I want to share with you the
text again, if you'll turn to the Scripture that Brother Jay
read a moment ago, Colossians 2. Colossians chapter 2, verse 9
and 10. Colossians 2, verse 9 and 10. For in Christ dwelleth It wasn't visited there for a
while and then removed. In Christ dwelleth, yesterday,
today, and forever, all the fullness, all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily. In Christ dwelleth all. of the fullness of God bodily. And you are complete in Him who is the
head of all principality and power. I read some time ago the account
of the Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon. It's found in 1 Kings
10. At that time, I suppose Solomon
was the world's greatest king, the world's wisest king, the
world's wealthiest king. His fame had spread abroad. There
were many tales told of Solomon. And when the Queen had seen all
of Solomon's wisdom, his wealth, his glory, and his treasure,
she said, there's no spirit left in me. There's no strength left
in me. I heard of your glory, but I
did not believe until I came and mine eyes saw it. And behold, the half has never
been told. And my friends, when I think
of the wisdom of Christ, the wealth, the unspeakable wealth
of the Son of God, the glory and treasure of Jesus
Christ in Him, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily
form. God said the heavens of heavens
won't contain him. And yet in this person, Jesus
Christ dwells all of the fullness of God. All of the treasure and
wealth and wisdom and glory of God is in Christ. And when I
think of that, There's no strength left in me. And when I contemplate
the responsibility of conveying to others some understanding
of this wealth and beauty and this glory and wisdom, I want
to engage somebody else to attempt the task. I feel like a young
man standing on the shores of the great North Atlantic and
someone hands him a canoe and says, cross it. Or perhaps a
young man standing at the foot of Mount Everest and they hand
him a pair of tennis shoes and tell him to climb it. Or the first time that man thought
upon the atom and someone said, split it. Is there someone who can give
him the glory that he is due Is there someone here who thinks
that he can speak even to a degree of what it means when the Scripture
says, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily? It's high as the heavens, the
Scripture says, what can you do? It's deeper than hell, the
Word of God says, what can you know? It's longer than the earth. It's broader than the sea. In
Him, in Christ, dwelleth all, all the fullness of God Almighty
in human flesh. But someone must speak. We can't
remain silent. The sons of men must hear. God
says, whom shall I send? Who will go for me? Well, he
sends men to tell about Christ. Not about themselves, but about
Christ. Who shall go for me? We go to
tell men about Christ, not about ourselves. Well, here, my Lord,
send me. And if you give me your spirit
and the ear of the people, I'll make an attempt to tell them
about the fullness that dwells in Christ. And if your spirit
will give them ears to hear even a little bit of that fullness
and eyes to behold even a little bit of that glory and wisdom
and beauty, they will be weaned from religious tradition and
customs. They will be brought to seek
the Lord. They will be brought to lay hold
upon Him. They will be brought to seek
a saving interest in Him, because that's where all fullness dwells. There's none of God to be found
anywhere else. There's none of His mercy and
grace and glory to be found anywhere else. It's in Christ. And he
that hath the Son hath all things, and he that hath not the Son
of God hath nothing. Now, there's a beautiful picture
of salvation in this text. In Colossians 2, 9 and 10, it
says, In Christ dwelleth all the fullness of God, and you
are complete in Him. Picture, if you will, the center.
That's you, that's me, that's us. You are complete in Him. Picture the center. Empty. We're empty. Nothing dwells in
us, nothing of God. Our Lord said, you have not the
love of God in you. You have not the word of God
in you. You have not the life of God
in you. All emptiness, that's what we
are. We're emptiness. We're empty of all holiness.
We're empty of all hope. In us dwelleth darkness, death,
corruption and evil. We're all emptiness. Christ is
all the fullness of God and we're all emptiness. In my flesh dwelleth
no good thing, the scripture says. From the sole of my feet
even to the top of my head there's no soundness, nothing but wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. That's an ugly picture, but that's
the way it is. We can talk about the dignity
of man and the Glory of man if you want to but the scripture
talks about the emptiness of man empty empty without God without
Christ Without strength without hope in this world empty All
right picture if you will in the second place God God full
of mercy The scripture pictures our God as being full of mercy
Who delights to show mercy he said I will be merciful? Picture
God full of grace, willing to come to man, willing to fill
his emptiness, willing to pardon, willing to forgive, willing to
give a perfect righteousness, a perfect standing, and a perfect
justification. Do you see the picture? Here
is man, empty, totally empty. There's not a spark or a jot
or a tittle or an atom or an iota of goodness in him anywhere.
Empty. Here's God, fullness, mercy,
love. God is love. God is truth. God is holiness. God is righteousness. God is purity. God is justice. God is without darkness, without
death, without disease, without sin. God is light. In Him dwelleth
no darkness. And there's a willingness on
the part of God to give man something for his need, his emptiness,
to fill him, to justify him, to forgive him, to pardon him.
But there's a problem. There's a difficulty. God cannot
come to man as half a God. God must honor all of his attributes. God must reveal all of his character. God is merciful, but God is holy. God is truth. God is righteousness. God is love. And God cannot demonstrate
that love and that mercy at the expense of that holiness and
justice. J prayed a moment ago, the just
for the unjust, the godly for the ungodly, the holy for the
unholy. God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. He cannot come
to man as half a God, as only a loving God and not a God of
righteousness. He cannot come to man as a God
of mercy and not a God of truth. He cannot come to man as a God
of grace and not a God of justice. He cannot come as half a God.
There's a difficulty. God is light and we're darkness. God is truth, and we're lies,
and God is holiness, and we're unholiness. God is purity, and
we're impurity. And God must be that. He can't
be anything else. That's the difficulty. God cannot
forgive us at the expense of His justice. He must punish sin. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? God cannot go back on His word. He says the soul
that's in it, it shall die. It must die. God says, I will
in no wise clear the guilty. God must deal with every transgression
and every disobedience, must receive a just recompense, a
reward, and yet God delights to show mercy. How's He going
to do both? Shall the sinner remain empty? Justly so, yes. Shall God's fullness
remain unrevealed? Shall God's mercy remain unrevealed? Shall God's grace remain unrevealed? Shall God's love remain uncommunicated? Angels can't do anything about
it. Man can't do anything about it. There's only one who can
do something about it, and that is for the Son of God to come.
as a mediator between the two. That is for the eternal Son of
God to become a man, the divine nature to dwell in the mediator. That is for God to put all of
his fullness, all of his godliness, all of his righteousness, all
of his truth, all of his wisdom, all of his mercy, all of his
love, in one who can do something for that empty, helpless center. That's what this verse is saying.
It says in verse 9, for in Christ, in Christ, the mediator, our
representative, our federal head, God gave His Son to become a
man. God gave His Son to be made in
the likeness of sinful flesh. God gave his Son to become a
person on this earth, not like you and me. Like us in that he
was tempted. Like us in that he was born of
woman. Like us in that he was made under the law. Like us in
that he was tested in all points. Like us in that he wept. Like
us in that he knew sorrow. Like us in that he had appetite. Like us in that he hungered and
thirst. Like us in that he was liable
to die. But not like us in that he was
indwelt with all the fullness of God. all the wisdom and righteousness
and love and truth and mercy of God Almighty. And salvation, this thing of
filling the center, this thing of meeting the sinner's need,
this thing of giving to the sinner the wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption that he needs, is not something
that the sinner does for God. It's something God gives to the
sinner in Christ. Salvation is not what I bring
to Christ out of my emptiness. I have nothing to bring. In my
hands, no price I bring. I have no price. It's not that
I'm reluctant to bring. I don't have anything to bring.
It's not that I'm selfish and don't desire to share it. I have
nothing to bring. I'm emptiness. God requires wisdom. I don't have any. God requires holiness. I don't
have any. God requires truth. I don't have
any. God requires love. I don't have
any. I'm emptiness. Empty, empty, empty. My spiritual heart is dead. My
spiritual mind is dead. It's like a sounding gong and
a tinkling cymbal. It's empty. It's hollered. There's
nothing there. If a hungry man seeks for bread,
he won't find it in me. He seeks for water, he won't
find it in me. He seeks for anything, he won't
find it in me. He'll only find that darkness
that mocks him who seeks light, and that corrupt bread, that
poisoned bread that corrupts him that seeks nourishment, and
that poisoned water that kills them who drink. Emptiness. God's got to have fullness. There's
got to be a righteousness. There's got to be a holiness.
There's got to be a sanctification, which I don't have. There's no
need of trying to draw it out of me because it doesn't exist.
It's not there. There's no need to require it
of me or demand it of me or expect it of me. I can't produce it.
Even my righteousness is a filthy race. So if God is going to get
anything and receive anything, it's going to have to be from
somebody who represents me, not from me. So he sends Christ down here
in the flesh, made like unto man, took upon himself the form
of a serpent. But dwelling in Christ was all
fullness. Dwelling in Christ is all wisdom
and all righteousness and all sanctification, all love and
all truth and all beauty. It says, in Him dwelleth all
the fullness of God. Thank God for those two words,
all fullness. Everything I see, hear, feel,
or think is vanity. I can say with Solomon, all is
vanity, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Even our attempts
at worship are vanity. Even our prayers are vanity.
Our preaching is vanity. Everything about us is vanity.
All, vanity of vanity, all is vanity. There's nothing in us
or about us or upon us or through us, ever, in any condition, God
Almighty could accept or with which He could be satisfied.
Emptiness. I can say with David, man at
his best state is altogether—dwell on those words—altogether vanity. I can say with the Apostle Paul,
woe is me, wretched man that I am, chief of sinners, because
it's emptiness. But thank God I see some fullness. I see the wisdom that I need
and that God requires and that God demands. I see it. Where
is it? It's not in the law. It's not
in the ordinances. It's not in the religion. It's
not in the denomination. It's not in myself, it's not
in my morality, it's not in all the deeds of all the men of all
ages put together. It's in Christ. All fullness. Not a foretaste
of it, like Moses and Abram wrote about, talked about, dealt with,
but all fullness. Not a shadow. But the substance
of it, all that God is, is in Christ. All that God requires
is in Christ. All that God commands is in Christ. All that God expects is in Christ. That's where it is. That's the reason Paul said we
preach Christ. You wonder what we mean when
we say we preach Christ? You wonder what we mean when
we say we travail to Christ be formed in you? Because, my friend,
in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. I don't need a little help. It
won't do me any good. I need complete deliverance.
I don't need a little mercy. A little mercy will only mock
me. I need all mercy. I don't need a little grace.
A little grace will only leave me lost. I need all the grace
of God. I don't need a little wisdom.
A little wisdom will only confuse and confound me as it has most
people. I need all wisdom. I don't have
any. I'm ignorant. Totally, completely ignorant.
In Him. Not in Him ninety-nine percent
of it and one percent in you. In Him. dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. I have no wisdom till I know
Him who is all wisdom. I have no holiness till He is
mine who is all holiness. I have no righteousness, claim
what I will, till I have Him who is all righteousness. It's all in Christ. To be almost
to Christ is to be totally lost. To be almost a believer is to
be totally outside the kingdom of God. I've got to get to Christ. That's the reason Paul said,
oh, that I may win Christ and be found in Him. I count all
these things, my heritage and pedigree and past and accomplishments
and education, I count these things but rubbish, that I may
win Christ and be found in Him. Oh, that I may know Him and the
power of His resurrected life, because in Christ dwelleth all
the fullness of God. Where does it dwell? In Christ. That's the only place it can
dwell. All fullness. You see, when we're talking about
all fullness, we're talking about all that God is, whatever that
is. All that God has. Oh, the riches
of His grace, of His glory, of His love, of His mercy, the riches
of His kingdom in Christ. It all dwells in Christ. All
the fullness is in Christ. The reason it must dwell in Christ
is because it requires perfection to contain it. It couldn't dwell
anywhere else. There is imperfection everywhere
else. Even sin has entered heaven. There's got to be a new heaven
and a new earth. There's nothing that can contain
all the fullness of God but Christ. He's without sin. He knew no
sin. He had no sin. He did no sin. You see, there
was never anything about Christ, though He were a man, there was
never anything about Him that was not ultimately and absolutely
and totally of God. That's hard to imagine. I know
it's beyond me. That's the reason I say, well,
if somebody could handle this, who could handle it? I don't
understand all that I understand about it. But I know that in
the person, Jesus Christ, there was all the fullness of God because
he had the perfection to contain it. God gave the Spirit to him
without measure. You think about the Holy Spirit
without measure? You think about the knowledge
of God without limit? He knew their thoughts, Charlie. He knew the coin was in the fish's
mouth in the depths of the sea. He knew the imaginations of old
Simon's heart. He knew! Because in him all the
wisdom and all the understanding and all the holiness of God dwelt
in him. That's the reason when they spat
in his face, they spat on God. That's the reason when they mocked
him, they mocked God. That's the reason when they nailed
him to a cross and they said, we have no king but Caesar. That's,
my friend, that's the conflict between heaven and earth. We
got this thing whittled down to stealing a watermelon in Farmer
Caleb's patch, when men spat in God's face, because in him
dwelleth all the fullness of God. He that heareth me, heareth
my Father that sent me. He that rejecteth me, rejecteth
my Father that sent me. All of God's fullness, all of
the great glory and wisdom and fullness and riches and righteousness
was in this person! And man took a good look at it
and spit on it. Man took a good look at it and
everybody, if it was anybody, turned thumbs down on it. And
God's not happy with that. This is my son! Hear Him. We will not have this man reign
over us. All fullness dwells in Christ,
because all fullness requires perfection to contain it, and
all fullness requires immutability to retain it. Immutability, he
cannot change. God created an angel, and he
fell. God created the man, he fell. God Almighty sent His Son. He did not fail. He cannot fail. God. Immutability, the same yesterday,
today, and forever. He changes not. All fullness
cannot dwell anywhere because everything has changed but God. Change and decay all around me,
I see. Oh, thou that changest not, abide
with me. If you're looking for perfection,
don't look here, look to Christ. And don't look there either.
If you want some place to put your confidence, don't put it
anywhere, anywhere, I warn you, anywhere but in Christ. If you
want some place to put your hope, don't put it anywhere, anywhere,
anywhere because of nowhere. That's immutability. That immutability
dwells but only in Christ. And that's where God put His
fullness. He never changes. I am the Lord, I change not.
And I'll tell you this, all fullness dwells in Christ because of His
wisdom to distribute it. It's a good thing God didn't
give salvation to the Jew, He wouldn't have given it to the
Gentile, John, would He? It's a good thing God didn't
give salvation to the white man. He'd have never given it to the
black man. Or the black man would have never
given it to the white man. It's a good thing God didn't
put salvation in the Catholic Church. They'd have never given
it to the Protestants. And the Protestants would have
never given it to the Catholics, and the old would have bypassed
the young, and the young the old, and the rich the poor. But
our God put His wisdom and righteousness and sanctification in one who's
wise to distribute it. He giveth it to whom He will,
and He never makes a mistake. The Son quickeneth whom He will! He never makes a mistake. If
He passes you by, it'll be because He's wise in whom He calls. That's right, he's going to save
all whom he can wisely save. That's so. That's so. All fullness, all of God dwells
in Christ because of the perfection of Christ, because of the immutability
of Christ, because of the wisdom of Christ. He passed by a rich young ruler
called a fallen woman because of his wisdom. He passed by Simon
the Pharisee and called a harlot because of his wisdom. He passed by the Pharisees and
called the publicans. He passed by Simon Magus and
called Saul of Tarsus because of his wisdom. And he'll call
today whom he will. because He is all-wise, and all
fullness requires something else. It requires perfection to contain
it, and immutability to retain it, and wisdom to distribute
it, and it requires incarnation to make it effectual to man. God as God cannot bring to me
what I need, but God as man can. Christ Jesus is all fullness
toward God, and He's all fullness toward men, because in Him are
both natures. Hmm? That's right. Behold the
man! Behold your God! Huh? Both are so. God was in Christ! The world
was made flesh! I need all things. All things. You see, some things won't help
me. I need all things. God requires holiness. I've got
to have that. God requires wisdom. I've got
to have that. God requires all things. God
can be satisfied with nothing but perfection. He can demand
no more. But I've got to have all things.
The Scripture says Christ is all. I need repentance. He's exalted to give repentance.
I need a new heart. A new heart, He said, I'll give
thee. I need pardon. In Him we have redemption, the
forgiveness of our sins. I need life. He that hath the
Son hath life. I need preservation. He's able
to keep thee. I need resurrection. He's able
to raise thee. I need glory. Whom He justified,
He glorified. Thou, O Christ, art all I want,
more than all in Thee I find. My friends, all the fullness
of God, of the God of creation, of the universe, of eternity,
all of the holiness and wisdom and righteousness and justice
and truth and love, All of it dwells in Christ, in
Christ, who became a man, and is to me all things. Now, the
question, why is all fullness in Christ? Well, the scripture says in another
place, in Colossians, verse 19 of chapter 1, want to look at
that? Colossians 119, it pleased the Father. That's
why it's there. Now I know there, I know we can,
we can find plenty of reasons why, I give plenty of reasons
why all fullness dwells in Christ because nothing else can contain
it. There's no other place that can
embrace it. God must be just and justified. It's the only way of salvation.
Man must have a sufficient righteousness and a sufficient justice and
a sufficient sin offering. But my friends, here's the only
reason a believer needs. For where all fullness dwells,
it pleads the Father. That's sufficient. That's the
reason our Lord gave. He said, I thank Thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and Thou hast revealed them unto babes.
For, Father, it seemed good in Your sight." That's reason enough. That's the reason for creation.
You get the same answer. It pleased the Father. The Sahara
Desert's hot. The Antarctic is cold. Pleased
the Father. The country of Africa is a jungle.
The nation of America is a paradise. Please the Father. One is born
to riches and one's born to poverty. Please the Father. Ask the reason for the fall.
You'll get the same answer. Ask the reason for election.
You'll get the same answer. And I'll say this, what pleases
God, pleases me. I'm going to leave it right there.
And you go to searching for all the answers and all of the intellectual
responses and arguments, this is sufficient. All fullness of
the Godhead has a gift to sinners that the righteous God might
reveal His mercy that heaven might be populated, that sinners
might be saved dwells in Christ and there is a way to come to
God through him by faith to lay hold upon Christ and the emptiest
can have all fullness and the blackest can have all cleansing,
and the darkest can have all light, and the deadest can have
all life, all of God, because it pleased the Father. And bless your heart, I'm gonna
leave it right there. And when I get to glory, I'm
gonna know as I have been known. I know in part, God's been pleased
to give me a little understanding Because a man can't know Christ
and not have some understanding. I know whom I have to leave,
Paul said. God's given me a little bit of
light. I see through a glass dimly.
I preach in part. I preach what I know. Unfortunately,
sometimes some things I don't know, but I believe. But one day I'll know, and I'll
know all that God has already known in my place or me. But until that time, I'm going
to rest on this. It pleased the Father. It pleased
the Father. And last of all, I close. It
says, all fullness in Him dwelleth, dwelleth, dwelleth all the fullness. Abraham found it there. That's
where Abraham found it. Found it in Christ. He didn't
find it in the wilderness or in the tents or in his sacrifices. He found it in Christ. Moses
found it there. He found it there. He wrote of
me, Christ said, Isaiah found it there. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way, and God has laid on
him the iniquity of us all. John found it there. Paul found
it there. The men of past days found it
there, all fullness. And they found with all fullness
rest coming to me, and I'll give you rest. Peace, my peace I give
unto you. Comfort, let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be afraid. In him dwelleth dwelleth from
eternity to eternity, dwelleth all the fullness of God. And you are complete in Him. That's where it is. And that, there's just two religions
on this earth. One that finds all fullness in
Christ, and consequently, completion. And there's the other that keeps
searching and seeking for it somewhere else. I'm through searching,
I found a ransom. That's what Job said, I quit
looking, I found him. I found him whom my soul loves! I found him whom my soul needs! I found Him who satisfies my
soul. And when I awake in His likeness,
I'm going to be completely satisfied. But until that day, I'm going
to keep looking to Him. Our Father in Heaven, thank You,
thank You, thank You. Praise Thy matchless Name. that
we don't need to look anywhere but to Christ. All healing, all
cleansing, all wisdom, all forgiveness, all light and truth, all love,
it's all in Him. And having Christ by faith, we
have all that God has. Heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ Jesus. We're complete. in Him. Even the simplest babe in Christ
is complete. We grow. You give us some maturity
and understanding as the years go by. Well, we're complete.
Even the oldest believer And all of the weakness and sickness
and frailty and doubts and fears is complete in Christ. Give us
faith to believe, confidence to trust, and a good hope through
grace in Christ Jesus. In his blessed name we pray,
amen.