Of His Fulness
John 1: 16 “And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.”
As born again ones, we have received…of His fulness.
What does that mean?
There is the fulness of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 5:18 “And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;”
As Jesus said when He was here….about the filling of the Spirit…
John 7:38-39 “He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
(But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive:…)”
In scripture the “belly” signifies our innermost life…and it is an amazing prophesy of the way the Holy Spirit works through believers….from the inside out.
He does not require works for God….without love to God.
And that goes into the next “fulness” we receive….(and notice it is again in the inner man)…love
Ephesians 3:16-17 “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,”
God is love, and therefore when we are born anew….He places by His Spirit, love for Himself…..and love to others.(Eph. 4:30-32)
The next fulness is grace…..grace for grace. The grace applied, sets the stage for more grace. The grace that we use is never lost….but added to, by more grace.
For it is God, giving of Himself to us.
We should always be filled to our capacity, to our overflowing.
Romans 5:17 (Williams Version) “For if by one man’s offense, death reigned thru that one (Adam)
to a much greater degree, will those who continue to receive the overflow of His unmerited favor and His gift of right standing with Himself, reign in real life thru One, Jesus Christ.”
To continue to receive of His fulness….we need to continue to receive Himself (Jesus Christ)….certainly as Savior….but also as my Lord, as Just and Holy, as Merciful even to His enemies, as a Rebuker of evil, as Mediator, as my Counselor, as the Word.
His fulness here is….the overflow of His grace and His righteousness.
The grace we receive from Christ Jesus changes us into the same image.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
But we all, who have an “open face”…..one which will continue to receive the grace given.
As the Holy Spirit creates within us the desire for true spirituality….God’s goodwill works a good work in us (Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.)….
…qualifying us for more tokens of His goodwill and grace.
It is not that we “earn” His fulness….but that we just receive them.
John 1:7 “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ”
As we see ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ….facing the truth about what is shown us about ourselves….
….His grace will be applied…..which is God’s unmerited favor of power for our lives.
His power is what we need to do anything.
It gives us wisdom to know what to do and how to do.
It gives us sanctifying influences to keep us standing with Him, in this circumstance.
It gives us peace throughout the circumstances.
And mostly it gives us a knowledge of His Presence with us. This is indeed power to live and reign in the life He leads us in.
And then His fulness gives us Light to shine abroad.
2 Corinthians 4:6 “For God, Who commanded light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
Imagine being a light, which can not be hid…..so that “they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”(Matthew 5:14-16)
That Light can so shine thru us….
For “good works” in this world is the showing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, through us.
2 Corinthians 4:10 “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”
When we deny ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Christ….His life also will be made manifest.
“Manifest” here is to render apparent, to publicly declare….in our mortal flesh! How wonderful that God could use me,….us….to render apparent to others the life and character of Jesus…..creating a hunger for the reality we have, in the hearts of others.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 