In this sermon, the speaker tells the story of Rebekah and how she became the bride of Isaac. The speaker emphasizes that Rebekah was willing to go and be Isaac's bride immediately, showing her obedience and trust in God's plan. The speaker also highlights how Abraham gave all his possessions to Isaac, except for one item that Isaac could choose for himself. This symbolizes God's desire for us to be fully united with Him and enjoy His fullness. The speaker encourages the audience to admire and appreciate the blessings and gifts that God has given us.

O Lord, we do pray that Thou wilt make us conscious of Thyself. We pray that Thou wilt remove every or any veil upon our hearts, that we may behold Thee face to face, and we may be transformed by Thy Spirit from glory to glory. O Lord, Thou dost know we are here before Thee, and how we praise and thank Thee that Thou art ever faithful to us. So do come into our midst and lift us up, that we may be conscious of nothing but Thyself. We ask in Thy precious name. Will you please turn to the letter to the Colossians, chapter 1. Colossians, chapter 1. We'll read from verse 15 through verse 19. Colossians, chapter 1, verse 15. Who is image of the invisible God, firstborn of all creation, because by Him were created all things, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities, all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all, and all things subsist together by Him. And He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead, that He might have the first place in all things. For in Him all the fullness of the Godhead was fled to dwell. Chapter 2, verse 9 and 10. Chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. The first part of verse 10. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him. Ye are complete in Him. The gospel according to John, chapter 1. John, chapter 1, verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have contemplated His glory, a glory as of and only begotten with a Father, full of grace and truth. John bears witness of Him, and he has cried, saying, This was He of whom I said, He that comes after me is preferred before me, for she was before me. For of His fullness we all have received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given by Moses, grace and truth subsist through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. We will read just now. We mentioned yesterday afternoon that Paul's burden for the saints at Colossae was that they might be filled with the full knowledge of God's will. In other words, after Paul had heard of their faith in Christ Jesus and their love towards all the saints and the hope that they had in heaven, Paul was very much burdened that these dear people of God should go on to the fullness that God had for them. Because God's thought concerning His people is the thought of fullness. Anything less than fullness will never satisfy God. Even though sometimes we are of such small capacity that we will be satisfied with just a little bit, but that will never satisfy God. Therefore Paul wrestled, energized, agonized before the Lord in prayer and also in his writing that these people may be brought by the Spirit of God to the full knowledge of God's will. That they may be filled with the fullness that is in God. And I believe that this burden of Paul is the burden of the Spirit of God. This burden is not limited by time or space. It was true during Paul's time and it must be true today. There should be that burden in the heart of every child of God that we may be filled with the full knowledge of God's will. Nothing less than fullness. Now this afternoon we feel that we may go a little bit further. That is we will try to find where the fullness of God is. Greek scholars tell us that the very word fullness means the totality of divine attributes and power. It is the field, the condition of a thing. It is a realized ideal. In the Godhead there is a fullness. A perfection. A completeness. Everything is full and complete in the Godhead. It is always in that state. It is always full. It is very hard for us to try to grasp the idea or the reality of the fullness that is in the Godhead. Sometimes when something is too big, too vast, too great it tends to be vague and general in our thinking because it is just too much for us. God is full of love. He is love, yes. But He is full of love. That's why you'll find in John 3, 16 God's full love the world. Not just God's love the world. God's full love the world. And we remember in the first letter of John he says, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. It is that marvelous love of God. It is that love that is beyond our understanding. That cannot be explained. Full of love. That is God's love. And God is light. Not just a little light. We find the Word tell us that in Him is light and there is no darkness at all. God's light is perfect. There is no variation and no shadow or shade. He dwells in the light that is unapproachable. And we have been delivered out of darkness into His wonderful and marvelous light. Dear brothers and sisters, when we think of God we have to think in terms of fullness. Wherever you turn. Whether you turn to love or light or righteousness or holiness or glory or power. Wherever you turn when you think of God it is full. Very full. It is full and complete and perfect. One day I was meditating upon the fullness that is in the Godhead and I look up to Him and say, Lord how can I understand this fullness? It is just too vast. Too big for me. And then a phrase came to me. The fullness of the earth. And I remember that passage in Deuteronomy chapter 33. Probably it is good if we refer to it. Deuteronomy chapter 33. We know it was Moses, the man of God blessing the children of Israel before his death. And he mentioned the different names of the sons of Israel. When he came to Joseph in verse 13. And of Joseph he said Blessed of Jehovah be his land by the precious things of the heavens by the dew and by the deep that lies beneath and by the precious fruit of the sun and by the precious things put forth by the month and by the best things of the ancient mountains and by the precious things of the everlasting hills and by the precious things of the earth and the fullness thereof and let the good will of him that dwelt in the bush come upon the head of Joseph upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. Here we find Moses blessed Joseph and in that blessing he said Blessed of the Lord be his land and he mentioned many things the precious things of the heavens by the dew by the deep that lies beneath the water the sea, the ocean by the precious fruits of the sun and the things put out put out by the month and also the precious things of the ancient mountains of the everlasting hills the things of the earth and the fullness. Well dear brothers and sisters I think of the fullness of the earth I'm thinking of the fullness of the heavens of the earth and of the sea how vast how big is the heavens and the land and the sea and yet these are all fully inhabited when you look up into the sky you see the stars inhabiting the heavens countless, numberless billions of stars there and when you look up at the land you find that it is filled with things not only the mountains and the hills and the precious things in the hills and the mountains but you find there are people all over and many microscopic things that we cannot see, it is just teeming with life and filled with things and also this is true of the ocean, of the sea maybe when we think of the fullness of the earth it may give us a little idea of the fullness that is in God and of course the fullness that is in God is of spiritual and moral and divine nature it is of a far superior quality the fullness that is in God how full must be our God how complete and perfect must be our God but still you know it is very hard to grasp the fullness that is in God we are very limited even in the physical sense our ear can only hear certain sound waves and if it is shorter or it is longer we cannot hear them because our ear is so restricted and limited and because we cannot hear them we consider these sounds as unreal as non-existing but actually they are there only that our capacity is too small it has to be brought within our range of hearing then they become real to us and dear brothers and sisters in the great mercy of God because his heart is so full towards us he knows our limitations, our small capacity and yet his love towards us is so great so in his marvelous love he brings the greatness, the fullness of the Godhead within our range that we as little beings may be able to not only appreciate but to apprehend the fullness that is in the Godhead and we all know God has done this for in him that is in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead and this Christ we know so the apostle John when he wrote the gospel he said the word became flesh and dwelt among us now who is the word? the word is the one in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead that is the word and the one in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells now dwells among us full of truth and grace and John said we have beheld his glory the glory as of the son, the only begotten son to the father we have seen him we have heard him we have touched him the word of life dear brothers and sisters we will never be able to understand the fullness of the Godhead until Christ came to our midst and Christ being in our midst he is the fullness of the Godhead when Paul wrote this letter to the Colossians we know that these beloved children of God were in great danger because some false teachers had entered into their midst and began to give to them some philosophy some kind of teaching implying that it is true that Christ is the first and the foremost in the manifestation of God but God is so great he is so full that he has distributed his divine attributes and powers to many other things other created beings Christ inherits most of them but there are others being distributed to the other beings such as angels so these false teachers began to tell these beloved children of God in Colossians that aside from Christ there are other intermediates partial manifestations of the fullness of God and on that basis they began to worship angels and other intermediates and their hearts were being enticed from Christ they did not hold fast ahead and because of that their growth was arrested they did not grow as they should so dear brothers and sisters Paul in writing to these beloved children of God he emphasized again and again to them that in Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. In other words God has not distributed any of his attributes or power to any being except Christ himself Christ in Christ dwells all the fullness the totality, the sum total of the attributes and the power of God everything is in Christ you cannot find anything that is of God in any other place than in Christ Jesus it is all in Christ, all the divine attributes and powers make their home their permanent home in Christ and if you want to know anything of God you have to get it from Christ because it is in Christ you cannot find it anywhere you do not need to look anywhere else because they are not there all the fullness of the Godhead is in Christ he is the fullness and I believe most of you may have heard that story about a man, a very rich person, oh he had lots of land and lots of property and many businesses he had so much that it was out of account he himself did not know how much he had and he had only one son, he sent his son to a foreign country to study but while his son was in the foreign country he got very sick he was approaching death so he called a lawyer and he consulted with that lawyer to make a will for him that after he passed away how his property should be inherited and he desired very much that his only son should inherit all that he had but it was very difficult because he could not remember all that he had so that lawyer advised him and he drew up a will, of course they sent telegram to his son and asked his son to come back immediately but when the son returned the father had passed away so there was nothing left but that will so the day came everybody was gathered in the house everybody including the son and all the servants and the slaves, everyone was there and the lawyer took out that will and read it and it was a very simple will the will goes this way I gave all my property everything to my steward but I allow my son to choose out of my property just one item and that should be his and that's all so when the son heard that will he was very much distressed, he thought his father must be out of his mind how could it be that he left everything to the steward his slave he who took care of all the property and he just left one thing to him that was impossible he was very much disturbed so he went to consult that lawyer and wanted to know why his father drew up such a will and that lawyer whispered a few words to the ear of the son and his face just changed, he was very happy so he started to say now according to my father's will I'm going to choose one thing out of all his property I honor and respect my father's will, I will not challenge his will but I will do what he said and everybody was waiting to see what he would choose, whether he would choose a piece of land or a house or a business or what it may be and he said now I will make my choice, I choose my steward who is my slave and we all know that in choosing the steward he gets everything, now the father was very wise or the lawyer was very clever you see the father could not put everything on the paper and he was afraid that something might be missing and the steward was in charge of everything, he knew everything and if something was not there, now the steward might be able to have that so in order that his son might have everything he put it this way now dear brothers and sisters this is just a story but it in a sense shows us the heart of our heavenly father how our heavenly father desired that we may apprehend inherit his fullness and in order that we may do so he put all his fullness in his son and God said now choose my son you know our understanding of God's salvation is usually in pieces and bits when we were convicted of our sins we felt the need of the forgiveness of our sins and then we came to God and said now God look upon the cross of our Lord Jesus, there he has died for us he has shed his blood for us and because of that forgive me, allow me to be atoned we came to the Lord and we got the forgiveness of our sins and that makes us very happy and maybe after a few days or a few months we discover that we have another need and then we come to God again and say now God you have to supply that need again and somehow God points his son to us and said now go to my son, there is what you need and again we find our need supplied in the son but we still do not understand and again after a few days or a few months we discover we have another need and there we go to God and ask the Lord to give us that need as if we can find the supply elsewhere we can find the supply apart from the son but God said I have nothing left it's all in the son if you want your need supplied go to my son otherwise I have nothing and this is almost like the story of Joseph people came and cried to Pharaoh and give us bread, give us grain, give us food and Pharaoh said don't come to me, go to Joseph he is the supplier, go to him there is one illustration in the Bible which I feel is very very appropriate you remember the story of Abraham God blessed Abraham oh God gave him cattle and sheep, silver and gold and camels and assets God gave him and in his old age he wanted to get a bride for his son and you remember that lovely story he called his steward to him and said now you swear to me that you will go to my native place and get a woman a girl out of that place and bring her here to be my son's bride and wife and that steward said now if he does not want to come, shall I bring your son back to your native place, Abraham said no God will talk to him and you remember that steward he took ten camels loaded with goods and he travelled back to Padan Adam to his native place and there he met his baby and you remember the beautiful story he asked Rebekah of some water and he waited before the Lord to see how it would turn out and it turned out as he had prayed so he took out a golden ring of and two golden bracelets of ten camels weight and he put them on Rebekah and he bowed down and he said because God has led him to his master's kingdom and then you remember how they received him to their house and he would refuse to eat until he had told them what had happened and this was what he said, he said God had greatly blessed my master, oh he had given him so much cattle, sheep and silver and gold and camels and everything and in his old age God had given my master a son and my master has given all to his son and this is mine to get his son a wife now will you allow this woman to go and be my master's son's wife you have to decide that first before I sit down and leave and they said now it is of the Lord nothing can be said so he began to give some more things to be said, next morning they got up and said now we are ready to leave oh they say no you have to stay there eight to ten days, that's a shortage allow the girl to stay a little while with us no we have to leave and they said now ask ask Rebekah very strange, but actually it is not strange that's what is strange when they asked Rebekah and said now will you go she said I'll go I'll go right away, I'll go dear brothers and sisters hear your final speech Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac and Rebekah tasted only a little bit of the richest a golden ring, half a shekel two golden bracelets ten shekels weight some clothing and some silver but these were just a little bit a token, a pledge to show how rich Isaac was and you know I'm not saying that Rebekah was captivated by the wealth, now if that's the case that's just too bad but I'm just saying that here you'll find a little token a little token and that little token speaks a lot and Rebekah's answer was Isaac dear brothers and sisters what we have seen what we have experienced what we have tasted of our Christ is just a little token maybe just a ring of half a shekel yes we are redeemed we have a ring maybe just a bracelet of ten shekels maybe just a little clothing a little silver what we have experienced of our Christ is just a pledge a little token but dear brothers and sisters that little token ought to capture our heart for Christ we should not just stay here and say now this is very good we are saved we can go to heaven one day we can see him that is very good, that is good enough oh dear brothers and sisters is not your heart captured by Christ by the fullness that is in Christ oh that little bit of Christ that we have tasted have already in a sense overwhelmed us and yet this is just a little token that ought to exercise our heart I do not believe Rebekah could sleep that night even though she had not seen Isaac in person and yet she had seen Isaac in these little tokens of love she couldn't sleep she was anxious to go and meet Isaac and be joined with him into one to be joined as oh dear brothers and sisters this is exactly what God is it is not just out of his fullness he gives us a little bit of this and little bit of that but by this little token he is to capture our heart that we may go and be united fully with him into one in that union we enjoy and feel the fullness oh dear brothers and sisters this is God's purpose this is God's will for us today now can we just say that and say now just play with this ring and this bracelet and admire admire them and say now how precious this is how good this is and yet stay back and not go and meet God do we not just run in union in fullness now Paul in writing to these people at Colossae he tried to convey to them a little bit of the fullness that is in Christ how full is Christ how perfect is Christ how complete is Christ now he tried to communicate to them something of the fullness that is in Christ and he tried in this way he said Christ is the image of the invisible God actually Paul tries to tell us of three different aspects Christ his fullness in relation to God his fullness in relation to creation and his fullness in relation to the new creation to redemption and first he said he is the image of the invisible God God is invisible God is invisible no one has ever seen God but God has an image an image is something that can be seen is the image of the invisible God no one has ever seen God but in seeing the Son we have seen the Father oh you remember towards the end of the earthly life of our Lord Jesus he gathered with his little company those who were very close to him and he began to share with them of what was going to happen that he will go to the cross that he will leave them and go back to the Father and you remember these disciples were grieving their hearts and Philip began to ask the Lord Lord show us the Father and our hearts shall be satisfied just show us the Father oh I do not know how this grieved the heart of our Lord Jesus the Lord turned to Philip and said have I been so long with you and you still haven't seen the Father he who has seen me dear brothers and sisters no one has ever seen God but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he has declared you know the word he made those who know the language tells us that the word he made carries with it two ideas one is representation image means representation Christ is the representation of the invisible God that word means he is the exact the reproduction the impression of the invisible God it is not like a child sometimes a child tries to draw a picture and in China when a child starts to learn how to write now this is the way they write now in this country you have that too copy this when I was there I remember how I copied these letters you have a book with the letters printed on it and then a child will take a pen or pencil and try to follow it and try to copy it but of course the hand of the child is not steady and his eye is not too sharp so sometimes you'll find in copying it it goes out of the frame and it doesn't look very much alive now this is not the meaning of an image he's not copying by imitating in such a way now the word image means a copy that is reproduced you have something you put in a print and what comes out is the exact copy of the original not just something you try to formulate from outside but it is something that is derived from within it's just like when you look at a child he or she bears some image of his or her parents it is by birth by birth now dear brothers and sisters our Lord Jesus is the exact image of the invisible God he's not imitating by trying to copy from outside but he is the only begotten he's fully and completely and he's not only representing but he manifests it he God is invisible but Christ the Son has made the invisible God visible we have seen we have heard him we have touched him we have known him he is everything anything that you can think of that he is God you'll find it is exactly fully nothing nothing missing but completely there in Christ Jesus he is exactly what he is and secondly you'll find that he is relating to creation, he is the firstborn of all creation we have the meaning very clear and get away from the line, he is the firstborn over all creation the firstborn over all creation we cannot change of the word firstborn in he is the firstborn and then the secondborn and the thirdborn in other words we cannot think of Christ the Son as the firstborn that is the first created and then the other created beings are saying just fine he is born, he is the firstborn over all creation before there was any creation he was eternally born he was before all creation this word firstborn in the original concept has also two meanings one is he is Christ, he has the priority of all creation he is before all creation now if you read on you'll find this is in the song you'll find God speaks of David, God has anointed David firstborn, the power has made David his firstborn David in the human sense cannot be the firstborn if you want to compute in the human sense maybe everything is connected to the firstborn but God said I made him the firstborn the priority of all the creation, so here you'll find this is the true meaning of the word firstborn not in our human sense that pulls him into among us and become one of us as we are no, he is over us he has sovereignty over us, that is the meaning of the word firstborn because in verse two, he is called the firstborn of all creation firstborn of all creation because for these reasons he is called the firstborn over all creation because first, in him were created all things, in him were created ancient beings principalities were created in as if he is the founder created in when you pass by a building whether it is a very big one or noble one or whether it is a less noble one, when you pass by any construction you know that this building is actually designed and created in the mind of that building is first conceived in the mind of, he has that mind and he designed it the wisdom and the knowledge of this object when the building is finished in a sense it shows the wisdom, the skill of the architect we may say that the building is built in the architect now in similar manner, everything is created in the son because everything is given to the son conceived and designed by the son all things are created in him and not only in him but the scripture goes on and says, created by him he is not only the designer the talk, the originator the one who gives and also the one who creates, it is by his agency, by his power that all things come into being, it is through him, and again it says all things comes out from him, through him and goes back to him he is for him oh dear brothers and sisters, because all things were created in him by him and for him, therefore he is the firstborn over all creation he has the right the birthright over all creation he has the control the sovereignty over all creation this is all things of God in Christ manifested in creation we find Paul tries to tell us of this fullness in the third aspect and he is the firstborn he is not only the eternal son he is not only the creator of all things the cause and effect of all things the beginning and end of all creativity, he is the head the first the originator the supplier the controller controller now we move into another realm, we move into the realm of redemption into the realm of the new creation and there you find in the new creation his fullness is manifested in being the head, oh dear brothers and sisters, he is the head, in relation to the head the Lord over him, the body which means all those who are redeemed they are those that were called out that called out one assembled before him he is the God and God said it is not good, but the man cannot find it, so finally God put that man to sleep and God healed a woman with that son, and laid that woman to the man and immediately that man said now this is gone of my in other words here you'll find Adam in a sense is the beginning of me, how did he come into existence? he came into being he was filled with that Christian, and we all know that this is just a kid God has taken out, all out of his heart, flows out, and with that God heals the body all of his bones he'll be brought back to him and be united with him so dear brothers and sisters here you'll find Christ is the beginning he is the beginning of the church the church begins with Christ with something that comes out of him, is filled with him, he is the material for the church over the body the beginning, and he is the firstborn from among, not the firstborn he was raised from the dead even in the old testament we're raised from the dead, our lord Jesus is the first, because in his resurrection the real nature of resurrection is all the others may, might be raised from the dead before him but they went back, but in his resurrection you'll find the life, he is the firstborn he gives the point to resurrection to the meaning of life and dear brothers and sisters he gave this resurrection in life, it characterizes the church is a living because it lives you always, and not only that, but when I was in England I visited Westminster earlier and I didn't call that the church of the living or the church of he is the firstborn from among the dead the church is marked by life, by the resurrection and that is the nature firstborn from among the dead that he might have oh dear brothers and sisters all the fullness of nature is holy, you are complete, you are perfect you are made full you are still full in him, all the fullness of the dwells in him and you are complete we are like that morbid fish you know Ruth came to Israel with her mother in law Naomi and when they came back they were very poor they did not have any means to so finally Ruth asked permission of her mother in law now will you allow me permission to go and glean in the field of those, of the corn that are left behind now it is the custom at that time and according to Moses law that those who are harvesting should leave something behind and should not go back the second time so that the poor may be saved so you find here a Ruth who was in deep poverty, she had nothing to eat she was hungry and so were her mother in law and she went out to glean and it so happened by the grace of God that she came to the field of Gilweth one of her nearest people and she worked there from morning till night and boy came and discovered this Ruth and you remember what boy said do not be afraid keep on gleaning in my field, do not go elsewhere and Ruth went back and told Naomi and Naomi said the same now don't let you be found in any other field, keep on in that field because she is the nearest of all people and you remember how Ruth gleaned and gleaned and gleaned and as we glean in the field of God dear brothers and sisters that picture came to me we are complete oh brothers and sisters, sometimes we are gleaning in the field of Christ glean a little bit but the will of God is not just that we may be gleaning behind that we may be joined to Him, oh that is true, it is true it takes time gradually, eternally to enter into the fullness that is in Christ but dear brothers and sisters because we are joined with Him He is our God, our Heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee Thou dost know our limitations, Thou dost know that how it is impossible for us to rise up and grasp the greatness, the fullness of Thyself how we praise and thank Thee that Thou dost put all Thy fullness in Christ and Thou hast given Him to us and we to Him oh Lord we pray that our eyes may be open, that we may not be just fearfully entangling with trembling trying to glean just one or two steps out of Thy field oh we ask Thee to open our eyes to see that Thou art our Kingdom, Redeemer oh that we are joined to Thee in one we are joined in one oh we ask Thee that day by day we may enter into the reality of the fullness that is in Christ that we may not go hungry oh Lord forbid that we may be found elsewhere but we may always be found with Thee and in Thee we ask in the