Let's go to John chapter 1, verse
16. John chapter 1, verse 16. My subject is Christ's fullness,
our inexhaustible supply. Or the words of Elijah that we
read in 1 Kings 7 might make just as good a title, this barrel
of meal shall not waste. John 1 16 and of his fullness have all
we received and grace for grace now actually verse 16 should
be understood as a continuation of the 14th verse verse 15 is
really a parenthetical interjection In the 15th verse, John is simply
declaring that John the Baptist preached the same message that
he preached as he had declared in verses 6 and 7. So let's read
verses 14 and 16 together. 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. and of his fullness have all
we received and grace for grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
revelation of the triune God. In him we behold the glory of
God. I mean by that in his crucifixion,
in his resurrection, in his ascension, In his session at the right hand
of God, in his second advent, in his judgment, beholding him
as our all-sufficient Savior, we behold the glory of our God,
the glory as of the only begotten Son of God, and of his fullness,
all God's elect in all ages, past, present, and ages to come. of His fullness have all we received. Grace for grace. Now that's the meaning of John's
words in these two verses. Let me expand just a little.
I will begin by drawing your attention as John does in this
chapter to our all-glorious Savior Himself. He directs our hearts
and our minds to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the word
who was made flesh and dwelt among us. I make no apology,
but rather I declare plainly that the preaching of the gospel
is the preaching of Jesus Christ and him crucified. There is no
true preaching. except the proclamation of Jesus
Christ crucified. This book is not preached. Its meaning is not declared until
Jesus Christ in his great glory as our crucified substitute has
been set before men. I've told you many times a story
about the old black boy down in Alabama sitting on the front
porch years ago, somebody giving him one of those big bass fiddles.
And he'd sit out in the evenings and he'd just pluck away, just
pluck away all the time, all the time. And finally somebody
came up to him and said, said, did you ever notice that other
fellas when they play that thing, they run their fingers up and
down the neck of that thing and they play all those strings?
He said, oh yes, I've seen that. I said, why don't you do that?
He said, he's looking for the right string. I found it. I just
keep plucking away. I found the message of this book.
I understand what this book is all about. It is the message
of Jesus Christ crucified. I read in Brother Maurice Montgomery's
bulletin this week, a statement John Newton made many, many years
ago. The old preacher said, I am well
satisfied It will not be a burden to me at the hour of death, nor
be laid to my charge at the day of judgment, that I have thought
too highly of the Lord Jesus Christ, or labored too much in
commending and setting him forth to others as the Alpha and Omega,
the Lord our righteousness, the sufficient atonement for sin,
the only mediator between God and men, the true God and eternal
life. On the contrary, alas, my guilt
and grief are that my thoughts of him are so faint, so infrequent,
and my commendations of him so lamentably cold and disproportionate
to what they ought to be. We're talking about His fullness,
the fullness of Jesus Christ, God's darling Son, our Redeemer. In this chapter, others are mentioned,
but they are all insignificant. John mentions in our text, all
we, that is all God's elect, but we are insignificant. We're
the receivers and we receive of His fullness. Not unto us,
O Lord, the psalmist said, not unto us, but unto thy name give
glory for thy mercy and for thy truth's sake. Of his fullness
have all we received. Christ is and Christ always must
be preeminent. He is the word, the speech of
God. He is the distinct, intelligible
declaration and revelation of the triune God, the eternal Father,
Son and Spirit. It is He who unfolds the being
and the character and the will and the work and the heart of
God. Only Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. If you would see God, behold
Jesus Christ, the Lord. He declares, he that has seen
me has seen the Father. Our blessed Savior, however,
is much more than a mere word, a mere expression of God's thoughts.
He is himself God. Look back in verses one through
five. John speaks of him from whom we receive all fullness
of grace. from whose fullness we receive
all grace, and tells us that this one from whom we receive
grace is himself God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God. And there John declares our Lord's
eternity, and the Word was God. There his deity is declared.
John also ascribes to him the very acts of God. Without him
was not anything made that was made. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
the self-existent one. In him was life, he says. You remember in 1 John 1 5, he
said God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Here in
verse 9 in chapter 1 in John's gospel, he declares that the
word is the true light which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. He could not have chosen words
more explicit to declare the eternal Godhead of Jesus Christ,
the man who is our Savior. John's language cannot possibly
be misunderstood. Those who suggest somehow that
Jesus Christ is something less than God must twist the scriptures
with great violence to give any justification to the doctrine.
Jesus Christ is himself God Almighty. John is quick to assert that
he who is God our Savior is one of us, bone of our bones and
flesh of our flesh. The word was made flesh. What a declaration. I've tried
to give some declaration of this. Explaining it is impossible.
But John does not say the word assumed our nature, or the word
assumed flesh, or even the word was made man. John declares by
inspiration, the word was made flesh. He pitched his tent on
this earth in human flesh. He dwelt here with us, sorrowful,
miserable, perishing sinners. And he dwelt here and still resides
in flesh. He dwelt here in our nature,
flesh. poor, mortal, dying flesh. He could not have chosen a greater
word with which to express the great humiliation of the Son
of God. I've said all that to say this.
The triune God has treasured up all the fullness of its infinite
grace in a person so august, so majestic, so infinite that
heaven cannot contain him. And yet one so humble that he's
not ashamed to call us his brethren. Joseph Hart wrote a hymn. Many good ones. Here he expresses
what John declared. A man there is a real man with
wounds still gaping wide from which rich streams of blood once
ran in hands and feet and side. Tis no wild fancy of our brains,
nor metaphor we speak. That same dear man in heaven
now reigns who suffered for our sake. This wondrous man of whom
we tell is true almighty God. He bought our souls from death
and hell, the price, his own heart's blood. Have you ever
noticed as you read this first chapter of John, and I don't
think I'd ever noticed it until I was working on this message,
how throughout this chapter, John seems to purposefully take
our thoughts away from any other and points us to Christ alone,
as if to say Christ alone matters. God, teach me that Christ alone
matters. Christ alone is important. Don doesn't matter. The most
popular president doesn't matter. The most repugnant president
doesn't matter. You don't matter. Christ alone
matters. The issues that divide men and
carnal strife don't matter. The various things that draw
men's attention away from Christ don't matter. Christ alone is
important. Others are mentioned here, but
as he mentions them, each one is mentioned with a disclaimer.
Let me show you. John mentions John the Baptist,
and John the Baptist was the greatest of all prophets, but
he mentions him with a disclaimer. He tells us John came to bear
witness of the light, but he was not that light. John was
the forerunner of the Lord Jesus, the Christ. But John said, I
am not the Christ. Moses is mentioned, Moses. None was held more highly in
the esteem of the Jews than Moses. John had been taught all his
life to extol Moses. We follow Moses. We keep Moses'
law. We observe Moses' commandments.
Moses is mentioned. But when he is mentioned, John
calls his Moses to bow before Christ Jesus the Lord, because
though the law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. He mentions Simon and Andrew,
Philip and Nathanael. He even mentions the angels of
God. But everything ascends and descends upon the Son of God,
the Son of Man, our all-glorious Savior. That is exactly as it
should be because God Almighty has determined from old eternity
that in Him should all fullness dwell and that he should have
preeminence in all things. Prophets, apostles, men and angels
all must decrease and be decreased before him and he must increase
and be increased by them. Nothing and no one shines in
the light of the son of righteousness but the son himself. Christ stands
alone, preeminent, majestic, glorious. Oh, that we might so
see him like those disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration
when they looked up and saw no man save Jesus only. Oh, God, give me grace ever so
to behold my Savior. Make much of Christ and little
of everything else. All right, now let's look at
our text. Two points to my sermon. Fullness and received. It's those two things. Here God,
the Holy Spirit, teaches us two things. And of His fullness have
all we received and grace for grace. First, John tells us that
all fullness is treasured up in the glorious person of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Second he tells us that all the
fullness treasured up in Christ is an inexhaustible supply of
grace from which all God's grace Receive all God's elect receive
all grace All right, let's look at his fullness The fullness
that's treasured up in Christ His fullness what a subject his
fullness If I had no other text from which to preach until I
die, this would be sufficient. His fullness. This is fullness
that can never be measured. John is talking about the fullness
of him that filleth all in all. It's an infinite fullness. Hold
your hands here and turn to Colossians 1. Colossians chapter 1. The Apostle Paul takes up this
same subject, speaking of the glory of Christ. And throughout
this chapter, Paul's object, like John's in the first chapter
of John, seems to be to set before us the great glory of our Savior. In verse 18, Colossians one.
He is 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. That is, he is made our mediator
because the father is determined to give him preeminence. Verse
19, for it pleased the father that in him should all fullness
dwell. Now I'm talking about his fullness,
the fullness from which we receive grace. It is all in Christ in
him alone and nowhere else. What do you mean preacher? There
is nothing to be found. of grace and no fullness to be
found in any man, any church, any religious ritual, ceremonial
ordinance. We're going to baptize Frank
and Stacey and that baptism is a confession of our Redeemer.
It is a confession of the gospel of Christ, the display by which
we show to the world how all righteousness was fulfilled by
our substitutes, obedience unto death, his burial and his resurrection. But there's nothing to be gained
spiritually of grace in baptism. It is not something that by which
grace comes to us. It is rather a declaration that
we have received grace from him. There is no fullness, no grace
to be had in any experience you or I have. Paul tells us it pleased
the father that in him should all fullness dwell. John speaks
of his fullness. Now put the two together. His
fullness is all fullness. His fullness is all fullness. All fullness is in Him. Infinite,
incomprehensible, divine, saving fullness. All of it is in Christ
our God and Savior. The Father has placed in the
Son, our mediator, all fullness. Where else could it be found?
All fullness is in Christ. The person. The person. The person. All the doctrine
taught in this book about him is delightful. There's you can't
find any doctrine concerning the son of God that is not delightful
to my soul. I preach fully and clearly the
doctrine of God, our savior. But the fullness is not in his
doctrine. It's in him. The fullness is
not even in his word. It's in him. The fullness is
not in his righteousness. It's in him. The fullness is
not even in his blood. It's in him. All fullness is
his fullness. Brother Don, why do you emphasize
those things? Because people had the foolish notion that they
find fullness and grace in doctrine, in experience, in the Word of
God, in the ordinances of God, in the righteousness of Christ,
in the death of Christ. Fullness is in Him, the person
we adore and love and are moved by and proclaim Him. What's the difference? Isn't
it strange we'd even have such a thing? Look at that beautiful
black dress. Man, she looks good, doesn't
she? Beautiful black dress. Well, the dress isn't really
very pretty. I saw it hanging in the closet.
And you know what I thought about it when I saw it? Not a thing. It didn't cause me to turn my
head and say, wow. It didn't cause me to want to
walk over and hug it. The dress is pretty because it's
on her. And I'm in love with her. Do you understand what I'm
talking about? The doctrine of Christ, the blood
of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the experience of
grace in Christ, the word of Christ is lovely because it's
his and it's all about him. That's all. Listen to me. It is his person that gives worth
weight, merit, meaning, and efficacy to all of the things. Apart from
him, they're nothing. Nothing. I repeat, his fullness
is all fullness, a superlative wealth of fullness. What a word
of comfort this is for poor bankrupt centers like you and me. We're
all emptiness. He's all fullness. In us, there's a lack of everything. That's our nature. In Him, there's
a lack of nothing. Oh, my heart, rejoice. Oh, my soul, dance before the
ark of God. His fullness is all fullness. Everything else is well described by Solomon.
When you read the book of Ecclesiastes, don't ever be duped into thinking,
as most people seem to think, that Solomon wrote the book of
Ecclesiastes as a depressed, morbid man who just had no Delight
fellow who needed to go see a shrink and take some pills to calm his
nerves No, no Solomon wrote by divine inspiration He who knew
God his Savior said I've seen him And I have him and I know him
and I walk with him and I have hope in him He's my life. He's my righteousness. He's my
salvation. He's my all. But what does that
mean, Solomon? Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. Everything else. Christ alone
is important. In him dwells all fullness. Now, you can take that and just run as far as you can
possibly run with it. And you won't come close to getting
started running the distance it reaches. So we got to limit
this to this thing or that. Hold on. Don't ever limit what
God declares in his word in any way, whatever. When John says
that in him is all fullness, His meaning is that everything,
everything that has meaning is full in Him. Christ is the fullness
of all the Old Testament types and pictures, all the shadows
which portrayed redemption. In the Old Testament, God required
the children of Israel to continually keep various sacrifices, various
ordinances every morning, every evening. He required them to
continually go up to the tabernacle and to the temple. He required
them to continually offer sacrifices by the hands of priests on the
altar of God, required them every year to offer the sacrifice of
the paschal lamb, On the day of atonement, he required them
every Sabbath day to observe a Sabbath, every Saturday to
rest. He required them to rest every
seventh year and every fiftieth year. And in all those things,
there was a picture, a picture of one coming By whose sacrifice
sin would be put away. One coming who would be a high
priest giving sinners access to God in his holiness. There's
one coming by whom rest would be accomplished for our souls.
In whom we shall cease from all our works. But they could never
take away sin. And they could never, ever give
us access to God. And they could never, ever give
us acceptance with God and rest in our souls. But Christ is the
fullness of it all. He, by the sacrifice of himself,
has put away our sins. He by his obedience unto death
has opened a way for sinners to come to God by him who is
our high priest and find acceptance in him. He is the Lord our Sabbath
and coming to him we rest. Christ is all the fullness of
everything written in the law of Moses. Now I want you to turn
to Romans chapter 10 and look at this. Romans chapter 10. Paul is telling about the Jews
who going about to establish their own righteousness by the
works of the law Stumbled over the foundation stone Christ.
He says in verse 1 brethren My heart's desire and prayer to
God for Israel is that they might be saved For I bear them record. They have a zeal of God But not
according to knowledge their zealous is all get out their
religious as you can get but there's ignorant and as a box
of rocks. They're just totally ignorant
of all things regarding righteousness. And what he says concerning Israel
after the flesh is true of all men who seek in any way to arrive
at righteousness before God by something they do. Utter ignorance. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, Not ignorant of God's righteous character. No. No, everybody knows that. Read
the first chapter of Romans. It's written on your heart by
nature. They're not ignorant of the fact that God is righteous.
That's not what it's saying at all. Bob, they're ignorant of
Christ, who is the righteousness of God. Of Christ, who is the
Lord our righteousness. Of Christ, who brought in everlasting
righteousness. and going about to establish
their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto
Christ, the righteousness of God. Now look at what it says,
verse 4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. What a profound statement. Reckon
what that means. Here's the end. That's him. The termination, the finishing,
the completion. This is as far as the law can
go, Christ. He's the end of the law. You
mean, Brother Don, we are not in any sense under the law? Well,
of course I mean that. It's exactly what the book says.
Christ is the end of the law. You mean the law has no power
over us? That's right. You mean the law
cannot condemn us? You got it. You mean the law
cannot sit in judgment over us? That's it. You mean the law cannot
condemn or judge us for sin? That's it. Christ is the E-N-D
of the law for righteousness. Look what it says, to everyone
that believeth. Now, this is what it means by
that. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the
law. You can read this in Deuteronomy
chapter 30. That the man which doeth those things shall live
by them. But the righteousness which is
of faith speaketh on this wise. Faith says, say not in thine
heart, who shall ascend into heaven? Who? He that hath clean hands, and
a pure heart, and has never lifted up his soul to vanity. That is
to say, bring Christ down from above. Or who shall descend into
the deep? That is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. But what saith it? What does
the law say? The word is nigh thee, even in
thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which
we preach. that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord
Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the mouth, or
with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Now don't misunderstand
Paul's words. He is not saying that man by
believing obtains righteousness, and man by confessing obtains
salvation. That's not it at all. For with
the heart man believeth, the word is with reference to righteousness. And with the mouth confession
is made with reference to righteousness. For the scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there's no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is what the whole
testimony of the law is. Redemption is done in that one
who is to come. And this is the testimony of
faith. Redemption is done by him who came. Jesus Christ the
Lord. Whosoever therefore shall call
on the name of the Lord, whosoever shall worship this Christ. To call on His name is to worship
Him. I hear men call on His name all
the time. All the time. You turn on the television and
Somebody will call on his name blasphemously. They'll say, Oh,
Jesus or Jesus Christ. And they'll say, Oh, God. These
folks call on his name all the time. And they call on his name
in the same way in our churches. Preachers encourage it. Come
down here and just repeat his name. It's nothing more than
blaspheming his name. Say, I believe in Jesus and everything's
all right. Call on the name of the Lord and you'll be all right.
Worship him and you'll be alright That's what it is to call on
his name Christ is all the fullness of God's law all the fullness
of God's decrees and purposes all the fullness of the triune
God look over Colossians 2 in him verse 9 in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead all the fullness of all that
God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. In that man who came down here
in human flesh, lived and died as our substitute, and rose again,
see him yonder on the throne. In him resides permanently all
that God is. What's the significance of that?
And you are complete in him. complete in Him. As He is all
the completion of God, so you are all His completion. As we are His completion, so
He is our completion. You mean, Brother Don, we're
His completion? Ephesians 1 verse 23 says this, that we are the
fullness of Him. that filleth all in all. What
on earth does all that mean? Christ, our Redeemer, is all
that God is. And He is the head of all principality
and power, the fullness of all things. He fills all things. And we are complete in Him. Without him, we're nothing. In
him, everything. A special kind. A special kind. Complete in him. And without
us, the people he represents, the church and body of which
he's the head, he could never be complete. That means, Brother
Roundtree, he's got to have you, or he can't be complete as a
mediator. He's got to have me. He's got to have me. I can't
think of any reason why anybody's got to have me. He's got to have
me. Because without me, he can't
be full. That's fullness. Fullness. Particularly, most distinctly,
both John and Paul speak of Christ's fullness as our mediator. It is a mediatorial fullness
that he has. The Father gives him preeminence
as mediator. He possesses fullness as the
mediator. We draw from his fullness who
is our mediator. The father doesn't give the son
anything as the son. He doesn't do anything for the
son as the son. There's no need. But as our mediator
before the world began, this was his glory. The father put
all fullness in him. And as our mediator having finished
his work, this is his glory. The father has put all fullness
in him. All fullness for us toward God
is in Christ of Him are you in Christ Jesus? Who of God has
made into us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
that according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory
in the Lord and all fullness for us from God dwells in Christ
for of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace. Everything your soul can need. For time and eternity. Everything you can require for
time and eternity. Everything God requires of you
for time eternity. Christ is. No wonder when Peter
came to him and he said, Lord, we've left all and followed you.
The Lord Jesus turned and looked at him. Said to his disciples,
lacked ye anything? Oh, shut my mouth. My murmuring, griping mouth.
Shut my mouth. Liked ye anything? Nothing, Lord. Nothing. Nothing. For of His
fullness have all we received heaps upon heaps of grace. Who can speak of this bounty? Try to get hold of this. I promise
you it will sail your boat through troubled waters. If you're in
Christ, Darwin Pruitt, his fullness is yours. Infinitely yours. Always yours. Eternally yours
and presently yours. There is. In him. All fullness. And because all fullness is in
him, all things are yours, and ye are Christ, and Christ is
God's. His is a fullness of grace. I started to say this is the
best part. I guess it's not the best, but it's just as good.
His is a fullness of grace for sinners. He holds all this fullness
for us. It is a fullness of pardoning
grace, so that there's no sin that can ever exceed his power
to forgive. A fullness of justifying grace,
so that he justifieth the ungodly. A fullness of quickening grace,
for he quickeneth whom he will. A fullness of purifying grace,
for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. A
fullness of comforting grace, for he declares, I will not leave
you comfortless. A fullness of sustaining grace,
for he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. A
fullness of satisfying grace, for the Lord is our shepherd,
and we shall not want. A fullness of restoring grace,
for he restoreth my soul. A fullness of sufficient grace,
for he declares, my grace is sufficient for thee. He's never
limited. His fullness is never limited.
His grace is never limited. Oh, drink of this fountain. Dive into this fountain and find
the fullness of grace for your soul. His is an infinite fullness. Infinite. John says, all we. Mark those words. Of His fullness
have all we received grace for grace. He declares that all God's
elect in all ages past have received of His fullness and yet it is
still fullness. It's not been diminished at all.
Before ever the first sinner drank from this river where I
make glad the city of God, it was all fullness. And after myriads
of sinners have drunk for thousands of years from this fountain filled
with grace and mercy, it's still all fullness. His grace is never
exhausted. It is not even diminished. This
barrel of meal shall not waste. Now, I can only give you a few
brief thoughts about the second point, received. God's saints have all received
of His fullness Grace for grace, heaps upon heaps of grace. The
word received here. Is the very same word that's
used back in Chapter one of John's Gospel in verse 12, as many as
received him. I looked him up. The word is
exactly the same. It is not a passive verb. It
doesn't speak of us. as we initially receive God's
grace being passive. Because men and women who are
born of God are born again without them doing anything. But having
been born of God, they do something. Having been born of God, they
believe on his son. Having been born of God, they
lay hold on eternal life. Having been born of God, they
trust the Christ of God. This word received is an active
verb. It implies the doing of something. Of His fullness have all we received. All God's elect who have believed
on the Son of God have received and are receiving of His fullness. Grace upon grace. Now this is
what that means. If you would have grace You must
receive it of His fullness. You can't receive it from me.
You can't receive it from a soul winner. You can't receive it
from a preacher or a priest. You can't receive it from a church.
You got to receive it from Him. You got to do business with Him.
But you will never receive grace out of his fullness until he
brings you to be filled with emptiness. This is God's promise. He satisfies
the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Oh, how I pray the Lord God will graciously
empty you, that you may be filled. How I pray that he will continually
empty me, that I may receive of his fullness heaps upon heaps
of grace. And I'm certain of this fourth
thing, if you're empty, oh pastor, My righteousness has
fled from me. I once thought I could do something. I've been trying all my life
to do something to give myself acceptance with God by some means
to clean myself up. I've been holding on to some
goodness, but now I have nothing but emptiness. That's because
the son of God has begun to pour into you grace upon grace, heaps
upon heaps of grace from his fullness. Joseph Hart again wrote that
hymn, What comfort can a savior bring to those who never felt
their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing, the
Holy Ghost hath made him so. New life from him we must receive. before for sin we rightly grieve
and if you have received of his fullness heaps upon heaps of
grace let me tell you one more thing
and I'll send you home Merle have you received grace
for grace from his fullness you shall receive more You shall receive more. You shall,
as long as you live in this world where grace is needed, receive
of his fullness heaps upon heaps of grace. Because this barrel
of meal shall not waste. Oh, God give you grace. to receive grace of His fullness,
for Christ's sake. Amen.