We commence our service this
afternoon by singing hymn number 978. The tune is Angelus number
282. How blessed are they who truly
see their emptiness and poverty, whose souls are humbled in the
dust, and who in Jesus only trust. These are the souls whom Christ
will bless, with all the riches of his grace. And these are they
who soon shall rise to a bright kingdom in the skies. Hymn number
978, June Angelus, number 282. God bless America! God bless America! God bless America! God bless America! Grace and poverty Wisdoms of
love in the dust Counting Jesus' bloody trust Let ev'ry doubt, let all the pride, let all the pain, in His
name combine. Heavenly King, who came to see and save the
lost. Heaven and earth give them praise, But Jesus, Lord, they highly
prize. May everything that makes him
love, give Jesus all that he deserves. Take me back to Bethlehem, so
Jesus' heart and soul may rest. Give thine embrace, let there
be love, To give them hope, the joy of love. ? The wholesome Christ will bless
? ? With all the riches of His grace ? ? And these are their
gifts to me ? From the holy, inspired, inerrant
word of God, we have two readings this afternoon. The first is
the Gospel according to John and part of chapter one. The
Gospel according to John and part of chapter one. And then
we will read part of Ephesians chapter one. The Gospel of John
chapter one, and we will read the first 18 verses. 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,
and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of man. And the light shineth
in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. The same came for a witness to
bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe.
He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that
light. That was the true light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the
world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him
not. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 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. John, bear witness of him and
cried saying, This was he of whom I spake, he that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for he was before me, and
of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses,
but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God
at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of
the Father, he hath declared him. We'll now turn to the epistle
of the apostle Paul to the Ephesians and chapter one. The epistle
of Paul to the Ephesians and chapter one. And in fact, we'll
read the whole chapter the whole chapter. Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus
and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ,
according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved. in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace, wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom
and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself,
that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven
and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also we have
obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will, that we should be to the praise of his glory, who
first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, After that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in
whom also after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until
the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of
his glory. Wherefore I also, after I heard
of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love to the saints, cease
not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power
to us would who believe according to the working of his mighty
power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all principality and power and might and dominion,
and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his
feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. We'll leave the reading of God's
holy word there, and may he bless it to us each and teach us each
to pray. Let us pray. O thou most kind and gracious Lord,
once more we come into thy presence, the presence of thou whose eyes
are a flame of fire You cannot look upon sin, and we come through
the blood, the precious blood, the sin-atoning blood of the
dear Lord Jesus. We pray, Lord, that our hearts
might be purged with hyssop. Lord, that thou would forgive
our sins, and Lord, this afternoon thou would sanctify us unto thyself. Lord, that thou would set us
apart for the holy purpose of worship. And so, Lord, bid from
our minds all earthly things keep the tempter from us. And
may we see no man save Jesus only. And may our hearts be drawn
out in love unto him, that we might see much of the loveliness
which is in Christ. For the canticles declare that
yea, he is altogether lovely. And that we might have a glimpse
through the lattice of thy grace this afternoon, that we might,
like the woman with the issue of blood in her knee, press through
the crowd and even touch the hem of thy garment, that we might
be given a desire to seek the beloved. Lord, sometimes we know what
it is with the bride in the Song of Solomon, O that I knew where
I might find him whom my soul loveth. Lord, give us then her
grace to go a-seeking. And Lord, that thy servants,
the pastor here and thy servants he supply, might often be found
like the watchmen in the city. And Lord, by grace thy servants
might point the way to Christ. And that like Philip, we might
open our mouth at the same scriptures and preach unto them Jesus. We do pray for our friend turned
in with us, the pastor at Cranbrook, and pray that thou bless him
in his ministry today. And Lord, we pray that thou would
strengthen him and uphold him and give him that persevering
faith. And Lord, do send answers from
this morning for the prayers for the dear pastor here and
in his travels and in the pastorate here and his deacons and the
flock of God. Lord, may they be a praying people. that they might know, as did
the early church in Jerusalem, that they gather together in
thy name and in thy presence to make prayer unto God for him. And Lord, we do ask that that
thou would send us answers of peace to our prayers. Lord, that
then we might come again with rejoicing, bringing our sheaves
with us. Oh Lord, may we not be like those
nine lepers who didn't thank thee. Lord, sometimes we feel
condemned by the words of Jesus, but where are the nine? Lord,
we confess we're sometimes amongst the nigh, but Lord, we pray that
Thou would give us more thanksgiving in our hearts. Lord, we do thank
Thee for mercies given, prayers heard and answered, strength
for the day, and Lord, we Again, pray for the
children and young people and that thou would bless thy word
to them, none too young to be saved by thy grace. And we thank
thee for that, and none too old either, that we might know and
see more of thy work, the work of thy spirit in our churches
in this our day and generation. Oh Lord, we sometimes think that
we are like those that the psalmist spoke of, that we're called to
serve God by night. But Lord, that has chosen to
place us here in this day and this generation. And Lord, we
are called to be faithful. And we pray that we might be
faithful to thy word and to thy commands. And we pray, Lord,
as we look to thee alone for the blessing, that thou would
yet return again to Jerusalem with mercies. And so, Lord, we
pray for the churches of truth in this county of Kent. We pray,
Lord, that they might be increased, and Lord, that thou would bless
them Lord, that thou bring thy people out of the world and into
the church militant. We pray that thou would prepare
each one of us for eternity. Lord, may we be amongst that
favoured band, one day to sing thy praises in glory. that prepare me, gracious God,
to stand before thy face. The Spirit must the work perform,
for it is all of grace. And Lord, as we pray for the
churches here, we pray for thy people to the ends of the earth,
And Lord, we pray for the persecuted Church of God, those we read
of in Nigeria, in Islamic Africa, in the Middle and Far East. Lord,
those who today fear to go to the service, lest they be imprisoned
or bombed. And Lord, we pray that thou be
with the widows and families of those who have been cruelly
killed for Jesus' sake, Lord, uphold them, strengthen them,
and turn again their captivity as the streams of the South. We do pray for our country and,
Lord, for our new Prime Minister and the Government. We know that
it is written in thy word that the government is upon his shoulder. And we are thankful for that.
And we pray, Lord, that thou would overrule in the new administration
to the good of thy people. We pray that we might be maintained
our religious liberties, the freedom to preach the word, to
distribute thy word, the freedom to meet, And Lord, grant my people
the freedom to stand for the truth in public life. We pray
that there might be yet a turning again of the tide in this regard. And we pray thee, Lord, that
thou would teach our new Prime Minister. O Lord, we are saddened
that he is on the record as saying that he does not believe in thee.
And yet, Lord, the hearts of all men are in thy hand. And
may it be, Lord, that in the responsibilities of high office
that now will so much come upon his shoulders, that even in this
thou would teach him that he is insufficient for these things
and cause him to turn to the true God of heaven. And we pray,
Lord, for our King. We thank thee for restoring him
thus far. And likewise, Catherine, the
Princess of Wales. And we pray that thou would fully
restore them and preserve them to us. And Lord, may these things
in thy gracious hand be sanctified to their souls. Lord, we Thank Thee for many
mercies. Thank Thee for Thy word of truth, for the hymns that we sing, and
that Thou would give us to sing them with the heart and with
the understanding also. And Lord, we thank Thee for Thy
day. And as we gather together on
this, the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's day, We rejoice that
it is the first day of the week, the day of the resurrection,
and that there is that witness in the meeting of thy people
on this day that he is risen indeed, and we long that he might
be risen in our midst this afternoon by his Spirit. We pray that we
might know thee and the power of thy resurrection, We need
that power of the resurrection for our hearts are dead and they
need enlivening. And Lord, if there are sinners
here who have never been convicted of their sin and never called
for salvation, never sought the Savior, that Lord, thou would
come to them and may that great change take place in their hearts. born again by the Spirit of the
living God. And Lord, as we face a new week,
we pray that Thou would be with each one of us, with the different
things in our diaries, the things that we know of, if it is Thy
will, but also the things that we know not of, that Thou would
bring in our pathways this week. We pray that Thou would go before
us each Give us each health and strength for what thou would
have us to do. Be with those who shrink from the unknown way
because of its challenges and difficulties and give them help. Be with those who feel unwell,
frailties of later life. We pray that thou would sustain
them. Be with those, Lord, have perplexities,
cannot see thy goings. Thou would go before them and
give them to trust in me. But like Joseph, when thy word
tried him, his soul was in iron, but yet Lord, he was given that
stay upon me and he was brought forth as gold which and perish
if not. And Lord, we pray that Thou would
be with those who are lonely or low in their mind, anxious,
and Lord, that they might know the consolations of God which
are not small. So Lord, we commit these prayers,
our supplications before thee. We do ask thou would send answers
of peace. And Lord, that even this afternoon
thou would visit us with thy salvation as we ask in the precious
name of Jesus. Amen. Children of the Heavenly King,
as ye journey, sweetly sing. Sing your Saviour's worthy praise,
glorious in his works and ways. Ye are travelling home to God. in the way the fathers trod. They are happy now, and ye, soon
their happiness shall see. In number 267, June, Newington,
number 884. O come all ye faithful joyful
and triumphant O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem ? God rest ye merry gentlemen ?
? Here on earth as it stands ? ? Give her praise and sing
her song ? ? Hail, all ye citizens of the
world ? ? Hail, all ye citizens of the world ? ? Holy, holy, Lord God of hosts
? ? Holy, holy, Lord God of hosts ? ? Shepherds, hear this our solemn
text ? ? In all its eternal rest ? When we did surrender, where
our victor from below, O come, O come, Emmanuel, O come,
Emmanuel, ? Winter, autumn, spring, and fall
? ? Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ? Greatly needing the Lord's gracious
help, I ask you to turn with me this afternoon to the Gospel
of John chapter 1 and verse 16. The Gospel of John chapter 1
and verse 16. And of his fullness have all
we received, and grace for grace. The Gospel according to John
chapter 1 verse 16. and of his fullness have all
we received, and grace for grace. This beautiful little text is
all about Jesus, the dear Saviour, the Son of God, the Son of Man. It's about him and his fullness, all the riches and blessing which
derive from his person and work alone. His fullness, and it is about
all of his people receiving that fullness, his fullness of all
we received, and the channel by which they receive the fullness
of the blessings in Christ through grace and more grace and more
grace, an abundance of grace and grace for grace. Now, the opposite of fullness
is emptiness. And just as there is an infinite and eternal fullness
in the precious Savior, there is an awful spiritual emptiness
in us sinners. And although this scripture doesn't
directly talk of emptiness, it's implied in it, for if we
ever are to receive of the fullness of Christ by grace, it's only
in our emptiness and undone-ness we can receive it. I was sat in my study on Thursday
in the time off I have from my secular work, praying the Lord
for a word this afternoon, And I was absolutely empty and
barren and dry. And I told the Lord, I said,
Lord, I'm empty. And this word dropped in and
of his fullness of all we received in grace for grace. And so in
opening this up to you, before we come to the actual words of
the text, we have to start and experimentally
start with our emptiness and need. Now, it's a wonderful thing when
the minister and the deacon are led by the spirit of the God
in the same way. And it was so this morning, remarkably,
and it is so this afternoon. Because the first hymn your deacon
gave out this afternoon Reading the first and fifth verses of
really the sermon in two verses, how blessed are they who truly
see their emptiness and poverty. Souls are humbled in the dust
and who in Jesus only trust. Emptied of self, these are the
souls whom Christ will bless with all the riches of his grace. of his fullness have all we received,
and grace for grace. So with the Lord's help, I would
like to speak to you under four heads. Firstly, our emptiness
of need. Secondly, and lingering here,
Christ's fullness. Thirdly, this receiving of it. And fourthly, this abundance
of grace, grace for grace. Firstly, our emptiness. The word of God is very, very
clear. The word of God doesn't ever
try and smooth over difficult things. And so the word of God painfully
describes what theologians call as the total depravity of men
and women, boys and girls. That means we are empty of any
spiritual good. We are nothing but sin in our
rebellion to God, our creator. The Lord said that The commandments
were summed up by two things, love the Lord your God with all
your heart and all your mind and all your soul, and love your
neighbor as yourself. And we've solemnly failed in
those things, each one of us. The standard of the righteous
holiness of God is so high that even the most godly of the saints
I cannot fully fathom it. I was walking in the countryside
yesterday afternoon and I saw a huge fire coming up from a
mile or two away in the direction of my house. And it reminded
me of Toplade, the author of Rock of Ages. He was once returning
home across the Somerset Plains on his horse after being away
on a preaching tour, and he saw smoke coming up from the direction
of his house. And when he got there, he was
very relieved when it was his neighbor's house and not his
own. And the Lord convicted him, love thy neighbor as thyself.
You may think, well, it's natural, we'd all feel like that. It's
come short of the glory of God. And We have an antipathy by nature
to the truth of God. We were born in sin and shaped
in iniquity. Now, by nature we don't know
it, but when the work of grace begins, when we know some of
this grace of our text, the Lord gives us a new heart. In Ezekiel it says, I'll take
away the heart of stone and a new heart will I give you. A heart,
a soft heart, a heart of flesh. And the Lord's people begin to know something
of their spiritual poverty and emptiness. They know it and they
feel it. And they see something of the
righteousness of God and Christ Jesus. And they feel the gulf
between. It's different in different people.
There's different degrees of this. We call it conviction. John the Baptist, who spoke the
words of our text, I used to be confused by John chapter one,
and perhaps some of you children and young people are. It was
written by John the Apostle, but here he is quoting John the
Baptist. And John the Baptist said, and
of his fullness of all we received and grace for grace. Now, John
the Baptist was a wonderful man. He was a very, very great man
in the things of God. In fact, the Lord Jesus said
there was none greater than John the Baptist. In Matthew 11, 11,
among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist. The Lord's own words. But John the Baptist was in himself,
by the teaching of the Spirit, empty, he was humble. He was
perhaps one of the humblest of men. We have it here in the verse
before. He's speaking of the Lord Jesus.
He that cometh after me is preferred before me. We have it in verse
23. They were asking him who he was.
Aren't thou Elias? He says no, no I'm not Elias. I'm just a voice. I am the voice
of one crying in the wilderness. Verse 27, there comes one who's
shoelatching, I'm not worthy to unloose. He knew his sin,
his emptiness, his spiritual need, and in comparison with
the Christ, he felt empty, unworthy. He said, didn't he, in another
place, he must increase, I must decrease. And so, How was it
that this great man of God felt this emptiness spiritually,
this humility? Well, the laborer must first
be partaker of his fruit. And when John the Baptist preached
of the ax being laid to the root of the tree, the convicting work
of the spirit through the word, He must have known that in his
own heart too. He knew this convicting, his
emptiness, his need, the knowledge of sin, the knowledge of his
undone-ness. And in the light of the Lamb
of God, the pure, spotless Lamb of God in whom there was no sin,
no iniquity, he was harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He saw his emptiness. And if the Lord begins a work
of grace in the hearts of any today, they will know in some
measure that they are sinful and unworthy and in need. We sometimes, those of us who
are further in the way, we've proven that when we've
been emptied of ourselves, Christ has filled us with his treasure,
this fullness will come onto you. And then we become hard-hearted
again, taken up by the things of this life. And we know that
experience sometimes with our hymn writer, don't we? We pray
to be emptied again, empties of self I feign would be, the
world my sin and all but thee, our emptiness and our need. But now, secondly, and coming
more immediately to the words of our text, Christ's fullness,
and of his fullness, have all we received. What riches, what
treasures are in Christ Jesus. Wonderful, glorious treasures. Now, we read in Colossians, for
it pleased the Father that in him, in Christ, his dear son,
should all fullness dwell. Now what is this fullness? Well, it will take a whole eternity
to trace it out. We can but scratch the surface. What I'd like to open it up to
you is the fullness of his glorious attributes of the Godhead. the
fullness of his work of redemption, the fullness of his offices as
prophet, priest, and king, and the fullness of his characters. Now, firstly, the glorious attributes
of God displayed in Jesus, the Son of God. And Paul, writing
to the Colossians, he goes on to say in the next chapter, He
says, in him, in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. But as son of man, as made of
woman, made under the law, a real man, and yet mysteriously united with
his manhood was his Godhead. and all the fullness of the Godhead. And by that, I really see all
the glorious attributes of the Godhead. Dwelt in Christ, the fullness of his power, his
might, his wisdom, the all-wise God, his knowledge, He who knows
all things, sees all things. His justice, his righteousness,
his holiness. Holy, holy, holy. It's the only
one of the attributes of God that are quoted three times. And it's been said that they
sum up his attributes. And then his goodness, goodness
of his mercy. of His love. God is love. He is truth. He is grace. He is righteousness. But the thing here is that these
wonderful, glorious attributes are contained in the dear Savior. These are His fullness. but they
are communicated by grace to his people. So are you feeling
weak? Tempted? Tempted to give up? Tempted, you're deceived in the
things of God? Your prayers don't seem answered? And you're feeling weak? But he who has all the might
of the Godhead because he is God, he of whom it is said, all
power is given me under heaven and earth, he commands your strength,
he communicates your strength. Thy God commanded thy strength.
And so from his fullness have, or of his fullness have all we
receive. Do you feel sometimes lifeless, spiritually dark, undone? The Lord Jesus is in his very
essence mercy and love towards his people, communicated to them, And then we have the fullness
of his work of redemption. And that's really why I read
with you Ephesians one. The apostle really prefaces at
the beginning in verse three, he says, our Lord Jesus Christ
who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly place in
Christ, colon. And then he goes through them.
and the things he has worked for his people, he's predestinated
them, adopted them, he's accepted them in the beloved, he's redeemed
them through his blood, he's forgiven them. It's all of grace, we'll come
to that, but according to the riches of his grace, to the praise
of the glory of his grace, he's made them known the mystery of
his will, he's given them an inheritance, And so we could
go on. And the chapter ended, did it
not? Talking of the church over which
Christ is the head, which is his body, and the fullness of
him that filleth all in all. Christ filleth all in all by
his work on the cross. By the work of redemption in
choosing to suffer, bleed and die for his people. And when
he cried, it is finished. and he forever accomplished the
work of salvation for his people. Their emptiness in Christ is now a fullness. Their alienation from God the
Father is now reconciliation. Atonement is made, redemption
is accomplished, and of his fullness have all we received, and grace
for grace. And then we think of the fullness
of his glorious offices, the threefold offices of Christ Jesus
our Lord, as prophet to teach, as priest to intercede, and as
a king to reign over us. And we love to think of his offices,
but it's from our emptiness they're so attractive. Do you feel that
you know so little of the pathway of the Christian life, that you
know so little of his word you would be taught more? You need that teaching. of his prophetic office of all
we received. When sin and guilt hangs heavy
on your soul and you need someone to appear for you at the throne
of God above, then can we with joy meditate
the grace of our high priest above and receive from the fullness
of his priestly office And when in our lives there are things
that are adverse towards us, and we need a king to rule over
circumstances and events, and when our sins need subdued and
we need a king to reign in righteousness over our hearts, is he not king
of kings and Lord of lords and of his fullness of all we receive? And the word of God uses so many
titles and characters, the rock of ages, the branch. But just to mention those seven
I am's that John spoke, that he spoke which are recorded in
John's gospel. I am the light of the world,
I am the bread of life. I am the door, I am the good
shepherd, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrection,
the life, I am the vine. He in his very essence, the I
am that I am, emanating from his fullness. Do we need spiritual
feeding? I am the bread of life. Does the darkness of our hearts
need illuminating? Then I am the light of the world. Do we need shepherding? Guiding, caring for, protecting? From his fullness of all we receive,
he says, I am the good shepherd. When he put forth his sheep,
he goeth before them. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall
not want I was thinking on driving down
here this morning that there was a time perhaps 15 years ago
when I was feeling very low and stressed I was at work and there
were a lot of problems I didn't know how to cope and I was spiritually
dark Lord brings his people sometimes into these valleys. And I literally felt so empty,
I didn't know how I was going to carry on. I felt weak and
dizzy. And I got a long day to get through.
And I suddenly thought of the few words of the hymn, when all
created streams are dried, because I tried at work to solve the
problems with this thing, and everything had fallen apart.
I felt like that, all created streams are dried. And I couldn't
remember in my state the rest of the hymns. So I went on the
desktop on the computer, and I put in those words, and up
it came. When all created streams are dried, his fullness is the
same. I shall with this be satisfied
in glory in his name. That morning the Lord communicated
his fullness. So it doesn't matter what you're
in, in providence or in grace. Can you tell me one need the
children of God have ever had? that cannot be communicated to
by the fullness which is in Jesus. Give me one thing. There's nothing. There is nothing. And so we sing,
a fullness resides in Jesus our head. And ever abides to answer
our need, the Father's good pleasure has laid up in store a plentiful
treasure to give to the poor, whate'er be our want, we need
not to fear, our numerous complaints His mercy will hear. His fullness
shall yield us abundant supplies, His power shall shield us when
dangers arise. And of His fullness of all we
received, and grace for grace, Now thirdly, just to linger on
this, have all we received. The glorious fullness which is
in Christ Jesus the Lord will not do us any good unless
we receive it for ourselves. If this text just said, and of
his fullness, it would be very beautiful and
attractive and it would be a glorious statement because there is a
fullness in Christ. But unless you know it, communicate
it to your heart by grace, unless it is received into your heart
by faith, it does you no good. So how then, how then, do the
people of God receive this fullness? Well of course there's many answers
to that, but I just mentioned, didn't I, the Lord Jesus said,
I am the true vine. Ye are the branches. He that would bear He that abideth
in me shall bring forth much fruit. And the illustration there
is very clear, that just as naturally a vine to bear grapes on the
branches has to have all the nutrients and the water coming
up through the roots, If the branch was cut off from the root,
it would wither and die in a day. But there is a supply of the
nutrients and the water through the roots along the stem to the
branches to bear fruit. And really, in the words of our
text, the branches, the people of God are receiving the fullness
through Christ who is the root of the true vine. And it's abiding
in him. Our hymn writer puts it beautifully,
Jesus immutably the same. That means not just that Jesus
doesn't change, but that he can't change. Because this fullness
is an eternal fullness, an immutable fullness. Jesus, immutably the
same, thou true and living vine, I can do nothing without thee. My strength is holy thine, withered
and barren should I be, if severed from the vine, quickened by thee,
and kept alive, I'd flourish and bear fruit. That's receiving
of the fullness my life, I'd from thy sap derive my vigour
from the roots. And in practical terms, in July
2024, here in Lambethurst, the Lord's people receive from the
vine, through the means of grace, through the Spirit's blessing
on the word of God, on the preaching of the word, on the ordinance
of his house, the means of grace that communicates by the Spirit
the fullness which is in Christ to empty, needy sinners. So finally, this last three words,
grace for grace, and of his fullness of all we receive, and grace
for grace. First glance, it's a bit of a
puzzle, isn't it? But why does it say grace for
grace? Surely it could say, and the
peacefulness of all we received by grace or through grace or
and grace, but why does it say grace for grace? Well, there's probably several
answers, but perhaps most particularly, it describes an abundance of
grace. That there's a supply of grace
for today, but then there's more grace for tomorrow, and even
more grace for next week, and there's such an abundant supply
of grace, there's grace for all the Lord's people, every day
till their dying day. And grace for grace. And this
grace is really the channel through which Christ's fullness flows
to sinners. It's free grace, you cannot earn
it or buy it. It's sovereign grace, it's all
of his gift. It's amazing grace. It's free
and sovereign grace. And there's an abundance of it.
There's a freeness of it, he gives it. But he giveth more
grace. And there's a continuation of
it. The fountain of grace. The Lord
said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee. The Lord's people will
never come to a day where there is not sufficient grace for what
the Lord has given them to bear. When my wife and I were first
married, we were living in Bath in a a flat in the grounds of
the hospital and we were all alone and we didn't know anyone
in the town, we'd just moved there and we felt a bit unsettled
and a bit homesick and my wife had a plaque and it said this
on it, the will of God will never lead you where the grace of God
cannot keep you. And although that's not a scripture,
it is a truth of scripture. Of his fullness of all we received
and grace for grace. So whatever he has called you
to tomorrow, next week, he has the supply of grace which he
will give you. Grace for grace. Now you children,
listen to this. That's a big word, grace, isn't
it? We don't often use it in everyday life. So what is grace? What does grace mean? Well, when
I was your age, I had it described to me like this. You imagine
that there was a beggar on the streets of the nearest town.
And as you went past, perhaps your mum or dad gave him a pound. But imagine that that beggar
ran after your mum and dad and Robbed them of their purse or
wallet. And then next week you were in
town and the beggar there was asking for another pound. And they gave him another pound. And the next week he asked for
another pound and they gave him another pound. That's grace. The first time it's kindness. But we talk about the active
demerit Because we're sinners, we're like that beggar who robs
God. We don't deserve because we,
as it were, rob God. And yet, he still gives. And
that's grace. It's more than kindness. His goodness communicated despite
our sin. That's why we say it is God's
undeserved favour. and children and young people,
pray for God's grace. We need God's grace. Pray that
the Lord Jesus would bless you from his fullness with his grace
while you're young. And of his fullness have all
we received and grace for grace. You see, I know there's often
things in the services of God's house that you perhaps don't
understand. But real, true religion is very simple. And it is this. Firstly, you and I are empty
sinners. Secondly, Christ Jesus is a great
savior. And thirdly, he has promised
that by grace, those who come to him in prayer, he will receive
and give of his salvation. And none are too young and none
are too old, because it's all of grace. It's not how much we
understand in our head. It's not how many books we've
read. It's the reality. of knowing our sin and fleeing
to the Saviour, and casting all our hope in His grace, and of
His fullness of all we received, and grace for grace. Now, very briefly, just in the
last few minutes, I just want to talk to you about the illustration
in Zachariah's vision. I think it's Zachariah 4, isn't
it? And Zachariah saw in his vision, a golden candlestick. And in those days, the candlesticks
were fueled by burning olive oil. And this candlestick never
went out. And the reason was there were
pipes from the golden candlestick to two olive trees. And there
was a continual supply from those olive trees of oil to the golden
candlestick. And the Lord said to Zachariah,
not by might, nor my strength. The flame cannot be kept burning
by what we can do, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. And those
olive trees, the supply of oil to the candlestick, it represents
the Holy Spirit's work, the oil of the Spirit through grace.
The oil of grace, the oil of the Spirit. And that's a picture for us in
the Old Testament of our text and of his fullness of all we
received, a grace for grace. So as we go into another week,
perhaps you're worried your flickering candle will go out. in Jesus there's the olive trees
and communicated from the abundance the never failing supply is the
oil of grace and of his fullness have all we received and grace
for grace amen I conclude our service this afternoon
by singing hymn number 184, the tune is Stockton, number 913. A fullness resides in Jesus our
head and ever abides to answer our need. The Father's good pleasure
has laid up in store a plentiful treasure to give to the poor. When troubles attend or danger
or strife, His love will defend and guard us through life. And
when we are fainting and ready to die, whatever is wanting,
His grace will supply. Hymn number 184, Tune Stockton,
number 913. O come, let us raise our hearts
to him, Jesus, our God. And heaven abides in your soul,
my dear. And what is good that you may know is true, plentiful treasure to the poor. O tell him, O Lord, he need not
to fear, Thou new-born Son of God, His
mercy we'll give, His fullness shall give. The metal shields went into sunrise. The fountain of life, a verse
to regret, still more in his heart I'll raise the voice ? In our homes, we shall live in
Christy ? ? We shall have every comfort ? ? For our Lord has given me ? Awakes us, give us Such plentiful
grace Will Jesus deserve O come all ye faithful joyful
and triumphant O come ye, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem Lord Angel of strife His love
we defend And guard us through life And when we are fainting
I'm ready to die. Whatever His wanting, His grace
will supply. May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost
be with us each now and for evermore. Amen.