The following message was given at Emanuel Baptist Church, Coconut Creek, Florida. I was told that I could give my testimony, but I think that I had I'd rather teach I'd like to teach you about one that's far greater than I am and one that fills us with all of his fullness and so if you'll take your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of John the very first chapter and John chapter one, we'll just look at one small verse, verse 16. It's small in the sense that it has only a few words. There's an awful lot that's said in this text. John tells us, and of his fullness, of Christ's fullness, We have all received in grace for grace. Several, maybe a year, year and a half ago, my wife and I were out to eat and we were sort of mingling around waiting to be seated and we talked with a fellow there and he was, at some point in the conversation, he said to us, he said, you guys are really, really happy. you and we thanked him and assured him that we were and he He said it, but I mean happy in a different sense. There's something different about you than all the other people here and so we began to tell him that why we were happy that we were Christians and what the Lord had done for us and how he had saved us from our sins and filled us with himself and so of course he became very interested and he had a lot of questions by which he meant I have a lot of objections and So we began to discuss all of his objections to Christianity. Why are there bad things in the world and all those sort of questions. And in the course of that, he began to tell us, really to brag about how much, how prosperous he had been, and he was very wealthy, and he had two huge homes in California, and he had a big home there where we were, and he had people that cooked for him, he had people that walked his dog for him, and he went to parties with A-list celebrities, and all of those sorts of things. He traveled the world on private jets, And as our time sort of ended and we were ready to part, he asked if he could have my phone number and continue the conversation. And so we shared my phone number. And right as we turned to leave, he said something quite revealing. He said, you know, there's a hole in my life and there's a real emptiness that I've been unable to feel. And I'd like to talk to you more about it. So emptiness is a terrible thing. It sort of gnaws at you and eats away at you. And so here's this unsaved man who's not a Christian. He's an unbeliever and he's full of all this world's goods. And yet he was apparently looking around a restaurant for something more. We expect that maybe of Christians, but I think at times, or non-Christians, but I think at times as Christians we live quite empty lives as well. And we live below our privileges in Christ. We live below what Christ has purchased for us. We live as though Christ only came to get us started in salvation, sort of a half of a salvation, and then we go on in the Christian life in our own efforts and strength and strivings, and we live not very much above where this guy was, sort of empty and... Having come to Christ for forgiveness and having him take away all the bad and Clothes us with his righteousness. We sort of seek happiness somewhere else We don't really seek it in Christ and we see that throughout the scriptures as well in Jeremiah chapter 2 He makes that great accusation against his people my people my people he says have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water." He's speaking of his people, of people who live not upon him, not upon his fullness, but live upon these broken cisterns that they have hewn out for themselves. And so we fail at times as Christians to remember that Jesus Christ is a fountain of fullness for us. He's a fountain of fullness, not just to start us in the Christian life. I'm speaking to people who are here for Sunday school. I assume you know the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I'm speaking maybe to the choir, so to speak. But he's not just full of grace to start us in the Christian life. but to carry us forward and on and through the Christian life. He not only takes away our sins, but there's this positive aspect of our salvation in Christ that He fills us over and over and over again with His graces. Not only at the beginning, but daily, hour by hour, minute by minute, over and over again, we must come to Christ to be filled if we are to live truly happy joyous, fulfilling Christian lives in communion with God. He is a fountain, but we cannot save it up, save up those graces in a bank account and draw upon them. Every day, every moment, we're coming back to Christ, you see. And John, it's sort of like the children of Israel in the wilderness with the manna. They couldn't hold it over overnight. Every day they must go out and seek it. And every day as Christians, we must go again and again to the Lord Jesus Christ. God would not have us to live empty Christian lives. He's rebuking them in Jeremiah chapter 2, that you are living these empty lives. God would have for us a full and joyful, even in difficulties and trials, a full and joyful life in Christ. He desires for us to share in the fullness of Christ. That's what he desires colossians tells us that it pleased the father that in him in christ all the fullness should dwell and in him dwells all the fullness of the godhead And in ephesians paul prays that the church knowing the love of god that you may be filled With all the fullness of god. You see all the fullness of god dwells in christ And now Paul is praying that all of that fullness may dwell in the members of the Ephesian church. He tells us, that the church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. We, and you, ought to be full of all the fullness of Christ, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in us as a church, as a body. And the scripture teaches us that part of what God does in worship To build you up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ That's what takes place when we worship when our hearts are engaged God is filling us to the full measure of Christ filling us with himself And so what I want to say to you this morning far better than I could Communicate even in giving you my testimony is that there is a fullness in Christ That answers to the emptiness in man There is a fullness in Christ that answers the emptiness of the Christian who lives apart from Christ. That's what our text teaches us. And of His fullness, we have all received and grace for grace. So the first thing I want us to see from the text is that this fullness is a received fullness. We receive it. This surely teaches us that of ourselves, we are empty. We are empty. That's what we are by nature. We have nothing in us that we have not received from Him. This fullness must be received from Christ, from outside of us. It cannot be received as this man in my illustration. this world's goods it can't be received in mere empty religion there is no spark there is no fuel for fullness in us that we can sort of blow into a flame there's nothing that we can look within or dig down and pull it up that will fill us in the way that God would have us to be filled it must be given to us and it must be received by us. It must be sought for outside of ourselves. Paul will say that all that we have And all that we are, he uses very strong terminology, it is dung and a filthy rag. Lancelot Andrews, the great Bible translator, says this filthy rag is so odious, he says, we dare not translate it. That's what he's communicating. That's all that we have. That's all that we are. That's the emptiness and the filthiness that we have. We have nothing. And until we come to the realization of that, we're doomed to experience that emptiness, to always be trying to find it in ourselves, to spend our wages for that which doesn't satisfy. Even as Christians, even as those having experienced the forgiveness of sins, every day we're empty if we're not coming to Christ to be filled. That's the way we live the Christian life, is in utter, complete, total, moment-by-moment dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Not trying to fill ourselves with anything else. So it's a fullness that is received. It is His fullness. It is the fullness of God Himself, who is perfectly happy in Himself, who needs nothing, who overflows with joy, who is Perfect in every way he is full and he would have us to be filled with himself to overflowing Again, that cannot be found in the world. It's not found in modern philosophy. It's not found in education. It's not found in religion. It's not found in your favorite hymns. As good as some of those things may be, it's found only in Him. It's found in Jesus Christ. Again, Lancelot Andrews, the great Bible translator, he asked this question. Whither shall we go for it? Not to the heavens or the stars. They are unclean in his sight. Not to the saints, for in them he found folly. Not even to the angels, for neither in them found he steadfastness. It's only to be found in Jesus Christ because it is His fullness, of His fullness we have all received. It's found in Him and in Him alone. And again, I repeat myself, for emphasis, it's not found only once at the beginning of the Christian life. I find that in pastoral ministry, this is a great problem. So many people that we deal with who have troubles and trials as Christians view it this way. We get all we're going to get at the beginning. We're thankful that he takes away our sins. And now we grind it out. And this is how so many people live the Christian life. And it's a great pastoral problem. And it's a great problem that harms people and families. It's not something only at the beginning. The Christian life is a constant dying to self, a constant emptying of ourselves and coming again to Christ to fill us over and over and over and over again. Now, we hew out these broken cisterns and yet they don't satisfy. We ourselves are broken cisterns and so he fills us in like leaky vessels It's out, and we go again, and again, and again. Paul can describe the Christian life this way. It's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. That's the Christian life. That's how it's lived. And so I'm asking you this morning as you live the Christian life, are you receiving fresh supplies of the fullness of Christ each day? Was Christ a starting point for you? Or is He your everything? Is He where you live? Do you live at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ? Ask Him to fill you with every needed grace. Lean on the Lord Jesus Christ continually, day by day. Give up every hope that you'll ever have fullness of yourself or in anything else or in self-effort. Come to Christ over and over as Christians. So it's a fullness that is received. But secondly, I want to say it is a fullness. It's a fullness that's received, but it is a fullness. There's no danger. This is the point I'm making here when I say it's a fullness. There's no danger that it'll ever run dry, that the fullness of the Godhead will ever run dry. There's no end to his fullness. It's a fullness that as one Puritan says, it's like the ocean. No matter how many buckets you pull from it, the level never decreases. There's no end to the fullness of God for you to be filled with. It cannot be measured unless you can measure God himself. It is indeed the fullness of God himself. There is an abundance in Christ for us every day. The manna never runs out. That's how he describes it in Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone. Everyone. No one is exempted. No one who comes will do without. No one will run dry. There is enough for every one of you here this morning. For today, there's enough for you tomorrow. There's enough to see you through all of eternity. There's no fear that you'll come. and the waters will have run dry. Ho, everyone who thirsts, he says, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your wages for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat that which is good, and let your soul delight itself, listen to how he describes it, in abundance. It is a fullness. It is an abundance. There is no emptiness so great that God cannot fill it. There is no hole so deep that God cannot fill it with himself. There is an abundance in Christ that fills the void in our lives and can satisfy the emptiness that gnaws at us. In Jesus, there is soul, delight, and abundance. God himself is described often as a fountain throughout scripture. Psalm 36, for with you is the fountain of life. Jeremiah 2, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. Zechariah 13, in that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now, the thing about a fountain is that it's continually flowing, it's continually moving out. is never drying up, is continually filling and running. His fullness for us is like that fountain that's always flowing, always available. You can always go there and find water. There are creeks and there are streams that run dry, but fountains always flow. And God chooses to call Himself that. I'm a fountain for you. You've hewn out these cisterns and you've tried to fill them, but you've forsaken the fountain that never runs dry. Sometimes, I heard we were gonna have fellowship lunch today. Sometimes at fellowship lunch, I'm always seeming to be talking, and then I'm in the back of the line, and I'm looking over people's shoulders, and I see things that I want, and people are getting it, and it's getting less and less, and I think, man, will there be any for me? Well, God's not like a fellowship lunch table. He's full. It never runs dry. No matter how many people go through the line before you, no matter how many people crowd in around you, it never gets more empty. He's never more empty. It's always flowing. It's always available to you. And the modern translators pick up on this fullness when they translate. Mine says grace for grace, but most modern translations have it grace upon grace. and of His fullness we have received, and grace upon grace." I don't think that's the best translation, but they're trying to communicate something of the fullness of God. His grace upon grace, a lot of grace, more grace, grace heaped on top of grace. That's what they're communicating. So there's this fullness in Christ, and yet we go on living somewhat empty Christian lives because we don't come to Him to be full. So what is the fullness? It's the fullness of God, but let's be more specific. The text is not as vague as we first may think, just some sort of a fullness. We're told in verse 14 that Jesus is full of grace and truth. And in verse 17, the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So this is a fullness of grace, a lot of grace. Yes, it's grace upon grace. But even that's not quite as clear as the text. actually speaks. It's a little more vague than the text will allow for. It's grace for grace. That's a better translation. Or maybe the best translation would be grace corresponding to grace. Now this is important. The word translated for, grace for grace, is used in another place in Matthew chapter 5 You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. That is to say that in the place of one man's tooth, if it was knocked out, you ought to knock out this other tooth. There's a tooth corresponding to another tooth. So that after this exchange of a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye, they will in some sense be a matching pair. And Christ has grace corresponding to grace. So that He fills us with His graces. So that after the great exchange, we'll be a matching pair. We'll look like the Lord Jesus Christ. It's grace in Christ that corresponds and echoes and matches. the grace in us. Jesus gives us a fullness of grace corresponding to all the graces found in him. Jesus communicates all of his graces to us. All the graces that he had during his time on earth he has for us in abundance. Everything and every grace that Jesus possessed he possessed it for you. When Jesus demonstrates and displays the grace of self-control He did so for you. He has that that you might have self-control. When Jesus displays the grace of peace deep in his heart, he has it that you might have the same peace. When Jesus displays love for his enemies, he has it that you might be filled with love for your enemies. To the degree that we're unhappy and to the degree that we're empty, is the degree to which we don't look like the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't live like the Lord Jesus Christ. The more we bear the likeness of Christ, the more fulfilled and joyful we will be. The more we'll bear these fruits of the Spirit. That's what he had in abundance. It's the fruits of the Spirit. He received the Spirit, the Bible tells us, without measure. And then He fills us with His Spirit, that all these fruits of the Spirit might be seen in us, that He might pour out His Spirit upon us, that every fruit of the Spirit that was present in Christ might be present in us. that you might be full of them and bring forth abundant fruit to the glory of God in your own eternal happiness. That's why Jesus did what he did. You look at the fruits of the spirit and think, well, I lack so much of this fruit and I lack so much of that fruit. And sometimes as Christians, I think we tend to look at the list of the fruit of the spirits as sort of markers on a personality test. Well, my personality is to love, and her personality is to be. She's so full of joy, that's just how she is naturally. And they have such peace, and that's who they are. But I'm not really wired that way. But God filled Christ with the fullness of the Godhead, poured out the Spirit upon Him without measure, that He might have all the graces of the Spirit in all their fullness, and then He pours that fullness into us. It's the fruit of the Spirit is singular. We can't pick and choose a la carte which ones we want. They come as a package. Sure, some are more developed in us than others. But as Christians, we're to have them all. And in Christ, we may have them all. And in Christ, they may all be developed. And they may all grow in us. And we may bear fruit of the Spirit in that way. Do you lack peace? Jesus has it in abundance. And he doesn't have it in abundance for himself only, but as a public person for you. You need only to ask. Do you lack self-control? Is that a problem in your life? You'll never have it if all you do is struggle to reign in your flesh, in your own strength, and you set certain parameters in place. But he had the grace of self-control and utter fullness, and he desires you to receive it from him in all its fullness. What do you need to fill your emptiness? You need the graces that were present in the one who was and is full, who was and is fulfilled, who had purpose and was perfectly happy in every way, and we receive his fullness, grace matching grace, that we might be like twin brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we might look like Him, live like Him, talk like Him, love like Him. All those things that you see in Christ might be in us. This happiness and fullness in Him and lightness to Him. is the goal of God for His people from all of eternity. That's actually what He has predestined us to, to be conformed to the very image of Jesus Christ. That's the heart of God's sovereignty. It's not some arbitrary choosing this person for salvation and not this person, but rather it's electing you and choosing you that you might be like Him and conform to His image. The goal of all history is running here that Jesus might have brothers that bear his family resemblance. He's predestined us to be conformed to the image of his son, to match him. Grace for grace that you might be filled with the fullness of God. Grace for grace. And God is working now, even in this moment, through the scriptures, through your study of the Word, through the weekly preaching and ministry of the Word, that we all as a church together come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, grace for grace. You see how important the church is? What a goal! What a glorious thing that God is telling us here that all that he's accomplishing in the church is not just that we have friends, like-minded friends, fellowship, not that we share a meal and we have similar interests, but that together when the gifts are operating within the church and we're all together growing and the ministry of the word is going forth, God is forming us into the very image of Christ, filling us with himself over and over. and then expanding us that he might fill us more so that there's no end to it. To the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. How important is worship if this is what takes place? What you need, dear believer, he has. He has an abundance. Go to him. Let your soul be satisfied in Him. Stop living below your privileges as Christians. This is our Savior. This is the goal of God for you for all eternity. You need not worry that if you go to Him, you'll have to twist His arm, that He may give it to you. He's waiting to give it to you. He's moving to give it to you. He's coming to you through the Word that you might have it. Stop living below. privileges stop living as spiritual paupers when we have a king who's rich and full and delights to share that fullness with all with all of his children and of his fullness we have all received in grace for grace amen let's pray Father, who could have thought up such a thing without you first revealing it to us? That from all eternity, your goal was to have a people that matched the fullness of your son, Jesus. That you would give us such a fullness, that you would give us grace corresponding to the graces that we see in him. Lord, we do pray and ask that you would fill us with the fullness of Christ, that this morning, as we worship, that this work would take place, that the Spirit would be given to us in great abundance, in great measure, that we might match Him, that we might look like Him. That it not be only outward, but in our very hearts, we would have the same emotions, the same thoughts, the same attitudes, the same approach to the world. Oh God, let us be like our brother. Let us bear the family resemblance. Let us be happy, joyful, full Christians living each day upon the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Amen. We hope you were edified by this message. For additional sermons, as well as information on giving to the ministry of Emmanuel Baptist Church, and on our current building project, you can visit us online at ebcfl.org. That's ebcfl.org.