I entered once a home of care,
for age and poverty were there, yet joy and peace withal. I asked that lonely mother wince,
her helpless widowhood's defense, and she told me, Christ is all. I stood beside a dying bed, where
lay a man with aching head, waiting for God to call. I saw his smile. It was sweet as May. And as his spirit passed away,
he whispered, Christ is all. I saw the gospel preacher go
to island sands and Greenland snow. He heard his master's call. No home nor life, he counted
dear. In wants and trials, he owned
no fear. He knew that Christ is all. I saw the martyr at the stake. The flames could not his courage
shake, Nor death his soul appall. I asked him whence his strength
is given. He looked triumphantly to heaven,
And he answered, Christ is all. I dreamed that time and years
were fled, The earth and sea gave up their dead, And the fire
dissolved this ball. I saw the church's ransom thrown. I heard the singing of this song. They were singing, Christ is
all." Well, we just heard of a poverty-stricken
widow, a sick and dying man. a missionary, a martyr, and the
ransomed church in glory, all singing this song. Christ is all. I feel a pleasing sense of despair,
if there is such a thing, knowing that I am utterly unable to plumb
the depths of this verse. Christ is all. Now, if He is all, what does
that make everything else? Notice in our text, this is the
knowledge that the new man has. In verse 10, we put on the new
man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. And this is the knowledge that
this new man has. Every new man, every new creature
in Christ Jesus has this knowledge. Christ is all. This is why there are no fleshly
distinctions when you have this knowledge. No Jew or Greek, no
racial distinctions, no circumcision or uncircumcision, no religious
distinctions, no bond or free, no social distinctions, no barbarian
or Scythian, no educational or intellectual or cultural distinctions. Christ is Now, I hope, by the grace of
God, I can preach this message from the point of knowing Him
and knowing that He is all. You know, it bothers me when
people kind of use it as a religious slogan. Or a phrase. I just dislike
that. I've even heard preachers use
that in such a way that I just didn't feel comfortable with
it. This is the most high, holy, glorious truth that you and I
can ever consider. That Christ is all. Jesus Christ. The Son of God. God the Son. The Creator of the
Universe. He is all and in all. He's all in His person. He said
regarding Himself, I am the beginning and the end. I am the first and
the last. I am the Alpha and the Omega. What a statement regarding His
person. That tells us that He is He is
all to this extent, the scripture says in Colossians 1, that it
pleased the Father. This is what gave the Father
pleasure. This is what the Father delighted in. It pleased the
Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. So much so that
Colossians 2, 9 says, in Him dwelleth. all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. All that God is resides in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all that you and I are ever
going to see of God is Jesus Christ. One of my favorite statements
is, Jesus is God. I love that. Jesus is God. God Almighty. Christ is all, and that's why
in all things He must have preeminence. That's what the Scripture says.
In all things He must have the preeminence because He is all. He is all. in God's purpose. God's purpose
is to have a bunch of people exactly like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's God's great purpose. That's
God's great end and predestination. We were predestinated to be conformed
to the image of His Son. All God does, He does for the
glory and the honor of his son. That's God's agenda. That's God's
purpose. That's why God does what he does.
It's to glorify his son. That is God's purpose. Here it
is. He's given him a name which is
above every name. Now, this is God's purpose. He's
given Jesus Christ a name which is above every name that at the
name of Jesus every knee should bow. And things in heaven and
things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father." That's God's purpose. He's all in creation. All things were created by Him,
whether visible or invisible. thrones or principalities or
powers, all things were created by him and for him. He's the one who created, and
he created for himself, for his own glory. Now, you're a part
of his creation, and you will bring glory to his name. You
may glorify His grace. Oh, don't you want to glorify
His grace and magnify His grace? You may glorify His justice,
but you're going to glorify Him. The Lord hath made all things
for Himself, yea, even the wicked, for the day of evil. In all of
creation, He gives all the preeminence. And He is all in God's providence. Providence is everything that
happens in time. Now, you're here tonight. You
know why you're here? God's providence. Did God know you would be here
tonight? Of course He did. Is there any
possibility that you wouldn't have been here? No. This is God's providence, and
He is all in God's providence. It goes like this, all things
were created by him and for him, and he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. All things are held together. Whatever happens is his will
being done. I don't care what it is. Whatever
happens, it's his will being done. Hebrews 1.3 says He upholds
all things by the word of His power. Now the Lord gives us
a beautiful picture of this when they come to arrest Him. Now
that was a sinful thing, wasn't it? That was an evil thing. They
were coming to arrest Him and put Him to death. That was a
wicked thing. That was a cruel thing. That was a monstrous thing.
A sinful thing. They come to Him and He said,
Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And what took place? They went
backwards to the ground. And what our Lord was letting
them know at this time, I'm no victim. I'm in control of everything
that's taking place. And the reason you're coming
here to get me is because it's my will. I am in control. He controls everything in the
province. Why the demons, the devils, the
demons, they couldn't make a move without asking him for permission.
They said, suffer us to go into that herd of swine. And Jesus
gave them leave. They couldn't do it without his
permission. Even the devil is God's devil
on God's chain and can't make a move without him. Jesus Christ
is all in providence. Jesus Christ is all in the scriptures. He said in John chapter 5, verse
39, you search the scriptures. He's speaking to the Pharisees.
For in them you think you have eternal life. You read them. You study them. You try to find
out what the laws are you need to keep and what you need to
do and what you need to avoid. You search the Scriptures. In
them you think you have eternal life. And there they which testify
of me. Every single one of them. Abel's Lamb is Jesus Christ. that made God respect Abel. That's strong language, isn't
it? Noah's Ark is Jesus Christ. The one place of safety. The Lamb of God's providing when
Abraham said to Isaac, the Lord will provide himself a lamb.
That's Jesus Christ. The God, the Lamb of God's providing. Remember, Joseph sent to Egypt,
but he was sent there by God to save life. That's Jesus Christ. You remember Judah, the surety. He said, all that happens to
him, you require it at my hand. That's what Christ said regarding
me. Every story, every ritual, every
law, pictures him. He's the priest. He's the sacrifice. He's the altar. The Old Testament
tells us somebody's coming. The Gospels tells us he's come. And the epistles say he's coming
again. He is all in the scriptures. You know, I got a letter last
week from someone who was correcting me. in a message that they'd
heard from Psalm 40. And they said that wasn't Christ
speaking, that was David speaking. You can't say that of Christ.
Well, Hebrews chapter 10 quotes this as the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ in Psalm 40. But here's the point. Turn to
Psalm 1. Turn to Psalm 1. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is
in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day
and night. He shall be like a tree planted
by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.
His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall
prosper." Now, who does that describe? You? Come on. That is a description
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our salvation in him and
every one of these songs and every other scripture. It's his
book. It's his story. You believe that
Christ is all in the scriptures. And if I haven't seen him, I
haven't seen the meaning of that scripture. He's all of the scriptures. Christ is all in salvation. Oh, in the salvation of a sinner,
he is all. All spiritual blessings in heavenly
places are in Christ Jesus. Outside of him, there are no
blessings, no favor, only condemnation, only judgment. He is all in salvation. He's all in election. When you
talk about God's salvation, you've got to begin with God choosing
who'd be saved before time began. What's the scripture say? According
as He has chosen us in Him. It wasn't some arbitrary choice.
He didn't just say, well, I'm going to pick this one out and
I'm going to pass this one by. I don't understand how this is, but all
of God's elect are in Christ, according as He has chosen us
in Him, when? Before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him.
Christ is all in election and Christ is all in justification.
Now, justification, this is the glorious truth that God takes
somebody who's unjust, that's me. He may take somebody who's
unjust, who's sinful, who's evil in and of themselves, and he
makes them just. He justifies the ungodly. Jesus
Christ is all in justification. Now, if you're justified, you
know what that means? That means you've got no sin. That means
you stand before God without guilt. Now, why is that? There's only one reason, because
the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ He's yours. He's all in justification. He's all in redemption, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. He's the one who paid the debt. Hebrews 1,
3 says, He by Himself, that means with no help from me or you,
no contribution from me or you, nothing you did in this thing,
nothing I did in this thing, He by Himself purged us of our
sins. and sat down at the right hand
of God. He's all in our regeneration. Christ in you. The hope of glory. It's the Spirit of Christ who
regenerates us. He's all in our preservation.
We're preserved in Christ Jesus. He's all in our final glorification,
conformed to His image. I want you to look at this scripture,
1 Corinthians chapter 1. It's one we quote all the time,
but I just want you to see what it says. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us. Jesus Christ is made this
unto us wisdom. Christ's wisdom is my wisdom
before God. I'm fit for fellowship with God.
He's made unto us righteousness. He's made unto us sanctification
or holiness. He's made unto us redemption,
full deliverance, that according as it's written, he that glorieth,
let him glory in the Lord. Jesus Christ is all in our doctrine. Now, whatever doctrine there
is in the scripture, he is the sum and substance of it. And
if I don't see that, I have not understood the doctrine. Whatever you want to talk about
sanctification, well, he's my sanctification. Election, I've
chosen in him. Justification, justified by his
righteousness. Glorified, I'm glorified in him.
Why, whatever you, I don't, you even talk, we talked some about
this last week. Hell, what a horrible thing. It's true. You know, hell
is for his glory. I say that carefully, but hell
is for his glory. It glorifies his justice. Not
only that, though, but how it glorifies him that he was able
to meet hell full on by himself, drink the wrath of God dry, suffer
the full equivalent of hell and satisfy God. That glorifies Christ,
doesn't it? Whatever we're talking about.
It has him as its sum and its substance. Here's what I like
thinking about the most in preparing this message. He is all in our
experience. He is all in our experience. He's all in my past. He's all in my eternal past. I've always been viewed in the
Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He's all in my
temporal past. Up to this present second, since
the day I was born, I say with David, in sin did my mother conceive
me. And my sin is ever before me.
But you know what? God looks at all my sins and
says, I don't remember. They're sins and they're iniquities. I will remember no more. God looks at me without, I remember
my sin. But he doesn't. And in glory,
I won't. And the only Representation of
our sin and glory will be his glorified wounds. That's it.
That's the only thing that will remind us of our sin. But whether
we talk about eternal past or the past from 9-9-59 up until
now, he's all. He's all right now. That's why there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Brethren,
these things write unto you that you sin not, John said. You know, sin is worse in a believer
than it is in a non-believer. You know why? He sins against
more light. He sins against more love. These
things write unto you that you sin not. Make it your aim, your
purpose, your goal to never sin again. When you do. When you do. We have an advocate
with the Father. We have that advocate with the
Father before the sin, during the sin, and after the sin. And
that advocate with the Father stands right now as my great
high priest and intercessor. And God views me in Him. Now,
when you sin, right now, But when you do, we have this advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So right now,
He is my present. He's all in my present and He's
all in my future. I'll be kept by Him all the way
to judgment day and on judgment day. When I'm made just like
him, here's going to be my song, when from the dust of death I
rise to take my mansions in the skies, even then shall this be
all my play, that Jesus lived and died for me. He's all in my faith. He gave me the faith. He's the
author and finisher of our faith. It's his gift. He's the object
of my faith, and He is all in my faith. We look nowhere but
to Him only. He's all in my peace. The Scripture
says in Ephesians 2, verse 14, He is our peace. It doesn't just say we have peace. It says He is our peace. Now, here's the peace I have. The peace I have is this. All
that God requires of me, I have in Him. And I have peace. What is it that causes unrest
and worry and turmoil? Sin. In Him, I have no sin. And there's my peace. He's all
in our comfort. What comforts a sinful man? In
Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are
complete, lacking nothing. Right now, it can't get any better. I can't get any more loved. I
can't get any more holy. I can't get any more accepted
than I am right now, because He is my peace. He is my comfort. He's all in our assurance. Now,
I have assurance. of God's acceptance. If the Lord
takes me tonight, I'm going to heaven, and I'm going to be in
his presence, and I'm going to be accepted, and I have assurance.
Where does that assurance come from? It's because of how holy
I am. No. No. It's because of my preaching. No. It's because of my faith. No. My assurance is this. Who is He that can convey Him? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
than His risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
makes intercession for us. That's my assurance. We believe
and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living
God. That's my assurance. Now, as
soon as I start looking at my assurance, I'll start losing
it. But when I realize that my assurance is outside of me, oh,
he's all in my assurance. He's all in our hope. Oh, we have a hope, don't we?
I have a hope that when I'm brought before God on Judgment Day, I'm
going to be accepted. And there's only one reason behind
that hope. Him. He is all. Paul put it this way, the Lord
Jesus Christ, which is our hope in 1 Timothy 1. He is all in
the sweetness of forgiveness. Isn't it wonderful to have your
sins forgiven? You know, it's wonderful when someone truly
forgives you, even on a human level, isn't it? Aren't you thankful
when somebody forgives you? Oh, what a blessed thing that
is. But to be forgiven by God. There is such a thing as the
forgiveness of sins, the full, free, frank forgiveness of sins. Be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you. He's all in
that forgiveness, isn't he? One reason I'm forgiven, for
Christ's sake. And you know, he's really all
in our motivation. Look at that scripture again. Be kind. Tenderhearted. Forgiving one
another. Even as God, for Christ's sake,
has forgiven you. We do what we do for Christ's
sake. Not for hope, for reward, not
for fear of punishment and loss, but for Christ's sake. And he's all our preacher. Turn
to first Corinthians, chapter two, I'd like you to look at
this. Verse one. And I, brethren, when
I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined, I made
this my resolve, not to know anything among you, save Jesus
Christ, and him crucified." Charles Spurgeon said, if we
would limit our preaching to Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
and never deal with anything else, it would be a widening
rather than a narrowing of our ministry. That's what Paul meant,
isn't it? There's not even anything worth
talking about. I don't care what you think about
any other subject. This is it. Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. It was said of the apostles in
Acts 542 and daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased
not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. They didn't preach about
Jesus Christ. They preached Jesus Christ. Christ is all is what the atheist
needs to hear. Christ is all. is what the infidel
needs to hear. Christ is all is what the unbeliever
needs to hear. Christ is all is what the worldly
needs to hear. Christ is all is what the sinner
needs to hear. Christ is all is what the believer
needs to hear every time. And every time I preach, it better
be a variation on this thing. Christ is all. When I'm sick, you know what
I need to hear? Christ is all. When I feel sinful. And I'm depressed. You know what I need to hear?
Christ is all. When I'm happy, you know what
I need to hear? Christ is all. And I'll tell
you what, when I'm dying, when I'm dying, you know what I want
you to tell me? Christ is all. Quite often, preachers advertise
their preaching as Christ-centered preaching. I don't get it. That's not enough. Christ is
all. Truly, all that thrills my soul
is Jesus. He is more than life to me, and
the fairest of ten thousand In my blessed Lord I see. Living, He loved me. Dying, He
saved me. Buried, He carried my sins far
away. Rising, He justified freely forever. One day He's coming, O glorious
day." Now, I'll tell you, when I'll have a greater appreciation
of Christ being all, when I stand before God in judgment,
that's when I'm going to have some true understanding that
Christ is all. 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,
but not to then, how much I owe." Now, we will spend eternity learning
more of this one subject. Christ is all. That's what eternity
is going to be about. Learning more and more of this
glorious subject, Christ is all. This really happened. Somebody was concerned about
death and judgment. And in fear, they asked the preacher, If all you've got is Christ,
is that enough? And he replied, well, it is if
he's all you've got. And beloved, he's all I've got. And he's also all I need. Matt and Kara are going to sing
Christ is All. That's going to be our closing
hymn.