Jesus Christ Is All

Q: What does the Bible say about Jesus being all in all?

The Bible affirms that Jesus Christ is all and in all, meaning He encompasses all aspects of life, salvation, and creation. The phrase 'Jesus Christ is all and in all' is rooted in Colossians 3:10-11, where Paul declares the sufficiency of Christ in every aspect of existence. This concept emphasizes that Christ is not only central to salvation but also to our understanding of all creation, as reiterated in Colossians 1:16-17, where it is stated that by Him all things were created, and in Him all things hold together. The preeminence of Christ assures believers that He is the source of wisdom, righteousness, and eternal life, highlighting that all of our needs and aspirations are met in Him alone.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is central to the gospel?

Jesus is central to the gospel because all elements of salvation and God's plan revolve around Him and His sacrificial work. The essence of the gospel is deeply intertwined with the person and work of Jesus Christ. Romans 1:1-3 illustrates that the good news is concerning His Son. This means that the gospel is not primarily about human actions or achievements but about who Christ is and what He accomplished through His death and resurrection. The narrative of redemption, from the prophesied seed of the woman to the consummation of all things in Him, denotes that every aspect of our salvation rests upon the sufficiency and supremacy of Jesus. Therefore, the proclamation of the gospel must always focus on Christ as the only source of hope and life.

Q: Why is Christ's sufficiency important for Christians?

Christ's sufficiency is crucial for Christians as it assures them that He meets all their needs for salvation and sanctification. The importance of Christ's sufficiency for Christians cannot be overstated. Believers are called to understand that Christ is all they need for every aspect of their lives, including righteousness, redemption, and spiritual strength. As stated in 1 Corinthians 1:30, Christ has become for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. This means that in Christ, we find everything necessary to stand before God without fear. Moreover, it liberates Christians from reliance on their works or personal merits, emphasizing that salvation is solely by grace through faith in Him. In times of trouble, believers can rest assured in the fact that they need not seek fulfillment outside of Him.

Q: What does it mean that Christ is our righteousness?

It means that through faith in Christ, His righteousness is credited to believers, allowing them to stand justified before God. The concept of Christ being our righteousness is foundational in Reformed theology. It refers to the imputation of Christ's perfect righteousness to believers, as explained in 2 Corinthians 5:21, which states that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. This means that our standing before God does not rely on our own merit or works, which are fundamentally flawed, but is entirely based on the sinless life and sacrificial death of Christ. This imputed righteousness confirms that believers are justified not by their own efforts but by faith in the finished work of Christ.

Let's open our Bibles today to
the book of Colossians. I'm going to read two verses
from Colossians chapter 3. Now here's my subject. Jesus
Christ is all. Jesus Christ is all. Now listen to the scripture,
Colossians 3 verse 10. Paul says, put on the new man.
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
the new man. Where there's neither Greek nor
Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all and in all. Christ is all. Now the word all in reference
Christ is used many times in the scripture. Let me read you
just a few. Now listen to these scriptures. Paul declares that
Jesus Christ is all and in all. In Colossians 1, back just a
little bit from that scripture I just read, he says, By Him
were all things created. All things. And again, By Him
all things consist or are held together. By Him not only were
all things created, But all things in heaven and earth and under
the earth in the skies and the heavens in the firmament are
held together. And in all things he has the
preeminence. And then in Ephesians 1 Paul
says this, God hath put all things under his feet. And he says he
is the head over all things in the church. And he says he filleth
Jesus Christ filling all in all. Now, one thing is clear from
these Scriptures, Jesus Christ is all and in all. Now, my question
is, what does that mean? What does it mean, Jesus Christ
is all and in all? Can I help you to understand
what the Scriptures are saying when we read, Jesus Christ is
all? Charles Spurgeon tells a story
about a farm boy, a man, 25 or 30 years of age, who was converted. His name was Jack. And he was
brought before the elders and the deacons of the church in
the community for questioning before they were willing to accept
him as a member of the church. And they brought poor Jack, the
farm boy, who had recently been converted, in front of these
elders and deacons, many of them And the first elder asked him
this question. He said, well, what is your experience?
And Jack replied, I have no experience. I'm just a poor sinner and nothing
at all. But Jesus Christ is my all and
in all. And one of the other elders asked
him, said, well, Jack, what's your creed? He said, I don't
even know what the word creed means, but I do know that I'm
a poor sinner. and nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ is my all and in all. And one of the other men asked
him, well, Jack, what's your intention? What are your future
intentions? What do you hope to do and to
be? He said, I don't know, but I do know this. I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all and in all. Now there may be those who are
offended by the simplicity of this statement. I'm a poor sinner
and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all and in all. And someone may be offended by
the simplicity of it, but I tell you this, it'd be difficult to
improve upon it. And Paul's one fear for the church
was this, expressed in 2 Corinthians 11, 4. He said, I fear, lest
Satan deceive you like he did our mother Eve. and corrupt you
from the what? From the simplicity of Jesus
Christ, from the simplicity and singleness of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is all. He's all in salvation. He's all
in the Bible. He's all in redemption. He's
all in eternal life. He's all in glory. He's all in
the resurrection. He's all our righteousness. He's
all our sanctification. He's all our wisdom. He's all
our hope. He's all our life. He said, I'm
the way, the truth, and the light. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Christ Jesus is all. Now, let
me give you an outline that Bishop J.C. Rowe preached on years ago
concerning this text, Christ Jesus is all and in all. There
was a time when this world as we know it had no being. There was no world. There were
no seas. There's no earth. There were
no trees. There were no people. This world as we know it now
didn't exist. Well, if Jesus Christ is all
and in all, where was He then? Well, the Word tells us, in the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. That's where
He was, with God, in the beginning. He not only was with God, but
He was God. He said, I and the Father are
one. And he shared the glory of God. For he prayed in John
17, glorify me with the glory which I had with thee before
the world was. And not only that, but he was
the delight of heaven. He said in Proverbs 8, I was
daily his delight. Before he ever formed the dry
land or the seas, I was daily his delight. Tell you something
else. He was the surety of the everlasting covenant. Before
there was a world, before there was a man, before there was a
center, before there was a fall, Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. There was a time when
this world, as we know it now, did not exist. Yet Christ Jesus
did. And at that time, as now, He
was all. All right, there was a time when
this world was created. There was a time when everything
was created, spoken by the Word of God out of nothing. We know
that the worlds were created by the Word of God. And the world
and all the things we know now were created out of nothing. If Jesus Christ is all, where
was He then? In that time of creation, in
that time when God brought everything into being. Now, if He's all,
where was He then? Well, He was the Word. by which
all things were made. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things
were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that
was made." In Colossians 1.15, the Scripture says He's the image. He's the expressed image. He's
the exact image. He's the revelation. He's the
manifestation of the invisible God. No man has seen God at any
time. The Son declares Him. No man
knoweth the Father but the Son, He to whom the Son will reveal
Him. So He is the express, exact image of the invisible God. Listen,
Jesus Christ is the manifestation of God, and by Him were all things
created that are in heaven, that are in the earth, visible and
invisible he is before all things and by him all things were created
and by him all things were held together and the earth is his
That's right. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof The world and all they that dwell therein are
his he made man in his image after his likeness And it all
belongs to him There was a time when it was no world Jesus Christ
was all. There was a time when the world
was created. In that creation, He's all. He made man in His
image, breathed into him the breath of life. He became a living
soul. It's His, and the fullness thereof. All right, thirdly,
there was a time when this world, which He created according to
His will and His purpose, unknown to us, but known to Him, There
was a time when this world came under the attack of Satan and
evil and sin. And the woman was deceived, and
the man whom God made fell. And sin and death and darkness
came upon man and came upon creation. And the world was plunged into
disease and darkness, death and sin. Now, if Jesus Christ is
all, Where was he in that dreadful day? Where was he in that day
of sin, in that day of death, in that day of darkness? I'll
tell you. After the fall, God Almighty spoke to the woman who
was deceived. And God said of the woman, of
the woman, I will bring forth a seed. It'll be the seed, that
seed will be the seed of woman. the seed of the virgin, I'll
bring forth a seed from woman that will redeem sinners. In the fullness of time, God
will send forth His Son made of a woman, made under the law
to redeem them that were fallen under the law and were under
the curse of the law. God said that right there in
that hour there will be a woman's seed, a virgin's son. He said,
Behold, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. A virgin shall
be with child, and that son will be called Emmanuel, God Almighty
with us. To the serpent, God said, I'll
put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her
seed. You're going to bruise his heel.
That's the lower part of this whole body. It'll be a bruising
of the heel. It'll be a bruising of his body
on that cross. But that woman's seed is going
to crush your power. He'll crush your head. He'll
literally completely destroy you and your kingdom. That's
what God said to the serpent, to Satan. You're in for destruction. That woman's seed, who will redeem
her, will destroy you. And then to the man, God spoke
and said, you're going to toil and work, labor of your brow,
earn your bread, and then you're going to die. And you're going
to return to the dust from which you came. But by the seed of
woman, by that woman's seed, that Emmanuel, that God with
us, that holy thing, I'll give you life again. I'll raise you
from the dust to life everlasting. And then he said, there'll be
a new heaven and a new earth someday wherein dwelleth righteousness
All of that was right in that moment. In that critical hour
of sin and darkness and death, God spoke, and the words He spoke,
the words were Jesus Christ, seed of woman, Jesus Christ,
destroyer of Satan, Jesus Christ, restorer to life, Jesus Christ,
redeemer of sinners, Jesus Christ, new heaven, new earth, Jesus
Christ, Covenant, Purity, Lamb, Redeemer, Jesus Christ. It has
a whole message of the following. Well, there'll be a restoration.
All right, fourthly, there's the gospel of salvation which
God has given to sinners. The gospel of His mercy, like
He said, I will be merciful, I will be gracious. But God must
be merciful and gracious in a way consistent with His character.
Now, you can't have a God that's not holy. You can't have a God
that's not righteous. You can't have a God that's not
just. God is love, and God is merciful, and God is gracious,
but God is truth, and God is holy, and God is righteous. And
if He shows love, it's got to be consistent with His justice.
If He reveals His grace, it's got to be consistent with His
righteousness. Mercy and truth have got to meet together. Righteousness
and peace have got to be manifested. And so there's a gospel of salvation,
the good news of redemption by His grace through a substitute. If Jesus Christ is our hope,
where is He in that gospel? My friends, He is that gospel. That's what Paul said. Paul said
when he started, when he wrote the book of Romans, when he wrote
the first word of the book of Romans, he said, I'm Paul. He's
writing to the church at Rome. He said, this letter's from Paul.
And I'm a servant. I'm a bond slave of Jesus Christ.
And I'm called to be an apostle. And I'm separated to the gospel
of God concerning His Son. That's what the gospel's all
about. The gospel hasn't got anything to do with what you
do or what I do or what anybody else does. It has to do with
who He is, who Christ is, what He did in His life and death,
where He is now. and why he came. That's what
the gospel has to do with him. There are a lot of people who
talk about the gospel who never preach the gospel. That's right. There are a lot of people who
talk about the gospel who never preach it. If you preach the
gospel, you have to preach Christ from point one to point ten,
if there are ten points, from point one to point three, or
if you've got six points, from point one to point six. If it's
gospel, it has to stay on Christ. It has to be of Christ. It has
to be concerning Christ. It has to glorify Christ. It
has to point men to Christ. It has to have all of its blessings
in Christ. He is the gospel. Are you a sinner? He came to save sinners. Are
you in darkness? He's the only light. Are you
lost? He came to seek and to save the
lost. Are you hungry? He's the bread. Are you thirsty?
He's the water. Are you weary? Come unto me.
He said, I'll give you rest. Are you poor? He's the riches
of God's grace. Are you under trial? He's our
peace. Are you weak? He's our strength. Are you dying?
He's our life. Are you in the grave? Because
I live, you live. Oh, if I could, that's the essence
of this whole thing. He is the gospel. We use that
word gospel kind of carelessly in this day. I hear people talk
about, we're going to have a gospel scene. No, you're not. We're
going to hear a gospel quartet. No, you're not. The gospel is
Christ. When you hear Christ, you hear
the gospel. If you don't hear Christ, you're
not hearing any gospel. It can be as religious as you
please, but unless it glorifies Christ, exalts Christ, magnifies
Christ, presents Christ, and shuts men up to Christ, it is
not the gospel. The gospel is concerning His
Son. It has to do with His person
and His work. It's all about Christ. Now, I
want you to listen carefully to me. I want you to listen real
carefully, and I want you to hear what I'm about to say, and
I want you to remember what I'm about to say. It applies to all
preachers and people in the pulpit or in the pew or wherever, religious
people or otherwise. There's some bad news and good
news. I want to talk a few minutes about the bad news and the good
news. It has to do with this gospel that I'm preaching, the
bad news and good news. Now, seven things I want you
to remember. Now, you listen carefully. Here are seven important
things. Here's the bad news. There's
a holy God that I cannot please. That's right. There's a holy
God that you and I can never please. In the flesh, no man
can please God. Is that not what Scripture says?
Impossible to please God. in the flesh. So what am I going
to do? Well, here's the good news. Christ,
our Redeemer and substitute, did please God. As our head,
as our representative, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh,
made of a woman, made under the law, representing us, He did
please God as our substitute. In fact, God's, the Father spoke
from heaven, said, This is my Son in whom I'm well pleased. God never had any pleasure in
burnt offerings and sacrifices, but he had pleasure in Christ.
So if I'm in him, I'm in God's good pleasure. Secondly, there's
a holy law that I can't keep. I had a fellow say to me one
time, well, the Ten Commandments are enough religion for me. I
said, they're too much religion for me. He said, what do you
mean? I said, do you keep them? He said, well, it does get hard,
doesn't it? I said, it's impossible. Impossible. The Ten Commandments have not
only a fleshly application, they have a spiritual application.
Christ said, you've heard it said by them of old times, thou
shalt not kill. I say unto you, to hate is to
be guilty of murder. You've heard it said by them
of old times, thou shalt not commit adultery. Christ said,
I say unto you, to lust is to be guilty already. To bear false
witness is to lie. To be dissatisfied with what
you have is to covet. And to offend in one point of
the law is to be guilty of the whole law. And the Scripture
said, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do them. It's not enough to
admire the law. It's not enough to approve of
the law. We're required to obey it in every jot and tittle, in
imagination, thought, word, and deed, and walk and talk. That's
bad news, isn't it? Well, sure it's bad news, but
here's the good news. Christ did obey the law. He said, I
didn't come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill it. And in
the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem us from the curse of the law.
He kept it. That's good news. So if you're
in Christ, you have a purpose. You've kept the law. Then thirdly,
there's a righteousness I can't produce. God requires a perfect
holiness. Who shall stand in His presence?
Who shall ascend into heaven? Who shall stand in His presence? This goes on all the time. Somebody
will die and the newspaper comes out next day and say, well, he's
in heaven. Now hold on a minute. I hope he is. But the Scripture
says, Who shall ascend into heaven? Who shall stand in His holy presence? Who? The answer comes. He that hath clean hands, a pure
heart, a pure heart, who has never lifted up his soul to vanity,
who has never sworn deceitfully, exaggerated, or lied. Oh, maybe
he's not in heaven. You're right. Maybe he's not. There's a good possibility that
he's not, unless he can fulfill that righteousness. Well, you
say, nobody can. That's what I'm saying. That's
the bad news. But I have some good news. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to them who believe. That's what
the gospel says, that he came to give us that righteousness
that heaven requires, that we can't produce, that God demands,
that we must have. You got a perfect righteousness? Well, I'm not bad as some people.
That's not what I asked. You got a perfect righteousness?
Well, there are a lot of things I haven't done. That's not what
I asked. Have you got a perfect righteousness? Christ said, except
your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the best man
on earth, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Well,
let me tell you, mine does. And it's not mine, it's His.
He did it. He worked it out. He fulfilled
it. I'm resting in Him, trusting in Him, looking to Him. You can,
too, if you will. And then fourthly, here's the
bad news. There's sin that I can't put away. All that's sinning
comes short of the glory of God, and the soul that's sinning is
going to die. What are we going to do? We've got sin to account
for, sin bringeth forth death." What are we going to do? Well,
here's the good news. God committed His love toward
us in the while we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. He died just
for the unjust to bring us to God. He was wounded for our sins,
our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. By His stripes we're healed.
What are we going to do? Look to Christ. He's all. He's all. He's all our wisdom,
our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, our holiness.
He's all. It's found in Him. The fifth
thing, there's a grave from which I can't escape. You're going
to die. I'm going to die. We're going
to be buried. We're going to go back to the dust from which
we came. I asked you a question. If a man dies, shall he live
again? Why don't you answer that? Shall
he live again? What can you do about it? What
can I do about it? What can mama do about it? What
can dad do about it? What can a church do about it?
Nothing. There's only one who has the
answer, the one who arose. The one who arose, the first
fruits of them that slept. The one who has the power over
death, hell, and the grave. The one who said he is able,
he is able to raise up our bodies. Who is? Jesus Christ. Now, you do what you want to
with that. I'm telling you what the Scripture says. You're bound
for a six-foot grave, and if there's no Jesus Christ, there's
no way out. Now, that's just all there is
to it. If He doesn't have the power to bring me out, I'm going
to stay there. There's a judgment before which I can't stand. That's
the sixth thing. I can't pass the test. appointed
unto men wants to die after that judgment and men are going to
give an account of the things that are written in the books
and every secret thing shall be brought to light everything
whispered in the darkness shall be shattered from the housetop.
You don't want that do you? No. But you know what you're
going to do about it. Not anything you can do about
it unless you have someone who can and I know one who can. If any man sin we have an advocate
with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous, and there's one
mediator between God and man, and that's the man, Christ Jesus.
And there's therefore now no condemnation to them who are
in Christ. He's all. He's all. He's all. And then there's a
heaven, there's eternal glory, and I, how am I going to enter
into that place? Everybody talking about heaven
You're not going there. That's what Christ said. Everybody
says to me, Lord, Lord, shall not enter the kingdom of God.
Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God. You know
who's going to be in heaven? Everybody who's like Christ.
And that's what God has determined to do for all his people. It
predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son. God's
Son. Now then, let me give you this
in closing. If Christ is all, then the loss of anything in
this world is really no loss at all, is it? If Christ is all,
then like Jacob of old, I can say to Esau and all the rest
of them, I have everything. If Jesus Christ is all, then
the honors and the applause and the profits of this world won't
interest me. It can't add a thing to me. I
have enough. I have all. What are you going
to add to me? What can you take away from me?
Christ is all. If Christ is all, when death
comes, like the Apostle Paul, I'll rejoice to be absent from
this body and to be present with all. Christ, all in all. Now, if you want this message,
you write to me. The address will be given to
you on the screen. Send $2. That's what it takes
us to send it to you. As for the message, Christ is
all. Jesus Christ is all. There'll be another message on
the back of the tape, which I'll preach next Lord's Day. Until
next week, God bless you, everyone.

Jesus Christ Is All

What does the Bible say about Jesus being all in all?

How do we know that Jesus is central to the gospel?

Why is Christ's sufficiency important for Christians?

What does it mean that Christ is our righteousness?

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Jesus Christ Is All

What does the Bible say about Jesus being all in all?

How do we know that Jesus is central to the gospel?

Why is Christ's sufficiency important for Christians?

What does it mean that Christ is our righteousness?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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