This morning I'm going to bring
a message to you from what I read earlier in Ephesians chapter
2, where it says there that Jesus Christ himself is the chief cornerstone. That means he's everything in
salvation. Back at verse 19, it says, now
therefore you're no more strangers, no more foreigners, but fellow
citizens with the saints. and of the household of God,
Ephesians 2 verse 20, and are built upon the foundation, the
foundation. It's not a foundation, it's the
foundation. And we know that foundation is
Christ. Other foundation can no man lay than that which is
laid. And it's the foundation that the apostles talked about
and preached about. It's the same foundation that
the prophets of God. I don't think that's me this
time. Is somebody on this side? Okay, we got it. I'm notorious
for setting my truck alarm off. But that time it wasn't me, it
was somebody else. Now, where were we? Built upon
the foundation of the apostles and prophets. All the prophets
preached Christ. We know the apostles preached
Christ. But their center message was Jesus Christ himself. And
that's what I want to show you in the Scripture, that Jesus
Christ Himself is everything in salvation. Everything we know
in reading this chapter, we know that what we are by nature. He
says in verse 1 of chapter 2, He said, we were dead, we were
dead in sin. We walked away from God, not
toward God. We all, like sheep, have gone
astray. We walked away from God, according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, influenced
by demonic forces, the spirit that now worketh in rebels, rebels,
children of disobedience, unbelievers. Verse three, it says, among whom
also we all had our conversation in time past, in the lust of
the flesh, fulfilling desires of the flesh of the mind, and
were by nature children of wrath, even as others." And then these
two words here, underscore these two words, but God, but God. We were on the fast track to
eternal destruction because of our sin against God. He stopped
us and He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. He
made us new creatures in Christ, but God who was rich in mercy. Salvation is by His mercy. not
by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to
his mercy, he saved us. But God, who is rich in mercy,
his mercy, everlasting mercy, his sovereign mercy, for his
great love, his great love, he loved his own with an everlasting
love. God has loved his elect, his
people, from everlasting. It's a great love wherewith he
loved us. What kind of great love? is this,
it's sacrificial love. Here in his love, not that we
love God, but he loved us. He laid down his life. for His
people. And we were dead in sin, verse
5, and He quickened us together with Christ. He made us alive.
He raised us from the dead. What kind of power does it take
to raise up a dead sinner who were dead in sin and quickened
together takes the power of Almighty God. Almighty God. He said down
in verse 12, He said that at that time At one time, we were
without Christ. That's how we're born into this
world, dead in sin. We were born without Christ.
We were born being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. We
were born strangers from the covenants of the promise, having
no hope, not a real hope, not a good hope, and without God
in the world. And then again, we see these
two words, but now. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who sometimes were far off or made nigh by the blood of Christ,
for he is our peace. We often hear people say, well,
I'm trying to make peace with God. You can't do that. You can't
satisfy our thrice holy God. The Lord Jesus Christ made peace
for us with his own blood. That's how peace is made. Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. For he is our peace. Christ is
our peace, who has made both one and broken down any wall
partition. Having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, he redeemed us from the curse of the law. being made
a curse for us. He made us one new man in Christ
making peace. Verse 16, He reconciled us unto
God. By nature we're separated from
God. Our sin has separated us from
God. How can we be reconciled? That
he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross.
He reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, having slain the
enmity thereby. And he came and preached peace
to you, which were far off, and to them that were nigh. For through
him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now,
therefore, Whenever you see that word, therefore, it goes back
to what has been said. Now, therefore, you're no more
strangers, no more foreigners, but we're fellow citizens. We're
of the same body, the same household, with the saints of God. Every
believer is a saint. We're sanctified in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But fellow citizens, with the
saints and the household of God, behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God. And we'll build up, we'll build
upon that foundation. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ in him crucified is all of our salvation. This foundation
the apostles and prophets preached about, wrote about, and it's
Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus Christ Himself. I hope
you'll remember that one statement. Jesus Christ Himself is all of
our salvation. Jesus Christ Himself. Now this
is the first what I want you to look at, and I want you to
follow with me in the Scripture, and this will be a help to you.
Turn to the book of Luke, chapter 24. Jesus Christ Himself is the
sum and substance and subject matter of the Bible. The Bible
is a big book, 66 books. What is the Bible all about?
It's just not Jewish history. The Bible is all about the Lord
Jesus Christ. The whole Old Testament says
someone's coming. The New Testament says He's here. And the Epistles say the Lord
Jesus Christ is coming again. In the book of Luke, chapter
24, the risen Lord approached those two men on the road to
Emmaus. He says in Luke 24, verse 25, Then said he unto them, O fool,
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? Verse 27. And beginning of Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the thing concerning, what's that word there? Himself. All those Old Testament pictures,
we have providential types, ceremonial types. personal types, all those
types we see in the Old Testament, they all tell us about Jesus
Christ Himself. And when the Lord preached the
Gospel, He took the Word of God and it showed them that He's
the fulfillment of those things that were typified. Christ is
that smitten rock. Christ is our Passover. Christ
is that brazen serpent lifted up. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Now look across the page in Luke
24. Verse 44, And he said unto them, These are the words which
I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things
must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets,
And in the psalm concerning me, all the psalms are about Christ.
And then he opened their understanding that they might understand the
scripture. And said unto them, thus it is
written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day, that repentance and remission
of sin should be preached in his name, beginning at In His
name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, go and preach this
message that Jesus Christ Himself is all of salvation. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the message of this book, He must be the subject of our
preaching. He must be the subject of our preaching. We can say
with the Apostle Paul, I'm determined to know nothing among you, but
the Lord Jesus Christ in him crucified. When the Apostle Paul
sat in a Roman prison on death row, waiting to be executed for
the gospel, he writes back to young Timothy and said, I charge
thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge
the living and the dead, preach the word. Preach Christ. Christ
is the word. He is the word. So Jesus Christ
himself is the sum and substance And subject matter of every book
in the Bible, it's all about Him. It's a hymn book. H-I-M. It's about Him. One of my preacher
friends years ago said, a sermon without Christ is a mistake in
the conception and a crime in being preached. And it is of
no eternal value to your soul. We preach Christ, His person,
His work, what He did. We preach Christ. A sermon without
Christ is like a well with no water, a stove with no fire,
a cupboard with no bread, a house with no roof, a car with no motor,
a guitar with no strings. No use. You can have the nicest
guitar, but if you have no strings, you can't play any kind of a
tune. Jesus Christ himself is everything in this book. This
book is about Christ. That's why we preach Christ.
Secondly, let's turn to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter
5, Jesus Christ himself, the Lord Jesus Christ himself is
all of our redemption. Now we need to be redeemed. To be redeemed means to be delivered
from our sin. By nature, we're dead in sin.
How are we going to be delivered from our sin? Certainly not by
anything we do. Certainly not by anything we
can give. We are redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. Look with me there in Ephesians
chapter 5. Look at verse 1. It says in the
preceding verse, We're to be kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. Be, therefore, followers of God
as your children, and walk in love as Christ also had loved
us, and given himself for us as an
offering and a sacrifice an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet-smelling savor. It's a sacrifice that's well-pleasing
unto God, satisfying unto God. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is all our deliverance from sin. He is our redemption. He is our
Redeemer. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ. Look back at Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1. It says there in verse 7, in
whom we have redemption. Through His blood. The forgiveness
of sin according to the riches of His grace. It's in whom we
have redemption. Redemption and salvation is in
a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. In Him. Don't turn to this one, but let
me read it to you. When Paul preached his first
message, when he was made and transformed from Saul of Tarsus,
the one who hated the Lord Jesus Christ, God raised him up and
made him a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he went
to preach his first message, he said these words in Acts 13,
38. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin. Through
who? Through this man, this man, the God-man, the mediator. And
by Him all that believe are justified from all things which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses." By the deeds of the law,
we cannot be delivered by the deeds of the law. The Lord Jesus
Christ is all our redemption. He bought us with His own blood. We read in Hebrew chapter 1,
when He had by Himself purged our sin. Redemption and salvation is not
a cooperative effort. It's not God does His part and
we do our part and we put the two together and we have a whole.
That's not what this book teaches. This book teaches it's salvation
of the Lord. It's all His doing, His choosing,
His deciding, His operation, His grace alone. So our redemption,
deliverance from sin, is by the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says he bought the church
with his own blood. We preach and believe a particular
redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ dying only for his sheep, his
elect, his chosen. And he delivered them completely,
thoroughly from all their sin eternally when he by himself
purged our sin. He appeared once in the end of
the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. There's
the first two. Jesus Christ Himself is the subject
of this book. Jesus Christ Himself is all our
redemption from sin. He is our Deliverer. And then
thirdly, Jesus Christ Himself is all our righteousness before
God. And we find that in the book
of Ephesians. Again, look at chapter 5. Again,
verse 20 says, We give thanks always unto God for all things,
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Ephesians 5, 21. Submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God, we bow to the
absolute sovereignty of God in all things. Wives, submit yourselves
unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is
ahead of the wife, even as Christ is ahead of the church. He is
the Savior of the body. Therefore, the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands. Husbands,
love your wives. even as Christ also loved the
church and gave Himself. You see that word? Underscore
that. He gave Himself for the church. Watch it now. That He
might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the
Word, the Word of God, the Gospel of God, that He might present
it to Himself a glorious church, not having any spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy without Blemish. He presents us to the Father,
His people, His church, holy, unblameable, unapprovable in
His sight. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself
is all our righteousness. Believers are not going about
to establish a righteousness of their own. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. We enjoy the blessedness of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is our righteousness before God. We're
not going about to establish a righteousness. The Lord Jesus
Christ himself is our righteousness. I quoted that verse a while ago,
2 Corinthians 5, 21. God made him to be sin for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ? When Saul of Tarsus, that one
who hated the Lord Jesus Christ and went about to arrest believers
and put them in prison and sentenced them to death for believing the
gospel, when he met the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus
broke his heart, humbled him, put his face in the dust, demanding,
cry out, Lord, what would you have me to do? Later on, when
the apostle writes to the Ephesians, he said, at one time, I was a
Pharisee, a Pharisee, a Hebrew of Hebrews, touching the law,
concerning the law, I was blameless before God. But now, after he
met the Lord Jesus Christ, he said he counts all things lost
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for
whom I've suffered the loss of all things, and do count them
but done that I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having
my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all our
redemption. He's all I have. I have no other
hope. He's all my righteousness before
God. Believers are no longer going
about to establish a righteousness by their doing. Don't ever make
this deadly mistake. A lot of people equate their
morality for righteousness. Morality's okay among men, but
before God, you know what it is? Filthy rags in His sight. I want you to be the best you
can. You children, obey your parents. Husbands, love your
wife. Wives, love your husband. All
those things are good and fine, but they don't count for righteousness
before God. Christ alone is our righteousness. Someone might say, well, how
good do you have to be to stand before God, accepted and justified? How good do you have to be? As
good as God. Preacher, how can that be? Only
in Christ. You see, it says in this same
book, the book of Ephesians, let's see if we can find that.
Over here in chapter 1, it says here in verse 6, Verse five and
four, it says, according as he has chosen us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy without blame
before him in love, having predestinated us under the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, there's that word again, according to
the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he had made us accepted in the beloved. You see, salvation's in a person.
Salvation's not in any persuasion or any pool or any place. Salvation's in a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We're only justified in our blessed
Savior. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glory, let him glory only in the Lord. Here's the
fourth thing. I won't keep you much longer.
Here's the fourth thing. Jesus Christ himself is the only
object of saving faith. Now faith, saving faith has to
have an object. And I know this, I'm not real
smart, but I know this. Saving faith doesn't look in
here. Saving faith doesn't look to Christ. Saving faith doesn't
look to a ceremony. Saving faith doesn't look to
a tradition. Saving faith looks only and exclusively to the object
of saving faith, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
see if we can find that. Turn over here to the book of
Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12. Remember in the book of Isaiah,
the Lord declares, I am God, beside me there is no other.
I'm the only just God and Savior. He declares he's God alone. God
is God and God alone. And he's the only just God and
Savior. He's the just and the justifier.
And then you know what he says next? L-O-O-K. Look. Look unto me and be ye
saved. All the ends of the earth, I
am God and there is no other. Hebrews chapter 12, look what
it says right here. Verse one. Wherefore, seeing we're accomplished
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, that's unbelief,
and let us run with patience the race that's set before us,
looking, there it is, looking, looking unto Jesus. He's the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the author and finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising his shame, and has sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself. Jesus Christ
himself lets you be wearied and faint in your mind. The Lord
Jesus Christ himself is the only object of saving faith. It's
the command of God. He says, look to me. Don't look
anywhere else. Don't look to mom. Don't look
to dad. Don't look to anyone but the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Salvation is in the person. in
a person. Neither is there salvation in
any other, nor the name under heaven given among men, whereby
we must, we must be saved. Jesus Christ himself is all our
salvation. Now here's the last one. I want
you to find 2 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 at
verse 13. 2 Thessalonians 2 at verse 13. 2 Thessalonians 2 at verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. We call that
the Bible doctrine of election. He chose you from the beginning,
had chosen you to salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit,
that's the new birth, that's regeneration, which leads to
belief of a truth, verse 14, where unto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, stand fast. hold the traditions or to the
truth that you've been taught, whether by word, by the preaching
of the word, or by a written epistle. Verse 16, now watch
it. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself. There's that again, there's that
same statement. The Lord Jesus Christ himself. And God, who
is the Lord Jesus Christ? He's God our Savior. And God,
even our Father who had loved us and had given Himself for
us. He loved us and given us an everlasting
consolation and a good hope through grace comforts your hearts, establish
you in every good word and work. Jesus Christ Himself is all our
hope before God. Now, do you have a hope of salvation?
Do you have a hope of salvation? Where do you go? What do you
think about when you say, well, I have a good hope? Can you say
what it says right here, that I have a good hope through grace
and grace alone? We read it in Ephesians chapter
two, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of
yourself. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. So here's the last thought. Jesus
Christ himself is the only source of true joy, true joy, true happiness,
hope, comfort, and peace. Jesus Christ himself. If you look just across the page,
if you have the Cambridge Bible that I have, if you look at 1
Timothy 1, verse 1, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the
commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, Now notice
the two words there, which is, has been added by the translators. But we can read it this way.
God our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ our hope. He is our hope. He is all in all. Christ in you
is the hope of glory. He is our joy. Paul writes this
in Romans chapter 5. Let's turn there and read that.
Romans chapter 5. verse 1, Romans 5, verse 1. Therefore, being justified, Christ
was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification.
In Romans 4, verse 25, He was delivered for our offenses, raised
again because He justified us with His blood. That's what he
did at Calvary. He actually saved his people
from their sin. And they shall never perish because
he put away their sin. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but with glory and tribulation also. knowing that tribulation
worketh patient, and patient experience, and experience hope.
Hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us. For when
we were yet without strength, Romans 5, verse 6, when we were
yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die yet peradventure
for a good man. Some would even dare to die.
Here's this phrase again, but God. But God, I love that. It's one of my favorite statements.
But God commended his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. If when we were enemies we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life, by His doing, by His faithfulness,
by His obedience. Jesus Christ Himself. Are you
resting on that foundation? There is no other salvation.
We had that on the radio this morning. In Isaiah 28, 16, Behold,
I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone. He that believeth on that foundation
will never be ashamed, will never be forced out, will never flee. Jesus Christ Himself. Is that
all your hope? Is that all your salvation? Is
that all your righteousness? Is that all your peace before
God, Jesus Christ and Him crucified? I hope that it is. And if it's
not, I hope God would teach you the gospel of God's saving mercy
in our Lord Jesus Christ.