Turn with me please to Colossians,
the first chapter. Colossians chapter one. After opening the epistle with
his usual greetings and salutations, the apostle Paul gives a word
of commendation to these men and women who were born of God,
because of the demonstration of the grace of God that was
in them. Because the grace of God had come upon them, because
the grace of God was given to them, it had changed their lives. It had radically changed their
lives so that everywhere they were known, men declared that
the grace of God was in them. For that, Paul commends them.
He says in verse four, since we heard of your faith, We heard
of it. We heard that you believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ and of the love which ye have to all
the saints. Wherever there is true faith
in Christ, there is genuine expression of genuine love to all saints. For the hope, the hope, the hope
of the gospel, the hope of Christ, the hope of eternal life, the
good hope of grace, the hope which is laid up for you in heaven,
whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth." And this
is the only word of truth. It is the word of the truth of
the gospel. the gospel of God's free grace
in Jesus Christ the Lord, the gospel of God's sovereignty,
the gospel of Christ's substitutionary work, the gospel of satisfaction
accomplished by the blood of Jesus Christ. That gospel which
is coming to you, it is coming to you as it is in all the world
and bringing forth, bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in
you since the day ye heard of it and knew the grace of God
in truth." Now, this is what Paul says. He says, the gospel
that goes out into all the world, that gospel which we preach to
all men everywhere, that gospel we declare to every creature
by the command of God when it comes by the power of the Spirit,
when it comes effectually to the heart of a sinner, When it
comes in life-giving power, when it comes in saving efficacy,
that gospel makes a radical change in the life of the man who hears
it. It makes a radical change in
the life of the woman who hears it. It brings forth fruit. It always brings forth fruit. And the fruit it brings forth
principally is faith, hope, and love. Faith in Jesus Christ. If God is pleased to speak to
you this morning by the gospel I preach, first thing the gospel
will do for you is give you faith in Jesus Christ. And that faith
in Jesus Christ will cause you to love those who are also believers
in Jesus Christ. God's people love one another.
They genuinely, really are in love with each other and committed
to each other. And that faith and love is also
seen in hope, a good, confident hope of everlasting life, a good,
confident hope of heaven. So how do men see these things? How do men see faith, hope, and
love in the believer? How do we see these things in
one another? Faith is seen by men walking before God in Christ,
trusting him. Faith is seen by men walking
before God, trusting Christ as the sovereign ruler and king
of all things, trusting him for the pardon of sin, for acceptance
with God, and eternal life. Love is seen in its deeds. Love
is seen in sacrifice, commitment, and service one to another. And
hope is seen with that calm ease of mind, that calm ease of heart,
which God's people have in this world, in the midst of a world
of strife and turmoil and topsy-turvy, upside down, everything confused. God's people walk before him
with calm ease of heart, for they have hope of eternal life
in Jesus Christ. And then Paul speaks of their
pastor. He says, the way I heard about this is your pastor told
me. As he also learned of Epaphras,
our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister
of Christ, who also declared unto us your love in the spirit. Faithful pastors speak well of
God's people. I get distressed, I get disturbed,
I get upset when I hear preachers speaking ill of the people to
whom they minister, speaking ill of the people who sacrifice
and give to maintain them in their livelihood, speaking ill
of the people by whose generosity their ministry is carried on
in the world. This man, Epaphras, when he met
with Paul, he did not speak of those Colossians, you know, that
bunch of deadheads I have to work with. He did not speak of
those Colossians and say, well, you know, those folks, they could
do this and they could do that and they could do the other thing,
but they don't do anything. When Epaphras spoke of his brethren
and his sisters in the congregation at Colossae, he said, Paul, you
never saw people demonstrate such faith and love and hope.
And Paul said, I commend you for what he says concerning you,
and I commend Epaphras to you for his attitude towards you.
That's the kind of relationship faithful people have with one
another. He is a faithful minister of Christ. And then after that
commendation, Paul offers this prayer. Here's my prayer for
you. This is my prayer for you, David.
This is my prayer for Merle and Wes and Shirley and the rest
of you. Here's what I'm praying. For this cause, because we've
heard of the grace of God in you, because we've heard of your
faith and love and hope, we also, since the day we heard it, do
not cease to pray for you and desire, this is my earnest desire
before God, that you might be filled with the knowledge of
his will in all wisdom, and spiritual understanding. God fill you with
the knowledge of his will. God fill you with wisdom and
understanding to know what the will of the Lord is day by day. God fill you with knowledge and
understanding to know the will of God as it's revealed in Christ
Jesus, even his eternal will and purpose in the covenant of
grace. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Oh, that's a strange prayer,
isn't it? That you might walk worthy of the Lord. What does
that mean? This is what I pray. This is what I desire from God.
You profess faith in Christ? Mark, you profess to believe
him? I pray God will give you grace to walk worthy of one who
has such a profession. Walk worthy of one who names
the name of Christ. Walk in this world. so that the
men and women you work with and the men and women and children
you live with, so that you walk in such a manner in this world
as to demonstrate that faith, that love and that hope. Walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work. That's what it is to walk worthy of him. It is to be fruitful
in every good work, living in this world and increasing in
the knowledge of God. strengthened with all might,"
you're going to need it, strengthened with all might, according to
his glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. This is what I desire from God
for you. This is what I pray for for you,
that you might not only have the knowledge of his will wisdom
and understanding, and that you might walk worthy of the Lord
unto all pleasing, but also that you might be strengthened to
do so, because I know you don't have it in you. You don't have
it in you to understand his will. You don't have it in you to walk
worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. But as you go through this world,
I pray that God will give you the strength of all might, his
might. I can do all things, Paul said,
through Christ will strengtheneth me. Without me, our Lord said,
you can do nothing. But with me, you can do everything.
Strengthen with his might, according to his glorious power, so that
you have patience. Long-suffering. Oh, God, give
us patience. patience and long-suffering,
patience in the trial, patience in the difficulties, patience
in life, and long-suffering with one another. Make us patient
and long-suffering with each other. God, give us patience
to submit to and know your will and walk in it by faith. And
God, give us patience and long-suffering with one another so that we might
walk worthy of the Lord our God and do so with joyfulness." Now then, what Paul is saying
is this. He's saying, I know that you're
going to have trials and troubles and heartaches and difficulties,
and I know that those trials are going to be hard to endure,
so I'm praying that God will give you strength so that you
may be patient in long suffering and even in the midst of those
difficulties and trials and heartaches that you may be joyous rejoicing
in the Lord. And then Paul offers thanksgiving.
Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in life. Perhaps
this is a continuation of his prayer. With me it's both. I'm giving thanks to God. He's
made us meet. He made us worthy. He's made
us equal to. He's made us, he's made us exactly
prepared and meet and equal to the inheritance of his saints
in life. I give him thanks for that. I
pray that he'll give you thanks for that. And if he causes our
hearts to give thanks to Him continually for His grace upon
us, we will walk before Him with patience, long-suffering, and
joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us
in Christ by the imputation of His righteousness, by the pardon
of His shed blood, by His almighty grace. He's made us worthy to
be His own sons who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. That's where you were, isn't
it? held in the power of darkness, held in the bondage of sin. He's
delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us by
a marvelous act of grace. He's translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son. We once were ruled by darkness,
the darkness of our hearts, the darkness of hell, the darkness
of the demons of hell. But God translated us so that
now we're ruled by his dear son, ruled by Jesus Christ. In whom? That is, in this king, in this
one who has translated us, in this one by whose blood and righteousness
we live, in whom we have right now redemption through his blood. We have it. It's right now, our
present possession, we have redemption. It's not something that's going
to come. It's not something we hope to attain. Right now, in
Christ, we have eternal, perfect, complete redemption so that God
will not charge us with sin. Oh, blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute iniquity, even the forgiveness of sins. That's what redemption is. That's
what it is, the forgiveness of sins. Now, if you read the text as
it stands, it's impossible to read that all the world has redemption. Isn't it, Oscar? It's impossible
to read that, for redemption is the forgiveness of sins. If
you have redemption, you have forgiveness. If you have redemption,
you're pardoned. If you have redemption, God won't
charge you with sin. If you have redemption through
the blood of Jesus Christ, it's not possible for you to perish.
To say that a man is redeemed is to say that he's justified,
forgiven, pardoned, accepted and sanctified and saved in Jesus
Christ. That's what redemption is. It's
the whole fullness of salvation through the blood of Christ.
And who is he? He's the image of the invisible
God. The image of the invisible God. That is, he's exactly what God
is. He's exactly what God is. He's the firstborn of every creature. Somebody says, well, that means
that Christ was the first creature of God. That won't hold water.
For the very next line says, for by him were all things created.
He surely didn't create himself. When the scripture says he's
the firstborn of every creature, It means that he is the first
in number, he's the first in rank, he's the first in esteem,
and he is the source from whom all life comes. He is the source
of all birth. He's the firstborn of every creature. For, and this is the translation
of it, this is the interpretation of it, for by him, by this one
who is the highest in esteem and the highest in rank in heaven,
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, and he is before all things, and by him all things
consist. Now this is Paul's word of praise.
He says Jesus Christ is the image of God. He's the image of the
invisible God. He's the chief one in heaven.
He's the highest ranking person in all the universe. He's the
creator of all things. He's the sustainer of all things.
And look at verse 18. And he is the head of the body. That is, he is the head of the
body which is his church. His church who is the beginning.
the firstborn from the dead. He's the first one ever to be
raised from the dead by his own power. He's the first one ever
to be raised from death unto life and exalted to the throne
of God by his own virtue, by his own power, by his own merit,
by his own strength. He's the first one. All others
who were raised before him were raised by his power. He raised
himself from the dead and he was raised by the Father and
the glory of the Father. That in all things He might have
the preeminence. Now Paul says Christ is the head
of the church. John Fortner is not. The convention is not. The association
is not. The Pope in Rome is not. The
Archbishop of Canterbury is not. The Mormon headquarters is not
the head of the church. Christ is the head of the church.
And that church of which he is the head is his body. It is not
that Christ is the head of local churches individually, though
that's true if they're true churches. But the text is speaking of the
church of God universally, the church gathered around the throne
of God in heaven. Those saints, spirits, and justified
men already made perfect in heaven. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Peter,
James, and John, Paul, and others, those who are already seated
in heaven, that's part of the church. And you and I, the church
upon this earth, all true believers in this world, Christ is the
head, that church is his body. And he's the beginning. He's
the origin. He's the source of everything.
He's the firstborn from the dead. And God's given him this place.
so that in all things he might have the preeminence for, for. Why is Christ exalted head of
the church? Why is Christ the firstborn?
Why is he the firstborn of every creature? Why is he the firstborn
from the dead? Why is it that God's given him
all preeminence? For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. That's my text for this morning.
Did you catch those words? All fullness. There is in Jesus
Christ a superlative wealth of fullness. Christ is an artesian
well of fullness. Everything is in him. The apostle
Paul is here teaching us that it is the purpose and pleasure
of God that all the fullness of grace and glory, yea, that
all the fullness of all things dwell in Jesus Christ his son. And let me try to answer some
questions about this text. What is this fullness? Immediately,
our text gives us a word of comfort and cheer to bankrupt men and
women. It gives a word of comfort and
cheer to bankrupt sinners. You see, by nature, we're emptiness. By nature, we're vanity. But
blessed be God, he has provided all fullness for us in Christ. Paul said, in me, that is, in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. But this same apostle, he says,
in him dwelleth all the fullness, all the fullness, even of the
Godhead bodily. This man, Paul, speaks of himself
and says, I'm nothing. He speaks of his ministry and
he says, who's sufficient for these things? But then he turns
right around and he says, our sufficiency is of God. He says,
we have this treasure, the treasure of the gospel in these pieces
of broken clay, in these earthen vessels, but the excellency and
the power is not of us, it's of God. All fullness is in Christ
Jesus. In us, you see, there's an utter
lack of merit. In us, there's a total absence
of power to gain any merit before God. And in us, there is even
a complete absence of will to obey God, even if we had the
power to do so. But in Christ, there's all for
us. What do you say? Well, we're
dead, nothing else but dead. Christ is life. We're sin, nothing
else but sin. Christ is righteousness. We're
naked, nothing else but nakedness. Christ is clothing. We're hungry,
Christ is bread. We're thirsty, Christ is water. We're guilty, Christ is pardon.
We're blind, Christ is light. We are prisoners, Christ Jesus
is liberty. We're debtors, Christ is a ransom. We're helpless, Christ is strength. We're condemned, Christ is refuge. We're emptiness, Christ is full. So at the very outset, we have
here a word of good news to the comfort of every needy sinner,
to every helpless, bankrupt, needy sinner, the Lord Jesus
Christ is all fullness. Oh, God help you to see that.
If you don't see anything else, if you're here this morning and
you have spiritual need before God, if you have spiritual need
before God, whatever your spiritual need is, Christ is fullness.
Whatever it is. It doesn't matter where you begin,
doesn't matter what you talk about. Whether you talk about
being broken hearted, Christ is fullness. Whether you talk
about being hungry for righteousness, Christ is fullness. Or thirsty
for pardon, Christ is fullness. Or weary in need of rest, Christ
is fullness. Do you see that? He's everything.
So that whatever a needy sinner needs, Christ is. All fullness
is in Him. Let me try to make things clear. Christ is not the shadow of fullness. He's not the foretaste of fullness.
Jesus Christ is, in reality, the substance of all fullness.
The types that we read of in the scriptures, they instruct
us, but they can't save us. Aaron would go in every year
and offer that Passover lamb upon the altar of God, and he'd
go in with the priestly garments He'd make the sacrifice, he had
the mercy seat before him, he had the altar before him, he
had the ark before him, everything. He saw the Shekinah glory of
God performing wondrously upon the ark of the covenant upon
the mercy seat. But as he saw those things, Aaron
recognized that those types, beautiful, clear pictures as
they were of Christ, those types in and of themselves did his
soul no good. They were of no value to him,
none whatsoever. insofar as accomplishing anything
for it. The patterns of the Old Testament
pointed me into one who was to come, but they could never take
away sin. The ceremonies of the Old Covenant
were beautiful, costly, impressive sacrifices, but they could not
satisfy the guilty conscience, much less the law of God. But
here's Christ Jesus. He is the reality. He's the substance. He's the fullness of those things.
And he satisfies both the conscience and the law of God. Look over
in Hebrews 10, Hebrews chapter 10. This is the whole basis of
Paul's argument in this 10th chapter of Hebrews. He says the
law having a shadow of good things to come. The law was a picture. It had a shadow of good things
to come. It cast a mighty big shadow, but it was just a shadow.
and not the very image of those things, can never, can never,
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered, year by year
continually make the comers thereunto perfect. If they could, then
would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the
worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of
sin. Now what's that say? those ceremonies and those rituals
and those performances done under the law by the command of God.
They could never atone for one thing or give anybody any peace
of conscience before God. Couldn't do it. If they could,
then there would have been no more need for another offering.
But every time Aaron went in, with the censer and the blood
and went into the holy place to offer atonement, he came back
out with the full realization that he had to go back the next
year and do the same thing for that could never satisfy his
conscience. There was no tear in that holy
place because the priest could never finish his work. Atonement
was never made. Justice was never satisfied.
Sin was never put away. It was all a picture. It was
all a picture. But this man, with his own blood,
entered in once into the holy place. Having obtained eternal
redemption for us, he purged away our sins. He sat down at
the right hand of the majesty on high, and that's where my
soul sits today. Sits down right there with him,
with the blood of Christ, having no more conscience of sin. Do you believe that? No more
conscience of sin. Why? Because that blood, that
sacrifice, has purged sin away. I look to my sin and I say plainly
and clearly, nothing can possibly put away my sin. Nothing can
possibly satisfy the justice of God. It can't be done until
I see the God-man, Jesus Christ. And seeing him, Wes, I have no
more conscience of sin. That's enough. That's enough. The law says that's enough. The
book of God says that's enough. God himself says that's enough.
Christ says that's enough. The Spirit of God says that's
enough. And my conscience says that's enough. Now, if all of
these other things, even those things ordained by God, could
never take away sin, what on earth makes you think that something
you do is going to appease God and take away sin? Huh? Men had the foolish notion that
somehow They can take their hands, like Cain, and bring God their
best works, and God will accept that. No, no, a thousand times
no. Not all the blood of beasts on
Jewish altars slain could give the guilty conscience peace or
wash away the stain. But Christ, the heavenly Lamb,
takes all our sin away, a sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood
than they. The law was given by Moses. But
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, and of his fullness,
the fullness of his grace, have we received grace for grace.
Jesus Christ, then, is our sacrifice. Jesus Christ is our altar. Jesus
Christ is our priest. Jesus Christ is our tabernacle.
Jesus Christ is our incense. Jesus Christ is our all and in
all. In this matter of salvation,
as I've shown you the last couple of Tuesday evenings, Christ is
all fullness. He's everything. He's everything.
He left nothing for us to do, nothing for us to contribute,
nothing for us to add, nothing for us to complete. There are
no deficiencies in the work of Christ for the sinner to make
up. Now, I want that to be abundantly clear. The problem with this
generation and their thinking concerning the person and work
of Christ, they talk a lot about Christ and His eternality and
His divinity and His incarnation and His life and His death and
His resurrection, but all the while they leave men with the
opinion that there's some deficiency that you must make up. I'm telling
you there's no deficiency in Christ. He's all for us. All
for us. Everything's in Him. He said
it is finished. and finished it is. For in him
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are
complete in him." Certainly, Paul means for us to understand
that there is in Jesus Christ all the fullness of the Godhead. Look at that text I just quoted,
Colossians 2 and verse 9. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily." Now, you can circle that word bodily
and write out in your margin somewhere this is what it means.
In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. In a body. Now, what is the Godhead? The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost. That's the God here, the triune
God here. We worship one God in three indivisible
persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There are
three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Spirit, and these three are one. We are Trinitarian,
but hear me and hear me well. All that God is, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, is in the body of that man, Jesus Christ, our
Savior. It was in the body of that man
when he was in the womb of the virgin, when he came forth from
the womb and said, Lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written to me, I delight to do thy will, O God. All the fullness
of the Godhead. was in the body of that man when
he hung upon the cursed tree and died in our stead. All the
fullness of the Godhead is in the body of that man who sits
upon the throne of glory. What is God? That's what Christ
is. That's what He is. Now, we can't
see God. We can't know God. We can't talk
to God. We can't approach God. We can't
draw near to God. We can't feel God. We can't have
any connection with or contact with God. God is spirit. Is that clear, Bobby? God is
spirit. You can't see him. Man talks
about seeing a spirit. He's drunk or crazy. One of the
two. God's spirit. You can't see a spirit. You can't
see a spirit. God does not have a body as we
have. God is infinite. Infinite. What in the world does that mean?
That means he's bigger than anything. Big beyond description, big beyond
measure. He's infinite. God is incomprehensible,
so that the heavens cannot contain him. The heavens, folks, talk
about putting this being the house of God, and we use those
terms because God meets us here, but my soul, he's not contained
in this house. No, the heavens cannot contain
him. Now, God is, God is And it's impossible for man to approach
Him. Read your Bible. God's holy, God's glorious. If you could approach Him, He'd
kill you. If you could draw near to His
glorious being, you'd be consumed in an instant. You can't approach
Him. Read 1 Timothy chapter 6. He's
unapproachably glorious and holy. But here He is in a man, a man
in a body just like you, just like that, a real man. And yet
in that name is all the fullness of Jesus. Now I can see it. Now
I can talk to it. Now I can approach it. Now I
can hear it. Now I can feel it. Now I can
draw near to it. Jesus Christ, the fullness of
God, is my King. Do you see that? All the fullness
of the Godhead dwells in his body. Our Lord Jesus, while he
was upon the earth, declared that he's the son of man in heaven.
Even while he was here, even though he's in that body, even
though all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in his body, yet
he has not ceased in any way to be God, nor given up any of
his divine attributes. He is still omnipresent. He's
still omniscient. He's still eternal. He's still
glorious. He's still infinite. He's still
immutable. He's still God. He's still God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, came into
this world, he became what God could never
be and did what God could never do. That's right. He became what God could never
be. He became one of us and was made to be seen for us. And he
did what God could never do. He died. He died and died to
satisfy the justice of God. That's the glory of his being.
In the body of that man dwells God in all his fullness. And he's all the God we shall
ever see, hear from, or have to do with. He's God. The fullness
of the Godhead dwells in Christ intrinsically by nature because
he's God. But in this text, I'm certain
that Paul's primary point of adoration is this. all fullness
is in Christ as the mediator, the substitute, and the representative
of his people. As the result of his mediatorial
work, his work of righteousness, and his work of redemption, all
fullness is in him. By virtue of his obedience and
his sacrifice, he has earned the merit and the power before
God to bestow upon his people all things and to hold in himself
all the fullness of grace and glory. He is the mighty reservoir
and the mighty dispensary of divine grace. Let me show you
a text over in Psalm 68. Psalm 68. Now, if you want to
read it at your leisure, in Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul quotes from
this text and tells us plainly that it's talking about Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Here in Psalm 68 we have a prophecy
of the exaltation and the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 18, the psalmist says,
Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, Thou
hast received, look at it, Thou hast received into Thy hands
gifts for men. Let me try to illustrate it for
you. Let's suppose that I'm going
on a long trip, long journey, and I'm going to leave my wife
and daughter here. And I call Wes Roseboom up and
I say, Wes, I've got certain things here that I want Shelby
and Faith to have, but don't want to give them to them all
at once. I want to remind them of myself. On such and such a day, you give
this to Shelby and give this to Faith. On such and such a
day, you give this to Shelby and give this to Faith. Will
you take care of that? Well, sure I will. Here they are. You
take them. And you take them to give. You
see that? The Lord Jesus Christ, as our
mediator, our representative, ascended into heaven and he received
gifts, all the blessings of grace in his hands, not for himself,
but for men. But for men. Look at the next
line now. Yea, even for men like us. Yea, for the rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among them." The primary gift
by which all gifts are bestowed is that Jesus Christ, having
received gifts from him, yes, for the rebellious also, he pours
out of his Spirit upon his people. All flesh, men and women of every
age, nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue, scattered through
all the earth, and now the Lord God dwells with us. That's what
he's done. He's received gifts to dispense
those gifts to us. All power and all grace is in
his hands and at his disposal, so that it is written, he shut
it and no man opened it. He opened it and no man shut
it. All fullness dwells in Christ toward God. I mean by that, all
that God requires of man is in Christ, the God man. Oh, I wish I could make you see
this. No, I pray God will make you
see this. What does God require of Bob Hunter? What does God
require? Whatever it is, Bob, you can't
get it. You can't do it. Not possible. You're a fickle,
sinful, frail piece of human flesh. Not possible to supply
what God requires. But of him, Are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made to us all that he requires, wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Don't
trust yourself, trust the Lord. Don't boast in yourself, boast
in the Lord. Don't give honor to yourself,
give honor to the Lord. All fullness dwells in him, only
in him. The apostle is not only telling
us that all that God requires is in him and that all fullness
toward God is in him, but all fullness dwells in Christ toward
man as well. I say to saints and sinners alike,
everything you need, everything your soul requires is in Christ,
the all-sufficient Savior. Now, this is my confession. This
is my confession. This is the whole substance of
all that I believe and preach. This is the whole substance of
all my hope. Thou, O Christ, art all I want. That's all. That's all. He's
all I want for pardon. He's all I want for justification.
He's all I want for cleansing. He's all I want for sanctification.
He's all I want for joy. He's all I want for life. He's
all I want for immortality. He's all I want while I live.
He's all I want when I go to die. He's all I want when I stand
before God in judgment. He's all I want when I enter
glory. Thou, O Christ, art all I want. More than all in thee
I find. What do you want? What do you
need? All fullness is in Christ. all
the fullness of light, all of it. He is that light, that light
of every man that cometh into the world. That means he gives
men actual reason and understanding. The reason men aren't all in
bed with them, the reason they're not all insane. I sometimes look,
I hear these psychiatrists and lawyers and politicians on TV. I told Shelby we were watching
something the other day. I said, honestly, this whole
world is absolutely mad insane. That's a little bit of an exaggeration,
not the whole world. But the only reason you're not
and I'm not, the only reason some folks still maintain some
sense of sanity and reason is Christ is the light that lighteth
every man that cometh into this world. He gives them natural
reason. But more than that, he is light spiritually. And if
you get light to know the living God, it'll be his light. If you
get light to understand this word, it'll be his light. If
you get light to walk in His will, it'll be His light. If
you get light to live by faith in Him, it'll be His light. He's
light. All the fullness of light dwells
in Him. Is anything obscure? Go to the light. Is anything
dark? Go to the light. Is anything
unseen? Go to the light. Go to the light. All fullness of light is in Him
as well. Men have life because Christ
gives life. You who are hearing my voice
right now live and breathe today because Christ gave you life
and sustains life in you and you'll quit living and quit breathing
as soon as Christ says that's long enough and snuffs out the
light. That's right. The day of your
departure from this world is already marked. Christ has marked
it and Christ will bring you out of this world. Not only is
all the fullness of light and life in him, But all the fullness
of grace is in him. All grace. I've quoted the text
so many times, I hope you all know it now. I hope you know
it by memory, but I hope you know it by heart too. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. all the grace of God, all of
it, is in Christ. There's not any grace in Buddha,
there's not any grace in Allah, there's not any grace in Confucius,
there's not any grace in Moses, there's not any grace in me,
there's not any grace in the church, but all grace is in Christ
Jesus. All grace. There's no grace in
the waters of baptism and no grace in the elements of the
Lord's table, but all grace is in Christ. All of it. All grace. What do you need? You need faith?
It's in Christ. You need a new heart? It's in
Christ. You need a broken spirit? It's
in Christ. You need repentance? It's in
Christ. You need preservation? It's in Christ. You need cleansing? It's in Christ. You need comfort?
It's in Christ. Everything is in Christ. everything,
and God's given us all his grace in Christ Jesus if we're his.
If we believe, our believing is the result of this fact that
before the world was, God put all fullness in Christ and blessed
us in him in his eternal purpose of election. All the fullness
of all the word is Christ. All the fullness of all the promises
is in Christ. I read a sermon by John Gill
on this passage last week. He said, he said, there is not
a need that ever has arisen or ever shall arise in the life
of any child of God in this world but what there's some promise
for it in the book of God. I like that. I don't care what
you're doing here. I don't care what you're going
through. I don't care what you're experiencing. Whatever it is,
if you're God's child, there's a promise in the Word to meet
your need, and all the promises are yea and amen in Christ Jesus. All the fullness of the Spirit
is in Christ. These fellows today are talking
about the Spirit. Seek the Spirit, get the Spirit,
be baptized in the Spirit, talk in tongues. Practice the gifts
of the Spirit, all those things. I don't have to tell you that
it's all satanic, a delusion. I don't have to tell you that
men who are talking like that aren't God. But I do want you
to understand, they hadn't got anything. They hadn't got anything. There's nothing you missed. Jesus
Christ has received out of the Bible all the Spirit. to pour out upon all his people,
and he does. And when Christ calls sinners,
he calls them by his Spirit. And when Christ reveals himself
to sinners, he reveals himself to them by his Spirit. And when
Christ gives himself to sinners, he gives himself by giving his
Spirit, all his Spirit. I said, well, you need something
more than just Christ. Oh, no, I don't. If you've got
him, you've got everything. You got everything. And anything
that would cause you to look past Him, look beyond Him, look
somewhere else except to Him is not of Him, I guarantee you.
And it's not of the Spirit of God. All the fullness of the
church is in Christ. Went and preached to those folks
in Cottageville this past week. And my heart goes out for them.
I believe they earnestly want a pastor. and earnestly willing
to do whatever is required to take care of the needs and responsibilities
of conducting the work of the gospel in that place. And we
had some pretty good talks, conversations, and I, you know how I am, I talk
kindly plain. I just, I just told them what
it's going to take. And then I said, now, not any point putting things
down on paper. Not any point in drawing up bylaws and constitutions
and covenants and confessions. No point at all. Folks say, well,
we do that. So just in case we get, we get
ourselves in a mess, we can get out. If all you've got is paper and
a creed and a confession, you ain't got a thing. You ain't
got a thing. The fullness of the life of the
church is Christ. And the fullness of the ministry
of the church is Christ. And the fullness of the work
of the church is Christ. Everything. And if you got him,
don't need anything else. If you ain't got him, you ain't
got anything else. You follow what I'm saying? People ask me,
how do things work like they do for you folks? I don't know. I can't explain it. It's not
my doing and it's not your doing. How do you get along so well?
How do you conduct your business? How do you have this and you
do that and do the other thing? I don't know, but I do. I do. The fullness of the body is Jesus
Christ our Lord. He's the fullness. He's all fullness
to the pastor and all fullness to the deacons and all fullness
to the elders and all fullness to the people. He's all the fullness
of the body. All the fullness of all creation
is Jesus Christ. Everything is from Him. Everything
is by Him. Everything is for Him. He's all
fullness. All fullness. Who can express
this infinite bounty? All fullness is in Christ and
Christ is ours. Hmm. I'd like to preach on that, but
I don't understand enough about it to preach on it. The apostle
said all things are yours. All things. All things are yours. Now, just how far do you carry
that? Well, just as far as you carry
that little three-letter word, all. All things are yours. For ye are Christ, and Christ
is God. And all food is in Christ. All
things are yours. How I wonder if we believe that?
Huh? How I wonder if we do? Those folks up there last week
asked me, I forgot who it was, Joey was there. If I were interested
in going somewhere, would I consider pastoring that church? Why, shoot. Certainly I would. No question
about that. For if I'm called of God, I don't care whether
you can see anything or not. If God's in it, I'm going. That's
all. And God will make a way. God
will make a way. What about Africa? Well, I don't
see how I can go to Africa. Believe God you can. If God's
in it and God calls, God will make a way. What about this work
here? Men and women, listen to me.
Whatever God puts in our hands to do, whatever it is, don't
even bat an eye about doing it. Don't even bat an eye about doing
it. If God's in it, God will make a way for it. God will sustain
it. Has he not proven that? Has he not proven that again
and again and again and again? Sure he has. Sure he has. All
things are yours for you're Christ and Christ is God's and all fullness
is in him. Everything. What about your daily
life? Day by day, how do you put that
into practice? Quit worrying. That doesn't make
you lazy and indifferent. That doesn't make you irresponsible
and careless. It does make you carefree, that is free of care. Quit fretting, quit worrying,
quit planning, quit scheming. All fullness is in Christ. And
if he's mine, all that I need, even of life in this world, he
daily supplies. All of it. Try to get hold of it if you
can. If you're in Christ, all fullness is yours. Infinity is
yours. Infinity is yours. Can you measure
that? Huh? Who can stretch out his
tape measure and go around infinity? Infinity is ours. What can we lack? No wonder our
Lord said to his disciples when they were He said, since I called
you, lacked ye anything? What have you lacked? Who's gone
hungry? Who's gone naked? Who's gone
without shelter? Lacked ye anything? All fullness
is ours. Christ is ours. These words are
very exclusive. All fullness is in Christ alone. If that's the case, if all fullness
is in Christ, then If you need anything, go to Christ. Just go to Christ. Just go to
Christ. He's God's Joseph. You remember
Joseph? Pharaoh put everything in Joseph's
hands. Anybody who wanted corn, they'd come to Pharaoh. He said,
don't talk to me. Talk to Joseph. They'd go talk to some of the
generals in Egypt. Don't talk to me. I ain't got the keys to the
greenery. Talk to Joseph. Talk to Joseph. You want mercy. You want grace. You want eternal
life. What do you want? I'm talking
about what do you need a sinner before God? What do you need?
Go to Joseph. Go to Jesus Christ. All fullness
is in him. If all fullness is in him, then
let us trust him. And rest. If all fullness is
in him, let us give him all praise, all preeminence, all honor and
all glory. Where is this fullness to be
found? It's in Christ, only in Him. When is it to be found? It dwells in Him. It's always
in Him, always has been. It is now and it always shall
be, for even all the fullness of heaven is in Jesus Christ. In Him dwelleth all fullness. It pleased the Father that in
Him, Jesus Christ our Lord, should all fullness dwell. for time
and for eternity, that he might be praised, that he might be
exalted, that he might be magnified. Let us then rejoice in him, trust
him, magnify and extol him in whom all fullness is. For Christ's sake, amen.