Let us turn to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. I want us to read a couple of passages from the book of Colossians. One will be in the first chapter. We will deal mostly with that, and a second in the third chapter, and that's just a bonus. I figure I got 15 minutes credit on the second service, so... I'm surprised somebody didn't say, I've used all my credit and didn't sum up. Brother Chuck. Colossians chapter 1, and let's begin reading in verse 12. Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom, in that Son, 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, that Son, we're still talking about the Son, by Him were all things created that are in heaven and 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, that Son, is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Present tense. All things consist. And He, once again, that Son, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, and in all things He might have the preeminence, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and ye that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. Then move over to the third chapter beginning in verse 1. If ye then be risen with Christ, this is speaking of the Lord's people, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil, concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry, for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience, in the which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." What image? Who created us? The Son. Listen to this, "...where there is neither Greek, nor Jew, circumcision, nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all." Christ is all and in all. I want to continue again this morning our series that we've been preaching for many weeks on the subtlety of Satan versus the simplicity That is, in Christ this will be, at least at this time, the last message in this series. We've preached 25 messages on this subject. And we will continue again this morning with the same question that we've asked before every message. Why did Christ suffer, bleed, and die? And the answer that I want us to consider this morning is this. To be our everything. to be our everything. If you'll remember many weeks back to the first message of this series, the text we dealt with was in 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 3. And in that passage, the Apostle Paul, he feared for the church at Corinth. He feared that they would be deceived by Satan's subtlety, that Satan would move them away from the simplicity that is in Christ. Now, I've reminded you along the way that the simplicity that is in Christ does not mean that that is something simple. It does not mean that that is something easy. I mean, we've preached 25 messages on this work that is involved in the simplicity that is in Christ, and we've just barely scratched the surface. Really, the sum of what Paul was saying is what our message is all about this morning. He feared that Satan would deceive the church there and cause them to take their sights and take their hope and take their trust and their confidence off of Christ and put them upon other things. He feared that Satan would deceive them into thinking that Christ was not their everything. That's what he was getting at. That's what he feared. Actually, the word simplicity, it means singleness. Singleness. the singleness that is in Christ. Paul feared that the church would lose sight of this singleness. They would lose sight of the fact that Christ is everything. That's what he feared. I fear at times all of us do lose sight of this. I fear it from day to day that sometimes we lose sight of the fact that Christ is everything. I pray that this series of messages, that the Lord has used them and will use them to aid us to set our sights and our thoughts and our affections in alignment with His Word. This is why it's so important for us to heed God's Word. Realize this morning, God's Word is truth. And the truth is essential It is not only important, but it is essential. The truth really can, it really can set us free. The truth in reality is the only hope for sinners like us. And in God's Word, in this Word of Truth, in this book here that we have before us that holds the power of salvation to them that believe, in this book that within it is the words of life, in this book it is clear. It is absolutely clear. We've read it this morning. We've read it over and over and over again through the years that the Lord Jesus Christ, He is everything. God's Word is clear about that. He is everything. You may deny this and you may reject it. You may hate it. But it is, has, and always will be true. Christ is everything. I want us to take a little closer look at the text that we read in the first chapter of Colossians to see the evidence given to us here of this great truth. And I pray that God will give us the grace to believe it this morning. May God give us all the life, all life to receive it this morning. Our text stayed along with the rest of God's Word. one passage out of one book, but I can tell you it confirms the rest of God's Word, and the rest of God's Word confirms it. It states that the Lord Jesus Christ firstly is everything in creation. He is everything, was and is everything in creation. In verse 16 it says, "...by Him all things were created, whether it be Heaven and earth will be things in heaven, things in earth, things seen and things not seen. Everything was created by the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 1 and 3 it says, "...all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made." Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ. I know the world hates the Lord Jesus Christ, but I want to tell you, the Lord Jesus Christ Created everything. He is the Creator of all things. Not only were they created by Him, but they were created for Him. He created everything for His own purpose. Man says, that was created for me. Give me what's mine. Shame on us. It's all His. And it's due that He created it for His glory. He created it for His own pleasure. He created everything for His own glory and His own fame and His own reputation, His own honor. He created it all. As we see it and we look at the things around us in this creation that we live in, we think in our mind that they're ours. We think in our mind that we can take advantage of this and we can take advantage of that. Let it be in our minds that what we see is a demonstration of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every time we look at the glories of this creation, let us know that it is first made for His honor and for His glory. Christ is everything in creation. He spoke and all things were created. He purposed and it came to pass. Now some, even here this morning, may think, wait a minute, Wait a minute, preacher. I've heard you teach. I heard you teach on the names of God. And you said that Elohim was the Creator. You said in that first verse, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. You said that that word was Elohim, that He was the Creator. And then we went on in other lessons, and you said that that same Elohim is Jehovah also. Yes, He is. Yes, He is. Yes, He is. How can Jehovah Elohim be the Creator and Jesus Christ be the Creator? They are one person. They're one person. They're one. As a matter of fact, not only is it true that Christ is everything in creation, but this passage along with the rest of God's Word, secondly, states very plainly that Christ is everything in revelation. He is everything in revelation. The Lord Jesus Christ is the revelation. He is the manifestation of God. You see there in verse 15, it says that He is the image of the invisible God. Hebrews 1.1 says it like this, God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son. whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of majesty on high." What does all that mean? What does that mean when it says, he is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person? That means that Christ is God in flesh. He is God manifest to man. He is the revelation, the visible revelation of the invisible God. He is the visible image of the invisible God, the visible image of the invisible God, and He is also the manifestation of the breathed Word of God. I'm telling you, He's everything. He is the manifestation of the breathed Word of God. Listen to John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him. Everything we've read this morning has said that exact same thing, hasn't it? All things were made by the Word. And without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life. And the light was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. And then in verse 14 it says, And the Word, this Word that was God, this Word that all things were created by, it says, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. One of Christ's glorious names is the Word. He is the Word. He is the person and the centerpiece of God's Word. What did He say in the volume of the book? It is spoken of Me. But yet, do you know, in our day, and in our time, and in all aspects of time, there are those that read this Word and can't see Him. There are those that read this Word and deny Him. Those that read this Word and plainly flat hate Him. But yet, He is the sum and the substance of this Word. He is on every page. And He is in every phrase. And He is in every word. He is in every jot and tittle. He is everything. May the Lord have mercy on the blinded. Jesus Christ The Lord is everything in Revelation. If you leave Him out of this book, you have nothing but a history book. If you leave Him out of this book, you have nothing but a science book. You have nothing but a book of law and morality. But I want to tell you, this is not just a history book. It is. It is accurate history. But it's not just a science book. It is. It is not just a book of law and morality. In this book, within it, are the words of life. In this book, within it are the words of light and the words of hope, because it is the book of He who is life, of He who is light, of He who is the hope. It is the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything in Revelation. May He help us to see Him this morning Thirdly, Christ is everything in creation and everything in revelation, and He is everything in situation. What I mean by that is that He is everything in the situation of this life we all live this morning. You may not believe what I'm preaching. Those that may hear this on tape or across the world may not believe what I'm preaching about Christ being everything. You may step aside and push away the truth of God's Word, but I want to tell you, He's everything in your life today, whether you know it or not. He's everything, whether you believe it or not. He's everything. Verse 17 says, He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. In another place of Scripture it says, in Him we live and move and have our being. That's all of us. All of us without exception. Are you alive this morning? I hope so. Are you blessed with health? Are you blessed with happiness? Do you have peace? Do you have freedom? Do you have safety? Do you have houses and food and prosperity? Do you have a loving spouse and children and family and loved ones and friends and relationships? Do you know why you have them? Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, He is in it all. He is in it all. He has given you every blessing you have. He has given us all every blessing we have. straight unto us from His own mercy. It has come to us from His own grace. And yet there is a world of people who hate Jesus Christ with a vengeance. Our own nation, a large percentage of our own nation's leaders are trying to run Him out of this country on a rail. They hate God and His Christ. I want to tell you, be it known, I know most of you have heard me say it, they don't hate religion. All of them have their own religion. They hate God, the Lord Jehovah, and His Christ. That's what they hate. They hate Him, but yet, by Him, we all have all the blessings we have. By Him, by His own purpose and His own pleasure today, this nation is still a free nation. By Him, we have life and blessing and peace and prosperity, everything that we have. By Him we live and move and have our being. I want to tell you something. There's coming a day when all the blessings that have been received in rebellion and wickedness and unthankfulness, all of them, all of them will be turned to a curse. All of them. There's coming a day when God will require payment at the hand of the wicked So you may breathe God's air and hate Him at the same time. You may receive all the blessings of God in your home and in your life and deny the very existence of Christ. You may blaspheme His name as you partake of the very riches of His grace. But one day, it's all going to end. It's all going to end and you will see Christ the Judge, your Judge, coming in glory. And He is going to weigh your life in the balance And you will be found wanting. You will pay for your hatred and your blasphemy and your rejection and your rebellion and your unthankfulness and your sin for all eternity. Right now, every person in this room has been blessed with unmeasurable blessings by the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have life and health and being and prosperity and all that we have by chance. You have it by His hand. You have it by His hand. Oh, for the grace and the mercy of God that you may praise Him for it. That you may give Him thanks for it. That your rebellion may be put away. And you praise Him for what He has given you. That you may receive the grace to know that all of us may receive the grace to know that we have what we have, the blessings that we have through Jesus Christ the Lord. It's through Him. In Him we live and move and have our being. Believe it or not, Christ is everything in situation. He is everything in the situations of the life that we live. To that end, Praise God, Christ is everything in salvation. He is everything in salvation. Do you see verse 13 and 14? Let's read those again. It says, "...who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins." This Kingdom, this Kingdom of Heaven, I want to tell you something, it's Christ's Kingdom. He is the King. He is the King. And the only way that you enter that Kingdom There's only one way. It's through Him. It's through Him. It says here, in Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We are all born in sin. We are slaves to it. We are servants to it. And fight as you may. You know. You may not admit it. You know you can't free yourself from it. Every day we prove that. as we sin in these bodies. We prove that we can't free ourselves from being servants and slaves to sin. It's our life. It's our life. For us to enter the kingdom of God, I want to tell you something. Someone has to rescue us. Someone has to rescue us. We must be purchased from the sin market. We can't pay. We're bankrupt by sin. As a matter of fact, our sin debt is so high, there is only one person, there is only one in all of creation, in all of the universe, in all of heaven and earth, there is only one that can pay a price so high. Our sin debt is so high. Do you know who it is? It's the King. The heir of all things. He's the only one rich enough to pay the sin debt. the Son of the Most High. He's the only one. But here's the thing. The reason we are in such a hopeless mess is because we have broken His laws. That's quite a predicament. He's the only one that can save us, but we've broken His laws. We have offended Him. We have committed insurrection against Him. Do you realize that? We have said and acted as if to say, we will not have this King to rule over us. All of us have. All of us in our sin have done it. There's only one that can rescue us. The King Himself. But yet we have committed insurrection against Him. We have become worthy of execution. of death, all of us without exception. Why would He ever rescue us? Because our crimes have been against Him. Our crimes have been against Him. I mean, we have stood outside the palace door, if you will, and shook our fist and said, I'm not going to serve you. I'm going to serve me. It's my life. He's blessed us every day with everything we have. And we say, no, it's not Him. I did that. I built this great kingdom for myself. Why would He ever rescue us? We're so unworthy. Why would He ever free us? Why would He pay such a price to free us? There's no way that we can win His favor. There's no way that we can take back the crimes that we've committed against Him. We can't run after Him. His justice won't allow it. We can't will Him to rescue us. No matter what the world says. How can criminals like us ever be free from our sin? How will we escape our crimes? How? Amazingly, mercy. Free grace. Unconditional love. of the king himself. I want to tell you, this king is something else. He is like no other king. He's something else. Listen, the king has chosen to love his enemy. This king of all kings, this king who is worthy of glory and honor, this king who has all power and all authority, he has chosen to love his enemy. And this King has chosen to pay their debts. This King has chosen to free them from their crimes. To take away their guilt. This King has chosen to pay the ransom to redeem our souls. This King has chosen to become our peace and our hiding place. He has chosen to cleanse us. with His own blood, and clothe us with His own robe of righteousness. This King has chosen to give us a place in His kingdom. We are the criminals! But yet, He would give us a place in His very own kingdom. A place in the city not made with hands. And I want to tell you, that's not all. He has chosen to give us a share of what is only His. I want to tell you something. The King, He has to do it all. He has to do it all. Without Him rescuing us, we're trapped in the slave market. We will be there for eternity. We will suffer for our sin for eternity. He has to rescue us. This most benevolent, most gracious, most merciful and glorious King has done it all. He has become everything for a people that He calls His own. A people that He calls His sheep. He's done it all. He is everything. He is everything. Is He everything to us? Is He all to us? Brothers and sisters, He should be. He should be. Because you know what? He is everything. We may not admit it. We may not give Him the glory due His name. But He is everything. It's about Him and what He has done. Do you have the hope of glory? It's about Him. It's about Him. If we don't realize this, may the Lord help us to. The Lord Jesus is everything in creation. He is all in revelation and all in situation. He is everything in salvation. And lastly, the Lord Jesus Christ will, I should say, is and will be all in glorification. All. Look at verse 20 again. And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now Hath He reconciled," listen, "...in the body of His flesh through death." In the body of His flesh through death. Notice the results of that. "...to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight." He is everything in glorification. There is a world of people in this world, and perhaps even some here today, thinking that when you die, you are going to heaven. But you have not a hint of Jesus Christ in your mind, or in your hope, or in your life. Now, I don't want to be mean. I'm not being mean. I'm saying this in love to you because I care about you. I'm going to say it very clearly. If you think you are going to heaven without Jesus Christ, you are deceiving yourself. You are deceiving yourself. And if you continue in this way, you will not see glory. You will not see heaven. But you will see the agony of hell. Look again at verse 22. three things there that this work of Christ has done. It presents us first, holy. Of ourselves, we are not holy, are we? Now understand, these three things, holy, unblameable, unapprovable in the sight of God, that's what we must all be. We must be that to enter into the presence of holiness. Get out of your mind some fairytale view of God and know that He is all holy and sin will not enter into His presence. And you, in your sin, will not enter into His presence. You will not. You cannot. Because He is so holy and so righteous. You must be holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. But we're not holy of ourself, are we? We are just like the rest of the wicked world. I mean, here's the fact. How can you make yourself set apart by God? That's what holiness is. How can you do that yourself? If holiness is being set apart by God, doesn't that mean that God has to do it? He has to set you apart? We must be holy. With man, this is impossible. You can't be holy within yourself. God must set you apart. You can't do that on your own. Unblameable. Unblameable? Are we unblameable? No! We are to blame because we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. How do you think you will be found blameless before the Lord? Because you've been as good as you could be? That's not blameless. I'm going to tell you something that as good as any of us can be, is still dreadfully sinful. As good as any of us can be, we can be as good as we can be and we will still be a stench in God's nostrils. And that's me especially. So don't get in the mind I'm pointing my finger at you. I'm not. It's me especially. We can try and clean up our life and shape up our life and just try to be just as good a person as we can be and we'll still be a stench. and the nostrils of God. We can be as good as we can be, and we'll still be a reproach in His sight. We can be as good as we can be, and try to enter into His presence, and His justice will pull out the sword and strike us down. That's what we are in and of ourselves. But there's even more. Unreprovable. You know what that means? It actually means that no sin can be found on our account. No sin can be found on our account. Listen, on my account, on my own account, on your own account, we can't count that high. It's loaded with sin. It's loaded to the max with sin. We've maxed it out. And we keep on adding to it. How will any of us enter into the presence of God? How will any of us enter into the glories of heaven? How will we be blameless? How will we be unapprovable? How will we be holy? Someone else has to do it for us. That's the only way. And that someone is Christ. There is none other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved. It's Christ. He has to be Everything for us. Everything. And He will always have to be everything for us. No one will enter the glory of God's presence without Christ. He is everything. He may not be much to you. He may not be much to us this morning, but I can tell you something. He's everything to God. His Father. I want to tell you, when He's looking at me, when I'm justified in His sight, it's because His Son stands in the way. He stands in the gap between us. The same will be said in glory. When I'm glorified in His sight, it's because of His Son. He's everything to God the Father. He better be everything to us. from eternity to eternity. You know what? It's all been about Christ the Lord. That's the facts. It's all been about Him. If you deny Him and reject Him, and if you are in rebellion towards Him, you're missing everything. I know you may be living your life and think that it's so full and you just got it made, but I want to tell you, in reality, without Christ, you are living in complete darkness. You are missing out. You are absolutely unaware of the reality that is about you. May the Lord have mercy upon you. And brothers and sisters, we who have been only by the grace of God, only by His sovereign mercy, we who have been delivered from the power of darkness, we who have been translated into the kingdom of the Son, let us keep our eyes on that one light. That one light. That one King. who is King of kings and Lord of lords. May God make our sights single. Might our focus be squarely on our everything. Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God. Because He is everything. He's everything. You see, you sum it all up. And the simplicity that is in Christ is this. He is everything. He's everything. He is all. He's all. May God be pleased to show us all this glorious truth. Because it is true. It is true. May God, even this moment, magnify His Son before us. Mighty give us sights of His glory and His beauty and His merit and abilities. If God would be pleased by the power of His Spirit even this morning to give you that sight, To show you Christ in His glory and in His abilities and in His beauty and in His merit, I want to tell you what you'll do with your own. You'll cast them aside. Because they aren't a glimmer compared to His. You'll cast them aside and flee to Him. Flee to Him. He is everything. Lead a hymn. In a hymn, there is salvation for sinners like us. But it's only Him, Christ Jesus, the Lord. We praise the Lord for His great Word. We praise the Lord. I don't know. From week to week and month to month and year to year as you study this Word, you learn. You learn. It doesn't happen all at once, but you learn over and over and over and over that He really is everything. He's on the first page, and He's on the last, and He's all through it. God is waving the flag. He's waving the flag of His Word, and His Word says, Look to Christ. He's everything. Live for Christ. He's everything. Paul said, for me to live as Christ. What does that mean? Everything about His life. For Him to live as Christ was everything to Him. He said, My greatest, I count everything but loss, but just to know Him. To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. Everything. He's everything. May the Lord make his word real to all of us this morning. We praise his name for it. Let's all stand and we will be dismissed. We are thankful for your presence and attention this morning. We do rejoice in the Lord for you. We do thank the Lord for his word and his presence with us this morning again.