How about opening your Bibles
to Colossians chapter 3? This will be home page this morning,
home base. So put your bulletin or piece
of paper or whatever you do to mark your Bible, your place in
your Bible. I want to talk to you a little
bit later about verse 11 in Colossians chapter 3, going back to that old statement,
Christ is all and in all. But I'd like to approach it in
a little different fashion and actually begin somewhere else
and wind up there. So we're coming back to Colossians
3. Right now we're going to read
out of Colossians 3. Beginning at verse 1 in the 3rd
chapter. If you then be risen with Christ. Everybody is celebrating the
resurrection today. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above. where Christ sits on the right
hand of God. What's he doing sitting on that
throne this morning? He's ruling everything from A
to Z, everywhere and everybody, no exceptions. Where Christ sits
on the right hand of God. of God. What are we to do? Set our affections
on things above, not on things on the earth. Why not on things on the earth?
Verse 3, because you're dead. because you are dead and your
life is hid with Christ in God. We are to reckon ourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin and alive to God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. All right, verse 4. Look at this
carefully. When Christ, who is our life, What is our life? It ain't a
what. It's a who. Christ is our life. When Christ shall appear, then
shall you also appear with Him in glory. Now what is this thing
about Christ appearing? It's His second coming. It's
when He comes back. What's He coming back for? Primarily
for His people. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also, all those that are in Him,
all those whom He has saved and regenerated, raised us from spiritual
death to spiritual life in Himself, When Christ shall appear, then
shall you also appear with Him in glory. Now back down here
where we live. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon earth, our physical, fleshly selves. Fornication,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, Evil concuspience or over-desire,
evil over-desires can be anything from A to Z. And covetousness,
which ain't a thing in the world, but what? Idolatry. Wow. We put a better face on it than
that, don't we? That's a little bit strong. Idolatry. Covetousness is idolatry. For which things sake? That list
of things in verse 5, the wrath of God comes on the children
of disobedience. What about his children? Verse 7, in the witch In that catalog
of things in verse 5, you also walked sometime, somewhere, sometime,
either in our mind or in actual fact, one and the same, one and
the same, when you lived in them. But now you also put off all
these. Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy,
filthy communication out of your mouth. Don't lie to one another. Lie not to one another, seeing
that you've put off the old man with his deeds and have put on
the new man which is renewed in knowledge. after the image
of Christ that created him, the Lord Jesus, both the giver and
creator of this new man in Christ. Verse 11, where there is neither
Greek nor Jew, national distinctions disappear in Christ in grace. There's neither Gentile nor Jew. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. Circumcision is meaningless. If you are, you are. And if you
aren't, you aren't. And it does not matter. It makes
no difference whatsoever. Barbarian. Scythian. Cultivated. Barbaric. Bond nor free, but Christ is
all and in all. Christ is all and in all. All right. Where's home plate
now? Colossians 3. All right. But I want to start
in John chapter 8. And the reason for doing this
is to show us how infinitely important it is that we have
a saving understanding of what it means to say that Christ is
all. So the title for this message,
and there's probably a bunch in the past by the same title,
is taken from Matthew chapter 22, which is a chapter of questions. I think at least three questions
are brought to the Lord Jesus by the various factions or groups that made
up the Jewish religion in our Savior's day on this earth. Each one of them brings a question
that is designed to trick him. And he asked himself, the Lord
Jesus, asked his detractors one simple question concerning the
Messiah, the Lord Jesus. He was not speaking in that exact
instance. He did not make himself out to
be. He simply used an expression
taken from David in the Psalms. in which the Messiah is called
both David's son and David's Lord in Psalm 110. So our Lord said to these religious
smart alecks, He said, What think you of Christ? How can He be
David's son and at the same time David's Lord? The simple answer
to that is because Christ is God and man in one person. In His human nature, He's David's
descendant. In His divine nature, He has
no descendants. There's no such thing. He's been
God forever and ever and ever and will be forever and ever.
So what I want to do is borrow that one little question. What
think you of Christ? And make our way back to Colossians
3.11 along this little journey. Have you found John 8? Alright. What makes it important for me
to know about myself what I think of God's Christ? Why is that
important? Here's the first reason. Now
there's a bunch more than these, I just have three. First one
is in John 8, 24. Our Lord said to these Jews that
they can't figure Him out. Every time they think they have
Him, you know, it just blows up in their face. But here's
what makes that question, what do I think of Christ, important. It has no rival in importance. It is infinitely, infinitely
important. I said therefore unto you that
you shall die in your sins. For if you believe not that I
am, the word he is italicized, which means in the original translation
It was not present. It was added by the translators
to give it some kind of fluency of expression. But we rob ourselves
of an important truth. When Moses met God at the burning
bush, he asked God to show him his glory. And he learned God's
name that day like he never had learned it before. You know what
it was? I am. I am. In the Garden of Gethsemane, I'm not sure it's chapter 19
or chapter 18 in John, maybe 18, this band of people come
during the night with Judas Iscariot leading them. They come to arrest
the Savior. He steps forward and asks them,
who are you looking for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And between five
and six hundred grown men in military array fell on their
back on the ground from two words, just two words, I am. Here he
says, if you don't believe that I am, you shall die in your sins. That means to die without forgiveness. That means not to have a Redeemer.
That means to perish forever and ever in eternal burnings. Why is it important to know what
I think concerning God's Christ? Because He is the great I Am,
and not to know Him means I must die in my sins. All right, the second text. Go
ahead and turn back to Colossians, same chapter but different verse,
one that we read a moment ago. But this heightens for us greatly
why that question, what do I think of Christ, is so vital and so
important. Look at verse 4. We looked at
this as we were reading earlier, but we'll just borrow this one
expression from verse 4. Christ who is our life. Our life. Now whatever is our
life, we ought to be able and desire and earnestly beg God
that He would Give us right thoughts and understandings of His Son.
Why? Because He's our life. He's our
life. Whatever your occupation, you
give it a great deal of attention, of time, of energy, of thought,
because that puts bread on the table. This far transcends that. Christ is our life. He gave us in creation this physical
being. He gives us in the new birth,
in regeneration, a new man, a new heart, a new mind, a divine nature,
the Scripture says. Christ, who is our life. And the third reason that this
is so vital and important a question, what do I think of Christ, brings
us back to the 11th verse where we promised that we would try
to wind up. So let's go back now in the same
chapter we were just in to verse 11. This is a wonderful statement
in so many ways, but nothing compares to the final phrase.
In Christ It doesn't matter if you're a Gentile or a Jew. One
has no advantage over the other. It doesn't matter if you're circumcised
or uncircumcised. It doesn't matter who your mama
was or your papa. These things are meaningless
when it comes to Christ, our life. Barbarian! or cultured Scythian, slave or a free man, makes no
difference. But Christ is all in all. So why is it important what I
think about the Lord Jesus Christ? Because He is declared to be
everything There He is, the all and in all. Not only is He all,
but He's in everything. He touches everything. He rules
every place on this globe and all other globes, whatever else
is out there in space, in heaven and in earth. Alright, so let's
come to this expression in verse 11 of Colossians chapter 3, Christ
is all and in all. Now since we have right here
before us in the book of Colossians easy access to other statements
that help us understand this matter of Christ is all, we did
this in chapter 1 this morning in the Bible class, So let's
just reverse it now and work on chapter 3 out of chapters
1 and 2. So if Christ is all, when it
comes to creation, the Lord Jesus Christ is everything. Absolutely
everything. You can read this specifically
in chapter 1 and verse 16. Talking about Christ, you have
to go back to verse 14 to find out who it is. In verse 13, to
get the name of His dear Son. In verse 14, He's called in whom. And in verse 16, it says, For
by Him, by the Lord Jesus Christ, were all things created. Everything that was made, He
made it. He's the Maker. Things that are in heaven, things
that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created
by Him and for Him. Our Lord raises up governments
and pulls them down. He establishes kingdoms and He
brings kingdoms to an end. He rules this world and all things
therein, always has, and as long as it stands, He shall rule and
reign in this place. And when everything ends, it
will be because He brings them to this end. That end is His
eternal purpose as revealed to us on the pages of our Bibles. By Him were all things created. period. So you want to contend
for some other explanation to things that are? This wonderful
theory of evolution and its many offshoots and all that kind of
stuff? I urge you not to do so. It is a blatant attack on the
glory and honor of the Lord Jesus, because by Him were all things
created. All right, how about redemption?
Right here in this same chapter, chapter 1 of Colossians, in verse
14 it says, in whom we have redemption. Christ is the Redeemer, therefore
we have redemption in Christ. He purchased His people at the
price of His blood. He satisfied law and justice
in regard to His people. Their redemption is finished. It is complete. It is gloriously
and wonderfully complete. And our Lord always gets What
is His? He redeemed a people and they
shall all, every last one of them, be His as He declared so
plainly in chapter 6 of John, chapter 17 and many other passages
and places in our Bibles. Look at chapter 2, Colossians
chapter 2. Go down to verse 10. And here
we speak of Christ as being all in all when it comes to the world
of providence, providing, caring for, keeping, sustaining. Verse 10, And you are complete
in Christ, in Him, which or who is the head of all principality
and power. He rules all men in all places. to bring to pass His holy, eternal
will. The Provider is Christ. Providence
governing this world and everything in it on a day-to-day basis is
the work of the Son of God. Alright, how about the kingdom
of grace? Alright, in chapter 2 of Colossians, look at verses
13 and 14. You being dead in your sins,
Colossians 2.13, you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, has he, has God, quickened together with Christ,
having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out, verse 14, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances Oh my goodness, every single
law in the Ten Commandments is against me, blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary
to us. We not only didn't like them,
we couldn't keep them. Contrary to us, watch this, took
it out of the way, what did he do with it? Now this is a figure
of speech. He nailed it to his cross. Nailed what? The law. Nailed it to his tree. And in verse 9, same chapter,
when it comes to the glory of God and to whom we should give
glory. God the Father has purposed us
to read these words, for in Christ, Colossians 2.9, for in Christ
dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, B-O-D-I-L-Y, in His physical person. dwells
the eternal God in all His glory. We could also make the case that
Christ is all, not only in all these things, but Jesus Christ
is everything in the hearts of His people. He's our joy, our
peace, our happiness. When we take the Holy Scriptures,
wherever we turn, whether it's In Genesis or Revelation or any
passage or chapter in between, everything is concerning Christ. I know you've heard that a million
times. So have I. But I tell you, it
is so easy to read this book and not discover Christ in what
we're reading. Don't you agree? Sure. It's our nature not to see Him. If we ever see Him, it'll be
because He pleases to make Himself known. He must reveal Himself to us. There's no magic reading formula. There's no set order in which
to read things that will make them so plain and so clear and
explicit that it just fills our mind and our heart. No, that's
not how it is. Not at all. Let's take a little
look here at a couple of scriptures in regard to the Bible. Christ
is everything in the Bible. In the beginning, Genesis 3.15,
the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. In the
middle, in all the prophets throughout the entire Bible, The Lord Jesus
is the subject of the prophets. Revelation says that the spirit
of Jesus, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Any study of prophecy that does
not look at it in Christ as it is attached to Christ and belongs
to Christ is a mistake, absolute mistake. It can't be anything
less. Alright, let's see, I ask you
to turn to John chapter 1. I just want to show you some
simple statements in our Bibles that tell us beyond doubt that
the Lord Jesus is to be found in sum as well as substance in
this book called the Bible. The Bible is a book about Christ,
about Christ. Right, the first part is John
chapter 1, verse 1. This is John's Gospel, chapter
1 and verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,
that Word now is Christ, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. Christ is both God and the Word. Now jump to verse 14. And the
Word, that is God, was made flesh. The Word was made flesh. God became a man, a real human
nature in which divinity and humanity were mysteriously joined
in just one single person. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. And John adds in parenthesis,
And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Now jump over in John
to chapter 6. Here's what I meant a little
bit ago about the Scriptures must be revealed to us by the
Lord Jesus. Almost to the end of the sixth
chapter of John, we come to this statement. We've
looked at it umpteen times. Verse 63. It is the Spirit, and I see that
that's a small s, but I do believe it should be a capital one, It
is the Holy Spirit that quickens. The word quickens just means to make alive. The
Holy Spirit makes alive. The flesh, our natural selves,
our human nature, makes no contribution. If it cost a penny, we don't
have a penny. We can't contribute. It doesn't fit. The flesh, prophets, nothing. Nothing. Ah, but look at this. The words
that I speak unto you, they are spirit and life. When the Lord Jesus takes up
His Word out of this book, anywhere in this book, and speaks them
to our souls, it communicates life to the dead. Just like standing outside Lazarus'
tomb in John 11. He said, Lazarus, come forth.
And Lazarus got up from the dead and came forth. That's what happens
to us spiritually. That's how we're converted. That's
how we're born again. So the sum and substance of the
whole Bible is none other than Christ. All right, let's take
the promises that are found in the Scriptures. I mentioned the
first one a little bit ago, being Genesis 3.15, the seed of the
woman shall bruise the serpent's head. But that's only the beginning
promise. Every other promise in this book,
including that one, is indeed of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's see, it's in 2 Corinthians
1.20. You don't need to turn. I think
I can remember that. I shouldn't have said that. All the promises of God Let's
see, it starts with the word for. For all the promises of
God in Christ Jesus. No, all the promises of God are
yes and amen in Christ Jesus unto the glory of God by us. How far did I miss it, Craig?
That's bad. You can read it for yourself,
but it just says that every promise Christ is both yes and amen to
them. In other words, they are realized
by you and me when we realize them in Him, in Himself, in His
work on the tree, in His resurrection, in His ascension, in His reign
at God's right hand. Okay, coming back to the subject
of the law where we were a little bit earlier. How does this fit
that Christ is all when it comes to the law? Because Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Romans
10 verse 4. Isn't he? See, the law finds
every one of its demands met in Christ. Therefore, it's satisfied. and holds no condemnation to
whoever those people are that are in Christ. They are indeed
free. What about sacrifices? Christ
is the end of the law for sacrifices because by one sacrifice He's
perfected forever them that are sanctified, Hebrews 10.14. And how about prophecy? Christ is the essence of every
Bible prophecy. This shouldn't be hard to find.
Acts chapter 10. I think it's the last verse. It's verse 43 anyway. Acts chapter
10. No, it's not the last one, but
it's verse 43. Acts 10.43. We've already made reference
to the statement in Revelation 19 that the testimony of the
Lord Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, the essence and substance of
prophecy. Here you have it in these words
in Acts chapter 10, the 43rd verse. To Him, that is to the
Lord Jesus Christ, give all the prophets witness All the prophets,
not part of them, all of them, that through His name, here's
the essence of all prophecy, that through His name, whosoever
believes in Him shall receive remission of sins. That's the
genius of prophecy. That's the substance. of the
words in this book that are under the form of prophecies. Christ
puts sin away. Whosoever believes in Him shall
receive remission of sins. Just one more Scripture, will
you? John 6. We were there a little bit ago.
And I've got this marked conclusion, if that will help any. John chapter
6. The Bible is wore out and the
pages won't have turned. Alright. is all in all. He is. What about faith? And what about believing? You mean to tell me that in regard
to faith, believing and trusting Christ, that He's also everything? Oh, very definitely I do. First
statement, I'll try to quote the second one, but the first
one I want you to see with your own eyes is John 6, verse 29. Here we've got a whole bunch
of people that participated in the feeding of the 5,000 the
previous day on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and now
they've finally discovered that the Lord Jesus has gone back
to Capernaum. They couldn't figure out how
He got there, but He did. And so the next day they find
Him. And he's not willing, you know, to put them on his welfare so
they don't have to work. That's what it amounts to. It
says up there in verses 15 to 21 that they determined that
they'd take him by force and make him be their king. But that's
swift. I mean, you talk about smart.
Now, that's smart. I'm going to make God be my King.
Well, obviously it didn't work. And the Lord Jesus gave them
some advice and they weren't interested. So in verse 28 they
said, you just tell us what to do and we'll do it ourselves.
Like you did yesterday over on the mountainside. Just tell us
how to do these miracles. We'll do them ourselves. that we might work the works
of God. My dear friend, if it is God's
work, it ain't your work, nor mine. Here's the conclusion. Verse 29, Jesus answered and
said unto them, This is the work of God, that you believe on Him,
on Christ, whom God has sent. Therefore, I tell you with absolute
assurance, faith is God's work before it can ever be ours. God
must work in His grace and Spirit, faith in us, if we are to ever
have it. And the text that will back that
up is 1 John 5, verse 1, and it says, Whosoever believes that
Jesus is the Christ, behold, is born of God. The only explanation for faith
is that we're born again! And in that new birth, God has
given us the precious gift, not only of faith, but also of repentance. All right, I'm through. What
think ye of Christ? Christ is all and in all.