I invite your attention back
to John chapter 1 and verse 16 speaking of the greatness and
the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ John says and of his fullness
have all we receive and grace for grace this is a an appropriate description
of the estate of the elect in his life upon this earth. We as children of God, as a body
of believers, have been privileged to be around when the Lord has
come and rescued some from us and taken them on to glory. We
have seen men and women confess the Lord and believers baptism,
We've seen some struggle with diseases and other maladies.
And in all of this, we can freely say, and of his fullness, we
have all received. And grace for grace. I love to read the gospel according
to John. I like to read all of them, but
I especially like John. There's a beauty and a poetry
in this book that is not in the others. This is not to say that
the value and the truth of the others is in any way less than
John. They are blessed books, inspired
books, eternal, inerrant, word of God, and therefore full of
glory and truth. There is, however, a difference
in the manner in which John was given to express his revealed
record of the Lord Jesus Christ. When John speaks of Christ, he
refers to him in his deity as the God-man. as the Son of God,
as God, yea, very God. Matthew proclaims Christ to be
the King, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Mark speaks
of Christ as the servant of God. Luke declares his humanity as
the Son of man. John speaks of him as God incarnate,
God entered into this world, God in our midst. John's words,
excuse me, are the testimony of one who has been there. He
was one of the inner circles. He was an eyewitness. The words
of the worshiper bowed down in love and awe before the presence
of his sovereign. That's how he approaches this
work that the Lord inspired him to write. These are words of
a man who has seen God. You can't see God and live. Yet he has seen God, he has seen
God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for in Christ dwelleth
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Saw it daily for three and a
half years. When John said, we beheld his
glory, he might have been talking about the transfiguration of
Christ, or the mount of transfiguration when Christ's garments shone
brighter than the noonday sun, glistering. But John used this
kind of language, the words of an eyewitness when he declared
the gospel in 1 John chapter one. If you turn there, 1 John
chapter one, verse one and two, this is how he said, that which
was from the beginning, in the beginning was the word, the word
was with God, the word was God, the same was in the beginning
with God. In the beginning was, that which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. For the life was manifested and
we've seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. He's speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Speaking of Christ. John in the context here is speaking
of what he has personally seen and touched and handled. Another
aspect and perhaps the most meaningful to the believer is that the subject
that is addressed in the Gospel of John is not found in the other
Gospels. A subject is particular to the Gospel of John. Not only
is that Jesus Christ is God, but something else altogether.
One word is found throughout the Gospel of John that is only
found in all the other Gospels in one place, and that is Luke
Chapter 2. It refers to Christ as having
the grace of God upon Him in His youth. But in the Gospel
of John, we find the word grace all over the place. All over
the place. It's a joy expressed in the fact
that all of God's children have received grace. This is what
He's rejoicing in. All of God's children have received
grace, and that in a full and wonderful measure and abundance.
And grace for grace, the fullness of Him that filleth all. Or grace
on top of grace, or grace and more grace, or grace and continuous
grace, grace that never stops or never ceases. This is the
grace that He's talking about. All the elect, all who believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, all who have received this grace,
been saved by this grace and rejoiced in this grace is whom
he is speaking to. Now, if you've not received this
grace, if you're not a believer this morning, if you've not trusted
the Lord Jesus Christ as your only hope before God, if you're
still trusting in something yourself, I don't have a lot for you this
morning, but I hope you'll hang around anyway and listen to what
I have to say. His people have received grace
because they've received Jesus Christ, for in Him dwelleth the
fullness of this grace. The fullness of their grace.
They have received Christ, and thus they have received the Word
made flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. How have they received Christ?
They have received Him by faith. It says that in this first chapter
also in verse 12. But as many as received Him,
to Him gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on His name. Those two cannot be separated.
They have received Christ And upon receiving Christ, they have
received faith. They have received faith to believe
on His name. They are believers. Faith is
not the cause of grace. It is merely the receptacle of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is not an actor in grace.
It is but an empty vessel. It is a vessel, a pot. Paul called
it a dirt pot or an earthen vessel designed for something to be
poured into it. The value of the pot is determined only by
what is put into it and who puts it there. That's where the value
lies. When God gives His elect faith
it is because He has made them a vessel of honor and a vessel
of mercy according to Romans chapter 9. They do not produce
honor They don't produce mercy, nor do they pour it out. They
receive it as it is poured out from him to whom it belongs,
for him who is the fountain of it, the only source of it, and
gives it to whomsoever he will, according to Scripture. The vessels
cannot glory in themselves, therefore, if you have mercy and grace,
all glory belongs to God, and none to yourself. All glory. The one who's poured the grace
into you, that's who deserves the glory because there's nothing
to you and nothing to me in nature and by nature the way we were
born into this world. And God, if he has chosen you
to salvation, didn't do so because there was something in you. Read
1 Corinthians 26 through 30 and find out that no flesh is to
glory in his presence because God has not chosen the wise of
the world, the strong of the world, but he's chosen the weak
and the stupid and the foolish and those who are rejected and
despised men. That's whom he's chosen to save.
That all glory would be to him. The question put forth in scripture
is simple and plain. What hast thou that thou hast
not received? What hast thou? that thou hast
not received. Here it says, we have received
of his fullness. What a great amassing of glory
can be placed on this word if God uses it himself, fullness. This is God's word. He said,
we have received of his fullness. What height and depth and breadth
and reach is rolled up in that word? What magnitude of things
glorious has been poured into these earthen vessels? Of His
fullness reveals our natural emptiness. We don't have anything
in ourselves. His fullness we have received.
There's nothing in us that might mix with His fullness. We have
not received the fullness of ourselves. So though we are by
nature full of ourselves, the fullness of our delusions of
mediocrity or the fullness of our worthless self-righteousness. We've not received that from
Christ. We have received of His fullness. His. fullness pressed
down shaken together and running over scripture says it pleased
the father that in christ should all fullness dwell scripture
says for in him dwelleth the fullness of the godhead bodily
of his fullness we have all received we know his love And are filled
with His fullness. That's the language that's talked
about over in Ephesians chapter 3 and chapter 4. If you'll turn
there. In Ephesians chapter 3 and verse
19. It says, To know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. It goes beyond our ability to
ever fully grasp it. that goes beyond knowledge, that
ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. All the fullness
of God. Then in chapter four in verse
13, it says, till we all come in the unity of faith and of
the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man or a mature
man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Jesus Christ. So filled are we with the fullness
of Him who is the fullness of God, the very definition of fullness
scripture says to every child of God who flails about in this
world who trips and stumbles and falls a thousand times a
day feels like they don't do anything right and they're right
they don't this fullness says you as a believer this hour are
complete in Him What does that mean? Complete. Well, you know
what that means. You need nothing. Religion will
tell you you need a lot of things. Christ says you don't need anything,
because you've got it all. All things are yours, and you
are Christ, and Christ is God according to Scripture. You are
complete in Him. Having need of nothing. We have all received
it, it says. Every child of God, every believer,
every one of the elect, every one of the sheep, the church
has received it. Does this word all embrace the
entire human race? No, it embraces the entire saved
human race. The race of humans whom God has
given faith, that spiritual race that has received the fullness
of Christ. Who are they? They are those who received Christ.
It says that. As many as received him gave
him power to become the sons of God in verse 12. They are
those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And that doesn't
mean just to believe that he exists. Sometimes I see religious
folks put on Facebook and things. is Jesus or say Jesus is real
say amen or you'll lose fifty dollars this week or some stupid
thing like that Jesus is real that's not what faith is faith
is believing first of all the Word of God the Word of God and
believing the Word of God relates wholly to the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ from Genesis to Revelation is to believe
the Word of God And the Word of God clearly and plainly states
that you have no hope in this world and in yourself at all,
that all hope rests in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. That's what it is to believe
God. To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is to trust His merits,
His merits and what He accomplished for your salvation and nothing
else, nothing else. Our flesh rebels against that.
Our flesh says, surely there must be something I can do. And
if we don't say it out loud, we think it in our minds. But
there's nothing we can do, nothing we have done, nothing we will
do, nothing we are or ever could be that has anything to do with
our salvation. It's all of Christ. Like the
old fella said, from A to Zizzard, it's all of Christ. It's all
of Christ. Men are born into this. They
are born by the new birth. They are those who are born of
God, a rebirth, a new birth. What you have received in Christ,
nothing you were born with counts. Nothing you were born with is
used or usable. You're a new creature in the
Lord Jesus Christ, a new creation, and you ain't no creator. Only
God is the creator. You were born into this. How
are you born? I know people say, well, the
Bible says you gotta be born again, and then some fella, like
the monarch of Montreat, writes a word, writes a book that says
how to be born again. The Bible says nowhere in Scripture
how to be born again. Nowhere. It says you gotta be. What does that mean? Well, if
you gotta be, and there ain't no how, how does it happen? It
happens when God himself, through the preaching of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, plants that word in your heart and your mind and
your soul and gives you life. And that life immediately responds
in faith because with that life comes the faith that God gives.
There ain't no separation of time. It all happens at once. And upon that life, upon that
faith, you repent of your righteousness. You repent of your thoughts that
you have something about you that might recommend you to God.
You forget all about that. Put it out of your mind. Because
you're born. You're born new. These were not
born of God by the exercise of their will. or some clever earthly creature
who is as impotent as they are. They are born of God. Look at
verse 13. Which were born? Which were born? Not of bloods, that is ancestry. Well, you know, it's good enough
for grandma, it's good enough for me. Your grandma may be in
hell right now. Is that good enough for you?
I know nobody thinks anybody goes to hell these days because
everybody, I watch a lot of crime shows, I've said this before,
I like police solving crimes and stuff, I'm just that way.
But everybody, whether it's an axe murderer or a rapist or whatever,
when they die, they're looking down from heaven and watching
over people. No, they're not. No, they're not. These are not
born by ancestry. God doesn't have any grandchildren.
He's only got children. Only got children. Not born of
the will of some man. Not of the will of the flesh.
Not your will. I know that's the primary be
all and end all in religion today, the exercise of your free will.
And it not only talks about it in religion, they talk about
it in politics, they talk about it in novels, they talk about
it on TV like it's some kind of doctrine or something. Listen
to me, let me tell you about your will. It's in bondage to
your nature. And it'll do only what your nature
says for it to do. The will is only the choice.
it's only the choice and you can choose all day long all you
want to choose that don't mean you can get anything done the
will the concept of a free will truly a free will and that word
free means without anything outside influencing it the concept of
a free will does not exist in all the universe God's will is
not free it's not free because he acts according to his character
that's why he cannot lie he cannot lie, why? he will not lie why? because he cannot lie, he's God
his character wouldn't allow it but what men make the mistake
is they equate the will of man with the ability or the power
to perform That's what men, when they say free will, they say
it's the ability or the power to perform. And it's not. That only exists in the power
of God. Not in your power. When I was
a boy, I wanted to fly. I tried a couple times, jumped
out a tree and broke bones. I couldn't fly. I chose to fly. I willed to fly. And I didn't
fly. Why? gravity taught me a great
lesson is what it was I did not have the power to perform
and even you brothers and sisters in Christ who want to do good
who desire to do what's right before God want to be better
people how's that working out for you? huh? how's that working out for you?
Paul said you know I find this principle in me, this principle
of sin, this life of sin. That when I would do good, evil
is present with me. I don't know what I'm doing,
he said. You feel that way? I don't know what the heck I'm
doing. That's what Paul says, I don't know what I'm doing.
He said, when I want to do something and I decide to do something,
I end up not doing that. And when I say to myself, well
I'm not going to do that, Right off the bat, that's what I end
up doing. Why? Because our will is nothing. We have no power
to perform. We can choose all day long, we
can't perform. We can't perform. So it's not
by the will of man, it's not by your will, but it's not by
somebody else's will either. I got books over in my library
about soul winning. I never did believe in it, but
I always liked to know what my enemies think, and so I read
their books. Men actually believe that they
can talk people into salvation. They ask the right questions,
ABC this, 1, 2, 3 that, or take the Romans road, or whatever
they want to call it, or make the simple plan of salvation,
all that stuff, that's baloney. Oscar Mayer right across the
front, if you want to, it's baloney. It's no man, no woman can win
you to Christ. Only Christ can do that. you can convince people of doctrine
you can convince them that even to some degree that they're a
sinner but they'll never come to Christ unless Jesus Christ
himself by his spirit opens their eyes their heart and their mind
to receive him not by the will of man but of God Not of bloods, not
by the will of the flesh, not of the will of men. This is how
you're born into your kingdom. How's it happen? Just like you
were born into this kingdom, this kingdom called humanity.
Just like you were born. How many of you counseled with
your parents to be born? Raise your hands. How many of
you chose to be born? Raise your hands. What happened? Unbeknownst to you, totally passive
by you, your mother and father got together. and his seed met
with her opium and they formed a life within the womb. It attached
to your mother's womb and she put up with you for nine long
months. She got bigger. She got uncomfortable. She got backaches. Suddenly things
that used to taste good to her tasted bad to her. Things that
smelled good to her she could hardly stand to be around anymore.
All this for nine months she suffered this mess. Finally her
body said enough of this. and it secreted this enzyme or
this some type of thing that goes into the body that causes
a woman's womb to contract. Causes her to go into labor.
And here's how you were born. You were in a sack filled with
embionic fluid. Been there for nine months squirreling
around and growing things. And your mother said enough and
shot you out into this world. That's what happened. How were
you born again? Why did God use birth? A natural
thing that we can understand to teach us about the new birth.
So we had realized one day you were walking headlong toward
hell. Caring not for the things of God, having no interest in
God whatsoever. But God took this word and planted
it in your heart. And it fertilized. And all of
a sudden you were thrust Into the spiritual world and that's
how he is born again. That's how it happens born of
God born of God Born by his spirit according to John chapter 3 the
spirit The wind bloweth where it list is So is as the spirit
of God so is everyone's born of the spirit. He is born of
the spirit of spirit He's born of the flesh his flesh. They
were born of the spirit through the preaching of the word Lord
the Lord said my words their spirit and they are life first
Peter chapter 1 you are born not of corruptible seed but incorruptible
seed even by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for
ever for this is the Word of God which by the gospel is preached
unto you of his own will James says he begat you by the Word
of truth all these received his fullness these who received his
fullness and of what fullness have they received Look at verse
14. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the uniquely born of the Father, full of grace
and truth. They have received the fullness
of Jesus Christ. How does that mean? We have His
Spirit. The Word made flesh. What does
that mean? It's a controversial, Paul said,
that great is the mystery of God, that's without controversy,
God born in human flesh. God in human flesh. Well, I'm
telling you, my mind can't wrap around it. If I wasn't given
faith, I wouldn't even believe it. But you are and you do. The world was made flesh. One
fella said, In the person and word of Jesus, one does not encounter
anything that has its origin in the world or in time. The encounter is with the reality
that lies beyond the world and beyond time. You see, everything
hankers upon the fact that God in His totality and His sovereign
majesty is in this incarnate One who meets and dwells among
us. And His name is Jesus Christ.
And one of the best theological lessons you'll ever learn is
this, wherever God is, He is fully and completely there. He's
fully and completely there. The fullness of which we have
all received is the fullness of God Himself. the fullness
of God. You received that. You say, well,
I don't feel it. It ain't a feeling. It ain't
a feeling. You need to get away from that.
I didn't get emotional. You don't need to get emotional.
It ain't having anything to do with emotions or sentimentality. So one day,
by His great grace, you became a spiritual person. That means
you were able to understand the things of God. One day. The day
before, you didn't know nothing. What in the world happened? God
filled you. And the fullness of which we
have all received is His glory. What is God's glory? Well, he
said to Moses, four things were his glory. He said, I will make
my goodness pass before you. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord before you. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
It is the glorification of God and the salvation of the elect
by the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ that satisfied
justice, consumed the wrath of God, answered the law of the
man, and remitted the sins of the elect, and fixed it so that
God could be just and justify somebody like you. It is the
glory of His grace. The glory of His grace. The glory
of God is His salvation by the revelation of His sovereign saving
of whom He will. This is His glory. And if you're
a believer, you believe that. You say, well, I know a lot of
people that go to church and don't believe that. Well, they're unbelievers.
It's that simple. They're unbelievers. of His fullness, the fullness
of His glory. Of His glory we've always seen.
Maybe that's what He was talking about when He said in Romans
8, whom He predestinated, whom He also glorified. Glorified. We've always seen the fullness
of His grace. Verse 14, full of grace and truth. What is His
grace? You know what His grace is. I
was thinking as I prepared this message, I must have said this
10 million times over the last 40 years that I've been here,
41 years. I must have said it over and
over again. I keep talking about this subject of grace. I just
can't seem to get over it, to be honest with you. What is His
grace? In simplest terms, it is His
unmerited, which means you didn't merit it, His unmerited kindness
and love bestowed. It is not offered. Grace is not
offered anywhere in Scripture, nowhere in Scripture, in this
whole Bible is grace ever offered to anyone. It is not held out
as an incentive or placed at your disposal as a general commodity
in some Salvation big box store to be accepted or rejected. It
is being highly favored of God, highly favored God highly favored
and that favor is nothing has nothing to do with you whatsoever.
It has to do with God Salvation is about God getting some glory
for his grace And the only way he can do that is to save the
worst kind of things that ever walked upon this earth That's
how grace is honored Grace is not honored by God saving good
people First of all, there are no good people, but by our standards,
some people are better than others, but God's grace is not honored
that way. God's grace is honored by saving someone who everybody
in the world knows has no possibility of ever being saved, and no reason
to be a child of God. That's the unmerited favor of
God. In its sovereign disposition
of God toward those whom He has chosen before the foundation
of the world, it is powerful grace And it is effectual, and
nothing you can do will attain it. And thank God, nothing you
can do can stop it or hold it back. If God is on your trail,
He's gonna get you. Mark it down. It is unstoppable,
indestructible, and unchangeable in its course. Once God has set
his affection on someone, that person is going to be saved. It's that simple. The grace of
God is omnipotent, all-powerful grace. It is a guided missile
that will find its mark every time. It will have its way. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Jesus Christ according as he's chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy without blame
before him in love having predestinated us to the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto himself to the glory of his grace wherein
that grace wherein he has made us accepted Not acceptable. Ain't nothing acceptable about
me. Accepted. Because of what Jesus Christ
did. One may resist or even despise the idea of grace. But you can't resist grace. You might not like the idea of
it, but if it's coming your way, it's going to get you. It's going
to get you. If you are the object of grace,
get ready to be highly favored. of His fullness, of His grace,
we have all received. Received. You say, well that
means accepted. No it doesn't, it means received.
You got your cover of your eyes from your mom and daddy. Did
you accept that or did you receive it? Well I accepted it because
I received it. That's what I got. That's how
I was born. We have all received of the fullness
of His truth. My, my, what a word. People like
to attach adjectives to it. Your truth, my truth. That's baloney. We've received the truth. All truth is embodied, you see,
in one place. All truth is found in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Receiving Him is receiving the
truth. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And
receiving the truth is receiving Him. We don't batty about arguing
about whether you got to know this doctrine or that doctrine.
Listen, if you know Christ, you know Christ one way, by the gospel. By the gospel preached, and that's
doctrine. And if you know Christ, you know
doctrine. You know doctrine, you know Christ, if you really
know doctrine. If you really know it. talk about power receiving
the truth this world is a lie and we are liars and we are lies
but there is the truth there is nothing more powerful than
that which is absolute and there can be no doubt as to the source
John makes it plain that Christ is the only source of that truth
in John chapter 1 verse 17 he says this for the law was given
by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ and that
tells us some things right there at first there ain't no grace
or truth in the law the law is true but it's not the truth and
there's a big difference there's a big difference Jesus Christ
is the truth the law though true is not the truth the contrast
or evidence the law was given And it says by Moses. And throughout
scripture it's called the Moses Law. It doesn't mean God didn't
ordain it or God didn't inspire it. But what it means is it's
attached to Moses. It's attached to Moses. The law
was given by Moses but grace and truth, what did it do? It
came. It came and found it started. The law was given but it was
no giver. But grace and truth came and it's all giving. All
of us have received. The contrasts are plain. The
law declares man to be what he is, and what he is not, and what
he can never be before God. And the just sentence due him
for his utter failure. The law says die. Summed up right there. Die. Well
doesn't it say you're supposed to love God with all your heart,
mind, and soul? Yeah, and it says if you don't keep that you
have to die. If you break that, you have to
die. Love your neighbor as yourself. Yeah, it says that. But if you
don't love your neighbor as yourself, you have to die. Not covet your neighbor's property.
I sure do like that car he's driving. I'd like to have that
car he's driving. That's a simple thing. If you
do covet your neighbor's property, you gotta die. So not commit
adultery. That's something that comes from
the heart. Have you ever thought it in your
heart? You have to die. You have to die. You see? That's what the law says. You
have to die. Christ is the truth. It shows man that he is, or what,
it shows man what he is and who God is. and brings them together
in a loving fellowship because he is the God-man God incarnate
as a man he was wholly and completely a man a human being so much so
it said he was touched with the feelings of our infirmities yet
without sin what does that mean? you in bad shape? you in hard
times? Christ is touched by that. And
He can reach down and touch you. Put His hand on you. Pull you
to Himself. Because He's God, He can reach
up to heaven. And touch the very person of God. Because He's both
man and God. And He can bring you all together.
He's that daysman, the mediator, the one mediator between man
and God. What a thing. The law was given
with all its demands, all its unattainable requirements, but
truth and grace came with what? Whatever you needed. Truth and
grace came with a full supply. The law says you must do this.
The law says you can't do that. God came and the Lord Jesus Christ
said here's all of it. Whatever you've needed, whatever
you shall need, I give it to you. Grace comes with the supply. The law was given, but grace
came. The law stands outside judging
and watching. Grace and truth enters the heart,
is received in comforts and cleanses. The law stopped on stone. Grace
did not stop till it poured into and consumed the heart and mind
of the vessels and they were formed to receive it. In the
law we cannot see God. We can only be made aware of
His holiness and our patent guilt. In truth and grace, the Father
is declared by the Son and is seen by faith. And we beheld
His glory. We beheld His glory. For the
fullness of His persons, His glory, His grace, and His truth,
we have all received. I'm talking to, if you're a child
of God this morning, you are blessed. And you didn't do nothing
to gain a blessing. And you can't do nothing to gain
a blessing. If you are in Christ all, listen, all that God can
give you, He has given you. All spiritual blessings in Jesus
Christ. And as if to glory and the all-sufficiency
of grace, John says, and grace for grace. Of His fullness we have received
grace for grace. What does that mean? Well, abundance. Abundance. Grace for every circumstance. Grace for every situation. Grace
for every trial. Grace for every joy. Grace upon
grace. Grace on top of grace. Grace
full of grace. The child of God never despair
of the grace of God. I know we despair of ourselves
and our future. Things disturb us and put us
down and we worry. Don't ever despair of God's grace
no matter what situation. What if I fall away? My grace
is sufficient for you. What if I'm like David and really
mess up? Take another man's wife What
if I do that? What if I commit murder to cover
my sin? Was God's grace sufficient for
David? It will be sufficient for you
too. Grace upon grace. There is no blessing outside
of Jesus Christ and there is no lack for the soul that has
received Him. And of His fullness have we all
received and grace for grace. God bless you.