There are some preachers, past
and present, who are well known in God's church among His people. Their names are household words.
You all have things written by Spurgeon, Robert Hawker, John
Calvin, others, and their names are very familiar to you. But
in every generation, There are also faithful, faithful, faithful,
gifted men who live and serve God and his cause almost in obscurity. Men whose names you will never
know on this earth. Men who are known only by those
people whose lives they influence immediately. Such a man was the
pastor of the church at Colossae. All I know about that man is
his name was Epaphras. He was pastor of the church at
Colossae. He was a prisoner with the Apostle
Paul at Rome. And then I know something else
about him, which is really all we need to know about any man
who preaches the gospel. He was a faithful minister of
Christ. He was a faithful minister of
Christ. God make me a faithful minister
of Christ. And you can forget my name. That'd
be perfectly all right. I want no more than this in all
how I want this to be to you and in this generation to God's
people, a faithful minister of Christ. This man Epaphras, while
he and Paul were prisoners together at Rome, told the Apostle Paul
about the church at Colossae, his dear family, the church of
God that met together with him, sitting under his ministry at
Colossae. And he told Paul of his great concerns. Like every
faithful man in his generation, Epaphras had to deal with heresies
on every side, constantly bombarding God's people, constantly pulling
their minds away from the simplicity that's in Christ. He wanted them
to stand perfect and complete in the will of God. And yet as
he expressed his concerns for those people to whom he ministered,
Paul spoke, or Epaphras spoke to Paul in such glowing terms
about this church that the apostle Paul was just, he just fell in
love with him. He told the apostle how the word
of God had come to them in power, bringing forth fruit unto God
in their lives. How the Lord God had given them
faith in Christ and taught them to love his saints and filled
their hearts with the blessed hope of eternal glory. And he
told Paul, he said, when all's said and done, these are a people
faithful to their Redeemer, faithful to Jesus Christ, their Lord.
And Paul, being overwhelmed with this man's commendation to these
saints, took up his pen to write to these saints in Colossae.
He fell in love with them. He prayed for them. And he wrote
this, one of the most instructive, delightful, blessed epistles
to be found in the New Testament. I want to call your attention
to what I consider to be perhaps the most rapturous, glorious,
inspiring description of our Lord Jesus Christ to be found
anywhere in this book. Let's begin at verse nine. We begin here with Paul's prayer
for God's saints here at Colossae. Having heard so much about them
from Epaphras, Paul said, I constantly pray for you. I constantly pray
for you. And this is what I seek from
God at the throne of grace on your behalf. Now hear me, saints
of God in Danville, Kentucky. I constantly pray for you. this
is what I seek from God at the throne of grace on your behalf,
that you might be filled with the knowledge of God's will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding. I want you to be filled with
the knowledge of God's revealed will in Holy Scripture. His revealed will, to glorify
His Son in the saving of His people. Now that's God's revealed
will. That's what this book is all
about. How that God is determined to glorify His Son in the full
salvation of His people. I want you to be familiar with
the redemptive purpose of God. Understanding day by day God's
will for you. Oh God, teach you to know His
will, direct you in His will, order your steps in His will.
I pray that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. God, oh God, give us grace to live in this world for your
glory. God give you grace to honor him
at home, at work, on the streets. When you meet somebody who's
contrary and grumpy and complaining in business, when you come across
somebody in doing business at the grocery store that's just
cranky, God give you grace to honor him, to honor him. To walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. You ever stop and think about
how much little, insignificant, meaningless things cause you
to erupt in anger? I mean, nothing. I mean, nothing. And great things we overlook. Great things we seem to just
pass them by. God give us grace. not to be
moved by little things, insignificant things. Give us grace to honor
Him in all things. In verses 10 through 13, we're
given seven distinct characteristics of this life of faith. How is
it that we can honor God? That you might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work.
In every good work. When there's something you can
do, something you can do, whatever it is, that glass need to be
moved over there, wipe that spot off there, do it. Whatever it is, every good work,
everything you can do to make life easier and better for someone
else and increasing in the knowledge of God, faith, walks in good
works. Faith, believing God, increases
in the knowledge of God, and strengthened, strengthened with
all might according to His glorious power unto all patients. Believing God, that He may give
you strength, strength in all things, to all patience, to walk
before God in the unruffled ease of patience. Long-suffering. Long-suffering. Just put up with
stuff. Put up with it without griping. Put up with stuff and put up
with people without murmuring. Long-suffering. Endure hardship
without becoming mean. suffering, with joyfulness, with
joyfulness. Oh, what reason we have to rejoice
in the Lord always, with joyfulness. Just caught your eye. Josh, there
you sit, your wife, no children. Now, why should you rejoice?
Worshipping God in His house, in the knowledge of a Redeemer,
with such delightful circumstances. But I had a flat tire on the
way over here, got that one fixed and the axle broke. What difference
does that make? What difference does that make?
That's just, that's nothing, that's nothing. Joyfulness, joyfulness. Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. Now what was it you were gonna
grumble about? What was it that upset you? Who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son. Then in verses 12 through 14,
Paul, just having spoken of giving thanks, he breaks out in thanksgiving.
His heart welled up with deep gratitude to God and he began
to give thanks to God himself for making us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light. He's given us righteousness
by the obedience of Christ as our mediator and substitute,
and righteousness by the grace of Christ being imparted to us,
making us partakers of the divine nature in the new birth. Brother
Lindsey was talking to you this morning earlier about the conditions
God required of the children of Israel at the close of Exodus
15. And he kept telling you that
the conditions are conditions met by Christ. Conditions met
by Christ. Every condition required by God
of His people is a promise from God to meet the condition by
His grace. The Lord Jesus, by His doing
and dying, has made us worthy to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. And He gives thanks for that
sovereign, free, saving grace of God who hath delivered us
from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom
of the Son of His love. He gives thanks for that effectual
blood redemption that's ours in Christ. In whom we have redemption
through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Redemption is forgiveness. Every sinner redeemed by the
blood of Christ has the forgiveness of sins by that blood. Christ's
death at Calvary was and is the effectual accomplishment of redemption
for His elect, giving us absolute, everlasting, complete forgiveness
of all sin. Look at verses 15 through 18.
Paul's gratitude and thanksgiving turns to praise. When he spoke
about the grace and redemption that's ours in Christ, he couldn't
resist the opportunity to extol and magnify his savior. This one who is the image of
the invisible God. This one who is Christ, the firstborn
of every creature. That doesn't mean, as many heretics
suggest, that Christ is the first creature of God. It means, as
we're told in Revelation 3, 14, that he is the beginning of the
creation of God. Christ, we're told in verse 16
here in Colossians 1, is the creator of all things, the beginning
of all things, and the ruler of all things. In verse 17, Christ
is eternal, and he is God. He is before all things, and
by him all things consist. He is the head of His body, the
church. He's the beginning of the resurrection,
the firstborn from the dead. In essence, this is what Paul's
telling us. God Almighty has put all things into the hands
of His Son, as I mediate to it. Look at verse 18. That in all
things, He might have the preeminence. that in all things Christ might
stand out, head and shoulders above everybody and everything.
The triune Jehovah has given Jesus Christ, the God-man, our
Mediator, preeminence in all things, in all the decrees of
God. In all that God purposed before
the world began, Christ stands head above all. He's given preeminence. Throughout this book, Christ
is preeminent. I get correspondence or telephone calls
almost daily, almost daily, from folks asking me about some word
or some obscure passage, or some folks get all benign and say,
where did Locke get his wife? I don't give a flip where Locke
got his wife, do you? I'm just not interested. I'm
just not interested. I'm interested in Christ our
Redeemer. Everything that takes your mind off Him, takes your
mind off what God intends in this book. Christ is the preeminent
one in the book. He's preeminent in God's creation,
preeminent in salvation, so that everything involved in salvation
is in Him, by Him, and with Him. He is preeminent in His church.
He is preeminent in the glory of heaven. Now, the reason for
all this is in verse 19. And I'm gonna just camp here
for a little while. For it pleased the Father, that in him should
all fullness dwell. It pleased the Father that in
him should all fullness dwell. The title of my message is All
Fullness in Christ. If I knew this would be the last
sermon, my very last word to you as God's messenger to your
souls, I could not pick a better subject or a better text. Spirit
of God, open the word to our hearts and open our hearts to
your word and give me grace to preach it. My purpose in this
brief series of messages is identifying the Christ of God. Identifying
the Christ of God. Now you hear preaching. Some
of you listen to preaching on radio and television and listen
to everything you can on the internet. I suggest you don't. I suggest you don't. Why feed
out of a garbage can when you go sit down and have steak? I
do not understand that. But as you listen to men preach,
oh, but he reads the Bible. The Pope does too. Did you know that? The Pope does
too. He even quotes it exactly as
it's written. That doesn't mean he believes
anything. The Christ that's preached, the Christ about whom men speak,
is anything but the Christ of God. You must know Him who is
the Christ. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ, that is, anybody, any sinner in the world who believes
that Jesus of Nazareth actually accomplished everything written
in the book of God concerning the Christ, he is born of God. and anyone who denies that Jesus
is the Christ, who denies that Jesus of Nazareth actually did
accomplish all that the prophets and the law of God said the Christ
must accomplish, he is a liar. He is antichrist. He denies the
Father and the Son. He does not have eternal life. All right, let's look at this
text. pleased the father that in him
should all fullness dwell now this is long and short of
what the text says whatever we get from God whatever the sinner gets from
God whatever we get from God comes to us with Christ, in Christ,
through Christ, by Christ. You can't get grace or salvation
anywhere else. Hold your hands here in Colossians
1 and turn back to that text we looked at a couple of weeks
ago in John chapter 1. John chapter 1, verse 14. He who is the Christ of God is
that one in whom alone resides all fullness. John chapter 1
verse 14, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.
Now watch this, full of grace and truth. John bare 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. He's preferred before me. He has preeminence, because he's
eternal. He's the eternal God. And of
his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. Now you can read that several
ways. His fullness all who believe all who are born of God all who
are taught of God have received grace because of grace grace
on top of grace grace that brings grace of His fullness we've received
grace and the grace to be had nowhere else now back in Colossians
1 and This great instructive chapter is all about our Lord
Jesus and God's salvation in him. Did you notice as we read
this chapter earlier, over and over again, Paul uses the word
all to describe him. Now all, that's a very, very
little word, but it describes big things. In verse 16, all
things were created by him. All things were created for him.
Verse 17, He's before all things, and by Him all things consist.
Verse 18, God the Father has given Him preeminence in all
things. Verse 20, all things shall be
reconciled to God by Him. Now look at verse 19 again. It
pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Paul means for us to understand
that there is in the Lord Jesus A superlative, infinite, immeasurable
wealth of grace and glory. He is an artesian well of fullness. Everything is in Him. Let me
show you three or four things here, and I'll wrap this up.
Number one, I want to emphasize this fact. All fullness dwells
in Christ. Fullness. All fullness. Fullness is comprehensive, substantial,
something that is complete. All completion, all fullness,
all totality, all supply is in Christ. You put these two words
together, all fullness, and you have a superlative wealth of
meaning. What a word of comfort this is for poor bankrupt sinners. You who are yet without Christ,
all of us by nature are all emptiness and vanity. We have nothing, we can do nothing,
we can merit nothing. And even if we could, we don't
have the will to do so. It's called depravity. It's called human nature. It's
called sin. That's what we are. And there
is nothing you and I can do to make ourselves in any way acceptable
to God. Nothing any sinner can do to
make himself righteous before God. Nothing you can do to put
yourself in a more favorable condition before God. If you
would have anything, you must have it from outside yourself.
Oh blessed be God in Christ there is all fullness. Oh my heart
rejoice in this. Let our souls dance like David
before the ark of God. Everywhere else in the universe
there's nothing but barrenness and emptiness. The wise man Solomon
looked over everything. All the books he had read, all
the learning he had All the wisdom. The Queen of Sheba said that
half hath not been told. Oh, what great wisdom he had.
And he observed it all. He observed it all. All the things
you've observed. All those things that just get
hold of you. All those things that jerk you high and lay you
low. All those things that move and
control your emotions and cause you to erupt in anger or erupt
in joy. Solomon said this concerning
all of it. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity, saith the preacher. You mean preacher. Solomon means
for us to understand that everything in this world is vanity. That's what he means for us to
understand. Everything. Everything. every possession, every position,
every power, every property. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. In us, there's nothing but emptiness
and vanity as well. Our Lord Jesus is he who possesses
all fullness and all who draw from his fullness acknowledge
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. In him dwelleth
all fullness. We're emptiness. Christ is fullness. How can I express this? What
are you? Death. Christ is life. What am I seeing? Christ is righteousness. What are we? Helplessness. Christ is strength. Are you hungry? Christ is bread. Are you thirsty?
Christ is water. Are you naked? Christ is clothing. Are you weary? Christ is rest. All fullness is in him and don't
be in him. Let me try this again. Christ
is the substance of fullness. The reality of fullness. Not
the shadow, not the foretaste, but the reality. The Old Testament
types in pictures. Wonderful pictures of our Redeemer.
Understand that they're pictures of Him. The commandments of the
law, all pointing to Him. The ceremonies of the law, all
pointing to Him. But there's nothing in any of
those things, except as they relate to Him who is all fullness. when the Jewish believer in the
Old Testament came to the tabernacle and he offered sacrifice to God,
if he was taught of God, if he was a believer, I'm not talking
about a religious infidel, I'm talking about a believer, if
he was a believer, if he was born of God, He knew he was coming
to worship God at an altar that represented Christ, the altar,
with a sacrifice that represented Christ, the sacrifice, by a priest
who represented Christ, the priest, and he found fullness, not in
the ceremony he was performing, but in what was represented.
Tonight, we will come together again, the Lord willing, at the
Lord's table, and we'll take the bread and wine. We'll eat
the bread and drink the wine in remembrance of our Savior.
But believers understand what religious infidels don't understand.
You know, there are religious people who regularly eat that
bread and drink that wine. They call it a sacrament. They
call it a sacrament because they think that by eating the bread
and drinking the wine, they get grace. Now the papist, if they
have the idea with regard to the sacrament, that grace is
conferred by the sacrament. Most Protestants and Baptists
have the same idea. Not that they would say you're
saved by it, but if you eat the bread, drink the wine with the
right frame of mind, with the right attitude, it'll get you
closer to God. It'll make you more spiritual.
It'll make you more holy. Oh no, no, a thousand times no. We eat the bread and drink the
wine in remembrance of him who is our nearness to God, who is
our holiness, who is our righteousness, who is our redemption. The law
of God speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ is the fullness
of the law. Brother Lindsey read this passage
as well in 1 John chapter three, yeah, chapter three, verse 23.
This is His commandment, that you believe on His Son, and love
one another as He gave His commandment. What does John mean for us to
understand by that? Why did God the Holy Ghost inspire
John to write that? Because all the commandments
of God, what we call the Ten Commandments,
the Decalogue, Those commandments, men put on walls and used to
put them on walls in church buildings and school buildings and courthouses.
Those commandments written all over Washington, D.C. There they
are. What do they say? All those commandments
say, you can't love God and you can't love your neighbor. Believe
on his son. And that's the fulfilling of
the law. The law, the law. says do, do, do. Christ says done, done, done. Christ is the end of the law. He is the terminating point of
the law. He is the finishing of the law. He is the fulfillment of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. What does that
mean? Christ fulfilled all God required in his law, bringing
in everlasting righteousness for the people for whom he lived
and died 2000 years ago walking on this earth. Christ is the
fullness of all things. He is the fullness of God's everlasting
purpose of grace. The end of it all is that you
and I, who are God's elect, loved of God, predestined of God, called
of God in Christ before the world began, should at last be conformed
to the image of his Son. that Christ might be the firstborn. That is, that He might be the
head of a big house, the head of a huge family, the firstborn
among many brethren. The whole purpose of God in the
creation of the world is the saving of His people for the
glory of His Son. In Him dwelleth all fullness. In Him We're told in chapter
2 of Colossians, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I haven't begun to understand
that, yet alone to declare it. This much I know. God is Spirit,
and skip, you can't see Spirit. God is infinite. He's everywhere. God Almighty, the infinite triune
Holy Spirit, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, is known and revealed
only in Christ, the God-man mediator. God stepped into humanity when
Christ stepped into the world. The word, the revelation, the
mind, the knowing of God became flesh. So that now in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now we recognize and
we rejoice in the knowledge of God our father, God the Holy
Ghost our comforter, and God the Son, our Savior and our Redeemer. We are Trinitarians. But hear
me and hear me well. The only way you can know God,
speak to God, or hear from God is in His Son. And all of God
we can ever know is Jesus Christ. And all of God we shall ever
see is Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. In Him, God Almighty is pleased
that all fullness should dwell. All the fullness of this thing
called salvation is Christ. How many times we hear these words, you hear
them from this pulpit almost three times a week on purpose,
and how little we grasp of it. Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. There is no wisdom, no spiritual
knowledge except as you're united to Christ in the experience of
his grace. There is no righteousness, no
righteousness of any kind before God, no righteousness except
as you're united to Jesus Christ, one with Him, who is the righteousness
of God. There is no sanctification, no
holiness to be found in anyone, except as you are united to Jesus
Christ, who is our holiness and redemption. There's no redemption,
no deliverance from sin. no blood atonement, no satisfaction
of divine justice, except as you're united to Christ and one
with Him. And every sinner, every one of
Adam's fallen race, loved and chosen of God from everlasting,
has been put in Christ, and Christ has made to him wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. God Almighty has fixed it so
that nobody who knows Him is going to strut before Him. Nobody
who knows Him is going to brag on His works, His goodness, His
knowledge, His righteousness, or His holiness, or yours. Of whom do they speak? Of Him
who is made of God unto us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. So I ask you, my friend, what
is it that you need? What is it you need? Oh, pastor,
I need a new heart. Christ can give it. Brother Don,
I would that my heart might be broken. Christ can give it. I
need faith. Christ gives it. I need repentance. Christ brings repentance. I need
life. Christ is life. I feel so insecure. Christ is security. I need cleansing. Christ is a fountain open for
cleansing. He is our cleansing. He is our
comfort. He is our peace. He's our assurance. What mortal tongue can express,
the infinite bounty that's here described. The Lord is the portion
of your inheritance and your cup forever. If you're in Christ,
all fullness is yours. All fullness. I said it just exactly like God
wrote it. All fullness. infinitely yours,
eternally yours, presently yours. That means you can lack nothing. Listen to the scripture. No,
turn and look at it. Turn back to Colossians, or 1
Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. I want you to look at it. Verse 21. Let no man glory in men. Let no man glory in men. These Corinthians have been bragging
on preachers. I like Brother Fortin, I like
Brother Mahan, I like Brother Nybert, I like Brother Pruitt,
I like Brother so-and-so. Ah, what a pity, what a pity,
what a pity. Lindsay Campbell, if a man preaches
the gospel of God's free grace, I don't care how much he stutters,
just preach grace. I don't care how he dresses,
just preach up Christ. I don't care what things there
may be about him that are unappealing to the flesh, it doesn't matter!
What matters is Christ the Redeemer who is preached. Someone asked
me this week, What did Paul mean when he talked about those folks
who preach Christ to be in contention? I rejoice Christ is preached.
I said, well, I'll give you the long and short of it. Some folks
don't like Don Fortner, but they still preach the gospel. I'm
tickled to death. That's all right. That's all
right. We're not in competition with each other. Therefore, let
no man glory in men, for all things are yours. All things
are yours. Paul says, whether Paul or Apollos
or Cephas, but that's not all he said. He's not just talking
about preachers. All of God's servants are given
for you. But that's not all. Or the world,
or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. Rex Bartlett, all are yours. The world, or life, or death,
and things present, and things to come, all are yours. How can
you say that? For you are Christ, and Christ
is God's. God does everything just for
you. And God gives everything freely
to you who are His in Christ, with Christ, by Christ. Now, look at this last word,
dwells. All fullness is in Christ. It
is only in Christ, and it dwells in Him. What's that mean? It's
always in Him. It's always in him. It pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. Dwell. If you should ask somebody, where
does Don Fortner live? He lives at 2734 Old Stanford
Road. That's where he resides. But
that's a poor example because I wasn't there for 10 days. But
this is not just something that occasionally is in Christ. This
is something that dwells in Him. It was in Him before the world
began, because God gave it to us in Him before the world began. All fullness dwells in Him. It dwells in Him. That fullness is the fullness
with which He blessed us with grace and salvation, eternal
life, and all the blessings of grace and salvation before the
world began. That's the plain teaching of
Ephesians chapter 1. It was in Him when Adam sinned in the garden. Nothing changed. We were accepted
in the Beloved, still accepted. We were fallen in Adam, but still
accepted in Christ. brought under the dominion of
sin, but still accepted in Christ. It was in Him throughout the
ages of time. In Him by whom He performed everything,
all things, past, present, things to come, all things, the world,
life, death, all things in Him. throughout all the ages of time.
It was in Him when He died and rose again and took His seat
at the right hand of the majesty on high. It was in Him when first
He saved us by His grace. Where did you find fullness when
first He saved you by His grace? A preacher, I didn't have anything.
I found it all in Him. As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. The fullness of grace
and salvation and life and spirituality and holiness and righteousness
is not in a church or a creed or an experience. It's in a person. It's in Christ the Lord. Now,
it is in Him. Are you listening? For us. He possesses in his infinite
glorious being all fullness as a mediator, a representative,
a substitute for us all the time. That means whenever you're thirsty,
there's plenty to drink. Whenever you're hungry, there's
bread enough in despair. Whenever you're weary, there's
a bread broad enough to stretch yourself on it. Whenever you're
cold, there's coverings broad enough to wrap yourself in. Whenever
you're empty, There's fullness enough to overflow and rejoice
your heart, and you get it from Him. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace. Come with this confidence. In
Him is all fullness. Oh, my soul, everything you need,
He is. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in time of need. Oh God give you grace now to
come to him. Come to Christ and take all fullness
and you who are his come to Christ and take all fullness and go
home leaping and dancing before the ark of God with all fullness
yours. Amen.