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Sermon #1030

All Received of His Fullness

A Sermon on John 1:16

Originally preached Oct. 20, 1963

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Scripture

John 1:16 ESV KJV
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (ESV)

Sermon Description

When the Christian is forgiven by God, reconciled to him, and intimately know Him through His Word and Spirit, it is because of Jesus. If the Christian has received anything good from the Lord, it is always and only because of Jesus the Messiah. In this sermon on His fullness from John 1:16, Dr. Lloyd-Jones discusses the idea of the fullness of Christ. He also says in order to understand that we receive anything from Christ, we ought to understand how and why. From His incarnation to His ascension, Jesus is sufficient to reconcile, save, justify, and make propitiation for His people. Dr. Lloyd-Jones points out that Jesus must be man in order to fulfill the law and be the federal head. This sermon points out that Christ must be the mighty one who can bear the full weight of God’s wrath on the cross and conquer even death. Furthermore His death had to be enough to outweigh the sin of His people now and forever. Christians are able to receive the full benefits of Christ because their mighty Lord, who knew no sin, bore the wrath of God in their stead.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. God's dealings with men are in and through Jesus Christ.
  2. Salvation depends upon receiving of Christ's fullness.
  3. We must consider Christ's essential greatness and fullness.
  4. Christ's fullness becomes available to us through the incarnation.
  5. God gave Christ a particular work to do - to give eternal life to those God has given Him.
  6. God has given Christ power over all flesh to accomplish this work.
  7. God sent Christ to found and establish a kingdom - to rescue people from the kingdom of darkness.
  8. Christ will accomplish this work and then hand the perfected kingdom back to the Father.
  9. We must look at how Christ's fullness was exercised on our behalf in salvation.
  10. Christ had to be perfectly righteous and without sin to deal with us in our sinful state.
  11. Christ had to render perfect obedience to God's law which we broke.
  12. Christ had to be able to resist and defeat the devil who conquered us.
  13. Christ had to be able to bear the full punishment for our sins.
  14. Christ had to be able to conquer death, the last enemy.
  15. We receive Christ's fullness only after He has redeemed us through accomplishing all this.

Sermon Q&A

What Does It Mean to Receive of Christ's Fullness According to Lloyd-Jones?

What does John 1:16 mean when it says "of His fullness have all we received"?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, John 1:16 reveals the great charter of the Christian. It reminds believers of what is possible for them through Christ. The verse means that Christians receive from Christ's essential greatness and fullness. Lloyd-Jones emphasizes that "all we are as Christian people is entirely and solely the result of our relationship to him." Christianity is not a vague philosophy but a relationship to a person, and all believers have and are comes from their connection to Christ.

Why was the incarnation necessary for our salvation?

The incarnation was absolutely essential because the fullness of the Godhead is not available to humanity except through a human nature being linked to that Godhead. Lloyd-Jones explains that "all that fullness of the Godhead is not available to man except that somehow or another a human nature can be linked to that Godhead and to that fullness." This is what happened in the incarnation - "The word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Without the incarnation, the divine nature and human nature could not be connected, and there would be no way for fallen humanity to receive of Christ's fullness.

How does Lloyd-Jones describe Christ's role as our representative?

Lloyd-Jones describes Christ as "the representative and the first of a new humanity." As our representative, Christ exercises His fullness on our behalf. God has made Christ the head of a new humanity, because what we need is not merely forgiveness but renewal - "a new nature, a new life, a new humanity." Lloyd-Jones explains that God has sent His Son into the world to establish a kingdom, and we are saved by becoming citizens of this kingdom. Christ represents us before God, fulfills the law on our behalf, and provides us with a new nature through His representative work.

What qualities did Christ need to save humanity according to Lloyd-Jones?

According to Lloyd-Jones, Christ needed to be:

  1. Perfectly righteous and without sin: "He must be absolutely righteous" because if He had any sin, "He would have needed to be saved himself."

  2. Able to render perfect obedience to God's law: "He has rendered an absolutely perfect obedience to the law of God."

  3. Strong enough to resist and conquer the devil: "We need someone who can master our master and conquer our conqueror."

  4. Able to bear the full punishment for our sins: "Who can bear the punishment of sin and still live?"

  5. Powerful enough to conquer death and the grave: "He needs to be strong enough to conquer the last enemy, which is death and the grave."

How does Lloyd-Jones explain the phrase "grace for grace" or "grace upon grace"?

Lloyd-Jones explains that the phrase "grace for grace" (or "grace upon grace" in some translations) indicates that believers receive Christ's fullness "in great abundance." He describes it as receiving grace without end - "There is no end to it." He calls this "the unsearchable riches of Christ." This means that the grace we receive from Christ is not just sufficient but superabundant. It comes to us wave upon wave, in continuous supply, as we draw from His inexhaustible fullness and receive blessing after blessing through our relationship with Him.

The Book of John

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.