1. The first 18 verses of John chapter 1 are referred to as “the Prologue,” and they set the stage for the entire book of John.
2. There are many important doctrinal truths and important doctrinal words in this passage.
3. For example, consider the word "fulness" (1:16). This word is found thirteen times in the New Testament.
4. The word, as it is used here in John 1:16, means that those of us who are saved are filled with the presence and the power of God.
5. Colossians 2:9 says, "For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."
6. And here in John 1:16 we read, "And of his fulness have all we received."
7. John says "we all have received." This means every genuine believer who has received Christ by faith (cf. 1:12) has received all the fulness of the Godhead.
8. I am amazed at how people can say they have received Christ when there is no evidence of it. According to the Bible, those who have received Christ have received the fullness of God (1:16)!
9. There is a big difference between religion and salvation. The other day I saw a video clip of Louis Farrakhan preaching in some Black Muslim mosque.
10. He was preaching hard against immodest dress on women, and he preached hard against men who like to look at immodestly dressed women, etc.
11. But there was no "grace and truth" (1:14).
12. There was no Jesus, no Holy Spirit, no Gospel, no salvation.
13. There was foul language and plenty of cursing. There was pride and arrogance in abundance. The man is full of himself.
14. This world does not need more religion. This world needs the Gospel.
15. And Christians need to know who we are in Christ. We are in Christ. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
16. Nicodemus was very religious, and Jesus told him, "Ye must be born again." People say, "I am a Christian, but I am not a born-again Christian," but that is contrary to Scripture (cf. John 3:6, 7).

I. CHRIST LIVES IN US (GALATIANS 2:20).

1. Think of that statement -- "Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). Major Whit­tle wrote these words:

Once far from God and dead in sin,
No light my heart could see;
But in God’s Word the light I found,
Now Christ liveth in me.

 

Christ liveth in me,
Christ liveth in me,
Oh! what a salvation this,
That Christ liveth in me.

 

As rays of light from yonder sun,
The flowers of earth set free,
So life and light and love came forth
From Christ living in me.

 

As lives the flower within the seed,
As in the cone the tree,
So, praise the God of truth and grace,
His Spirit dwelleth in me.

 

With longing all my heart is filled,
That like Him I may be,
As on the wondrous thought I dwell
That Christ liveth in me.

2. Colossians 1:27 says, "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
3. Christ for you -- that's wonderful. Christ with you -- that is even better! But Christ in you -- that is glorious!
4. Since Christ lives in us, we ought to be careful to maintain a life of holiness and godliness.
5. Knowing Christ lives in us should make us totally dependent upon Him (cf. John 15:4, 5).

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT LIVES IN US (I COR. 3:16, 17; 6:19).

1. Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit the moment he gets saved. If a person is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit, than he is not saved (cf. Romans 8:9).
2. Knowing the Holy Spirit dwells within us should serve as a corrective of conduct unbecoming a Christian.
3. The great evangelist R.A. Torrey often preached on this subject. Ephesians 4:30 says, "And grieve not the holy Spirit of God." Torrey said that Scripture kept him out of trouble.
4. Every Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but not every Christian is filled with the Holy Spirit.
5. Ephesians 5:18 says, "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Are you filled?
6. The very same word "filled" is used in Romans 1:29 -- "Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness..."
7. What a contrast!
8. This is very important (cf. Luke 11:13; John 7:37-39).
9. Jesus said, "If any man thirst..." (John 7:37).

III. GOD THE FATHER LIVES IN US

1. Most Christians know Christ lives in them. They have heard the term "receive Christ" many times (cf. John 1:12).
2. I know a pastor who started a Baptist church in Staten Island, in a predominantly Roman Catholic neighborhood. After his message he invited people to come forward if they wanted to receive Christ.
3. Many people came forward and he was very surprised. He was even more surprised however when they all stood in the front and stuck out their tongues!
4. This is not what he meant by receiving Christ!
5. Most Christians know Christ lives in them, and many Christians know the Holy Spirit lives in them. They are familiar with our Lord's words in John 14:17, "Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."
6. But some Christians do not understand that God the Father lives in them. Jesus said in John 14:23, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
7. Jesus said, "We will come unto him, and make our abode with him."
8. Second Corinthians 6:16 says, "For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (cf. II Cor. 6:18, "And will be a Father unto you").
9. Ephesians 4:6 says, "One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all."
10. The apostle Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:16-19 refers to:

• being strengthened with might by the Holy Spirit in the inner man (3:16)
• Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith (3:17)
• being filled with all the fulness of God (3:19).

11. How wonderful -- the triune God lives in us!
12. I read something interesting recently. The writer said, "The Trinity is a Tri-unity, a Three-in-One...God is a unit, with oneness of Being -- inseparable. For one to live in the person of Jesus involves the presence of all three. And if one lives in us we necessarily have all three. This is best seen in electricity, our modern illustration. Electricity is a unit, but it has a threefold manifestation. And all three are always present -- inseparable. In darkness electricity shows itself as light, but the power and the heat are present. For cooking electricity is heat, but the power and light are present. In the elevator it is power, but light and heat are present. To have one is to have all three. So is the Trinity" (Norman B. Harrison, His Fullness).
13. When I was preparing this message I thought of James 4:7 -- "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." The devil flees because God indwells the believer.
14. Years ago ex-priest Richard Bennett preached here at our church. He had a friend who helped him recording his messages and things like that. This friend had an unsaved aunt who lived in Manhattan so he invited her to the meeting.
15. This aunt was involved in occultic new-age teachings. She ran out of the building during the song service.
16. A number of years ago J. Dwight Pentecost wrote a book entitled, Your Adversary the Devil. In that book he mentions the time he and five other seminary students attended a national convention of spirit mediums that was held in Dallas, Texas.
17. Dr. Pentecost wrote, "At this convention mediums were contacting their controls, demons with whom they had contact, to bring messages to individuals. Six of us decided we would attend the meeting, which was announced as being open to the public. We walked into the darkened auditorium and quietly sat down in the rear to observe. The convention was called to order and the chairman of the meeting introduced different mediums who summoned their controls, the demons with whom they were on familiar terms. One after another attempted to make contact and failed, and sat down. Each announced that something was interfering with his making contact. There came a stir over the whole audience, for evidently they were not used to anything like this. The chairman got up, asked that the lights be turned on, and said there was some influence there that was preventing them from having contact with their familiar spirits. He pointed to us and said that that row of fellows back there was preventing them from establishing contacts. Before they could go on, we were asked to leave. We left. I would have liked to have known what happened after we left. But since the convention kept on for the rest of the week, I presume that, after we had gone, they were able to reestablish contact with the demons and to deceive and delude men's minds by demonic deception. The presence of the Spirit of God in the six believers prevented a manifestation of Satanic power."

CONCLUSION:

1. Years ago a preacher said this: "If my family and I moved into your house, don't you think you'd notice us? And don't you think our presence in your home would change your life?"
2. His point: When you got saved, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit moved into you. How can you ignore God dwelling in you?
3. "What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, Since Jesus came into my heart!" -- Rufus Henry McDaniel