"Christ Is All"

Colossians 3:11

Let no one misunderstand our doctrine. We are trinitarians. We hold to and rejoice in the works of God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, as well as the works of God the Son,in the matter of salvation. We delight in eternal election and predestination as sovereign works of God the Father.He chose us. He predestinated all things needful for our salvation.We recognize the necessity of regeneration and sanctification by God the Holy Spirit. No one will ever enter into heaven without the Father's election, the Son' redemption, and the Spirit's sanctification.There is perfect harmony in the blessed Trinity.Read the first chapter of Ephesians one more time. There Paul tells us that our everlasting salvation was planned and purposed by God the Father (vv. 3-6), purchased by God the Son (vv. 7-12), and effectually applied and sealed to the hearts of chosen sinners by God the Holy Spirit (vv. 1314). Salvation is the work of the triune Godhead "to the praise of the glory of his grace!" Be sure you understand that.

Yet, it is the purpose of the triune God to glorify and exalt the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Mediator and Substitute, the second Person of the blessed Trinity, in the redemption and salvation of his people. It is the purpose of God that Christ be pre-eminent and glorious in the work of redemption and in the esteem of all the redeemed (Carefully read John 3:35; 5:22-23; Col. 1:18-19; 2:9-10). Christ is the Word which God has exalted above all his name (Psa. 138:2). This is a lesson we must learn. It is both the most basic, essential and the most profound of all truths revealed in Holy Scripture. "CHRIST IS ALL!" You will never understand the Word of God in any spiritual sense until you realize that in the Book of God, Christ is all. You will never know the living God at all, until you see that in the knowledge of God, Christ is all. You will never obtain the peace of pardon, justification, and reconciliation with God, until you are made to know that in the work of redemption Christ is all. You will never obtain that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, until you are made to see that in the matter of true righteousness, holiness, and sanctification Christ is all.

Don Fortner