of Colossians, chapter 3. I'd like to begin reading in
verse 9 of Colossians, chapter 3. seeing that you have put off
the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man, which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all. If I or any other man came before
you and said, I am the first and I am the last. I am the beginning
and I am the end. I am the Alpha and I am the Omega. If I said that regarding myself,
I would be guilty of lying, blasphemy, and incredible arrogance. But when the Lord says, I am
the beginning and the end. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the first and the last.
We say, Yes, Lord. From the very depths of our hearts
we say, Yes, Lord. In Colossians chapter 3, verse
11, last phrase, Christ is all, and in all. Now, I've referred
to this passage of Scripture many times, but I was surprised
as I looked back over my notes, I've only preached with this
as my text one time. Christ is all, in 1993. That's
how long it's been since I've preached from this as our text. Christ is all. Now, notice in verse 11, it says,
there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision,
barbarian-Scythian bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Where? Where refers to a place,
and the place he is speaking of is Christ. In Christ there
are none of these fleshly distinctions, and it's talking about the heart,
the new heart that Christ creates. that has this new knowledge,
and this knowledge is where Christ is all. That's the knowledge
of the new nature, that nature that God has created, that new
heart within every believer. This is the knowledge that's
there, that's genuinely believed, that Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is all. Now where Christ is all, what
does that make everything else? Do the math. Where Christ is all, everything
else is nothing. Where Christ is all, all fleshly
distinctions are removed. Now, these are the things that
lost men put such a high premium on. In Christ, there's no Jew
or Greek. There are no racial, there are
no national distinctions. No Jew or Greek. There's no circumcision
or uncircumcision, no human religious distinctions. For in Christ Jesus,
neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but a new
creation. In Christ, there are no social
distinctions. There are no bond and free. There's no rich and poor. There's
no upper class, middle class and lower class. All these distinctions
are taken away. In Christ, there's no barbarian
or Scythian, no educational or intellectual or cultural distinctions. All of these fleshly things that
men put such a premium on, these differences, they're taken away
in Christ. Christ is all and everything
else is nothing. Turn back a few pages to Galatians
chapter 3. Paul says the same thing here. Verse 26. For you are all children of God
by faith in Christ Jesus, for as many as of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male
nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. In Christ is
a place where all of these fleshly distinctions are removed, and
Christ is all, and these three words, Christ is all, is the essence and the substance
of divine truth. Christ is all. And you and I
fear that statement becoming a cliché. I've heard it used in that way.
Christ is all. I don't want that to happen to
me or you. I want us to tremble every time
we use such a glorious phrase. Christ is all. mysterious and glorious person,
Christ. Christ refers to His offices
as prophet, priest and king. He is the only prophet. He is the Word of God and His
Word is all in all. He is The priest, the only priest,
the successful priest. He is all in his priesthood. He's the king, the king of kings
and lord of lords. He's the son of God. He's the
God man, the son of God, the son of Mary, the great I am. He is all. Now, one thing I do not fear
doing this morning, is overstating or over-exaggerating this glorious
phrase, Christ is all. And I cover your prayers as I
attempt to preach the gospel of Christ is all. In all. Now, ask the Lord, even
now, to give you the grace to zero in on what's being said. Don't let your mind wander. Don't
start thinking about something else. Don't start becoming critical.
May God give you the grace. May God give me the grace to
listen to what's being said. Christ is all in all. Christ is all in all the counsels
and purposes of God. God has an agenda. God has a
purpose. God has a plan. Let me read it
to you in Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 16. For by him, the Lord Jesus Christ,
were all things created that are in heaven and that are in
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by him
and for him. And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body,
the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Now, when God purposed to make
the world, it was for the glory of Jesus Christ. When God purposed
to save men, it was for the glory of Jesus Christ. Somebody once
defined predestination like this, and this is the best definition
I've ever heard of predestination. Would you understand predestination?
Predestination works like this. God woke up for breakfast one
morning and took another look at his own lip of God and well
beloved son, and he said, I'm going to have a bunch more just
like him. There's God's purpose. The glory
and the exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of God's
purpose. Christ is all in all of God's
councils. Christ is all in creation. He's
all in all of creation. All things were made by him.
All things were made by him, and without him was not anything
made that was made. John said in the book of Revelation,
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for
Thou hast created all things for Thy pleasure. They are and
were created. The Lord had created all things
for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Now, in
this thing of creation, I don't care if we're talking about the
physical creation or if we're talking about the spiritual creation.
Christ is all. There's no evolution either in
the physical creation and there's no evolution in the spiritual
creation. Christ is all. He spake And it was done. Christ is all in creation. And Christ is all in providence. You know, providence is everything
that happens in time. That's providence. He purposed
it in eternity. The lot was cast into the light,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. By Him all things
consist. Christ being all in providence
is this. Everything that takes place,
everything, is neither more nor less than His will being done. I love thinking about that. Everything
that takes place, He purposed in eternity. And everything that
happens in time is neither more nor less than His will being
done. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the sovereign Christ. You know what that means? That
means He controls everything. He's got a will. He has the power. to make His will come to pass,
and He always does make His will come to pass. Christ is all in
all of providence. Everything that happens, He is
in control of whatsoever the Lord pleased that did He in earth,
the sea, and in all deep places. They said to David, Where's your
God, David? He said, Our God is in the heavens.
He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. Christ is all in all
of providence. And Christ is all in the scripture. Now you listen to me real carefully.
This book we call the Bible. It was written by him. Every
word. He used men to do it, but it
was written by him. It was written for him. For his
glory. And it's all about him. Every bit of it. Christ is all
in the Scriptures. He said in John chapter 5, verse
39, to the Pharisees, He said, you search the Scriptures, for
in them you think you have eternal life. You think, oh, if I can
just figure out how to obey these rules, I'll have eternal life.
He said, but you've missed the point. They are they which testify
of me. Every single one of them. Christ is all in the Scriptures. Luke 24, 27, and beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself. Now, listen to me. I
know the meaning of every scripture. Every single one of them. Now,
I might not know how to get there, but I know the end. Christ Jesus. He is all in all the scriptures. And Christ is all in all of salvation. Now, what is salvation? Salvation
is a sinner being saved from his sins. I'm a sinner. That's
the only thing you can describe me. Salvation is me being saved
from my sins. Now, Christ is all in salvation.
In every aspect of salvation, Christ is all. Now, what's meant
by that? Well, you take everything that it takes to save a sinner.
You begin. In saving a sinner, you've got
to begin with God. You don't begin with a sinner
and his need and him asking to be saved. You begin with God.
Salvation begins with God, the Father, in eternal election when
He chose a people in Christ before time began. I love election. Love it more now than ever have.
It reminds me that salvation is all of grace. And election
wasn't God just indiscriminately picking a year. I'm going to
pick this one. I'm going to reject that one. No, not at all. Ephesians
1 verse 4 says, according as he hath chosen us in him, before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him. What's election without Christ?
Nothing. Christ be my first elect, he
said, then chose us in him, our living head. Behold my servant
whom I behold, My elect, speaking of Christ, in whom my soul delighted. My salvation begins with me being
chosen in Christ. When God saved me, he justified
me. That justification is Christ's
righteousness as mine. My sin literally became his,
and his righteousness becomes mine. When he redeemed me, I
was redeemed by his blood. When He regenerated me, it was
the Spirit of Christ who regenerated me, who gave me this new nature.
It's Christ in you, the hope of glory. As I'm preserved, I'm
preserved in Christ Jesus. And when I'm finally glorified,
it will be perfectly conformed to the image of His Son. You
see how Christ is everything in salvation, in doctrine. Christ. He's the doctor and the
doctrine, and any doctrine that doesn't have Him as all in all
is error. It's wrong. In our glory, Christ is all. David said, My soul shall make
her boast in the Lord. You're going to glory in something.
You're going to feel good about something. You're going to rest
in something. And in our glory, Christ is all. I glory in Christ.
I rejoice in Christ. I have no confidence in the flesh.
In our glory, Christ is all. And Christ is all in our preaching. Any preaching in which Christ
is not the author, the object and the subject is not preaching
that he is inspired. The Apostle Paul said, for I
determined not to know anything among you. say Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Now, did you hear what he said?
I know you've heard me quote that and I know you've read it. But
Paul said, I am not interested in hearing anything. And you're
not going to hear me say anything apart from Christ and Him crucified. No other subject is worth even
mentioning. Do you believe that? Christ is all in all of our preaching. Here's a true story. A young
preacher had just brought fantastic message, and he felt really good
about it. And he was walking home, and he said to an old preacher
who was walking home with him, this happened in England, he
said, what did you think of my sermon? And he felt awful good about
it. And the man shocked him. He said it was a poor sermon.
And the guy just, he was shocked by that. He thought it was great.
He said, well, what was wrong with it? He said, was there any
error in the doctrine? He said, no. He said, were the
illustrations unclear? He said, no, they were quite
clear. He said, was my speech fumbling or was my voice good?
He said, no, your speech was very good. He said, what was
wrong with the message then? And the old man said, you didn't
preach Christ. And he said, well, Christ wasn't in the text. And the man replied to him, you
heard that saying, every road leads to London. And this is
true. Every text leads to Christ. And the job of the preacher is
to find that road to Christ. And you didn't do it. Christ
is all in all of our preaching and Christ is all in all of our
worship. We have we're here for one reason.
It's to worship him. It's to hear his word. It's to
sing his praises. It's to get some sense of His
greatness and His glory. That's why we're here. It's to
worship the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all in all of our worship. And Christ is all in all of our
experience. What do I mean by that? Well,
first of all, any genuine experience I have, He gave it to me. You know, the only experience
that I trust, experience he gave me. And I'm not sure what all
they are, but I know this, the only ones that are any good are
the ones he gave me. And all the rest of them, they're no
good. He's all of our experience in the sense that any true spiritual
experience we have in our hearts, it's what he has given us. Paul
said, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Now, we believe I believe the
gospel. I'm somebody right now who is
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as my salvation before God. I
believe. But you know what? He's the author
of that faith. Scripture says that. And He's
the finisher of that faith. He gave the faith, and He's the
object of the faith. I believe that He is my salvation. I believe that His blood makes
me perfect before God. I believe. But it all has reference
to Him. You know, I don't come to Him
with my faith. I come to Him for faith. Lord,
give me faith. Lord, I repent. I'm repenting
right now. I'm in a continual state of repentance. And you know what? I know where
that repentance came from. He gave me that repentance. I
used to hear repentance and I couldn't figure out what it meant until
God gave me repentance and then I repented. And you know what
I repent of? I repent of anything that's contrary to Him being
all in all. I repent of it. He is the ground of our assurance.
His last mighty words, it is finished. You know what that
means? My salvation's finished. Now, he's the ground of my assurance.
If he finished it, what is there to not be sure of? Colossians
2.10, 9 and 10 says, In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
in the body. And you are complete, complete, lacking nothing in
him. Now, the reason I have assurance
is I'm fully assured that salvation has nothing to do with me, but
wholly to do with him. So I have assurance and I enjoy
assurance in Christ Jesus. He is the giver and the ground
of our joy. Paul said we rejoice in Christ
Jesus. And I do rejoice in Christ Jesus. I rejoice in salvations
in Him and not in my works. I rejoice in His Word. I rejoice
in His righteousness. I rejoice in His shed blood.
I rejoice in His intercession for me right now. I rejoice in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And I have no confidence in the
flesh. My joy, here's what gives me joy. I mean a true joy, knowing
that He is my salvation. He's the giver of that joy. His presence is everything. If I have His presence, I don't
need anything else. When blessed with a sense of
His love, a palace, a toy, would appear. And prisons would palaces
prove. If Jesus would dwell with me
there, His presence is salvation. He is all in our motives. We do what we do for Christ's
sake. I don't have to have a threat
of punishment put out before me. I don't have to have a hope
of reward put out before me. We actually do what we do for
Christ's sake. That's enough. It has power with
us, doesn't it? For Christ's sake. If Christ
said swim through hell for Christ's sake, because He said to do it,
we do it. We need no other reason except His word for Christ's
sake. Christ is all in judgment. One of these days, I'm going
to stand before the thrice holy God and give an account for myself. And I will understand at that
time, more clearly than I do now, that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the only reason that I stand accepted. No other reason will
come up. No other reason will be needed.
When from the dust of death I rise to take my mansions in disguise,
even then shall this be all my play, that Jesus lived and died
for me. I love thinking about this. When Christ died, I was saved. Outside of my personal subjective
experience. You know one of the reasons I
say this a lot, and I'm going to say it again, I despise, I
hate, I loathe that teaching that says that Jesus Christ died
for every man without exception and paid for everybody's sins.
Because it says that he can pay for your sins on the cross and
you might wind up in hell anyway. That takes away the only hope
I've got. The only hope that I have is that Jesus Christ died
for me and put away my sins and that his perfect righteousness
is my righteousness before God. Christ is all. in judgment. And I'll tell you what, he'll
be all in damnation, too. You know, if somebody doesn't
love Jesus Christ, they ought to be damned. Amen to that? If someone refuses to trust Christ
and prefers their own righteousness to His righteousness, they ought
to be sent to hell. Paul said, if any man loved not
the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha. Oh, Christ
is all in judgment and in salvation. Christ is all in heaven. He was, He is, and He will be
all in glory. He said in John 17, verse 24,
Father, I will that they whom You have given Me be with Me
where I am, that they may behold My glory, for Thou lovest Me
before the foundation of the world. You see, Christ is all. He's all to God. He is all to
God. Everything God does, He does
for the glory of His Son. And Christ is all to the believer. Now, you show me someone to whom
Christ is all in all, and I'll tell you two people who highly
regard that person, that person who really believes
that Christ is all, that person is highly regarded by God Himself. He's on the same page with God.
That's a big thing, isn't it? What's all to you is what's all
to God. So that person is highly regarded by God, and that person
is highly regarded by the believer. You show me a person who really
believes that Christ is all. That person's my friend. I'm
all for that person. I love that person. We're on
the same page. Christ is all. You know, when we take the Lord's
Supper, what do we say? Christ is all. We do this in
remembrance of him. When we confess Christ in believer's
baptism, what do we say? Christ is all? Somebody once said to a preacher,
and we're worried about this, they said, if all you've got
is Christ, is that enough to bring you into heaven? And the preacher answered, it
is if he's all you've got. Is he all you've got? I mean, you don't have anything
else. He's all you've got. If he's all you've got, you know
what? You've got all. Christ, this glorious, mysterious
person, the Son of God, the Son of Mary, the God-Man, the Ancient
of Days, Christ is all in all. And I know this. I know He's all the God. I know
He's all in the Scriptures. I know He's all in all these
things that I've spoken of. And He is all to me. And all that thrills my soul
is Jesus. And you know, that's true. You
know, the one thing 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. He's all to me. He's all I got. He's all I need. And I am complete in Him. Christ is all in all things. May God deliver
us from using that as a cliché. and basking in the glory of this
divine statement, Christ is all in all. You know, I was thinking
about this. To many people, to most people,
Christ is nothing. They care less. That would accurately
describe most of this world's population. And then you've got
another group of people. Christ is important. And they
try to make him number one in their list of important things.
Well, first Christ, then family, then job, then, you know, you're
just trying to juggle, trying to keep him first and so on.
These people are always miserable. They're always miserable, because
if Christ is simply a first priority, you don't really know who he
is. If he's a first priority, you've
missed him altogether. He's important, but to some,
every believer, Christ is all. Now, we're going to have a baptism. Sarah Lynn is going to confess
Christ in Believer's Baptism, and I've asked Kara to come and
sing that.