Now, if you have your Bible open
to Colossians chapter 3, I like to read verse 11. Verse 11. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all and in all. But Christ is all and in
all. The Apostle Paul begins in this
third chapter of the book of Colossians to tell us that we
have been risen with Christ, that we've been raised with Christ,
and he says we're to seek those things which are above where
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Now immediately, as we
would begin to read this verse of Scripture, we're struck with
the language of Paul. He says if you then be risen
with Christ, Now, how can we be risen with Christ? Somebody
says, well, how can you do that? How can an individual, a breathing
individual living in this world, how could Paul speak to them?
They had never died physically, and they'd never been buried
physically. How could they have possibly
been risen with Christ? Now, beloved, we believe that
the members of the Lord's living family have been in union with
our Lord Jesus Christ from before the foundation of the world.
Ephesians 1, 4, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. The people of God have been in
union with Christ from back before the time when the song of the
first angel ever broke the solemnity of silence. God's people have
been in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when Christ came
into this world, We know that He came into this world and lived
a vicarious life on our behalf, lived on the behalf of those
that were in union with Him, and we know then that He went
to the cross and He died that awful, awful death on Calvary's
hill. He suffered death. Now, beloved,
when He died, we were in Him when He died. And the only way
you could be risen with Him, you must be in Him when He died,
and then in Him when He was buried, so then you're in Him when He
is raised from the dead. So Paul is talking about our
position in the Lord Jesus Christ. That all of us who have come
to a living faith in Jesus Christ, then we are in union with Christ
and so that we have died with Him and we have been raised together
with the Lord Jesus Christ. to walk in newness of life. We've
been raised with resurrection power and we're living on the
resurrected side of the grave. Now Paul says that we're to seek
those things which are above. where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. We believe that this is the one
who was dead, now is alive forevermore, our Lord Jesus Christ, seated
at the right hand of God. Seated at God's right hand, in
that place of acceptance with God. And we believe that all
of us in Him were accepted with Him and that we're seated together
with Him at the right hand of the Father. And so practically,
we are to seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth
on the right hand of God. One of the great blessings of
the Word of God to my own soul is that Christ is the head of
the church. and that Christ is that Lord
of heaven and earth, and that he has all power in heaven and
in earth, and that he's seated there at the right hand of God,
and that he's able, he's very able, God is able to do exceeding,
abundant above all that we're able to ask or think according
to that resurrection power that worketh in his people. And so
we seek the Lord. I have often prayed, and I believe
it's a scriptural prayer, that we... I've often prayed that
the Lord would make me everything that a resurrected, enthroned
Christ could make me. And I believe that's a scriptural
prayer. I believe you ought to pray that way. I believe that's
what Paul means when he said, we're to seek those things which
are above. We're to seek the power of God.
We're to seek that power that is able to conform us unto the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're to seek that power
that is to enable us to go out and bear witness of the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ, going to all the world in preaching
the gospel. Jesus said, all power is given
to me in heaven and earth, go ye therefore. And so we're to
seek those things which are above. Power comes down from God above.
And power, the power of salvation, comes down from God above. And
the power that sustains the people of God in this life comes down
from the Father above. And then we see in verse 2, after
Paul having spoke to us here of our position in Christ, he
says, set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. We recognize that there are many
in this world who have professed to know the Lord Jesus Christ,
but they yet love the world as Demas did. Demas loved this present
evil world, and there are many who mind the things of the flesh.
Paul tells us in Romans 8 that to be carnally minded is death,
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, and that we're
to mind the things of the Spirit, and that if we have the Spirit
of God abiding in us, we will mind the things of the Spirit,
and we will walk after the Spirit, thus not fulfilling the lust
of the flesh. So we're to set our love on things
above. Set our love on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Have a pure heart's love, a sweetheart
love for the Lord Jesus Christ who is seated above at the right
hand of God and not on the things of this earth. not serve this
world, you cannot serve God and mammon. You will either cling
to one and despise the other, as the Lord Jesus taught in Matthew,
and so we must set our affection on things above and not on things
of the earth. Paul in Philippians, you remember
he mentioned those in Philippians 3, I believe it is verse 19,
whose God was their belly, who minded earthly things. I've often
thought about that. You know, here we are in this
world and the cares of this life are so pressing, are they not,
upon us that we often find ourselves minding the things of this earth. And Paul said these very people
are the enemies of the cross of Christ. And we need very much
to discipline ourselves and to see where our love is set. It's
to be set on Christ who is seated at the right hand of God. Oh
for a single heart and a single eye toward the Lord our God. Now he says in verse 3, for ye
are dead. for ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God." What a tremendous verse of Scripture. He said, for ye are dead. Hold
your finger here in Colossians. Turn back with me, if you will,
to the book of Romans, chapter 8. The book of Romans, chapter
8. Let me read a couple of verses here to you. I will begin with
verse 10. And he says, And if Christ be
in you, the body is dead because of sin. Now he said, If Christ
be in you. Now beloved, a Christ not in
you is a Christ not yours. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin. Meaning that you died with Christ
when He died. And His death to sin was your
death to sin. Now, beloved, if we do not die
in a substitute, if we do not die in Christ, if we did not
die in Him to sin, then we must die the death that never dies.
We must die for all eternity. We'll be separated from God and
die and die and die, never, never to live. before God. And so if
Christ be in you, then the body is dead because of sin. And we'll
reckon ourself to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. But, he says, the Spirit is life
because of righteousness. The Spirit is life, and we're
alive in the Lord. We have been brought out of sin's
death into the life and liberty of the Gospel, and we're alive
through the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. And verse
11, he says, But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from
the dead dwell in you, and that Spirit does dwell in all believers,
the Spirit of God, we were baptized by one Spirit, into one body. We all participated in the baptism
of the Holy Ghost. We are all in Christ, having
been baptized into that one body. And the Spirit of the Lord does
dwell in people. If many men have not the Spirit
of Christ, He is none of his. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. Now I want you to remember
the last part of that verse. Because we're going to be referring
to it in a little while. He that raised up Christ from
the dead, he shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that
dwelleth in you. But I want you to notice something
else here in verse 3. For he says you're dead, so we
died with Christ, and we're to reckon ourselves to be as dead
men living in this world. Paul meant that in Romans 12,
1 and 2, when he said we're to offer our bodies as a living
sacrifice. He said, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body as
a living sacrifice, as a living dead thing, that you present
it unto God, that you might prove what is that acceptable and good
and perfect will of God, being not conformed to this world,
but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you
may prove what is that good and acceptable will of God. But Paul
goes on to say here, and your life is hid with Christ in God,
and your life is hid Oh, how that thrills my soul, me being
a sinner. me having been born with a fallen
nature, me having lived these years in this world and have
become so acquainted with a sinful and corrupt heart, living in
this world and with a nature that craves and loves and has
an appetite for the things of the flesh and the things of this
world. He said, and your life is hid,
it's hid. Thank God it's hid. And the life
of every believer, their flesh life is hid with Christ in God. Aren't you glad it's so? Aren't
you glad it's so? How wonderful, my friend, it
is that all life is hid! That it's all hid! Now my friend,
you may be proud of yours. I'm not proud of mine. You may
want to exhibit yet some of your old life. I don't want to exhibit
any of my old life. I want it all hid with Christ
in God. I want it all hid away. And the
older you get in the faith, and the more you believe what the
Word of God teaches, and the more experience you have with
this old body of sin, I'll tell you what, You'll want it all
hid, my friend. You'll want it all hid. I've
been preaching about 48 years. I don't want a sermon that's
not hid. I want it all hid. I don't want
anything, even the good things that we have supposedly done,
as we would say they were a good thing, hide them all. I don't
want the record book to come out. I don't want any of my life
in the flesh. I don't want any of it exposed.
I want it all hid. with Christ in God. Now my friend,
if there's any of it sticking out, you listen to me, any of
your old flesh life that's sticking out, you'll perish forever. I'll
tell you the only way that God would touch us is through a mediator. The only way that God would have
anything to do with us is that He in Christ has punished our
sin, that He has killed, as it were, our bodies, and that as
we live out our days in this world, we're to look upon ourselves
as to be dead indeed. Understand, dead in Christ, and
that we died in Him, and that our life is hid. Hallelujah,
our life is hid. Now I don't know whether, as
I said, there's some people that are proud of their life in the
flesh, and they'd like for somebody just to know who they are and
what they are. But my friend, it's due to ignorance.
You don't know yourself, neither do you know the God of the Bible.
If you knew the God of the Bible, the thrice holy God of the Bible,
you would know, my friend, that your whole life must be hid with
Christ in God. And unless that happens, you're
in for hell, just as sure as I'm preaching to you this morning.
Your life's got to be hid away in God, with Christ in God. Then in verse 4 it says, when
Christ, who is our life, Now the Lord Jesus is coming back.
He's going to come back. This one in whom we died, in
whom we were buried, in whom we were raised again from the
dead, He's coming back. And Paul said He's our life.
He is our life. He's our spiritual life. We have
no life apart from Him. Christ in you is the hope of
glory. We have life because He is life. Christ is the life-giving Spirit.
Christ is the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, and He's the
life-giving Spirit. Nobody has life except He's in
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that. You must be in
union with the Living One, the One who lives eternally in order
to have life. You cannot have it piecemeal.
You get life in the full when you know Christ, who is the living
Christ, who is seated at God's right hand. But He's coming back,
and He's our life. He's going to appear. He that
shall come will come and will not tarry. He'll come back. This
same Jesus whom you've seen taken up into glory shall come again
in like manner. He's coming again. He's going
to put in an appearance here. Then shall you also appear with
Him in glory, in glory. That's the future of God's people.
Glory! Eternal glory for the people
of God. Now does that surprise you? That
you and I, such sinners as we are, that glory is in our future? Glory is indeed in our future. Now the Apostle Paul, as he spelled
out these things to the Lord's people, was arguing, I believe,
for the holiness of life of the Lord's people. He was contending
against sin and for the maintenance of Christian graces. But he did
not, as some do who think they are preachers of the gospel,
resort to reasons that are inconsistent with the gospel of free grace. Now the Apostle Paul knew the
gospel. He knew it backwards and forwards.
He had received it with revelation or by revelation from God. He knew the gospel. And he knew
here that he was writing to believers who were not under the law but
under grace. And he therefore used arguments
consistent with grace and suitable to the character and condition
of the elect of God, the holy and beloved ones. Notice in this
chapter he begins, as we said, and he reminds the saints here
of their position in Christ. He reminds them of how that they
have died with Christ, were buried, and raised again. And he infers
holiness from all of this. Shall those who have Christ for
their life, shall they defile themselves with the works of
the flesh? Notice verse 5. He said, mortify therefore your
members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordered
affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Now these things were to mortify,
to kill them all. And Paul said that if the Spirit
of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead be in you, then He that
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by His Spirit. And so the Spirit of God, we
are to mortify by the Spirit of God these members which are
upon earth. Wrecking ourselves to be dead
to sin, dead in this body, we're to live and kill off all of these
members of the flesh. Now, To put off the old man with
his deeds, we're told here in this chapter. We're to put off
the old man with his deeds. Now, if any man be in Christ,
2 Corinthians 5 and 17 says if any man be in Christ, he's a
new creation, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away and
all things have become new. Those that are in a living union
with Christ, They have the power of Christ in them, the Spirit
of God, and there's something going on in their lives. Mortify, kill off the deeds of
the body. Does that scare you? Does that
in any way violate your theology? Well, my friend, if it does,
you better back up a few steps and begin to read the Word of
God again. Are you alive in Christ? Have
you died with Him? Is His Spirit in you? Then mortify
the deeds of the body. And then he brings forth here
in the third argument that in the Church, Christ is the only
distinguishing mark. Now, in the new birth, we are
created in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is, as we mentioned
earlier, the second Adam, and in consequence, all the distinctions
that pertain to the old creation are no longer now of any value. He says, where there's neither
Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, syphic,
and bong nor free, but Christ is all in all. Now the argument
here is that since the only abiding distinction in the new creation
is Christ, that we should take care that his image clearly shows
through in our lives. You see, we're in union with
Christ. Christ lives in us. and his image
must be clearly stamped upon us. And therefore, there is to
be this mortification take place and there's to be this revelation
of Jesus Christ in and through our lives because we're in union
with him and because we live through the faith of the Son
of God that loved us and gave himself for us. So that we not
only confess with our tongue, that we're Christians, but our
behavior, our entire character will say that we are such. In other words, if any man says
that he abides in Christ, John says, let him walk even as he
walked. If he says he abides in him, then walk as he walked. And we do say that, do we not? That we abide in him. And if
we say we abide in him, then walk as he walked. That's the
admonition of the Word of God. So that we not only confess with
our tongue that we're believers, but our behavior, our entire
conversation, character, will say we are such. The child of
God should be known by his Christliness and by the light and love and
life of Christ being seen in him. This is the seal and this
is the mark of election to be like Christ. Now, beloved, I
want to read a few verses to you that I believe will have
an impact upon what we've just said. In Hebrews chapter 12 and
verse 14, the Apostle Paul said, follow peace with all men and
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Now if a
man be in union with Christ, God has planted in him a principle
that will cause him, motivate him, move him to follow peace
with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.
Now, I quoted Ephesians 1 verse 4 a few minutes ago about how
that we have been chosen in Him before the foundation of the
world that we should be holy and without blame before Him
in love. In Ephesians 2 verses 8 through
10, For by grace are you saved through faith, that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them."
We're God's creation and that we've been created in Christ
Jesus in order that we might We might walk in those works
that would testify that Jesus Christ, the Holy Son of God,
is indwelling our lives. Now, in 1 Corinthians 6, verses
19 through 20, Paul said, What? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your own? For ye are bought with a
price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit,
which are God's. 2 Corinthians 6 and 16, and what
agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the
temple of the living God. I want you to listen to this.
For ye are the temple of the living God. For ye are, that
is if you're a believer, that is if you're one of those that
God has been pleased to give the gift of faith to. And if
you're one of those, for you to live is Christ, as Paul said. Paul said, for me to live, for
me to be alive, is for Christ to be alive on the face of the
earth, walking to and fro in me. And so, listen to me, and
he says this, for ye are the temple of the living God. What
does that say to you? It says that somebody is living
in that old body of yours. Somebody is alive and kicking
in your body. Somebody is in there. Yes. As
God has said, I will dwell in them. I will dwell in them. And what else? And he says, and
walk in them. And walk in them. You mean God
is going to walk in these people? Absolutely. He's going to walk
in them. And he says this, and I'll be
their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out
from among them, be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean thing, and I will be a father unto you, and you
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. So you see, God is walking in
His people. God is walking in them. Now,
one of the things that religion misses, they think that salvation
isn't doing this or doing that or doing something else, but
they miss the fact that salvation has got to do with a marriage
between the sinner and Christ. They're in union with Him. And
you cannot live, you can't just live, you say, well, I'm going
to start acting like a Christian and I'll be one. No, you won't.
No, you won't. You'll be a Christian wherever
you become one from the inside. Paul said, work out your own
salvation. But I defy anybody to work out
a salvation that has not been first worked into them by the
Spirit of the living God. You must be in union with the
Son of God. I cannot stress that too much.
This generation has not heard that. They've not heard that.
Religionists don't know that salvation is a union between
Christ and his people. He that is joined to the Lord
is one spirit, and you must be joined unto him. Having therefore
these promises that God said, I'll dwell in you, I'll live
in you, I'll walk in you, having these promises that God said,
I'll be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters,
saith the Lord the Almighty. Having therefore these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God,
because somebody's living in us that is holy. Somebody's walking
in us. That's holy. And so our outward
conduct must be, as Paul spells out here in this text, being
filled, he says in Philippians 111, with the fruits of righteousness
which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Being filled with the fruits
of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and
praise of God. Now, beloved, we're married,
as it were, to Christ. and were to bring forth fruit
unto him. This union produces fruit, the
fruits of righteousness in those that are believers. Now then,
I want us to go on here. There's some things that I want
to touch on before we're finished this morning. The child of God
then, as we've said, should be known by his Christliness. by
the light and love and life of Christ being seen in him. This is indeed the seal and this
is the mark of election. And no man has any right to say
that he's one of the elect of God unless there's evidence that
Jesus Christ is in union with him. And if there's no evidence
that he is in union with you, you have no right to believe
that you're a child of God. I have a few words here to open
up this text just a little bit. I'm not going to keep you long.
And I want to ask this question, by whom is this truth recognized
that Christ is all? Because you see, we have established
that Christ is all in all in a believer's life. That he's
nothing apart from the indwelling Spirit of God and the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. A believer is nothing apart from
Christ. Christ is all in all in a believer's
life. Now Paul does not say that Christ
is all in all to all men. He does not say that. But what
he does say is that there is a new creation in which the man
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him, where all national and ceremonial distinctions cease, and Christ
is all in all. It's not to every man that Christ
is all and in all. That's my point. There are many
in this world of whom Christ is nothing. Am I speaking to
one or two or three or four or a dozen of you this morning?
There are many in this world to whom Christ is nothing. He
scarcely enters into their thoughts. Some use his name only to curse
and to swear and blaspheme and to many others if they have any
religion at all. It is a proud, it is a proud
presumption which excludes Jesus Christ altogether. The creed
of the self-righteous has no room in it for the sinner's savior. The justifier, the ungodly, is
nothing to them. They're not in that class, you
see. They're not ungodly, and they're
not in that class where they need someone else to be all in
all to them, because they're already something themselves.
They don't need Christ. The Bible says the whole, need
not a physician, and they don't want to hear about Him. They
don't want to hear about Him who's all in all. Don't want to hear
about Him. Beloved Jesus Christ is a root
out of dry ground to multitudes, and to them He has no form nor
comeliness, and in Him they see no beauty that they should desire
Him. What will they do when He's revealed
in power and great glory at the judgment? They think nothing
now of His person. They think nothing of His work.
They think nothing of His cross. They despise Him, but they will
not be able to despise Him as they stand convicted before His
throne. To those of you this morning
to whom this one, Christ, is nothing, let me admonish you,
kiss the sun lest ye be angry, and ye perish from the way, when
his wrath is kindled but a little." Without Christ, you are today
without hope and without God in this world. Ephesians 2 and
verse 12, nothing remains for Christless souls at the last,
but a fearful looking for a judgment and fiery indignation. Next,
there are others in this world of whom Christ is something,
but not much. They are anxious to save themselves,
these people are, but since they must confess some imperfections,
they use the merits of Christ as a sort of stopgap or make-up
for their deficiencies. Their works, they esteem, is
just about enough to get them in. to glory. So they add just
a little bit of grace and they feel that they'll surely get
over the top with just a little bit of grace. Well, this is their
gospel. They say we must do our best
and we hope Christ will pull his shoulder to the wheel and
supply the rest. to think that the blessed and
all-sufficient work and sacrifice of the Savior will fill up their
failures and imagine that they're humble in allowing Him so much
as that. They allow that they're humble.
They're going to let Jesus help them. They're going to let Jesus
do a little bit of something. They're going to let Jesus have
a part in their salvation. You see, they're the people,
that's the crowd that believes that salvation is a human project.
Salvation is no human project, my friend. Salvation is God's
project. It's God's work from the beginning. Now then, they are no better
off in my book than those to whom Jesus Christ, this one who
is all in all, to whom he's nothing. These people are no better off
than they are. For this is a vile contempt And it's a despising,
it's a looking down on Christ, to think that He came to help
you save yourself. To dream that He is a part Savior
and will divide the work and the honor of eternal salvation
with you, the sinner. That He's going to give you an
inch of ground to glory. to think that he's going to do
that. That's a despising of Jesus Christ. Show your contempt for
him. Those who yoked the sinner and
the Savior together as each doing a part, they robbed Christ of
all. of His glory. And this is robbery
indeed and it's going on all around us. How many people do
you know of in this world that thinks that they're making a
contribution to God Almighty and thinks that they have induced
God to love them and that they have induced God to have mercy
on them? How many people do you know like
that? Well these people are robbing the bleeding Lamb of God of the
due reward of all of His agonies. is what they're doing. He dropped
the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with him. In the work of salvation Jesus
stands alone, Matthew 1.21, for he shall save his people for
their sins. His name is going to be called Jesus. Because He
shall save His people from their sin. That's His work. And He's
going to do it. And in Acts 4.12, No other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved but
by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation in the whole
is of God. If Christ is not all to you,
He is nothing to you this morning. As the hen said, when it stopped
in the middle of the highway, I will lay it on the line. Listen
to me, he will never go into partnerships with you. Christ
will never go into partnership with you as a part Savior of
your soul. Just forget it. He's not interested
in any such deal. You say, I've been talking to
the Lord about me and God getting together, me and Christ getting
together, mixing up a little something or other, and I'm going
to call it salvation. My friend, God, I'll tell you,
you're not going to ever get Him to go into partnership with
you. He's all and in all. If he be
something, he must be everything. And if he be not everything,
he is nothing to you. And if you're anything, that
makes him less than everything. And Christ will be everything,
or he will be nothing to you, all in all. Now there are many
in the religious world who unconsciously, to themselves at least, think
Christ to be much, but yet they do not understand that he is
all in all. You cannot drive some people
away from the idea that they're to do something or to be something
in order for God to save them and to keep them the right feeling
they must have. I would trust, but I just don't
feel like I'm in a mood to be saved. I just gotta feel right,
preacher. Oh, you gotta feel right? Well,
the Bible says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved. Don't say anything about feeling. Feelings sometimes
come after you do what God tells you to do. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I certainly believe that
there's feelings that come through a relationship with God. Can
a hungry man eat and be satisfied and not feel it? Absolutely not.
He will feel it. Certainly. Can a man that's naked
be clothed and not feel it? Absolutely he'll feel it. He'll
know that he's been clothed. Certainly he will. But these
people that are trying to put the cart before the horse and
trying to feel before they believe and before they trust God and
are filled with His goodness and filled with His salvation
and clothed upon with the righteousness of Christ, the garments of salvation,
these people don't understand the text. He's all, and in all
I cannot. I don't think I have repented
enough, they say. Well, my friend, you need to
rest in Christ. Oh, I believe that you ought
to repent, but I believe He must give you the gift of faith and
the gift of repentance, and I believe that they are so close together
you couldn't slide a single sheet of paper between the two of them.
Repentance and faith are gifts of God. Sinner, you're empty,
and Christ is full. You're empty. You're empty. What
do you have to offer? You're empty. Christ is full. Ye are the filthiness and He
is the cleansing. This is the fountain that's filled
with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, that sinners plunge beneath
that flood and lose all their guilty stain. You're nothing
and He is all in all. And the sooner you consent to
it, the better off you are. Christ is all in all. Come as
you are just now, for Christ is not almost all, but He is
all in all. Then there are some too who think
that Christ is all in some things. They have not yet seen the full
teaching of the text, have they? Christ is all in all. He says
Christ is all, and He says He's all in all. They say He's all
in justification. They say He covers our sins and
He gives us righteousness before God, but to our sanctification,
surely we're to affect that ourselves. Surely we're not sanctified too
in Christ. Surely we must do that ourselves. Well, He's all in all, Christ
is. As to our final perseverance,
it must depend wholly upon our own diligence. Surely it must
depend upon our own diligence. and our watchfulness. Does it
not, preacher? Are we not in jeopardy, really,
preacher, till the very end? Well, Christ is all and in all. Are there not some parts in our
religion which depend upon our own virtue and our own goodness?
Now my brother and my sister in the Lord this morning, God
forbid that I should say a word against earnest watchfulness,
against diligent endeavors, but I warn you, do not place them
in the wrong position or speak as though the ultimate salvation
of the believer was based upon such sifting sands. Shifting sands, if you please.
We're saved in Christ. We are complete. In Him, we're
sanctified in Christ Jesus. And He has made of God unto us
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Thank God for
a simple gospel. Amen? For a simple gospel. Point men and women to Christ.
And if they're in living union with Him, He's made unto them
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He's made the
wisdom of God, the righteousness of God, sanctification of God,
and redemption unto them if they're in Christ. He is all not only
in the first steps of my faith, but in the last as well. He is
Alpha and Omega. He's the beginning and the ending,
saith the Lord. There's no point between the
gates of hell and the gates of heaven, where a believer will
have to say, Christ fails me here. And I must rely upon my
own endeavor, you see. Christ has failed me here. Listen
to me. All I see within myself, lacking
or sinful, I see a sufficient remedy in Christ who is all. Can you do that? Can you do that?
Listen to it again. All I see within myself, lacking
or sinful, I see a sufficient remedy in Christ who is all in
all. From the dunghill of our corruption
then, up to the throne of our perfection, there is no point
left to chance for us to supply our salvation as Christ to begin
with, Christ to go on with, and Christ to finish with, and that
in all points at all times for the elect. Christ is all and
in all. Now, beloved, my intent and purpose
when I came here this morning was to honor Christ. That's what
I came here to do. I got no other motive. I got
no other agenda. Christ is all in all, and He's
my message from the beginning to the end. And I want you people
to know Him, because apart from knowing Him, you're going to
perish eternally in the lake of fire. No, no, no possible
way that you're ever, ever going to be able to bridge the gulf.
between everlasting woe and everlasting bliss. You must know Christ in
this life and be joined unto him. Life is in the nail-scarred
hands of the man in glory, that's where it is, and you must get
it from him. Oh, flee to Christ, kiss the
Son, lest he be angry with thee, and you perish from the way,
for his wrath is just kindled but a little. Because the Lamb
is going to be setting one of these days on the throne of judgment.
And men will be calling for the rocks to fall upon them and to
cover them from the face of Him that sits upon that throne. May
God move your heart toward Him. He's all in all. Come to Him. Consent to that. Consent to that. Listen, the Bible is a book for
Christians. And in the Bible, Christ is all
and in all. And the more you read, study,
meditate, think upon the Word of God, the more you will consent
to it. The more you'll say, that's right,
that old preacher's right. He's right. He's ugly, but he's
right. He's right! Christ is all and
in all. Well, we've attempted to lay
it on the line. I trust that God will be pleased
to receive the glory and receive the praise.