Please turn to the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 24, verse 14.
And these glad tidings of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole habitable earth for a witness unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.
O heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee because Thou hast sent Thy Son into this world, and there on the cross, as His body was broken, the veil was rent.
O, we do praise and thank Thee that we can enter into Thy very presence behind the veil, with nothing hindering us, but that we may behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face; that we may be transformed from glory to glory according to His image, by the Lord the Spirit.
We do praise and thank Thee for this privilege, and we do claim this for us this evening. We ask that we may behold Thee, and that we may be transformed. We pray that Thy glory may be manifested. Unto Thee be all the praise and glory, in Thy precious, precious name. Amen.
How burdensome for this time is the gospel of the kingdom. This gospel of the kingdom was preached by our Lord Jesus Himself.
When He came out for public ministry, He said:
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel.
This gospel of the kingdom was not only preached by our Lord Jesus, but the same gospel—and the only gospel—was preached by the apostles. Even when we come to the last chapter of the Book of Acts, chapter 28, we find that Paul, as a prisoner in Rome, in his hired apartment, was there preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
This gospel of the kingdom must be preached to the whole habitable earth for a witness unto all the nations, and then the end will come.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we do feel the urgency of the gospel of the kingdom. We do feel that it is time that God’s people come to an understanding—not only an understanding, but that they really enter into the gospel itself. We may really know what the gospel of the kingdom is. We may not only preach it, but we may really live it. And as we do, we know it will hasten the return of our Lord.
Now, of course, to put it in one word, what is the gospel of the kingdom? The gospel of the kingdom is the King.
In other words, we find that in our Lord Jesus, Who was born to be King, all the nature and character of the kingdom is embodied. If we see Him, if we know Him, if we experience Him, then we find ourselves being in His kingdom.
My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence.
The kingdom of God is not of this world. It is not earthly; it is heavenly. The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. In other words, this kingdom is not materialistic at all; it is spiritual.
As we find in 1 Corinthians 4, the kingdom of God is not in word; it is in power. In other words, it is not just talking, but it is kingly living.
The kingdom of God is eternal. It is not temporal; it is not something that passes away. We do believe that one day this kingdom shall publicly appear on this earth, but that does not mean that the kingdom of God is not here today. When you come into spiritual reality, it transcends time and space.
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, in the beginning He said, “Repent; for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand.”
Here, brothers and sisters, oftentimes we think repentance is necessary because of sin, failures, and shortcomings. We need to repent of all the things that we have done wrong. But here you find that when our Lord Jesus was teaching repentance, He preached it in a very different way. He said, “Repent.” Why repent? Because the kingdom has drawn nigh.
In other words, there is a positive reason for repentance. If we see what the kingdom of God is, if we see the reality of the kingdom of the heavens, if we really see that it is heaven ruling over the earth, if we see that Christ is not only our Saviour but He is our King—if we really see this kingdom of God, do you think we need to repent?
We need to repent because we have not put ourselves under the kingship of our Lord Jesus. In how many ways we live our lives and go our own ways. It may not be considered sin, but we need to repent because we are not under the rule and dominion of our King.
The Lord said, “Repent; for the kingdom is at hand.” Why? Because He, the King, had come, but He had not yet gained a people.
Later on, we find that He told the people that from the time of John the Baptist until then, the kingdom of the heavens suffered violence, and violent men seized it. In other words, at that time the Lord had already gathered around Himself some of His disciples. With His disciples, we find that not only was the King there, but there was His kingdom.
But this kingdom is not to be known by observation. The kingdom is to be known in the Spirit.
What is this kingdom? If we want to know the nature of this kingdom, we need to know the King—what kind of a King He is.
How He disappointed the Jews in His time. In the beginning, they welcomed Him because they thought that He was the Messiah. He might be the King; He might restore the nation of Israel. But later on, they were disappointed in Him because His kingdom was not of this world. He was a different person, a different kind of King than they expected. He was presenting to them a kingdom that was not according to their concept, and because of that they rejected Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, when they crucified Him on the cross, the very cross became the symbol of His kingdom. In other words, if you want to know what the kingdom of God is, look at the cross. This is His kingdom.
He told His disciples that the kings of this world rule and lord it over their people. But He said, “It shall not be so among you. The great among you shall be your servant, and the first among you shall be your bondservant, because the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for all.”
What is the kingdom? What is the character of the kingdom? The very nature of the kingdom is embodied in Christ, and this was fully demonstrated when He was crucified on the cross. He gave Himself for us.
In giving Himself for us, He overcame all things. He overcame the world. He overcame the whole creation. He overcame Satan, our enemy, and all the powers of darkness. There He demonstrated His kingly power. This is His kingdom.
This evening, we would like to continue with the subject of the sons of the kingdom. We have seen the King and His kingdom. Now we would like to see the sons of the kingdom.
If you turn to Matthew 13, you will find that there are parables there, and these parables are the parables of the mysteries of the kingdom.
Maybe just a word of caution. Oftentimes we take these parables as the parables of the church. But if you are careful, you will find that it is plainly stated that these parables are the mysteries of the kingdom.
Now, this time we are not going to enter into all the technical explanations as to the difference between the church and the kingdom—when they are the same and when they are not the same. I do not think we will go into these things. But I just want to point out this: in the parables of the kingdom, the first parable is the parable of the sower.
The sower went out to sow the seed. As he sowed, some seed fell by the roadside; some seed fell upon stony ground; some seed fell among thorns; but some, thank God, fell into good ground.
Those that were sown by the roadside were devoured by the birds. Those sown upon stony ground sprang up very quickly, but there was no root; and when the sun shone upon them, they were scorched and withered. Those seeds sown among thorns took root and grew up, but the thorns choked them and took away their nourishment, so that they could not bear fruit.
Finally, those seeds that were sown in the good ground began to grow patiently and produced fruit—thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.
Now, if our Lord Jesus gave this parable, He fully expected His disciples to understand it. The reason why He used this parable was because He did not want some people to understand. If you read the preceding chapter, you will find how the Pharisees blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
Because of their blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the Lord said that anyone who speaks against the Son may be forgiven, but he that blasphemes the Holy Spirit shall never be forgiven. He has committed the unpardonable sin.
From that time onward, the Lord began to speak to the people in parables, that they might hear and not hear. When our Lord Jesus spoke these parables to the multitude, they became hidden things to those who had blasphemed the Holy Spirit, because it is the Holy Spirit Who convicts us of our sins. If the Holy Spirit does not work upon us, we will never repent; we will never be convinced of the Saviour, of the preciousness and power of the blood. Therefore, there is no way to receive forgiveness.
But our Lord Jesus fully expected His disciples to understand, and they should have understood. Yet they did not understand. So they came to the Lord afterwards and said, “Now explain to us this parable.”
The Lord Jesus said, “If you do not understand this parable, you will not be able to understand all the other parables, because this parable is the foundation.” So the Lord began to explain it to them.
Of course, the sower is none other than the Lord Himself, because He was the One sowing the seed. And what is the seed? He said, “The seed is the word of the kingdom.” In other words, the seed is the gospel of the kingdom. Our Lord Jesus was preaching the word of the kingdom; He was preaching the gospel of the kingdom.
When the word of the kingdom was given, there were four different kinds of heart conditions. The four different kinds of ground actually represent four different kinds of heart.
Some hearts were like the roadside. Due to the heavy traffic of the world, they had become so hardened that when they heard the word of the kingdom, they simply could not take it in. It remained on the surface, and the birds, representing evil forces, came and snatched the seed away. In other words, they heard, but they did not hear; there was nothing remaining in their lives, as if they had never heard.
Those on stony ground heard it and were emotionally stirred, but there were stones underneath the shallow soil. In other words, their sins had not been confessed. It was merely an emotional stirring. They seemed to accept the word, and yet there was no repentance and no dealing.
They seemed to come up with something, but when tribulation or persecution came, they immediately left it behind.
Those seeds that fell among thorns represent those in whose hearts the word of the kingdom entered. They accepted it, and it began to take root. But unfortunately, the anxieties and cares of this world choked the seed. The word was there; it came up with some growth, but it could never produce fruit. How many among God’s people who have heard the word of the kingdom are in this category.
But, thank God, there were those whose ground was healed, softened, worked upon, and made ready. When the word of the kingdom—the gospel of the kingdom—was preached to them, they readily accepted it. The Bible says that they patiently bore fruit. It takes time, but thank God there will be thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.
That was the beginning. The beginning is that the word, or gospel, of the kingdom is preached. Because the gospel of the kingdom is preached, some receive the word, and the word begins to grow in them.
Then the Lord began to speak the second parable. All these parables are in succession; one comes after another. In the second parable, the Lord Jesus spoke about the wheat and the tares.
A man, a sower, went and sowed good seed—wheat—in the field. But when night came, the enemy came in and sowed tares among the wheat in the same field.
After a while, when the wheat began to grow, the tares also began to grow. The servants, who had slept through the night and had not been watchful, had allowed the enemy to sow the seed of the tares. They did not know there were tares there, so they came to the master and said, “How did it happen? We have not sown such seed, and yet these tares are there.”
The master knew. He said, “An enemy hath done this.” The wheat and the tares grew together until the day of harvest.
Now, I am not going into an explanation of these parables, because this is not our purpose tonight. But in the second parable of the kingdom, who is the sower? Of course, He explained it again. He said, “The sower is the Son of Man.” Our Lord Jesus is the Sower.
But notice: what is the field? The field in the second parable is not the human heart. The field is the world. The world is the field.
What about the seed? You find that the Son of Man sowed the seed in the world. But here He explained that the seed is not the word of the kingdom; they are the sons of the kingdom.
In other words, those who have received the word of the kingdom and allowed the word of the kingdom to work in their lives, so that the word, in a sense, becomes flesh—they become sons of the kingdom. The Lord sowed them in the world for a purpose.
Dear brothers and sisters, I often think: wherever you are, you are not in your place by accident. Wherever you are, it is the Lord Who sowed you there. He sowed you there as sons of the kingdom.
He sowed some of the sons of the kingdom in Richmond—of course, in Richmond, England, too. He sowed some of the sons of the kingdom in New York, in California, and in other places. You find that He sowed the sons of the kingdom in the world. He scattered them all over the world; strategically, He put them there.
These sons of the kingdom are to preach the gospel of the kingdom as a witness to the world. Now, I would say that the preaching there is more than just speaking, because the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.
These sons of the kingdom are sown in the world strategically. They occupy hidden parts of the world. This world today is enemy territory, but in enemy territory it seems as if the Lord has set His outposts. He puts them here and there, here and there, and they are there to take that place for the Lord.
They testify before the world that there is a King, and this King is God’s King. They testify to the world that they submit themselves to this King. They testify to the world by their life and by their word that they are not of this world.
Dear brothers and sisters, when the spiritual power of this kingdom comes to a full point, then you will find that the kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of God and of His Christ. This is the strategy of God.
We are the sons of the kingdom, planted in this world as a witness and a testimony to the nations. And then the end shall come.
How do we become the sons of the kingdom? Or, to put it another way, how do we enter into the kingdom of God?
This kingdom is different from the kingdoms of this world. The way you enter into any kingdom of this world is by being born into that kingdom. Now, of course, in modern times you can be naturalized. But in the kingdom of God, there is no naturalization. You must be born into the kingdom of God.
That is the reason why, when Nicodemus came to the Lord that evening, the Lord spoke to him as He did. If you read the Gospel according to John, it is unfortunate that the Bible is divided into chapters and verses. It is convenient, but sometimes it is unfortunate. In the original manuscript there was no such division.
If you read the end of John 2, you will find that many people believed in the Lord because they had seen His signs and wonders. They came to the Lord, flocked to Him, and believed in Him because they had seen signs and wonders. But the Bible says our Lord Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew what was in man. He did not need anyone to tell Him the condition of their hearts; He knew it.
So He did not commit Himself to them, because these people came to Him merely through seeing signs and wonders. They believed mentally, but they did not really believe Him.
Beginning with John 3, it says, “But there was a man.” In one sense, Nicodemus was different from the multitude. The multitude came to the Lord superficially. It was almost like seed that fell on stony ground.
But there was a man, Nicodemus. He was different. He really thought about the kingdom of God. He meant business. He was a good man, a moral man, a ruler, and a teacher.
If you read carefully, you find the Bible says he was the teacher of Israel. He was a rabbi of rabbis. He was looked up to by everybody. He was supposed to be a person who knew God, a person who knew all about God. People came to him for advice, counsel, and instruction.
Yet he was humble enough, honest enough, to know that he did not really know. He knew academically, but he knew that he had not got it.
Maybe because of the crowd, he would not come to the Lord Jesus in the daytime. It was not convenient. But thank God, he came in the night.
As he came to the Lord, you find the way he spoke to the Lord—how he respected the Lord. He did not understand Him, and yet he respected Him. He said, in effect, “You are a Rabbi from heaven. I am a rabbi on earth, but You are a Rabbi from heaven, because You say things that I do not understand and could not say. I realize that there is something in You that I do not possess.”
Our Lord Jesus knew his heart. Our Lord Jesus knew that he wanted to enter into the kingdom of God. That was what he wanted. He was not satisfied merely with knowing the law and the prophets. He was not satisfied with merely knowing the theology of it. He wanted to enter into the kingdom of God.
So the Lord Jesus immediately said to him:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
No wonder you have not seen the kingdom of God. You heard about it, but you have not seen it. If you want to see the kingdom of God, you must be born again.
The Lord also said:
Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, how do we enter into the kingdom of God? We enter into the kingdom of God by being born into it. You cannot instruct a person into the kingdom of God. You cannot educate a person into the kingdom of God. You cannot put a person in a certain kind of environment and say, “Now he is in the kingdom of God.” To really enter into the kingdom of God, you must be born again. You must be born of the Spirit.
In 1 Peter 1:23:
Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth.
How are we born into the kingdom of God? We are born by the Spirit, but it is also by the living and abiding word of God—not by silver or gold or any corruptible thing, but by the incorruptible seed, even the living and abiding word of God.
One day, when our Lord Jesus was on earth in His public ministry, He was very busy. Why? Because people flocked to Him. Many wanted to hear Him, and more wanted their sicknesses healed or their demons cast out.
But some mothers brought their children to the Lord. They wanted the Lord to bless them. When the disciples saw these mothers bringing their children to the Lord, they told the mothers, “Our Lord has no time for these children. He is too busy. Go away. Do not disturb Him.”
Yet our Lord Jesus said:
Suffer the little children to come unto Me; forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God.
And He said:
Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein.
At another occasion, the disciples were arguing among themselves about who was greatest in the kingdom of God. Everyone wanted to be the greatest in the kingdom. So our Lord Jesus demonstrated to them: He took a little child and set him in the midst of them and said, “Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
So, brothers and sisters, it is very clear. The kingdom of God is different from the kingdoms of this world. The only way to enter into the kingdom of God is to become like little children; that is to say, to be born again.
There are many Scriptures that tell us who cannot enter the kingdom of God. For instance, 1 Corinthians 6:9:
Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God.
In 1 Corinthians 15:50, we find another verse. Even though it speaks of resurrection, the principle is there:
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
Who can enter? Who can inherit the kingdom of God? The unrighteous cannot inherit. Dear brothers and sisters, is there anyone who is righteous? There is none who is righteous. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. In other words, with man it is impossible.
But with God all things are possible.
You remember the young ruler. How he wanted to enter into the kingdom of God and inherit eternal life. He came to the Lord, ran to Him, and knelt down among the multitude, saying, “Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”
But he turned away sadly. When he turned away, the Lord Jesus said, “How difficult, how hard it is for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.” It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, in order to enter into the kingdom of God, we have to lay aside everything and be converted as little children. If anyone should depend upon himself—whether he is rich materially or rich in some other way—he cannot enter.
The way to enter into the kingdom of God is to stand naked before the Holy Spirit, acknowledge ourselves as nothing but sinners, ask for mercy, and trust in the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit will use the living Word to give birth to us. This is the way that we enter into the kingdom of God. We become children of the kingdom.
But, dear brothers and sisters, the question here is not how to enter into the kingdom of God. I believe that those who are here this evening have already been stripped naked by the Holy Spirit. You have already repented. You have already believed in the Lord Jesus as your Saviour. You have already been born again by water and the Spirit, by the incorruptible seed, the Word of God.
But the question with us is this: do we enter into the kingdom and then live in the kingdom on different principles?
In other words, we enter into the kingdom by being converted as little children. We enter into the kingdom by being born again. It is purely by grace—not by merit, not by works, but by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. That is the way we enter into the kingdom of God.
But after we enter into the kingdom of God, the question is: do we live in that kingdom? I am not speaking of anything positional. I am speaking of our condition.
We are children of the kingdom by birth, but do we live as sons of the kingdom? Do we live in the reality of the kingdom of God? We may be born again; positionally, we are in the kingdom of God. But so far as our daily experience is concerned, are we under the rule of the King? Do we manifest ourselves as true sons of the kingdom?
I believe the same principle governs our entrance into, and our abiding in, the kingdom. We must not only enter into the kingdom, but we must abide in the kingdom.
To use an example—the Lord said in John 15, “I am the vine; ye are the branches.” This is not merely a figure of speech; it is a reality.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from Me ye can do nothing.
He is the vine; we are the branches. He is in us and we are in Him. This is true; this is reality. But then the Lord continues, “Abide in Me, and I in you.” If you do not abide in Him, you can do nothing. If you do not abide in Him, you cannot bear fruit. If you do not bear fruit, you will be cut off, cast away, and burned.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, of course the Lord is not talking about eternal salvation or eternal perdition. He is not talking about eternal life or eternal death. The Lord is talking about our daily life with Him.
He is the vine, and we are the branches. He is in us and we are in Him. That is our position, and this position will never change. No matter what happens, this position remains true forever.
But so far as our daily life, experience, communion, and fellowship are concerned, you may find that some branches do not bear fruit. Why? Because these branches are organically connected to the tree, and yet something is wrong. There is a blockage. The sap of the vine cannot get into that branch. The branch refuses and resists the supply of the life of the vine.
The result is no fruit: withered, cut off, cast away, no use—no use to the Master. It does not speak of eternal life or eternal death; it refers to the kingdom.
Brothers and sisters, positionally we are born into the kingdom of God. Experientially, are we living in the reality of the kingdom? Do we manifest ourselves as the true sons of the kingdom?
Another parable is found in Matthew 22, and the Lord said it is a parable of the kingdom. It is the parable of a wedding.
The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son.
Here you find the Lord said that the kingdom is like a king giving a wedding feast for his son, the crown prince. He sent out messengers to invite people to come and attend the wedding feast.
We will not go into the details, because it would take too much time. But you find that the people who were invited refused to come and gave all kinds of excuses. Actually, these were not real excuses. Some even resisted the messengers, mistreated them, and killed them.
Then many were brought in from the highways and the byways, and the hall was filled. But the strange thing was that the king entered into the hall where the wedding feast was prepared, looked around, and found one person who did not have a wedding garment.
So he said, “Why do you not have the wedding garment?” He bound him and cast him out.
Now, is this not strange? We are told that in the old days, when a king prepared a feast, usually the host would prepare garments. All these garments would be ready, and when the guests came in, they would put them on before sitting down to enjoy the feast.
But evidently this man came in, and he felt that his own garment was good enough—perhaps even better. So he refused to put on the wedding garment that the king had prepared for his guests. When the king noticed that he had no wedding garment, he was not fit to attend the wedding feast. So he was bound and cast out.
This is the parable of the kingdom. In other words, you may be in the kingdom; you may be born into the kingdom of God; but you may not be able to attend the wedding feast because you do not have that wedding garment.
Connect this with Revelation 19, and you find that the marriage feast of the Lamb has come, and the bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to be arrayed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
That is the wedding garment. Brothers and sisters, what it means is simply this: many are called, but few are chosen. Many are called, but after we are called, if we do not depend upon the grace of God, we make a mistake.
We come in by grace, but after we come in by grace, we begin to think that now we are saved and can do something. We begin to depend upon our works. We think that we are good enough now, strong enough now. We try to accumulate our own righteousness, thinking that by that we can enter into the wedding feast.
Dear brothers and sisters, how wrong we are. That garment is the righteousness of the saints. What is the righteousness of the saints? It is the Holy Spirit patiently working upon those who have Christ in them.
Christ is our righteousness. We have Christ in us, and the life of Christ is righteous. So the Holy Spirit patiently works upon our lives, trying stitch by stitch to incorporate Christ, to develop Christ, and, if I may use that word, to organize Christ—to let Christ be formed in us.
As we allow the Holy Spirit to form Christ in us, then it becomes the bright, shining linen—the righteousnesses of the saints. That is the wedding garment the King prepared for the wedding feast. So, dear brothers and sisters, it is grace, but it is grace upon grace.
To enter into the kingdom positionally is by new birth. That is one thing. But to live in the kingdom of God, to abide in God’s kingdom, to be in the reality of the kingdom—or, to put it another way, to be spiritually the real kingdom of God to Christ—something more is needed.
That is the reason why, after our Lord Jesus began to preach the gospel of the kingdom, some responded to Him. If you read the Gospel according to Matthew, you will find that it comes in quick succession, as if there were no time in between.
In Matthew 4:17, it says:
From that time began Jesus to preach, and to say, Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
The Lord began to preach the gospel of the kingdom. But immediately afterwards, in Matthew 4:18, we read that, walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. He said to them, “Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
The same thing happened to the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. What is this? The gospel of the kingdom is preached, and immediately after the word of the kingdom is received, there follows the call of discipleship.
Immediately you find the Lord began to call those who believed in Him to be His disciples: “Come after Me.”
Dear brothers and sisters, in one sense we make an unfortunate division between believer and disciple. We think that first of all we believe, and then perhaps five years later we hear the call to be disciples. But actually, in reality, to be a believer is to be a disciple. The believers were disciples, and the disciples were believers.
Here you find these people who heard the word of the gospel of the kingdom. They believed, but it is more than believing: they obeyed. The gospel is not only to be believed; the gospel is to be obeyed.
So here you find the Lord calling for disciples: “Come, follow Me.”
Who are the real sons of the kingdom? The true sons of the kingdom are those who are discipled to Christ.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, I do not know if I am mistaken. If I am, please correct me. But as I read the New Testament, nowhere have I found that we are called to be disciples of anybody other than the Lord Himself.
Other people may help us towards discipleship, but we are called to be disciples of Christ.
The only place where there may be some hint, or perhaps some question, is when Saul was converted. He was with the disciples in Damascus, and because he boldly proclaimed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, they tried to seize him. The Bible says that “his disciples” let him down in a basket through the wall.
Some manuscripts do not say “his disciples”; they simply say “the disciples.” So I wonder whether these were Saul’s disciples or not. If they were Saul’s disciples, that would be very strange, because he himself was a new believer. If he tried to disciple people to himself, I am afraid it was because of his ignorance.
We are discipled to Christ.
What is meant by a disciple? The word disciple is very different from what we understand today. Today, we understand a disciple as a student.
As a student, you go to class, listen to the professor’s lecture, and try to absorb all the knowledge that the professor has. After you have exhausted him, then you graduate.
But the disciple in the old days was very different. This is the way the Lord discipled His disciples: He said, “Come after Me.” To be a disciple is to come after Him. Why? Because it is the whole system of apprenticeship.
In those days, when you wanted to learn a trade, there was no trade school and no technical school. If you wanted to learn to be a plumber, the only way was to find a master plumber.
If your parents found a master plumber, they had to ask him to accept their son as an apprentice. He might not accept him. Even when the master was willing to accept the young man as an apprentice, in China the parents had to pay a sum of money to the master.
The apprentice had to leave his family. He was not allowed to stay in his parents’ home. He had to leave his parents’ home, go, and stay with his master in order to learn the trade.
Usually, during the first year, the master would not even allow him to touch any tool. He would be like a slave in his master’s house. He would sweep the floor, carry the baby, and do all kinds of things that had nothing to do with the trade.
This might continue for a year. He would not even be allowed to touch the tools or be instructed in any way about the trade. He simply did all these things, and he would not be allowed to go back home without permission.
Only after perhaps a year of slavery would the master begin to tell him a thing or two, allow him to touch a tool, or take him along when he was doing that kind of work. This might continue for three years, or for some years, until the day came when the master said, “Now you can go on your own.”
What is the result? This young man not only learns the skill of his master and becomes as skillful as his master, but he also learns the manner of life—the way of life—of his master. Sometimes he even thinks like his master and walks like his master. He has been transformed and reproduced.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is the meaning of discipleship. The Lord had come, and the only way to be a disciple was to leave everything and follow Him.
That is why you find in the Gospels that every time the call of discipleship came, they left everything and followed Him.
Now, of course, this may not mean that you have to physically leave your home, leave your father and mother. Some husbands would be only too happy to leave their wives, or some wives would be only too happy to leave their husbands. Some parents would be very happy to leave their children, and children would be very happy to leave their parents. No, this is not the meaning of it.
If you are happy about that, the Lord says, “Stay with them.” That is part of discipleship.
But anyway, in order to be a disciple, you have to leave everything behind. In other words, you have to be detached in your heart from everything. Everything has to be settled.
In Luke 14, the Lord said that if you want to build a tower, sit down and count the cost. If you are not willing to pay all that you have, do not start. If you want to go to war with an enemy and are only willing to give part of your forces to the battle, then do not fight at all.
Whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.
Brothers and sisters, it is not the physical thing; it is the spiritual meaning of it. In other words, to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus, you have to deny everything, even deny your own life. You have to count the cost. Nothing emotional—you have to count the cost.
But the love of Christ constrains you, and you are willing to let go of everything. “Lord, You have the words of life. Where can I go? I am arrested by You. I am Yours.”
In your spirit and in your heart, you leave everything. You detach from everything and attach only to the Lord. You put yourself under His rule and His authority.
Here, brothers and sisters, you give Him the opportunity to mold you and fashion you in the way that He wants to deal with you. It may not be in the way you expect.
Oftentimes we expect that if we really give ourselves to the Lord and say, “Lord, I want to learn of You,” then He will give us a short course—six months, and we will graduate.
But you will find that oftentimes, when you really give yourself to the Lord, the Lord begins to do something in your life that, to you, means nothing and seems completely unrelated. Yet through these small, unrelated things, He is teaching you, working in you, and transforming you.
Dear brothers and sisters, those who left all and followed Him, He led up into the mountain in Matthew 5.
We are probably all familiar with the Sermon on the Mount—Matthew 5, 6, and 7. Here you find the process: first, the gospel of the kingdom is preached; then comes the call to discipleship. When these people really follow the Lord, where does the Lord lead them? The Lord leads them to the mountain.
As He led them to the mountain, He sat down, opened His mouth, and taught the disciples. Dear brothers and sisters, the Sermon on the Mount was not spoken to the multitudes. The Sermon on the Mount was spoken to the disciples.
If you are not a disciple of Christ, the Sermon on the Mount is not meant for you. But if you really answer the call of discipleship, really give yourself to Him, and put yourself under His rule, instruction, and discipline, then listen to what He says.
Oftentimes we misunderstand the Sermon on the Mount. Sometimes we think that it was given to us simply that we might practice it. Now, it is true that all that is said in these chapters is to be practiced. Our Lord is most practical. He does not want us to spiritualize away anything in these chapters.
When you come to Matthew 5, 6, and 7, actually not much explanation is needed. Why? Because the more you explain it, the more it is explained away. The Sermon on the Mount is meant just as it is said there, and it is to be practiced. But who is to practice it?
We think that it is a higher law—a law stricter than the law of Moses. In a sense, that is true, because in Matthew 5 the Lord said, “Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; but I say unto you.”
Here was the law of Moses, and here is the word of our Lord as the King of His kingdom. The King is telling His sons what His kingdom is like. The Sermon on the Mount is the character of the kingdom.
For the sake of convenience, because we do not have time to go into details, I would say generally that in Matthew 5 the Lord is not proclaiming to us the law of His kingdom. Rather, the Lord is presenting to us a new nature of the kingdom.
There is a great difference there. To me, I think Matthew 6 tells us about relationship in the kingdom, and Matthew 7, generally speaking, shows us the experience of the kingdom.
In other words, Matthew 5 is related to the Son, Matthew 6 to the Father, and Matthew 7 to the Holy Spirit.
The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
You know, the Beatitudes are not laws, because the Beatitudes are the person. It is not, “Now you have to be poor in spirit.” He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” He is not trying to teach you or command you to be poor in spirit. He comes out and says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” In other words, you are the poor in spirit.
Why? Because the Beatitudes are nothing but the image of God’s Son.
What is the image of the King? The image of the King is poor in spirit. Read Philippians 2. We are familiar with that passage:
Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Here you find our Lord Jesus, the King, the Son. What kind of a person is He? What image does He present to us? His image is the nature of the kingdom; it is the character of the kingdom. He characterizes the kingdom.
What is that image? Poor in spirit.
Poor in spirit does not mean that He was really poor, that He had nothing. He has everything. He was equal with God, and that was not something that He was grasping at. That was His from eternity. He was the Son of God, the eternal Son of God. All glory, all honour, all power, and all dominion belonged to Him by right.
Yet He emptied Himself. Not only did He become a man, but as a man He put Himself under the rule of His Father. He obeyed His Father even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. This is poor in spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are the sons of the kingdom. To be the sons of the kingdom, we have to be transformed and conformed to the image of our King. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
There is no way for us to make ourselves poor in spirit. Oftentimes we think that if we try to make ourselves poor in spirit, we become hypocrites. Why? Because we think we are rather rich.
In one sense, perhaps you have advanced pretty far in the Lord, and because you have advanced much in the Lord, you feel that you are rather rich. Yet you say that you are poor in spirit and take the position of humility. You find that it is false.
We cannot do that. If we try to make ourselves humble, our very humility is our pride: “Look how humble I am.”
Brothers and sisters, remember: with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
The kingdom is the gospel. Now, what is the gospel? The gospel is that you have the life of the King in you. Because that life is there, the Holy Spirit is also in you.
What is the work of the Holy Spirit? The work of the Holy Spirit is to organize that life in you, to bring out that life. The work of the Holy Spirit is to apply the cross in your life and cut off all that is of your flesh—your arrogance and your pride.
He will cut it off, and He will let Christ grow in you. As Christ grows in you, what is it but poor in spirit?
It is a supernaturally natural process. It is not something you try to manufacture, and you cannot. It is real: the image of God’s Son. You are destined to be conformed to His image.
What is image? Image is different from likeness. Likeness is outward; image is inward. Likeness is outward conduct, but image is inward reality.
If you go through the Beatitudes, you will find that they describe what the Son of God, our King, is.
Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.
Why? Because our Lord Jesus, as the King, is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He does not need to mourn for His own sin, because He has no sin. We have to weep for our sins, but He does not.
Yet as He sees us, oh, how He wept: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
Blessed are those who mourn. Dear brothers and sisters, remember: this is character; this is image. It is something that the Holy Spirit will bring out in you, but it is not you. It is the life of the King.
You can go on through the whole Beatitudes. Dear brothers and sisters, how does He bring them out? Thank God, the potential is already in. All that pertains to life and godliness has already been given.
Now it is the Holy Spirit Who is trying to bring these things out—to develop, transform, and conform you to the image of God’s Son. Of course, in the process of transformation, it is very painful.
This is why it requires you to be a disciple. This is why it is necessary that you put yourself under His absolute control.
Yes, there will be times when you argue. There will be times when you resist. There will be times when you feel that it should not be this way; it should be another way. But, dear brothers and sisters, thank God, as our brother has mentioned again and again, there is the sovereignty of God.
You cannot get away. You will not get away. This is for our proper cooperation.
The Sermon on the Mount is not a law put upon us—not even a law put upon the disciples. The Sermon on the Mount is an image presented to us.
As we behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, we are being transformed from glory to glory according to the same image, by the Lord the Spirit.
As we are being transformed, then you find that He says, “Ye are the salt of the earth. Ye are the light of the world.”
You know, brothers and sisters, how often we say, “Now we are the salt of the earth.” Now, are you? You are the salt of the earth only after you are discipled and transformed—only after the gospel of the kingdom becomes your gospel.
Only after you allow the King, His image, to be reproduced in you by the Holy Spirit—when this happens, you are the salt of the earth. If this does not happen, you are like salt that has lost its savour and become useless.
You are the light of the world. How can you be a witness and testimony to the nations? Only after you have received the word of the kingdom and allowed the Holy Spirit to make you a true son of the kingdom.
Then, dear brothers and sisters, you are like a light, a city built upon a mountain that cannot be hid.
The whole Sermon on the Mount is telling us what grace can do if you cooperate.
The Sermon on the Mount tells us of a relationship. You have a relationship with the heavenly Father, and with that relationship you are able to be transformed and to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.
The Sermon on the Mount tells us that you can have an experience—the experience of the working of the Holy Spirit in your life. He will work in such a way that may seem unnatural to us.
It is natural for us to judge. It is natural for us to see that little speck in the eyes of our brothers and sisters and not see the beam in our own eye. But the working of the Holy Spirit is so beautiful that He will make us see what is in our own eyes.
After it is dealt with, then we can help our brothers and sisters. It is by the working of the Holy Spirit that we can build our house upon the rock—not only hearers, but doers—because He has first worked in us both to will and to work. Then we work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
So, brothers and sisters, the Sermon on the Mount is not law. It is grace. It is the life of the King. It is the Father’s pleasure to give the kingdom to us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us, that we may be true sons of the kingdom.
If this is true, we have a testimony together. We are witnesses of that kingdom, and then the end shall come.
Our heavenly Father, we do worship Thee because the kingdom is of Thy Son. It is His great kingdom.
O, oftentimes we feel that the kingdom demands so much. How can we answer these demands? But we do praise and thank Thee that Thou dost first show us Thy likeness.
Thou hast demonstrated to us what a life that is, what a kingly life that is. And now Thou hast sent Thy Holy Spirit to work in us and with us, to transform and conform us to His image.
May we be manifested in this world as true sons of the kingdom, as salt and light in the world, that the heavenly Father may be glorified.
O, we pray that the spiritual power and reality of Thy kingdom may increase, that the kingdom of this world may decrease. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.