I'm going to tell you what I thought of Don the first time I met him. Oh, I've grown to love him and Shelby. So thankful that the Lord has allowed me to be back again this year. A lot of water going over the bridge since the last time I stood in this pulpit. Matter of fact, somebody grabbed my arm when Don said, anybody over 70, You can get up, go down, and eat first. Somebody grabbed my arm and said, you're not 70. Thank you. That's very, very, very kind of you. Not everybody's that kind. I told some folks here not too long ago, my wife and I have 140 years between the two of us. And they said, and it's obvious, you've got the greater part of that. What's with that? We did some shopping before we came out. Judy doesn't need an excuse, but if we go somewhere, she has to do a little shopping. And I go with her. She needs to be tutored. And in one department store, two different ladies in two different sections of that store, while my wife was in the dressing room, They look like they should still be in high school. Boy, people look younger every year. Two different ladies asked me if I needed a chair. I said, no, I'm good. But boy, I tell you what, it just starts creeping up on you. And the older you get, the more you long for heaven and home. When we get a little older, Hearing starts fading, our eyes grow dim, our minds don't function the way it should. Do you ever stand in the middle of the room and wonder why you're there? You laugh. You know, I've done that more than once. The one thing that God's people never forget. It's a pit that God dug us out of. And why He did. For Christ's sake. And that's going to be in our minds. Those who grow old, the Scripture says, they shall keep bringing forth fruit in their old age. Christ in us, the hope of glory, will not allow us to forget what we were, who He is, what He has done for us, and what He will continue to do. It's God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And we've already heard during this conference and in the reading of the Scriptures that He, the Lord Jesus Christ, tells us that those who were given to Him by God the Father shall come to Him and He will no wise cast us out. I'm so thankful for this man and his wife. I don't even approach a Bible lesson or a message without checking to see if he has written something on that subject. You or Henry Mahan or Dr. John Gill. You will not hear anything new from me. Matter of fact, I mentioned that at our men's meeting not long ago, and one of the deacons said, well, we better not. Better not hear anything new. And our folks love the Gospel, and I'm so thankful for those who do. And being here with those who love the Gospel is such a rich blessing. I told some folks just not too long ago, there's a lot of people in California And on our way to see our daughter Becky in Phoenix, sometimes we have to go through Los Angeles. I never lost anything there. I don't like going down to Los Angeles. But I've been stuck in that traffic, bumper to bumper looking around, and it's gone through my mind more than once. I wonder how many people in this mass of fallen humanity know our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Somebody asked me, what do you think about this? I think most of you know him. I hope you do. This is such a treat to be with those who love the Christ of God that we love and His Gospel. So if you would turn to Colossians 3, please. In the late 1960's, I thought I had the world by the tail on a downhill drag. A beautiful brunette with hazel green eyes wore her hair in a ponytail, fell in love with me. I still wonder about that. And she married me. We had our own home. We were paying on it. We had bought our own home. Had two fine boys that my wife went through the pain of delivering. We had a nice car, pickup truck and a boat, colored television set. That was something back then. Had a lot of black and whites. We had a colored television set. I was playing music three nights a week in a honky-tonk bar, country and western music. Boy, did I think I was something. Gene Harman and the Harmoneers. Can you believe that? You don't have to repeat that to anybody. I was going to college four nights a week. studying to be a civil engineer, had a high-paying construction job. I didn't think it would be very much longer until I was way up there on top, associating with those who were somebody. In 1970, the divine providence of my wonderful God brought me under the preaching of His gospel. And I was told, and it was read right out of the Scripture, if I gained the whole world and lost my soul, it wouldn't profit me anything. And that preacher, when he was preaching to me, told me that I had sinned against God. He didn't call me by name, but I thought he was going to in a minute. Told me that I was bankrupt, I had nothing to offer God, I was going to hell. Told me there was no good in me, my righteousness was as filthy rags and no longer of it all as I believed Him. Something was happening in me. I don't know how long this process of regeneration, how long I struggled with the burden of guilt and sin and how to get rid of that. It wasn't real long, but it was a while. But I knew this for sure. I couldn't stay away from my little country church out there in Central Valley, California, way up close to Shasta Dam. I had to keep going back. And hearing those truths over and over and over again. Until one glorious day, God commanded the light to shine in my heart and I saw His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. I heard that my Creator became a man for the purpose of redeeming me, to by Himself purge my sins, to obtain eternal redemption for me. I had nothing to do with that. He did it all. I tell you, when the light came on, I cannot begin to express the joy, and I don't have to. If you've experienced that, you know what I mean. And this wonderful Savior, I had folks say about me when the Lord brought me out of darkness into His marvelous light. These were Arminian free will people. He stay under that doctrine. He's going to lose his zeal in no time. That was back in 1970. You do the math. If anything, the truths of the Gospel cause me to be more zealous today than ever before. And it's all by His grace. I have learned, thank God, that Jesus Christ is my all. I learned that under the preaching of the Gospel. I heard that He came to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, I knew I qualified. I knew I was in that camp. And then when I heard the Gospel and I heard that Christ was my all in all, I believe that. There was nobody else that could have done what he had done. The preacher admitted that he had nothing to do. He was just an instrument. It was God who took the gospel and made it effectual in my heart. Isn't that the truth? Isn't that what happens? Thank God for godly preachers, godly parents who teach their children, Sunday school teachers, faithful witnesses who plant seeds and water seeds. But only God can give the increase. And when He does, He which hath begun a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. And He's been working in me, and He's still working in me, and He will yet work in me, till that day, that one glorious day when this old body will just lay down in the dust, and I'll be delivered from this body of death, and I'll see Him in all of His glory. But between now until then, all of God's children can identify what I'm about to read to you from Colossians chapter 3. Now, let me say this before I read it. When I was listening to the Gospel, I heard that it didn't matter if a person was rich or poor, if he was educated or illiterate, prominent or nobody, all had to come the same way. Bowing down to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, believing in our hearts, that He took care of the sin debt in full by the sacrifice of Himself. I heard that it didn't matter what color your skin was. It didn't matter if you were black, white, yellow. It didn't matter if you were Jew or Greek. And that's what this verse seems to be pointing to. Verse 11 of Colossians 3 says, Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Christ is all and in all. And while we're in this life, all enlightened minds of God's elect, from the first one who was enlightened who is dead in trespasses and sins to that last one who will be called out of darkness. All of us put together will never be able to plumb the depths of what's contained in those words. Just that one statement concerning our Christ. Christ is all and in all. And though we might not understand all of it, all of God's enlightened children Believe and understand and fully agree with these words by Pastor Don Fortner when he said, so far as the believer is concerned, Christ is all. He is not the best thing. He is everything. Christ is all. Now let me take you over to Romans chapter 5. I just wanted to use this passage of Scripture in Colossians 3.11 to get us started in this subject of Christ is all. Three points. We could have four, five, or six, but just three points that I want to give to you in regards to this subject of Christ is all. Jesus Christ is all in the life He lived while He walked on this earth. Jesus Christ is all in the life He gave for His elect when He died on that cruel cross at Calvary. And Jesus Christ is all for His people in the life that He now lives. The life He lived, the life He gave, and the life He now lives. Now, Christ is all, first of all, at this first point, Christ is all in the life He lived while He was here on this earth. Now, how important is that? Just how important is it to know that He's our all while He walked on this earth? In sin, our mother conceived us. Not so with the Christ child. He didn't have Adam's fallen nature. We were estranged from our mother's womb, gone astray, speaking lies. Not so with the Christ child. He came forth, not gone astray, in perfect obedience to the will of God our Father. We came forth with nothing but sin in us. There's no sin in Christ. In our unregenerate state, Every step we took, every thought we had, every word we spoke, every deed we performed, and the motives for doing those things was nothing but an abomination to God. Do you hear that? Everything. In our unregenerate state, there is none that doeth good, no, not one. We're just nothing but an abomination to God in the flesh. Not so with our Savior. Every word He spoke. Every thought He had. Every step He took. Every deed He performed. And the motive for doing all of those things was nothing but perfection. Nothing but perfection. For a child of God, we need a Savior from our mother's womb until we leave this life. Unless we're as perfect as God Himself, We cannot enter into His presence. You say, that lets me out. Me too. Me too. If I'm trusting in the works of the flesh. But if I'm in Christ, listen to me, this is good. If I'm in Christ, everything He did, that's perfect. Every word He spoke, that's perfect. Every thought He had, that's perfect. The motive for everything He did, that's mine. That's mine, that's yours if you're in Christ. We were in Him when He walked on this earth. Establishing a righteousness for us that makes us acceptable in the sight of God our Father. We've been made accepted in Him. So it's His words. It's what He has done. It's His righteousness. And here in Romans 5, and in verse 18, it says, Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. You know, we didn't come into this world waiting to see if we're going to be found guilty or not. We come into this world on death row. Condemned already because we believe not on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We stand before God. We're not going to hear whether we've done enough good to make us acceptable in this kingdom, or we haven't done anything that's good. So we're already condemned by one man. And God's only dealt with two men. The first Adam and the second Adam. But look at the last part of verse 18. Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life for as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners the last part of verse 19 says so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous it's his obedience it's the life he lived the life that our Savior lived while He walked on this earth. All of God's laws have been perfectly honored by the perfect obedience of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Law has no hold on a believer. Our Lord Jesus fulfilled it all. He didn't come to changed the law, He came to fulfill it and He did for His people. So we have a righteousness through Christ our Savior that makes us as holy as Him. Christ is all. Folks, listen. If we're not robed in the wedding garment of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, not only will He not allow us to enter into His kingdom, we can't even approach God in prayer. We have to be robed in His righteousness, washed in His blood. No man cometh unto the Father but by Jesus Christ. And so as we approach the throne of grace, we come. We come in the name of Jesus Christ, pleading His blood. We come boldly before the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. But we come in His name. We have no right to enter into the presence of God based upon what we have done. It's all based upon what Christ has done. And God accepts us. He hears the prayers of the righteous. And so, we encourage God's people, come to Him in prayer, but make sure you come the only way that any man can approach Him through Christ our Savior washed in His precious blood. Now let me take you, if you will please, over to Hebrews chapter 10. Secondly, Christ is all in the life He gave when He died for our sins. He's all in the life that He lived He's all in the life that He gave because God's holy justice was satisfied for all of His let by the death of Jesus Christ our Savior. God Himself justifies His people. He is just and justifier of all those who believe because His holy justice was satisfied by His darling Son. When the Lord Jesus uttered those words, it is finished. pillowed his chin on his chest and said, into thy hands I commend my spirit and gave up the ghost. The work of redemption was done. And God accepted all of that. His holy justice was satisfied for his people. Listen, not one thing can be laid to the charge of God's elect. Does that bless you? Have blessed me. I'm thankful that it's all taken care of. Not just because of what I did before I came to Christ, but every day since then, and it'll be every day until He takes me out of this world or until He comes. We're sinners saved by the grace of God, and God help us not to sin what we do every day. But we have a Savior who has satisfied the holy justice of God for us. God sees no sin in Christ. And if we're in Christ, He sees no sin in us. That's so good. Listen to this. If you're in Hebrews chapter 10, Christ is all in the life He gave when He died for His people. Starting at verse 9, we read, Then said He, Lo, these are the words of Christ, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that He may establish a second. The old covenant of works replaced by the covenant of grace. God's mercy and His grace is bestowed upon us through the finished work of Jesus Christ. And it says in verse 10, after He said, I come to do Thy will, by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. When He offered Himself for the sins of His people, He sanctified us. Can't get any more sanctified than that, I don't believe. I don't guess on that. That's not guess work. We're sanctified in Jesus Christ. He's our sanctification. I just get a little disturbed by these lawmongers who say that you can become more sanctified by keeping the law. How can you become more sanctified than what we already are in Christ? Now, I know we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Savior, but we can't become any more perfect, any more complete than what we are in our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And by His one offering, He sanctified His people once for all. Look at verse 11. And every priest standeth daily in ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. They can't sit down. Their word is never finished. Our Lord Jesus, when He finished His work, He sat down. Look at the next verse. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God. His work was complete. His work was finished. And He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Not only as our Sovereign Lord, not only as our God who works all things after the counsel of His own will, but as our High Priest who pleads our case. He's our Heavenly Advocate. He's the one who pleads for His people. He doesn't have to say a word. His hands. A nail prints in His hands and His feet. He finished the work and the Father accepted that. And so, He sanctified us and He said down, but read on. It says in verse 13, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool, for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. The same offering that sanctified His chosen people perfected us forever. That's what I was saying. If you're in Christ, we're perfect. We need to just quit struggling, give up that awful, terrible, sinful desire to try to please God with the works of our own hands and just lean back into the arms of Jesus Christ. Enter into His rest. That's what we read in this same book. Where God created everything in six days, on the seventh day He rested. God never got tired. That means He ceased from His works. So we're to labor to enter into that rest. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. We enter into that rest by God's grace. Just thank God that the work has already been accomplished for us. And that we can just praise Him and thank Him. for a work that has made us acceptable in the Beloved through Christ our Savior for who He is and what He has done for us. Now, we didn't know anything about this until the Holy Spirit regenerated us. Verse 15 says, We're of the Holy Ghost also as a witness to us, for after that He has said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put My laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. No more. Our wonderful Savior by Himself purged our sins. They're gone from God's sight forever. He has removed them as far as the east is from the west. And here's the wonder of love. He remembers them against us no more. Nothing can be laid to our charge. And the Holy Spirit is the one who takes these things and reveals them to us. I shared with the folks over at Madisonville Wednesday night that I received an email from a lady, her and her husband visited our church two or three weeks ago, and I read an article from our bulletin and the last paragraph in that article said that the gospel is the work of our Father electing us, God the Son redeeming us, God the Holy Spirit regenerating us, quickening us, taking the things of Christ and revealing them to us. And she found fault with that. She said the work of the Holy Spirit is not the Gospel. We don't have the Holy Spirit to quicken us, to raise us from that state of spiritual deadness, to reveal what Christ has done to us. We're going to stay in that state of spiritual deadness and darkness until we go through that doormark death and wind up in hell. The Gospel is not just one Scripture. It's on every page of the Bible from cover to cover. And God's people get a little excited about the work that God has done for us and the work He is doing for us. Now, go back to Romans 5, if you will, please. I have one more point. Christ is all for His people in the light that He now lives. And let me share something with you. It's just a personal testimony. I was foreman for a big construction company out of Montana. Our second son, Scotty, wasn't very old. And the company flew their supervisors around to different jobs in a real small plane. And they asked me if I would fly over to a job that they had just completed and drive an old war out service truck back to the yard in Montana. This job was over in Idaho, up out of Orfino, where the big lake is. And I asked the owner of the company if I could take my son, Scotty, with me. He'd never ridden in an airplane. He said, sure, take him. Should be a good experience for him. So we got over there. George was the name of the pilot. When he landed, I said, you're a good old pilot, George. And he said, they don't get old if they're not good. But anyway. I got into that truck and my son next to me, and it was an old Ford. The hood raised up, the whole top of the hood was one piece. And I didn't know that hood would fly up. I was behind a camper, a pickup camper, an old Idaho mountain road that's twisting and turning. And I finally got a long stretch where I could speed up and get around him, and just about the time I got even with him, that hood flew up into the windshield, covered the whole windshield. Well, I had enough speed, and I had a mirror, and I stuck my head out the window and gassed it and got around, and there was a big white spot up there, and I pulled over. I was too busy to notice my son. Scared him to death. I got out and closed the hood and the fence there, took a pair of pliers and wired it down so that wouldn't happen again. As I got back in the truck, he started bouncing. He loved to sing. He loved the gospel too, by the way. He loved to sing. Started bouncing. I heard this song from Alan this morning, His Eye is on the Sparrow. He sung that whole song all the way. It's one of my favorite songs, by the way. He died in my arms not long after that. The Lord was pleased to take him home, only 11 years old. But I'll never forget that event. When he was so scared that he couldn't hardly speak, he started singing to his Savior. His eyes on the sparrow. Now our Lord comforted me and my wife through that ordeal. That's the toughest trial we ever went through. But Christ is all. in our comfort. He's all in everything. He lives. Folks, He lives. He has risen from the grave. We serve a risen Savior. He's our all. He's our all in everything. Our Lord says, because I live, ye shall live also. And there's a glorified man in heaven seated on His sovereign throne of power. His name is not the man upstairs. His name is Jesus Christ the Lord. Let's get it right. And He's not just Lord over a little piece of ground over here. He's Lord of all. God has made that same Jesus whom they crucified both Lord and Christ. All power in heaven and earth has been given to our Savior. And He gives. We heard it read tonight from John chapter 17. He gives eternal life to as many as God the Father gave Him. No more, no less. But He does give it. He doesn't offer it, He gives it. I know the gospel preachers, we're ambassadors. If God Himself did beseech you, we pray in His stead, be you reconciled to God. But God's not standing pleading and begging and trying to get you to make a decision for Him. He's coming in power. Sovereign power. And He's giving us life. He's giving us a new heart. He's enlightening the mind so that we can believe the things concerning Christ. He lives. Our Lord Jesus lives. And He's going to live forever. His throne is forever. And as long as He's on His throne, we're as sure of heaven as if we're already there. He is our all. And here in Romans chapter 5, We read this, starting in verse 8. It says, But God commendeth His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, now catch this, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Before our Lord will lose one for whom He died, we're going to have to take Him off this throne. Who's going to do that? He's God Almighty. And He works all things after the counsel of His own will. All things are under His feet. Even the devil and all the fallen angels have to get permission from Him before they can do anything. So Christ is all. He's all. Our text in Colossians 3.11 says that Jesus Christ is all and in all. And I'm not sure how to explain that. In all. I don't know that I have to, but I know that Jesus Christ is all and in all those who experience the miracle of the new birth. I also know that Jesus Christ is in all that happens to us. And we know that all things work together for good to them who love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. No accidents. Whatever's happening to us is predetermined by God before a star ever twinkled in the sky. And God's too wise to make a mistake and loves us too much to do anything but that which is for His glory and for our good. So we trust Him as the One who is in all that happens to us. I know that Jesus Christ is in all those things that He has ordained for us. I know that He's in all the Holy Scriptures. And I know if He is in us, He's all to us. He is all our salvation. He's all every sinner needs. He's all our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption. Jesus Christ is all to every believer. And He's all every believer glories in. Isn't that not right? He's all to be known, all to be trusted, all to be loved, all to be desired. God's preachers say He is all to be preached. Those who love Him say He's all we want to hear preached. And they're right. God's enlightened children love the Gospel. You can't give them too much truth. You can't give them too much grace. You can't preach. The gospel too many times through. As a matter of fact, that's what we come to hear. Amen? The gospel of Jesus Christ. He is all our hope. He is all our desire. The sweet psalmist of Israel said, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. Beloved, if Jesus Christ is not everything to us, He is nothing to us. But Jesus Christ is everything to every believer. Is He all to you? If not, why not? Christ is all and in all. Thank you for allowing me the honor of preaching to this congregation. Thank you, Pastor.