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Sermon #4094

All the Fullness of God

A Sermon on the Fullness of God from Ephesians 3:19

Originally preached March 31, 1957

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Scripture

Ephesians 3:19 ESV KJV
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (ESV)

Sermon Description

Every day the Christian needs spiritual strength to resist temptation and persevere in righteousness. Every day they need the power of God working in their life. In this sermon on the fullness of God from Ephesians 3:19, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones helps the listener understand this great need from Paul’s words. Dr. Lloyd-Jones focuses on verse 19 and shows what it means to be filled with all the fullness of God. Dr. Lloyd-Jones helps listeners understand the difference between incommunicable and communicable, giving several examples. God’s incommunicable attributes include His eternity, immutability, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, and more. His communicable attributes are His holiness, righteousness, goodness, love, mercy, compassion, and more. Paul is expressing that God’s people are to chase after God’s communicable attributes and strive to exemplify them in their lives. The incommunicable attributes, though inexplicable, allow the Christian to bask in the glory of God’s majesty and incomprehensibility. If one pursues these communicable attributes, they are putting on the new self and chasing after the fruit of the Spirit. Pursuit of these qualities is proof of a regenerate heart and the presence of Christ in their life. In literal terms, being filled with the fullness of God means unity with Christ. The believer is in Christ, and Christ is in the believer. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones encourages the listener with the word of God.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. The apostle Paul prays for the Ephesians to be filled with all the fullness of God.
  2. This is the climax of Paul's prayer and the highest experience conceivable.
  3. This does not mean a false mysticism where we are dissolved in God or God is dissolved in us. God and man remain distinct.
  4. This is not hyperbole or Paul being carried away by rhetoric. Paul builds up to this logically and it is the conclusion of his argument.
  5. This does not just mean receiving blessings from God. It means being filled with the communicable attributes of God's nature.
  6. We cannot contain all of God's incommunicable attributes like omnipresence, omniscience, immutability, and eternity. But we can share in God's communicable attributes like love, goodness, holiness, and righteousness.
  7. This fullness becomes ours through Christ indwelling our hearts by faith and our knowledge of His love.
  8. What is true of Christ, who contains the fullness of the Godhead, becomes true of us through our union with Him.
  9. We must think of this fullness in terms of quality, not quantity. The fullness may vary in degree but the essential nature remains.
  10. This does not mean we all receive the same gifts or become the same. Our gifts and personalities remain, but we share the same Christ-like nature.
  11. This is a call to perfection in love, becoming like our heavenly Father.

Sermon Q&A

Understanding MLJ's Sermon on Being Filled with the Fullness of God

What does Martyn Lloyd-Jones identify as the "climax of all prayer" in Ephesians 3:19?

According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, the phrase "that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" in Ephesians 3:19 is "the climax of all prayer." He states that "nothing higher than this is conceivable, either in the realm of prayer and petition or in the realm of experience." This represents the summit or zenith of Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, as Lloyd-Jones explains that the apostle had been "climbing a ladder, or, if you like, a mountain," with each petition building upon the previous one until reaching this ultimate height.

How does Lloyd-Jones correct the misinterpretation that humans can contain the whole of God?

Lloyd-Jones explains that our authorized translation can be misleading with the phrase "filled with all the fullness of God," as it suggests humans can contain all that fullness which is God. He clarifies that a better translation would be "filled to" or "with respect to all the fullness of God," avoiding the impossible suggestion that a human being could contain the whole of God. He warns that such misunderstandings have led to fanaticism in church history and reminds listeners that the original sin involved the devil's suggestion that humans could "be as God."

What is the distinction Lloyd-Jones makes between God's communicable and incommunicable attributes?

Lloyd-Jones explains that God's attributes can be divided into two groups:

  1. Incommunicable attributes (cannot be given to humans):
  2. Eternity (God is everlasting)
  3. Immutability (God cannot change)
  4. Omnipresence (God is everywhere)
  5. Omniscience (God knows everything)
  6. Omnipotence (unlimited power)

  7. Absolute blessedness and glory

  8. Communicable attributes (can be given to humans):

  9. Holiness
  10. Righteousness
  11. Goodness
  12. Love
  13. Mercy
  14. Compassion
  15. Lovingkindness
  16. Long-suffering
  17. Faithfulness

He notes these communicable attributes appear in believers as "the fruit of the Spirit."

How does Lloyd-Jones explain that the fullness of God becomes possible for believers?

Lloyd-Jones explains that this fullness becomes possible "through the indwelling of Christ in our hearts and our knowledge of his love." He references Christ's words in John 14:23 where Jesus says, "If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him." Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that it's because of what is true of Christ himself—"in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9)—that when Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, we are filled with the fullness of God.

How does Lloyd-Jones use analogies to help explain being filled with God's fullness?

Lloyd-Jones uses several helpful analogies:

  1. The vine and branches - Just as "the fullness of the vine, the essence, the life" flows through the branches because of their organic connection, so God's fullness flows through believers connected to Christ.

  2. The body analogy - Just as "the whole of the fullness of my life and being is in my little finger because of this organic union," so believers, as parts of Christ's body, contain His fullness.

  3. Containers in the sea - A bottle and a tank can both be "full of the sea," though containing different amounts. The sea's essential qualities are fully present in both. Similarly, believers of different capacities can all be filled with God's fullness.

He emphasizes we must "cease to think in terms of amount, but must think in terms of quality."

What is Lloyd-Jones' conclusion about how this doctrine affects everyday Christian living?

Lloyd-Jones concludes that this doctrine has practical implications for daily Christian living. He explains that understanding our potential to be filled with God's fullness is "the direct key that leads to holiness." When we grasp these doctrinal truths about what we are meant to be, we're motivated to "put off the old man" and "put on the new man."

He emphasizes that this fullness doesn't make everyone identical in gifts or abilities, but rather in the quality of divine life they manifest—particularly God's love. He closes with Christ's command: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven, is perfect," explaining that believers can manifest "the same love as God shows to sinners." This understanding should lead us to pray Paul's prayer for ourselves "day by day and unceasingly" until we "attain even unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

The Book of Ephesians

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.