Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 415
“And of His fullness have all we received.’” John 1:16. THERE is no occasion to inform the Christian heart who the Person is to whom reference is here made. The name of Jesus is to you a household word. No, it is the word which will be found written upon your hearts when you die. That immortal word shall be the keynote of your eternal song when you shall enter into the immortality which remains for God’s people. Jesus! How sweet is Your name to Your people. It is a sonnet of itself. It is the sum of all music summed up in two syllables. It is a hallelujah and the groundwork of an eternal hosanna in five letters. Jesus! We defy earth to equal it and Heaven itself to excel it. Jesus is Heaven’s highest melody—as it is earth’s sweetest delight. The text informs us that there is a fullness in Christ. There is a fullness of essential Deity, for “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead.” There is a fullness of perfect Manhood, for in Him bodily, that Godhead was revealed. Partaker of flesh and blood, made in all things like unto His brethren, there was nothing lacking that was necessary to the perfection of humankind in Him. There is a fullness of atoning efficacy in His blood, for “the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleans us from all sin.” There is a fullness ofjustifying righteousness in His life, for “there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.”
There is a fullness of divine Providence in His plea, for “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him; seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.” There is a fullness of victory in His death, for through death He destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil. There is a fullness of efficacy in His resurrection from the dead, for by it “are begotten again to a lively hope.” There is a fullness of triumph in His ascension, for “when He ascended up on high He led captivity captive and received gifts for men.” There is a fullness of blessings unspeakable, unknown. A fullness of grace to pardon, of grace to regenerate, of grace to sanctify, of grace to preserve and of grace to perfect.
There is a fullness at all times. A fullness by day and a fullness by night. A fullness of comfort in affliction, a fullness of guidance in prosperity, a fullness of every Divine attribute, of wisdom, of power, of love. A fullness which it were impossible to survey, much less to explore. There is everything summed up in a total—“the gathering together of all things in One” in Jesus. “It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.” In vain we strive to recount the holy wonder. It were a theme which would exhaust an angel’s tongue to tell—the fullness which resides in Jesus our Head and ever abides to answer our need.
And now what shall we say to these things? “Of His fullness have all we received.” The text seems to me to suggest four reflections. First, an appeal to our gratitude. “Glory be to Christ! For of His fullness have all we received.” Secondly, a notion of character, “Thus may you know the people of God, for of His fullness have they all received.” Thirdly, a sentence of admonition to believers, “Be wise, oh you people of God, be grateful and be humble, for it is of His fullness you have received.” And in the last place here is to the sinner a word of sweet encouragement, “Come, all the saints invite you, for of His fullness have all they received.”
1. To begin with the first the text constrains us to say, “GLORY BE UNTO CHRIST FOR HIS FULLNESS, for of it have all the saints received.”
Appeal to those who died before the flood. Ask those who trod in the steps of Enoch. Go forward to Noah, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Put the question to David and Samuel—come on through the Prophets, to Isaiah and Jeremy— ask them all, “From where came your faith? From where your power to suffer and your strength to conquer?” With united breath they answer, “Of His fullness who as yet had not come in the flesh we by faith received.” Ask the saints in later times. I summon you, oh you bright Apostles of the Lamb, “From where came your noble testimony and your unwavering constancy?” They reply with the voice of John, their leader, “Of His fullness have all we received.”
Appeal to the martyrs on their racks, on their blood-stained gibbets, on their stakes and glowing fires. In their dungeons and damp dying places—ask the tenants of ten thousand graves, “From where came your triumph?” And they reply at once, “We have overcome through the blood of the Lamb.” “Of His fullness have all we received.” You should go through the list of the Reformers. You should ask Luther and Calvin and Zwingle and Melancthon and Wickliffe and Huss and Jerome and Knox. And there is not one of them who will dare to say that he had anything of his own.
You should turn over the list of the great preachers and summoning them one by one, you should say to Augustine, to Chrysostom, to Bernard and to those in later days, such as Latimer, Tindal and Hooper and to later still the men with Whitfield and with Wesley preached the Word, “From where came your boldness in confession? From where your strength to bear the calumny of the age and to be the butt of human scorn and yet never to flinch, much less to withdraw your testimony.” And they all reply, “Of His fullness have all we received.”