I wish to read again one verse
of scripture from Colossians 3, the scripture which Brother
Jay read a moment ago, a verse that I plan to use as a text. Colossians 3, 11. Now, I've preached
from this text several times, and with your patience and long-suffering,
I plan to preach from it again and again and again because it's
the very sum and substance and essence of the gospel. It's the
very sum, substance, and essence of our hope and of the redemptive
glory of our God. Colossians 3, 11, where there's
neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian
Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all. Christ is all and in all. Now, he who longs to know the
living God, David said, as the heart panteth for the water brook,
so thirsteth my soul. for the living God. I long to
know the true and living God, not a God, some God, any God,
but the living God. He who longs to know the living
God will make no progress in that quest until he understands
that in the knowledge of God, Christ is all. And that's so. And he who seeks the forgiveness
of his sins and the justification of his soul before God will make
no progress, none whatsoever, in this direction until he knows
that in the forgiveness of sin and the justification of the
soul that Christ is all. Christ is all. And he who would
be holy, he who would be sanctified in
God's presence, if your ambition is to be known as a holy man
in the eyes of other men, that's different. If your concern is
to be sanctified and pious and righteous as far as reputation
and character and others are concerned, that's not what I'm
talking about. But he who would be holy and
righteous in God's before his throne, in the searchlight of
his law, will make no progress toward that goal until he realizes
that as in the knowledge of God, as in the forgiveness of sins,
so in sanctification, Christ is all. Christ is all. And he who would live forever in the glory of that eternal
kingdom will make no progress as far as that goal and quest
and desire is concerned until he knows that in the resurrection
and the life, Christ is all. So you see, this is the sum and
essence and substance of our hope, of our gospel, and of what
we call Christianity, the last line of verse 11, Colossians
3, Christ is all and in all. Where there is neither Jew nor
Greek, white nor black, rich nor poor, bond nor free, male
nor female, but Christ is all. I want you to see three things,
four things in all. Number one, Christ is all in
the eternal purpose of God Almighty, in God's counsel, in God's purpose,
in God's eternal plan for the universe, for the earth, for
man, for his future kingdom. In that, Jesus Christ is all. Now, my friends, there was a
time when this world did not exist, when things as we know
them now had no existence. The stars were not there and
did not shine. The moon was not there. The sun
was not there. This world was not here. The
mountains did not rise into the sky, nor were there any deserts. The sun did not shine. The rivers
and seas did not appear, and man was a creature unknown. I
know it's difficult for us to imagine such a time, but there
was a time, because there was a time when God created the heavens
and the earth. And God created the sun and the
moon and the stars. That's what the scripture says.
There was a time when these things did not exist. When there was
only God. When that Jesus Christ is all. And that's what I said. Jesus
Christ is all. That's what Paul is saying here.
He's all. If Christ is all, where was he then? When there were no heavens and
there was no earth. When there were no mountains
and valleys and seas and trees and there was no creature as
we know man today. If Christ is all, where was he
then? Listen to the Word. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Turn to John
17. The 17th chapter of John. I want you to look at this, verse
5, if you will. John 17, verse 5. You know from that this is the prayer of our
Lord, the priestly prayer of our Lord. This is the Savior
talking to the Father. This is, as one writer said,
holy ground. Verse 5, John 17, And now, O
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory
which I had with thee before the world was. Look at verse
24. Father, I will that they also
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world." Then in Ephesians 1 it
says that believers were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. So if you can, in your mind and
imagination, go back to the time when there were no heavens and
no earth, nothing but God. Christ was all then. Christ was
all then. And then there was a time when
the earth was created in its present form. There was a time
when God said, let there be light, and God separated the light from
the darkness, and let the dry land appear, and the seas, and
then the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the fields, and
the fish of the sea, and all these things were made. And after
that, man was made and put in the Garden of Eden. If Christ
is all, where was he then? Turn to Colossians 1. While you're
turning, listen to this scripture. In Colossians chapter 1, but
listen to this one, "...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." And then
Colossians chapter 1, verse 16, "...for by him," where 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, and he is before
all things, and by him they consist. Christ is all. Even gravity was created by Christ. Even the season were created
by Christ. Even the angels and the devils,
the demons, Lucifer, they were not created in evil, they were
created righteous. They failed, but they were made
by Christ. The atoms were created by Christ.
Everything, that's what it's saying here, all things in heaven
or earth, visible and invisible, they were created by Christ.
And by Him all these things, this is what the scripture is
saying, by Him these things exist, consist. By Him these things
are held together as they are. Everything is held together by
His power in Him. God's not... He is in the world, but this
is not what we're saying. The world is in God, James. You
don't bring God into this house. This house is in God. All things
are in Christ. By Him they exist. By Him they
continue. He made all things. He's omnipotent,
omniscient, omnipresent. There's nowhere He's not. If
I ascend into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell,
thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there thy hand
shall hold me. The heathen may put their God
in a shrine somewhere, and the Catholics may put their God on
a pedestal with a halo around their head, but our God can't
be put anywhere. He holdeth the nations as a drop
in the bucket. The heavens won't contain him.
He said to the prophet of old, will you build me a house? How
can you build God a house? God doesn't dwell in houses.
God made in a special way manifest his presence in a house and his
presence in a particular situation and his presence at a particular
season, but our God is sovereign, omnipotent, immutable, infinite,
invisible. He's a spirit. Where was Christ? Turn to Hebrews 1, if you will,
Hebrews chapter 1. He's talking of Christ in verse
8, unto the Son, he said. The Father said to the Son, Hebrews
1.8, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness,
is a scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness.
Verse 10, And thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations
of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thine hands.
They shall perish, but thou remainest. They shall act old as a garment. And as a vesture shalt thou fold
them up, and they shall be changed, but thou art the same. Thy years
shall never fail. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. That's Christ. Christ. That's Christ. You better get the right knowledge
of who Jesus Christ is. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Jesus Christ is the Savior, not
a Jesus, not some idea of Jesus, but the Jesus Christ who's revealed
in this book. He's got some attributes and
characteristics and qualities that are qualities only manifested
in God. Christ is all. There was a day,
there was a day when sin entered this world, Our Lord made this world perfect.
Now, you're going to do some studying and encounter some ideas
about this, and they're good ideas. They're really two creations. Creation is in two stages. And we'll know more about this,
we know in part now, but there seems to me to be a time period
between Genesis 1-1 and Genesis 1-2. In the beginning, God created
the heavens and the earth, and the earth became without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the
Spirit of God moved upon the waters. God never made anything
without form and void. It seems to me, and it seems
that the Word teaches this, and we can account for the earth
being, as some people say, millions of years old. It may be. Man's
not that old, but the earth may be. And I'm sure it is. A thousand
years with God a day, a day a thousand years. What's time with God?
But there seems to me that God created the heavens and the earth.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And
the earth was inhabited. The earth was inhabited by Lucifer,
who seems to me to be the king of the earth. Who seems to me
to have the authority in in the air and on the earth. And there
were many angels, many angels and creatures of God, powerful,
beautiful creatures of God. Lucifer being one of the leaders,
Michael, Gabriel, whom we know by name. But Isaiah tells us
about this mighty king, this mighty prince, this mighty angel
falling, leading a rebellion, leading a rebellion against God.
You know, God said to Adam, multiply and replenish the earth. You
can't replenish an earth that's never been inhabited. He replenished
it, he said to him. There was something here before
Adam. Someone here before Adam. Because Adam and Eve were instructed
to replenish this earth. And I barely believe that when
Satan, not Satan then, but Lucifer and these great, beautiful, heavenly
beings inhabited heaven and earth, And Satan led a rebellion against
God. Some say a third of the angelic
host. And they failed. I saw Satan,
Christ said, fall as lightning from heaven. And this earth,
which was his capital, his domain, the place where he was prince
and king, was shattered with him. It became darkness and void. the consequences of sin, the
consequences of Satan's fall, and how long it was here in darkness
and water and void, I don't know. But one day God said, let there
be light, and light came. And God recreated this earth
and replenished this earth. But, as always, the creature,
the creature fails. the creature falls, the creature
under any environment, and I know our leaders mean well, they're
going to clean up the slums, but if you don't get the slum
out of a man's heart, you needn't clean up his environment, because
you put him in the finest place in the world, he'll turn it into
a slum tomorrow. The creature has fallen, regardless
of the environment, regardless of the circumstances, regardless
of the surroundings. Satan had, Lucifer had perfect
surroundings, he fell. Adam had holy surroundings, and
he fell. Noah had powerful surroundings,
and he fell. David had almost perfect, as
far as natural men are concerned, surroundings, and he fell. Solomon
had more wisdom than any man, and he fell. Judas was a disciple,
and he fell. Peter was a believer, and he
fell. and take you on and on and on
and on. So man fell. There was a time when sin came
into this world. Darkness again came to this earth. The first time when Satan fell,
when Lucifer fell, there was no announcement of good news. There was no redemptive announcement.
But over here in Genesis 3.15, if Christ is all, when man fell,
where was Christ then? Where was Christ then? All right,
when Lucifer fell, there was no announcement of a Redeemer,
because Christ took not on himself the nature of angels, but the
seed of Abraham, the seed of man, the nature of man. And Genesis 3, 15, And I will
put enmity between thee, talking to Satan, and the woman, between
thy seed and her seed, it shall bruise thy head. Thou shalt bruise
his heel." Any Bible student, scholar, reader anywhere will
tell you that's the first sermon of the gospel preached in the
Garden of Eden. The woman seed, the virgin seed,
shall come and destroy the power of Satan, crush his government,
crush his head, crush his power, or he'll bruise the heel of that
servant of that seed of woman, of that virgin son, but in that
day of darkness covering this earth, as it did the first time,
there was a ray of light, and that light was Christ. In this
world of death, as it was the first time, but different in
that there was an announcement of life, in this world that had
fallen again under the new creation, under the man, There was an announcement of
hope. I'm going to have a people. I'm
not going to commit to chains of darkness under the day of
judgment, man, like I did the angels, the fallen angels. God
says, I'm going to have a people, and they're going to be like
my son. They're going to be like my son because my son will come
and redeem them. And there was a time, 4,000 years
later, when this earth, this world was buried in religious
ignorance. In ceremonial ignorance, in superstitious
ignorance, in traditional ignorance, the world by wisdom knew not
God. The so-called temple of God was
a house of thieves. If Christ is all, where was he
then? He was born in Bethlehem's manger and working in Nazareth's
carpenter shop and walking the streets of Judea and the seashore
of Galilee. For God, it pleased God in the
fullness of time to send into this world His Son, made of a
woman, made under that law, made in the likeness of sinful flesh,
took on Himself, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, became
a man like Adam. Man fell, and God sent His Son
in the nature of man, in the likeness of sinful flesh, born
of a woman, made of a woman, made under the law. to redeem them that were born
under the law. Here's the answer. Here he is, Christ is all. Here,
focus your attention. Here's the light, here's the
life, here's the truth, here's redemption, it's Christ, he's
all. He's all. He lived in righteousness
and knew no sin. He died in shame bearing our
transgressions He arose in victory without sin. He reigns in glory,
interceding for sinners as the one mediator. And he waits to
come again, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
And God makes a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. And there shall never be another
fall. Why? Because Christ is all. Christ is all. We're in God.
We shall be like him. We shall see him as he is and
we shall be like him. We shall be God himself. That's
right. There's a time coming when this
world shall end. There'll be a new heaven and
a new earth. All sin and evil and opponents of righteousness
in God will be cast into everlasting darkness and a great gap between,
separating them so that never can they ever again Do harm or
evil to God's creation and God's people. If Christ is all, where
will he be then? God has exalted him and given
him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
Christ, every knee will bow in heaven, earth, and under the
earth, and they shall confess that he is Lord. Lord. He's all. If you think little
of Christ, you don't know God. Because with the Eternal Father,
Christ is all. He that honoreth the Son, honoreth
the Father. And he that honoreth not the
Son, honoreth not the Father that sent him. If you think it's
enough, now listen to me, my friend, if men think it's enough
to give Jesus Christ a little respect, by that they take their hat off
when they come in a church. And they act real pious and religious
when they go to a funeral. Or they write out a check for
a hundred dollars and send it to the church once a year, like
our good governor did recently, the other one. If you think it's
enough to give a little reverence to Jesus Christ, a little respect,
a little honor, you don't even know the God of glory. That's
right. Because in the eternal counsels,
in creation, in redemption, in judgment, in restitution, in
eternal resurrection, Jesus Christ is everything! He's all and in
all. He's all. Now I must hurry. Christ, you see this book? It
says it's the Bible. It's God's Word. In this Bible,
Christ is all. That's right. In this Bible,
in every part of the Bible, Christ is found. In the beginning, Christ
is found in promise. I'll put enmity between thee
and the woman. Moses said, God will raise up a prophet like
unto me from among the brethren, him you shall hear. In promise. In the next stages of it, Christ
is given in prophecy. In the next stages of it, Christ
is given in picture and type. Symbol. Ceremony. And back here in Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John, Christ is in person and power. But Christ is the
only key that unlocks the treasures of this book. If this book to
you is nothing but proverbial sayings and moral teachings,
you've missed the message of this book. This book is a person.
the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to Luke 24, if you will. Luke 24, verse 44 through 46. Listen to this. Luke 24, 44.
This Bible, this book, is a book of redemption in Christ. Christ
is all in the Bible, and he said to them, verse 44, Luke 24, these
are the words which I have spoken to you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses, in the prophets, in the Psalms concerning me. And then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behooved 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, and you are witnesses of these things.
That's the key of the scriptures. Christ. Ye search the scriptures,
they are they which testify of me. When Abel brought that lamb,
his brother brought the other fruit of the field, or whatever
it was, and Abel brought the first thing of the flock. To
whom do you think Abel looked? What was Abel picturing? Christ. Christ is the Lamb of God. Enoch. Enoch, who was translated. Turn
to Jude, verse 14. Let me show you something about
this man, Enoch. Of whom did he speak? In Jude,
verse 14 and 15. Listen to this. It says, And
Enoch, the seventh from Adam. That's a long time ago. prophesied of thee, saying, Behold,
the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints." Who's that? That's
Christ. That's Christ. When Abraham walked
up on that mountain with his son Isaac, and Isaac said, Father,
here's the fire, here's the wood, where's the lamb? He said, My
son, God will provide himself a lamb. Of whom did he speak? Of Christ. The eunuch said to Philip, Of
whom does the prophet speak, himself or some other man? He
began at that scripture and preached Christ. When Jacob lay dying
and said to his son, Listen to me, the scepter shall not depart
from Judah till Shallow comes. Who is he talking about? That
old blind dying Jacob lying there, prophesying, talking to his sons,
Judah my son, twelve tribes, one tribe, Judah, Judah! The scepter shall not depart
from Judah till the King of Peace comes, shallow, at Christ, at
Christ. The Israelites put blood on a
door down in Egypt and God passed over and judgment didn't fall
where the blood was on the door. What's that all about? My friend,
that's Christ. Moses smote a rock in the wilderness
and a people sitting around there thirsting, dying in a famine-infested
desert and clear, cool, refreshing, thirst-quenching water came out.
Who is that rock? That's Christ! The manna fell from heaven daily
and the people went out and gathered up bread from heaven. Who is
that bread? That's Christ. The people were
bitten by fiery serpents because of their murmuring and complaining
and quarreling and Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness
and they looked to him and were healed. Who is that serpent?
That's Christ. That tabernacle where God met
man and man met God, that tabernacle is Christ who tabernacled among
us. in human flesh. That high priest
who went once a year into the Holy of Holies with the blood
of atonement, that's Christ. The mercy seat on which the blood
was put was Christ. The incense that burned 24 hours
a day, 365 days a year is the prayers of Christ. The table
of showbread is Christ. The candlestick, the eternal
light, seven candlesticks is Christ. I don't know how we,
how do preachers miss that? I don't know how they miss it.
I pray God's mercy on them. David typified Christ. They said,
who is Christ? And they said, the son of David.
And our Lord said, how come David called him Lord? It was Christ
of whom the prophets spoke from Isaiah to Malachi. And yet we'll
try to fascinate our children with stories of an ark and not
show them how that ark is Christ. We fascinate them with a story
of a king called David who lived in honor and was a gallant soldier
and who fought the battles of the Lord, not showing to those
young children that David is a type of Christ who is the son
of David. Why don't we do that? You can't
tell what you don't know any more than you can come back from
where you hadn't been. I ask you, what's the Bible to you?
Is it a book of good moral precepts and sound advice and proverbial
saying? Or is the Bible the Word of God
in which you found Christ? If you've not found Christ, you've
used your Bible to very little purpose. It's no wonder men have
no interest in the Bible. They don't have the key. You
sure can't have much interest looking at a box. There may be
in that box gold and silver and precious stones and treasures
and maps untold, but if you don't have the key, you don't appreciate
the wood too much. You get tired of playing with
that box after a while, and you lay it aside. But if you ever
get the key and open that box, and all those precious treasures
flow out into your hands, you keep on opening it. You keep
on getting Christ the key and opening the word, Christ the
key and opening Jeremiah, Christ the key and opening the psalm.
Christ is the Bible. He's all, and then in third place
quickly, Christ is all in the redemption of a sinner. Now I
don't want to be misunderstood here. I hold as strongly as any
man living in the election of the Father. I can't explain the
Trinity, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, but I'd be a fool to deny it.
I'd be a fool to deny something because I can't explain it anyway.
I hope I don't ever get that smart, that I think in order
to believe something I've got to understand it. Our Lord said,
Blessed, O blessed are they that have never seen, and yet have
believed. We walk not by sight, but by faith. I just know there's
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's what Scripture says. God
said, Let us make man in our image. And you may compare that
with soul, spirit, and body, any way you want to. It doesn't
matter. I just know there's a Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
And they're in perfect agreement, the Father chose us, the Father
purposed all things, the Father made a covenant with the Son,
the Father elected a people, this word says so. Our Lord said,
all that my Father giveth me shall come to me. He said, I'll
pray the Father and he'll send the comfort of the Holy Spirit
to you. When he was baptized it says,
The Lord Jesus was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended and
the Father said, the three that bear record in heaven, the Father,
the Word, and the Spirit. I could give you hundreds of
scriptures, but a believer just needs one. I hold to the election
of the Father and the sanctification of the Spirit as perfect harmony
in the blessed Trinity and the salvation of a sinner. But my
friend, it is the purpose of the blessed Trinity that Jesus
Christ be exalted in the salvation of a sinner. That's the purpose
of the Father. He said no man can come to the
Father but by need. Now that's the way it is. The Blessed Trinity has purposed
that the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, be all in the redemption
of a sinner. That's right. In Colossians 1.18,
let's look at that again. And people say, well, I'm going
to worship the Father. I don't know anything about Jesus
Christ. You'll never know anything about
the Father if you don't know anything about Christ. And people are running
around talking about, give us the Spirit, the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of Love, the Spirit of Peace,
the Spirit of Joy, the Spirit of this, that, and the other.
You'll get your false spirit if you don't know Christ. You'll
get your spirit all right, but it won't be the Spirit of Christ.
And it may be a spirit of love. Because Satan changes himself
into an angel of light and his messengers into ministers of
righteousness. He doesn't care what you have
as long as you don't have Christ. He doesn't care what you know
as long as you don't know Christ. He doesn't care how moral you
are as long as it's your own self-righteousness and not the
righteousness of Christ. He doesn't care. Because you're
caught in a snare, you're caught in a prison, you're caught in
a trap, you're caught in his purpose and program if you do
not know the Son of God. For if the Son shall make you
free, you shall be free indeed. It's Christ that sets men free.
Christ is all. Let's look at Colossians 1 verse
18. He's the head of the body, the
church. Christ is the head. He is the
beginning. He's the firstborn from the dead.
That in all things He might have preeminence. That is the purpose
of the Father. For it pleased the Father! It
pleased the Father! And I accept this, and we all
better, that in Him should all fullness dwell. I don't deny
the election of the Father. I don't deny the purpose and
counsels of the Father. I don't deny the sanctification
of the Spirit. I don't deny the existence and
the glory of the Father and the Holy Spirit. But it pleased the
Father! that in Christ should all fullness
dwell. It pleased the Father that he
might have the preeminence, and that's what we'd better give,
that's the one to whom we'd better give the preeminence, is Christ.
Let's preach Christ, let's pray Christ, let's think Christ, let's
witness Christ, let's praise Christ, let's glorify Christ,
because the Father said that's what pleases him. That's what
pleases him. He's all in redemption. Turn
to 1 Corinthians, because that's the Father's will. You can't
please the Father without glorifying the Son. You just can't do it,
because that's what pleases the Father. And look at 1 Corinthians
1.30, but of Him, of God, of the Father, are you in Christ.
But of the Father are you in Christ, Jesus, who of God is
made unto us. Christ is made unto us wisdom.
No man knoweth the Father, but the Son, he to whom the Son will
reveal him." Wisdom. Christ is made unto us righteousness,
his righteousness, perfect righteousness through his obedience. He's made
unto us sanctification. That's holiness without which
no man will see the Lord. Sanctification. Christ is our
sanctification. He's our holiness. He's our robe
of righteousness. He's our perfection. He's our
standing. You see that? Christ is. My friends,
I wouldn't offend you for the world, but let's just be honest,
let's be truthful. No prayer or time of praise or time of piety
or no gift or no work, nothing we've ever thought, said, or
done is holy enough to please God. Did you know that? I don't
care how good in the estimation of men it is. I don't care how
good in your estimation it is. In the flesh no man can please
God. In the flesh dwelleth no good thing. You can't do anything. Now listen to this. You can do
things and say things and think things that are better than some
things, and are better than some men, and are better than you
used to think, say, and do. But you've all sinned and come
short of His glory. And you see, anything we think,
say, or do is below His glory. And therefore, Jay, he can't
accept it. He can't be pleased with it. He can't honor it. He
can't even recognize it. So the best of men is vanity. Man at his best state is vanity. He's far below the glory of God.
God is immutably holy. God is infinitely holy. He can't
accept people by degrees. It's got to be an infinite degree.
You've got to be a 32nd degree believer. Not first, second, third, fourth.
It's got to be infinitely holy or God can't have anything to
do with it. So how are we going to get there? We've got to have
His righteousness, Christ's righteousness. I've got to have His prayers
and His obedience and His goodness and His mercy and His love and
His forgiveness. And if when He was on this earth,
if I'm in Him by faith and by covenant mercies, I have that
righteousness. God accepts me. Do you believe
God accepts you? He does in the Beloved, not any
other way. I'm sorry, that's what Scripture
says. It's in Christ, that's just so. And you can press down
an aisle and make a decision, you can get baptized and join
the Church, and you can quit this and quit that and quit the
other, but if you're not in Christ, you don't have any sanctification.
Because he is our sanctification and he's our redemption. Christ
is our justification, and Christ is our hope. Christ is our hope. Christ is our life. Now close
with this, Christ is all. He's all in creation, in God's
counsels and purposes. He's all, as far as the Bible
is concerned, He is all in the redemption of a sinner, and He
will be all in heaven. Now listen to me, if you don't
hear anything else, listen to me now. how little people know
who talk of going to heaven, going to heaven, when they manifest
no love for Christ now, no interest in Christ now, no saving faith
in Christ now, no real acquainted with Christ now, how foolish
they are to talk of going to heaven when he is heaven. That's foolish. This dear man
or woman They've lived all their lives for the things of this
earth, and now they've died and gone to heaven. They have no
love for Christ on this earth, no testimony for Christ, no interest
in Christ, no vital union with Christ, but they've gone to heaven.
Who are you kidding? Christ is heaven. Christ is heaven. Let me show you something. Turn
to the book of Revelation, chapter 5. Revelation the 5th chapter. Now stay with me. The praise
of Christ is the eternal song of all who go to heaven. The
praise of Christ. Now listen to it. Revelation
5 verse 11. 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 and thousands saying with a loud
voice, worthy is the Lamb. Who is the Lamb? worthy as Christ
who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and blessing and every creature which is in
heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in
the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor
and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne
and to the Lamb forever and ever. Christ is our eternal song. We, I hear people, I just get
so disappointed. People talk about shake hands
with mother again and I want to be standing at mother's grave
when Jesus comes in his power and this kind of stuff, you know.
Rather than the, the song, the eternal song of praise in heaven
is unto Christ. Not unto a, and I hear preachers
say, I'm going to stand in heaven, greet all my converts, I wonder
Jesus. Oh, you poor feller. You think
anybody is going to have an eye for you and glory? Or are you
going to have an eye for them? When Christ is our eternal song
of praise, unto Him, unto Him who loved us, and the service
of Christ will be our eternal occupation. Look at Revelation
7, verse 15. Listen to this. The service of
Christ will be the eternal occupation of those in heaven And thank
God without distraction or weariness, without distraction, and without
distraction from the flesh. Won't that be good? Revelation
7, 15, Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve
him day and night in the temple. They serve him. And he that sitteth
on the throne shall dwell among them, they shall hunger no more,
and thirst no more, and neither shall the sun light on them nor
any heat. For the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, he'll
feed them and lead them, and wipe all tears from their eyes."
Christ! And last of all, the presence
of Christ will be our eternal enjoyment. Turn to Revelation
22, verse 4. Listen to this. and they shall see his face." David said, I'll be satisfied
when I wake with his likeness. And when I see him, God says
I'm going to be like him. That's what it sums all this
up. All this creation and fall and wanderings and ramblings
and searchings and seeking and trying and striving and looking
and believing and all these things, and it sums it up. in death and
judgment, and they shall see his face. That's the sum of all
of it. They're going to see his face. And they shall see his face. Because when you see his face,
that's all. Because he's all. He's all.