Christ’s Fullness – The Saints’ Treasury
By Charles H. Spurgeon
“For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell” (Col. 1:19).
“And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace” (John 1:16).
There is an infinite fullness in Jesus, a fullness of all that any saint can ever want to enable him to rise to the highest degree of grace. If sin is to be overcome, the conquering power dwells in Him in its fullness; if virtue is to be attained, sanctifying energy resides in Christ to perfection. I have in my flesh no power whatever, for I am emptiness itself, and in me the truth is realized, “…Without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5); but on the other hand the power to do all things lies in Christ, and the power to become fully consecrated streams forth from Him. “…With God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26), “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9), and they who dwell in Him shall find things impossible with man become simple everyday facts with themselves if they will but have faith in the mediatorial fullness.
Christ has not merely placed enough bread on the table to keep us from starving, His oxen and fatlings are killed, He has spread a royal festival. He has not provided a scanty garment which may barely hide your nakedness, but He has brought forth the best robe, and has procured earrings for your ears, jewels for your necks, and a crown royal for your heads; for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell for all His saints. If you have not these riches, the fault lies with yourself. It is there, you might have it if you had but faith to take it. Too often we sit down like beggars on the dunghill, and groan and cry because of the poverty of our nature when we ought to be rejoicing in the Lord. I thank God that we can groan, for that is something; but there is a more excellent way, a better gift to be earnestly coveted. In Christ ye are rich to the fullness of riches; get ye up, I pray you, to the high places, and realize for yourselves the fullness of God in Christ Jesus.
The fact is we have a superabundant force in Christ, and if we did but know it, instead of talking about the struggles of the church, and the strain that is put upon us, to hold our own, the joy of the Lord would give such strength to us that we should not remember our own efforts, but like the flood which rushes down the mountain after the rain, the flush of life from Jesus would speed on with a tremendous force, overleaping every obstacle, and filling our souls to the brim. God grant us to know this truth that there is a fullness in Christ, and in the strength of that fullness may we cry, “Forward and upward.”
Christ Delights to Give
The Father has placed His grace in Christ because it gratifies His love to His Son. It pleases the heart of the great God to see Jesus adorned with the fullness of deity, and every time Jesus gives out to believers, the great heart of God is gladdened thereby.
Come, I pray you, with swift feet to the place where all you want is stored, and take all your heart requires; yea, come for the highest degrees of grace and for the largest measures of success, and you shall have them, for Christ delights to give.
I would stir in you a sacred ambition, I would provoke you to the highest style of Christian manhood, and the most heroic form of Christian service. What you have received is the pledge of what you may receive. Christ is yours, and by that fact all things are yours. “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32). I charge you, let that text enter into your hearts, and when you feel straitened in prayer, and tempted to say, “Oh, not here, I cannot rise so high, I am not qualified for that attainment,” do, I pray you, remember the gifts already received, by which Jesus opens your mouth and bids you ask great things. The Father has given you His Son, how can He deny you anything?
I feel a dissatisfaction with my present attainments; I pant to know my Lord better. I am discontented with what I have done for Him hitherto, I long to do ten times more for His glory. Do you feel the same? Oh, then He will keep touch with you; yea, He will do exceedingly abundantly above all you ask, or even think.
Expect Great Things
Believe in great things. Let us have great faith in what God intends to do. Believing these great things, let us expect them. Be on the lookout for spiritual miracles. The Lord of Hosts is with us, therefore let us expect great things.
Expecting great things, let us attempt great things. Let us each set about doing something for Christ, in the power of the Holy Ghost. Will you not consecrate yourselves to be whole burnt-offerings unto Christ, for Him to live, for Him to die?
May it be seen throughout the world that there are men and women who have received of the fullness of the Crucified One, and who therefore can give it forth to others, and point them to Him, in whom the Father is well pleased that all fullness shall dwell.
–Condensed from a sermon.
