This sermon was preached on 15 May 1936, the Saturday of a communion season in Edinburgh. Mr Beaton (1872-1953) was then the minister of the Oban congregation. The sermon was taken down, probably in shorthand, by Mrs Margaret Tallach of Glasgow.
John 1:16. And of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
In the opening of this Gospel, our attention is directed to the most glorious and wonderful person that ever appeared in this world – none other than the Eternal Life which was with the Father – the Eternal One who was God Himself. In the account the Apostle has given, we have the inspired record of the most wonderful life that was ever lived in time and the most wonderful work that was done in time, the issue of which spread far beyond time, into an endless eternity.
Although, as far as the words are concerned, I believe there is not a book in the whole Bible where the language is as simple as in John; yet we have in it some of the greatest and profoundest truths in revelation, and we may think that, because the language is so simple, it is easy for us to grasp. But the more we ponder over these truths, the more we will find – if taught by the Spirit – that there is a great depth in it, deeper than you ever imagined, for it is only by the Spirit we can understand these things.
You have perhaps seen very calm water; because of the clearness you could see the sand at the bottom and think there is not much depth there, but you find out that there is a far greater depth there than you ever imagined. So with the Gospel of John: by its clearness and simplicity we are apt to think that we are not really face to face with such great truths and depth as we find in the Epistle to the Romans. But it is entirely owing to the clearness with which these matters are presented to us that we deceive ourselves into imagining that they are not so deep as they really are.
If we try to get at some explanation of the title that is given to the Lord here, “the Word of God”, we might arrive at it in this way: were it not for sin in his heart, you could say that the words of a man are the expression of the thoughts of his heart – the words of his heart. Yet, through sin, it is not so now; if it were not for sin you could say, when a man speaks, that is what is in his heart. But when we come to speak about God we must get rid of this idea of sin altogether, for the Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God, all the words of the heart of God from before the foundation of the world. I mean that the very giving and coming of Jesus Christ into the world was an expression of the thought that was in God’s heart in order that sinners would be saved. His thoughts are expressed in His sufferings and His coming.
When the Apostle John says here, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, he is setting before us, in language simple enough to understand, but conveying to us a great and mysterious truth – that the Lord Jesus was making known the thoughts that were in God’s heart – the great secret that was kept until He revealed it.
John speaks about Christ as the Light that was shining. This was the greatest light that ever shone in time; there was no light comparable to this Light. But it was not every eye that saw this Light shining; “the darkness comprehended it not”. Yet some were so enlightened that they never could take their eyes from it again; others did not understand the purpose for which this light was shining. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”
As John goes on speaking about Him, he gives utterance to this great, comforting truth: “Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace”. This is a great theme, and we would seek to keep to a few points that are clearly brought before us in Scripture: (1.) Those to whom these words apply: “Of His fullness have all we received”. Who are this all? (2.) The fullness out of which they are receiving. (3.) The never-failing Fountain that is continually being drawn on and will never be exhausted: “grace for grace”. It will never end.
1. To whom do these words apply: “Of His fullness have all we received”?
Does it mean that all mankind have received out of His fullness? Is it true that all the human race have received? No, that is not at all what the Apostle is saying here; he is speaking to a certain class of people and these are clearly pointed out in verse 12: “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” The first point concerning them is that they are drawing out of the fullness of Christ Jesus; they have received Him. Those to whom Christ has been presented in the preaching of the gospel or, in this particular case, those to whom He was giving Himself – preaching to them, and offering Himself to them as the Saviour of the lost. Many heard Him speak but never felt their need of Him; yet others had to say, “Never man spake like this man”. No message ever fell on the disciples’ ears like the words of the Son of God; they were so solemnised by the words of the Messiah that they left everything and followed Him. Their hearts were opened that He might enter in.
They were a people who received the Lord Jesus; but now, in order that we might not deceive ourselves, we are told very distinctly here that “to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name”. The receiving was a believing on His name, and it was not at all by any natural effort on their part or on account of any qualification of their own or because they had a clearer understanding, but He gave them power. They were not the sons of God by nature; they were the children of the devil. There is no such thing here as a universal sonship of God; they had to receive power to be brought into that relationship.
The doctrine of the sonship of believers is one of the precious doctrines of God’s Word – it is the adoption that is set before us in Scripture. When a child has been adopted, no matter what kindness or affection has been bestowed on that child, those who have adopted it cannot give it their own nature no matter how much they may love it; that is the difference between a natural child and a child that has been adopted. But in God’s adoption, all the members of His family are made partakers of His divine nature, as we see it set forth very clearly in The Shorter Catechism, for the Westminster Divines were not only deep theologians; they were men taught by God. It is beautiful to see theology and experimental knowledge going hand in hand; that is how The Shorter Catechism was so useful to the Church of God in Scotland. There was theology of the heart as well as the head – what a beautiful combination!
Sonship implies being made partakers of the divine nature; every son in the family is made a partaker of that nature – not naturally but by grace. They are partakers of a new nature, and they certainly cannot take any credit to themselves for it. There is not one child in the family of God that can say, It is due to myself that I have this new nature. That is impossible in view of the fact that it is all from God Himself. It is a work from heaven, and no one shall receive out of this fullness who is not a son of God. John says therefore: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God”.
This brings us to the great subject that this relationship came about by the new birth, which is not the work of man but of the Holy Spirit and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has the keys of His own kingdom and who “openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth”. It is a great statement He made: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”; he cannot even see the kingdom unless he is born again.
This great truth is so clearly stated that no child can read his Bible but would know that there is no getting into the kingdom of God unless there is this new birth; yet you find men standing in a pulpit who have spent years taking theological courses in university, and you would never think, from what they say, there was such a sentence as this in the Bible. But the Lord Jesus has made it very clear to us that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”. It is impossible for anyone to enter unless he is converted and becomes like a little child.
Professor B B Warfield once put the question, What is it to become like a little child? Is it that children are tractable and teachable? Well, that is not true of every child; they are not all easily led. If we are to get at the true meaning, we must find something that is true of them the world over – that is true of every infant. The first thing that is true of them all is that they are unable to do anything for themselves: the infant is unable to clothe itself, unable to feed itself. The only thing it can do is cry; and Warfield said that this is true of every infant; it would certainly die unless it was looked after.
Warfield (1851-1921) was Professor of Theology in Princeton Theological Seminary.
He said, That is what the Lord Jesus meant by becoming little children, for as long as we can do anything for ourselves – as long as we can clothe ourselves and feed ourselves, we are not fit for the kingdom of heaven. It was meant for those who were utterly helpless and who could do nothing at all. “Except ye be converted and become as little children” – all your own strength taken from you and all your own righteousness taken from you. And when you are brought to recognise that you have nothing with which you can clothe yourself and are unable to feed yourself, then you are fit for the kingdom of heaven. The door is open for such people, and that is a true mark of those who are born again: they are receiving all out of Christ’s fullness.
“Out of His fulness have all we received.” I believe some are saying, That will do very well for the Apostle Paul, but it is something I have no right to. But this is a verse for those who have nothing at all of their own – all their hope and confidence is in the righteousness of Christ; they will say, I have nothing to cover myself with, but I feel as confident as can be that, if I have the righteousness of Christ, I can face everything without being dismayed, but without Him I cannot. If I have His righteousness, all is well; if I have Him, all is well. God’s provision in Christ is a perfect provision.
2. The fullness out of which they are receiving.
You will remember that when the Apostle John himself got wonderful views of the Person of Christ – for most wonderful views were given to him – he wished to declare them to others, that they also might have that fellowship with Christ. In his First Epistle he says, “The life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us”. That is a point I wish to direct your attention to: “That eternal life”. Quite simple to understand, you say. Yes, as far as the words are concerned, but there are depths here which it will not be possible to fathom throughout eternity.
What do you mean? you ask. Well, it was given to John to see before him the life that never came into existence and which will never go out of existence. God’s people shall experience a life that shall never end, but who can say that their life never had a beginning? But here is a life – one who never came into existence and shall never pass out of existence. John was so overwhelmed that he wished others would enter into that same fellowship with Christ.
Now I mention that it is out of this inexhaustible fountain of life that they draw a life that is never to end – a blessing that God Himself has given to them. It is not two or three that are drawing out of the pure fountain that remains with God alone, but all the redeemed. The life that is never to end depends entirely on God. What a great mystery!
I remember reading in John Love’s writings a statement which much impressed me and I think it was: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked”. How solemn these words are! And it is a very solemn thing when a man appears in a court of law and says, “I swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. The use that Love made of: “As I live, I live, saith Jehovah,” is to say that the proceedings would be more solemn if an angel were to appear and swear by the Lord, because his character is superior to us; but when the great God of heaven Himself arises and appeals to men, swearing by His life as He alone can understand it, O how unspeakably solemn is the appeal, “As I live”. How we ought to remember that we are all going to meet this God, who appealed to the mystery of His own being and said that He has no pleasure in those who are to be found at the left hand at last, but He would have us to be eternally with the fountain of life that remains with God alone. And He tells us to come to the water of life to drink.
The life you are leading now must come to an end; your days are numbered. You do not know their number, yet it is well known to Him, and beyond that you cannot pass. But the life He has given to His own people is a life that shall never end – a life that is to go on for ever and ever. The life that is brought to light in the gospel is incorruptible; the word that is translated immortal is also translated incorruptible in 1 Corinthians, meaning that the life that Christ brought in the gospel is a life that death can have no power over. This is the encouragement that was held out to the Apostle John: “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore”. This was an assurance to John that the life which He had given him was incorruptible.
What a depth is in this: “Your life is hid with Christ in God – dwelling in the midst of life that cannot be approached. This is a life worth having; it is in safe keeping; no one can touch it. All God’s children receive out of the same ocean, and back to that ocean it must go again. In Christ Jesus there is treasured up the infinite blessing of love, and they are receiving out of the eternal love of Christ Jesus. O His love to them, unspeakable love, they have seen and felt a little, and how that has warmed them and made them feel what a wonderful place heaven must be! What must it be when the heart is under the constraining power of His love?
It is out of that ocean that they have drawn the little love they have in this world. If you go down to the sea and take a little of it in a pitcher, you could honestly say you had tasted the Atlantic Ocean. It is not necessary to take in the whole Atlantic, but that certainly does not mean that you have drunk the whole ocean. At the same time, you have tasted it, and the water right on to America has just the same taste; so it is with the taste of the love of Christ which the Lord’s people get. It may only be a little, as you have seen children going to the sea with their pails and coming back with water in them, and they think such a lot of it themselves; at the same time, their taking pails of water from the sea makes no impression on it. The vessels with which we go down to this spiritual ocean are very small, but it is something if we can say that we have tasted this love of God; and there is no love in the heart unless it came from God first of all. No one in the human race loved God from his own desire. “We love Him, because He first loved us.”
Now to use this illustration again, all the water that goes down to the ocean came from the ocean first, for it is taken up by the rays of the sun to the clouds. It then falls as rain, which comes from the mountains in streams and runs down to the sea again. It is a sure mark that you have the love of God in your heart, if it is not leaving you content in this world, if it is wanting back to the shore it came from. That is why it is continually going to heaven: it is only a stranger here; it has only a very cold home in this world, and there are, alas, sins in our hearts. The love of God is drawing the heart to the place from whence it came, and it will not be long until all that have tasted of the love of God will go to that ocean from whence this love came. It may have been only a very little some of them had; still it was there they got it, and they depend on Him alone.
There is also the fullness of the pardoning mercy of Christ. At the question meeting last night we heard marks of repentance and forgiveness. All the fullness of forgiveness is to be seen in Christ Jesus, and all that are His have drawn out of that fullness. Peter asked the Lord how often he had to forgive his brother: “till seven times”? You know yourselves that, by the time you have got to the third time, you will be tired of it. And there are some people of this stamp: they say they are sorry, but immediately they go away, they do exactly the same thing again; you will just say to yourself, There is no use paying any attention to them. It is certainly not easy to get to the seventh time, but the Lord Jesus set a far higher standard than that before Peter: “Until seventy times seven”. But you will be very near heaven before you can forgive seventy times seven. And there are multitudes in heaven now who would never have been there if Christ had not forgiven them more than seventy times seven.
Every one of them depends on the pardoning mercy of Christ Jesus, and what a wonderful way to heaven – a guilty, wretched sinner brought in before God and pardoned! I once heard of a minister who was very downcast in his mind, and friends used to come and speak to him of the abundance of mercy in God, but it was giving him no hope. Yet one day a friend was speaking of the mercy of pardon and of how poor guilty sinners are forgiven by the grace – the free grace – of Christ, and suddenly he lifted up his hands and said, “Blessed be God’s great name. He will take His people in through the front gate of heaven in the full blaze of eternal justice, and there shall not be a stain on His name.” After that, the poor man was able to go out and preach, and very likely his first sermon would have been good for himself and for others.
3. “Grace for grace.”
Many interpretations are given, but I am only going to take one view. The idea suggested by this view is that you have here an inexhaustible fountain which is continually being drawn on, and yet it is always the same grace that is coming from the fountain. God’s people are receiving this continually; it is never to come to an end.
The people of Glasgow have a continual supply of water from Loch Katrine. It is continually flowing, and they can say they are drinking the water of Loch Katrine although they are not there. And the people of God can say they are receiving from the infinite ocean of God, and it will never cease until they enter into heaven. The more they draw, the more it will continue to flow, and there is no fear of it going dry, as might conceivably happen to Loch Katrine. Then Glasgow would be left without water, but this is not the case with the Fountain of believers; it is an endless supply.
I am just going to leave this one matter with you: God has given His people this assurance: there is an inexhaustible fullness in Christ Jesus and they will be receiving from it until they enter into glory. Although sometimes they will be thinking that they are not getting anything, they are being sustained and helped by it. Is it not a very rich provision that the heavenly Father has made for His children – the riches that He has prepared for His own inheritance? So the Apostle can say, “Of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace”.