are pregnant, full, full of grace and truth, so full of
comfort, so full of hope. My soul, could there be any other
words found to say so much? Christ our life. It means certainly
a whole lot more than what we'll be able to consider in one setting.
It will take eternity. We'll not get over this in eternity.
We'll be wondering about this as eternity rolls on. Last year,
just about this time, or not long before this time, I got
home from the hospital. And as you recall, I had brother
Donnie Bell, Brother Paul Mayhem preached the following two Sundays
after I was released. I just wasn't quite up to it.
But the last time I had preached to you was on September 24th.
Of course, there was a conference the following week. And I preached
from this chapter, Galatians 3, and my text was verse 3. Donnie,
when he came on November 12th, preached from Galatians 3, verse
4. Christ is our life. And then
when Paul came the following Sunday, November the 19th, he
was sitting right there before service started. And I asked
him, I said, where are you preaching from? Is there any portion of
scripture you'd like me to read before you preach? And he said,
I'm preaching from Galatians 3. And I said, really? I said,
I preached from that the last time I preached here. And Donnie
preached from it last Sunday. And he looked, and I said, but
you know what, Paul? No problem. I think there's enough there
for us all. Christ is all, not a problem. Christ our life. In John chapter
11, I'm going to read two verses of scripture, John 11 and John
14. And in the context, when our
Lord spoke these words once to an individual, a lady, Martha,
and the next time to his disciples. But in the context, he's speaking
to people on both occasions that are brokenhearted. I mean, they're
just tore up. Martha's confused. Lord, if you'd
have been here, my brother hadn't died. We sent you a message.
Why didn't you come then? Why now? Disciples, he has just
told them, I'm going away, and you can't come where I'm going,
not now. You're going to deny that you
ever knew me, Peter. That's the context of each. John
11, he says to Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He
that believeth in me, though he were dead, like Lazarus was,
Christ is yet. Don't you love that? Yet, all
like the sun coming out after a storm. Yet shall he live. Yet. As long as Christ is Christ,
yet he shall live. As long as God is omnipotent,
sitting upon his throne, yet he shall live. As long as God
is satisfied with the sacrifice of his Son, yet he shall live. As long as that takes place,
yet he shall live. And so shall every child of God.
They'll live now, spiritually, and they'll live in glory eternity.
In eternity, rather. John chapter 14 verse 6, Jesus
saith unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. You notice there, the way, the
truth, the life, all singular. And Christ is all those things,
all in himself. Oh, Christ, verse 11 of Galatians
3, we're told Christ is all. And outside of Christ, apart
from Christ, there's nothing but death. Man, I wish I could
convince people of that. outside of Jesus Christ. I didn't
say outside of the church, outside of Baptist theology, outside
of certain points of doctrine. No, no. I said outside of Christ. There's death. There's death.
There's only life in Him. He's the source of life, the
believer's life. He's the strength of life, the
sum of life. He's the object of our life. All life is in Christ. By nature,
we're dead spiritually, without life before God. Oh, yet, nevertheless,
but there's life in Christ for sinners. Martha, your brother's
going to rise again. And not only that, whosoever
liveth and believeth in me, they are never going to die. They're
never going to die. A preacher many years ago told
his audience, soon you're going to pick up your paper and look
into obituary. You're going to see that I died.
Don't you believe it? He'll say, I will have never
have been so much alive in this life than I'll be in that moment
when I stand before the king. In 1 John chapter 5, we read
these words, verses 11 and 12. And this is the record. I like this. This is God's record.
This is a matter of certainty in heaven. This is the record. It doesn't need changing. It
never needs to be adjusted according to the times in which we live.
It's not influenced by the insanity of political correctness. Oh
no, this is the record. This is always so. This is always
true. that God had given to us eternal
life. How about that? Eternal life. Can you grasp that? No, you can't. And I can't either. I can just
bow down in holy wonder. God had given to us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son. It's in His Son. Therefore, it
naturally follows, He that hath the Son hath life. He has this
very life, this eternal life, and he that hath not the Son
hath not life. Do you remember what our Lord
said to Nicodemus? You must be born again. Spiritual life is the life that
is begotten in the soul by the Holy Spirit in the new birth,
what we call regeneration. That's the first imperative.
That's the first imperative. I hear preachers all the time
say, well if you believe you'll be born again. I beg your pardon. If you repent, you'll be born
again. If you walk forward, you'll be born again. Reducing the grand
work of God's, the new birth, the image of Christ being stamped
upon the soul of a sinner has to mean no more than that. It's
the very opposite. You'll believe after you're born
again. You'll repent after you're born
again. You'll be willing, you'll have a nature willing to come
to Christ after you're born again. Not before. Not before. It'll
never happen. Until the Spirit of God comes
to you, Nicodemus, you must be born again. But it's not something
you can do yourself. It's something only God can do. Again, John chapter 5, verse
25, our Lord speaking, Verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto
you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall I wrote down a hallelujah at
the end of that verse. So they that hear shall live. Ephesians 2 verse 2. You had
he quicken who were dead in trespasses and sins. When Adam sinned we
all died in him. It was a legal, judicial sense
in which we died, but we also died in him spiritually. We died
when he died. That's why we will not come to
Christ. We try to hide from God by nature,
just like Adam did. Man, can you imagine the joy,
the delight it was for Adam before he fell? He'd heard the voice
of God in the garden in the cool of the day. And he come out as
a friend with a friend. As the old hymn says, he walks
with me, my God Almighty. And he talks with me. And he
tells me that I am his own. But after the fall, he hears
that same voice. God's not changed. Adam, Adam. And he tries to hide. My, how
far he has fallen. He ignorantly thinks he can actually
hide from God Almighty. He hears God's voice and it's
no longer his delight to come out to him, but he tries to hide.
Fearful! Fearful! And that's what we are
by nature. Trying to hide from God. That's
why Christ said, ye will not come to me that ye might have
life. Romans chapter 5 verse 12. Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sin. We were
born without spiritual life and in the new birth the Spirit of
God gives us a new life, a new will, a new nature. Peter said
we're made partakers of the divine nature. In this book of Galatians,
verse 27 of chapter 1, it says that Christ is formed in us.
Is it any wonder that the angels rejoice when a sinner comes to
Christ? When a sinner is regenerated
by the power and the grace and the Spirit of God Almighty? No
wonder they rejoice because they see the image of Jesus Christ
Himself stamped in the soul of that sinner. And it'll never
be erased. It'll never change. Behold, what
manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God. I have a biography, two volumes
of George Whitefield at home, and I've mentioned this to you
before, but when he was in school in London, he joined a club,
they called it the Holy Club, he and the Wesleys, that's where
he met John and Charles Wesley. And my, so you talk about a bunch
of Pharisees, not, wear not, drink not, look
not. I mean, you've got to look religious
all the time, all the time. And miserable, miserable, just
all the time. Whitefield almost committed suicide,
fasting and fasting to the point where he almost starved himself
to death, thinking he was appeasing God, pleasing God. And in that condition one time,
God, by His gracious providence, put a book in his hand called The Life of God in the
Soul of Man. And Whitfield started reading
there, speaking about the new birth, regeneration, Christ in
you, the hope of glory. And Whitfield said, man, I don't
have a clue what that man's talking about. But God used that to show
him his need of Christ and of grace. alone, through faith alone,
in Christ alone. God does for us what we could
never do. The Spirit in a new birth forms
Christ in us. Wow! Wow! In Galatians chapter
2 verse 20 Paul writes, I am crucified with Christ nevertheless. That's not the end of the story.
Christ didn't stay crucified. He didn't stay buried. He rose
again. And even so, nevertheless, I live. And yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. That's what a believer is. That's
what a Christian is. In the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Spiritual life. Christ our hope. before the Lord God gives us
judicial life. When a guilty criminal is pardoned,
he has his life restored to him in a legal sense. And while he
was under the sentence of the law, his life is held under the
bondage of the law's penalty. Oh, but when he's pardoned, the
law lets him go, releases its hold upon him. In just that same
sense, Christ is our life. He promises that all who believe
on him shall not come into condemnation. The law's got no quarrel with
us, believe me. The law's satisfied. We've been
freed from the law by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, satisfying
that law. We pass from death unto life. The law of God will release you
from its hold and its condemnation, not until you come to Christ. He alone can give you life. You
have a picture of both these things in the resurrection of
Lazarus. John 11 again. And when Christ had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. Well, I don't want to. I don't
think I will. I'm not going to take the first
step. I'm not going to give you a chance.
Poppycock. Oh, no. When they hear the voice
of the Son of God, those who are dead are going to come forth. They're going to willingly come
forth. They're not going to come against their will. They're going
to be made willing in the day of God's power, and that's exactly
what happened to Lazarus. Lazarus come forth, and he that
was dead came forth, bound. There's a picture of the law.
hand and foot with great loss, and his face was bound about
with a napkin. That's not fit clothing for a
believing sinner, for a resurrected sinner. So Jesus said unto them,
loose him, take those rags off of him and let him go. Christ is our life, that is eternal
life. The Lord Jesus Christ says with
regard to his sheep, Those chosen sinners for whom he suffered
and died, he said of each of those, I give them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Now I know that's a very familiar
verse to you. It is me as well. Oh, but how
sweet it is. They shall never perish. Oh,
Peter denied them. They shall never perish. My heart is so cold toward God
most of the time, but they shall never perish. I demonstrate most of the time
such ungratefulness that the God who loved me and gave himself
for me, they shall never perish. They shall never perish. That
judicial life which Christ gives us can never be revoked. For
sin shall never be charged to those whom God has pardoned.
That spiritual life which we have in Christ can never be destroyed. For that life, brethren, is Christ
in you. Now listen, until Christ can
be destroyed, the believer cannot perish. I stand or fall with
the Son of God. They've got to get to Him before
they can get to me. I'm in Him. And he says, whosoever
liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Christ is our life,
and in Him we shall live forever. The life of those who at this
very moment, that eternal life, of those who right now as we
gather here, surround the throne. right now. Many of your loved
ones are there. They possess the same life that
you possess here. It's not a different life. It's
the same. It's the same. Both are from
the same source, the same fountain, the same glorious head, the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. The life we now have by grace
is the same life they now have in glory. exactly the same. We're just waiting to be like
them, drop this robe of flesh, but the life within will be the
same. Everlasting life. Christ is the
source of life. He's the object of life. Christ
is the solace of our life, the comfort. Oh, child of God, is
there anything more comforting to hear that voice when your
little ship's being tossed on that troubled sea. Man, I lie. And it's dark. We read in John
6, and it's dark. And it's getting darker. And
Jesus has not yet come. Oh, my. The doubts, the fears,
the perplexity, the confusion of our mind. Oh, but what peace
when he speaks as never a man spake. and says that your heart,
your troubled, tossed heart, just like he did that water,
that troubled sea, peace be still. Don't you be afraid. Huh? Huh? There's nothing like that.
When he picks you up in his omnipotent arms and as the loving, kind,
compassionate savior that he is, wipes away the tears and
says, don't be afraid. It's me. It's me. Don't you be
afraid. That was the case with Paul that
night on that stormy sea as he was a prisoner on board a ship
going to Rome. And we read there they encountered
a storm, Acts 27, and when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared
and no small tempest laid upon us, all hope that we should be
saved was taken away. All hope that we should be saved
was taken away. And then something happened that
caused Paul to tell those on board ship with him, be of good
cheer. Be of good cheer. Don't be afraid. And the reason was this. Paul
says, for there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose
I am and who I serve, saying, fear not, Paul, thou must be
brought. I like that. Thou must be brought
before Caesar, and lo, God hath given thee all of them that sell
with thee." The redeemed being brought to heaven, child of God,
that's a must-be thing. That's a must-be thing. It must
take place. If it doesn't, If everyone God
chose and Christ redeemed is not brought to glory, that means
God Almighty has been defeated. That doesn't sound right, does
it? It means that Jesus Christ failed
and it means that Satan gets the victory. Never! Bless God,
never! Oh, just to behold His sweet
face. I was reading again The other
evening, that hymn, old John Newton, how tedious and tasteless
the hours. He said, content with beholding
his face, my all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of seasons
or place would make any change in my mind. While blessed with
the sense of his love, a palace of toy would appear, and presence
would palaces prove if Jesus, if Jesus would dwell with me
there. Dear Lord, if indeed I am thine, if thou art my sun and
my song, say, why do I languish in pine, and why are my winters
so long? Oh, drive these dark clouds from
my sky, thy soul-cheering presence restore, and take me unto thee
on high, where winter and clouds are no more. Now let's just draw
some practical, shoe-leather benefits of this blessed, blessed
truth of Christ, our life. Some very practical and sweet
fruit to be drawn from. And the first is this, children
of God, how beloved believers are by God Almighty. Oh, how
loved we must be. Turn back, if you will, to John's
Gospel, Chapter 17. John 17, our Lord's high priestly
prayer. He's about to go trod the winepress
alone. The sword of divine justice is
about to smite the shepherd. Just shortly after this, but
our Lord's heart is full of love and compassion for his own. It's
all about them. He prays for his sheep, those
that the Father gave him. out of the world. And among other
things, he says in verse 23, I in them, and thou in me, that
they might be made perfect in one, and that the world may know
that thou hast sent me, listen to this, and has loved them as
thou hast loved me. Man! God loves us the same way
he loves his son. Oh, here's an ocean to swim in,
beyond measure. No wonder, Paul says, in contemplating
the everlasting love of God in Christ Jesus. Who shall separate
us from this love? Who shall separate us from the
love of God? Having loved His own which were
in the world, He loved them unto the end. Glory to His name and
He always will. This being so, Christ our life,
Children of God, it's not possible for you and I to be more accepted
by God. It's just not possible. Our acceptance
is not determined or affected by what you do or what you don't
do. Now as Don says, our relationship
with Christ certainly affects how we live. But how we live
doesn't change or affect our relationship to Jesus Christ.
Peter was as loved by Christ when he was saying, I don't know,
and cursing that he ever knew the man as he was standing on
the day of Pentecost and preaching Christ to those rebels. No, there
is no circumstance that changes the foundation of our acceptance
before God, because you know where it's at. We're accepted
in the Beloved. In the Beloved. Christ, our life,
in Him. Would God reject His Son? Would
God disown His Son? Then neither will He ever reject
or disown those that are in His Son. Another blessed fruit of
Christ, our life, is this. How secure, how secure every
child of God must be. I know we often don't feel like
it, and we often don't act like it. Oh, but how secure we must
be. Christ said, because I live,
ye shall live also. Before a believer can ever die
spiritually, lose eternal life, Christ would have to die. Now
listen. Listen to him speak. Fear not. I am the first and the last.
I am he that liveth, and was dead, and behold. Oh, behold. Oh, God, give us grace to behold.
Give us grace to behold. It might be through tears. It
might be through weeping eyes. It might be through blurry eyes.
Oh, but give us grace to behold. the Lamb of God, the resurrection
and life, behold, I am alive forevermore. You may not know
this about your pastor, but I'm a pretty sentimental fellow.
I love those old holiday movies they show this time of the year,
some of them, some of them. One of my favorites It's called
It's a Wonderful Life. Jimmy Stewart, remember? You
know that. It's a Wonderful Life. I think it was made in the 40s. He's George Bailey. Through circumstances out of
his control, he becomes depressed. He's at his wit's end. He's about
to kill himself, but instead he's given to see how things
would be if he had never been born. Afterwards he's on that
same bridge and he's crying a different tune. I want my life back. Please give me my life back. Child of God. That's a prayer
you and I will never pray. The life we now live in the flesh
we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave
himself for us and that can never be undone. that would never be
undone. Our life is here with Christ
in God and our life can never be separated from His life. Think
about that. Our life can never be separated
from His. I am His and He is mine. Oh, there is an eternal, loving,
lasting union between the believer and His glorious head, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it shall never be severed because it's what
God is doing together and nothing can break it apart. Oh, is that
not some good practical shoe leather used to be made of this
blessed fact of Christ our life? And then briefly, look at the
second clause of our text. When Christ our life shall appear. When Christ our life shall appear. So many books are written by
prophecy experts. And they tell us or try to, claim
to, pretend to, how Christ will come. They got it all figured
out. Have you ever seen these fellows?
They've got charts. Number one, two, three, it's
going to be tribulation, pre-tribulation, millennium, pre-millennium. There's
going to be this chapter, that chapter, this, that, and the
other. Then all this is going to be, this judgment, that judgment.
How Christ will come, when Christ will come. Man, how many have
proven themselves to be fools trying to name a date when Christ
shall come. And where Christ will come. And all of that, all
of that at best is secondary. They mention all those names
and never say a word about who's coming. Who's coming, Billy? That's what I want to know. That's
who I want to see. That's the sweetness, the comfort,
the object and consummation of our faith. Jesus Christ says,
I will come again. We look for Christ himself. Not
what, not when, not how, but who. When those disciples stood
on Mount Olivet the last time and saw Christ ascend back to
glory, they just stand there with their mouths open. And the
angel said, fellas, come on, snap out of it. This same Jesus,
this same Jesus, this powerful, successful, omnipotent Christ,
this ruling, reigning Christ, not this peep-squeak that's being
panhandled on an faithful, unbelieving generation
of deceit people in our day. Oh no, not that imposter that
can't have his way. No, this same Jesus, this mighty
God, this everlasting Father, this Prince of Peace, this One
who obtained eternal redemption, this same Jesus is coming back
just like you see Him now go. It's not a question about if
He shall appear, but when He shall appear. Out of sight now,
but nonetheless real. Now appearing in the presence
of God for us, the last clause, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. I think the best commentary on
that portion of the text is what John wrote in chapter 3 of his
first epistle. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know
that when he shall appear we shall be like him. for we shall
see him as he is. I can think of no other two words
that better sum up what heaven will be like than these. I'm
going to be with him. What about that, John? I'm going
to be with him. With him. Always, forever, chosen
in him, accepted in him. loved in him, brought home, and
presented before God in him without a spot or a blemish or any such
thing, I'll be like him. I know you, like myself, have
been at the zoo and seen those animals, lions, king of the jungle,
in that small cage. You ever seen those? And they
just pace back and forth, back and forth. They seemed to know
they were never meant to be confined to such a small place as that.
They seemed to want out. I want out. I want to be free. Child of God, soon we're going
to break free from these bars. the bars of this body of death
and mount up on wings of eagles to be with our glorious God and
Savior forever. Free! Free! There's a better
day coming. Let me read a few verses of scripture
then I'll close. Romans chapter 8. Romans 8 verse
18. For I reckon, Paul said, I reckon
that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared
with the glory which will be revealed in us. Verse 22, for
we know that the whole creation groaneth and treveleth in pain
together until now and not only they but also ourselves also
which have the firstfruits of the spirit even we ourselves
groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption
of our body. First Corinthians chapter 15.
As we have borne, verse 49, as we have borne the image of the
earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Must be
things. Now this I say, brethren, that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery.
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment,
in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, For the trumpet
shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and
we shall be changed. We shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on corruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting?
O great, where is thy victory? Brother Henry Mahan preached
the funeral of his friend Ralph Barnard in 1969, and he closed the service by
quoting from Barnard's favorite hymn, A Sinner Like Me. And when life's journey is over,
and I, the dear Savior, shall see, I'll praise him forever
and ever for saving a sinner like me. O Christ our life, what
a glorious, glorious place to be.