Well, this morning I borrowed
my simple outline from a similar outline that Charles Spurgeon
preached on February 26, 1871, a month short of 152 years ago. You know, this outline, this
verse of scripture that I'm using as my text is just as relevant
and appropriate today as it was then. Why? Because it's the gospel. It's the same gospel that our
Lord preached. It's the same gospel that the
apostles preached. Peter, James, John, Paul, they
all preached the same gospel. John Calvin and John Gill preached
this gospel. John Newton and Martin Luther
preached this same gospel. Henry Mahan preached this gospel. His son, Paul Mahan, preaches
this gospel. For 40 plus years, Maurice Montgomery
preached this gospel, and I am endeavoring now, week after week,
to preach this same gospel. It's the only gospel that saves.
It's the same message that's been preached in this place now
for over 50 years, and it's the one and the only gospel. There's
only one message. We say that all the time because
it's true. Just one message of how God saves
sinners. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The message that Jesus Christ
is God. And the message that God died
for the sin of His people to put it away. No other way for
our sin to be put away but other than Christ dying for our sin.
Paul said, if one cometh that preaches another gospel, whom
these men have not preached, if an angel from heaven came
preaching another gospel, which is not another, they're just
someone that would trouble you and pervert the gospel of Christ. That word trouble is a verb that
means causes distress and anxiety, pain, pain for you. The true
gospel comforts. A false gospel distresses. An
unbeliever believes the false gospel wholeheartedly, but it
causes anxiety and it causes distress and trouble for the
believer. I don't know about you, but I
hate to hear men lie on God. It causes me anxiety, lying on
God. False preaching perverts the
true preaching. It alters, it distorts, it corrupts
and leads astray. And Paul said, let them be accursed.
Cursed, doomed, damned, and condemned. So let me say again that there's
nothing original with us in preaching, and there better not be. We continue
to tell the old, old story, the story of Jesus. Tell me the story
of Jesus. hoping and praying that God will
be pleased to write every word on our hearts and on our minds
and souls. Now my text this morning is Colossians
chapter one. If you would turn there with
me, very familiar passage of scripture. Colossians chapter
one, and I wanna look at verse 19. We'll look at some other
verses in this first chapter of Colossians. But one, verse
19 will be our text. And there are two words in particular
in this particular verse of Scripture that you'll hear over and over
again this morning. All fullness. All fullness. That's what I'll title this message.
All fullness. Verse 19, Colossians 1, For it
pleased the Father that in Him, Jesus Christ, should all fullness
dwell. Now my outline is very simple.
My subject this morning is again Jesus Christ, and I have five
points, and I'll give them to you briefly and quickly. Who, what, when, where, and why? That's easy to remember, isn't
it? Who is the message of the gospel
about? What in the gospel, the good
news for sinners, saves them? When, when does God save them
by this gospel? Where, where is the salvation
of sinners given? And lastly, why did God send
his gospel? All those things can be answered
in this one verse. Again, verse 19, for it pleased
the Lord that in Christ should all fullness dwell. You know, I was thinking and
preparing for this message, what a combination that is of two
words, all and fullness. They go hand in hand, don't they?
And one enhances the other. Fullness is a state of being
filled to the capacity The state of being complete and whole. It means completeness. It means
inclusiveness. It means thoroughness. It means
the state of comprehensiveness, containing all the elements and
all the aspects of something. It means extensive and intensive. Detailed, minute, meticulous,
far-reaching, definitive. You get the picture. Then you
add that little word, all. In front of it, all is a word
that includes everything. All. All fullness. There is no fullness
but that which is found in this fullness that's found in the
Lord Jesus Christ. We know that Christ is the fullness
of the Godhead. In chapter two, verse nine, we
see that in Him, in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. That's what that means. All that
God is, Christ is in human form. That's why He's called the God-Man.
Now, do you understand that? I certainly don't. But by God's grace, I believe
that He is the God-Man. He's God. He's the fullness of
God. All fullness of God in a bodily
man. All the perfections of God are
in Him. All omnipotence, power, all omniscience,
all knowing, all omnipresence, all immutability. God never changes. Never changes. Independence,
it all belongs to God. Yet it is also Christ or He would
not be equal with God. God in three persons. God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Our Lord is
not deficient in any of His attributes. None. All wisdom, all power,
all mercy, all grace is His to redeem and save us. He has it
all in great abundance. Everything required in our salvation
is qualified to provide in His fullness. Fullness. Look at verse 14 in Colossians
1. In whom? In Christ. We have redemption. How? Through
His blood. even the forgiveness of sin.
Redemption and forgiveness are Christ to give, and He gives
them in His fullness. Verse 15, who? Jesus Christ is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
Jesus Christ is God. Verse 16, for by Him, were all
things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him. Jesus Christ,
Tom, is the creator of all things. Verse 17, and he's before all
things. And by him, all things consist. While he's alpha and omega, he's
the beginning and the end. He's the first and the last. All fullness dwells in him. all
of it. Verse 18, and he's the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things, he might have the preeminence. Jesus Christ is salvation in
its fullness, fullness. So what's the conclusion? What's
the summation of the whole matter? Our text tells us, again, verse
19. For it pleased the Father that
in Him, in Christ, should all fullness dwell. Look at verse
20. And having made peace through the blood of His cross by Him. We ought to underline that. By
Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, all fullness belongs
to Christ. So much so that Paul repeats
that two different times in verse 20. We miss a lot of things the
first time, don't we? That's why the scriptures often
repeat things. Paul says, by Him all things
are reconciled. Then immediately he says, by
Him I say, in case you didn't hear me. And that's what we do
in preaching. We say it and then we repeat
it. Now, in us, the sinner, the sinners that we are, there is
nothing but utter barrenness. The total opposite side of the
pendulum. God, Christ, all fullness in
us, nothing but barrenness. In me, Paul said, that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. The wise man Solomon said, vanity
of vanity, all is vanity. His father David said, men and
women, you're not excused either ladies, men and women in their
best state are altogether vanity. Collectively altogether and altogether
in ourselves. We are nothing but vanity. That
word vanity means emptiness. We're empty. Nothing but emptiness. Now there's an oxymoron for you. We're full of emptiness. That's
true. But God has provided a fullness
for us. Our first consideration, who
is that fullness? Who is the gospel? Would be another
way of saying it. People ask, what is the gospel? Well, the correct question would
be, who is the gospel? Jesus Christ is our gospel. We
saw two weeks ago that He will rest in His love. He doesn't
rest in our love for Him. He rests in His love for us.
He is the doctrine of God our Savior. That was two weeks ago.
Last week was he arrested. I get mixed up. But anyway, that's
our message, isn't it? Isn't that what we preach? In me is lack of all merit. Nothing that I can do that God
would accept. In you is the lack of all goodness.
There's none that do it good, no, not one. There's none righteous,
not a single one. In us is the lack of all power.
We have no power whatsoever. We're without strength, the scripture
says. And every sinner is the absence
of all will. Now that'll ruffle some feathers.
But that's what the word of God says. The Lord himself said,
you will not come to me that you might have life. You won't
do it. If it's left up to your will,
you will never ever come. Friends, we are empty, we're
void and full of waste, full of nothing but sin and death.
But in Jesus Christ, there is all fullness, all fullness. So the first thing we see is
that Jesus Christ is the message of the gospel. all the types
of Christ in the Old Testament. I love the types of Christ, love
to preach from Him. Why, you know, He's Noah's Ark,
isn't He? Jesus Christ is Noah's Ark, you
know that. The wrath of God fell upon all
men. God looked upon the hearts of
men. They were only evil continually. God said, I've had enough. I'm
not gonna strive with man anymore. I'm gonna destroy the world.
But those that were in the ark, those that were in Christ Jesus,
the wrath of God fell on them too. The rain fell on that ark,
but they were safe and secure in the ark of God, the ark of
Noah. And it just goes on and on, all
the times. Christ is the man that fell from
heaven. He's that rock in which rivers of living water flowed.
Why, He's the cloud that led them by day and the pillar of
fire that led them by night. He's the tabernacle. He's everything
in the tabernacle. He's the altar. He's the mercy
seat. He's the high priest. He's the
sacrifice. He's all of it. It's all about
Him. And as much as I love the types of Christ in the old scripture,
they cannot save us. No, sir. It's our high priest,
our incense, our tabernacle, our sacrifice altar, mercy seat,
all those things, Christ is all in all. And all the patterns,
all the examples and the pictures and the types of heavenly things,
they're too weak to save us. So we've got to have the heavenly
thing himself. The Old Testament law was a shadow
of good things to come. But in Christ, we have the very
image of the things. Jesus Christ is salvation. The
law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Our sins and our sorrows are
substantial. We need substantial mercy. We
need a Savior with substance. We need a gospel with substance. That's who Jesus Christ is. He's
the sum and the substance of the gospel. In Him dwells all
fullness. All of it. All of it. Now, of
the things which we have spoken in this sum, we have such a high
priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty
in the heavens. Hebrews 8.1. What's he doing
for us? Well, he's not pleading to us. Not pleading with us. He's pleading
for us. Big difference. I heard all my
life, well, you know, the Lord is standing on the portals of
heaven. He's wringing His hands and saying, won't you come home?
Sinners, won't you come home? I'm softly and tenderly calling.
Won't you come home? No, sir. He's on the right hand
of God forever making intercession for us. He's praying for us.
He's pleading to God the Father in our room and in our stand.
And in him dwells all fullness. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for
us. That's good news. Wherefore He
is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him,
seeing that He ever liveth. He forever lives to make intercession
for them. Hebrews 7.25. What a God and
what a gospel. In Him, Jesus Christ, dwells
all fullness. Secondly, what in the gospel
saves sinners? Well, Paul said in 1 Timothy
1, verse 15, he said, this is a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners. And then Paul added, of whom
I am chief. Now the gospel message is always,
it's always Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Who Christ is
and what Christ did. He came into the world to save
sinners. How? By the sacrifice of Himself. Again, verse 20, look at verse
20 here. And have He made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven, and you, that were sometime alienated and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. How? In the body of His flesh,
through death, to present you, the wretched, no good sinner
that you are, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Now, it matters not what I think
of you or what you think of me. All that matters is how God sees
us in His sight. And in Christ, in whom dwells
all fullness, He sees us as holy, unblameable, and unreprovable. Boy, that ought to tickle your
innards. It ought to tickle your innards.
He who in all fullness dwells in the body of His flesh by the
blood of His cross made us the same as He is. Perfect. Gotta be perfect to be accepted.
And we're perfect in Christ, in whom dwells all fullness.
And that's where our peace is found, not in what we do. There's
no peace to be found there. But what was done by Him for
us, we're reconciled by Him. We were alienated, but by Him,
we're brought back into fellowship with God. Reconciled by Him,
we were alienated, but now reconciled. In the body of His flesh, that
body contained all fullness. You know, a little help won't
be enough. Everybody says, oh, I need a
little help. Me and Jesus got a good thing going, He'll give
me a little bit of help. No, we're without strength. Christ
died for us when we were without strength. Christ died for the
ungodly. It's not my strength that does
it. A little mercy will only mock our misery. Some degree
of grace will never be enough. We need all fullness. And Christ is the only one that
has it. And if He has it all, then no one else can have it,
right? He's got all of it, that's what it says, all fullness. No
one else has it. Thirdly, when is God pleased
to send the gospel to His sheep? Our text gives us the answer,
when it please God. That's when. When it pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace, Paul wrote in Galatians 115. It pleased the Father that
in Him, in Jesus Christ, should all fullness dwell. There's always been fullness
in Christ. In Christ it dwells, present tense. It was in Christ
before the world began. is in Christ right now. It will
forever be in Christ. Christ's fullness is perpetual. It never ceases to be. All fullness
was, is, and shall always be in the person of Jesus Christ. Every child of God saved under
the old dispensation found the fullness of their salvation in
the coming of the Redeemer, in the coming of the Messiah. And
every believing sinner since is saved through that same fullness. As long as there is a sinner
to be saved, Christ's blood shall never ever lose its power. As long as there is a sinner.
And before there was a sinner, there was a Savior. The fullness
of His merit. The fullness of His grace. The
fullness of His mercy. The fullness of His love. The
fullness of His forgiveness. It dwells. Dwells. That word signifies always present. Not dwelt and no longer dwells. Dwells. It indicates constancy. It indicates accessibility. A man who dwells in a house is
going to be found there. That's where he lives. That's
where he dwells. You knock at the door of God's
grave and you'll find it to be home every single time. Why? Because that's where he
dwells. It dwells. That's where it lives. The fullness of Christ is to
be had at any time. It pleased the Father that all
fullness should permanently dwell in the Lord Jesus. The door of
Christ's fullness is never ever found shut. Never. His fullness can never be exhausted. It can never be finished. It's
always full. What a mutability, unchangeableness
that is. When I opened this this morning,
it was pretty much full, but now it's not full. Full means
full, doesn't it? Overflowing. You can't put any
more in it. That's what Christ is to His
people. He's everything. He's everything.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh
down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. There will never be a soul to
perish that trusts in Christ. Never. Whosoever believeth in
Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Is that your
hope this morning? Is that what you're trusting
in? Oh, I hope so. I pray so, that's the only thing
that'll save you. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. God has said it, will he not
do it? God has declared it, shall it
not stand fast? You better believe it will. Fourthly,
where is the salvation of sinners found, for sinners found? Where
is this fullness of redemption placed? It pleases the Father
that in Him, in Christ, should all fullness dwell. Where else
could all fullness be found or be placed? That's a reasonable
question. Where else could it be found
or placed? It takes God Himself to contain
all fullness. Where dwells a being with a nature
who has the capacity to contain all fullness? Who had measured
the waters in the hollow of his hand? Who had meted out heaven
with a span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure?
Who's weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? God, only God. Only the one who
can contain all fullness. It pleased the Father that in
Christ should all fullness dwell. And to dwell is to abide and
remain forever. We're nothing but broken cisterns.
We can't hold water. Only one with omnipotence can
retain the fullness. Only one with full immutability
can hold it forever. Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. That's why fullness can constantly
and forever dwell in Him. Therefore all fullness should
be placed in Him, shouldn't it? Why, He's the Son that abideth
forever, John 8.35. Christ is a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek, Hebrews 5, 6. Being made perfect, He
became the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey
Him. Eternal salvation. Salvation
can't be obtained and then lost. It's eternal. His name shall endure forever.
His name shall continue as long as the sun, and men shall be
blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him blessed."
We've talked about this many times. We live in a day where
it's blessed, blessed, blessed. Everybody blessed. You sneeze,
bless you. Have a blessed day. God doesn't
bless days. No. No, He blesses His Son and
He blesses those who are blessed in Him. We are blessed, where,
oh, in Him. All fullness is rightly placed
in the Lord Jesus Christ because He alone has the ability and
He alone is suitable to distribute that mercy and that grace. It's
certain that we may attain it from Him. He never withheld His grace from
anyone that desired it. Nowhere in the Scriptures do
you find a needy soul coming to the Lord and Him turning them
away. You won't find it. Now God is
a consuming fire. We cannot come to Him for grace
without a suitable sacrifice. But Christ, being a man, one
of a meek and lowly spirit, is easily accessible. He's the friend
of publicans and sinners. He was in all points tempted
as we are. Why, He came to seek and to save
that which was lost. He's the God-man. He's the one
who took that child upon His knee and He said, suffer or allow
the little children to come unto Me. Oh, if you come to Him as
a little child, trusting in Him completely and totally, my, you'll
be accepted. It's not about us accepting him.
It's about him accepting us. And he says, suffer the little
child, come to me. So why not come? Come to him. My, my. He's the one who touched
and healed those sick and oppressed. He bore their sicknesses. He's
the one who gave his hands to the nails, his heart to the spear,
in which Thomas put his finger and thrust his hand into his
side. What did Thomas say when he did
that? My Lord and my God. That's who He is. Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God
forever and ever. Revelation 7, 12. Oh, may God be pleased for you
to see Him face to face and adore Him as you should. You will not
be reconciled to God any other way. You will not. Come unto Him and be, you say.
Are you weary and heavy laden over sin? Why not come to Him
in whom all fullness dwells? You know, once it pleased the
Father to bruise Him, but now it pleases the Father that in
Him all fullness dwells. Then lastly, my fifth point is
this. Why did God send this glorious
Gospel? Why did He do it? It's a simple
answer that's past finding out. There's another oxymoron for
you. It's a simple answer that you can't, it's past finding
out, it's past understanding. It pleased Him to do so. That's answer enough. He does as He wills. What's the reason for election?
Even so, Father, it seems good in thy sight. It's the Lord. He always does
what's right. And I hear justice speak. Do
you hear justice? Justice says, there was, nor
is, nor ever will be a person in heaven or on earth fit to
contain the fullness of God's grace as Jesus Christ was, is,
and will forever be. In Him dwells all fullness. He
who was God made Himself of no reputation. He who was God took
on the form of a servant. He who was God was found in fashion
as a man. And He who was God humbled Himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He took our sin and our sorrow and He made them His very own. That's what we sing. He took
our burden at Calvary, and He suffered and died alone. We didn't
have anything to do with it. Well, I believed. You can't believe
unless God gives you life. You can't believe unless God
gives you faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not by works,
lest any man should boast. All we can sing is, Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how wonderful! The Father
has laid our hail upon One who is mighty, for in Him all fullness
dwells. He who is mighty is loving, and
he who is loving is mighty. And in Him contains the fullness
of love and power. It pleased the Father that in
Him should all fullness dwell, and it pleases us that it did.
Doesn't that please you? Where else could it be placed
but in Christ, the well-beloved Son of God? God said, this is
my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. What did He say then?
Hear ye He? We better listen to Him. You
know, even if I could save myself, I wouldn't. And I know some people
will look at you crazy when you say that. We will not. We will
not come to Christ that we might have life. We cannot come to Christ that
we might have life. We don't have the ability to
come in and of ourselves. We're dead in trespasses and
sins. God's got to first give us life. who hath saved us and
called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
debt and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. Because in Him all fullness dwells. Christ is the go-between, the
go-between the chosen sinner and God. It pleased the God to
put all grace in Him. If God has made you willing,
then He's proved His willingness to save you. We glorify Him in
bowing to His grace, bowing to His love, bowing to His mercy. He has plenty because all fullness
dwells in Him. We sing that old hymn, depth
of mercy, can there be mercy still reserved for me? Wouldn't
it run out? No! Because in Him dwells all fullness. My, my. Are you pleased with Christ?
If so, then there's already peace between you and God. For Christ
is our peace. He's that peace that passes all
our understanding. What are you so peaceful about?
I don't have any idea. I don't understand it, but I
am because of what He, in whom all fullness dwells, has done
for me. That's what you rest in your
soul on. Are you pleased with Christ?
Well, in closing, I may take the words of Paul here for myself
in verse 25 and say, because of this, wherefore I am made
a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for
you to fulfill the Word of God. And let me say that no one could
wonder more as to why God called me to preach more than me. There's not a minute that goes
by every day when I think to myself of all people, why would
God call me to be a minister of the gospel? But just like
salvation, my sufficiency in preaching and being a preacher
or pastor is not the issue. I'm made sufficient in Christ.
Just like you, I'm a sinner that needs this gospel. I'm a sinner
that needs this fullness. I'm a sinner that needs Jesus
Christ just as every sinner needs Him. And you know, how do you
know if a man or woman is saved? Well, I don't know. I can't know
your heart. You cannot know mine. But I know this. A believer,
a true child of God, is going to love Jesus Christ. He's going
to be the topic of their conversation. He's going to have the preeminence
in their life. He sure is. We talk about the
things that we love most. You talk about Jesus Christ? How do I as a preacher fulfill
the Word of God? Verse 26, By preaching even the
mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but
is now, now is made manifest to His saints, to whom God would
make known? What is the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory?" I don't think there's any natural born Jews here this
morning. That puts us all in the same
boat, Gentiles. God made known the riches of
His glory in this mystery to Gentiles like you and me. And
it's, what is it? Very simple. Christ in you is
the hope of glory. The only hope there is of redemption
is found in Jesus Christ. And it takes the mercy and grace
of God for any of us to believe. And Jesus Christ in you is the
hope of glory. We must believe in Him. There's
no hope anywhere else. That's where all fullness is
found. It's found in Jesus Christ. Verse
28, in whom we preach. It's not what we preach. It's who we preach. And by preaching
Him in whom all fullness dwells, we are warning every man, verse
28, and teaching every man in all wisdom, Jesus Christ is our
wisdom. that we may present every man
perfect, complete, entire, lacking in wanting nothing. How do we
do that? In Christ Jesus. That's it. It
all comes back to that. So, am I in over my head as a
preacher? Yes. Yes, I am. Every preacher of the gospel
is. So do we quit? Well, honestly, sometimes we
feel like it. I know enough true preachers
to say that. Why? Because we in and of ourselves
are not sufficient. But with Paul we say in verse
29, whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which
worketh in me mightily. That's the reason we don't. We
can only work out what God works in. By preaching Christ and warning
sinners of their danger, teaching them the way of salvation, we
strive according to His working. That's what we're doing. Preaching
the gospel is the same as salvation is. It's not a work that we do.
It's a work that God does in us, and He works in us mightily. Because His Word is mighty. In
Christ, who is the Word, there is all fullness. So, who is the
message of the Gospel? Jesus Christ, in whom dwells
all fullness. And there's no other message,
and there's no other Gospel, and there's no other Savior.
May God be pleased to cause me to preach it and believe it.
I've got to believe this Gospel myself. Preachers don't get free
passes. We don't pass gold and collect
$200 like the game of Monopoly. No, we've got to believe this
same gospel that we preach. And that takes the same mercy
and grace and all fullness that Christ possesses. Oh, may God
cause you to hear it and trust in Christ in whom all fullness
dwells. For His glory, your good, and
for Christ's sake. Amen.