Everywhere I go across the country,
there seems to be a very common concern among my brethren who
labor in the gospel. Concern for those particularly
who profess faith in Christ, who profess that they love Him.
who profess that they've experienced his grace, who profess that they
trust him. And the concern is this. The
worship of Christ seems to be at the very bottom of the priorities
of their lives. People profess to know Christ,
and whatever comes up, that takes priority. Whoever comes to visit,
that takes priority. Ungodly, unbelieving, reprobate
rebels who are kin to you by blood, come to visit for a little
while, say, well, we'll stay with that. Something, some event
comes up, well, we'll go to church next week. Some good program
comes on TV, well, we'll go to church next Sunday night, next
Tuesday night. Or if you're just tired and want to kick back and
relax, that's all right. God will always be there. And
that appears to be the attitude. And I have pastors ask me all
the time, what do you do? And I keep answering. I keep
trying to show folks who he is. You see, I want you to know it. Oh, my God. I don't want you to go to hell
with a profession of faith on your lips and no faith in your
heart. I don't want you to go to hell with a little experience that
you call salvation and no grace in your heart. I want us to love
Him. Really, to know Him is to love
Him. To know Him is to love Him supremely. And if you love Him, that'll
take care of everything else. It just will. Thirty-seven years
ago, I fell in love with that lady. And you know what? There was nothing could keep
me from being with her every time I had the chance. Even before
she was so taken with me, I was taken with her, and sometimes
she'd have other things to do. And I said, well, shoot, I'll
just go hang around just in case she decides to step out the door.
And I did. And I still do. Doesn't matter
if it cost me a little sleep. Doesn't matter if it cost me
a little money. Doesn't matter if it cost me a little time.
Doesn't matter if somebody else comes around. Sorry, I'm going
to go see her. I'm going to go see her. Shelby
and I spend, when I'm in town here most every day, we spend
24 hours a day together. Driving home yesterday, I was
real anxious to get back to see her. Hadn't been gone but a day.
How come? Because I love her. And there's
no company to compare with her company. We try to go see those
grandbabies. And unlike some of you, ours
don't live close by, so we have to go over to Lexington and see
them. And in order to get to spend a few hours with those
grandbabies, we'll work all night long, sleep two or three hours,
get up and go over there and come back and work all night
the next night. How come? Get to visit those smiling faces. Get to be with them. That's all. And if many women ever come to
experience God's grace in salvation, if God ever reveals His Son in
our hearts, the constraint of love will be sufficient to take
care of everything regarding our lives. in devotion to Christ. You see, there is no such thing
as faith without devotion. You can have religion and not
have it. You can have dogmatic religion and not have it. You
can have experimental religion and not have it. But you can't
have faith in Christ without love for Christ, love that dominates
everything. Well, what do I do to get folks
to love Christ? All I can do is try to show you
who He is. To that end, let's turn back
once more to Colossians chapter 1. I preached to you from this passage
hurriedly Tuesday night a week ago. And I want to try to give it another
stab at a few things I had to just quickly gloss over. This great instructive chapter
is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, his glory, his greatness, his
goodness, his salvation. The Apostle Paul, as he describes
who Christ is and what Christ has done for us, seems to be
at a loss for words. He seems, and often this is the
case, he seems to be stretching his mind to try to get just the
right word to express the greatness and glory of Christ. And the
word that he uses over and over again in these verses to describe
our Redeemer is all. That tiny little three-letter
word, all. Very little word, but not a better
word to describe great, great things than all. In verse 16,
it tells us that all things were created by Christ and all things
were created for Christ. In verse 17, it tells us that
the Lord Jesus Christ is before all things. That is, he existed
before anything existed because he made all things. He is the
eternally existing one. He is himself life without beginning,
without end. He's the eternal God. He tells
us then in verse 17 as well that all things consist of Him. He's the one who holds it all
together. He's the glue that holds together the fabric of
the universe. He is the one that maintains
all things. In verse 18, He tells us that
God the Father has given Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
everlasting Son, our covenant head and mediator, God the Father,
has given Him preeminence in all things. In all things. All things spiritual. All things biblical. All things
in time. All things that exist. All things that were made by
Him and for Him. All things that are held together
and ruled by Him. God the Father has given Him
the preeminence in all things. So that Jesus Christ has made
the head over all things to the church which is His body. He's
made the head over everything so that everything will ultimately
redound to His glory and give praise to Him. Then in verse
20 He says, All things shall at last be reconciled to God
by Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 19. And this will be our text and
my subject this morning. God the Father has given His
Son preeminence in all things and over all things for or because
it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. Now Paul means for us to understand
that there is in the Lord Jesus Christ a superlative, infinite,
immeasurable wealth of grace and glory. He is an artesian
well of fullness. Everything, everything is in
Him, comes from Him, and goes back to Him. Now let me make
four statements and then ask a question. First, I want us
to see and rejoice in this fact, and this will be the bulk of
the message, but I want us to see this. Oh, I hope we'll go
out of here rejoicing to know this. All fullness is in Christ. All fullness is in Christ. It pleased the Father. that in
him should all fullness dwell. Now those two words are mighty. They're such very, very significant
words. Fullness is a substantial, comprehensive,
expressive word. Fullness. Oh, I'm so full. Get
done eating. Oh, I'm so full. Couldn't have
another bite. Fullness. Fully satisfies me. I couldn't take anymore. Full.
I'm full of joy. Full. A superlative word. And then you put together that
word all. That includes everything. In Him is all fullness. Such infinite fullness. that
nothing can be added to Him and nothing can be diminished from
Him. All fullness of all things forever. But the fullness that
He possesses, He possesses for us. We're talking now about our
mediator. We're talking about our substitute.
What a word of comfort this is for bankrupt sinners. By nature,
we're into this vanity. But all fullness is in Christ.
By nature, we have an utter lack of merit before God, a total
absence of ability or power to gain merit with God, and a complete
absence of will to do so if it were possible for us to do so.
We are nothing but emptiness. But in him is all fullness. My heart rejoices to think there
is such a thing in this universe as all fullness. You see, the most diligent, attractive, delightful,
appealing of all moral pursuits and all mortal pursuits is the
barrenness, emptiness, and vanity. Will you hear me? My brothers
and sisters, will you hear me, you boys and girls, you young
people? Will you hear me, old men and
old women? Everything in this world we pursue
so eagerly is just a puff of wind. Oh, vanity of vanities, all is
vanity, saith the preacher. But blessed be God forever. He has provided all fullness
for us. For in all thy nature we are
emptiness, nothing but barrenness. And all around us is emptiness
and barrenness. But in Christ is all fullness. Our nature It's a desert, empty,
void, bankrupt, waste wilderness, inhabited only by sin and darkness
and death. We're emptiness, but in Christ
dwells all fullness. Richard, what does that mean
to me? Are you dead? Christ is life. Are you blind? Christ is light. Are you lost? Christ is salvage. Are you hungry? Christ is bread for your soul.
Are you thirsty? Christ is the water of life.
Are you dirty before God? Christ is cleansing. Are you
naked? Christ is clothing. Are you weak? Christ is strength. In Him is
all fullness. Oh, but preacher, I'm so guilty. Christ is pardon. But I feel
like I'm a prisoner locked up in prison. Christ is liberty.
But I'm in debt, head over heels. Christ is ransom. In Him is all
fullness. Everything that we stand in need
of at any time and at all times is in Him. Always. Let me see
if I can ring this bell a little louder. In Him. dwells all fullness. That means that the Lord Jesus
Christ is fullness, the substance of it, not the shadow. He is
fullness, not the foretaste of fullness. He is fullness, the
reality of it, not just a picture of it. In the Old Testament,
we have many beautiful pictures, many instructive types of our
Lord's greatness and glory. But those things by which our
Lord Jesus is pictured and portrayed could never take away one sin. All those ceremonies and sacrifices,
costly as they were, meticulously performed as they had to be,
could never appease the wrath of God, could never satisfy the
justice of God, could never quieten the guilty conscience, and could
never take away one sin. They simply pointed us to him
who has taken all our sins away by the sacrifice of himself.
Those things were the shadow of fullness. He is They pictured salvation. He is
salvation. They portrayed redemption. He
is redemption. All fullness is in Christ Jesus
the Lord. All the fullness of all things
regarding grace and salvation is in Him. Those rituals that
God ordained. Now listen, if those rituals
that God ordained could never put away sin, You can bank on
this, what you do can't. If God's law and obedience to
God's ceremonial law could never satisfy God's justice, you can
bank on it. You can't satisfy God's justice.
All satisfaction and all salvation is in Christ alone. Turn to John
chapter 1. John chapter 1. I realized when I started on
this message, I'm in water well over my head. But I want you to see this. John
1. John 1 and Colossians 1 and Ephesians 1, they all seem to
be companion chapters in Scripture, setting forth the greatness and
glory of Christ. And John, like Paul, seems to
be at a loss for words to describe his greatness. In verse 14, he
says, And the Word, this Word that's God eternal, this Word
who is the creator of all things, this Word by whom and for whom
are all things, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. God Almighty came down here in
human flesh Dwelt here as a man. And we looked at Him, and when
we saw Him, we beheld His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father. Look at it. Full of grace and
truth. And John bare witness of Him
and cried, saying, This is He. This was He of whom I speak.
He that cometh after me is preferred before me, because He was before
me. Verse 16. 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. Now watch
this, no man has seen God at any time. But wait a minute,
Abraham saw God, God appeared to him. Moses saw God in a bush,
God appeared to him. Adam saw God, God walked with
him in the garden in the cool of the day. Noah saw God, the
Lord appeared to him. Manoah and his wife saw God,
the Lord appeared to them. What does this mean? No man's
seen God at any time. No man has seen God in his absolute
essential character as God. Nobody. All these who saw God
in these pre-incarnate glorious manifestations of Christ saw
God in Him in whom God is revealed, who is the Word, Jesus Christ
the Lord. That's the only way any man will
ever see God. And that's the only way we see
God. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,
look at this now, which is in the bosom of the Father, Wait
a minute, he was down here, yeah, but he was still in the bosom
of the Father. He didn't quit being God. The only begotten
Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him. He showed Him to us. The Lord
Jesus is all fullness. He is the fullness of God's holy
law. Turn to Romans 10 for a moment.
Let me just read several verses to you with brief comment. I
want you to see this. You know very well, theologically,
Christ is the end of the law, the fulfillment of the law, the
fullness of the law, the putting away of the law, the satisfying
of the law, the keeping of the law, all those things. But now
read what this is about in its practical, very practical, day-by-day,
shoe-leather usefulness. Look at it. My 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. They're
concerned about their souls. They're concerned about God.
They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For
they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, being ignorant
of the fact that Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God,
that he has fulfilled all righteousness for us, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness,
they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.
Now, let me explain that. Paul had said that. He said,
now let me explain that. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. For Moses describes
the righteousness which is of the law. Now, this is what the
law says. That the man that doeth those
things shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith
speaks on this wise. Say not in thine heart who shall
ascend to heaven. Who's going to bring us up to
God? Who's going to stand in God's
holy place? The law of faith doesn't say
who's going to do it. Faith says it's done. Look at
it. Who shall ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down
from above? Or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring
Christ again from the dead? But what sayeth it? 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 believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the
Scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The word is confused, confounded,
or put to shame. How come? Because Christ has
come down here and done all the law required, and Christ has
gone back to glory. Righteousness brought in! And
He is the end of the law for righteousness. Well, how do I
get it? Look to Him. Believe Him. The Word's near
you. Even in your heart and in your
mouth. Jesus Christ the Lord. Look at this. Verse 11. For the
Scripture says, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Verse 12. For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich to all that call upon Him. For whosoever, whosoever... Is there anybody here who doesn't
fit in that category? Whosoever, anybody who shall
call... You know what that word means,
David? Worship. Back in Genesis 4, or
Genesis 6 rather, men began to call on the name of the Lord.
Began to worship God. That's what it is to call on
His name. It's not when there's an accident out here yesterday,
and I don't have any idea what's happened. I haven't read or heard
anything about it. But it's not as though there's some fellow
driving down the road, and he realizes all of a sudden maybe
he might go out into eternity and meet God. He says, oh, Jesus,
save me. No, that's not it. That's not
it. That's not it. Calling on His name is to worship
Him. Bow down before Him. Trust Him. Now then, whosoever shall call
on the name of the Lord, because all things are done by Him, shall
be saved. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fullness of the law. He's the fullness of God's purposes.
Look in Romans 8, Romans chapter 8. We often speak of the mystery
of providence. God moves in a mysterious way,
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. Providence is indeed a great
mystery. We could never have imagined
how that famine that God sent in Israel in the days of Ahab
could be a blessing. But had there been no famine,
God wouldn't have sent his prophet down to Zarephath to a poor widow
down there who was starving to death in mercy and grace. And
that which God did proved to be a blessing to her soul, for
it brought Christ to her soul. and everything that God does
in providence. He does on purpose, eternal purpose
for the saving of his people to the glory of his son. This
is what Romans 8.28 is all about. For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. For whom He did foreknow, then
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son," look at this now, "...that He might be the firstborn among
many brethren." God Almighty brings to pass all things that
are, have been, and shall be, so that Jesus Christ will stand
in glory, preeminent, the firstborn among many brethren. There is
in the Lord Jesus all the fullness of the triune God. Fullness,
all fullness. Look at Colossians 2 for a minute.
I'm certain I'll come back to this in a few weeks, Lord willing,
but look at verse 9. In Him dwelleth, dwelleth, right
now, in Him. In that man who sits in glory,
in him, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now this is what that means,
David Burrage. In the body of that man is all the fullness
of the Godhead forever. Now that can't be. That can't
be. God's incomprehensible. God's
omnipresent. How can you say all the fullness
of God is in that man? Because God said all the fullness
of God is in the body of that man. What does this mean? Jesus
Christ the man is himself God. He is God. He is God. Not a God, not a likeness of
God. Jesus Christ is himself God,
over all, blessed forever. He possesses all the attributes
of divinity. Now obviously, his manhood, neither
his human body nor his human soul, is eternal, omnipotent,
or omnipresent. That can't be. Our Lord's body, like ours, a real human body. That fool up in Tulsa, Oklahoma
saw a 90-foot Jesus, going to build him a 90-foot Jesus. He's
too little and too big, too. Because Jesus Christ is considerably
more than that. He's the incomprehensible God.
But Jesus Christ, the man, is made just like you. That means
his body can't be in but one place at one time. That means
he's limited by time and space. His body is. but not His divinity. He never ceased to be God. He
didn't lay aside His Godhead, but rather He took into union
with Himself humanity so that God is joined to manhood in no
way limited by manhood, but joined to manhood. And therefore, our
Savior as God, our Redeemer and Mediator, is yet everywhere present,
yet omniscient, yet omnipotent. He is indeed God. All the fullness
of God resides in that man who is himself God sitting in glory. He is called the mighty God.
And there's more than that. All the fullness of the infinite
triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit resides in the body
of that man who died at Calvary and now reigns over all things.
Jesus Christ God's darling son is himself God over all and blessed
forever. He is all the God we know, all
the God who has ever been known, all the God we shall ever know. Yes, we are Trinitarians, but
God Almighty has arranged it so that all the fullness of the
Godhead resides in that man and is manifest in that man and is
known in that man who sits yonder in glory because he died for
us at Calvary. Wow, what a Savior. He's God,
God Almighty. And yet there's more. And this,
I'm sure, is the intent primarily of Paul's writing these words. All the fullness of grace is
in Christ. You see, this fullness that he
possesses is a mediatorial fullness. Paul is not talking about his
fullness as God. Can't be. Cannot be. The Lord
God Almighty, the Father, could never have given the Lord God
Almighty, the Son, anything because the Father and the Son are one.
The Son's in all things equal with the Father. There's no competition
in the Godhead. But as our covenant surety, as
our mediator, as our savior, as our representative, as our
king, as our substitute, the Father looked on the Son and
said, put everything in Him. And He gave it to Him. So that
in Him is all fullness. All fullness for us. That's the glory of this. He
doesn't possess this fullness, Rex Bartley, for himself. He
possesses it for us. All fullness, all fullness, all
the fullness for us toward God is in Him. And all fullness for
us from God is in Him. Let me show you what I mean.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 1.30. As a result of our Lord's mediatorial
work as our surety, as a result of His work as our substitute,
the Father has put all fullness in the Son. Verse 30. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us. What? The Father has made the Son to
be and put in Him for us all wisdom, all righteousness, all
sanctification, all redemption. In other words, all that God
requires, demands, or can ask of any sinner is in Jesus Christ
the Lord. He is all. Now, all the fullness of God. for us, from God, is in Him. Look at Romans 8.32. Of His fullness, John said, have
we received, and grace, right on top of grace. I say to you,
you who are my brothers and sisters in Christ, and you who are yet
in desperate need of mercy and grace, Everything you need is
in Christ. Everything your soul requires
is in Christ. Everything God Almighty can or
will give to sinners, Jesus Christ is and is in Him. Our all-glorious,
all-sufficient, all-full Savior. So that I can say to you, let
us with confidence and joy sing, Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. Romans 8, 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, what do you reckon he'll hold
back? How shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? I told you this before, but I
don't know a better way to state what Paul is saying there. Right after Doug and Faith got
married, He came to the house and I had prepared things for
him. Gave him key to everything we
got. Key to garage, toolbox, cars, insurance papers, gave
him a copy of it all. And I said, whatever you need,
it's yours. Anything I got, anything I got's
yours. He wouldn't do that. I gave him
my daughter. I sure wouldn't withhold a crescent
wrench. I gave him everything. Everything. Gave him the fruit
of my loins, the apple of a daddy's eye, the cherished object of
my heart. I said, she's yours. Yours! She'll never be mine again! She's
yours! Now, what do you think I wouldn't
give that man? Hmm? What do you think I'd withhold
from him? Will you hear me? God Almighty gave us His darling
son. and with Him gives everything and withholds nothing. No good
thing will God withhold from you that fear Him. Nothing. It pleased the Father that this
fullness dwell in Christ. Oh, how blessed! How delightful! He put this fullness in Christ
because the Father loves the Son. And He put this fullness
in Christ because the Father loves us. And therefore, all
fullness dwells in Christ exclusively. Only in Christ. He's the only
one great enough to have it. And He's the only one great enough
to distribute it. And blessed be God, it is in
Him. Because only in Him is it secure. Aren't you thankful? The Father
didn't put any fullness in Adam. He didn't put any fullness in
Moses. And Lindsey Campbell, he didn't
put any fullness in us. This fullness is in Christ. In Christ. To freely bestow upon
us. It is all fullness. Dwelling in Christ. Dwelling
in Christ exclusively. And dwelling in Christ forever. This is not something God just
kind of hatched up in the spur of the moment, well, look what
it messed me and it made the things. Now, what am I going to do? Oh,
I'll tell you what, I'll put all fullness in my son. No, he
put all fullness in his son before there was ever a man to mess
anything up. Christ is an eternal Savior. He is the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world in whom all blessings were given
us before the world began. All fullness is in the Son forever. Why do you reckon it was? When Adam sinned in the garden,
and God warned him, he said, in the day you eat, you die. But Adam didn't go to hell right
there. He didn't. Well, preacher, he died spiritually.
Yeah, but he didn't die. But he died representatively.
Yeah, but he didn't die. He didn't die. God did not wipe
him off the earth. God did not destroy him. How
come? He said he would. Because before
Adam ever sinned and violated God's holy law and sought to
shove God off his throne, before ever there was a star in the
sky or an angel in heaven, all fullness was in Christ the mediator
and in Adam's loins. was a seed that should come into
the world, God's chosen seed to serve Him, and Adam couldn't
die until he brought forth seed whereby God would gather His
people out of all the nations of the earth. How come God doesn't
destroy this world right now? Men deserve to die. We deserve
to go to hell yesterday, all of us, all of us. How come God puts up with this foul thing
called humanity. How come? Because he's got some
people in this world for whom Jesus Christ yet holds all fullness. And he's going to be to them
in this land of famine and desolation, barrenness and death, a barrel
of life. and a cruise of life that will
never diminish. All fullness is in Him forever. An overflowing, infinite, incomprehensible fullness. A fullness for sinners
to use. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace. This fullness in every time of
need that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help whenever
we need it. Because in Him is all fullness. This fullness used by His people forever. but never diminished. A fullness
that can't be spent. A fullness upon which we shall
thrive in eternal glory forever. This fullness dwells in Jesus
Christ the Lord yonder. I don't know much what heaven
is, but I know this. He's in. He is the blessing of
the blessedness of that glory land flowing with fullness to
our souls forever. And we shall live upon His fullness
forever, and He will never be diminished. All fullness dwells
in Him. What does that mean for us? Verse
20, the very next word, "...and having made peace, through the
blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things to himself.
I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven,
and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your minds by
wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his
flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in his sight. He has made peace. through His blood. And it is
His fullness that gives merit to it. Made peace for us. He shall reconcile all things
to Himself for the glory of His name. He's come to us and poured
out His fullness upon us and reconciled us to God. And when
He gets done, He's going to present us thoughtless before the presence
of His glory. For it pleased the Father that
in Him should all fullness dwell. Amen.