Ephesians 3 and verse 19 says,
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that
ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now the theme for this morning
and also going into this evening as well, it's in two parts. concerns
the last three words of that verse, fullness of God. And I've got three headings for
this morning and three headings for this evening. So a stereotypical
three point sermon, as you might say. So just thinking of the fullness
of God. And the first point is the fullness
of God's creation. And I'll be referring to a number
of scriptures throughout. So not just basing your thoughts
on this chapter, of course, but going elsewhere. The fullness
of God's creation. And in Psalm 89 verse 11, we
read, the heavens are thine, The earth also is thine, as for
the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them. And Psalm
24.1 says, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the
world and they that dwell therein. And Psalm 8, 3 and 4 says, when
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and
the stars, which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful
of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him? It's like creation, a work of
God's fingers, which might, you think of our fingers, they sort
of do sort of, well, we can do great things with our fingers,
but you don't necessarily associate sort of a lot of strong things
being done with the fingers. And it does say elsewhere in
scripture about salvation and about judgment, that is the work
of his arm. And that perhaps would suggest
something of more strength. There's certain things you can
do with your fingers, more delicately things, but then you need your
arm to do something stronger. But is the creation a small work
of God? It's certainly not. And we read, don't we, in Genesis
1 of the creation of the world in six days. And then picking up there about
the stars, which mentioned in psalm 8 but genesis
1 16 we read god made two great lights
the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule
the night he made the stars also which when you sort of read it,
it might seem a bit of an afterthought. Or when he made the sun and the
moon, those great lights, and then made the stars also. So that was something where he
just did that as well. for decoration but in the universe there are
10 at least 10 to the power 22 stars in the universe. 10 to the power 20, that's a
1 and then you write 22 zeros next to the 1. A staggering amount. When you think that 10 to the
power 6 is a million, it's a 10 to the power 22. Those stars. He made the stars also. And we're fearfully and wonderfully
made, as Psalm 139, 14 tells us. We are selves. And apparently
by adulthood, we each have 60,000 miles of blood vessels inside
our bodies. That's more than twice the distance
around the world. staggering to think of these
things and then if you just consider something minute in creation
the detail of that how people can believe that these
things just evolved staggers me Now our wonderful designer,
creator is behind it all, whether it's, as I say, whether it's
the universe, the stars, whether it's ourselves or the oceans. The Pacific Ocean is, of course,
the largest ocean in the world. And the deepest part of that,
the Mariana Trench, It goes down about nearly seven miles. It's staggering, isn't it, to
think of these things. So when we consider the heavens,
the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou
hast ordained, what is man? that they are mindful of him.
And yet we are the special piece of God's creation, aren't we?
Made in the image of God. And it is for man that there's
salvation, not for the fallen angels, but for fallen people. There is a saviour in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we read, don't we, in Genesis
1, again going back to that, that certain things were created
on certain days and God said it was good. And at the end,
after the creation of man, it was very good. And there was
a sort of a completeness, a fullness in his creation. And you can imagine what it well,
we can't really imagine what it must have been like for Adam
to sort of look after the Garden of Eden before the fall. Afterwards
it would be fawns and thistles and we know that, don't we? We know of the consequences of the fall.
But before, you know, what a joy that would have been to tend
that garden. So there's a fullness, isn't
there, in God's creation. And we could just carry on thinking about things
that God has made and the wonder of it all. And I think I read somewhere
about some fish recently who go elsewhere to sort of have
their teeth cleaned or something. And it involves sort of another
fish. And instead of being gobbled
up by this fish, they're actually sort of given a... their teeth
are cleaned by this fish. You know, there's lots of wonderful
things, isn't there, in creation. These things couldn't have happened
by evolution. No, it's God. Our wonder working
God. So there's a wonderful fullness
of God's creation. And we could go on and on about
that. But secondly, how about the fullness
of God's Son? So God's creation and then the
fullness of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think of Colossians 2,
verse 9, which says, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. And every time I read that verse,
I just remember the late Ken Matrinola, when I was in Portsmouth,
preaching a sermon on that verse. there are sermons aren't there
sometimes that we we can't forget you know they stick in our minds
maybe they stick on mine because they weren't very good but I
trust that they stick in our minds because they really spoke
to us. The Lord spoke to us through
them, or they were very helpful. And I remember Ken preaching
on that verse, and it made me think of other sermons, perhaps,
and there's quite a few that I look back in, look back on
over the years and say, yeah, That was a particularly good
sermon. It really spoke to me. It was
very helpful in what was said. And it made me think of one. Now, this is going back about
30 years, nearly 30 years. And it was preached by Robert
Dale, who was then the pastor at Nap Hill Chapel. Providence, sorry, Providence
Chapel in Nap Hill in Surrey. And he was a pastor at the time
of that church. And it was for the Sovereign
Grace Union. It was for that organization
that he was preaching. And it was on the New Age. which
was sort of quite new then, about 25, 30 years ago. And it was the best sermon I've
ever heard on the subject of the New Age movement. And I've still got the sermon
on a tape, and that shows how old it is, so I've got it on
a cassette. But it's good, isn't it, to recall,
isn't it, sermons like that? And to say, yes, well, that was
a time perhaps the Lord spoke to me for the first time, when
the Lord really spoke to me, or when I felt very helped. and because I was a bit confused
about something and that was a very helpful sermon with whatever
the subject was. But thinking of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was God and yet became man,
and he experienced sorrow and hunger and tiredness, which you
read in Matthew 8, for example. And then, of course, as a man,
he died. But as God, well, he spoke with
great authority. Those who didn't like him said,
whenever man has spoken like this man, And he did many miracles. You
know, the raising of the dead, the healing, the healing of the
sick, the raising of the dead, changing water into wine and
feeding a vast crowd of people with just a few loaves and fishes. So the Lord demonstrated very
much that he was God. But also, of course, he was fully
man and fully God. But this question, it's sort
of like it sort of came across it yesterday. And I think there
was a Muslim man was asking a Christian this And I don't think the Christian
could answer it. But then I sort of managed to
read something and hear something of an answer. And they sort of
complemented each other, an answer to this question. And the question was asked, if
Jesus is God, why did he not know when he would return? Because speaking of his second
coming, Jesus said in Matthew 24, 36, but of that day and hour
knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. And in Mark 13, 32, but of that
day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which
are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. So the Bible clearly teaches
that Jesus is God. In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. The
glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. That's John chapter one and verses
one and 14. And we know of course that God
is omniscient, knowing everything. So it seems strange that Jesus
would say that he did not know when he would return. But the
key to understanding Jesus' seeming lack of knowledge in this matter
lies in the nature of the incarnation. When the Son of Man became a
man, but when the Son of God became a man, he remained fully
God, but he also took on a true human nature. Jesus retained
all the attributes of divinity, yet as a man, he voluntarily
restricted their use. This was part of the self-emptying,
as it's called in Philippians 2, 5 to 8. Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form
of God, fought in robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, and was
made in the likeness of men. and being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. So when Christ entered our world,
he laid aside the privileges that had been his in heaven. Rather than stay on his throne
in heaven, Jesus made himself nothing of no reputation. He
veiled his glory and he chose to occupy the position of a servant. We've often heard it said, haven't
we, why do bad things happen to good people? R.C. Sproul said, I quite like these quirky quotes,
he said, that only happened once and he volunteered. He gave,
the Lord Jesus Christ gave his life, didn't he? He couldn't die until the time
was right. and he gave his life. He laid
it down of himself. And he came, he didn't consider,
he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but as it
says there in Philippians 2, he made himself of no reputation,
took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men,
And such humility to come into this world and to assume human
flesh, but even more so is for why he came, knowing that he
had to live a perfect life and then die for people like us. Why do bad things happen to good
people? Well, our Lord was the only truly
perfect good person that's ever lived. And was it a bad thing that he
died? No, it was a good thing. It might
seem on the surface it was a bad thing, the awful crucifixion,
but it was a good thing for us. And if we are saved, then we
bless God that he died for us, that he died for me, that he
lived and he died for me, that he took upon himself my
sin and the shame and the guilt of it. may we bless God that that is
so may we just have that simple faith and assurance the Lord
he lived and he died for me he rose again for me and one day
I'm going to go to be with the Lord forever and I don't deserve
any of it it's all of the wonderful grace of God. And may we just
have that simple faith and that assurance that we are the lords. And he won't lose us. We are
the lords. Then he won't lose us. He won't turn around at the end
and Say, well, you know, after all, you're not going to go to
glory. No, we're chosen, aren't we, before the foundation of
the world, saved in time and saved for eternity. There were times when Jesus publicly
manifested his divine knowledge and power on earth. On those
occasions, Jesus' demonstrations of his divinity were directed
by the Father. On other occasions, he had no
such directed from the Father, and he kept his glory veiled.
On all occasions, Jesus obeyed the Father's will. In the Garden
of Gethsemane. Take this cup from me, but not
as I will, But Lord, may thy will be done.
This is my will for it to be taken from me. But may thy will
be done. It reminds me in Matthew chapter
26, where we read from like this, I'll read from like verse 49. And forthwith he came to Jesus
and said, Hail, Master, and kissed him. Judas and Jesus said unto him,
Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they and laid hands
on Jesus and took him. And behold, one of them which
were with Jesus stretched out his hand drew his sword, and
struck a servant of the high priest, and smote off his ear.
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into its place,
for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Verse 53, Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father,
and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But hell then shall the scriptures
be fulfilled, that thus it must be. So in the trial and before
the Lord's crucifixion, you know, he could have acted, the Lord
could have acted then as God and just put his enemies to flight
in one moment, calling upon these 12 legions of angels to put his enemies to flight
and to save him from what he would go through. But praise
God that the Lord didn't act like that. That he endured the
suffering and he endured the cross and that he died because
we wouldn't have any hope now or for eternity. if indeed the twelve agents of
angels had gone to help him. So we see, don't we, some, we
see their wonderful kind of restriction in order that we would benefit
indeed from what the Lord would do. He came to, that was his
purpose of coming, wasn't it? And what such condescension,
you know, that the Lord should come, the Son of God, go into
that world and live that perfect life and then die that awful,
excruciating death for my people. Such condescension, such humility
and such love indeed. So we give thanks that indeed
the Lord Jesus Christ did the will of his father and of course
he was without sin. He could do no wrong and as I've
said before, if in one minutest of ways the Lord Jesus had sinned,
it would have disqualified him from being our saviour. So we give thanks indeed that
he fulfilled all righteousness in every way. Let's just move on to the third
point, the fullness of God's creation
and the fullness of God's Son. And the third point is the fullness
of God's attributes. And just a few verses here. In Romans 11, 33, they kind of
just speak for themselves, don't they, these verses? Romans 11.33,
oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. So there's so much that that
verse says, isn't there? Speaking of the fullness of God,
in his wisdom and knowledge, unsearchable his judgments and
his ways where they're just past finding out. And as we read in
Ephesians 3, verse 18 to 20, may be able to comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height,
and to know the love of Christ, which pass of knowledge that
ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him
that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or
think, according to the power that worketh in us. Great depth there. I remember
in verse 18 speaking once on the dimensions of God's love
and thinking about the breadth and the length and the depth
and the height and the breadth, the broadness of
God's love. God so loved the world. people throughout the world will
be saved. And the length of God's love, the lengths that the Lord went
to save us in leaving his home in glory, coming into this world
and then suffering as he did. we would never suffer anything
like the saviour did. But we do suffer and when we
do suffer we have one who understands perfectly what we're going through
because he suffered to the uttermost that he might save to the uttermost. And then the depths of thinking
of the depths of our sin. And thinking, when you think
of something quite deep, perhaps it's something a bit unsearchable,
isn't it? Psalm 92.5 says, O Lord, how
great are thy works and thy thoughts are very deep. And sometimes
it's said, isn't it? Somebody said, well, that's very
deep, what you said. That means I didn't really understand
it, or it was very thought-provoking. And when we think about God and
his ways, whether the past our ways, the higher and better in
our ways, and his thoughts, you know, they are deep and they
are, we can't always understand what's happening. You know, God
knows exactly what he's doing, but we question why is this happening? Why is God allowing this? Why
am I going through this? But the Lord knows and the Lord
will. He knows exactly. He knows our
frame. He knows what we can take and
what we can, the level to which we can perhaps
cope with things. It's like he's got his hand on
the dial, regulating the temperature, making sure that we don't suffer
beyond what we're able to cope with. And then sort of the height.
I mean, when something is high, it's just too high. I can't get
over it. And so really when we think about
the love of God to us, it's just so amazing. It's just incomprehensible. It's just, why? We're just flummoxed. We just can't think of the words
to say. spellbound when we think of the
love of God to poor sinners as we are. So it's wonderful, isn't it,
to think of the attributes of God and his purposes and how God saves his people and those that he saves. Romans 11.25 speaks there of
a mystery. and perhaps concerns like the
gospel to the Jews. And the Jews, of course, rejected
the gospel and then took it to the Gentiles. And you read that
in Romans chapters 9 to 11. And then we perhaps read of a
great work again amongst Jewish people. And it perhaps is a bit
of a mystery how God will work. But we know that whether it's
Jew or Gentile, the way of salvation is the same, isn't it, for us
all? And it's realizing that we're
sinners and that our only hope of salvation is the Lord Jesus
Christ on earth. And that is the gift of God is
eternal life. But we need to be brought to
that place that we realize that we are hell deserving sinners. And that we. Turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the way, not one of several ways, but
the way, the truth and the life. I love the words in Jeremiah
29, verse 11, that says, For I know the thoughts that I think
towards you. And I said earlier about the
thoughts of God are very deep. And they're very precious, too,
towards his people. But Jeremiah 29, 11 says, For
I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord.
thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected
end. And it surely is a blessed comfort to know that
the God is in control of our lives and in control of the world. There's a lot of chaos in the
world, a lot of evil going on and you just need to hear the
news and watch the news and the state of things in the world
and we read about perhaps the state of the church and how perhaps
you know the church in some ways has gone well off beam and in
other lands where the church is really persecuted. And we can easily despair of
all these things. But that's a lovely verse. For
I know the force that I think toward you, sayeth the Lord,
force of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end.
So we can apply it personally, too, because in our lives, Things happen. We don't understand
and we don't know why. But to give you an expected end,
God's in control. He knows. He knows the outcome. And we read, don't we, in Romans
8, 28, that all things do work together for good to them that
love God, who are called according to his purpose. And that's a
lovely verse to hold on to. And it's not an easy verse to
believe, is it, that all things do work together for good. But may we know that that is true,
and that if we are the Lords, we are loved with an everlasting
love. May it be that the love of Christ
so sort of overwhelms us really. When we think we can't sort of really come to terms or grapple
with the wonder of God's love. That it sort of does pass on
knowledge as verse 19 says, to know the love of Christ, which
pass of knowledge. And it certainly it can pass
up, you know, and we just have to say. The Lord loves me. And pray and our prayer is that
we may be helped to love him more. But he loves me. I don't know why. But I've been
chosen before even the world was founded to be one of his. and that I'll be then forever
with the Lord. And it does pass knowledge indeed. And such is the abundance of
God and the fullness of God that he does, as verse 20 says, he
does exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. and
that's amazing isn't it to think of these things and say we're
just lost for words Sometimes we might be in a situation where
we're just, we don't know what to say, we're just lost for words.
And perhaps it is when we think of the love of God, we just stand
there aghast at the wonderful love and grace of God. It may
appear that we all know something of that and more of that and
something more of the fullness of God. My final thought really kind
of brings us into my fourth point which will be for this evening.
So I think that's an appropriate place to leave it. So I pray that some of these
disjointed thoughts will be of some help. But it's not about
what I say. It's about what the Lord says,
what the word of God says. And Do we know him in our hearts? And can we say that the Lord loves me, gave
himself for me? And I am glad, I am happy. And may it be that we know increasingly
the love of Christ, and if we don't, that even this day we
may come to an understanding of what
we are by nature and what the Lord can do for us. And may we bless indeed his wonderful
name. So we'll leave it there for this
morning and pick up this evening with some more thoughts. Amen. Oh, praising him. Hymn is hymn
number 583. Sorry, hymn number 418. To our Redeemer's
glorious name, awake the sacred song. O may his love, immortal
flame, tune every heart and tongue. Hymn number 418, the tune 858. He lives, glorious name Awake
the sacred song He is love, immortal flame Dune every heart and tongue
He is love, what mortal flood can reach What mortal tongue
dismayed, Imagination's darkness drove him from the light of day. He left his agent from the heart, Left
the bright frowns of bliss, He came to earth to reign and govern
all the earth. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us
all, now and forevermore. Amen.