More than willing to come here. Happy. Honored. Greatly honored. I'm so thankful for, first of
all, your dear pastor. I thank the Lord that he's here
this morning. Don't you? Aren't you? As ill as he was, you know, the
Lord does that. He says, I won't. I heal. And
knowing he was very, very ill, Rightfully so. We did not expect
to see him looking like this, did we? We ate supper with him
last night. I was shocked. He looks good,
doesn't he? From the neck down, he looks
great. I always say that. He's a dear
man. I love this man. I know you do,
too. We go back a long ways, actually. When were you in Anstead? What year? Okay, well that's how long I've
known him. Didn't know him then like I know
him now, though. We've been closely acquainted now for several years,
but I've known him that long. He's always been a faithful preacher
of the gospel. I remember hearing him preach
years ago and being blessed as a young man. I'm younger than
him, and still blessed, and you're so blessed to have him. They're
nodding their heads, Larry. I know you know that. I know
you feel that. Thankful for you. And thankful for this church.
Boy, do we go way back. We were reminiscing last night
with Lester and Bobby and Terry and Pat, Larry and Robin, and
talking about the history of this church, how far it goes
back. The dear brothers and sisters that I have such fond memories
of, Henry Olivia and Bill and Dot, and Doc and Ruth, and on
and on it goes. I just love them, Herman and
Bess, and my, my fond, fond memories of coming here. Although, let
me be honest, as a young preacher's kid, a boy in the summertime,
I really didn't want to come in here preaching, sitting here
preaching. I heard enough of that growing
up. But we did, and we went to places This was like an oasis
compared to Pine Bluff, Arkansas in the middle of the summer.
That's not where a 14-year-old boy wants to spend his summer.
But now I know that my parents were doing the
best thing. that could possibly do for me,
like Timothy's mother and grandmother having him under the sound of
the gospel, the word that's able to make him wise unto salvation,
and by God's sovereign mercy and grace, here I stand. Because
of that same word, how thankful I am. Thankful, thankful. Well,
and thank you for having me. As I, I think I said this, but
Mindy always asks me to sing that that song and Brother Larry
asked him, I suppose if I had one song to sing it would be
good enough. That's the only song I knew,
that's all right. So I started thinking if I only
had one message to preach. Larry invited me and I said,
what do you want me to do? Bible study? He said, no, just
one message. I said, one message? He said,
okay. So I thought, if I just had one
message to preach, what would it be? It'd be the same as that
song, Christ is all. Look at Colossians 3 with me,
the book of Colossians chapter 3. This is the text, this is
the subject, this is the theme, the sum, the substance of all
the Bible, of all the scripture, isn't it? And Brother Larry is
a providential youth. I read that in Luke 24, I was
going to quote that, where the Lord preached to those disciples
on that road to Emmaus and opened to them the scriptures and Moses
and the prophets and the Psalms, all the things concerning himself.
Colossians 3 verse 11, the last line, well read it, it says,
in Christ there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all. Christ is all. Christ is all. I'm going to try in about 30
minutes, in 30 minutes, to sum up, to declare from God's Word
All the purpose of God, the mind of God, the will of God, the
mysteries of God, some of why the world was created, what salvation's
about, your purpose for you, eternal mysteries, all of it
in 30 minutes. I can do that. In fact, I can
do it in three words. Christ is all. Christ is all. He is all, and we want to look
briefly at these things. He's all the purpose of God.
He's all the will of God, the mind of God. He's the creation
of God. He's the reason why God created
the universe, the world, everything in it. He's the reason for it.
He is all in the Word of God. The whole Word of God speaks
of Him. He is all the fullness of God. He is all the wisdom of God,
the knowledge of God, He's the salvation of God, He's all the
promises of God in Him, the blessings of God, all the blessings of
God are in Him, all in creation, providence, salvation, and He
is in all His people. And I hope as we hear this, as
we listen to this, as we look at this, He says He is all and
in all. That means in all His people.
He's in them. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. He that hath the Son hath life,
hath eternal life. He that knoweth, believeth, trusts
all who believe that Christ is all. He's in you and you're in
Him. That's my whole message in 30
minutes. So you can take great comfort
or hope or peace if you know these things and believe these
things and love these things and from the bottom of your heart
you say, yes, that's what I believe, that's how I feel. And you rejoice
over it. Brother Scott Richardson, everybody
in here knows him, most know him, dear man, went to be with
the Lord a few years ago. A woman came up to him after
the service. after he preached. And this was
not, well, she'd been attending for a while. I guess she had
all she could take. But she came up to him and said
to him, and this is what she said, Preacher, all you preach
is Christ. She said, I got it written right
down here in my Bible. Every time, she said, all you preach
is Christ, Christ, Christ. And she meant that in a derogatory
way. That's all you preach. In other
words, is that all you got to say? She said, that's all you
preach. And Brother Scott said, with
a big smile on his toothless face, he said, would you write
that on my tombstone? Christ is all. He really, really
is. Look at Ephesians 1, go over to Ephesians 1. The Lord Jesus
Christ is all in the purpose of God, the will of God, the
mind of God, the will and the purpose of God. What is the purpose
of God? There's a bunch of idiots out
there, the purpose-filled life. They wrote books about the purpose-filled
life, the purpose-driven life and all that. Here's the purpose
for all things. In Ephesians chapter 1, look
at verse Well, it's hard to know where to start and stop in Ephesians
1. Verse 1, Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, by the will of God, that's the will of God,
everything is, to the saints, the sanctified ones, set apart,
that are at Ephesus or at Pharma, to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you, peace from God
our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessing in heavenly places or things, where are they? In Christ. According, and here's
the first blessing, and all of God's people know this. According
as he hath chosen us in him. In Christ. Elect. according to
the foreknowledge of God, chosen in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame. Here's
the purpose, the will, the mind of God, that we should be holy
and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated
us, predetermined our end, our destiny is predetermined. Don't
you love that? But some people hate the sound
of that word, the P word. I worked on the railroad. All to live long day. Every time
I say that, I think of that. I worked on the railroad for
12 years and there was a preacher, so-called. But he and I had locked
horns several times, but he said to me, he said, I'll believe
anything but that predestination. Said it like it was bad taste
in his mouth. I'll believe anything but that.
And he did, Larry. He believed anything. God's people love this. It's
God's Word. It's God's truth. It's our destiny
to be predetermined by our Lord. It's not by chance. It's not
up to us. Aren't you glad? It's on purpose.
That's the word that saved my preacher, my father's soul. Purpose. He heard Ralph Barter scream
that at the top of his lungs from Romans 8, 28. Never really
heard it before. Purpose. Do you remember that
story? I'll tell it to you. He was a
young Armenian free will preacher. Largest Southern Baptist church
in Eastern Kentucky. Didn't know God, didn't know
Christ. Didn't know the gospel. Preaching a false gospel of another
Jesus. Ralph Barnard, God sent an evangelist
to town named Ralph Barnard. He came into town. Dad was 23
or 24 years old sitting on the front row. And Ralph Barnard
got up and said, young man, stand up and quote Romans 8.28. And
dad got up. For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. And he sat down. And
Barnard, y'all remember Barnard. And he looked over those reading
glasses. You didn't quote all of it. Quote it all. And he stood up and he said,
For we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, who are the called according to His purpose." And
dad said as soon as he finished that, said, purpose burned at
the top of his lungs, said, Purpose! Purpose! God does all things
on purpose. He said, learn something about
the purpose of God, you'll know something about the God of the
Bible. Dad said it was like an arrow in his heart. He was preaching
a God he didn't know. A God that couldn't save. He
didn't know the true and living God. God does all things on purpose. And the purpose, the will, the
mind of God Almighty is this. Look at verse 9. And he's made
known unto his elect. He's made known unto them the
mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he
purposed in himself that. Here it is. in the dispensation
of the fullness of time. That is, when everything's said
and done, when it's all over, He's going to gather together
in one all things in Christ, in heaven and in earth, even
in whom. Everything was created, everything
was done for the glory of God's Son, for the purpose of glorifying
God's Son. This is the will, the purpose,
the mind of God. Like our Lord told the story
of the king making a marriage for his son. That's what the
kingdom is, isn't it? Barnard used to say this. We
quote, there was a preacher years ago who said, if you want to
do some good preaching, get you a set of Spurgeon sermons and
Barnard's quaint sayings, and you'll be a good preacher. But
Barnard used to say, you know, quaint way, he said, God got
up from breakfast one morning and he said he took one look
at his well-beloved, only begotten son whom he loved supremely and
he said he determined to have a whole bunch of boys just like
him. Well that's quaint but that's
pretty much the sum of it all in it. God purposed God determined
to have a kingdom full of people conformed to the image of his
son for his son's glory. To the praise of the glory of
his son who came down here to redeem them by his own precious
blood. That's the purpose of all that.
Gonna gather together in one. And if you love hearing this
now, you love hearing that, you love the thought of that, then
you're gonna be there then. Brother Larry said last night,
some people, they're not going to want to be in heaven. All
we're going to be doing is what we're doing now. It's obvious
some people don't want to do it now. But those of you who
do, and there won't be any bad preaching. There won't be any
bad preaching. The purpose of God in creation.
Look at Colossians 1. Purpose of God in all of creation. is to the glory of his son. In
fact, that ball of hydrogen, that burning hydrogen that goes
up in the air that rises every morning is a testimony to every
eye that sees it. This is my son. There would be
no life without the sun, would it? There would be no warmth
without the sun. There would be no light without
the sun. We'd be in darkness. That is
a testimony. In fact, Psalm 19 says that very
thing. He made a tabernacle for the
sun. His son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the son of righteousness, whose light, whose life, whose all
things. Creation was, everything was
created to testify of God's son. Look at Colossians 1, 16. 15,
where do you start? Verse 14, in whom? 13, let's go to 13. God hath delivered us, that's
his people, chosen, elect, delivered us from the power of darkness
and translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. In whom? We have redemption through His
blood, even the forgiveness of sin. Who is? Christ is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature, first body
created. And by Him, Christ, were all
things created in heaven that are in earth, visible, invisible,
whether it be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before
all things, and by Him all things consist. And He's the head. He's
over it all, isn't He? Creation. Creation. God made this world as a testimony
to His Son. One time, the Lord Jesus Christ
took three of his disciples up on the mountain, Peter, James,
and John, and he revealed himself to them, didn't he? He peeled
back that robe of flesh, that covering, and they saw him, God
that dwelleth in lights that no man can approach unto. And
after that was over, they all hit the dirt. Remember, God spoke
out loud, this is my son, but Simon Peter, he was known to
speak up when he shouldn't. And Simon Peter said, after that
vision of Christ, he said, Lord, it's good to be here. He said,
let's make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one
for Elijah, the prophet, and that's when God said out loud,
this is my beloved son, hear him. Because to him give all
the prophets witness. The law and the prophets. Moses,
that's why the Lord had Moses and Elijah up on that mountain
was. To him, they testify of Christ. And God the Father testified
of Christ. He said, He's the one you need
to hear. Men build tabernacles, don't
they? They build monuments. They build memorials to men,
don't they? Everything is a memorial. God
built the whole world. Everything he made is a memorial
to a tribute to his son. The mountains, the tree, the
sun, the tree, Christ the tree of life. The water we drink,
he's the water of life. Everything bears witness to Christ.
All creation, he's light, he's life, he's everything. Look at
Colossians 1, 19. He's the fullness of God, verse
19. It says, it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness
dwell. All fullness dwell. Look at chapter
2, verse 9. It says, in Him, Christ dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All the fullness. Fullness means there's nothing
else that can be put in it. If you would fill this glass
up to fullness, There's nothing could be added to it. Christ is all. He's all the fullness
of God, the Godhead, sovereignty. Christ is all the fullness of
the Godhead of God in a man. He made heaven and earth. The
people, when he walked this earth, couldn't get a hold of that.
They couldn't believe that. You're just a man, they said,
didn't they? They said, you're just a man
and you make yourself to be God. They got it backwards. He was
a man, I mean, he was God, is God, and he made himself to be
a man. The Jehovah Witnesses, the Mormons,
all these people, they can't grasp this. They don't believe
it. They can't believe that that man who walked this earth was
God who made this earth, who sits on the circle of the earth.
Do you? That baby that Mary was holding
in her arms was really her father. You believe that? Yes, with all
my heart I believe. I know it's so. Well, how do
you know that? Our Lord said to his disciples
who said that, he said, flesh and blood didn't reveal that
to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Even God said of his
son in Hebrews 1, didn't he? He said, Thy throne, O God, is
forever. God said that. You know, there's
one, David was dying. He was 70 years old. He was a
feeble man in his bed. And when Solomon came up, it
says that David bowed himself on the bed to Solomon. The father
bowed to the son. Brother Larry brought up my father.
You know how you esteem him. Well, I esteem him that way,
too. But do you know how he esteems me? He calls me his pastor now. He's been sitting under me, my
preaching, for eight years. And every message he says, that's
the best message I've ever heard. And he says things like this
sometimes, Louie. He says, I never preached like that. What didn't Christ say? My words
are not mine, but the Father which has sent me. But the Father
beareth witness to the Son, and the Son beareth witness to the
Father. Why? They're equal. He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, took upon himself
the form of a servant, made in the likeness of sinful flesh.
Why? To become sin, to be our substitute, to redeem his people. It had to be this way. In the
mind and the purpose and the will of God, the all-wise will
and purpose of God, in making this wonderful gospel of our
redemption, he sent Christ the fullness of the Godhead in a
body to redeem his people from their sin. And he did just that, didn't
he? He finished the work. Now God has given him a name
above every name. He's seated where? At the right
hand of the majesty on high. And God said, let everything
that hath breath worship him. Well, that's idolatry if he's
not God, isn't it? Thomas did and he bowed at his
feet and said, my Lord and my God, and so do I. He's all the
fullness of the Godhead in a body. How can this be? I don't know,
but it is. He is. All the fullness of the
Godhead, all the character of God is in him. Holiness, justice,
oh my righteousness, immutability, Jesus Christ the same yesterday,
today and forever. He says, I change not. All the love of God, the mercy
of God, grace of God, gentleness, when God told Moses, Moses said,
Lord, show me your glory. And the Lord said, OK, I'm going
to make all my goodness pass before you. I'm going to proclaim
the name of the Lord before you. And he said, there's a place
by me, and that's where you're going to stand. You're going
to stand on the rock. And he said, I'm going to put you in
the rock. It's all Christ, isn't it? All
the goodness of God did pass before us. The name of God. In Him dwelleth all the fullness.
He is the cleft of the rock. He's the foundation upon which
we stand. It says that Moses stood there
on that rock and in that rock. How can he be on the rock and
in at the same time? We know no way. But it says God
came down. The Lord came down and stood
with him there. Doesn't it? Who did? Jesus Christ. He's all the goodness of God.
He's all the mercy of God, the grace of God, the salvation.
He's the Word of God. All the Word of God. Brother
Larry quoted that in Luke 24, where the Lord, beginning at
Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, expounded unto them all
the things concerning himself, in all of it. He said, they are
they which testify of me, didn't he? Christ said that. To Him
give all the prophets witness. Christ is in all the Word. He's
the Word of God. His name in. That's His name. The Word of God. The Word made
flesh. Isn't that something? God wrote
a book. It's all about His Son. There's
pictures. The Old Testament is pictures.
Types, symbols, pictures. It's just as it were, God has
an album full of pictures. You go to the Buckner's house,
and there'd be pictures of all the people they know and love
and esteem highly. And I'm not there. She recognized that. She did,
didn't you, Bobby? You caught that. I'm going to
send you an 8x10. I want you to put it beside my dad, OK? Larry's there, I don't understand.
Anyway, I forgive you. But there's one picture in God's
book. There's one in all the book.
This is God's picture album, as it were. Tight Shadows of
His Son. I dare not bring up some of you,
your grandchildren, or you'll just be obnoxious about it. overbearing about it. People,
there really is only one altogether lovely person, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. And all of his sons are being
created in the image of his son. And everything bears witness.
All the men, and even some of the women in the Old Testament
represent Christ. Esther, Abigail, and on and on it goes. But all the men, Joseph, all
the word of God is of the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? In Genesis, he's the woman seed. In Genesis, he's Noah's ark. Abraham's blessed son, the son
of promise, Isaac. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Exodus, he's the Passover lamb. He's the tabernacle. He's
the high priest. He's the lamb. He's the furniture.
He's all the furniture in the tabernacle. He's every fence
post, every curtain, and everything in it. Amazing. Who could have
written a book but God like that? It all tells the same story.
You know, the word of God is 66 books written by 40 authors
over a period of 1,500 years. Most of them didn't know one
another, and it all tells the same story. Why? Because man didn't write it.
Holy men spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God. And God
said, write this about my son, though hidden from, the wise
and the prudent. I'm going to reveal it to my
children, my babes. They're going to see Christ in
every line and every jot and tittle. That's what this book
is all about. That's who. Oh, I had a list
here a mile long. Time doesn't allow it. Oh, my. the bridegroom in Song of Solomon,
he's the substitute in Isaiah, he's the fountain of living water
in Jeremiah, he's the physician, he's Daniel, he's the beloved,
Daniel is him, Joseph. On and on it goes. Wouldn't you have loved to have
heard him preach that sermon on the road to Emmaus? The disciples
said, have you ever heard such a thing? They'd heard some preaching,
but not like that. He said, did not our heart burn
within us I've got to tell you this. I think I've told you.
It's hard to remember. Well, anyway. There was a lady
in our church. Virgie Jones was her name. Lord
saved her when she was about 75 years old. And she was a solid,
faithful member until the day she died. That's right over there
where Louie's sitting. She was a seamstress, a good
one too, a professional. She sewed all my, hemmed all
my blue pants. Oh, I loved her. She loved me.
She loved the gospel. She had that Virginia, that old
Virginia drawl, you know. And she had a heart attack. And
we went to visit her in intensive care. And her family was out
in the waiting room who hates me, who hates the gospel. And
they were scowling at us. Virgie loved us. And she was
always telling her family all the time. Every time she got
there, she'd say, y'all don't, y'all need to come up here to
my church. She said, they don't preach the gospel down there.
Come up here and hear the gospel. But we went in to see her. Will
you stand beside me a minute? We went in to see Virgie, and
there she is. And she said, my children are going to put me
in a nursing home. She said, I don't want to go to no nursing
home. You know why? She said, because I have to listen
to that bad preaching. That's what she said as her only
concern. She loved the preaching of the
truth, the gospel that she was hearing. And her only concern
in going to a nursing home was that she would hear bad preaching
from false preachers. The Lord took her the next morning. Debbie, she didn't have
to hear any bad preaching. The next one she heard was Jesus
Christ himself. Do you remember that minute?
Now I'm gonna tell you another one, I gotta tell you that. This
is to whom Christ is all. Christ was all to that woman.
That's all she was concerned about. Was hearing Christ pray. Another dear lady, Ellen Fralin. Elderly woman, was there before
I got there. She was faithful, she sat right
over there too. After every message, she'd come
up to me and say, no, that's the gospel. No, that's the gospel. She worked in a garment factory.
We got a bunch of them up there like you do here. She sewed collars
around sweatshirts. It was Virginia apparel. And
Bobby, she sewed 300 collars a day for 40 years. And she told me one day with
a big smile on her face, I love my job. No, that's faithfulness. And
she was a faithful steward of the grace of God. She was a faithful
member, a faithful supporter of me. Well, she got Alzheimer's. And it's one of the quickest
onsets of Alzheimer's we've ever seen, wasn't it? We went to see
her in this home, assisted living. Went to see her. And walked in,
Mindy and I, the song leader and his wife, went in to see
her after the morning service. I said, hello, Ellen. I said,
do you remember me? No, I don't believe I do. I said,
I'm Paul, Paul Mahan, your pastor. She said, oh, how is he? I said,
well, he's fine. That's not important. I said,
Ellen, we've been worshiping the Lord this morning. And I
said, I preach the gospel, Ellen. I said, Ellen, what is the gospel?
She said, without hesitation, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And we about broke down. Christ is all and in all His
people. He really is. He's not a creed
like dad's article on the back, not a doctrine, not a creed,
not a... He's a living Lord. He is not a part of their life. Brother Donnie preached that,
didn't he? Christ our life. Not a part of their life. He
is their life. He's all, you know, He's all
the Word of God, the wisdom of God. Look at... I knew that happened. He's the wisdom of God, the knowledge
of God. Proverbs 8, Proverbs 4 speaks
of wisdom. That's Christ in it. Let me give
you a good illustration. You know, man, for some reason
is called the owl, the wise owl. You ever wonder why that is?
The wise owl. You look at the owl, I guess
it's because he can see at night. He's got that night vision, and
his eyes are big, and he's looking at everything, and he doesn't
say much. A man that doesn't say much is
thought to be wise, isn't he? But the owl, he just sits there
beholding it all. I'll tell you why. I'll tell
you why. This wasn't planned by man, but
God did. If you ask that owl any question, he's gonna give
you a one-word answer. Mr. Al, what's the meaning of
life? Who? Mr. Al, how is a man saved? Who? Mr. Al, what is truth? Who? Isn't that good enough? That's
a wise person that knows that, isn't it? Who? Answer to any
question. is found in Christ. Who? Not what? Not where? Not when? But who? Who? In Him dwelleth
all the full... He's all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge. Listen to this. If Christ is
all, if Christ is all, then that means everyone else is really
nothing at all. Got all these people thinking
they're something. Scripture says, if any man thinks he's
anything, when he's nothing, Christ is all. In heaven, Christ
is the only one that anybody's given any glory and honor to.
Not Moses, not the prophets, not anyone, but Christ. Christ is all the wisdom and
knowledge of God. I don't care what you know. I
don't care what you think you know. I don't care who you are.
I don't care what you've done. I don't care what you've accomplished.
If you don't know Jesus Christ, you don't know anything. As we'd
say in the South, you don't know squat. Christ is all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. 1 Corinthians 1 says that. Hath not God made clueless the
wisdom of this world? Man's going to contradict anything
he says, doesn't he? All the wisdom he comes up with,
he's going to contradict it. It's all going to come back to
this, the truth. Christ said, I'm the truth. All
the wisdom. If Christ is all, and he is,
all the treasures, All the riches, it doesn't matter what you have.
If you don't have Christ, you don't have anything. Right? There's a scripture that says,
there's he that hath great riches but hath nothing. But there's
he that maketh himself poor but hath everything. In him dwelleth
all the riches, the fullness of the riches, the unsearchable
riches of Christ. We have a neighbor who's just
a filthy rich woman. And my wife said this of her,
and she said it with sadness. She said, she's so rich, all
she has is money. Now our Lord had nothing. Did he? Or did he? We want peace. He is peace. Nothing could spoil his joy.
We want happiness. He is the blessed man. Things
aren't as they seem, aren't they? Christ is all. We're going to
find out soon enough. We're really going to find out.
He's all. He's all. He's all the salvation of God.
God loves his people in Christ. He's all the mercy of God. He's
all the grace of God. The forgiveness of God. The forgiveness
of God. The reconciliation of God. Justifications
all in Christ. Sanctifications all in Christ.
That ark of Noah. Noah's ark. You were either in
the ark or out of it, weren't you? No matter who you were,
what you'd done, what you had or whatever, there's two groups
of people. Those in Christ and those out
of Christ. Because Christ is all. All the promises of God,
all the promises of God are in Christ. You believe Christ, you
trust Christ, all the promises of God are yes. You mean, Lord,
you accept me? Yes, in the beloved. You mean,
Lord, you forgive me all my sins? Yes, in the beloved. You mean, Lord, you're gonna
take me in the glory, a sinner, the chief of sinners that I am,
just like your son? Yes. Amen. To the glory of God. The blessings of God, the preeminence,
He's all and in all. He's all and in all. You open
up the heart, the mind of every true child of God, dig down deep,
and what you'll see is a love for Christ. And out of the abundance
of the heart, the mouth speaketh. You ask the true child of God,
of their salvation, of their hope of glory. What's your hope
of glory? Every single true child of God
can say it in one word, can't you? Christ. Christ. And I'll close this with an illustration.
There's a man my wife made acquaintance with. She worked at my son's
business. He had a music store downtown
and met lots of people. And this man was a nice man.
We liked him a lot. She made his acquaintance waiting
on him. Later on, after Gabe was called to be a pastor and
moved on, she met this man on the street one day. Michael,
what's his name? Michael, I forget. But anyway,
the man came up to her and said, Menden, he said, I got saved
the other day. And she said, I'm sorry to hear
that. I said, well, what do you mean? She said, well, if the Lord had
saved you, you would have said, the Lord saved me. He said, well, that's what I
meant. No, no, she said, that's not what you said. Christ came
down here to shed his precious blood for worthless, undeserving,
hell-deserving rebels against God. They all know that. They
all find that out, that they're worthless. They're not worth
saving. And Christ laid down his precious life. His blood
was shed for the remission of their sin. He died that they
might live. Do you think that one of them,
do you think that one of them is going to tell anybody about
something they did? That they let him do this? that
they accepted him? Wouldn't that anger God? No,
if the Lord saves you, let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
and they will, buddy. Who saved you? God saved me.
You choose God, he choose you? That's a foolish question. Right? Who saved you? What's
your hope? Christ. In my hands, no price
I bring, simply to the the cross, the Christ of the cross I claim. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but holy lame, completely lame, my soul, my all on Jesus
Christ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand. Is Christ all to you? Do you
believe this? Do you love this? Is Christ all
to you? Good. Glory be to God. Okay, may the Lord bless His
word.