In this sermon, the speaker shares a powerful story about two young men who argued about who would see Jesus first before being shot by communists. The leader of the communist group was deeply impacted by witnessing the faith and conviction of these young men and eventually defected to the south, where he found Christ and formed a troop with other Christians. They traveled to hundreds of churches, reenacting the dramatic event and leading many people to accept Jesus as their Savior. The speaker also emphasizes the deep love and devotion the young men had for Jesus, even in the face of death, and highlights the future kingdom of God where everything will glorify and worship Jesus.

I want to read from Colossians chapter 3, if you have a Bible. Beginning at verse 1, if you then be risen with Christ, and the word the word if really has the sense of since because in verse 12 of chapter 2 he says we have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection, that is your mind, on things above not on things on the earth for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall you 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 say the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience, in the which you also walked sometime when you lived in them, but now you also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another seeing that you 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, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian or Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. That's as far as we read. So that statement in Colossians 311, Christ is all. And then he adds, and in all. I must confess that sometimes I have some feelings about us constantly saying, Revival did this for me. Jesus did this for me. In a time of revival, perhaps. You are complete in him, in Christ. Revival doesn't make me complete. Jesus Christ does. And I think sometimes we might even possibly grieve the Spirit by constantly saying that revival did this for me. I know we understand what you mean when you say that. I'm sure God understands too, but I wonder sometimes, and view the fact particularly, that the word revival does not occur anywhere in the New Testament. I wonder sometimes if we aren't perhaps emphasizing or using a word that perhaps we should not be using sometimes the way that we do. I wouldn't argue about it, just a feeling I have in my heart. Sometimes I think it does detract from giving glory to Jesus Christ. Christ is all. In Psalm 40 there's a prophecy that says, in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will. Yea, thy law is within my heart. And that's Christ speaking. In the volume of what book? Well, there's only one book, the Bible. And in the volume of the book it is written of me. Any doctrine that does not end with Christ is not properly understood, or perhaps not biblical at all. Doctrine doesn't divide us if it's biblical and biblically presented and understood, because doctrine should rise from Christ and lead to Christ, and if it doesn't, then there's something wrong. Jesus, in John 17, verse 5 and I think verse 24, he referred to the glory which he had with God the Father before the world was even created. Now, I would think this would mean before the universe came into existence. Jesus Christ, the glory he had, and in our minds we can only dimly fancy what that glory would be like, since our God is greater than anything he has made, greater than the universe in which we live. They tell me that our sun is one of the smallest suns in the universe. There are suns in our universe, stars, that are not just hundreds and not just thousands, but actually millions of times larger than our sun is, and Jesus is greater than that. And when you think of the term the glory of Christ, you're thinking of something you cannot understand. But in eternity past, Christ was all in heaven Revelation chapter 5, we have men crying, worthy is the Lamb! We have angels crying, worthy is the Lamb! Christ is central, or should be, in all our thinking and acting and praying, and in heaven he's the center of all. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. I'm sure for a million years and longer we'll be singing and saying and thinking worthy is the Lamb. Our salvation is called so great salvation, and we only dimly understand that now. In heaven we'll see what God meant when he said so great salvation, so great salvation. Christ was all in creation. God created all things by Jesus Christ. So we read in John chapter 1, it says all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. I've traveled in the wilderness. I remember seeing a little lily off in the wilderness. Perhaps my eyes were the only human eyes that ever saw that lily, because there were no people in the country. But it was comforting and a blessing to me to be able to look up to heaven and say, Jesus, you made this little flower just for me. There's a verse that says when Jesus Christ returns, all the trees of the field will clap their hands. I don't know how trees can clap their hands, but they're going to do it when Jesus returns, because the Bible speaks about the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is called the beginning of the creation of God. And it doesn't mean, as Jehovah Witnesses and other people mistakenly think, that Jesus Christ was the first one God created. It doesn't have that meaning at all. The context forbids it. The beginning of the creation of God, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and are on 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 all things consist. That is, Christ was the one from which all creation came. He was the beginning. It sprang from Christ. God then created all things by Jesus Christ. Then when we come to the Word of God, what do we find? Remember Jesus with the men on the Emmaus Road? He said, O fools, then slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. The Old Testament scriptures abound with references to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Passover. Christ, our Passover sacrifice for us, Paul wrote. The crossing of the Red Sea was a picture of baptism. And it says in the New Testament they were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. The manna. Thirteen times in John chapter 6 we discover that Jesus was the manna. The manna was a picture of Jesus. He was the true bread that came down from heaven. The tabernacle and later the temple, with all their furniture, everything in it spoke of the glory of God, the glory of Jesus Christ. The blood-sprinkled mercy seat we might particularly think of. Or the brazen altar, a picture of the cross on which the Lord Jesus Christ would later die. And besides all of this, statements beginning in Genesis chapter 3, God addressed a serpent and said, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. It shall bruise your head. Satan, you're going to be destroyed by the seed of the woman. In other words, by Jesus Christ. You'll bruise his heel, but that's all. And then everywhere we turn in the law, Deuteronomy 18, verses 15 and 18, Moses said, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me. And he warned that those who would not listen to that prophet would be destroyed from among the people. This is quoted in the New Testament in the book of Acts. A prophet like unto Moses. And Moses was the meekest person in the world. The Bible says, you notice he never ever defended himself. He just fell on the ground and committed it to God. And he was a picture of Jesus Christ. And he said, Jesus said, I am meek and lowly in heart. You know, sometimes you see this this text on the wall. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And it stops there, but it doesn't really stop there. Let's listen to it all. Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. It's not just coming to Christ. It's taking the yoke of Christ on us. It's learning of Jesus to become a meek and mild and humble person. Someone in a book I read, they spoke of what they called the terrible, the powerful meek. And there's a great power in meekness. The lame take the prey. You ever read that? Not the well and the strong, but the lame take the prey. Genesis 49, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And unto him shall the gathering of the people be. And oh, how they thronged around Jesus when he was on the earth, hundreds, thousands, wherever he went. They were there watching him, listening to him, asking him for things, asking him about truths. And it's still happening. They were gathered here this morning, dear people, because of Jesus, I hope. We want to hear something from him, something about him, that will help us to love him more, to serve him better, to glorify God the way that we should, as believers in Jesus Christ. And all through the law of God then, in times, sometimes, definite direct statements, other times, in many different ways, we find Christ. Did you ever wonder how the Apostle Paul could preach Christ from morning till evening from the Old Testament? But he did. Read it in Acts chapter 28, from morning till evening. He persuaded them concerning Jesus out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets. So there must be a lot more here about Jesus than we understand. I'm sure there is. But we need to acquaint ourselves. The Psalms. Among the Jews they frequently referred to five books when they talked about the Psalms. That's Job to the Song of Solomon. It was Job who said, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my death worms destroy this body, that in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself. In Job, the oldest book of the Bible, in the Psalms, oh, the second Psalm, for example, the Lord has said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt rule them with the rod of iron, thou shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now, therefore, O you kings. Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Or Psalm 22, when David wrote, and I'm sure wondered at what he wrote. They pierced my hands and my feet. They look and stare upon me. They cast lots from my vesture. Or in another Psalm, the plowers plowed upon my back. They made long their furrows. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. David said that in Psalm 72. Zechariah repeated it in slightly different words. There will not be in the coming kingdom of God a tree or a blade of grass that doesn't sing and talk about the glory of Jesus Christ. In that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. And I often say and pray and mean it, thy kingdom come, O God, to end this awful mess we're in today. Yet Peter tells us that the long-suffering of our Lord, in the matter of his return, is salvation. More are being saved. So thank God for that. But the coming kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the kingdoms of this world, are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ. And he shall rule, he shall reign forever and ever. Christ will be the center of everything in that coming kingdom. There is none like him. In the prophets, of course, and we instinctively think of Isaiah, chapter 7, about the virgin birth. Chapter 9, about the great light that shone on the people that were sitting in the darkness, in the shadow of death. Upon them has the light shined. Thank God for it. It shined in our hearts, too. Paul said, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and the reference, I'm sure, is to Genesis, where it says, and God said, let there be light, and there was light. Literally, God said, let light be, and light was. And Paul takes that as an illustration and says, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. In the face of Jesus Christ. God has shined in our hearts and shown us something of the glory of Jesus. He dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The book of Isaiah has sometimes been called the fifth gospel, because there's so much in it about the Lord Jesus Christ. Probably 80 separate thoughts about him in that one book. Chapter 53, of course, or chapter 11, chapter 42, chapter 45, chapter 20, chapter 33. Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down. Not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there, the glorious Lord shall be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. O the glorious Lord! Thine eyes shall see the King and his beauty. They shall behold a land that is very far off. Isaiah, Jeremiah, a woman shall compass a man. A man in the Hebrew means a mighty man, a man of power. A woman would compass a man. Ezekiel said, I will overturn, overturn, overturn it until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him. And God will keep overturning the political systems of the world until Jesus comes, and then God will give it to him. And in the book of Daniel, we have a picture. Daniel saw the Ancient of Days sitting on the throne, and then he saw one, he said, that looked like the Son of Man. And they brought him before the Ancient of Days, and they gave him dominion over all people and languages and tongues and nations. That was written hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born. Micah chapter 5. But thou, Bethlehem the fruitful, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity. The Lord Jesus, all through the Old Testament, from morning till evening, Paul preaching, proclaiming. Ever notice something in the last chapter of Romans? He said, by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. The gospel of Christ, by the scriptures of the prophets, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. When you come to the four gospels, what are they about? Ever notice Genesis, or pardon me, Matthew 1.1, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ? That's how the gospels begin. And how do they end? The last verse of John. The writer says, there are also many other things which Jesus did. The which, he says, if they should be written every one, even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. And wherever you turn in the Gospels, it's all about the Lord Jesus Christ. Every chapter is about him. The book of Acts has more references to Jesus Christ than any book from Acts to Revelation. A hundred and eighty or eighty-five references to Christ in the book of Acts. Then you go through the epistles of Paul. Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, all three of them have approximately thirteen percent of the words in those books are about Jesus Christ. That is, they mention his name. There's much more said about him. There's more said, in proportion to the amount of verses in the book, about Jesus in those three books than in any of the epistles from Acts down to Revelation. It's all about Christ, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. It's beautiful. In the volume of the book, it is written of me. Oh, people have eyes open to find Christ on every page in Scripture. Because as we look at him, we are changed. We all, with an unveiled face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And then as we look unto him, we are encouraged, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. So we look at him to be changed. We look unto him to be encouraged. And it's Jesus Christ all the way. To me, Paul said, to live is Christ, and to die is gain, because to depart and be with Christ is far better. The Bible says we are crucified and dead and buried and resurrected and ascended, and then we have two words. With Christ. With Christ. Dead. Crucified with Christ. Dead with Christ. Buried with Christ. Resurrected with Christ. Ascended with Christ. It's all with Christ. And then you know Christ in the church. You ever thought of that? He's the head of the church. He's the chief cornerstone. He's the foundation. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So Paul said, and we read in Ephesians chapter 3, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Who by him do believe in God. By Christ you believe in God. Without Christ you could not believe in God. By the resurrection of Christ men are saved. We're saved also by his life. As a matter of fact, in Romans chapter 5 we're told we're saved more by the life of Christ than by the death of Christ. If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, how much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life. He ever lives to make intercession for us, else we would fall and turn our backs on God. To Peter Jesus said, Simon, Simon, Satan has obtained you by asking, one translation says, has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. What? I have prayed for you. What a thought. What a thought. I have prayed for you, Jesus said. Have you ever thought of that in a personal way, that Jesus Christ is praying for you? But he is and he does. The high priest, when he wore his robes and went into the Holy of Holies, he had the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on his shoulders in stones and on his heart in stones. And Jesus Christ is our great high priest and he carries our names when he stands before God and pleads our cause. What a beautiful thought. So I say again unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages. Amen. And then have you ever thought of the connection between the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ? Make a study of it sometimes. You remember in John 14 to 16 there are five or six references to the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ said, I will send, listen, I, Christ said, I will send him unto you. And then he said, whom the Father will send in my name. And it's one way or the other. Either Christ says, I will send him or the Father will send him in my name. I will pray the Father and he shall give you another comforter. Do you know what I'm saying? I'm saying this, that Pentecost was a Jesus Christ happening. In Acts chapter 2 it says, Peter said, therefore Christ being exalted at the right hand of God and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which you now see and hear. Before Pentecost, Jesus with his disciples, it says, he breathed on them and said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. But I don't think they actually received the Holy Ghost then, and I'll tell you why. Because in the same context he said, as my Father has sent me, even so send I you. But he didn't send them then. They did not go then. But on the day of Pentecost, the glorious risen Christ breathed from heaven. What had happened before in John 20 was Pentecost in embryo form. Now the risen Christ breathes on the disciples, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And so I read this in the Song of Solomon chapter 2. Jesus is speaking, I am the rose of Sharon, the rose for beauty, fragrance, and the lily of the valley, purity. I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley. He says that his love, compared to other loves, is like comparing, well, a thorn. Looking at a thorn, that's the best of human love. A thorn, his love. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the suns. Now I think the Christian is speaking here. He says, the Christian does, I sat down under his shadow with great delight. Now John said, truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Someone said, most Christians don't have fellowship with God. They have fellowship with one another about God. But God is faithful, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ. So we ought to be then daily having, experiencing, fellowship with Jesus. We sing, what a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting arms. Christ is all in fellowship too. He should be the center of my fellowship, which means if I'm in some rotten jail somewhere, thrown there for my faith, I can have a sweet fellowship as any Christian can have anywhere in the world. The famous French mystic Madame Gail, she was thrown into jail, I think she was in jail eight or ten or twelve years, I'm not exactly sure how long. And for seven years of time she said, and this is how she put it, she said, I had no sensible evidence of the presence of God for seven years. But think of it, seven years, never once in seven years any evidence of the presence of God. But she never once doubted, because she knew what the Bible said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Jesus Christ is always with his people. Christ is all and in all, and she knew that. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and people listen, we've come to an extremely important statement here. Look at the marginal reference. The marginal reference said, the house of wine, and wine is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. He brought me to the house of wine. That's what the Hebrew language says. And his banner over me was love. You know, Charles Spurgeon, when he got on the theme of Jesus Christ, they said people were just absolutely carried away. Many times when that man preached, that whole congregation, six thousand people, would leap to their feet and stand through the whole sermon. They didn't want to miss a motion of a finger even, because the power of God was so on this man. But he once preached a sermon on the subject of Jesus. They said it was the most thrilling sermon they'd ever heard in all their life. People were transported almost into heaven itself. And as he came to the end of his message, he cried three times, Jesus! And each time his voice rose higher and higher. They had no PA systems in those days. They had what they call mechanized voices. And that last time when he cried Jesus, they said he fell backward in the chair and almost fainted dead away. He'd given so much of himself in that message, but he loved the Lord Jesus dearly. Sometimes outsiders would say, his language is too extravagant. When he talked about Jesus at the communion table, the tears would stream down his face. And he talked as if Jesus was standing right there. And some people, especially carnal Christians, they could not understand that. But do you remember what he said when he died? The last words he spoke to his wife? He said, oh wifey, I've had such a good time with my Lord. That's what he said. He wasn't thinking about those huge crowds and the fact he could go anywhere in the British Isles, and if they had two hours notice, there'd be a crowd of 10,000 people in the open air to hear him preach. That didn't impress him. He knew his own heart too well. God humbled him through illness for 20 years. His wife was bedridden also for 20 years. And they both knew it was because of the danger of human pride entering in. He loved the Lord with all his heart. Oh wifey, I've had such a good time with my Lord. Because he knew that Christ is all, and in all. And dear people, if you don't love Jesus Christ this way, there's something wrong. If you get arguing doctrine, you know, and you have a lot of sparks, and you perhaps win the argument, and there's something wrong. We're here to glorify Christ. Not only does it say unto him be glory in the church by Christ throughout all ages, world without end. It says, wherefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. So Christ is everything. And when our eyes are open, and our hearts in tune with God, as we read the scripture, we see Christ everywhere. And sometimes we can't read, we have to sing. And sometimes we can't sing, we have to pray. And sometimes we can't pray because we have to cry. Because God has spoken to us, and shown us something new, something great, something wonderful about the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, some people are just waiting to get to heaven because they want to see what kind of a mansion they're going to have. You know what? I don't care if I live in a tent. I don't care if they even forget me, don't even have a tent for me. What I want to see is the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm not even looking for my friends. I have numbers of friends over there. I want to see them, but I want to see the Lord first. Remember those two Korean boys? During the Korean conflict, when the Communists came down in the South, and every village they took, the first thing they did was try to get a list of members of churches, and kill them all. And they got these two boys, brothers, 16, 18 years of age, stuck them against the wall, and said, give up your stupid faith in Christ, or you'll die. Some of you've heard me tell this before, I'm sure. And you know what happened? The two boys began to argue between themselves. And here's what the argument was. I want to die first. I want to see Jesus first. No, I'm the oldest, I want to see Jesus first. No, no, no, I'm the youngest, I want to see Jesus first. And they kept arguing back and forth, until a Communist shot them both, and they both saw Jesus at the same time. But you know what happened? The leader of that band of Communists, he was smitten to his soul that afternoon. For the first time, he saw what Christianity was all about. It was real to these men. He was under such conviction of sin for six months, he struggled day and night, and finally he defected. He went to the South, he gave himself up. When the conflict was over, he found some Christians, they led him to Christ, and they formed a troop. And they toured into hundreds of churches in South Korea, reenacting the drama of that particular afternoon, when the two boys argued as to who should see Jesus first. And hundreds of people found Christ as their personal Savior. How would you feel facing a gun, knowing that in five minutes you're going to be gone? Would you be excited about seeing Jesus? Oh, I hope so. I don't think about crowns on my head. I'd like to have a crown to cast at the feet of the Lord Jesus. But I'm really not interested in wearing a crown. Crown Him Lord of all. God forbid that I should glory. Father, we've been fed manna from heaven this morning. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you, Father, for what He means to each one of us. Oh, Father, I beg you that you will not let the beautiful food that we've been feasting on these days stay within us these days. But Father, you will give us a burden for those that are outside, hurting, lost, and very, very frightened. Oh, may Jesus be seen in us as we will be boarding airplanes within hours, as we will be getting on buses, as we'll be stopping for gasoline at service stations. Oh, may the living Christ be seen in every heart and every one that would dare to call ourselves by your name. Father, I pray that you'll do your work in the hearts of those who love you this morning as you've done in mine. And you'll show us, Father, exactly what you would have us to do. Is it time to be to the prayer room? Is it a brother that we need to talk to? Is it a wife that we need to put our arm around? Say, Honey, I do love you, and I do thank God for you. Father, you know the need, and you know the heart of every one of us. And I would ask now, Father, in the way that only you can do, by the precious, precious leading of your Holy Spirit, that again we were reminded this morning was given to us by Jesus, that, Father, you will touch us now in a way that only you can. So bless it now, Father, in Jesus' wonderful name. While we are praying, if you need to go to the prayer room and just fall on your knees before God and worship in adoration and confession for not loving him and worshiping and adoring him more, whatever God's saying to you, why don't you go now? If you need to go in total surrender of your life to him, then playing games, even up until now, with God, why don't you just fall in love with him? He's all in all. He is all. Feel free to go. Lord, seal this truth to our hearts. Have thy way. In Christ's name. Amen.