is all. Man is nothing. It's not a mixture of Christ
and man. It's all of Christ. The peace of the gospel does
not rest in part on Christ's work and in part on man's work.
It rests wholly on Christ's work because that work is perfect. perfect forever, and it renders
all who put their trust in him as perfect as himself. Christ
must either be a whole savior or no savior at all. The moment a man says, except
you be this or that, you cannot be saved, he totally subverts
the gospel. For in the gospel, I find Christ
coming down to me just as I am. lost, guilty, self-destroyed
sinner and coming moreover with a full remission of all my sins
and a full salvation from my lost estate, all perfectly wrought
by himself in the cross. Isn't that good? Colossians chapter 3, Paul had
began this chapter by saying, if you then be risen with Christ. You see, when Christ was raised,
all of his people were raised in him. He said, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth,
for you're dead and your life. is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory. Now in light
of that, mortify therefore your members which are upon earth. Now that word mortify means put
to death. Put to death. We get the word
mortuary out of that, a place of the dead. put to death your
members which are upon the earth. I think it's interesting that
Paul called our members, that's our body parts, that's our nose,
that's our ears, that's our limbs, our members, he called those
members sins. That's what he called them. He
called our members sins. Same thing he was speaking of
when he was speaking in Romans 7, and he called his body, the
body of this death. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? And he calls our
members fornication, sexual sin, uncleanness, any form of immorality,
inordinate affections, which means the emotions of fallen
human nature, evil concupiscence, which is lust, the strong desires
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And he speaks
of covetousness, which is idolatry, greed. Now, he calls our members
by the name of these sins. Now, you have a fallen human
nature. If you're a believer, you've got to save you. If you're
a new man in Christ Jesus, you have a fallen nature that's just
as evil as it ever was. And it's just as liable to these
sins that I've just mentioned from this passage of scripture,
just as liable to these sins as you were before God saved
you. And these sins are in your body
right now. And we're called upon to put
them to death daily because you still have the body of this death,
a fallen sinful nature. Now, somebody's saying, well,
how do I kill them? How do I kill them? You know, the Bible doesn't
give us a manual of how to. It doesn't. It doesn't give us
this list of things. Here's the way, what you need to do to kill
these sins. The only thing I know to do and know to say is Christ
is all. And that's enough to make you
want to put them to death. If that's not enough, you don't
really believe he's all. I can't give you a list I can't
give you a manual. I can't give you a how-to. You
have these sins rising up in you all the time, every day,
because you have a fallen, sinful nature, and we're called upon
to crucify the flesh, to mortify the flesh, to put it to death.
It's going to raise its ugly head continually, and it's to
be stabbed continually. And the best way I know to do
it is to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the way of all
ways. Now, grace and the forgiveness
of sins is not a license to commit those sins. We're called upon
to put them to death every day, and I repeat, as long as we live
in the flesh, we will have this battle, and you know it. Anyone that is a believer knows
he has two separate natures, an evil nature and a holy nature. and a battle going on within. The flesh lusts against the spirit. The spirit lusts against the
flesh. These two are contrary one to
the other so that you cannot do the things that you would.
It's a battle. It's a battle. It's a war. What
do people do in war? They kill people. That's what's
going on. I think of when the Israelites
first left Egypt and went through the Red Sea. That's when they
had their first battle after they departed from Egypt. And
they had that battle with Amalek. The Amalekites fought them. And
when Moses lifted up his hands, representing looking to Christ,
Israel won. When his hands fell down, Israel
lost. And then Aaron and Hur kept his
hands raised up. And they defeated the Amalekites.
Now, as long as you're in this place, you're going to have this
battle with the Amalekites. And you're called upon to crucify
and mortify and kill the sins of the flesh. Now, look what
he says in verse 6. He says, for which thing's sake
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience? You
know, God sends people to hell for these things. Now, listen
real carefully to this statement. A man doesn't go to hell because
he's not elect. A man doesn't go to hell because Christ didn't
die for him. A man goes to hell because he sins against God,
because God is just, because he must punish sin. Now, Paul
says in verse seven, in the which you also walked sometime when
you lived in them. This used to be all you knew. This used to be your life. There
was no battle going on. You were happy. You were satisfied.
You lived in these things. But now, verse 8, here's another
command, but now you also put off all these. This is a command. Put off all these. Anger, temper
tantrums, wrath, that's a premeditated and abiding anger and resentment,
malice, meanness, blasphemy, evil speaking, gossip and slander,
filthy communications out of your mouth, vulgarity and crudeness. Put them off. Verse 9, he says,
lie not one to another. Don't pretend to be something
you're not. Don't put on an act. Don't put on some kind of religious
phoniness and some kind of act to let everybody know how pious
you are. That's lying. Be honest one to another. Be
real. Be true. Don't lie one to another,
acting the hypocrite. Once again, this is putting off
is done every day. Lie not one to another, saying
that you put off the old man with his deeds, verse 10, and
have put on the new man. the inner man, the new creature
that is in Christ Jesus. You put on the new man. The old man is the fallen nature.
The new man is that new heart, regeneration, the new birth.
He's the creation of God and he's renewed. He's made new every
day. And notice what it says. He's
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him. This new man is renewed day by
day with a new knowledge that is renewed in God's image. And
here's my question. What knowledge is this? This
new man has a new knowledge. He has a knowledge he did not
have before. He's got a saving understanding
he did not have before. What, pray tell, is that knowledge
of the new man? Well, where this knowledge is,
verse 11, there's some things it negates. Where there is neither
Greek nor Jew. This knowledge negates all fleshly
distinctions of men. There's no Jew or Greek. There's
no racial distinctions. There's no black and white. There's
no red and yellow. This is a true utopian society. There's no racial distinctions. There's no circumcision or uncircumcision. There's no religious distinctions.
There's no bond or free. There's no social distinctions,
rich or poor. upper class, middle class, or
lower class. There's no barbarian or Scythian, no cultural, educational,
or intellectual distinctions. Paul said in Galatians 3.27,
there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free,
there's neither male nor female. All these distinctions are set
aside. And here's the knowledge, the
knowledge of the new man, verse 11, where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but here is, Christ is all. In all. Beloved, if you and I learn that,
we've learned that which is most precious to God. Christ is all. In all. May the Lord deliver
us from finding that phrase as a cliche we know to use, but
to be awed in wonder at the glory of this statement. Christ is
all. In all. Now, this is the summary
of the message of the Bible. Christ is all. You know, to most people on this
planet, the great majority of this people, Christ is nothing. Many people never even heard
of him. Most who have heard of him, it makes no bearing in their
life, no difference in their life. He's nothing. And then
there's another group of people who Christ is something to them. They try to make him first. They
try to shuffle the order of their lives and give him the first
priority. And these people are always miserable because if all
you're doing is trying to give Christ the first priority, you
don't even know who he is. He's not first priority. He's
all in all. What's that mean? Well, let me give you some things. Jesus Christ is all that God
is. You know, I love saying that. Jesus Christ is all that God
is. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead. in a body. He's all the God is. He said he that has seen me has
seen the Father. Unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given. And the government should be
upon his shoulders and his name should be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. You know, I love saying things
like that from the scripture where somebody says, what does
it do? Just what it says. That's who he is. All you and
I will ever know of the incomprehensible God is the man, Christ Jesus,
who is God. He's all that God is in all things. He's all in God's purpose. You
know, God has a purpose. Romans 8, 28 says, and we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the call according to his purpose. And his purpose
is the glory, the exaltation, and the honor of his beloved
son. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto a certain king that made a marriage for his son. And everything God does in predestination
is for the glory and the honor of His Son. For whom He did foreknow,
them He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son, that He might be the firstborn. among many brethren."
That's God's purpose and predestination. He predetermined that he was
going to have a bunch of people exactly like his son. Don't you love that? That's God's
purpose. That's God's agenda. And if I'm
not in line with God's agenda, Woe is unto me. Now most folks,
they think, well, Christ, His purpose is to come here and make
it better for men and save us and make us happy and make us
healthy and wealthy and wise and all the way. He came here.
You know, that's such an egocentric attitude. No, He came to glorify
Himself. He came to exalt Himself. Now,
we benefit in that. Thank God for that. But God sent
His Son. for His own glory, for the glory
of His Son, that is God's purpose. He is all in creation. The scripture
says, all things were made by Him. And without Him was not
anything made that was made. All things were made by Him and
for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. Thou has created all things and
for Thy pleasure they are and were created. He is all in creation
and He is all in providence. You know everything that happened
to you today? It was His will being done. I
don't care what it was. Everything that happened to you
since the day you were born, It was His will being done. You
see, He controls providence. Providence is what happens in
time, what was determined in eternity. And everything that
happens is His will being done. What about the bad stuff? He's
in control of that. Somebody says, why just don't
believe it? He's in control of that too. You see, he's in control
of everything. And providence, everything that
happens is neither more nor less than his will being done. He upholds all things by the
word of his power. He is all in providence. And did you know that Jesus Christ
is all in the Bible? I love that scripture where the
Lord said to the Pharisees in John chapter 5 verse 39, He said,
you search the scriptures. And they did. They read the Bible
all the time. They studied the Bible. They tried to understand
the rules and what they needed to do to be saved and please
God and be accepted by God. They had all this stuff down.
He said, you search the scriptures. And in them, you think you have
eternal life. And they are they which testify
of me. every single one of them. And if I don't see it in the
light of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I have no clue as
to what they mean. Now let me verify this from Scripture.
Turn to Luke 24. I want you to understand that
this is what the Bible teaches. This is when he was on the road
to Emmaus with those two disciples. And we read beginning in verse
25. Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things? and to enter into His glory.
Notice, he says there was a divine necessity in Him suffering these
things. You see, He's the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. There's a divine necessity. There's
a divine necessity because the sins of God's elect actually
became His sins and He became guilty. Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things and then to enter into His glory? There's
a necessity in this. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures. The things concerning himself. Every single one of those scriptures
are the things concerning himself. Christ is all in all of our doctrine.
whatever doctrine we have from the Bible. Now, our doctrine
comes from the Word of God, but you think of the... Doctrine's
a good thing. Never speak of the doctrine of
God, the doctrine of the Bible, in a negative light. Oh, well,
that's just doctrine. You can't say anything regarding
the Lord Jesus Christ without speaking of his doctrine. Oh,
doctrines are bad because they're always the doctrines of men.
But doctrine is the doctrine of Christ. It's the doctrine
of God. And He is all in our doctrine.
I've got to begin, when I think of the doctrine of Christ, I've
got to begin with union with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's
no doctrine understood apart from the fact that God's elect
have always been united to Him. They've always been in Him. Behold,
I have loved you with an everlasting love. Now that love he loved
me with wasn't because he saw me and just loved me. No, I was
in Christ. He loves his son and he loves
me in his son. Both he that sanctifyeth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. For the which cause he's
not ashamed to call them brethren. Oh, union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. There isn't anything that I find more mysterious and
yet more blessed. united eternally to Christ. Do I understand it? Of course
I don't understand it. Something like this is beyond
comprehension, but we sure believe it, don't we? Christ is all an
election. Christ be my first elect, he
said, then chose us in him our living head. We were chosen in
Christ. What is election without Christ? It's nothing. He's all in redemption. We're
redeemed by His blood. He's all in justification. We're
justified by His righteousness, justified by His grace. He's
all in sanctification. The Scripture says He is our
sanctification. He's made unto us sanctification. He is my personal sanctification
before God. That's what the Bible says. He's
all in what they call eschatology, the second coming. Here's the
thing about second coming, not when, it's who's coming. Who's
coming? We're looking for Him. He's all
in all of our doctrine. When we talk about faith, it's
faith in Him. If we talk about repentance,
it's a change of mind concerning Him. Whatever doctrine it is,
He is all and anything separated from Him is lifeless and killing. It's the letter and not the spirit.
He is all in our doctrine. And Jesus Christ, listen to this
real carefully, zero in right now. I'm not going to say anything
more important the whole night. Jesus Christ is all in our experience. Now, what do I mean by that?
I may have many doubts regarding myself on many levels, but of this, I have no doubt. The only hope I have is that
Christ is all in my salvation. I got no doubt about that. I'm
totally sure. I have no other hope but Him.
My only hope is that all God requires of me he looks to his
son for. Now there's no question that's
the only hope I have. And I'm not looking for anything
else either. I'm plumb satisfied with that hope. I find comfort. I find joy. I find assurance. I'm not looking anywhere else. Christ is all, is all in our
experience. All of my hope is here. He's
all we need. You know that, don't you? He's
all we need. But I like this better. He's
all we have. He's all we have. It's more than
all we need. He's all we have. I don't have anything else. Christ
is all, is all I have. But what else would I want? What
else would I desire? He's all I desire. All my eggs are in this basket. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. That's the only answer I need.
yea rather that's risen again who's even at the right hand
of God. Christ alone. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. Christ is all in all. He's the channel of all. He's
the pledge of all. He's the sum of all. And you
know, this is the only thing that actually gives me assurance.
Now I've got assurance that Christ is all, and that gives me personal
assurance. The only way I have assurance
of salvation. Because all the time, at some point, at some
time during the day, at some point, I'm going to start thinking,
are you really saved? Could you be, if you think this,
or if you did that, or if you thought that, or if you wanted
this, could you really be saved? And you know, the question mark
goes up. It does with you too. But I'll tell you one I know
I am. When I really believe that Christ is all in all. He's the first, the last. He's
the alpha and omega. He's the beginning and the end. Not only is he all in our experience,
he's all in our experience of him. Now, what do I mean by that?
It's Christ in you. The hope of glory. Paul said,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life that
I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the son
of God who loved me. and gave himself for me." Now,
whatever we have, He's the author and finisher of it. I love that
scripture, Hebrews 12, too, looking unto Jesus, the author and the
finisher of our faith. If you have faith, He's the author
of it. He's the one who gave it to you.
He's the object of it, He's the subject of it, and He's the one
who finishes it. He's the one who carries you
all the way through the end. It's the same thing with repentance.
If you have repentance before God, if you have a real change
of mind, your mind's been changed. You think differently about yourself
than you used to. You think differently about God,
about Christ than you used to. You have a change of mind. He
gave you that change. He's exalted to give repentance
to Israel and the remission of sins. The reason you are in a
continual state of repentance is He continually causes you
to repent, and you continually look to Him. It's His gift. He's
the author of it, and He is the finisher of it. He's all... I love the Scripture,
Rich Red. In verse 14 of 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, the love of Christ constraineth us. His love to
me. His love to me. It constrains
me. It presses on me. It causes me
to do things that I wouldn't do. And it prevents me from doing
things that I would do. The love of Christ, His love
to me. Oh, not my love to him. Now,
I love him. I really do. But the best I can
say about my love is we love him because he first loved us.
But it's his love to me that constrains me. I was reading
a scripture today, and I'm going to preach on this here before
long, but it just, it just smoked me where they were making fun
of Christ on the cross. And they said, he saved others.
Himself he cannot save. And for him to save this sinner,
he couldn't save himself. They said that by way of derision,
but it was the most glorious truth we could ever hear. He
saved others. Himself, he cannot save. You
know, he's all in prayer. We know the only reason our prayers
are heard is because of him. You know, we pray in His name,
don't we? And we mean it. It's not just a religious cliche.
It's not an abracadabra. When we pray in His name, we
say the only reason this prayer will be heard as is it's presented
by the Lord Jesus Christ, my great high priest. He's all in
our motive. His glory is the only motive
that's acceptable. Any other motive is wrong. He's
all in our glory. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory. saving the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the only, that's the only
place I'm a glory. That's the only place I'm going
to have confidence, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, what
he accomplished on Calvary's tree. He's all in our preaching.
First Corinthians two, two, I love what Paul said. He said, I determined
not to know anything among you. Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
I determined not to even consider it important. It's not even an
issue. It doesn't even matter. I determined not to know anything
among you. Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Truly, He's all in our preaching
and He's all in our worship. What do you come here for? You
want to worship Him, don't you? And if that's not what's going
on, you didn't want to be here. You want to worship him. You want
to see something of his glory. You want to see something. You
want to hear him say to your soul, behold, I am thy salvation. You want to admire him and adore
him and worship and see his beauty and his glory. He's all in our
relationships with each other. I love that scripture. I wonder
how often I quote this, be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another. even as God for Christ's sake
has forgiven you. He's all in our relationships
with one another. But you know what I'm going to
understand that he's all in a much more clear way than I do now. I'm going to understand that
He is all on Judgment Day. When this passing world is done, when has sunk yon glaring sun,
when we stand with Christ in glory, looking o'er life's finished
story, then Lord, Shall I fully know, not till then, how much
I owe. Chosen not for good in me, wakened
up from wrath to flee. Hidden in the Savior's side,
by the Spirit sanctified. Teach me, Lord, on earth to show. By my love, how much I owe. When I stand before thy throne,
Dressed in beauty not my own, When I see thee as thou art,
Love thee with unsinning heart, Then, Lord, shall I fully know
not till then how much I owe. When I hear the wicked call on
the rocks and hills to fall, when I see them start and shrink
on the fiery dayloos brink, then Lord shall I fully know not till
then how much I owe. When the praise of heaven I hear,
loud as thunders to the ear, loud as many waters' noise, sweet
as harps' melodious voice. Then, Lord, shall I fully know,
not till then, how much I owe." Now, we believe Christ is all
now. We do. We'll really believe it then. will know. In heaven, Christ is all. Let's pray.