LAWTON CHURCH OF GOD, LAWTON,
OKLAHOMA
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68
FULLNESS OF JESUS TEXT:
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they
shall be filled. “Hunger”
and “thirst” presuppose a spiritual birth. Being “born again” is the
antecedent of spiritual hunger. Adam Clarke, as other commentators, says this
hunger is none other than a “desire to be holy,” and this
“righteousness” signifying “the full salvation of God.” Hunger is an
evidence of life, and a good appetite and relish for spiritual things an
evidence of a healthful condition. The condition for filling is the emptying and
purifying process. The great reason all are not filled is because they do not
consent to be emptied first. “Shall be filled!” I.
ASK AND RECEIVE Ask,
and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Thrice,
within the very shadow of the cross, the Savior gave expression to this yearning
of His heart that the disciple should have fullness of joy. (John 15:11; II.
WITH THE SPIRIT And
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. A
statement concerning one hundred and twenty Christians who lived a long time
ago, the result of which was three thousand conversions in one day. Some have
supposed that it required ten days to get “filled.” It took them ten days to
become thoroughly emptied of self, when, lo, the Spirit cleansed and filled them
“suddenly” and instantaneously. “The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly
come to His temple.” (Malachi 3:1) First. They were obedient in going and
tarrying at III.
ABOVE MEASURE God
giveth not the Spirit by measure. So
every one may have according to his capacity and need. Great difficulties and
trials simply open up avenues for a larger supply and manifestations of the
Spirit, since God has said, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.”
(Deuteronomy 33:25.) Great trials make way for great grace. The idea that a soul
can only hold out and triumph under favorable circumstances and pleasing
environments is utterly false. “As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so
shall ye be also of the consolation.” (2 Corinthians 1:7.) “Thou preparest a
table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with
oil: my cup runneth over.” (Psalm 23:5.) IV.
FILLED Be
filled with the Spirit. This
is the privilege and duty of every believer. God’s “Be” is imperative, and
must not be regarded as optional. No excuse can be allowed for a lack of the
fullness of the Spirit since “the promise is unto you even as many as the Lord
our God shall call.” (Acts 2:39.) This filling marks a distinct crisis or
epoch in the life of all who receive it. It is an experience subsequent to
regeneration. The Spirit is never promised nor given to an unregenerated heart.
“The Spirit of truth, whom the world can not receive.” (John 14:17.) V.
BLESSINGS POURED OUT Bring
ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord
of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out (marg.
Empty out) a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Tithing
is simply discharging our financial obligation to God. This is God’s own
method for meeting all expenses of the Church He Himself instituted. Where
tithing is faithfully observed, there is no occasion for adopting questionable,
claptrap methods of money raising. Every financial difficulty is solved, the
financial burden equalized, as all pay alike, and great blessing and
prosperity—both spiritual and temporal—is at once assured. “Give, and it
shall be given you: good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running
over.” (Luke 6:38.) VI.
FULL OF SAP The
trees of the Lord are full of sap. Psalm 104:16. The
flowing sap is ever an evidence of life, and denotes a healthful, thrifty
condition. According to the parable of the sower and the seed, some Christians
die spiritually for want of moisture. (Luke 8:6.) There is a vast difference
between a dry, formal religion and a religion full of sap; an experience that
has some juice and gravy to it. What the sap is to a tree the fullness of the
Spirit is to the Christian. “To give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of
joy for mourning, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they
might be called trees of righteousness.” (Isaiah 61:3.) VII.
FULL OF LIGHT The
light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body
shall be full of light. Light
is a synonym of knowledge. The “single eye” denotes singleness of
purpose—seeking only the glory of God. Spiritual knowledge is conditioned upon
obedience. “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.”
(John 7:17.) “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we
have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.”
(John 1:5–6.) “Light is sown for the righteous.” (Psalm 97:11.) “If we
walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 VIII.
FILLED WITH GOD’S FULLNESS And
to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God. Being
filled with all the fullness of God is sharply conditioned upon first knowing
“the love of Christ,” which itself passeth all human knowledge, and can only
be known as revealed by the Spirit. “That ye might be filled.” Of what is
God full? He is full of light, life, joy, power, glory, etc., and we shall be
filled with exactly the same. Surely this will exclude everything else. A cup
may be just as certainly filled, and filled with exactly the same water as is
found in the ocean; while there is no difference in the quality, there is a
world of difference in the quantity. IX.
FILLED BY FAITH The
God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.
Peace
and joy come by believing. Where faith is triumphant, joy is full, and peace
passeth understanding. Doubt brings unrest and consequently despondency and
gloom. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee:
because he trusteth in Thee.” (Isaiah 26:3.) “In whom, though now ye see Him
not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” (1
Peter 1: 8.) “According to your faith be it unto you.” (Matthew 9:29.) We
can not know peace and joy by trying to feel them—but by believing God. X.
FULL OF POWER But
truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. A
fullness of the Spirit is the Divine order and secret of power. The Pentecostal
blessing first purifies (Acts 15:8–9,), and then empowers for service. Without
heart purity there can be no genuine Pentecostal power. It is power, first, to
cease from all sin; second, power to endure patiently and victoriously, as
“seeing Him that is invisible,” amid temptation and trial; third, power to
execute and perform the whole will of God. It requires more power to keep sweet
and patient under trial than to do some powerful shouting during big meetings.
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.”
(Acts 1:8.) XI.
FRUITS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS Being
filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the
glory and praise of God. There
is a difference between works and fruit. Many have good works, who,
nevertheless, have not the Spirit, and so necessarily are destitute of the
fruits of the Spirit. Works may be the result of mere human effort, while fruit
is spontaneous—the result of spiritual life. “The fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance,” (Galatians 5:22.) “Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear
much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples.” (John 15:8.) “Every branch in Me
that beareth not fruit He taketh away.” (John 15:2.) XII.
FULL OF GOODNESS Ye
also are full of goodness. While
“there is none that doeth good, no, not one,” in his unrenewed and
unregenerate state, it is also true that Jesus Christ can take a bad man and
make a good man out of him. We read, XIII.
FILLED WITH FOOD When
thou has eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God.
There
is no excuse for God’s saints to be lean, weak, and half starved. “He
satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”
(Psalm. 107:9.) When the heart is filled, the next thing on the program is to
“bless the Lord.” “Praise is comely for the upright.” (Psalm 33:1.)
“Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me.” (Psalm 1:23.) The overflowing
blessing is necessary to refresh those about us; the little we can hold we need
for ourselves. “Eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness.” (Isaiah 15:2.) He “filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.”
(Psalm 117:14.) XIV.
GOD’S FULLNESS And
of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
No
experience of grace should be regarded as a finality; as though we had received
all; rather, every experience should be recognized as a stepping-stone to higher
altitudes of grace. Grace prepares us for the reception of more grace. The grace
of justification prepares us for the grace of entire sanctification. Entire
sanctification prepares us for glorification. No matter what our present
experience, there is always more to follow. “It is better farther on.” “He
is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.” XV.
FULL OF WISDOM And
Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom. God
places no premium on ignorance, although He “made foolish the wisdom of this
world.” (1 Corinthians 1:20.) Men can not be guilty of greater folly than when
they substitute the wisdom of this world for the Holy Ghost. God can not be
found out by the wisdom of this world. Things that are spiritual can only be
known as revealed by the Holy Spirit. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom.” (Proverbs 9:10.) “The wisdom that is from above is first pure,
then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good
fruits.” (James 3:l.) “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”
(James 1:5.) XVI.
FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING I
am sure that when I come unto you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing
of the gospel of Christ.
Before
a minister can be sure that he will come to his people in the fullness of the
blessing, he must be sure he has the fullness of the blessing. There is a
blessing and “the fullness of the blessing,” just as there is “life,”
and “life more abundant.” The “fullness of the blessing” excludes
everything else from the heart. Where unholy ambition, self-will, pride, doubt,
and a man-fearing and man-pleasing spirit is found, “the fullness of
blessing” is not. The fact that there may be some water in the pitcher is not
an evidence that the pitcher is full of water. “Of His fullness have all we
received, and grace for grace.” (John 1:16.) XVII.
MOUTHS FILLED Open
thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. Psalm 81:10. The
“mouth,” “tongue,” and “conversation” are an index to the heart.
“How can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the
heart the mouth speaketh.” (Matthew 12:34.) God fills the mouth by first
filling the heart. A full heart brings the ringing testimony. “They were all
filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak.” (Acts 2:4.) The Pentecostal
blessing is always the “speaking blessing.” “I will give you a mouth and
wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.”
(Luke 21:15,) “With the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans
10:10) XVIII.
FULLNESS OF THE GODHEAD For
in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
Everything
pertaining to present and eternal salvation is found in Christ Jesus. He is the
“Light,” the “Life,” the “Truth,” the “Way,” the “Door,”
and, “of God, is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30.) In Him you may find your every need
supplied. “Christ in everything, and everything in Christ,” should be the
motto of every Christian, “till we all come in the unity of the faith and the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13.) XIX.
GOOD MEASURE Give,
and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together,
and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that
ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. It
is well to remember that it is not the stingy and close-fisted soul, but “the
liberal soul shall be made fat.” (Psalm 11:24.) Liberality insures temporal
success and prosperity. Many of God’s people are poverty stricken, simply
because they are miserly. “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and
there is that withholdeth more than is meet; but it tendeth to poverty.”
(Proverbs 11:24.) ”He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he
which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6.) XX.
FULL OF TEMPORAL BLESSINGS He
maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.
Psalm 147:14. The marginal rendering is “the fat of the wheat.” God intends His people should have the best He has in store. Then why should any live on skimmed milk when they might have the cream; or live on half rations when they might have a full meal? Or ask for crumbs when God desires to give you the whole loaf? Peace and plenty is the heritage of all who will obey Him. “He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat; and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.” (Psalm 81:16.) “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” (Isaiah 1:19.) XXI.
FILLED WITH KNOWLEDGE Filled
with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. The
knowledge which the Bible commends is an experimental knowledge. Theoretical
knowledge may be gathered from books, and is simply a thing of the head;
experimental knowledge can only be obtained at the feet of Jesus, as revealed by
the Spirit, and is a thing of the heart. “Now we have received . . . the
Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to
us of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:12.) Things hidden from the wise and prudent are
“revealed” unto babes.” (Luke 10:21.) “God gave them knowledge and skill
in all learning and wisdom.” (Daniel 1:17.) “In whom are hid all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” XII.
FULL OF GOOD WORKS This
woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did. What
a desirable epitaph for a saint of God who has departed this life! What an index
to character! “This woman” spoken of was Dorcas, whose post-office address
was Joppa. Good works will not secure for us the favor of God; but “good
works” are the inevitable result of faith and favor in God. They are not so
much the result of effort as they are the expression of a good heart. However
poor in this world’s goods, the person filled with the Spirit of Christ will
have a liberal spirit and find opportunity to give some alms. “Faith without
works is dead.” (James 2:26.) XIII.
THE HUNGRY ARE FILLED He
satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Psalm
107:9. No
one should rest in an experience that does not give entire satisfaction: for the
experience that does not fully satisfy the longing of the human heart never
satisfies God. By awakening deeper desires, and a hungering and thirsting in the
soul, God means to lead us into higher heights and deeper depths of His love.
Satisfaction is guaranteed to all who will abide in the center of his will. When
Christians follow the things of the world they plainly say their religion does
not satisfy. “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy
house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.” (Psalm
36:8.) “The meek shall eat and be satisfied.” (Psalm 22:26.) XIV.
FILLED WITH JOY Thou
shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. True
happiness is not conditioned on what we have, but rather on what we are. A
glimpse of Jesus will always enrapture and ravish the soul with delight. “As
by the light of opening day, The
stars are all concealed; So
earthly pleasures fade away, When
Jesus is revealed.” “In
Thy presence is fullness of joy.” (Psalm 16:8.) “The
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