If you would, please turn back
in your Bibles to the book of Colossians chapter 3. But in the 11th verse, let me
read this, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor
uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all
and in all. The scripture says that Christ
is all in all. I want to know what that means. He is all in all. Now, He is all in all and man
is nothing at all. I think that's very plainly taught
in the Word of God. Jesus said in John 6, He said
that it is the spirit that quickeneth. He said the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. Now the flesh then profiteth
nothing. Man is nothing at all in the
realm of salvation. We know that this verse of scripture
would teach plainly that Christ is all in all in the salvation
of a sinner. I mentioned Jack the poor English
peasant last week. who one day was downcast, and
he had great burdens upon his soul, sins unforgiven, and he
was distressed and dismayed. And he was walking through a
village, and he had these great burdens upon his soul, and he
heard a woman sing this song. He heard the song coming through
an open window. And I want to read the words
of this song to you, and this is where Jack got his theology. And later on, after he received
the message and was converted, he was asked by the deacons as
he tried to enter into a church, they asked him questions as to
whether he was converted, how he knew that he was converted,
how he knew that things were right with his soul before God,
and all he could say is, that I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all but Jesus Christ is my all in all. And all through the
rest of his life that was his theology. Nobody could shake
him, nobody could get him off of it, that was it. Christ is
all in all. Well, here's the words to the
song, and he listened to them as he was all burdened, cast
down, and in distress of soul. He heard these words floating
as it were through the open window. I entered once a home of care,
for age and penury were there, yet peace and joy with all I
asked the lonely mother, Wentz, her helpless widowhood's defense,
and she told me Christ was all. I stood beside a dying bed where
lay a child, with aching head, waiting for Jesus' call. I marked his smile to a sweet
as may, and as his spirit passed away, he whispered, Christ is
all. I saw the martyr at the stake,
The flames could not his courage shake, nor death his soul appall. I ask him whence his strength
was given. He looked triumphant to heaven
and answered, Christ is all. I saw the gospel herald go to
Africa's sand and Greenland's snow to save from Satan's thrall. Nor home nor life he counted
dear, midst wanton perils owned no fear, he felt. that Christ is all. I dreamed that hoary time had
fled, and earth and sea gave up their dead. A fire dissolved
this ball. I saw the church's ransomed throng. I heard the burden of their song. T'was Christ is all in all. Then come to Christ, O come today, The Father, Son, and Spirit say,
the Bride repeats the call, for He will cleanse your guilty stains. His love will soothe your weary
pains, for Christ is all in all. Christ is all, all in all. Yes, Christ is all in all." And
so these were the words that Jack heard, and as I said, it
established his theology for the rest of his life. And anytime
anybody wanted an answer from old Jack about his spiritual
state, he said, I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ is my all in all. Now, beloved, I make bold to
say that this is a truth which every believer, every true believer
recognizes. There may be a great many differences
among believers, and there certainly are in this world many, many
differences among believers. Many believers believe something
about this, something about that, that others do not. But beloved,
listen to me. There is no difference as to
this essential point. Every true believer believes
that Christ is all. And it is not uncharitable if
I say that the man or woman who does not believe this point,
that Christ is all in all, is not a Christian. And neither
is it too wide a liberality if I say that every believer every
true believer that acknowledges this point that they are indeed
saved and they're to be included among those who fear God and
who are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this stands as the
mark of the newly created and that is the born-again soul that
Christ is all and and in all to them, whatever Jesus Christ
may be to others in this world. And we pointed out last week
that to some, Christ is absolutely nothing. To some, Christ is a
little bit to add to what they already have in their own person.
And to others, Christ is much, but yet He's still not all in
all. And then there are some, the true believers, to whom Jesus
Christ is all in all. And so to us, whatever others
may think, whatever others may believe, to us, Jesus Christ
is indeed all in all. Well, what does this truth include?
First of all, let me say that it includes the glory, the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We told you last week that Christ
is all in the church by way of glory. When we glory here, we
glory in the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not have one inch of ground
upon which to glory. There's not a one of us here.
It makes no difference what we feel that we have attained to
in our lives, regardless of the background, whatever our background
may be. Regardless of our religiosity
or regardless of how we've been connected with maybe our family's
religion, it doesn't make any difference. We don't have an
inch of ground upon which to glory. We are all sinners. Sinner,
that's our name. here in this church. Every individual
member of this church, to qualify for membership, had to be a sinner. That's what they had to be, a
sinner. And that's what it is that commends us unto God. It's not our goodness, not our
righteousness, not our holiness, not what we haven't done, or
not what we have done, but it's our sinnerhood that commends
us unto God. No man can have interest in the
work of our Lord Jesus Christ, the work of our Redeemer, unless
He be a sinner, unless He understands that He's a sinner. Everything
that Christ did, He did on the behalf of sinners, not on the
behalf of Pharisees, not on the behalf of those who have this
righteousness of their own, confidence in their own flesh. He did it
on the behalf of sinners. And so in the church of our Lord
Jesus Christ, among the redeemed of the Lord, then the glory is
to Christ. The glory belongs to the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's not what we are then, it's
what Christ is that we glory in. And so, you know, oftentimes
we hear it from Satan, the accuser of the brethren, and we hear
it from others around, and only God knows how much more we'll
have to listen to. I don't know how much longer
we'll be here in this world, but we're going to hear it as
long as we're in this world. We're going to hear that we're
nothing and that we're this or that or that we failed here or
that in that place or that area. But beloved, listen, it's what
Christ is that we glory in. We do not. And if we learn this
lesson, then of course all of this mouth, this ignorant mouthing
won't bother us any whatsoever. Because we don't glory in what
we are, we glory in what He is and what Christ said. Not what
we say. That's not what's important.
We don't glory here in what we say, but if we find a thus saith
the Lord. If we find something that the
Lord has said, something that Christ said, then we glory in
that and we preach that and we set that forth to the people.
What Christ has done, not what we have done. What he told us
to do, not what we invented to do ourselves. And religion is
full today of the practice of men and women doing that which
they invented. They don't have an ounce of scripture
for it. They don't have an ounce of scripture,
an ounce of truth behind it. They just invented it. And they
thought that was the thing to do, and so they went on to do
it. These things do not glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what
He told us to do then, and what He is, and what He's done, these
are laws to us and nothing else. There's nothing else, and therefore
we glory in Him. Now Christ is all in all to us
in a threefold way. And I have to mention this, and
if you could get this down, If some way or another you could
get this into your soul, if some way or another it would just
soak in to the middle of your soul, you would be, I believe,
happy, you would be happy most of the time the rest of the way
on your pilgrimage from here to glory. It'd just solve a lot
of problems for you if this would just soak in to your soul. Number one, let me say this,
Christ is all in all, and He is our all in all before God. Now, when I prayed this morning,
the Spirit of God blessed me with this thought, that it is
the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's the worth of our Lord Jesus
Christ, it is the perfectness of our Lord Jesus Christ, it
is the absolute flawless obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ that
has been imputed and accredited to my account on the books of
God. Now beloved, this is a wonderful
thing. Christ is our all before God. Now if you and I have got to
come up with something independent, independent of Christ, something
of our own to appear before God with, then we're in trouble. We're in serious, serious trouble. But beloved, Christ is all in
all before God. He is our mediator. He is our
high priest. He's our intercessor. Christ
is for us before the throne of God. He's there and the Bible
specifically says to appear in the presence of God for us. He is all in all before God. Now if you can get that fixed
in your heart, that ought to be a great blessing to you. That ought to encourage you mightily
as you think, well, I've got one. He's before God and He is
this. He is all that God demands me
to be. He is everything that God demands. Christ is all in all and He appears
in the presence of God for us on our behalf. Now beloved, that's
the gospel. If I ever told the truth about
God and Christ, I'm telling you the truth today. I'm telling
you that Christ is our all before God. And I'm telling you that,
I'm telling you plainly, you must have Him when you go into
the presence of God. He must be your substitute. He must be your Savior. And if
you appear before God with anything less than Him, I'm talking about
a person. You've got to know a person.
And you've got to be in a person. And if you appear in the presence
of God, with anything less than His perfection, His beauty, His
comeliness, His worthiness, then you'll be rejected and cast into
hell. Christ is all in all when it
comes to the sinner's salvation. And then Christ is also our all
in all before our enemies. He's our all in all before our
enemies. He is our all in all before Satan. We mentioned last week that none
of us are a match for the devil. I've never considered myself
in any way, shape, or form able as Michael the Archangel to dispute
with the devil. I can't do that. And I recognize
that even Michael the Archangel, does the scripture say he did
not dispute with the devil? How does that say that? Anyway,
I'm not Michael the Archangel. I am not. And I'm not... What
was it? They were arguing over the body
of Moses or something. But anyway, I am not Michael
the Archangel. And I'm not going to get as close
as he did to deal with this situation. I can't handle Satan. But I will
tell you this. I will tell you this. I know
somebody who can. And the Lord Jesus Christ will
deal with Satan. And there's coming a time when
he's going to put the chain on him and he's going to tie him
up. The devil belongs, listen, Jesus
is the mediator. And by virtue of the fact that
this world has been turned over to him, Satan is under the control
and power of our Lord Jesus Christ. And there's coming a time when
he's going to be put into the bottomless pit. And Jesus is
going to put him there. And this, of course, we're looking
for that day when the Lord puts him away for all eternities. And amidst all of the trials
of life, Christ is our shield and sword. He's our armor and
he's the weapons of war. And we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but we wrestle against those principalities and powers.
We have no ability to deal with those, but Jesus Christ has ability
and power to deal with them. So amidst all the trials of this
present world, Christ is all the believer needs to bear him
up and to see him through in this life. Cast yourself upon
the Lord Jesus Christ who will succor you and help you in this
world. And then the third thing, and
I want you to know this. Now, you see there's so many
conflicts in this world, so many ups and downs, so many trials.
The road is rocky. And the road is a very treacherous
road, and we just need to know that the Lord Jesus Christ, that
He's with us and that He will sustain us and keep us in the
way. Now, there's another truth. The
third thing is that Christ is all in all within myself. Within myself. And you know,
I don't know whether you look through the window of your soul
or not. I don't know how much time you spend thinking about
what kind of shape you are on the inside. I don't know whether
or not you ever really try to figure just where you are, just
what kind of progress you're making in the things of God. I don't know whether you do that
or not, but I do. I spend a lot of time thinking
about whether or not I'm everything that a resurrected Christ could
make me. And I, listen, when I look within,
I see all manner of deficiency and all manner of deformity And
sometimes, as I told you last week, it just simply wipes me
out. It takes my breath away when
I see what I am in nature and I see that I'm not any better
than I used to be. And I see that the old man hasn't
got a bit better, one whit better. than he was back there when I
first knew that there was such a thing as an old man and a new
man. And he's not got any better.
He's just like he was at that time. And so we're filled sometimes
with dismay, but when I see Jesus Christ then my heart is comforted. For He will both destroy the
works of the devil and perfect that which He has begun in me. Philippians 1 and 6. He that
hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. So I'm a sinner, but my heart
rests on the Savior, the Lord Jesus. I'm burdened with this
body of sin and death, but look, beloved, Christ is formed in
us. He's the hope of glory. And someone
mentioned the other day about Paul in Romans 7, how he was
carrying about this body, carrying it about. And beloved, that's
what we're doing. We're carrying about a body of
sin. And you know they used to take criminals and if they murdered
somebody they would sometimes strap that body on their back
and make them carry it until it rotted off. And that's exactly
what you and I are doing with this old body of sin, this old
man that we're carrying around. We'll carry him to the grave
until he gets old and feeble and then dies and he's buried. in the grave, we're going to
carry this old man around. But listen, I am by nature a
child of wrath, even as others, but I've been born again into
the household of faith, into the household of the second Adam,
the Lord from heaven. Is Christ in your heart? Then,
beloved, if He is there, if He does dwell in you by faith, then
whatever it is else that you find there, This will only endear
you to Him. And that's exactly, we were talking
last Sunday after the service, and the brother was confessing,
you know, something about his failures and his weaknesses,
and I'll tell you what, Beloved, everything we find in our hearts,
you see the purpose of it. Why God exposes you to that. Why God reveals that to you.
Why God shows you iniquity and sin in yourself is to endear
Him to you that dwells in your heart that is absolute perfection
and holiness. That's why God reveals it to
you. That's why God makes it known. Now a lot of these Pharisees
and legalists, they never know who they are and they never feel
what they are in here because they don't know Christ. And they
wouldn't appreciate Him. They wouldn't appreciate Him
because He's not there. He's not formed in them. But if He's
there, the Lord's going to show you what you are to endear Him
to you. That's exactly what He's going
to do. And so whenever you say, well, I'm not making any progress
because I'm getting worse in my eyes every day, Well, what
about Christ? Is He getting more precious to
you every day? Is He being endeared more and more and more and more
to you? That's the purpose of God. You
see, get your mind off it. It's Christ that's all in all,
not me in Christ. That's all in all. It's Christ
that's all in all. For all I see within myself lacking
or sinful, I see a sufficient remedy in the Lord Jesus Christ
who is all in all. So this is the point I'm making. Christ is all in all before God
for us on our behalf. Christ is all in all before our
enemies. And Christ is all in all within
ourselves. And if you could just get back
and get that soaked in, you'd just be a theologian. There just
wouldn't be anybody be able to touch you. You'd just have it.
And if somebody called on you and said, the preacher is not
able to be here today and we need somebody to fill in, you'd
just say, well, I'll get up and talk about three things. And
I'll just get up and talk about that. And so you could do that.
I know you could. Now, He is all to God and He
is all between us and our enemies. and all within ourself, and I'm
glad to have it so. Amen? I'm glad to have it so. All that God requires us to be,
Christ is for us. For us all, Jesus is all. He is all. I abhor the very idea,
don't you, of putting anything side by side with Him as a ground
of my dependence before God. Is there a prayer? Is there an
emotion? Is there anything, a work, a
gift that you've given? to the church or to some poor
person. Is there anything that you would
want to give or offer unto God in the place of the Lord Jesus
Christ? If you are or do think so or
you think you do have something, you're foolish. You're very foolish. Whatever there is in us or about
us or that we've done that is not of Christ and the work of
the Holy Spirit will have to sooner or later come out of us
And God bless the day when it is extracted and ejected from
our lives, from our soul. We must pray that Christ may
dwell in us. Because, beloved, He's the only
good thing that there is in a believer. He's the only good thing in a
believer. He is all for us, all to us,
and He is all in us. He is the channel of all. We
can prove that by John 14 and 6 and Hebrews 7 and 25. He is the pledge of all. He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not also through him freely give us all things? Romans 8
and 32. And he's the sum of all. And
we mentioned last week that if a man's traveling, he don't need
a house, he don't need to drag a house after him, he don't need
necessarily to take his food with him. If he's got money,
then he can go out and get him a place to stay. Spiritual sense,
he is all that we desire and all the good that we can conceive. Somebody said, oh my. I'd just
like for somebody, you know, just kind of tickle my brain
a little bit and kind of, you know, just kind of enlarge my
intellect a little bit to where, you know, I like to conceive
of something good. Well, beloved, hear me. All the
good that we can conceive is in Jesus Christ. Cannot conceive
of it. The Bible says there's none good
save one. That's God And so how are you
going to get anyone that? How can you conceive of greater
good than God if you want to know what heaven is? One writer
said know what Christ is Know what Christ is if you want to
know what to expect when you die and cross the muddy Jordan
Just know what Christ is. He's all in all and that's what
heaven's gonna be about Christ All in all, might as well shuck
off all this stuff now that doesn't have to do with Him. Shuck it
all off! Because when you get there, it's
Christ all in all. That's what it's going to be
about. And these Reformers, or these people that got all tangled
up in a whole lot of these webs of all this, their particular
theology, and when it all boils right down, they're going to
have to shuck all that. Christ is going to be everything in
Heaven. Say, preacher, I'm my own tailor. I'm going to have
me a suit to wear in heaven. Might as well forget it. If Christ
isn't your tailor, and if He hadn't made you the robe of righteousness
and the garment of salvation, you won't be out of place in
glory. You're not even going to be able to be there. You're
not going to have on the wedding garment. Christ is what heaven
is all about. You're going to sing about Him
in glory. Just going to sing about Him. Christ. All in all,
just sing that old hymn. Christ is all in all. That's
what you're going to be singing about. That's what it's going
to be about. Now I know religion don't make much of him. That's
because they're blind as bats and dead as doornails. They don't
know anything about Christ. But whenever you get to glory,
that's what heaven's going to be about. It's going to be about
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now there are many things in
this world that are good, but there is nothing that is good
for everything. Christ is a substitute for all
things, and nothing is a substitute for Him. He is strength and beauty,
safety and sanctity, peace and plenty, healing and help, comfort
and conquest. He's life here, and He's life
forever. What can be less than God, if
God be all? So worship Him, worship Him with
all your heart, rejoicing Him, and bless Him from day to day.
And stay alert here in this world and watch your attitude because
what we're talking about today, we're talking about realities.
We're talking about realities. Let not this world think you're
poor when you're rich in Him, when you're so rich in Him. Watch your attitude and watch
the way you walk in this world. Never allow people to think that
you're unhappy or that you're so unhappy. when you have perfect
happiness in the Lord, Emmanuel, the ever-blessed Emmanuel, God
with us. Oh, the blessedness of the man
that can say, Christ is mine. He's mine, and I'm his. I belong to him. On the other
hand, we see the wretchedness of the man who is not Christ.
For you see, if Christ is all, you who do not believe are devoid
of all in being destitute of Him. You're devoid of all if
you're destitute of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have nothing
if you have not Christ. And we dare not flatter ourselves
into thinking that we do. Now the Christian then is rich,
though he be a beggar. Everyone who is destitute of
Christ, I like this, is poor, though he be crowned, though
he be a crowned prince. Amen? Is that right? That's right. Don't make any difference what
you've got. If you're destitute of Christ, you're poor. If you're
a believer and you really and truly know Christ, even if you
have to beg like old Lazarus at the gate of the rich man,
you're still rich. Isn't that right? Well, praise
the Lord. Can't get us down, can they?
Brother, if Christ be all in all, then how is it? How is it? If we can preach this, if we
can say these things, if we can believe these things, how is
it that we love Him so little? If He be so precious, how is
it that we prize Him so little? Again, I think of the old woman
that had the cup of water and crust of bread. She said, all
of this and Jesus too. I think of that every once in
a while. That's blessed. Well, how is it if he's so precious
that we prize him so little? This lady, she did. She was a
blessing. Been a blessing to everybody
that's ever heard that, I think. Our hearts are dead, they're cold,
and the Lord must revive them. Now then, I want to talk a little
bit about some of the lessons, or three or four lessons that
we learned from this text. I do have a little time to do
it this morning. Lessons to be learned from this
text, Christ is all and in all. Well, number one, we learn from this how to measure
young converts, people that we're receiving into the faith, or
into the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. We ought not expect,
now Christ is all and in all, and we ought not expect, we might
examine people, you know, like the deacons and the elders examined
old Jack, and looking for something. Ah, looking for something, you
know, just something, you know, we kind of expect sometimes people
to be philosophers or divines. We want to see something. you
know, maybe some gift of the flesh or something they can bring
to the church, or see what they've got to get them in the church,
you know. We're looking for, like they used to say back east,
like fish with a coin in their mouth. Looking for something,
you know. But brethren, if a man knows
Christ, if a young person knows Christ, If Christ be formed in
them, if they are resting in Him, even though we see Him there
only as a dim outline, we are to receive them as Jesus Christ
received us to the glory of God. We're to receive them. Christ
is all. And don't be expecting anything other than are they
Have they given themselves to Christ? Are they believing on
Christ? Are they resting in Christ? Do
they hope in Christ? Is Christ their all in all? Can
they say what old Jack said? I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, but Jesus Christ is my all in all. Have they got that
testimony? They're welcome in any church
I'm in. They're welcome right there.
Is that alright? They're welcome. in that church and we must receive
them to the glory of God. Alright, so that's how we measure.
That's one of the lessons here from this text is how to measure
young converts. Now the second thing is this,
how to measure preachers. How to tell whether or not a
man is of God or not. How whether or not the Lord sent
him or not. You measure a preacher by this.
What is there of Jesus Christ about them? What is there? I mean if you listen to a preacher
so long you ought to be able to tell whether or not what he
thinks of Jesus Christ. You ought to be able to find
out what this man thinks of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what
he thinks, what he's preaching. That ministry which has no saver
of Christ in it, be it what it may, be that preacher a skillful
Be that preacher a mixer, be that preacher a go-getter, be
that preacher enthusiastic and fervent as all get out. Listen
to me now, if you have no savor of Christ in his preaching, the
Lord will never own that preaching. He will never own it. The Lord
won't own it. And you ought not to own it either.
Because that man's not sin of God, if he's not exalting Christ,
if he's not preaching Christ. and you ought not receive that
man as your pastor, as your preacher. Give me a ministry that has the
savor, the sweet savor of the Lord Jesus Christ about it. I
don't care how unlettered the preacher is, or how uncouth the
preacher is, all I'm interested in is can I smell Christ when
he gets up? Can I smell Christ? You understand
that the preacher is like a man who's got a box. And the Bible
is the box, the Word of God, and he gets up and his business
is to open that box. And the box is full of the ointment,
the sweet savor of Christ. And when he opens that box, he
lets out that sweet savor of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you
can't smell Jesus when a man's preaching, then you better just
say, well, I won't be back. I won't be back. If I can't smell
Christ. If Christ is not being set forth
and preached as the all in all of a sinner's hope. Well, those
are some of the lessons. And here's another one. Those
are three of them. Now here's the fourth one. Test
your own devotions by this. By this. This is the way you
test your devotions. Now when you took the Lord's
Supper last time, did you have fellowship with Christ when you
did? Did you have fellowship with the Lord Jesus? Say, well,
I never even thought about the Lord Jesus. The brother broke
the bread and prayed over it. They served the wine, the juice. But I never even thought about
Jesus. I never really thought too much
about what all that meant. And the scripture says, what
mean ye? Your children are going to ask, what mean ye by this
service? What are you going to tell them?
Did you have fellowship with Christ? Did you think about Him?
Him dying in your room instead of place? Him shedding His precious
blood on your behalf? Him buying you, not with corruptible
things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of
Jesus Christ? Did you think about that when
you were taking the Lord's Supper? If you didn't, then you missed
the blessing. You missed what it's about. You
missed, you missed what it's about. It was all empty and vanity
to you if you missed it. Now another thing, I'm talking
about our devotions. When you pray in your closet,
when you go in your closet to pray in that place where you
like to go to cry out to God, do you plead the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ? Do you plead the blood and the
name of Christ before God? Do you recognize that when you
go there to pray that it's not whether you're a good mother,
it's not whether you're a good father, it's not whether you're
a good provider, it's not anything about you, it's Jesus and His
blood and His name that the Father has respect to. And the Father
will do anything for Jesus' sake, for Christ's sake. Now if you're
not pleading his name when you pray, you're wasting your time.
You're not getting anywhere in your prayers. Your devotions
mean nothing if you're not pleading the name and the merit and the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ before the throne of God.
And you remember that. Now the next thing is this, when
you read the Bible, do you see Christ on every page of the scripture? Many, many, many people read
the Bible, the Holy Word of God, and they never look for Christ
when they read the Scriptures. In the Old Testament, in the
tithes, the symbols, in the New Testament, everywhere on the
pages of this book, Christ, this book is a hymn book. Now did you get that? This book
is a hymn book. This Bible is about Jesus Christ. And if you can read this Bible,
and you don't think of Christ, and you don't look for Him in
every place that you read, if you don't look for Him, you're
wasting your time. You're wasting your time. And
some people read, they say they read the Bible, they read it
like a newspaper. And they don't ever seem to have
any of the joy of Christ and the blessedness of Christ and
the light of Christ in them as they read the scriptures. They
just miss it all. And I feel sorry for you, my
poor soul. Listen, if I can't see Him when
I read the scriptures, there's no need for me to read. What
are you going to read it for? Say, well, I just want a little
intellectual stimulation. I don't need it myself. It's
like somebody said, you going to learn how to run the computer?
I said, no, I don't want to cross the wires in my system this late
day of the game. I'm too far down the road to
cross and get them wires all crossed up. I just stick right
with Taking a pencil and figure it out. What little money I got,
I don't need a computer to figure it out. And I can remember most
stuff right up here that's necessary for me to remember. I'll just
stick right with it. Now I'm not against it. I'm not against
it. I'm just telling you that I just feel that I just stick
right where I'm at. But you hear me. I don't need
any intellectual stimulation. I need to know Christ better.
I need to know more about Him. I need to understand more about
what His words got to say to me. And so when I'm reading this
word, I'm looking for Him. That's what I'm looking for.
That's exactly what I'm looking for. This poor sinner without
Him is nothing and never will be anything. But with Him, I'll
be all that God can make me. And that's alright with me. Praise
God. Alright, now listen to me. And
we're going to close here on what This truth requires of me
what it requires of me. Just listen to me just a minute.
Remember this, that the only distinction, Spurgeon said, which
marks the Christian from other men and the only essential distinction
in the new world of grace is Christ. In the realm of grace,
things are what they seem. Christ is apparently all because
he is actually all. And all that is real in the Christian,
all that is holy, heavenly, pure, abiding, and saving is of the
Lord Jesus. And the fact lies at the basis
of the whole system, the Christian system, Christ is really and
truly all in all in His church and in each individual member
of it. Now then, what this truth requires,
if Christ is all in all, And I'm professing, now if he's all
in all in the church and in every individual member, then if what
I profess to be, if I profess to be a Christian, and I am not
like Christ, there's nothing about Christ in my life, there's
just no indication that I know him, that I've ever learned of
him, that he's ever appeared to me, that he's ever revealed
himself to me, my Christianity is a transparent sham. That's what it is. I'm nothing
but a base pretender and my outward religiousness is a pompous pageantry
for my soul to be carried to hell in and nothing more. It is a gilded coffin for a lifeless
spirit. If I say I know him, if I profess
I know him and there's nothing about me that is like Him. Because I'll perish with a double
destruction if I have dared to profane the name of Christ by
taking upon me when I have not the essence of the principles
of the grace of God in me. Let men say what they will, but
if our supposed relationship with a living Christ does not
display itself in putting us into war with our sinful flesh
nature and ultimately shaking off the sins of the flesh and
putting on the image of Christ than vanity of vanities. There isn't anything about me
that's real. That's what these verses mean
like verse 5 and like verse 8 and verse 10 And then verse 12 here,
put on therefore as the elect of God, holy, beloved, bows with
mercy. The brother read all of this
this morning. Kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering,
forbearing one another, forgiving one another. If any man have
a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do
ye. This is what all this is talking
about. Just being like Christ in our daily life. and in our
daily, in our walk. If be not so, if this be not
so, then our religion is just a dream. And it's what we might
call a fiction of our own imagination. These are very searching things.
They are indeed. And I mean for them to be. How
can you read this chapter and not have your soul searched?
by the things that are said here by the Apostle Paul. How can
you do that? A word to the wives, a word to
the husbands, a word to the children, about a word to, it says, whatsoever
you do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to men, for
you serve the Lord Christ. How are you going to read this
without being certain? Who is there among us that lives
as he should live? at home or when he's abroad. Could you bear that the angels,
now listen to me carefully, you may be able just to put off what
I've said, but could you bear that the angels that visit you
at your house go out and tell before, go out and tell before
that great cloud of witnesses everything that he has seen there
at your house? Could you bear that? Is there
anyone here who could say, well, that wouldn't bother me any.
Well, I'll tell you what, right now, this morning, it bothered
me. It bothered me. I want that angel going out and
opening his mouth. How about yourself? How about
yourself? So at home and abroad, are we
always as we should be? Are we always upright? And are
we straightforward as a Christian should be? Are we? See, I'm just
talking about what this requires. You say, well Christ is all in
all, preacher. I'm saying He is. And I glory
in that. It requires something of me.
See, in this respect, I'm supposed to be like Him, read the chapter.
I mean, don't ignore the Word of God. See how Paul fits this
in and shows us how we're to respond to such magnificent,
glorious, and high truth as this. This is the way it's to be worked
out in us as believers. Listen to me. If you have any
respect for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, then lay down,
lay down your profession. if you don't intend to honor
Christ. If you don't intend at a certain
point to check yourself and to say, well, I can't go beyond
that. I can't do that. For Christ's
sake. I mean, I would do it if it didn't involve Christ. I could do it. I could do it
now. I could do it today. But it involves
Christ. It involves Him who is all in
all. And sometime or other you got
to put a check on it. You got to say this is it. I
mean, no, I can't do that. I've got to wait on the Lord.
Maybe I should be delivered from this. Maybe this should happen.
Maybe that should happen. But I must wait on the Lord.
I've got to walk with God. I must walk before God. I'm not
going to walk before men. I'm going to walk before God.
First of all, I must walk before God. And so, listen. Just lay down. If you don't intend to honor
Christ, lay down your profession. Put it away. Lay it down. I don't want anybody talking
about you, saying, well, that fellow claims to know the Lord,
but he's not interested in Christ and the honor of Christ. No.
Brother, you can't let people say that. We've got to seek God
that the life of Christ being in us may manifest itself in
our behavior. Because Christ is the standard. He is the standard. Well, we
could read all these verses here, but we won't. We don't have time.
Without Christ, you and I are nothing. Though you have been
baptized, joined the church, though you are highly esteemed
as deacons and elders and pastors, whoever you are, listen, you're
nothing without Christ. So live that men around you may
be constrained to say, to that man, to that woman, Christ is
all. I've noticed. I've noticed. He, she has been with Jesus. He, she has learned of Him. They have so learned Christ.
I know that Christ is all in all to those people. I know it. And so you live, brother, sister,
so that you don't act as a man or a woman of the world, but
you act as a man that knows God. May God grant a blessing on these
words that we've tried to give today for Jesus' sake. May God
grant a blessing. And may the Lord search every
one of our hearts with these truths. And may the Lord deal
with us. I wouldn't want to go out of
here without giving you some of these things that Paul had
to say here about what's required of those that believe these truths. Those that claim to be in Christ.
I wouldn't do it. And so I've tried the best I
know how. May the Lord bless you. I don't preach myself. I
preach Christ Jesus the Lord. I don't hold myself up because
God knows. I don't want that angel talking
about what he sees when he comes around me. I don't want him doing
it. And I thank God for his long suffering and his patience. I
thank God for it. Because if he, listen, if the
Lord was to mark iniquities, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't
be standing. I'm telling you that. I'm a sinner. There's nothing good about me.
Not one thing. But I do want to honor Christ
if I can. And I have tried to do that.
And I want to. And I'll go down to my grave
by the grace of God trying to honor Christ. Trying to honor
Christ. And I believe, I believe that
I've left just a little bit of the feeling among people that
know me and that have been around me through the years. that that's
my intention. I mean, I'll always accomplish
it. It's like a fellow who said,
the bullseye, I aim at it, but I won't always hit it. But that's
what my aim is. I'm aiming to honor Christ if
I can. And if I got the testimony, and
if I have the testimony when it's all over with, people that
know me and know me the best will say, I know that that was
his intention. was he wanted to honor Christ.
He desired to do that. He wasn't perfect, but he wanted
to honor Christ. That's what it's about, brother,
sister. And so you just keep pressing in that direction. Keep
pressing. Father, in the name of Jesus,
remember us and give us thy strength. Oh, impart grace unto us. and bless us for the gospel's
sake, in Jesus' name, amen. at least one Sunday. But I want
to read out of Romans 16, beginning with verse 24, just read down
through verse 27, these words. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. Amen. Now to Him that is of power
to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of
Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which
was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest
and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment
of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience
of faith to God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever
and ever. Amen. God bless you and be with
you. We have