In Colossians, the third chapter,
when the Apostle Paul was preaching holiness, godliness in our daily
lives, righteousness, contending against sin, encouraging Christian
graces, he says in verse 5, mortify your members, fornication, uncleanness,
idolatry, covetousness, all that, mortify these things, crucify
In verse 8, he says, put off anger, put off wrath, put off
hatred, holding grudges, which is malice, put off blasphemy,
evil communications out of your mouths, lying not to one another. And then he says over here in
verse 12, put on, put on bowels of mercy and kindness and humility
and meekness and longsuffering and love. Put these things on.
It may surprise you. But Paul didn't do what preachers
do today, who call themselves preachers. He didn't preach salvation
by the grace of God through Christ and then preach sanctification
by the law. Paul exhorted us to be done with
these things of the flesh, put them aside, put them off, to
mortify these fleshly passions and desires, put them off, be
done with them, and to put on love and kindness and humility
and long-suffering and patience, the fruit of the Spirit. But
he didn't use legal arguments by saying, if you do this, God
will bless you. And if you do what I command
you to do, God will bless you, and if you don't do it, God will
disown you. He didn't preach salvation by grace and sanctification
by law. And that's what most preachers
are preaching. He didn't say, if you'll do this, God will reward
you when you get to heaven. If you don't do it, God will
take your yo-yo away from you. And you'll have to live in a
little cabin somewhere while everybody else is living in a
mansion. He didn't do that. Paul knew he was writing to believers. Paul knew that he was writing
to people who knew that they were not under law, but under
grace. Paul used words of encouragement
and argument drawn from grace, not from law. He used arguments
and words of encouragement consistent with grace. He fed the flames of their love
for Christ with fuel of grace. That's right. For example, look
at verse 1. He says, Now if you be risen
with Christ, if when Christ died you died,
When Christ was buried, you were buried. When Christ arose, you
arose. Then set your affections on things
above, not on things of the earth, if you're risen with Christ.
If you are risen with him, if you've come with Christ out of
the grave, then don't be content to lie in the grave. You won't
be content to lie in the grave of sin and darkness, but your
new life, now get this, But your new life will be interested in
and seek those things which pertain to spiritual life. If you be risen with Christ,
you have a new life, you have a new nature, you have new desires,
you have a new family. And that new life brings with
it new interest. It brings with it new desires.
It brings with it new love. A person who must be bribed and
threatened and forced to walk with God doesn't know God. A person who must be bribed and
forced and threatened to look into the Word of God doesn't
love the Word of God. A person who must be bribed and
threatened and forced to please God does not know God. David
said, My mother and daddy made me go to church. No, sir, he
said, I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house
of God. Well, I'm a deacon, or I'm an elder, I'm a Sunday school
teacher, I can't go with you to visit, Grandma, I've got to
go to church. David didn't say, I've got to go to church, he
said, I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house
of the Lord. David didn't say, I'm a Christian,
therefore I can't do this. He said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of God than to own the tents of the wicked. Isn't
that what he said? I'd rather. That's my interest. That's my
desire. That's my concern. That's what
I want. This is what Paul is saying when
he argues for holiness. When he contends for righteousness,
when he contends for godliness of life, he doesn't threaten
and bribe people and force them into this way of life. He said,
if you are risen with Christ, then you will set your affections
on things above. You will set your affections.
You are dead. Your life is hid with Christ,
with God in Christ. Now look at verse 4. Now listen
to this. Here's his second argument. He's
saying, mortify your human fleshly passions. He is saying, put off
anger and wrath and malice and hatred and grudges and all these
things. Put on humility and kindness
and righteousness. Walk with God. If you're risen
with Christ, if you have a new life, if you have a new nature,
you will. You will set your affections
on things above. You've been weaned from this
world. The world has lost its glamour for you. Now watch verse
4. Secondly, when Christ who is
our life shall appear. What do you see there? I took
a hard look at that verse, and this is what came to me. Christ
who is our life. A person becomes involved or
interested in something or someone. And this remark is made, that's
his whole life. We talk about a great inventor,
a man who invents things, and you say, that's his whole life.
We talk about a schoolteacher, and we say, that's her whole
life. We talk about a young man playing football, that's his
whole life. We talk about some of you fathers or mothers here,
your children, that's their whole life. Take that away, it wouldn't
be any cause to exist. wouldn't be any cause to live.
To some people, their whole life is their families. They're wrapped
up in their families, their family relationship, what keeps them
glued together, without it they'd come apart. To some people, business
is their whole life. Possessions, getting a little
more, gaining a little more, possessing a little more. To
some people it's sports or pleasure. Pleasure is their whole life.
They can't be still. They run here and run there and
run yonder seeking some new enjoyment, some new pleasure, some new delight,
some new fleshly entertainment. Just always go pleasure out of
one pleasure into another. To some people, their whole life
is politics or the honor of men, seeking praise of men. To the
believer, Christ is his life. That's right. Christ is his first
love. His first love above his wife, children, yea, his own
life also. Christ is his whole life. To him, his one goal, turn to
Psalm 27, his one goal, his one goal, like Paul said, to know
Christ and the power of his resurrection. To win Christ and be found in
him. Listen to David in Psalm 27,
verse 4. One thing, Psalm 27, verse 4, one thing have I desired
of the Lord, and that will I seek after, one thing, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in his temple. That's my life.
And over in 2 Samuel 23, turn over there a minute. These are the last words of David,
King David, the man after God's own heart. Listen to him. In
2 Samuel 23, verse 5, these are David's last words, then he died.
Verse 5 of 2 Samuel 23, Although my house be not so with God,
yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and sure, that covenant It's my relationship with him. I'm
his son, he's my Lord. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. Paul says if you're risen with
Christ, if God brought you out of the grave, then you won't
want to lie in the grave. If God Almighty's brought you
out of the grave, then you'll be willing to take off the grave
clothes. If God Almighty has brought you into the sunshine
of righteousness and holiness and walking with Him, you won't
want to live in the cemetery and walk with the dead. You won't
find any communion with the dead. You don't speak the same language
as the dead. Nor will you have any dealings
with the unfruitful works of darkness. They're not your companions.
You're not content to lie there. You're risen with Christ. And
he says this, if Christ is your life, If he's your life, then
his holiness and his righteousness and his truth and his honesty
will be your life too. Now thirdly, verse 11. In verse
11, he talks about verse 10, putting on that new man which
is renewed in knowledge after the image of Christ who created
him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision,
barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all. The
only distinguishing mark in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ
is this, the chief distinguishing mark. Christ is all. Christ is all. Now look at the
first line, where there's neither Greek nor Jew. It matters not
of what nation a man is. That does not matter. That has
nothing to do with his salvation. It doesn't matter whether he's
a Greek or a Jew. It doesn't matter whether he's
a black man or a white man. It doesn't matter whether he's
from the Orient or he's from the Western nations. That doesn't
matter at all. It's got nothing to do with salvation. The color
of a man's skin is totally unimportant. What is important? His relationship
with Christ. That's what's important. I don't think Christians, real
believers, I do not believe, I do not think real believers
have any problem with what we call segregation and bigotry. I know some of us have been brought
up in traditions that we had to discard by God's grace, and
traditions which we had to be done with by God's grace, and
traditions and customs and ways of life that we were saddled
with. And God's grace had to overcome
these things. But when God's grace comes in
and when Christ comes in, there's neither Greek nor Jew. There's
neither black nor white. That's right. It's Christ. And what's this? He says it's
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision. A man's devotions to forms and
ceremonies and rituals of outward religion, that's what circumcision
represents in this passage here. It doesn't matter. And it doesn't
matter if a man rejects all the forms. Here's a man who goes
along, he has all the stained glass windows and the robes and
the cross, you know, and all of the uniforms of religion,
the different initials and all of these things, and the soft
playing of the organ. This has no bearing upon his
relationship with Christ. And to go out, John, and say,
well, I'll do away with all those rituals and ceremonies and go
out and eat under a brush arbor, and we'll just stomp our feet
and praise the Lord, you know, you're no closer to God there
than you are in another place. It's neither circumcision nor
uncircumcision. It's Christ. You see what I'm
saying? It's Christ. And look at the
next line. Barbarians, Scythians, Who were the Scythians? Well,
they were the most barbarian of the barbarians. That's who
they were. They were the uncouth and the unpolished. We have some
folks who have to worship God where everything is in order
and quietness, you know, like a mausoleum. Other people who
feel like that you have to kick up your heels a little bit, but
that's neither place. Well, neither place will contribute. It's Christ. and then born of
free. The grace of God is not bestowed
upon a man because he's a slave or because he's a free man, because
he's an American or because he's a communist. A man's nation,
a man's outward privileges, a man's religious devotions, a man's
civil state, a man's condition of life contributes nothing to
his relationship with God. Our whole relationship with God
is a person, Jesus Christ. That's what he's saying here.
One writer made this statement, the only real distinction which
marks the true believer from all other men and the only essential
distinction in the whole world of grace is the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is all to the believer
because Christ is all. Christ is our wisdom, he is our
righteousness, he is our sanctification, he is our redemption, and all
that is real and all that is genuine and all that is holy
and all that is heavenly and all that is pure and all that
is of God and all that is abiding and all that is saving in us
is not of us, it's Christ. I know we have a lot of distinctions
today, I know we have a lot of identifying characteristics You
can recognize the Jew by his heritage. You can recognize the
Catholic by his ceremony. You can recognize the Baptist,
the fundamentalist, by his orthodoxy. You can recognize the Pentecostal
by his zeal. You can recognize the Amish by
his uniform. You can recognize the Camelite
by his ordinance. You can recognize the Calvinist
by his intellectualism, and you can recognize the Armenian by
his methods. How do you recognize a believer?
The true believer is recognized by his love for, his devotion
to, his concern for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul
is saying. The light and love and life of
the believer is a person. And the seal of God upon his
forehead is the name of that person, Jesus Christ. And that's
what Paul is saying here. He's saying now, if you be risen
with Christ, you put off these things and you put on some more
things. You seek those things which are above. You set your
affections on things above. You walk with him with whom you
have risen. If Christ is your life, if Christ
is the love of your heart and the thought of your mind and
the joy of your soul, walk with Christ. If Christ is all, And
you'll put off these things. Listen to this hymn by Horatio
Bonar. I bless Jesus Christ. I rest
on love divine, and with unfaltering lips and heart I call this Savior
mine. His cross dispels my every doubt. I bury in his tomb every thought
of unbelief and fear and each lingering shade of gloom. I praise my God of grace, I trust
his truth and might, he calls me his, I call him mine, my God,
my joy, my life. In him is only good, in me is
only ill. My ill but draws his goodness
forth, in me he loveth still. Tis Christ who saveth me, and
freely pardoned gives. I love because he loves me, I
live because he lives. My life with him is hid, my death
has passed away, my clouds have melted into light, my midnight
has turned to day. Christ is my life. Christ is
all. Christ is all. Let me give you
seven things in closing, briefly. First of all, Christ is all in
creation. Turn to Colossians chapter 1,
verse 14. Christ is all in creation. First
of all, he is all in creation. He says in Colossians 1, verse
14, "...in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature. For by him were all things created
that are in heaven, 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. He's before all
things, and by him all things consist. He prayed one day, Father,
glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. He's before all things. He created all things. All things
were created by him. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And all things
were made by him. He upholdeth all things by the
word of his power. He disposes all things. Listen
to this scripture over here in Proverbs 8, verse 15. He says, By me, kings reign. By me, princes decree justice. All authority is given unto me
in heaven and earth. All power is given unto me. He's the heir of all things.
Turn to Hebrews 1. He says, God, who at sundry times
in divers manners spake to our fathers in times past by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son,
whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom he made the
world. Christ is all. Christ is all. Why shall I be interested in
the honor of men? Men will fade away, pass away with their honor.
Christ is all. I'm interested in his honor.
Why should I be interested in pleasing the flesh? The flesh
is like the flower of the field, it faded, it withered, it died. Christ liveth eternally. He's before all things, by him
all things were made, he upholdeth all things, in him all things
exist, and he hath been exalted and given preeminence over all
things, and all things are given to him. He's the heir of all
things. He's all. Turn to Colossians 2, not only
that, but secondly, Christ is all, not only in creation, but
Christ is all in the types and shadows of the Old Testament.
Listen to Colossians 2, beginning with verse 16. Let no man therefore
judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day,
or a new moon, or a Sabbath day. These are shadows of things to
come. But the body is of Christ. Every drop of blood ever shed
in the Old Testament from Eden's garden to Calvary points to Christ. Every ceremony, every feast day,
every Sabbath, every holy day is fulfilled in Christ. Every
priest that ever took a step and ever offered a lamb and ever
bathed and was sprinkled with the blood is Christ. Every law, every prophecy, every
promise is fulfilled in Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ, when he
spoke to his disciples after the resurrection in Luke 24,
turn over there with me and listen to this scripture. In Luke 24,
verse 44, he spoke to them, and this is what he said. In Luke
24, verse 44, and he said to them, these are the words which
I speak to you. while I was yet with you, that
all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law
of Moses, in the Prophets, in the Psalms concerning me." Christ
is all. Christ is all. Without Christ,
David has no meaning. Without Christ, the tabernacle
has no meaning. It's a ritualistic nonsense.
Without Christ, all of those sacraments, without Christ, Abel's
offering is foolishness. Without Christ, the art of the
covenant, with its cherubims and seraphims and holy days and
its holy place and its veil, separating it from the Holy of
Holies, has no meaning whatsoever without Christ. And then thirdly, Christ is all
in our election. Turn to Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. who hath blessed us, unworthy
though we are, with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in
Christ, according as he chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Had it not been for Christ, there
would not have been an election. Had it not been for Christ, none
would have been elected. Christ is the root of election,
he is the cause of election, he is the sum of the election,
and he is the firstborn of all the Any time you view God's elective
grace apart from Christ, you move into error. God chose no
man alone. He chose him in Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ in John 17 talked about those whom the Father gave
to me. He's the sum of election. He's
the root of election. He's the cause of election. He's
the reason you're in the family of God. Fourthly, look at Ephesians
1, 7. In whom? In whom we have redemption. Christ is all in the redemption
of a believer. In whom we have redemption. It's
in Christ, not in the Church. It's in Christ. He is our justification. By his
death, the justice of God is satisfied. Without the death
of Christ, the heavy hand of God's justice right now hangs
over your head. In Christ, God can be holy, God
can be just, God can be righteous, and deal in mercy with you and
me. That's the only way, in Christ, because of Calvary. He's not
only our justification, but he's our righteousness. By his perfect
obedience, the law of God is honored. By his perfect obedience,
we're holy. Outside of Christ, we're unholy,
unclean, lepers. who are fit only to be separated
from the presence of God and to go crawling in the shadows
crying, unclean, unclean, unclean! But in Christ I'm clean. Not
because of what I've done, because of what He's done. He's all.
He's all of our righteousness. God Almighty would not speak
to you nor be spoken to by you. God Almighty will not deal with
you nor be dealt with by you except in Christ. That's so!
Don't call, O God, have mercy. You're wasting your time. Unless
you can plead, unless you can sue for mercy in the person of
his Son. That's right. You may not understand
what I'm saying, but what I'm saying is so. He is our justification. He is
not the way of justification, only He is our justification. Jesus Christ did not come into
this world to make it possible for us to be righteous before
God. He is our righteousness. We are
not righteous. We are not now. We never have
been. Someday we will be, but not now. Not in our flesh. In our flesh dwelleth no good
thing. In the flesh, Paul said, no man
can please God. He said, this is my son in whom
I'm well pleased. I'm not pleased with Henry May
and I'm not pleased with Bob Coffey. I'm not pleased with
Cecil Roach. Never have been and never will be on this earth.
There's no way you can please a holy God if his son pleases
him. Now I'm telling you the truth. Christ is our righteousness.
Christ is our sin offering. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Christ is our high priest. We
have a high priest over the house of God. Let us therefore come
bold into his presence. Without that high priest, don't
come. Don't come, God said. It be like the one who walked
into the Holy of Holies and came out a white leper. God Almighty's
wrath smote him. The biggest fool on this earth
is the man who pushes his way into the presence of God on the
basis of his merit, or his worship, or his goodness, or his faith,
or anything else. He's a fool. The Israelites of
old would not come near that Holy of Holies. They knew better. There was the presence of God.
They sent a representative in there with the blood. And even
that representative wouldn't dare go into the Holy of Holies
without a blood offering. without a suitable atonement,
without a sacrifice ordained of God, yet we come with our
tithes and offerings, we come with our righteousness, we come
with our so-called prayers and goodness, and we ignore Christ,
we set Him aside, we have nothing to do with Him, and we come into
the presence of God with these paltry thin, stained righteousnesses,
which are filthy rags in God's presence. I dare not come. Christ
is my high priest. Christ is my high priest. Christ
is my life. This is the record. God hath
given us eternal life, and this life's in his Son. He that hath
the Son of God hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. And I'll tell you this, I don't
care how religious you are, How sectarian you are, how moral
you are, how devout you are, how intelligent you are. You
have not Christ. You have not life. You're dead
while you live. You have not God. You have not
hope. You have no glory. You have no
future except God's wrath at the judgment. That's what he
says in his words. Christ is the author of every
grace. He's all. Christ is all in creation. Everything. Christ is all in election. Christ
is all in redemption. And let me tell you this in the
fifth place. Christ is all in the ministry
of the Word. And you want to know what's wrong
with the churches today? And I'm no authority on what's
wrong with everybody. I'm an authority on what's wrong
with me. I should be. But what's wrong in the churches
today is this missing note, this middle C, is missing Christ. The scripture says, Paul talking,
he said, we preach Christ and him crucified. I'm determined
to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. God forbid that I should glory
in my numbers God forbid that I should glory in my talent,
God forbid that I should glory in my intellect, God forbid that
I should glory in my strength, God forbid that I should glory
in my wealth, God forbid that I should glory save in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The best thing that could happen
to the churches today is for all their numbers and rule books
and records to be burned up. and ceased to count one single
body and began to count it a glory and a privilege if Christ is
present in the service, whether anybody else is there or not.
That's right. It's Christ who gives grace and
the gifts to preach. Turn to Ephesians 3 and listen
to Paul in verse 7. He said, I've been made a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given to me. by
the effectual working of his power. Unto me, whom less than
least of all the saints, is this grace given." A seminary can't
make a preacher. God makes his preachers. A church
cannot make a preacher. God makes his preachers. Paul
said, I made a minister. Who made you a minister, Paul?
The Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, the Sadducees? Your church? No, sir. It was a gift of grace
God gave me by Spirit. And I'll tell you this, my dear
friends, if you can find somebody whom you believe, whom you suspect,
whom you think might be made a minister by the grace of God,
give him a hearing. And if you think or suspect or
believe that the one to whom you're listening is not made
a minister by the gift of God's grace, skedaddle as fast as you
can out from under his ministry, because the blind leading the
blind, they'll both fall in the ditch. It's Christ that who gives us
grace and gifts. It's Christ we're sent forth
to preach, Christ. And it's Christ who gives ears
to hear the message. Eyes to see, the word, and hearts
to understand. In the sixth place, quickly,
Christ is all. He's all in every ordinance.
What is baptism? It's his death. It's his burial. It's his resurrection. Take away
Christ, and it's a pack of foolishness. It has no meaning. None whatsoever. It has no identification. It has no part in the worship
of God. Baptism is Christ. It's showing
forth his death, his burial, his resurrection. Baptism is
not the door to the church. It's not an ordinance or a ceremony
to be placed upon the brow of a baby or an unbeliever. It has
no meaning for an unbeliever. It has no application for an
unbeliever. It's when a believer comes into
that blessed pool of water and says, when Christ died, I died.
When he was buried, I was buried. When Christ rose from the tomb,
I rose and he is my life. And I rise to walk with him in
newness of life. What is the Lord's table? He
took that cup and he said, this is my blood. This is not a ritual,
this is my blood. He took that bread and he break
it before them. He crushed it. And he said, this
is my body broken. This do as a means of bringing
people together in fellowship in the church. No, sir. This
do because it's a good quiet time, a time of meditation. No,
sir. This do in remembrance of me. The Lord's table has no meaning
without Christ. It's his body broken, his blood
shed, his love displayed, his grace displayed. It's Christ. I come to his table, he's the
host, and I come to that table to fellowship with him and to
commune with him and to rejoice in him and to praise his name
for his sacrifice. Prayer, what's prayer? We make
prayer so ritualistic. But the scripture says we pray
in his name, we pray for his will, we pray for his glory,
and it is Christ that makes our prayers acceptable to the Father. So prayer, there is no prayer
without Christ. There is no prayer without Christ.
He is the very author and finisher of our faith. He's the sum and
substance of our approach to God. He's the sum and substance
of our knowledge of God. He's the sum and substance of
the way to God. He is God. He said, I and my Father are
one. He that has seen me has seen the Father. To worship Christ
is to worship God. To know Christ is to know God.
In conclusion, number seven, you'll do well if you'll take
heed to the to the next words that I'm about to say before
I close. I have brought you through this
message, Colossians chapter 1, and Paul is talking here about
mortification of fleshly passions, and Paul is talking about putting
off the things of the flesh and things that are unbecoming to
children of God, putting on characteristics of righteousness and evidences
of the new birth and things which are things which are honoring
to God. And the reasons for these things
is if you be risen with Christ, that's what you want. If Christ
is your life, that's what you want. And if Christ is all, then
that's what you want. In closing, listen to this. Christ
is all from the Father, to the Father, and with the Father. Christ is all from the Father.
He said, I am come, I am come that they might have life. Don't
look for life anywhere else. That's all in regard to life. I am come that they might have
life and have it more abundantly. Scripture says, it pleased the
Father that in him should all fullness, all fullness Hebrews 1, verse 1 says, God
spake to our fathers by the prophets, he hath in these last days, this
is the only way God speaks, through his Son. So he's the only one
from the Father, there is no other, there is no other gift
than Christ. Secondly, he is all to the Father.
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh to
the Father but by me. The Apostle said, Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, Christ the Lord. You
may say, and I preach at your religion, I have mine. No, this
is not my religion. This is all to the Father. There
is none other name, none other name under heaven, none other
name given among men whereby we must be saved. This is it.
It doesn't matter whether you Whether you're a Baptist, or
a Methodist, or a Presbyterian, or a Catholic, or a Jew, or an
Orthodox, a Greek Orthodox, or what you are, God says there's
none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. And Christ is the same in any
language. Without Him, I can do nothing. Without Him, I'd
surely fail. Without Him, I'd be drifting
like a ship without a sail. Thirdly, Christ is all with the
Father. Now turn to John 5. And this
is important scripture. I would that you would think
about it all day. John chapter 5, verse 22 and
23. Now listen carefully to it. Christ
is all with the Father. John 5, 22, it says, The Father
judges no man. He hath committed all judgment,
all means, to the Son. Christ said, I have all authority
over all flesh. that I should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given me." You're in the hands of Christ.
I hear preachers stand all the time and tell people, what will
you do with Jesus? Let me tell you something, and
be as kind as I can in telling you. You're not going to do anything
with He's the absolute Supreme Lord
who's been exalted and given a name by his Father and a throne
by his Father and a kingdom by his Father, and he is right now
sat down at the right hand of God waiting till his enemies
become his footstool. If you're one of them, that's
where you'll be, his footstool. You don't do anything with him.
Pilate said, Don't you know I have the power to crucify you and
let you go? He said, Pilate, you don't have
any authority over me except it be given you from above. You
understand that? Now then, he's going to do something
with you. That's right. I hear preachers say, won't you
make Jesus your Lord? My friend, God beat you to it.
He's already your Lord. He died that he might be Lord
of the living and the dead. He's the Lord of this earth.
He's every man's Lord. He's the Lord of every nation.
The King's heart's in the hands of the Lord. He turns it whithersoever
he will. The question is, will you bow
to his Lordship here, or will you do it in the judgment? But
every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that he
is Lord. He is your Lord. The Father hath committed all
judgment, all authority, all men, this world, and all worlds
into the hands of the Son. They're his. He bought this world,
and he will dispose of it according to his wisdom. and for his glory. Now, I'll tell you what you better
do. It's what the book of Psalms says, kiss the Son. Fall at his
feet. Be like the leper who came when
Christ came down from the mountain, who fell at his feet and worshiped
him and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Be like
the Canaanite woman who had spent everything she had on denominations
and denominational programs and seeking cures and seeking healing
and seeking all these things, and she was no better but altogether
worse, and she came and took hold of the hem of his garment,
him who is Lord, him who has mercy, him who is the sovereign
dispenser of grace, and she said, Lord, help me! And he did. Be like blind Bartimaeus who's
sitting by the wayside, son of Timaeus, in his misery, in his
filth, in his desperation, he cried out, Jesus, son of David,
King, have mercy on me. Be like that blessed woman whose
daughter was sick and she called to his feet, that Gentile woman,
and he said, I'm king of the Jews. I'm not sinning except
to the house of Israel. It's not right to give the meat,
children's bread to dogs." She said, I'm a dog that's sold,
but dogs eat crumbs that fall from their master's table. Would
you brush a crumb off for this old dog? And our Lord took her
by the hand and said, Woman, great is thy faith. I hadn't
found faith like that nowhere in Israel. Be it unto you as
you wish. Now, you proud sinner, you boast
of your so-called rights and free will and all of these things
if you want to. But I tell you where this old
dog is going to find his place, at the feet of the Lord, suing
for mercy. Suing for mercy. And that's where
it's found. That thief on the cross, while
the others ranted and raved and ridiculed him, he cried, Lord,
I deserve what I'm getting. But you're not going to stay
dead. You're coming into a kingdom. Would you just remember me? Would
you just remember me? And I'll tell you, our Lord is
none to them of a broken heart. He saith it such as be of a broken
spirit. The sacrifices of God are a broken
heart and a contrite spirit. O Lord, thou wilt not despise.
He said, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Christ is all. Look at verse
23 now. The Father hath committed all judgment to the Son. He has
vested in him the right to judge all men. That, verse 23, that
all men should honor the Son. John 5, 23, even as they honor
the Father, he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the
Father which sent him. He is everything. And all that he ever created
and all that he ever permitted to live and all that he ever
permitted to go about their business on this earth has been done for
his glory, everything. Even the wrath of man will praise
the Lord. That's right. That's right. All things shall praise the Lord.
He's everything. He's all. He's in all. Our Father, we give thanks for
thy Word, for thy Son. When we read thy
Word, our words are so paltry, so foolish, so simple. Yet we thank thee
in these words of ours which are inadequate. Praise thee for
Christ. Someday we'll be able to praise
him. Someday we'll be able to exalt him. Someday we'll be able
to glorify his name as he ought to be glorified.