The title of this message is
Christ. No matter where you turn in the
writings of the Apostle Paul, you'll find that he preached
and glorified the Lord Jesus Christ. Tonight, I've selected
Chapter 2 of 1 Corinthians And when you begin reading that chapter,
immediately, right away, Paul says, I determine to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And then this
morning's text in Colossians chapter 3, in all of these verses,
the word Christ appears. He says in verse 1, if you be
risen with Christ, crucified, buried, risen with Christ, in
Christ. Then seek those things which
are above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. And then verse 3, he says, for
you are dead and your life is hid. He doesn't say your life
is hid in God, it is, but it's hid with Christ in God. We're
in Him, we're loved in Him, we're chosen in Him, we're redeemed
in Him, we're called in Him, we're seated in Him, we're accepted
in Him. Then verse 4, he says, when Christ,
who is our life, He is my life. One of the elders said recently,
someone asked him, What is the most important part
of your life, thing in your life, the most important thing in your
life? He said, I started to answer Christ, and then I thought, He's
not the most important thing in my life, He is my life. Without
Him, I don't have any life. Christ is our life, and when
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear. with him in glory. Now verse
11, and he says in verse 11, talking about verse 10, we put
on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image
of him that created him, where there's neither Greek nor Jew,
circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond or
free, but Christ is all. Jesus Christ our Lord is all,
and he's in all. Everything, everywhere, in every
way, and to every person pertaining to God and life, Christ is all. And these words, three words,
Christ is all. These words are the essence and
substance of salvation. They're the essence of eternal
life. And if everyone here can honestly and truthfully receive
these words, Christ, he's all. And he's in all. Everything. Everywhere. Every day. In every way. to every
person, Christ is all. If we lay hold of that and receive
it and believe it, then it's well with our souls. And if not, if we can't get hold
of these three words, Christ is all, we cannot receive them
and believe them and rejoice in them. We can be
sure of rejection in that day, because the scripture says, the
Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. And if we were to stand in glory,
not believing, not receiving, not rejoicing in Christ is all,
ours would be a dissenting voice, and that wouldn't be permitted.
It's like the man who came to the wedding feast without the
wedding garment. For us to come to the marriage
supper of the Lamb without a heart full of Christ, we'd be rejected. And we'd hear him say, friend,
how come, how came you hither having not on a wedding garment?
Having not a high opinion of the Redeemer. You can't stay
here. Cast him out. There'll be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. I want to use this, these words,
Christ is all and in all, and show you four things from the
scriptures. First of all, Christ is all in
the counsels and purposes of God, or singularly, purpose of
God. Christ is all in the counsel
and purpose of God. And secondly, Christ is all in
the Bible. He's the key of knowledge as
far as Scripture is concerned. He's all. He's not just most
of it. He's all in understanding the
Word of God. Thirdly, He's all in my salvation
and your salvation. And then we'll find this, that
he's all in glory. Now, the first thing that I want
you to think about, Paul says here, Christ is all. He's all
in the purpose of God, in the counsel of God. There was a time when this world
had no being. Think about it if you can. There
was no sun, there was no moon, there were no stars, there was
no earth. No creatures and no man. Can you conceive of or think
about or imagine such a time? There was God, in the beginning,
God. But there was nothing else. No
creation. Well, if Christ is all, where
was he then? Well, the scripture tells us
in the beginning was Christ the Word. And the word was with God. And the word was God. And the
word thought it not robbery to be equal with God. And he said,
concerning that time, he said, Father, thou lovest me before
the foundation of the world. And in John 17, he prayed, glorify
me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And 1 Peter 1.20 said he's the
Savior foreordained before the foundation of the world. And
Ephesians 1.4 said that we were chosen in him before the foundation
of the world. So where was Christ then? He
was all. If you read Proverbs 8, sometimes
it talks about that time. I was daily his rejoicing. That's
Christ. If you can, think back to the
time when this earth was created. There was a time when the world
was created, when the sun was made, and the stars, and the
moon, and the heavens, and then the earth, and the sea, and the
dry land, and all of these things were called into being, and God
made man. Well, if Christ is all, where
was he then? Well, the scripture tells us
in John 1, if we'll continue there, in the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all
things were made by Him, by the Word, and without Him was not
anything made that was made. He's the Creator, Christ Jesus
is the Creator. Back one page in Colossians to
chapter 1, verse 14, Colossians 1, 14, in whom we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. That's Christ, who's
the image of the invisible God. He's 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 Christ
and for Christ, and he's before all things, and by him all things
consist, and he's 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. So there you have it. And over
here, Paul said in Hebrews, chapter 1, verse 8, verse 8, the father said to the
son, listen, but unto the son he saith, thy
throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness
is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore God, even thy God,
hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows,
and thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of
the earth, and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They'll
perish, but ye remain. They all wax old as doth a garment,
as a vesture shalt thou fold them up. And they shall be chained,
but thou art the same. Thy years shall not fail. And
the witch of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right
hand, that I make thine enemies thy foes too. Christ is all in
creation. And then think back a little
bit to when man fell. Adam and Eve were
created in the image of God, created by Christ. And they ate the forbidden fruit, and they fell. And they lost
that holy nature in which they were created. The scripture says
man was created holy and upright, but he sought out many inventions.
They forfeited the friendship of God. They forfeited the favor
of God. Adam and his wife became guilty
and corrupt and hopeless and helpless sinners cast out of
the presence of God. Their sin separated them from
their God. And Adam and all of his race
became fallen dead creatures without hope, without help, without
God. And had God dealt with them in
justice and according to their desert as he did with the fallen
angel whom he reserved in everlasting chains of darkness unto that
great day, they too would have been cast away forever. But that
brings us to this question. If Christ is all, When this traumatic
event took place, where was he? Where was Christ? But I'll tell
you, in that very day that Adam fell, Christ was revealed to this fallen race and to this
world as the Savior of sinners, that very moment. The very first words spoken,
the first prophecy of a salvation, of a savior, of a redemption,
of a new and glorified race was spoken to Adam and Eve and the
serpent at that time. When God the Father himself said,
I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy
seed and her seed. Don't think lightly of this word
from heaven now. I hear people quote it so flippantly
and carelessly and thought it was an afterthought. Well, God
said, I'll put enmity between thee and the woman, O blessed
day, when he did, and between thy seed and her seed. And when
he shall come, born of a woman without the aid of a without
a fallen nature, the God-man, son of man, son of God, he'll
crush the power of evil. He'll destroy every enemy, and
the last enemy is death. In that day of death, Christ
is the light. In that day of darkness, and
oh, the darkness that fell upon that earth, God's creation, Not
only was man subject to death and disease and corruption, but
so was all the creation, every tree, every flower, every animal. The whole creation was subject
to vanity when man fell. Darkness. Christ was the one
way of light. In that day of helplessness and
hopelessness, He is our hope. In that day of defeat, Satan's
victory. No, Satan's downfall. Satan's death. He's all. And then, come on this way a
little bit, and back about 2,000 years ago, There was a time when this world
was literally buried, buried, sunk in the darkness of religion
without God. That's right. After 4,000 years of creation,
all of the empires, the Egyptian, the Babylonian, the Syrian, the
Roman, all of these empires, pagan empires, had spread their
superstition and ignorance and idolatry throughout the whole
world. Men were sacrificing human sacrifices. The world by wisdom knew not
God. They worshiped the creature more
than the Creator. You talk about religious darkness
and paganism and idolatry, it was rampant. The world was buried,
literally buried in religion without God. Even the Jews had left the scriptures, had
left the faith of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. They talked
about Moses only in word. The temple became a place of
idolatry and tradition and form and deadness. And Christ came
in that temple, that beautiful temple that Solomon built, and
made him a whip and drove him out. He said, my house shall
be called a house of prayer and you've made it a den of thieves.
And that's what it was. And there was hardly a living
soul on the face of this entire earth that was looking for expectantly
that redeemer to come. Simeon was looking for him. Mary
had a direct revelation from heaven, so did Joseph. But in
the man, it was religion without God.
Where was Christ then? Oh, glory. They were in the same country,
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And the glory of God came upon them. The angel of
the Lord said to them, I bring you good tidings of great joy
unto you is born this day, this very day, in the city of David, a Savior,
a Savior. You animals and pagans and heathens
and worshipers of idols, sons of Adam, fallen creatures. Unto
you is born a Savior, none other than Christ the Lord. This will be a sign unto you.
You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying
in a manger. And there suddenly there was
with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts singing praises
to God and glory to God in the highest. And on earth peace,
real peace. Goodwill, God's goodwill in Christ. He's all. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And He died just for the unjust to bring us to God. And He arose
and intercedes so that as Paul said, who can condemn us? Christ
died. rose again, ascended to make
his intercession. Ah, Christ is our hope. Well,
there's a time coming when this world is going to end.
And some of us believe it won't be long. Hopefully, thankfully,
we say with John, even so come, Lord Jesus. But that day is coming. I promise you. Our Lord said,
I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place,
I'll come back and receive you unto myself. There where I am,
there you may be always. You'll be back. The angel that stood on that
mountain when Christ ascended, while the apostles gazed steadfastly
into heaven, that angel said, you men of Galilee, why stands
ye gazing into heaven? same Jesus, same Jesus. That's a mighty important word,
this same Jesus, not another. The one promised, prophesied,
pictured, the one incarnate, the one born in Bethlehem, the
one nailed to a cross, this same Jesus whom you crucified, God
hath made Lord and Christ, this same Jesus. which is taken up
from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go. The heavens
shall roll back, and the voice of the archangel, and the trump
of God, and Christ himself shall descend. And every eye shall
see him, and they that pierced him shall mourn for him as a
holy son." He's coming back. There's a day
when Christ is coming back. That's what the scripture says.
He's all. He's all. Sin and Satan and evil shall
be cast out. There'll be a restitution of
all things. There'll be a new heaven and
a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And all the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea. The kingdom of this world. The
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of my Lord and of
his Christ. And he shall reign forever and
ever, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess
that he is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Well, it's going to be another day.
Turn to Revelation 20. There's a day coming when men
are going to be judged, when men shall stand before the
Lord God and be judged. If Christ is all, where will
he be then? Revelation 20, verse 11 says,
I saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it. from
whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was
found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another
book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were
judged out of those things written in the books according to their
works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they
were judged every man according to their works. Death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life, the book
of the Lamb, slain before the foundation of the world, cast
into the lake of fire. Who is this judge? Christ. Scripture says the Father judgeth
no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son. So in God's
counsel, from the beginning, to the final judgment, Christ
is all. And if a person thinks little
of Christ, that person is contrary to God. But to the Father, Christ
is all. And he said this, he that honoreth
the Son honoreth the Father, and he that honoreth not the
Son honoreth not the Father that sent him. All right, secondly,
Christ is all in the counsel of God, in the purpose of God,
and Christ is all in the Bible. The Bible is his story. All 66
books, from Genesis to Revelation, testify of Christ. The Old Testament,
a summary of the Old Testament, is this, someone's coming. That's
what the Old Testament is all about. The woman at the well
summed it up. She said, we know that the Messiah
is coming. How'd she know that? The Old
Testament scripture. That's what the Old Testament
from Genesis to Malachi is about. Christ is coming. Someone's coming. A Messiah. And he'll be the seed
of woman. He'll be the root of Jesse, he'll
be of the tribe of Judah, he'll be the son of David. He'll be
a priest like Melchizedek and a prophet like Moses. The gospel,
here's a summary of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, that someone
has come. And John summed it up in John
chapter 1 verse 29, John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb
of God. Behold the Lamb of God. This is the Lamb of which the
Passover speaks. This is the Lamb of which Abel's
Lamb speaks. This is the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. And the epistles, where we are
reading this morning in Colossians and Philippians and Galatians
and Ephesians and These epistles declare he's coming again. He's
coming back to claim all that he purchased and all that is
rightfully his. And in every part of the Bible,
Christ is revealed. Will we see that? I know dimly
at first, in prophecy, dimly, Christ is revealed. But Christ
is revealed. It takes a teacher to teach it.
It takes a person who understands, who's been taught of God, to
show Christ dimly in all of these prophecies and pictures. And in the middle, when we come
to the tabernacle and the sacrifices, Christ is more clearly seen in
picture, in pattern, in type, more clearly seen. And then in the New Testament,
He's fully and completely revealed in person. He that hath seen
me hath seen my Father. No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, he to whom the Son will reveal him. And Christ is clearly
and fully and completely revealed in the New Testament. The Bible's... And it's not, listen, the Bible
is not just about a Messiah coming. It's a suffering Messiah. It's summed up in the book of
Isaiah. Turn to chapter 53. Isaiah chapter
53. Now, the Old Testament says someone's
coming, a Messiah's coming, but it's a suffering Messiah. It's
a crucified Christ. It's an atonement and a sacrifice
through His blood. That's so clear. In Isaiah chapter 53 verse 4,
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. We did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, but he
was wounded. For our transgressions he was
bruised. For our iniquities a chastisement
of our peace was upon him, with his stripes we are healed. Verse
10, It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief,
when thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. He shall
see his seed. He shall prolong his days. The
pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He'll see the travail
of his soul and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge shall my
righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities.
You see, it was the crucified Christ to whom Abel looked when
he offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. It was to a crucified Christ
that Moses looked when he slew the Passover. It was a crucified Christ that
Abraham saw when he slew the ram and put it in the place of
his son. And it was to crucified Christ
that God directed the attention of Israel on the day of atonement
when a lamb was slain and its body burned with fire. and its
blood collected and taken by the high priest into the holy
of holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat. And Luke chapter 24, turn over
here with me just a moment, Luke 24. Here our Lord is himself talking
about the Bible, the word of God, the scriptures to his disciples. Verse 25 of Luke 24, Then he
said, O fool, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken, ought not the Christ to have suffered? I'm telling
you that the Bible pictures a Christ, but it's a suffering Christ. And to enter into his glory,
and beginning at Moses, and all the He expounded unto them in
all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Verse 44
now. Then he said to 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 the Psalms concerning me. Then
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures and said to them, thus it is written. And thus
it behooved Christ, the Christ, to suffer and to rise from the
dead the third day that repentance and remission of sin should be
preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. It's a suffering satan and Christ. I ask myself and you, what is
the Bible to me? Is it a book in which you've
found good moral precepts only? Well, they're there. Is it a
book in which you have sought and found good advice? No question
it's there. Is it a book in which I've sought
and found the history of religion and the hand of God dealing with
men? Or is the Bible the Word of God
in which I have found Christ, the sovereign Savior, the suffering
Savior, the victorious Savior, the effectual Savior, the reigning
Savior, the coming Savior? To study the Bible and leave
out the crucified Christ is like an astronomer studying
the solar system, leaving out the sun. The sun is the center of the
solar system, and the S-O-N, son of God. The crucified son of God is the
heart of this book. Without him, it's not a good
book, because the law can't offer any mercy or peace of God. It can only condemn. Thirdly, Christ is all in the
salvation of God's elect. Briefly, and for the sake of
time, I'll give you one verse, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30. 1 Corinthians 1.30, Christ is all in the salvation
of God's elect. 1 Corinthians 1.30, George Whitefield, I suppose one of England's greatest
preachers, called this verse the most comprehensive verse
in all the Bible. the most comprehensive verse
in all the Bible. Read it. But of him, by his grace,
talking about the Father, by his will, his purpose, his determination,
his predestination, by an act of his own will and purpose and
power, of him are you fallen creatures, sons of Adam, centered by choice, practice,
birth, and nature. Are you, of all people, in Christ
Jesus? He put you there. Are you, sons of Adam, in Christ
Jesus, chosen in Him, loved in Him, redeemed in Him, accepted
in Him, crucified, risen, and seated in Him? Accepted in the
blood of God are you in Christ Jesus? who listen and only him
who of God By God's purpose and power and wisdom and grace of
God Who of God is made unto us? God made him unto us all these
things He's our wisdom You can't know God except if you know Christ.
The Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may
know Him. This is what I want to preach
about tonight, Christ, the wisdom of God. God dwells in a life to which
no man can approach. No man can know God apart from
Christ. He's made unto us by God, wisdom
and righteousness. holiness. His perfect, imputed godliness
is ours. His obedience, submission, love,
truth, life is ours. As a man, He worked it all out.
He perfected it by His obedience and gave it to us. He's our righteousness
and He's our sanctification. He has given us His nature. The
holiness of His nature is our new man. That's what the new
man is. It's Christ created in you, created in righteousness,
so that we prefer holiness and pursue godliness. In the new
man, we wrestle and battle with the old man, but that new man
prefers holiness. That old man prefers sin and
flesh, but that new man is sanctified. Perfectly sanctified in Christ
Jesus. He's our sanctification. And
then He is our redemption. He's our justification. Who can
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God who justified
us. How did He justify us? In Christ. That according as it is written,
this is still the same verse because there's no period after
redemption. that according as it is written, he that gloweth,
let him glow in the Lord. Christ is all of our salvation. Our wisdom, we know God. Our
holiness, we accept it in Christ. Our sanctification, the new nature,
the new person, that's Christ. In you, the hope of glory and
our redemption, our justification. And then last, he's all in eternal
glory. All who by God's grace are included
in this purpose, whom he foreknew, he did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, and whom he predestinated, he called
by the gospel, and whom he called, he justified by the blood, and
whom he justified, he glorified in Christ Jesus. And all who
by God's grace are included in those things will find that He
who has been all in and all to them will be in glory all in
and all to them. I'll read in closing Revelation
5. A few verses. I want you to turn to it. Revelation
chapter 5, verse 9. Revelation 5, verse 9. This is
the redeemed in glory. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof.
For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood,
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. and has
made us under our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign
on the earth. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beast and
the elders and the number of them were ten thousand times
ten thousand and thousands of thousands." This is the song
of glory. This is the assembly in glory. This is the redeemed of all ages.
When heaven and earth have passed away, there's a new heaven. This
is the beginning of eternity. Listen to them. They said with
a loud voice, worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power,
riches, wisdom, and glory, and honor, and strength, and honor,
and glory, and blessing in every creature which is in heaven. and on the earth, and under the
earth, and such as are in the sea." This is pretty conclusive,
isn't it? "...and such as are in the sea,
and all that are in them heard I say, Blessing and honor and
glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne,
and to the Lamb forever and ever." That hymn is the hymn we talked
about a week ago or so in Isaiah 53, he, him, and his. Christ is all. That's why Paul
said, I'm determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. That's the reason he said we
preach not ourselves, we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. That's the reason anyone who
graces a pulpit, whether it's to sing, or whether it's to pray,
or whether it's to preach, or whether it's to teach, his message ought to be Christ. Because he's all in the counsels
of God, in the word of God, in our salvation, in our future,
in our glory, in our hope. We preach Christ. And he that honoreth the Son,
the Father will honor him. And he that honoreth not the
Son, honoreth not the Father. All right, let's sing number
258. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord, a wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock.